Religious Freedom As a Basic Human Right Â•ﬁ the Jewish Perspective

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Religious Freedom As a Basic Human Right Â•ﬁ the Jewish Perspective

Tel Aviv University Law School Tel Aviv University Law Faculty Papers Year 2007 Paper 47 Religious Freedom As A Basic Human Right – The Jewish Perspective Asher Maoz∗ ∗Tel Aviv University, [email protected] This working paper is hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress) and may not be commer- cially reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder. http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art47 Copyright c 2007 by the author. Religious Freedom As A Basic Human Right – The Jewish Perspective Asher Maoz Abstract This short essay examines the place of religious freedom within Judaism. It examines both tolerance towards other religions and tolerance towards deviation from religious principles within the Jewish community. Since there are various views in Judaism, the paper endeavors to describe the attitude of mainstream contempo- rary Judaism. Although there were some periods of massive, even forcible, conversion to Ju- daism in the past, Judaism is essentially a non-missionary religion. While conversion to Judaism is possible, there is an ostensible reluctance to permit even the conversion of individuals, let alone mass conversion. All mankind was given the seven Noahide commandments, which are comprised of basic moral tenets. At a later stage the Jews were given the Torah on Mt. Sinai, which is binding only upon them. Only at ”the end of the days” will the law will go out of Zion to all the peoples. Until then gentiles who follow the Noahide commandments are regarded as the ”righteous among the nations”. Judaic teachings distinguish, moreover, between idolatry that involves moral corruption and monotheistic faiths, which are highly respected. Judaism does not recognize freedom of religion for its members. It does sanc- tion, however, freedom within religion. Judaic teachings are replete with diverse opinions, all of them regarded “words of the living God.” Moreover, Judaism lacks a central institute that renders decisions on controversial issues. However, when rules are laid down, in accordance with established guidelines, one is not free to infringe them. Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art47 Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art47 Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art47 Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art47 Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press http://law.bepress.com/taulwps/art47 Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Download Download
Nisan / The Levantine Review Volume 4 Number 2 (Winter 2015) Identity and Peoples in History Speculating on Ancient Mediterranean Mysteries Mordechai Nisan* We are familiar with a philo-Semitic disposition characterizing a number of communities, including Phoenicians/Lebanese, Kabyles/Berbers, and Ismailis/Druze, raising the question of a historical foundation binding them all together. The ethnic threads began in the Galilee and Mount Lebanon and later conceivably wound themselves back there in the persona of Al-Muwahiddun [Unitarian] Druze. While DNA testing is a fascinating methodology to verify the similarity or identity of a shared gene pool among ostensibly disparate peoples, we will primarily pursue our inquiry using conventional historical materials, without however—at the end—avoiding the clues offered by modern science. Our thesis seeks to substantiate an intuition, a reading of the contours of tales emanating from the eastern Mediterranean basin, the Levantine area, to Africa and Egypt, and returning to Israel and Lebanon. The story unfolds with ancient biblical tribes of Israel in the north of their country mixing with, or becoming Lebanese Phoenicians, travelling to North Africa—Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya in particular— assimilating among Kabyle Berbers, later fusing with Shi’a Ismailis in the Maghreb, who would then migrate to Egypt, and during the Fatimid period evolve as the Druze. The latter would later flee Egypt and return to Lebanon—the place where their (biological) ancestors had once dwelt. The original core group was composed of Hebrews/Jews, toward whom various communities evince affinity and identity today with the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
[Show full text]
Freedom of Religion and of Conscience in Israel
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law Catholic University Law Review Volume 47 Issue 2 Winter 1998 Article 8 1998 Freedom of Religion and of Conscience in Israel Ruth Lapidoth Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation Ruth Lapidoth, Freedom of Religion and of Conscience in Israel, 47 Cath. U. L. Rev. 441 (1998). Available at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vol47/iss2/8 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by CUA Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Catholic University Law Review by an authorized editor of CUA Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND OF CONSCIENCE IN ISRAEL Ruth Lapidoth* I. INTRODUCTION For almost two thousand years the Jews lived as a religious minority, sometimes tolerated and at other times persecuted in a great number of countries. Only in 1948 did they succeed in establishing a State in which they constituted a majority of the population. Moreover, this State was formally established as a "Jewish State." These circumstances explain the special interest in the question of how and to what extent Israel rec- ognizes and implements the right to freedom of religion and of con- science. Like all other human rights, this one has to be judged not simply by the general proclamation of the right but by the details of its implementation and by its limitations.
