From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jewish assimilation
Jewish assimilation
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Population comparisons Jewish assimilation refers to the cultural assimilation and
United States · Israel · Russia social integration of Jews in their surrounding culture.
Iraq · Spain · Portugal · Gibraltar Assimilation became legally possible in Europe during
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Background
Turkey · Greece · Africa Judaism forbids the worship of other gods. In addition to
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pulsion from the Land of Israel, and struggling to pre-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jewish assimilation
serve their language and customs as a tiny minority in a many different challenges of acculturation. In the early
predominantly Christian or Muslim world. 20th century there was social discrimination against Jews
in certain quarters,[1] with many universities and profes-
History sions barred to them or with a quota limit.
After the Holocaust, which demonstrated the failure
The Jewish festival of Hanukkah stems from the Mac- of the European assimilation model, the state of Israel
cabees’ revolt against the Seleucid Empire. Many Jews of was established.
the era had adopted the Hellenistic language and culture
of that empire, which the Maccabee group considered
an abomination. Jewish Hellenism is an early example of
Debate
what is now called Jewish assimilation. The issue of Jewish assimilation has agitated Jewish
Jewish assimilation began anew among Ashkenazi polemicists and intrigued Jewish historians for a consid-
Jews on an extensive scale towards the end of the 18th erable time. Since some Jews first abandoned the tradi-
century in Western Europe, especially Germany, as the tional Jewish community to embrace modern secular cul-
Haskalah emerged as a culture. Reasons cited for its ini- ture, other Jews have chastised them for deserting the
tial success included hope for better opportunities ac- Jewish people. “Religious Jews regarded those who assim-
companying assimilation into the non-Jewish European ilated with horror, and Zionists campaigned against as-
communities, especially among the upper classes. similation as an act of treason.”[2] As a result, the term
Although some laws were changed and had allowed assimilation, once used proudly by those who sought in-
assimilation to flourish, the history of European anti- tegration into European society, became a term of con-
semitism, which often had resulted from church and tempt, a symbol of subservience to gentile culture, a sign
state actions, was not as easily forgotten. Both the Chris- of rejection of all links to the common history and des-
tian and Jewish communities were divided concerning tiny of the Jewish people, and a betrayal of their ances-
answers to what was known as "the Jewish question.” tors who suffered pogroms and torture to keep Judaism
The question, coming during the rise of nationalism in alive. Such Jews consider assimilation a loss of Jewish
Europe, included the extent to which each nation could identity of an individual either by marriage to a spouse
integrate its Jewish citizens, and if not integrated, how who is not Jewish, or by abandonment of the Jewish re-
should they be treated and the question solved. ligion to adopt another religion. In reality, the act of the
As an alternative to a more liberal practice of Ju- assimilation comprises a number of elements and stages.
daism, assimilation also took the form of conversion to In Assimilation in American Life, Milton Gordon defined
Christianity. None of the descendants of Moses Men- assimilation as a continuum, with the first stage accul-
delssohn retained their Jewish religion. However, anti- turation, that is, the adoption of such outward cultural
Semites often imagined even converts from the Jewish forms of the larger society as language, dress, recreation-
religion and their descendants to still possess inherited al tastes, and political views. Total assimilation is only
Jewish traits that the anti-Semites considered "undesir- possible if the host society is receptive and extensive in-
able," and inferior to "native" citizens. Assimilated Jews termarriage takes place. Most European and American
often did not achieve the acceptance that they were hop- Jews acculturated, but they rarely lost their sense of
ing assimilation would provide. Jewish identity. They most often abstained from what
This antisemitism led Jews to philosophical questions Gordon called "structural assimilation," the creation of
of Jewish identity and Who is a Jew?. The propriety of friendships and other contacts primarily with members
assimilation, and various paths toward it were among of the host society.
the earliest internal debates of the emancipation era, in- From an international conference on Jewish assimi-
cluding whether and to what extent Jews should relin- lation held at Haifa University in May 1976, Bela Vago
quish their right to uniqueness in return for civic equali- edited a collection of papers entitled Jewish Assimilation
ty. These debates initially took place within the diaspora, in Modern Times. Most of these papers accept the Zionist
a population with a revered historical Biblical homeland, equation of assimilation with Jewish group disappearan-
but without a state of their own for nearly two thousand ce. They generally agreed that anti-Semitism was the ex-
years. planation for continued Jewish identity. Persecution de-
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, conditions spite attempted integration forced assimilationists to re-
in eastern Europe (particularly Russia and Poland) con- alise that the host cultures were un-prepared to allow
vinced many Jews to emigrate to the United States. (In them to assimilate totally.
Germany, where Jewish assimilation got its start, Jewish
integration into the Army and other occupations was
successful. It was not until the rise of fascism that Ger-
Christian-Jewish relations
man Jewish assimilation failed horribly.) In America tra- The question of Jewish assimilation is a topic of concern
ditional disabilities were generally absent but they faced for both Jewish and Christian religious leaders. A number
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jewish assimilation
of Progressive Christian denominations have publicly de-
clared that they will no longer proselytize Jews. They
References
have made use of dual-covenant theology.[3][4][5] [1] The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth
The Roman Catholic Church has attracted some Jews, Century: Antisemitism and Assimilation
such as Gustav Mahler, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Marcel [2] Bela Vago, "Review of Jewish Assimilation in
Proust, Edith Stein, Israel Zolli, Erich von Stroheim, and Modern Times", Marsha L. Rozenblit, Jewish Social
Jean-Marie Lustiger. In Spain, after the 15th century, Studies, Vol. 44, No. 3/4 (Summer - Autumn, 1982),
there was controversy over the sincerity of Spanish pp. 334-335 [1]
Judeo-Catholics who converted under pain of being ex- [3] Ecumenical Considerations on Jewish-Christian
pelled from Spain.[6] Dialogue (World Council of Churches)
[4] Allan R. Brockway, "Should Christians Attempt to
Evangelize Jews? Israel’s Covenant with God
See also Remains Valid"
• Hellenistic Judaism [5] Policies of mainline and liberal Christians towards
• Historical Jewish population comparisons proselytizing Jews (religioustolerance.org)
• Bundism [6] Adherents.com
• Yevsektsiya
External links
• Are we assimilating?, Eretz Acheret Magazine
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jewish_assimilation&oldid=467998950"
Categories:
• Jewish history
• Cultural assimilation
• Jewish society
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