Should Non-Jews be Regarded as Equal?
A Partial Mapping of 20th Century Rabbinic Positions with Regard to Non-Jews
In: Journal of Law, Religion and StateSearch for other papers by Zvi Zohar in
Current site
Google Scholar
This article provides a window into a variety of views and teachings about the equality of Jews and non-Jews that are found in the writings of Sephardic rabbis in modern times. Unlike almost all writing on Judaism in modern times, which has focused on religious thinkers living in Europe or in North America, my examples are drawn from the writings of rabbis living in Muslim-majority lands, i.e., in the Middle East and North Africa, where Judaism originated and where Jewish communities have existed continuously for millennia. These attitudes range from negative and antagonistic essentialist perspectives to ideals of mutual cultural enrichment and joint co-operation in the realization of righteousness and justice in the life of all peoples. The rich variety of attitudes and values exemplified in these texts is typical of the Jewish rabbinic tradition, in which a plurality of views exists on almost any topic.
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Meknes 1892 – Haifa 1974. Between 1924 and 1939, he served as rabbi of the Jewish community in Tlemcen (Algeria), then returned to Morocco where he held several important positions. In 1964 he moved to Israel, where he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Haifa, a post he held until his death. For more on Mesas, see Zvi Zohar, “Mesas (Meshash), Joseph”, in Norman Stillman (ed.), Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World (Leiden, Brill, 2010), vol. 3, pp. 392–393; (henceforth: ejiw).
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See Davison, R.H., “Tanzimat”, Encyclopaedia of Islam, (2nd ed., Brill Online, 2012).
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Born in Morocco in 1866. In 1872 his parents immigrated to Palestine. In 1892 he became personal assistant to the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria, and also served as head of the city’s rabbinical court. In 1929 he retired to Jerusalem, where he was elected honorary president of the Moroccan community council.
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Jerusalem 1924 – Tel Aviv 1998. For a biography and presentation of Rabbi haLevi’s worldview, see Marc Angel and Hayyim Angel, Rabbi Haim David Halevy: Gentle Scholar and Courageous Thinker, Jerusalem and New York, 2006. For a collection of articles devoted to his worldview and creativity, see Avi Sagi and Zvi Zohar (eds.), Yahadut Shel Ḥayyim (Tel-Aviv, 2007).
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Cf. Khalfon Moshe haCohen, Vayaqhel Moshe, p. 23 (this work was published in a volume titled Zekhut Moshe (Netivot, 1978), in which several short works by Rabbi Khalfon were included). I discuss the position of Rabbi Khalfon on these matters more extensively in my article “Medinat Yisrael he-’Aṭidit – Bein Tikhnun le-Ḥazon” (The future State of Israel: Between planning and vision), in Moshe Bar Asher et al. (eds.), Festschrift for Rabbi Prof. Moshe ’Amar (forthcoming).
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Should Non-Jews be Regarded as Equal?
A Partial Mapping of 20th Century Rabbinic Positions with Regard to Non-Jews
In: Journal of Law, Religion and StateSearch for other papers by Zvi Zohar in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This article provides a window into a variety of views and teachings about the equality of Jews and non-Jews that are found in the writings of Sephardic rabbis in modern times. Unlike almost all writing on Judaism in modern times, which has focused on religious thinkers living in Europe or in North America, my examples are drawn from the writings of rabbis living in Muslim-majority lands, i.e., in the Middle East and North Africa, where Judaism originated and where Jewish communities have existed continuously for millennia. These attitudes range from negative and antagonistic essentialist perspectives to ideals of mutual cultural enrichment and joint co-operation in the realization of righteousness and justice in the life of all peoples. The rich variety of attitudes and values exemplified in these texts is typical of the Jewish rabbinic tradition, in which a plurality of views exists on almost any topic.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 3841 | 1847 | 293 |
| Full Text Views | 200 | 5 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 56 | 3 | 0 |
