Judaism resists modern Western categories of nation, ethnicity, race, and religion.

Evidence

How does the Israeli nation-state’s theopolitics – constituted, as it is (symbolically, at least), on an “invented” national tradition – approach Jewish traditions that preceded it and continue to live alongside it? The “problem” with those Jewish traditions is that they do not fit easily, if ever, into commonly used categorical frameworks such as “nation,” “ethnicity,” “race,” and, perhaps most importantly, “religion,” which originate in modern Western discourse. … What is critical to note is that in many meaningful senses “Judaism” answers each and every one of these terms/categories and none of them. This is because Jewish traditions are comprehensive ways of life that touch upon various dimensions of human experience, which are variously labeled under one or the other of the abovementioned categories at different times. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 743

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels Hallaq’s ‘impossible state’ cited in this chapter and echoes the MOC’s point that category-constructing machines force lived identities into load-bearing analytical frames. — connects to: Jews have been simultaneously seen as Western and Eastern peoples.; Jews prefigured Orientalized others as inside-yet-outside Western Christendom; Religious othering of Jews and Muslims has historically been intertwined. (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Jews faced the twin contradictions of equality-as-privilege and non-national existence in nation-states. #expands (0.80)
• Jews have been simultaneously seen as Western and Eastern peoples. #expands (0.78)
• Jews prefigured Orientalized others as inside-yet-outside Western Christendom #expands (0.72)
• Religious othering of Jews and Muslims has historically been intertwined. #exemplifies (0.72)
• Jews were long classified as an oriental people by the West #exemplifies (0.72) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 68