[Show full text]
Gen. 1,26 and 2,7 in Judaism, Samaritanism, and Gnosticism+)
GEN. 1,26 AND 2,7 IN JUDAISM, SAMARITANISM, AND GNOSTICISM+) BY JARL FOSSUM Bilthoven,The Netherlands The scope of this paper is to restore an ancient Jewish haggadah on Gen. 1,26 and trace its subsequent development. The tannaite and amoraic interpretations of Gen. 1,26 do not differ from other rabbinical expositions of Scriptural passages in that they show us a body of scholars agreeing with each other in all fundamental respects, but-mainly through the works of J. NEUSNER and his students-it has become clear that we cannot trust this picture. In order to recover the original form of the haggadah, we should com- pare the rabbinical evidence with Philonic and Gnostic texts, where the passage plays a very important role. Furthermore, the Samaritan literature must not be left out. It has been known for a long time that the Samaritans are preservers of ancient halakhic traditions once in vogue also among the Jews'); we shall see in the +) This is an expanded version of a paper read in the Judaism section at the XIVth IAHR Congress, held at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, August 17-22, 1980. The theme of the Congress was "Traditions in Contact and Change" . 1) Already A. GEIGERsuggested that the Samaritans, not of pure Israelite stock, at one time had to borrow the doctrines and religious usages current in Jerusalem in order to gain favour with the religious authorities, viz., the Sadducees. Later, when the Pharisees came into power and the Sadducean theology was repressed, according to Geiger, the Samaritans kept to the old ways.
[Show full text]
Are Jews the Only True Monotheists? Some Critical Reflections in Jewish Thought from the Renaissance to the Present
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Departmental Papers (History) Department of History 2015 Are Jews the Only True Monotheists? Some Critical Reflections in Jewish Thought from the Renaissance to the Present David B. Ruderman University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/history_papers Part of the History of Religion Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Ruderman, D. B. (2015). Are Jews the Only True Monotheists? Some Critical Reflections in Jewish Thought from the Renaissance to the Present. Melilah: Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies, 12 22-30. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/history_papers/39 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/history_papers/39 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Are Jews the Only True Monotheists? Some Critical Reflections in Jewish Thought from the Renaissance to the Present Abstract Monotheism, by simple definition, implies a belief in one God for all peoples, not for one particular nation. But as the Shemah prayer recalls, God spoke exclusively to Israel in insisting that God is one. This address came to define the essential nature of the Jewish faith, setting it apart from all other faiths both in the pre-modern and modern worlds. This essay explores the positions of a variety of thinkers on the question of the exclusive status of monotheism in Judaism from the Renaissance until the present day. It first discusses the challenge offered to Judaism by the Renaissance thinker Pico della Mirandola and his notion of ancient theology which claimed a common core of belief among all nations and cultures.
[Show full text]
Julius Wellhausen, Anti-Judaism, and Hebrew Bible Scholarship
religions Article Unapologetic Apologetics: Julius Wellhausen, Anti-Judaism, and Hebrew Bible Scholarship Stacy Davis Department of Religious Studies and Theology Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA; [email protected] Abstract: Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) is in many ways the ancestor of modern Hebrew Bible scholarship. His Prolegomena to the History of Israel condensed decades of source critical work on the Torah into a documentary hypothesis that is still taught today in almost all Hebrew Bible courses in some form. What is not taught as frequently is the anti-Judaism that underpins his hypothesis. This is in part due to unapologetic apologetics regarding Wellhausen’s bias, combined with the insistence that a nineteenth-century scholar cannot be judged by twenty-ﬁrst century standards. These calls for compassion are made exclusively by white male scholars, leaving Jewish scholars the solitary task of pointing out Wellhausen’s clear anti-Judaism. In a discipline that is already overwhelmingly white, male and Christian, the minimizing of Wellhausen’s racism suggests two things. First, those who may criticize contextual biblical studies done by women and scholars of color have no problem pleading for a contextual understanding of Wellhausen while downplaying the growing anti-Judaism and nationalism that was a part of nineteenth-century Germany. Second, recent calls for inclusion in the Society of Biblical Literature may be well intentioned but ultimately useless if the guild cannot simply call one of its most brilliant founders the biased man that he was. Keywords: Wellhausen; anti-Judaism; historical context Citation: Davis, Stacy. 2021. Unapologetic Apologetics: Julius Wellhausen, Anti-Judaism, and Hebrew Bible Scholarship.
