Jews have been simultaneously seen as Western and Eastern peoples.

Evidence

Central to all debate on orientalism and the Jews is that, historically, Jews have been seen in the Western world variably and often concurrently as occidental and oriental. Even today, when the Jews are generally thought of as a Western people, that perception is nuanced by the fact that Israel (home not only to Jews of European background but also to millions of “oriental” Jews and Arabs) is located in the East. More important, the Jews are identified, both by themselves and by the Western world, with the ancient Israelites who established themselves, and the monotheistic tradition, in that same “oriental” location. It is this latter identification with the biblical lands that allowed Jews to be seen during the centuries as an “oriental people,” a perception challenged only in the twentieth century as the result of Jewish-Arab strife in the Middle East. The German Enlightenment philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder expressed the once standard Western conception of the Jews when he wrote that they were the “Asiatics of Europe.” — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 68 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Jews neutralized magic through ritualized duty, making them both ahead and behind civilization — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 146; Jews uniquely contrasted civilization both downward to nature and upward to spirit. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1431; Judaism resists modern Western categories of nation, ethnicity, race, and religion. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 743 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Jews were long classified as an oriental people by the West #exemplifies (0.92) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 68