We have two of them; they used to be called “Wandering Jew” plants.

Since World War II, that name has gradually gone out of fashion, thanks to the Nazis. The plants have been given the much more neutral and scientific name Tradescantia Zebrina.

One is in the bedroom window, the other downstairs in the living room. The plants are graceful and beautiful to me. And have a fascinating history.

Unless you are okay with being anti-semitic, there are new and safer names for this plant: The Inch Plant, Wandering Dude, and Spiderwort.

Recent polls have shown that most plant lovers still don’t quite grasp the history of this name. I’ll try to spread the word.

Some people still use the name “wandering Jew” as a harmless reference to the Jewish people who are known to have wandered in the desert. But the origin of the name is much more controversial.

The modern use of the term comes from a medieval European folk story about a fictional Jew who mocked Jesus and was condemned to wander the earth until the apocalypse.

The term resurfaced with vigor in Nazy Germany, where the medieval concept of the “Wandering Jew” was translated to Der ewidge Jude (the External Jew.) The Nazy party presented an infamous art show titled Der ewidge Jude, which portrayed Jews as ugly, greedy, subhuman thieves and equated them with the Wandering Jew from medieval folklore.

It wasn’t until the ’90s that plant sellers and florists began to drop the title, mainly under pressure from Jewish organizations.

Anti-semitism slowed down for a while in America until Donald Trump unaccountably but famously pointed out that many of the people marching in Charlottesville Virginia with Nazi flags and signs vowing to keep the Jews from taking over the world were “good people” too.

That seemed to open the gates, and anti-semitism is on the rapid rise in America. Trump still doesn’t get it.

Elements of the Republican Party now have open and stronger links to rabidly anti-semitic White Chistian Nationalist Groups who were not traditionally praised as good people. At least two Republican congresspeople have accepted speaking invitations from neo-Nazi groups.

Trump has no personal history of antisemitism; he often hired Jews and welcomed them as friends and family members. I’m inclined to think that he has no idea what he is talking about regarding the Nazi’s or anti-semitism. It’s just not a problem for him.  I don’t think anyone expects him to make sense anymore.

One interesting note I came across in my reading about my plant:

Jewish scholars and historians say there is a legend in the faith about a Wandering Jew. They point to Isaac, son of Abraham, who became wealthy by raising crops in the land of the Philistines, who then cast him out of their lands for being too rich.

According to legend, Isaac started digging wells on his travels and got even richer. The Philistine lords are said to have apologized and welcomed Isaac back in the hopes of getting some of his money.

(If you want to keep using the name “Wandering Jew” for the plant (it’s a great name in many ways, you might try pointing out to the florist or your Jewish friends that this was an old Jewish legend also.)

I’ll go with Spiderwort myself.