[Show full text]
Educating Christians About Judaism
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Senior Thesis Projects, 1993-2002 College Scholars 2000 Educating Christians About Judaism Margaret cock Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_interstp2 Recommended Citation cock, Margaret, "Educating Christians About Judaism" (2000). Senior Thesis Projects, 1993-2002. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_interstp2/53 This Project is brought to you for free and open access by the College Scholars at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Thesis Projects, 1993-2002 by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Educating Christians About Judaism Margaret E. Pattison University of Tennessee Committee: Dr. Gilya G. Schmidt Dr. Karen Levy Dr. Vejas Liulevicius Table of Contents Abstract Introduction 4 Literature Review 5 Experiment 23 Results/Conclusions 25 Education Part One 36 Education Part Two 36 F inaI ThoughtslRecommendations 43 Reference List 45 Appendixes Abstract Many Christians are unaware of their religion~s connection to Judaism. Because of centuries of false doctrine and anti-Semitism on the part of the church leaders, much of the Christian community has little or no understanding of the parental role of the Jewish faith. They forget that Jesus, the central figure in Christianity, was a practicing member of the Jewish church. This project's goals are to teach a smalI popu1ation of Christians some minor details of Judaism, but more importantly, to instill a deep appreciation in Christians' hearts for the Jewish faith and tradition. To determine the relative knowledge of Christians, different age groups of members of Central Baptist Church of Bearden were surveyed.
[Show full text]
A Comparison of Free Speech in American and Jewish Law
Matthew Stone Chicago Kent School of Law A COMPARISON OF FREE SPEECH IN AMERICAN AND JEWISH LAW I write this paper as two kinds of student – I am at the same time a law student and also a rabbinical student. In law school, I need not look very far to see the tremendous importance that American law has placed on the fundamental freedom of speech. The framers placed so much emphasis on the right to free speech that they made it the very first amendment to the United States Constitution. So it was a natural question to ask coming from law school to my rabbinic studies: where does the Torah1 discuss the freedom of speech? The answer, surprisingly, is that it does not. In the all the annals of Jewish law, there does not appear anywhere to be a clear statement of the freedom of speech held so important by the American people. The subject of this paper is to ask why that clear statement is missing and to ultimately compare American and Jewish law to discover what the Jewish approach to free speech is and how it differs from American law. Talmudic law is much more comfortable regulating what it considers harmful speech than American law is. To understand the difference between the two systems’ approach, one must examine each system’s view of speech and government and each system’s notion of how laws are made. Part I of this paper more fully defines what speech means to each philosophy, thus 1 Throughout this paper I reference the Torah, Talmud and Jewish law relatively interchangeably.
[Show full text]
The Israeli Druze: Neither Here Nor There
University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) 2018 The Israeli Druze: Neither Here nor There Sydney Green University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Green, Sydney, "The Israeli Druze: Neither Here nor There" (2018). Honors Theses. 885. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/885 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ISRAELI DRUZE: “NEITHER HERE NOR THERE” © 2018 By Sydney Elizabeth Green A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion Of the Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies Croft Institute for International Studies Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College The University of Mississippi University, Mississippi May 2011 Approved: _________________________________ Advisor: Dr. Vivian Ibrahim _________________________________ Reader: Dr.Yael Zeira _________________________________ Reader: Dr. Luca D’Anna !1 ABSTRACT SYDNEY ELIZABETH GREEN The Israeli Druze: “Neither Here Nor There” (Under the direction of Dr. Vivian Ibrahim) Druze scholar Rabah Halabi describes the Druze standing in Israel as “neither here nor there.” This thesis asks the question: How do the Druze fit into a society created to house and defend the Jewish people? To answer this question, Druze identity is examined from the Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Israeli perspectives regarding the Druze community based on their service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) through a case study of media reactions to the July 2017 fatal shooting of two on-duty Druze policemen by three Arab-Israeli shooters at Islamic holy site al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City in Jerusalem.
[Show full text]
ON the INFLUENCE of WORLD RELIGIONS on INTERNATIONAL TRADE Matthias Helble
On the Infl uence of World Religions on International Trade 209 11 ON THE INFLUENCE OF WORLD RELIGIONS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE Matthias Helble As the world economy is integrating, trade between countries is growing rapidly. The exchange of goods not only has an eco- nomic, but also a cultural dimension. This paper investigates the possible ways that religion infl uences international trade patterns. It studies the view of the fi ve world religions, namely Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, on economic activity, and trade in particular. Analyzing empirically trade fl ows between 151 countries, the paper fi nds an impact of religion on trade. Furthermore, the results indicate that religious openness boosts trade performance of countries. Given these results, the paper derives several policy recommendations.1 INTRODUCTION The individual person is at the origin of all economic activity. The indi- vidual’s personal and cultural traits decide how and with whom he or she interacts economically. Whereas personal characteristics may be assumed to be purely random, cultural traits are not; the latter may have an important impact on economic behavior. The economic behavior we are focusing on in this paper concerns international trade. With an annual growth rate of around 6 percent, world trade is one of the major engines of globalization. Even though the number of trading relationships seems to remain stable (Helpman et al. 2005), more and more goods are being exchanged. The exchange of goods does not stand by itself and always takes place in a cultural context. Therefore, the more goods are exchanged between Matthias Helble is a Ph.D.
