In Stained Glass, author Flora Cassen confronts her growing realization that “a Jew-free Belgium” could become reality. Why were antisemitic murders that took place in 2014 – 2015 not described as European tragedies, grounded in European history? Why were they instead depicted as murders that simply happened to take place in Europe, reflecting the Middle Eastern conflict? Cassen delves into the history of antisemitism to understand and explore how current day antisemitism connects to its past, how that continuing narrative may inform the future, and what the Jewish experience in Europe can tell us about the future in America.
Cassen artfully balances her personal motivations, memories, and underlying sorrow regarding modern and historical antisemitism with a historian’s trained analysis and long view. Clearly written in short, well-reasoned chapters, she builds her case. The resulting book is a compelling, highly readable analysis that points the sharp, bright focus of a historical lens at today’s increasing worldwide antisemitism.
The book begins with the beauty of the Cathedral St. Michael and St. Gudula in Belgium’s city center. In nighttime walks past the monument as a college student in Belgium, Cassen relished the cathedral’s exterior in the varying lights of evening, but the anti-Jewish story and legend the stained glass windows told brought her to the realization that the cathedral was “perhaps the most odious anti-Jewish monument in the country.” Hence the book’s title, and hence the beginning of Cassen’s growing understanding of the way Jews were and are depicted in her native country. Her move to the United States for graduate study provided additional clarity.
In graduate training, Cassen studies medieval Jewish history and begins her exploration of Jewish history as one of “tears or resilience.” She examines the meaning of each view and concludes with a question that drives the book: “Was each episode of violence really disconnected from all other ones?” as some scholars broadly assert. Throughout the book, she balances historical analysis with an awareness of her European background and her love for Belgium and the small Jewish community in Antwerp in which she grew up.
Cassen distinguishes between antisemitism, the racial hatred of Jews, and anti-Judaism, a religious based hatred of Jews. She traces the development of anti-Judaism throughout medieval Christian thinking while exploring how antisemitism changes form depending on the times. She discusses today’s anti-Zionism in the context of historical antisemitism and asks, “Where … could we [Jews] truly be at home?”
She explores whether “Europe’s traditional scapegoat, the Jew,” has become today’s “unifying ‘other’?” She examines the history of Jews in the United States and takes a hard look at antisemitism following October 7, 2023. Using a medieval framework to offer insights into current conflicts, Cassen asks, “So, what should Jews do now?”
Stained Glass is a gripping, well paced work of historical analysis, modern-day relevance, and personal reflection, offering insights to the reader seeking to understand the roots of antisemitism and the corresponding modern tragedy.
Susan Moldaw’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Broad Street, Cutleaf Journal, Fourth Genre, Narrative, Still Point Arts Quarterly, Sweet Lit, The Millions, and others. She sings with the Threshold Choir and is a retired chaplain.
