PaRDeS 23 - JewBus, Jewish Hindus & other Jewish Encounters with East Asian Religions.pdf (original) (raw)
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The paper offers a comprehensive historical and conceptual overview of Jewish-Hindu relations. It offers an encyclopedic overview of historical roots, theological differences, legal challenges and present-day relations. Special attention is given to the possibilities of how Jews can handle the claim that Hinduism is idolatrous and to its present-day consequences. Hindu-Jewish summits form the last chapter in the history of relations, and their declarations are analyzed as part of the overview. The paper concludes with a projection of areas for future development of the relationship.
(Book) Jewish Communities in Modern Asia: Their Rise, Demise and Resurgence
Cambridge University Press, 2023
Jewish settlement in Asia, beyond the Middle East, is largely a modern phenomenon. Imperial expansion and adventurism by Great Britain and Russia were the chief motors that initially drove Jewish settlers to move eastwards, in the nineteenth century, combined as this was with the rise of port cities and general development of the global economy. The new immigrants soon become centrally involved, in ways quite disproportionate to their numbers, in Asian commerce. Their role and centrality finished with the outbreak of World War II, the chaos that resulted from the fighting, and the consequent collapse of Western imperialism. This unique, groundbreaking book charts their rise and fall while pointing to signs of these communities' postwar resurgence and revival. Fourteen chapters by many of the most prominent authorities in the field, from a range of perspectives, explore questions of identity, society, and culture across several Asian locales. It is essential reading for scholars of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies. REVIEWS "This is an exceptionally important volume not just for Jewish Studies, but in the exploration of modernity in diverse Asian societies, as well as scholarship on migration history, colonialism, and decolonization in the world's largest and most populated continent. ... Jewish Communities in Modern Asia is a remarkable volume that will serve as the benchmark and point of reference for scholarship and general interest about Jewish life in Asia. While breaking new ground in both Jewish and Asian Studies, as well as advancing scholarship on a constellation of different cultures and nations, the volume is markedly readable. Many chapters of this text would be great additions to syllabi examining diverse Asian modernities, from China to Indonesia to Japan. For Jewish Studies courses and scholars, this volume offers much to consider about how intra-Jewish difference has shaped communal life and cross-cultural encounters." — Dylan H. O'Brien, Journal of Religious History 48, no. 3 (2024): 1-3. ENDORSEMENTS “A formidable feat of transnational scholarship, this volume offers a both sweeping and richly detailed historical overview of Jewish Communities in Modern Asia, reconstructing a mostly lost and still too little known world of Jewish life stretching from Central Asia and Siberia to India, China, Southeast Asia, and Japan, from Bukhara to Yemen and Singapore, and even into the myths of “ten lost tribes” from the 18th into the 21rst century. This study is a major contribution to current debates about multiple and hybrid Jewish identities in relation to histories of colonialism and post-colonialism.” — Atina Grossmann, Professor of History, Cooper Union, New York, author of Jews, Germans, and Allies (2009) and coeditor of Shelter from the Holocaust (2017) “This highly engaging and richly varied volume will be important reading for a wide range of audiences and disciplines, including global history, anthropology and religious studies. As a whole it resonates with work on all of the covered Asian regions and contributes fresh ways of thinking through the themes of ethnicity and race, histories of minorities and economics.” — William Gould, Professor of Indian History, University of Leeds, author of Boundaries of Belonging Localities, Citizenship and Rights in India and Pakistan (2019) “Jewish Communities in Modern Asia not only surveys vividly Jewish hubs in various parts of Asia but also provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date meta-narrative of the Jewish presence eastward of the much researched Middle East. At present, this is the most significant contribution to the emerging field of Jewish Asian studies.” — Ber Kotlerman, Professor of Jewish Studies, Bar Ilan University, editor of Mizrekh: Jewish Studies in the Far East (2009–11) “This is an excellent collection of original, engaging, and carefully researched chapters which shed light on the multiple ways in which the history of Jewish communities intersects with the histories of colonialism and global economy. A must read for anyone interested in modern Jewish Studies and the history of modern Asia.” — Yulia Egorova, Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, author of Jews and Muslims in South Asia (2018) “With the growth of scholarly interest in the subject of historical and emerging Jewish communities in Asia and the Pacific region, this excellent volume will be more than welcome.” — Tudor Parfitt, Distinguished University Professor, Florida International University, author of Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism (2013) and The Lost Tribes of Israel (2002)
Jewish Communities in Modern Asia: Background, Significance and the Main Questions
Jewish Communities in Modern Asia: Their Rise, Demise and Resurgence, edited by Rotem Kowner (pp. 1–22). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023
The history of Jewish communities in Asia is an intriguing saga of a prewar expansion, postwar demise and a modest recent recovery. It is largely a recent history. In spite of its vast size and large population, very few Jews lived in premodern Asia, east of its western region. 1 Indeed, it was not until the nineteenth century that large parts of Asia witnessed the first signs of an embryonic Jewish settlement. The expansion of the British and Russian empires eastward was the main catalyst for a Jewish influx into Asia's eastern regions. They found the prospering port cities of Southeast and East Asia and the new towns along the railroads of North and Central Asia to offer new opportunities, which, together with the development of a global economy, seemed irresistible. Soon, these Jewish pioneers, whether settlers or sojourners, joined the spectacular development of new commercial networks and modern urban society in numerous places in Asia. Their contribution was often short-lived, however, as the brief Japanese occupation of the region during the Second World War and the consequent collapse of Western colonialism brought an abrupt end to many of their communities. Jewish Communities in Modern Asia deals with a very small diaspora, in fact. Since 1850, the number of Jews living in Asia has fluctuated between 25,000 to 1.2 million at the most. Today, the number of Jews in the world's largest continent, beyond the realms of the Middle East, is no more than 60,000, that is, about the same as the population of a small
Asian Journal of Religious Studies May-June 2015 60/3
2015
Asian Journal of Religious Studies May-June 2015 60/3 Editorial: Religions in 2050 | (pp. 3-4) Towards "A Church that Is for the Poor and With the Poor"<br> Job Kozhamthadam SJ | (pp. 5-10) Living without Limits <br> Kuruvilla Pandikattu SJ | (pp. 11-15) The Star of Behlehem and "The Ray of Truth that Enlightens All Humans"<br> Boris Repschinski SJ | (pp. 16-36) Homily Notes | (pp. 16-36)37-48)