Philosemitism

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Celebration of Hanukkah at the Sejm in the city of Warsaw, 2015 Chanuka Sejm 2015.JPG
Celebration of Hanukkah at the Sejm in the city of Warsaw, 2015

Philosemitism, also called Judeophilia, is "defense, love, or admiration of Jews and Judaism". [1] Such attitudes can be found in Western cultures across the centuries. [2] The term originated in the nineteenth century by self-described German antisemites to describe their non-Jewish opponents. [3] [1] American-Jewish historian Daniel Cohen of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies has asserted that philosemitism "can indeed easily recycle antisemitic themes, recreate Jewish otherness, or strategically compensate for Holocaust guilt." [4]

Contents

Etymology

The controversial term "philosemitism" arose as a pejorative in Germany to describe the positive prejudice towards Jews; in other words, a philosemite is a "Jew-lover" or "Jew-friend". [5]

Concept

The concept of philosemitism is not new, and it was arguably avowed by such thinkers as the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who described himself as an "anti-anti-Semite." [6]

Philosemitism is an expression of the larger phenomenon of allophilia, admiration for foreign cultures as embodied in the more widely known Anglophilia and Francophilia. The rise of philosemitism has also prompted some[ who? ] to reconsider Jewish history, and they argue that while antisemitism must be acknowledged, it is wrong to reduce the history of the Jewish people to one merely of suffering (as has been fostered by well-meaning gentile philosemites).[ citation needed ]

Religious philosemitism

Christian philosemitism which has been associated with Dispensational theology and Puritanism promotes a positive view of the Jewish people for religious reasons (in contrast to Christian antisemitism). Christian philosemitism generally arises from a premillennial and an Israel-centered understanding of biblical prophecy, causing the belief that God still sees the Jews as his chosen people. [7] [8]

Prevalence

In Europe

Germany

Iris Dekel writes that in twenty-first-century Germany, philosemitism "is performed in three interconnected social domains: institutional, where state institutions declare their commitment to protecting Jews as a religious minority; group, where the contingent relations between love for the Jews and exclusionary statements about them appears, mostly in casting Jews as both strange and unknown and embraced; and individual, where individuals exhibit positive sentiments toward Jews as an ideal collective". [9]

Poland

Depiction of Polish king Casimir III the Great visiting his Jewish mistress Esther, by Polish painter Wladyslaw Luszczkiewicz (1870) Luszczkiewicz-Kazimierz Wielki u Esterki.jpg
Depiction of Polish king Casimir III the Great visiting his Jewish mistress Esther, by Polish painter Władysław Łuszczkiewicz (1870)

While Jews had lived in Poland since before his reign, king Casimir III the Great allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as people of the king. About 70 percent of the world's European Jews, or Ashkenazi, can trace their ancestry to Poland due to Casimir's reforms. [10] Casimir's legendary Jewish mistress Esterka remains unconfirmed by direct historical evidence, but belief in her and her legacy is widespread and prolific. [11] South of the Old Town of Kraków king Casimir established the independent royal city of Kazimierz, which for many centuries was a place where ethnic Polish and Jewish cultures coexisted and intermingled.

Czechoslovakia

The case of the myths created around the supposed special relationship between Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founding father of Czechoslovakia, and influential Jews from the U.S. or elsewhere, myths created by Masaryk and adopted in amended forms by Czechoslovak Jews, let cultural historian Martin Wein quote Zygmunt Bauman's and Artur Sandauer's concept of an "allosemitic" worldview, in which, in Wein's words, "antisemitism and philosemitism overlap and share stereotypes, producing exaggerated disregard or admiration for Jews or Judaism." [12] In this sense, Wein quotes Masaryk's statements about a decisive Jewish influence over the press, and him mentioning Jews and freemasons in the same breath, when it came to lobbies he allegedly managed to win over. [12]

In the Americas

United States

Mark Twain's essay Concerning the Jews has been described as philosemitic. Israeli scholar Bennet Kravitz states that one could just as easily hate Jews for the reasons Twain gives for admiring them. In fact, Twain's essay was cited by Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s. Kravitz concludes, "The flawed logic of 'Concerning the Jews' and all philo-Semitism leads to the anti-Semitic beliefs that the latter seeks to deflate". [13] Philosemitic ideas have also been promoted by some American Evangelicals due to the influence of Dispensationalism. [8]

