Modern secular Jewish discourse was actually a reformulation in Orientalist terms

Evidence

The “secularization” of Jewish discourse, that is the attempt to distinguish it from Christian-Jewish polemics, was its reformulation in Orientalist terms. From the Enlightenment onward, the discussion of the civil status of the Jews has been formulated in clearly orientalist terms, while orientalist images have played an important role in the reshaping of Jewish identity. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 628

Categorization

• QUESTION: Curious how this Orientalist reframing map onto specific Enlightenment figures like Mendelssohn — concrete examples would sharpen the claim.
• XREF: Connects to Edward Said’s general orientalism thesis in Orientalism (1978) and extends it from colonial Others to internal European minorities.