I'm a Jew, and, accordingly, I have particular interest in the depiction of Shylock in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." On the one hand, Shakespeare DID intend Shylock to represent the hatefulness of Jewish grasping, a popular sentiment in England at the time. However, almost in spite of himself, Shakespeare reveals the essential humanity of the man, before reducing him to a shell of what he was, and thus satisfying his and his society's rampant anti-semitism.

What may surprise some are the conclusions I've drawn re: the phenomenon of anti-semitism. First of all, the Roman dispersal of the Jews occurred because we Jews were (and are) a notoriously unruly bunch. Then, the ensuing centuries of life in the diaspora engendered in Jews a phenomenon that Freud called "Identification with the Aggressor", whereby downtrodden people take on characteristics of their oppressors. Thus, the despicable behavior of Israelis toward Palestinians. Sad, very sad.