Does Ancient Islamic Anti-Semitism Have Christian Origins?

Yes, according to Philip Jenkins, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern religions. Noting that the most explicitly anti-Jewish passages in early Islamic texts are to be found not in the Quran itself but in the hadith (extracanonical lore), Jenkins argues that the authors were influenced by nearby Christians’ attitudes toward Jews. Take, for instance, a prophecy found in an apocalyptic Islamic work, entitled the Turmoil and the Portents, that calls for the slaughter of Jews by Muslims:

[This passage, cited in the Hamas charter], is a major departure from the world of the Quran and of Muhammad’s era. Nor does it fit regularly into the history of early Islam, when many Jews welcomed the Muslim conquerors as liberators from Christian rule.

The closest parallels to the text are actually in Eastern Christian writings, either Greek or Syriac, and they abounded during the 8th century, at the time when [this text probably] originated. From the 4th century onward, Eastern Christians were frequently in conflict with Jews, and a couple of incidents in particular were deeply resented. . . . After the Muslim conquest [of Jerusalem in the 7th century], Jews often persuaded Muslim authorities to suppress public symbols and displays of Christianity, notably the display of the cross. In the 720s, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III tried to force all Jews within his realm to receive baptism.

Anti-Jewish themes were prominent in Eastern Christian apocalyptic literature, which at so many points resembles . . . the Turmoil and the Portents. I suggest that these strong anti-Jewish themes originated among converted Christians, possibly clergy or monks, and probably during the 8th century. In doing this, I am not trying to minimize the toxic quality of these passages, or to underestimate their pernicious influence on extremist Islamic thought. Rather, I want to trace their origins, and to stress yet again the commonalities of Islamic and Christian apocalyptic thought.

Read more at Patheos

More about: Anti-Semitism, History & Ideas, Islam, Jewish-Christian relations, Muslim-Jewish relations, Quran

It’s Time for Haredi Jews to Become Part of Israel’s Story

Unless the Supreme Court grants an extension from a recent ruling, on Monday the Israeli government will be required to withhold state funds from all yeshivas whose students don’t enlist in the IDF. The issue of draft exemptions for Haredim was already becoming more contentious than ever last year; it grew even more urgent after the beginning of the war, as the army for the first time in decades found itself suffering from a manpower crunch. Yehoshua Pfeffer, a haredi rabbi and writer, argues that haredi opposition to army service has become entirely disconnected from its original rationale:

The old imperative of “those outside of full-time Torah study must go to the army” was all but forgotten. . . . The fact that we do not enlist, all of us, regardless of how deeply we might be immersed in the sea of Torah, brings the wrath of Israeli society upon us, gives a bad name to all of haredi society, and desecrates the Name of Heaven. It might still bring harsh decrees upon the yeshiva world. It is time for us to engage in damage limitation.

In Pfeffer’s analysis, today’s haredi leaders, by declaring that they will fight the draft tooth and nail, are violating the explicit teachings of the very rabbis who created and supported the exemptions. He finds the current attempts by haredi publications to justify the status quo not only unconvincing but insincere. At the heart of the matter, according to Pfeffer, is a lack of haredi identification with Israel as a whole, a lack of feeling that the Israeli story is also the haredi story:

Today, it is high time we changed our tune. The new response to the demand for enlistment needs to state, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is our story. On the one hand, it is crucial to maintain and even strengthen our isolation from secular values and culture. . . . On the other hand, this cultural isolationism must not create alienation from our shared story with our fellow brethren living in the Holy Land. Participation in the army is one crucial element of this belonging.

Read more at Tzarich Iyun

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israeli society