Wild tribes and ancient Semites: Israelite-Indian identification and the American West
Rabbi Henry Cohen of Galveston, Texas, carefully preserved a 1916 pamphlet that claimed a common history for 'Wild tribes' of Indians and Jews of antiquity. Why would a Jewish author tie the customs of 'uncivilised' tribes to his own religion, and why might it capture Cohen'...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2014]
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| In: |
Culture and religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 15, Issue: 2, Pages: 227-249 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Weststaaten, USA
/ Jews
/ Settler
/ Americanization
/ Indians
/ Identification
/ Cultural movement
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AF Geography of religion BB Indigenous religions BH Judaism KBQ North America |
| Summary: | Rabbi Henry Cohen of Galveston, Texas, carefully preserved a 1916 pamphlet that claimed a common history for 'Wild tribes' of Indians and Jews of antiquity. Why would a Jewish author tie the customs of 'uncivilised' tribes to his own religion, and why might it capture Cohen's attention? This article suggests that the 'Indian-Israelite' identification appealed to acculturated Jews like Cohen as part of a wider embrace of a vision of manhood that at once held ties to Jewishness and American identity. That is, identification with the American West and frontier emphasised the harmony between Jewishness, a particular type of enlightened Judaism, and Americanisation. A brief survey of three movements - the relatively small-scale Galveston Movement, Jewish agricultural communities and the larger, more diverse Zionist movement - then demonstrates how the gendered and nationalist ideologies of Henry Cohen and other acculturated Jews like him aligned with their imagined constructions of Indians. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-5610 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Culture and religion
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