I'm over 200 pages into Constantine's Sword by James Carroll. Carroll, a former Catholic priest, tells about his discovery (through study of history and himself) of how inherent Christian (especially Catholic) Jew hating teachings led to the Holocaust.
It is very clearly written and well researched. But I'm starting to be reluctant to continue reading the book because it is adding to my paranoia of a resurgent antisemitism in Europe. Over the last couple of months, I've been reading many articles in the Israeli press about an increased sense of harassment (and actual attacks) of Jewish communities in Europe and elsewhere.
Everybody is talking about how blatant antisemitism is no longer frowned upon in European societies. But it begs the question - has Europe changed at all? All it takes is an economic crisis for Europe to return to its ol' Jew hating self.
As one of the organizers of a Friends of the IDF event I went to said, "We all know how every 100 years somebody wants to kick our butts." This is true. At least this time, we have a democratic Western world. Technically, the last 60 years has been a Golden Age as far as Jewish history (and world history) is concerned. There is no reason for it to stop, economic crisis or not.
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