Judaization

Judaization (Hebrew: ייהוד, Arabic: تهويد) or Judaification is the process of making something Jewish in character. In a religious context, this practice is uncommon, due to the Jewish aversion to conversion, supporting conversion only as a fully voluntary measure. In practice, this has only applied in Jewish states, especially in ancient Judea, or in the context of Abrahamic religions, which are born out of Judaism, such as early Christianity.

Ancient Judea

During his conquests of Idumea, John Hyrcanus, then Prince and High Priest of Judea, encountered the Idumeans, also known in the Iron Age as the Edomites. Given that the Idumeans were worshipers of a syncretic religion which merged the religion of the Canaanites with ancient Arab polytheism, this meant that they were idolaters by Jewish law, something which was prohibited in the Ten Commandments. The conquest also came of the heels of Hyrcanus' conquest of Samaria, a region inhabited by the descendants of the northern Kingdom of Israel who worshiped their own religion that, while very similar to Judaism, was still different in that it proclaimed that they proclaimed that Mount Gerizim at the city of Shechem was the real legitimate site of God's temple, not the temple in Jerusalem at Mount Zion. In effect, after conquering Idumea, this would have meant Judea was a Jewish kingdom with a minority-Jewish population. In order to remedy this, Hyrcanus forcefully converted all of the Iudmeans to Judaism, an act so controversial to the Jews of Judea itself that it led to the split in the Sanhedrin between the Pharisees, who believed in religious toleration and opposed both the forced conversion of the Idumeans and Hycanus' dual role as High Priest and Prince, versus the Sadducees, who supported the Judaization of the Idumeans and were willing to defend Hyrcanus' dual role.

Early Christianity

Accusation during the Protestant Reformation

Zionism

In the context of Zionism, it is often applied to the Israeli expansion of Jewish settlement in areas with significant Palestinian populations, as in the Judaization of Jerusalem, the Galilee, or the Negev. In this context, it is related to de-Arabization.

In his critique of Zionism, the British thinker Leon Roth argued for a "Judaization of our politics" in response to what he perceived as a "politicization of Judaism" characterized by ethno-nationalism and an almost racial notion of Jewishness.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Posner, Menachem; Shurpin, Yehuda. "How to Convert to Judaism - What to Expect at a Conversion". www.chabad.org.
  2. ↑ Eckhardt, Benedikt (2016). "The Hasmoneans and their Rivals in Seleucid and Post-Seleucid Judea". Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period. pp. 55–70.
  3. ↑ Eckhardt, Benedikt (2016). "The Hasmoneans and their Rivals in Seleucid and Post-Seleucid Judea". Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period. pp. 55–70.
  4. ↑ Weitzman, Steven (1999). "Forced Circumcision and the Shifting Role of Gentiles in Hasmonean Ideology". The Harvard Theological Review. pp. 37–59.
  5. ↑ Eckhardt, Benedikt (2016). "The Hasmoneans and their Rivals in Seleucid and Post-Seleucid Judea". Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period. pp. 55–70.
  6. ↑ Horodniceanu, Maya; Hasson, Nir (6 Apr 2022). "Mapping Out the Rapid Judaization of East Jerusalem". Haaretz.
  7. ↑ Cattan, Henry (2022-10-06), "The Judaization of Jerusalem: Its Significance and Perils", Jerusalem, London: Routledge, pp. 91–100, doi:10.4324/9781003325758-8, ISBN 978-1-003-32575-8, retrieved 2024-11-11
  8. ↑ Al-Khatib, Rouhi (1970). The Judaization of Jerusalem. P.L.O. Research Center.
  9. ↑ Shakir, Omar (2021-04-27). "A Threshold Crossed". Human Rights Watch.
  10. ↑ Kashti, Or. "Far-right Party, Likud Agree on Major Plan to 'Judaize' Negev, Galilee". Haaretz.
  11. ↑ Adas, Jane. "Halper on Judaization, De-Arabization in Israel/Palestine." Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, vol. 35, no. 4, June–July 2016, pp. 67+.
  12. ↑ Krystall, Nathan (1998-01-01). "The De-Arabization of West Jerusalem 1947-50". Journal of Palestine Studies. 27 (2): 5–22. doi:10.2307/2538281. ISSN 0377-919X. JSTOR 2538281.
  13. ↑ Yadgar, Yaacov (2023-10-02). ""The great sin of today is the 'politicization' of our Judaism, the great need, the 'Judaization' of our politics": Leon Roth and the possibilities of a Jewish critique of Zionist politics". Journal of Modern Jewish Studies. 22 (4): 412–437. doi:10.1080/14725886.2022.2064735. ISSN 1472-5886.