Why have Jewish faith / culture / people been treated so badly throughout history?
No hateful answers please. I’m just trying to understand. A: While it is certainly true that Christians blamed Jewish people for the death of Christ and propagated the blood libel in the high middle ages, this is not the only story. In late antiquity and the early middle ages, Christians did not blame the Jews alone, but most primarily blamed the (pagan) Romans. Many seemed to consider the Jewish people as misguided but capable (and worthy) of salvation. Certainly, we get no reports of anti-semitic violence before the 11th century. Nevertheless, a combination of Christian-imposed laws and Jewish desire to maintain their cultural integrity meant that by the 11th century, they mostly lived within small Jewish communities in the newly growing cities of Europe. They were usually more educated than their Christian neighbors. Moreover, local laws often banned them from joining craft guilds or farming (Christians saw these rules as incentives for the Jews to convert). Thus, jobs for Jews were