Brazil

A current of Jewish studies in Brazil has dedicated itself to studying the extent to which far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro's professed philo-Semitism reproduces traces of anti-Semitism. [14] This perspective, based on a study of the speeches of Bolsonaro and his mentor, the writer Olavo de Carvalho, suggests that the proclaimed sympathy of far-right sectors for the State of Israel and the Jews, often presented without distinction, reverberates anti-Semitic tropes in two ways. Firstly, by portraying Jews as a wealthy and powerful group. In this context, Jews are often depicted as pillars of capitalism, and therefore inherently hostile to the left. [15] The second and most significant expression of antisemitism in the far right's sympathy for Judaism would be inspired by authors such as Rabbi Marvin Stuart Antelman, and reaffirms conspiracy theories presenting left-wing Jews as a group seeking world domination, but which would ultimately undermine the Jewish nation itself. [16] In this context, researchers demonstrate how the philo-Semitism of the Brazilian extreme right has been employed to divide the Jewish community. The designation of true Jews is thus reserved for those who espouse conservative or reactionary policies, while left-wing Jews are regarded as apostates or traitors. [17]

In Asia

Very few Jews live in East Asian countries, but Jews are viewed in an especially positive light in some of them, partly owing to their shared wartime experiences during the Second World War. Examples include South Korea, [18] Japan, and China. [19] In general, Jews are stereotyped with characteristics that in South Korean culture are considered positive: intelligence, business-savviness and commitment to family values and responsibility, while in the Western world, the first of the two aforementioned stereotypes more often have the negatively interpreted equivalents of guile and greed. In South Korean primary schools the Talmud is mandatory reading. [18] According to Mary J. Ainslie, philosemitism in China is "part of a civilizationist narrative designed to position China as globally central and superior". [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. This sentiment is a form of racism, and a person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Primarily, antisemitic tendencies may be motivated by negative sentiment towards Jews as a people or by negative sentiment towards Jews with regard to Judaism. In the former case, usually presented as racial antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by the belief that Jews constitute a distinct race with inherent traits or characteristics that are repulsive or inferior to the preferred traits or characteristics within that person's society. In the latter case, known as religious antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by their religion's perception of Jews and Judaism, typically encompassing doctrines of supersession that expect or demand Jews to turn away from Judaism and submit to the religion presenting itself as Judaism's successor faith—this is a common theme within the other Abrahamic religions. The development of racial and religious antisemitism has historically been encouraged by the concept of anti-Judaism, which is distinct from antisemitism itself.

Some Christian Churches, Christian groups, and ordinary Christians express religious antisemitism toward the Jewish people and the associated religion of Judaism.

Antisemitism and the New Testament is the discussion of how Christian views of Judaism in the New Testament have contributed to discrimination against Jewish people throughout history and in the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semitic people</span> Obsolete term for an ethnic group in the Middle East

Semitic people or Semites is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group associated with people of the Middle East, including Arabs, Jews, Akkadians, and Phoenicians. The terminology is now largely unused outside the grouping "Semitic languages" in linguistics. First used in the 1770s by members of the Göttingen school of history, this biblical terminology for race was derived from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, together with the parallel terms Hamites and Japhetites.

Scholars have studied and debated Muslim attitudes towards Jews, as well as the treatment of Jews in Islamic thought and societies throughout the history of Islam. Parts of the Islamic literary sources give mention to certain Jewish groups present in the past or present, which has led to debates. Some of this overlaps with Islamic remarks on non-Muslim religious groups in general.

