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Philosemitism, also calledJudeophilia, is "defense, love, or admiration of Jews and Judaism".[1] Such attitudes can be found in Western cultures across the centuries.[2] The term originated in the nineteenth century by self-described Germanantisemites to describe their non-Jewish opponents.[3][1] American-Jewish historian Daniel Cohen of theVienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies has asserted that philosemitism "can indeed easily recycle antisemitic themes, recreateJewish otherness, or strategically compensate forHolocaust guilt."[4]
The controversial term "philosemitism" arose as a pejorative inGermany to describe the positive prejudice towards Jews; in other words, a philosemite is a "Jew-lover" or "Jew-friend".[5]
The concept of philosemitism is not new, and it was arguably avowed by such thinkers as the 19th-century philosopherFriedrich Nietzsche, who described himself as an "anti-anti-Semite."[6]
Philosemitism is an expression of the larger phenomenon ofallophilia, admiration for foreign cultures as embodied in the more widely knownAnglophilia andFrancophilia. The rise of philosemitism has also prompted some[who?] to reconsider Jewish history, and they[who?] argue that while antisemitism must be acknowledged, it is wrong to reduce the history of the Jewish people to one merely of suffering (as has been fostered by well-meaning gentile philosemites).[citation needed]
Christian philosemitism, which has been associated withdispensational theology andPuritanism, promotes a positive view of the Jewish people for religious reasons (in contrast toChristian antisemitism). Christian philosemitism generally arises from apremillennial and an Israel-centered understanding of biblical prophecy, causing the belief that God still sees the Jews as hischosen people.[7][8]
Iris Dekel writes that in twenty-first-century Germany, philosemitism "is performed in three interconnected social domains: institutional, where state institutions declare their commitment to protecting Jews as a religious minority; group, where the contingent relations between love for the Jews and exclusionary statements about them appears, mostly in casting Jews as both strange and unknown and embraced; and individual, where individuals exhibit positive sentiments toward Jews as an ideal collective".[9]
While Jews had lived in Poland since before his reign, KingCasimir III the Great allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them aspeople of the king. About 70 percent of the world's European Jews, or Ashkenazi, can trace their ancestry toPoland due to Casimir's reforms.[10] Casimir's legendary Jewish mistressEsterka remains unconfirmed by direct historical evidence, but belief in her and her legacy is widespread and prolific.[11] South of the Old Town ofKraków King Casimir established the independent royal city ofKazimierz, which for many centuries was a place where ethnic Polish and Jewish cultures coexisted and intermingled.
There are a variety of myths created around the supposed special relationship betweenTomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founding father ofCzechoslovakia, and influential Jews from the U.S. or elsewhere. These myths, created by Masaryk and adopted in amended forms by Czechoslovak Jews, influencedcultural historian Martin Wein to citeZygmunt Bauman's andArtur Sandauer's concept of an "allosemitic" worldview. Here, in Wein's words, "antisemitism and philosemitism overlap and sharestereotypes, producing exaggerated disregardor admiration for Jews or Judaism."[12] In this sense, Wein quotes Masaryk's statements about a decisive Jewish influence over the press, and him mentioning Jews andfreemasons in the same breath, when it came to lobbies Masaryk allegedly managed to win over.[12]
Mark Twain's essayConcerning the Jews has been described as philosemitic. Israeli scholarBennet Kravitz states that one could just as easily hate Jews for the reasons Twain gives for admiring them. In fact, Twain's essay was cited by Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s. Kravitz concludes, "The flawed logic of 'Concerning the Jews' and all philo-Semitism leads to the anti-Semitic beliefs that the latter seeks to deflate".[13]
Philosemitic ideas have also been promoted by some AmericanEvangelicals due to the influence ofDispensationalism,[8] with some interpretations being considered anti-semitic.[14][15]
A current of Jewish studies inBrazil has dedicated itself to studying the extent to which far-right politicianJair Bolsonaro's professed philo-Semitism reproduces traces of antisemitism.[16] This perspective, based on a study of the speeches of Bolsonaro and his mentor, the writerOlavo de Carvalho, suggests that the proclaimed sympathy of far-right sectors for the State of Israel and the Jews, often presented without distinction, reverberates antisemitic tropes in two ways. Firstly, by portraying Jews as a wealthy and powerful group. In this context, Jews are often depicted as pillars of capitalism, and therefore inherently hostile to the left.[17] The second and most significant expression of antisemitism in the far right's sympathy for Judaism would be inspired by authors such as RabbiMarvin Stuart Antelman, and reaffirms conspiracy theories presenting left-wing Jews as a group seeking world domination, but which would ultimately undermine the Jewish nation itself.[18] In this context, researchers demonstrate how the philo-Semitism of the Brazilian far right has been employed to divide the Jewish community. The designation of true Jews is thus reserved for those who espouse conservative or reactionary policies, while left-wing Jews are regarded as apostates or traitors.[19]
Very few Jews live inEast Asian countries, but Jews are viewed in an especially positive light in some of them, partly owing to their shared wartime experiences during theSecond World War. Examples includeSouth Korea,[20] Japan, andChina.[21]
According to Mary J. Ainslie, philosemitism in China is "part of a civilizationist narrative designed to position China as globally central and superior".[22]
In general, Jews are stereotyped with characteristics that in South Korean culture are considered positive: intelligence, business-savviness and commitment to family values and responsibility, while in theWestern world, the first of the two aforementioned stereotypes more often have the negatively interpreted equivalents of guile and greed.[citation needed] The South Korean ambassador to Israel, Ma Young-sam said that, in South Korean primary schools, theTalmud should be mandatory reading.[20] Oscar nomineeYoun Yuh-jung said that she hopes Koreans will one day dominate the entertainment and culture industries, just as the Jews had occupied it.[23]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)Certain interpretations of Revelation say that Jewish presence in Israel is important for Christians, because it will take the homecoming of Jews to the land of Israel to bring about the return of the Messiah.
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