Why the Jews?: The Reason for Anti-Semitism, the Most Accurate Predictor of Human Evil

Dennis Prager · Joseph Telushkin

Jul 2016 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Traber Burns

About this audiobook

In this seminal work that has spent more than thirty years in print, Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin explain the reasons behind anti-Semitism, the world’s preoccupation with the Jews and Israel, and why now more than ever the world needs to confront anti-Jewish sentiment.

Why have Jews been the object of the most enduring and universal hatred in history? Why is the Jewish state the most hated country in the world today? Drawing on extensive historical research, Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin reveal how Judaism’s distinctive conceptions of God, law, and peoplehood have rendered the Jews and the Jewish state outsiders and labeled them as threatening. But as Prager and Telushkin are quick to point out, anti-Semitism is not just another ethnic or racial prejudice and is not caused, as so many people falsely believe, by Jewish economic success or the need for scapegoats. Rather, anti-Semitism today, as in the past, is a reaction to Judaism and its distinctive values.

Prager and Telushkin examine in detail how anti-Semitism is a unique hatred—no other prejudice has been as universal, deep, or permanent—and how the concept of the “chosen people” spawned that hatred. They also explore the role of non-Jewish Jews, such as Karl Marx and Noam Chomsky, in provoking anti-Jewish animosity.

In Why the Jews?, Prager and Telushkin identify the seven major forms of anti-Semitism—pagan, Christian, Muslim, enlightenment, leftist, Nazi, and anti-Zionist—and explain why it is impossible in today’s world to be an anti-Zionist without being an antisemite.

With an eye on the larger picture, Prager and Telushkin express why anti-Semitism threatens more than just Jews and what kind of changes are necessary to achieve a world without hatred.

Ratings and reviews

Overall, a fairly accurate narrative. However, the frequent use of generic quantities (eg "many", "often", "several") rather than specific numbers or percentages concerns me on the actual impacts. The authors' frequent conclusions based on confirmation-bias should be noted. And the authors also conveniently ignored American Islam and the strong relationship with American Jewry, deciding instead to paint all muslims as evil. A balanced depiction would have been a far stronger argument.

Double Jeopardy

About the author

Dennis Prager writes a syndicated column, hosts a radio show carried by 120 stations, and appears regularly on major Fox venues. He is the author of Happiness Is a Serious Problem and Think a Second Time.

Joseph Telushkin is a rabbi, scholar, and bestselling author of eighteen books, among them A Code of Jewish Ethics and Words That Hurt, Words That Heal. His book Jewish Literacy is the widest-selling work on the topic of Judaism. He lives with his wife, Dvorah, in New York City, and lectures regularly throughout the United States.

Read by Traber Burns, Keith Szarabajka, Adenrele Ojo, Kevin Kenerly, Hillary Huber, Carrington MacDuffie, Mirron Willis, Kirby Heyborne, Priya Ayyar, Neil Shah, Thom Rivera, and Scott Brick