The history of antisemitism, defined as hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, goes back many centuries, with antisemitism being called "the longest hatred". Jerome Chanes identifies six stages in the historical development of antisemitism:

  1. Pre-Christian anti-Judaism in Ancient Greece and Rome that was primarily ethnic in nature
  2. Christian antisemitism in antiquity and the Middle Ages that was religious in nature and has extended into modern times
  3. Muslim antisemitism that was—at least in its classical form—nuanced, in that Jews were a protected class
  4. Political, social, and economic antisemitism during the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment Europe that laid the groundwork for racial antisemitism
  5. Racial antisemitism that arose in the 19th century and culminated in Nazism
  6. Contemporary antisemitism, which has been labeled by some as the new antisemitism

Religious antisemitism is aversion to or discrimination against Jews as a whole based on religious doctrines of supersession, which expect or demand the disappearance of Judaism and the conversion of Jews to other faiths. This form of antisemitism has frequently served as the basis for false claims and religious antisemitic tropes against Judaism. Sometimes, it is called theological antisemitism.

The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a research institute at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racial antisemitism</span> Prejudice and discrimination against Jews based on race or ethnicity

Racial antisemitism is prejudice against Jews based on a belief or assertion that Jews constitute a distinct race that has inherent traits or characteristics that appear in some way abhorrent or inherently inferior or otherwise different from the traits or characteristics of the rest of a society. The abhorrence may find expression in the form of discrimination, stereotypes or caricatures. Racial antisemitism may present Jews, as a group, as a threat in some way to the values or safety of a society. Racial antisemitism can seem deeper-rooted than religious antisemitism, because for religious antisemites conversion of Jews remains an option and once converted the "Jew" is gone. In the context of racial antisemitism Jews cannot get rid of their Jewishness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert S. Wistrich</span> Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1945–2015)

Robert Solomon Wistrich was a scholar of antisemitism, considered one of the world's foremost authorities on antisemitism.

Anti-Judaism describes a range of historic and current ideologies which are totally or partially based on opposition to Judaism, on the denial or the abrogation of the Mosaic covenant, and the replacement of Jewish people by the adherents of another religion, political theology, or way of life which is held to have superseded theirs as the "light to the nations" or God's chosen people. The opposition is maintained by the appropriation and adaptation of Jewish prophecy and texts, and the stigmatization of the very people who transmitted those texts. According to David Nirenberg there have been Christian, Islamic, nationalistic, Enlightenment rationalist, and socio-economic variations of this theme.

Antisemitic tropes or antisemitic canards are "sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since as early as the 2nd century, libels or allegations of Jewish guilt and cruelty emerged as a recurring motif along with antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity is a description of anti-Judaic sentiment in the first three centuries of Christianity; the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries. Early Christianity is sometimes considered as Christianity before 325 when the First Council of Nicaea was convoked by Constantine the Great, although it is not unusual to consider 4th and 5th century Christianity as members of this category as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antisemitism in the United States</span> Hatred towards the Jewish people within the US

Antisemitism has long existed in the United States. Most Jewish community relations agencies in the United States draw distinctions between antisemitism, which is measured in terms of attitudes and behaviors, and the security and status of American Jews, which are both measured by the occurrence of specific incidents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concerning the Jews</span> 1899 book by Mark Twain

"Concerning the Jews" is an 1899 short essay by Mark Twain. Twain had lived in Austria during 1896, and opined that the Habsburg empire used Jews as scapegoats to maintain unity in their immensely diverse empire.

Allosemitism is a neologism that encompasses both philosemitic and antisemitic attitudes towards Jews as the Other.

Anti-antisemitism is opposition to antisemitism or prejudice against Jews, and just like the history of antisemitism, the history of anti-antisemitism is long and multifaceted. According to historian Omer Bartov, political controversies around antisemitism involve "those who see the world through an antisemitic prism, for whom everything that has gone wrong with the world, or with their personal lives, is the fault of the Jews; and those who see the world through an anti-antisemitic prism, for whom every critical observation of Jews as individuals or as a community, or, most crucially, of the state of Israel, is inherently antisemitic". It is disputed whether or not anti-antisemitism is synonymous with philosemitism, but anti-antisemitism often includes the "imaginary and symbolic idealization of ‘the Jew’" which is similar to philosemitism.

Zionist antisemitism or antisemitic Zionism refers to a phenomenon in which antisemites express support for Zionism and the State of Israel. In some cases, this support may be promoted for explicitly antisemitic reasons. Historically, this type of antisemitism has been most notable among Christian Zionists, who may perpetrate religious antisemitism while being outspoken in their support for Jewish sovereignty in Israel due to their interpretation of Christian eschatology. Similarly, people who identify with the political far-right, particularly in Europe and the United States, may support the Zionist movement because they seek to expel Jews from their country and see Zionism as the least complicated method of achieving this goal and satisfying their racial antisemitism.

