“The client, he said, tried to ‘Jew him down.’ “

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Last month we asked readers to share their personal experiences with antisemitism. Here is what one wrote:

“Jew Him Down”

It was in the early- to mid-1980s when I was working for a software company. During a visit to my employer’s development center in Dallas, I was in an informal group meeting with a product manager and a few others. I don’t recall the exact circumstances, but at some point the manager made a comment regarding a sale: The client, he said, tried to “Jew him down.”

The manager knew me — not well, but knew me — and although I didn’t say anything or show any reaction that I know of, he quickly walked back his comment in my direction — giving some lame excuse — probably because he suddenly realized from my last name that I was Jewish. Nobody else said anything that I recall.

Whenever I hear the term I immediately think of this incident, which obviously has remained with me even though it happened at least 35 years ago.

— G.R. in Arizona

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Notable &
Quotable

“If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive.”

— Paul Johnson, author of A History of the Jews

▪

“I went through kindergarten through 12th grade, college, law school and four years of active duty in the U.S. Army and I never once experienced anti-Semitism — until I came to the U.S. House of Representatives.”

— Lee Zeldin, Republican Congressman from New York, currently running for governor of the state

▪

“In the ’80s, we were living in the U.S.S.R., where anti-Semitism was a deeply ingrained part of the culture. Being a Jewish person in the Soviet Union was not easy. Not that I remember any of that — I was barely old enough to chew back then — but for my parents, both Uzbekistan-born Jews, life was a struggle.”

— Milana Vayntrub, actress, comedian, and activist born in the Soviet Union.

▪

“I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you’re desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward — well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism.”

— Henry Louis Gates, African-American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker

▪

“In the past, we saw European leaders speaking against the Jews. Now, we see them speaking against Israel. It is the same anti-Semitism of blood libels, spreading lies, distorting reality and brainwashing people into hating Israel and the Jews.”

— Ayelet Shaked, Israeli politician and minister of Interior

Note: All the above quotations are from BrainyQuote.com.