Talk:Jewish views on slavery

Jewish Ownership and Slavery
40% jews owned slaves in 1860.There were about 200,000 Jew in U.S. at that time.80,000 of 393,975 slave owners were Jews(around 20%) This from a book by Jewish scholar Jacob Rader Marcus(United States Jewry 1776–1985). . In a page talking about Jewish views on slavery,it should be included. By cherry picking what to omit and include aren't you the one who is  trying to push an agenda? . --Katya72918 (talk) 17:04, 17 December 2021 (UTC)


 * 40% of Jews owned Slaves in 1820 when there were about 5,000 individual American Jews not in 1860 when there were approximately 200,000 individual American Jews. In 1860, there were only 20,000 individual Southern Jews and almost 400,000 Southern Slave owning households. 73.170.193.176 (talk) 22:41, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Can I get further clarification regarding this?

Having the descriptive statistic “Jews accounted for only 1.25% of all Southern slave owners.[14]”, without giving percent population is statistical manipulation. The whole first paragraph of “Jewish slave ownership in the southern United States” needs to be removed until the context of the 1.25% is reported. Likewise, the term “only” trivializes the enslavement of African Americans. It seems like this section is trying to downplay Jewish American involvement.

Antisemitic conspiracy theory
Could this article be split, so that the antisemitic conspiracy theory falsely claiming that Jews dominated the slave trade become its own article? Maybe it could be titled something like Jewish slavery conspiracy theory. Bohemian Baltimore (talk) 04:04, 14 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Agree that the canard of "Jews and the slave trade" should be split into a new article. This article's focus discusses the theological and religious treatment of the topic of slavery in Jewish thought, not the involvement or views of Jews as people. Longhornsg (talk) 14:53, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, anything that can not in some way or another be considered "religious perspectives on X", which is the format here, should not be on the page. If any material merits an antisemitism sidebar next to it, definitely so. Iskandar323 (talk) 15:40, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * @Bohemian Baltimore, could you quote the relevant text? Regards, Thinker78  (talk) 18:19, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * My take. These paragraphs from the lede, then the entire Modern era section.

Historically, some Jewish people owned and traded slaves.[2] They participated in the medieval slave trade in Europe up to about the 12th century.[3][obsolete source][4][5] Several scholarly works have been published to rebut the antisemitic canard of Jewish domination of the slave trade in Africa and the Americas in the later centuries,[6][7][8] and to show that Jews had no major or continuing impact on the history of New World slavery.[7][8][9][10] They possessed far fewer slaves than non-Jews in every Spanish territory in North America and the Caribbean, and "in no period did they play a leading role as financiers, shipowners, or factors in the transatlantic or Caribbean slave trades" (Wim Klooster quoted by Eli Faber).[11]

American mainland colonial Jews imported slaves from Africa at a rate proportionate to the general population. As slave sellers, their role was more marginal, although their involvement in the Brazilian and Caribbean trade is believed to be considerably more significant.[12] Jason H. Silverman, a historian of slavery, describes the part of Jews in slave trading in the southern United States as "minuscule", and writes that the historical rise and fall of slavery in the United States would not have been affected at all had there been no Jews living in the American South.[13] Jews accounted for 1.25% of all Southern slave owners, and were not significantly different from other slave owners in their treatment of slaves.[13] Longhornsg (talk) 19:13, 24 July 2023 (UTC)


 * Those paragraphs appear to comply with NPOV. For example, the first paragraph states, "some Jewish people owned and traded slaves". That's not surprising because slavery was considered normal in those times.
 * Then there is the sentence that states, "works have been published to rebut the antisemitic canard of Jewish domination of the slave trade".
 * Finally, "They possessed far fewer slaves than non-Jews". Which is a statement in favor of Jewish people.
 * Therefore, I am not understanding what's objectionable. Can you pinpoint a sentence or phrase that you think is undue? Regards, Thinker78  (talk) 20:17, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * No, this is content that is unrelated to the perspective of Judaism the religion on slavery and will be spun out into a separate article about the antisemitic conspiracy theory related to Jews and the slave trade, discussed by Jewish advocacy organization American Jewish Committee here, in academia here, and in news media here (among many, many other WP:RS that would give the article WP:SIGCOV. Longhornsg (talk) 20:55, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Given that there are articles about the Christian views on slavery and the Islamic views on slavery but no articles about "X ethnicity" views on slavery, I agree this article should be focused on providing info regarding Jewish as in Judaism views on slavery, not as Jewish as in ethnicity views on slavery. Regards, Thinker78  (talk) 22:37, 24 July 2023 (UTC)
 * When is israel going to pay reparations to african americans for their role in the slave trade ? 2001:8003:E144:6F01:1469:CED3:D0B8:95 (talk) 05:59, 12 January 2024 (UTC)