Antisemitism in the People's Republic of China is a mostly 21st century phenomenon and is complicated by the fact that there is little ground for antisemitism in China in historical sources. In the 2020s, antisemitic conspiracy theories in China began to spread and intensify. Some Chinese people believe in antisemitic tropes that Jews secretly rule the world and are business-minded.

When antisemitism accusations are exploited for political purposes, especially to counter criticism of Israel, it may be described variously as a weaponization of antisemitism, instrumentalization of antisemitism, or playing the antisemitism card. Such accusations have been criticized as a form of smear tactics and an "appeal to motive". Some writers have compared this to playing the race card. When used against Jews, it may take the form of the pejorative claim of "self-hating Jew".

References

  1. 1 2 Samuels, Maurice (2021). "Philosemitism". Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism. Springer International Publishing. pp. 201–214. ISBN   978-3-030-51658-1.
  2. ↑ Burnett, Stephen G. (2013). "Philosemitism in History edited by Jonathan Karp and Adam Sutcliffe (review)". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 31 (4): 132–134. ISSN   1534-5165.
  3. ↑ Sutcliffe, A. (2011). The Unfinished History of Philosemitism. Jewish Quarterly, 58(1), 64–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/0449010X.2011.10707112
  4. ↑ Cohen, Daniel (2020). "Good Jews". S: I.M.O.N. Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation. 7 (1): 118–127. doi:10.23777/SN.0120/ESS_DCOH01. ISSN   2408-9192.
  5. ↑ With Friends Like These Review of Philosemitism in History in the New Republic by Adam Karp
  6. ↑ The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 4 by Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley
  7. ↑ "Christian Philosemitism in England from Cromwell to the Jew Bill, 1656-1753. A Study in Jewish and Christian Identity". University of Bristol. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  8. 1 2 Frey, Jörg (2022-04-04), "Anti-Judaism, Philosemitism, and Protestant New Testament Studies: Perspectives and Questions", Protestant Bible Scholarship: Antisemitism, Philosemitism and Anti-Judaism, Brill, pp. 149–181, ISBN   978-90-04-50515-5 , retrieved 2024-02-13
  9. ↑ Dekel, Irit (May 2022). "Philosemitism in contemporary German media". Media, Culture & Society. 44 (4): 746–763. doi:10.1177/01634437211060193.
  10. ↑ "In Poland, a Jewish Revival Thrives—Minus Jews". The New York Times . 12 July 2007.
  11. ↑ "Esterka: między legendą a prawdą historyczną" . Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  12. 1 2 Wein, Martin (2015). "Masaeyk and the Jews". A History of Czechs and Jews: A Slavic Jerusalem. Routledge. pp. 44–50. ISBN   978-1138811652 . Retrieved 2 July 2015– via Google Books.
  13. ↑ Kravitz, Bennett (2002). "Philo-Semitism as Anti-Semitism in Mark Twain's "Concerning the Jews"". Studies in Popular Culture. 25 (2): 1–12. ISSN   0888-5753. JSTOR   41970387.
  14. ↑ Gherman, Michel (2022). O não-judeu judeu: A tentativa de colonização do judaísmo pelo bolsonarismo. São Paulo: Fósforo. p. 9. ISBN   9786584568471.
  15. ↑ Gherman , p. 132
  16. ↑ Gherman , pp. 142, 145
  17. ↑ Gherman , p. 149
  18. 1 2 Alper, Tim. "Why South Koreans are in love with Judaism". The Jewish Chronicle. May 12, 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  19. ↑ Nagler-Cohen, Liron. "Chinese: 'Jews make money'". Ynetnews. April 23, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  20. ↑ Ainslie, Mary J. (2021). "Chinese Philosemitism and Historical Statecraft: Incorporating Jews and Israel into Contemporary Chinese Civilizationism". The China Quarterly. 245: 208–226. doi: 10.1017/S0305741020000302 . ISSN   0305-7410. S2CID   218827042.

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