Jewish institutional life assimilated to whichever dominant culture surrounded it

Evidence

If Jewish religious law can be determined in a matter as central as marriage by the dominant culture, on the very sound principle of dina de-malkhuta dina, the law of the state is (religious) law, then we shall not be surprised to find other resemblances. The rabbis, who in the Christian world, particularly in western Christendom, tend to become clergymen, in the Islamic world tend to become ulema. Sometimes in the Western world they also become ulema, but that is another question. We can see the same acculturation in architecture, and strik­ ingly even in theology. There is a story told of an Anglican scholar who was a specialist on Judaism and published a book entitled The Systematic Theology of the Synagogue. It was reviewed by a rabbi who began his review by saying, “first of all there is no such thing as ‘the Synagogue,’ and if there were, it wouldn’t have a theology and if it did, it wouldn’t be systematic.” Nevertheless, there is a Jewish theology, which developed at a relatively late date; it is on the whole rather systematic, and the external influences on the development of this system­ atic theology are plainly visible. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 328

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the Said-adjacent cluster: how external cultural frames shape what a tradition becomes legible as.
• CANDY: The review — “there is no such thing as the Synagogue” — is a witty elevator anecdote.