People often ask me: “Why do people hate the Jews?” I start the answer with this contextual retort: Always remember that jealousy and greed are very strong human motivators (and often not for good purposes). I further postulate that anti-Semitism is pervasive for three reasons:
1) Jews have been successful per capita far beyond any other religious, ethnic, or cultural group. As noted above, jealousy is a very strong motivator for spite even among siblings (see the Torah and the story about Cain and Abel).
2) The relative success of Jews provides empirical evidence that races, creeds, and/or religious groups don’t have to be victims. Other racial and ethnic groups that count on victimhood as a means to enrich themselves despise this fact, which breeds additional contempt for the Jews.
3) Jews by and large have been relatively passive in response to violent behavior. The fact that many Jews rationalize that hatred from other groups is deserved only adds to the self-flagellating nature. This makes the defenseless Jews an easy target for groups that want to express their hatred.