Jewish orientalists’ scholarship was shaped by sectarian Jewish concerns, not colonialism

Evidence

I agree that as a project, orientalism was indeed sometimes the intellectual handmaiden to colonialism. Because colonialism was often fortified and abetted by Christian missionary activity, however, it bore a particular, sectarian stamp. Given the place Jews occupied in European society, especially vis-à-vis Christianity, Jewish orientalists approached orientalism with a different set of assumptions and prejudices than Gentile orientalists. Specifically, I would argue that for the orientalists I am about to discuss, it was their Jewish sensibilities—namely, their desire for Jewish civil equality, their antipathy to Christianity, and their rejection of Orthodox Judaism—that colored their orientalism. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 377 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Jews did produce critical responses that challenged dominant scholarly trends as well as dominant images of the East. Susannah Heschel has pointed out the subversive aspects of Abraham Geiger’s scholarship on both early Christianity and on Muhammad. Indeed, in this context, Geiger may be seen as similar to other Jewish intellectuals who also subverted some aspects of modernity through the participation in the general discourse. It seems to me, however, that Jews did not really offer an alternative approach to orientalism. Religious reform of Judaism by scholars such as Geiger was directed by the intention to divest the religion of its “irrational” aspects and was presented in obvious orientalist terms. Even if one can argue that Jewish orientalists expressed a more positive attitude toward the East than their Christian counterparts, the attempt within Jewish studies to distinguish Judaism from the Muslim East expressed a clearly orientalist dimension. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 637 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Jewish orientalists were driven by sectarian grievances against Christianity, not colonial projects — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 377; For Jewish scholars orientalism expressed cultural anxiety, not imperial confidence — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 376; Jewish orientalist scholars from non-colonial nations produced scholarship free of colonial ambition — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 378 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Jewish orientalists were driven by sectarian grievances against Christianity, not colonial projects #corroborates (0.92) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 377
• Jewish orientalists subverted individual claims but never escaped the orientalism framework #complicates (0.82) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 637
• Orientalist scholarship conflates Muslims and Jews into one racial type #complicates (0.72)