This presentation concerns the problem of the social withdrawal of the Jews in other communities both now and in the past. The life in the diaspora brought about a certain amount of tension conditioned by economic, political, social, moral, national or religious factors. There emerged various attitudes of non-Jews towards the Jews customarily called anti-Semitism, anti-Judaism, anti-Jewishness as well as anti-Zionism. All the aforementioned phenomena have common grounds: such was the price of constructing, protecting, preserving and developing one’s identity in a strange community. There are, however, essential differences between these phenomena and this is usually forgotten. Consequently, any attempt at subsuming all of them under the term ‘anti-Semitism’ is unfounded and unjustifiable. The presentation aims first and foremost at characterising the above phenomena and particularly the differences and similarities between them as this affects their proper understanding and evaluation.