The "violent Jew" was a stereotype in mid-18th century England ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Thursday, August 07, 2025

The "violent Jew" was a stereotype in mid-18th century England

When most of us think about how Jews were thought of in the West in the 18th century, we usually think that they are considered greedy, cunning and duplicitous - but not violent.

But for a few decades in the mid-1700s, the stereotype of the Jews included the idea of a violent Jew who was a real threat to British citizens.

Last year I explored the idea within England that if Jews were allowed to become full citizens, they would impose circumcision on the hapless Christians. This was not just satire: a prominent rabbi was forced to rebut that rumor, so apparently it had been taken seriously.

I just found a letter to the London Public Advertiser newspaper in August 1775, almost exactly 250 years ago. The letter assumes that Jews are naturally violent.

My Plan then, Sir, is to embody the Jews, and appoint a young Orator of very forcible Powers their Colonel Commandant. It is unnecessary to name him, as all who have read the Heroic Epistle to Sir William ____ will recollect the humorous Description of his being qualified for being put at the Head of this Army of Hebrews.

I do not believe that the Ministry will allow the Golden Calf to be carried over to Boston, as they have, we are told, constant Occasion for that at home; but the Jews may be certainly Appeared from this Country and a most terrific Appearance they would make among the Oliverian Puritans on the other Side of the Atlantic. I would have them armed with monstrous Knives, like that which Macklin draws forth when he plays Shylock; and, as a Friend of mine very well observed, the Terror of Circumcision would affect the Colonists still more than that of Scalping.

In this Reign it is not a little remarkable that there is at least an Appearance of Jewish Influence, though there has been such a prodigious Noise about Scotch Influence, that I do not remember that any of our most anxious Patriots have ever taken Notice of it. We find a County in England represented by a Sir Joshua Reynolds, a Sir Elijah Impey, a Sir Noah Thomas? Nay, who is it that prints the Public Advertiser itself? Henry Sampson Woodfall.

Let us then make a fair Trial of what the Israelites can do. Methinks I see their Colonel Commandant kissing Hands upon his Promotion, and the First Lord of the Treasury receiving him with open Arms, chuckling him under the froward Chin, and addressing him with a Leer of Satisfaction in the Words of Sir Archy Macfarlane, "My bon Girgashite."

Methinks I hear the horrid Sound of their Shootings upon the American Shores, and feel the barrelled Rioters running before them; and if the Theory of Mr. Adair in his late History be true, that the North American Indians are Jews, with what Alacrity will they come to the Aid of their own Kindred? That we shall have our unruly Descendants between two Fires, and Dr. Franklin's Electrified Puppets of Countrymen, shall be no better than a Will o' the Wisp.

The writer bases his idea of the violent Jew on the performance of Charles Macklin in The Merchant of Venice, where the Jew Shylock was portrayed as a knife-wielding violent man beyond Shakespeare's text. This, together with the rumors of forced circumcision that accompanied opposition to the Jew Act of 1753, combined to create an entirely new stereotype of the Jew not as a physically weak but crafty manipulator but as an an angry and violent figure who threatens the Christians.

And this stereotype was enough for the writer to craft his satirical plan to ship all British Jews to America, where they can fight the American rioters from the Boston Tea Party and can partner with the supposedly Jewish indigenous tribes against the Americans.

It is a minor footnote in the history of antisemitism, but it shows how the hate has always been disconnected with how Jews actually act. If people fear something, the Jews will always end up being accused of being the threat.

While the image of the "violent Jew" al but disappeared in the subsequent two centuries, once the state of Israel was reborn it is unsurprising that this stereotype has become fashionable again.