With antisemitic incidents on the rise in recent months, Bishops in the United States have teamed up with the American Jewish Committee to release “Translate Hate: The Catholic Edition,” which seeks to stop the use of antisemitic language through deeper semantic understanding.
By Devin Watkins
“Poisoning the well”: Have you ever wondered where this saying came from? It has come to indicate a smear tactic that sees an opponent introduce negative information about their adverseries to discredit them. In reality, the saying is tied to the 14th century Bubonic Plague, when Jews were accused of purposefully spreading the disease through public drinking wells, giving the saying an antisemitic undertone. “Thousands of innocent Jews were murdered in response.”
This represents just one example out of dozens of antisemitic terms, phrases, conspiracies, cartoons, themes, and memes outlined in the “Translate Hate: The Catholic Edition.”
Released in December 2024, the resource was created by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in partnership with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.
Antisemitic incidents in the US have seen a sharp rise since the Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
According a report by the Anti-Defamation League Center for Extremism (ADL), around 10,000 antisemitic incidents were reported over the following year, representing a more than 200% increase year-on-year.
Bishop Joseph Bambera of Scranton, chairman of the USCCB Committee, said the Catholic edition seeks to help people take the first step toward combatting antisemitism, which is understanding it.
“In sharing these antisemitic themes and tropes in a Catholic context,” he said, “we not only convey such hateful and evil themes, but more importantly convey a clear sense of the Church’s relationship to the Jewish people, our teaching on human dignity and our respect for the Jewish people, particularly in those areas where throughout history, we as members of the Church may have been negligent or inappropriate in our words and actions.”
“Translate Hate” was released ahead of the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the relation of the Church with non-Christian religions, promulgated by Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965.
“As we prepare to mark the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate,” said Bishop Brambera, “it is more important than ever to renew our commitment to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters against all forms of antisemitism.”
At its release, Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of Interreligious Affairs at the American Jewish Committee, called the resource a “groundbreaking project for Catholic-Jewish relations”.
“USCCB’s allyship and leadership in confronting antisemitism as a threat not only to the Jewish people but also to civilized society more broadly is a key part of the national whole-of-society approach we need to combat anti-Jewish hate,” he said.