[Show full text]
Judaism As a Religious Legal System Elliot Dorff
Hastings Law Journal Volume 29 | Issue 6 Article 4 1-1978 Judaism as a Religious Legal System Elliot Dorff Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Elliot Dorff, Judaism as a Religious Legal System, 29 Hastings L.J. 1331 (1978). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol29/iss6/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Judaism as a Religious Legal System By ELLIOT DoPFF* Introduction I MERICANS are accustomed to thinking about Judaism as a religion, comprised primarily of beliefs and moral max- ims. Judaism is a religion; it does espouse beliefs and norms of behavior, but it includes much more. As Mordecai Kaplan has suggested, Judaism is best described as a civilization because Jewish identity involves attachment to a specific land, language, lit- erature, music, art, and people, in addition to beliefs and morals.' The religion is the core of the civilization because it gives all the other elements their distinctly Jewish character, but it is not the to- tality of what it means to be Jewish. The fact that Judaism is a religious civilization is important for two reasons. First, along with the specific attachments identified by Kaplan, Judaism includes a body of law. In fact, this body of law is central to the meaning of Judaism.
[Show full text]
An Introduction to Judaism
Judaism Judaism Jewish people consider themselves the descendants of Abraham and the heirs of the Torah, which was the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Both Christianity and Islam have roots in Judaism. According to Jewish tradition, around 1900 BCE, God revealed Himself to Abraham, the ancestor of Jewish people, who was called to leave his home in Ur and travel to Canaan (later known as Israel, Judea and then Palestine), a land which God promised to give his descendants. Approximately 450 years later, God rescued the Jews from slavery in Egypt (an event known as The Exodus) and led them back to the land of Israel with Moses as their leader. God then made a further covenant with the nation at Mount Sinai. He revealed the Torah, including the Ten Commandments and other rules to live by, thus marking the beginning of Judaism as a structured religion. Strands of Judaism There are two main groups within Judaism: • Orthodox: a conservative and originalist group, for whom the Torah remains authoritative on modern life. The practices and beliefs of Orthodox Judaism include daily worship, dietary laws, traditional prayers, regular study of the Torah, the separation of men and women in the synagogue and strict observance of the Sabbath and religious festivals. • Progressive or Reform Judaism: Reform Judaism is the most Chaplaincy Spirituality liberal Jewish denomination. The central tenets of Judaism, namely God, the Torah and Israel are affirmed, while acknowledging a great diversity in Jewish beliefs and practices. For example, women may become rabbis, illustrating that tradition is tempered by modern understandings.
[Show full text]
Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church V. City of New Berlin
No. 04-2326 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT _________________ STS. CONSTANTINE & HELEN GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH, INC. and JOHN W. DEMETROPOULOS, Appellants v. CITY OF NEW BERLIN and TELESFORE WYSOCKI Appellees _________________ ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN Honorable J.P. Stadtmueller _________________ BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES AS AMICUS CURIAE _________________ R. ALEXANDER ACOSTA Assistant Attorney General DAVID K. FLYNN ERIC W. TREENE KAREN L. STEVENS Attorneys Civil Rights Division Department of Justice Appellate Section - PHB 5022 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 (202) 353-8621 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION ....................................1 ISSUE PRESENTED ................................................1 INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES ................................2 STATEMENT OF FACTS AND STATEMENT OF THE CASE .............2 1. Background .............................................2 2. Proceedings Below .......................................4 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ........................................6 STANDARD OF REVIEW ...........................................8 ARGUMENT THE DISTRICT COURT INCORRECTLY APPLIED CLUB’S STANDARD FOR ASSESSING FACIAL VIOLATIONS OF RLUIPA’S SUBSTANTIAL BURDEN PROVISION TO THIS AS-APPLIED CHALLENGE ...............................8 A. Decisions Interpreting Substantial Burden Under The Free Exercise Clause And RFRA Inform The Definition Under RLUIPA .....................................9
[Show full text]