17 December 2021

Anti-Semitism or antisemitism?
What a difference a hyphen makes


Patrick Comerford

It is always important to do some regular maintenance and updating on any website or blog. Over the last few days, for example, I have slowly started changing tags on some of my postings, eliminating the tags ‘Anti-Semitism’ and replacing them, wherever I find them with the tag ‘Antisemitism.’

In time, I hope to change the words wherever I find them in the actual texts or wording of earlier blog postings – although this may take a little more time.

Why go to so much bother over one hyphen? After all, I noticed in a major comment-feature yesterday (16 December 2021), The Irish Times insisted on using the old house style of ‘Anti-Semitism.’ But many publications, including the New York Times and the AP, are now using the unhyphenated spelling of ‘antisemitism.’

The truth is that language shapes our reality. Jewish organisations have long argued that the previous spelling, ‘anti-Semitism,’ distorts the true meaning of the term.

The change at the New York Times and other publications removes the hyphen and lowercases the first S. The New York Times made no public announcement of the switch, which was formally adopted in August, according to Phil Corbett, the associate managing editor. While the new spelling may seem merely cosmetic, it reflects a deeper linguistic debate within the Jewish community.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance began advocating in 2015 for ‘antisemitism’ over ‘anti-Semitism,’ a term invented in 1879 and popularised in the late 1800s by the right-wing German polemicist Wilhelm Marr. There is a growing concern that the hyphenated spelling allows for the possibility of something called ‘Semitism.’

That idea ‘not only legitimises a form of pseudo-scientific racial classification that was thoroughly discredited by association with Nazi ideology,’ the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) says. It ‘also divides the term, stripping it from its meaning of opposition and hatred toward Jews.’

The philological term ‘Semitic’ referred to a family of languages originating in the Middle East whose descendant languages today are spoken by millions of people mostly across Western Asia and North Africa. Following this semantic logic, the conjunction of the prefix ‘anti’ with ‘Semitism’ indicates antisemitism as referring to all people who speak Semitic languages or to all those classified as ‘Semites’. The term has, however, since its inception referred to prejudice against Jews alone.

In the mid-19th century, the derived construct ‘Semite’ provided a category to classify people based on racialist pseudo-science. At the same time the neologism ‘antisemitism’, coined by the German journalist Wilhelm Marr in 1879 to designate anti-Jewish campaigns, was spread through use by anti-Jewish political movements and the general public.

The modern term gained popularity in Germany and Europe incorporating traditional Christian anti-Judaism, political, social and economic anti-Jewish manifestations that arose during the Enlightenment in Europe, and a pseudo-scientific racial theory that culminated in Nazi ideology in the 20th century.

Although the historically new word only came into common usage in the 19th century, the term antisemitism is today used to describe and analyse past and present forms of opposition or hatred towards Jews. In German, French, Spanish and many other languages, the term was never hyphenated.

The unhyphenated spelling is favoured by many scholars and institutions in order to dispel the idea that there is an entity ‘Semitism’ which ‘anti-Semitism’ opposes. Antisemitism should be read as a unified term so that the meaning of the generic term for modern Jew-hatred is clear. At a time of increased violence and rhetoric aimed towards Jews, it is urgent that there is clarity and no room for confusion or obfuscation when dealing with antisemitism.

With the publication of Antisemitism: Here and Now in 2019, Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust historian who was recently nominated to be the Biden administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, helped introduce the discussion to a wider audience.

‘It should be spelled as one word,’ she said in an interview two years ago. ‘Its inventor wanted it to mean one thing and one thing only: Jew hatred. He coined this word because he wanted his word to encompass, not just Jews who are religious, but Jews who have abandoned all links to the religion. He wanted to depict Jews as a metaphysical enemy.’

The Anti-Defamation League also favours the unhyphenated usage, arguing that the spelling is ‘the best way to refer to hatred toward Jews.’

Over the past year, other mainstream media outlets have followed suit, including BuzzFeed and The Associated Press in April. AP publishes a style guide that is widely consulted across journalism.

The decision at the New York Times follows a separate, more public decision in June 2020 when it began using an uppercase ‘Black’ to describe people and cultures of African origin.

‘We believe this style best conveys elements of shared history and identity, and reflects our goal to be respectful of all the people and communities we cover,’ said an editor’s note. ‘The new style is also consistent with our treatment of many other racial and ethnic terms,’ it added.

A new study shows that in the Britain there are up to 1,350 antisemitic posts a day on Twitter, and 495,000 a year.

Shabbat Shalom

Praying in Advent 2021:
20, ‘O Sapientia’ and Saint Elizabeth

The Visitation … a panel from the 19th century Oberammergau altarpiece in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is a busy day, including an end-of-term school service in Rathkeale later this afternoon. Before this busy day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

Each morning in my Advent calendar this year, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during Advent;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

‘The Visitation’ in a stained-glass window in Saint John’s Church, Pallaskenry, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

In the calendar of Common Worship of the Church of England, today [17 December] is marked with a simple Latin phrase in bold italics typeface: O Sapientia. In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, this title appears in the calendar for 16 December, without explanation.

