In times of crisis, it has always been relatively easy to place the blame for “our” problems on “them”—the people who are not like “us.” During such times Jews and other minorities have been vulnerable not for what they actually were like, what they actually did, or even what they actually believed but for what “we” imagined “they” were like, did, or believed.  And rulers, generals, preachers, rabble-rousers, and disgruntled neighbors have long known how easy it is to get a crowd going simply by shouting “the Jews are to blame!”