QUOTE (krumlikeapretzel @ Feb 25 2008, 01:20 AM)

So why not say Esau instead of "anti-semite"?
It's shorter and arguably more elegant.
I didn't coin the term, and I personally think it is stupid as some of our worst enemies are also "Semites". Also it is always the Jews furthest alienated from Judaism that constantly whine about antisemitism. Foxman and his Anti Defecation League wouldn't know a Jewish value if one landed on their heads. To them, that is what being Jewish is all about (that and helping every oppressed minority (human and animal) except your fellow Jews) pouring every last penny into Holocaust memorials and museums not realizing that they are far more responsible for the destruction of the Jewish people than the Nazis were...
I once heard a peshat in the brocha "shelo asani goy" that it means that shelo asani AL YEDI goy, that our identity shouldn't be determined by what the goyim say and do. Our Judaism should be from INSIDE, because that is who we are and that is what we believe, not because we have no choice because the goyim will oppress us anyway.... Many Jews don't have any self-identity, their very existence is combating anti-semetism, THAT is their entire religion and reason for being.
Al kol panim, as far as I'm concerned the word "goyim" is more than sufficient......