For some readers this simple phrase may seem cryptic. But it is a reminder that today marks the beginning of the O Antiphons, the seven jewels of Advent liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day from today until Christmas Eve. They are addressed to God, calling for him to come as teacher and deliverer, with a tapestry of scriptural titles and pictures that describe his saving work in Christ.

The seven majestic Messianic titles for Christ are based on the Biblical prophecies, and they help the Church to recall the variety of the ills of humanity before the coming of the Redeemer as each antiphon in turn pleads with mounting impatience for Christ to save his people.

The order of the antiphons climbs climatically through the history of Redemption:

1, In the first, O Sapientia, we take a backward flight into the recesses of eternity to address Wisdom, the Word of God.

2, In the second, O Adonai, we leap from eternity to the time of Moses and the Law of Moses.

3, In the third, O Radix Jesse, we come to the time when God is preparing the family of David.

4, In the fourth, O Clavis David, we are with the psalmist himself.

5, In the fifth, O Oriens, we see that the family of David is elevated so that the peoples may look on a rising star in the east.

6, In the sixth, O Rex Gentium, we know that Christ is the king of all the peoples.

7, With the seventh and last Great O, O Emmanuel, God-with-us, we have arrived at what Bishop Phillips Brooks calls the ‘Little Town of Bethlehem.’

The initial letters of each Messianic title in reverse order – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – spell out the Latin phrase Ero Cras, ‘Tomorrow, I will come.’

Today’s opening ‘O Antiphon’ declares:

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.


In Common Worship, this is translated as:

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other mightily,
and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.


The antiphon draws from a number of Biblical sources, including Isaiah, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes and Sirach.

In England, according to Sarum Use, the Great ‘O Antiphons’ began on 16 December with an eighth antiphon, O Virgo virginum (‘O Virgin of Virgins’), sung on 23 December, and O Sapientia was retained as a curious entry, without explanation, in the December liturgical calendar of The Book of Common Prayer.

How did this come about?

In 1561, a number of saints dropped from the Roman calendar were restored in the calendar of the Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer by way of the Latin Book of Common Prayer which was in use in Cambridge and Oxford college chapels – places where Latin was expected to be ‘a tongue understanded of the people.’ Indeed, the Ordinal expected bishops before the ordination of bishops, priests or deacons, to examine the candidates and to proceed only after finding them ‘learned in the Latine Tongue.’

Along with these restored entries came this one entry that was not the name of a saint or martyr. It continued to be included in the calendar of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer Book, which became the liturgical norm throughout the Anglican Communion.

The Roman Catholic tradition has retained these antiphons as well. However, their course begins on 17 December – which implies that until the publication of Common Worship, the Anglican tradition retained an antiphon no longer used by Rome. And this missing antiphon is the one addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Common Worship Calendar has since adopted the more widely used form.

The Advent carol O come, O come, Emmanuel (Irish Church Hymnal, No 135; New English Hymnal, No 11) is a popular reworking of the seven O Antiphons.

The ‘O Antiphons’ or refrains were sung before and after the canticle Magnificat at Evensong Vespers on the seven days before Christmas Eve (17 to 23 December).

The canticle Magnificat replaces a psalm in the Lectionary provisions for next Sunday (Advent IV, 19 December 2021), and is the second part of the longer version of the Gospel reading [Luke 1: 39-45 (46-55)]. This is the great prayer of the Virgin Mary in Luke 1: 46-55, when she visits her cousin, Saint Elizabeth. In this way, we are reminded that the Saviour we are expecting is to come to us through the Virgin Mary. The ‘O Antiphons’ are sung twice, once before and once after the canticle to show their great solemnity.

As we think of the O Sapientia antiphon and the Virgin Mary and Saint Elizabeth through the canticle Magnificat and in Sunday’s Gospel reading, it is worth concluding this Advent meditation by recalling Saint Elizabeth, the mother of Saint John the Baptist and the wife of Zachariah.

As Saint Elizabeth’s feast day on 5 November does not appear in either the Book of Common Prayer or Common Worship, it is appropriate today to remind ourselves of the story and words of Saint Elizabeth as she anticipates the birth of the Christ Child:

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spririt and exclaimed out with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed: for there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord’ (Luke 1: 41-45).

The words of the canticle Magnificat carved on the wooden screen at the west end of the monastic church in Mount Melleray Abbey, Cappoquin, Co Waterford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Matthew 1: 1-17 (NRSVA):

1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4 and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (17 December 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for greater hospitality across borders as the number of refugees from climate change-related disasters increases year on year.

Yesterday: Saint Eleftherios

Tomorrow: Saint Flannan of Killaloe

‘The Visitation’ in a stained-glass window in Great Saint Mary’s Church in Saffron Walden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org