Relationships between Jews and Non-Jewish Families

As we see in "There are Jews in my House", a Russian woman takes in two Jewish people and the families share a unique relationship full of tension and jealousy. With this blog, I wish to explore the history of this exact topic; the relationships between non-Jewish families and Jewish ones. From our reading, it can be inferred that some tension arose once the War started. For instance, "every time" (7) Galina wishes to leave the house Raya will quietly, yet insistently interrogate her with questions like "What? What did you just say? You're going where?" and "When will you be back?" (8). As you can imagine, this common correspondence leaves the relationship between the two of them a little unsteady.

There is also a great deal of jealousy on the part of Galina. While Raya is more outgoing, Galina self-proclaims herself more beautiful and is very self-conscious about the subject. For example, when Raya and Galina go to change into some new dresses Raya's underwear is beautiful silk, while Galina's is plain, cotton, anything but pretty. This leads Galina to become extremely embarrassed and she changes as quickly as she can. In this moment, and in many others, Galina is jealous of Raya. As a way of dealing with this emotion, Galina tries to distance herself from Raya, a Jew, by commonly referring to the Jewish people as "they". This is a term she learned from her mother when the two of them were lingering in a graveyard. The Christian and Jewish tombstones were separated, however there were more gifts on the side of the Jews, in order to retort this, Galina's mother declares, "Jews get everything. They have ways." (26) As this statement shows, even in this trivial instance, there is a hint of jealousy.

Historically, the relationships between non-Jewish people and Jews have been filled with similar emotions. According to the website below, along with many other books and sites I have visited in the past, many of the European Jews thrived as wealthy bankers and businessmen. Thus, because of jealousy, numerous non-Jewish people spread the revolting correspondence between Jewish people and avarice, one of the deadly sins. One famous propaganda poster, from the link below, depicts a Jewish man carrying gold coins in his hand, begging for more money. It is also this jealousy that led many people to brand countless other stereotypes on the Jewish people, ranging from hideous to untrustworthy to greedy, as mentioned before. In conclusion, although "There are Jews in My House" is a fictional story, the underlying emotions of the relationships between Jews and other non-Jewish families remains almost exactly the same.

Sources:

http://remember.org/guide/History.root.stereotypes.html

http://www.historywiz.com/antisemitic.htm