"Nihil Novum," a poem by the poet Wladyslaw Szlengl, who was murdered in the Warsaw Ghetto, describes anti-Semitism as a phenomenon that has persisted for centuries, without any rational basis—hating Jews as representatives of the rich and the poor; the devout and the heretics; the aggressors and the cowards. These internal contradictions in anti-Semitic logic do not prevent it from continuing to exist, and unfortunately, even the establishment of a Jewish state has not completely resolved the issue.

In this lecture, we will examine anti-Semitism as a sociological phenomenon: how it affects Jewish self-perception, our attitude toward others, and the way we understand racism, persecution, and violence. Drawing on the study of Holocaust memory, we will propose principles and pedagogical tools for humanistic education—one that does not deny the existence of anti-Semitism, but also does not become trapped by it; one that develops a backbone of values and identity that enables complex and profound dialogue.