Since no Jewish organization is ever going to hold an essay-writing competition on this subject, we are going to have to do it here.
The last time I sat for a written test was 16 years ago, so I took my time answering the question put to British high-school students in a national exam last month: “Explain, briefly, why some people are prejudiced against Jews.” This question, which appeared in a religious studies examination taken by about 1,000 students, many of them at Jewish schools, has since been the subject of a mini-storm.

Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove arrives at Downing Street for a cabinet meeting in central London - Photo by Reuters
Jewish leaders attacked it as “insensitive” and Britain’s education secretary, Michael Gove, said to the Jewish Chronicle, which broke the story, that “to suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre.” Continue Reading »