Summary Of The Book 'Why' By Hayes

In “Why” by Hayes. He tells a lot about why the Jews were the targets for such a terrible event. As it was said in class, there were many occurrences in history that set up the Jews for failure. I will start out by referencing statements that Peter Hayes mentions in his book, “Why”. Then I will reference the book “Remember Us” by Martin Small. Finally, I will compare the book “What We Knew.” by Eric Johnson and Karl-Heinz Reuband.
In page five Peter Hayes says, “The Romans did not like or understand such Jewish customs as monotheism, which entailed refusing to worship the emperors as gods…”(Hayes,5).
The Jews were looked down upon because of their belief in monotheism. The Jews did not believe in worshipping many gods. “The Sabbath…endogamy.” …show more content…
Martin mentions in page nine, “To be a Jew in a region was to be a second-class citizen whose future was always uncertain and whose safety was never secure” (Small, 9). He also talks about how at one point the Jews were tolerated by their neighbors who were Christian. In page eleven it talks about how they were tolerated, but not liked, instead the Christian hated everything about the Jews. From their religion, schools, and even their language. On page eleven, Martin mentions that they were always fighting a losing battle and that they had to learn the difference between both tolerance and acceptance. It is also mentioned more in depth about what the Christians thought about the Jews. They were “Christ-killers and God murders” and the blood libel was mentioned. A statement that Martin Smalls made which further supports Peter’s argument was when he said. “We were different; they didn’t understand our customs; we spoke languages they didn’t know; and their Church couldn’t control us” (Small, 16). The church could not control them. This is where a lot of hatred stems from. That the Jews were proud of their faith. They were not going to conform nor were they going to give up their home towns so