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Satlow's Three Maps

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In his book Creating Judaism: History, Tradition, Practice, Michael Satlow states that “Judaism’s diversity is easier to explain than its unity” (Satlow 2006: 7). Since the Biblical Period, when Christianity positioned itself against Judaism thus solidifying its stance as a separate institution, Judaism has taken on many forms. From the atheist Jew living in California to the Ethiopian Jews of the 19th and 20th century, there is not one, essentialist definition of Judaism that covers all of its nooks and crannies. Satlow attempts to map out a polythetical definition of Judaism, one that can potentially account for all individuals that self-identify as Jewish, despite their practices and beliefs. The three ‘maps’, or categories, that he uses …show more content…

Practices are just that, practices, and textual traditions refers to “the [charting of] the communities’ canonical texts” (Satlow 2006: 8). The Israel map deals with an individual’s self-identification as a Jew and their particular understanding of what it means to identify as Jewish (Satlow 2006: 8). Using Satlow’s three maps, I wish to argue that Judaism is an ideological concept that connects individuals to a history and its traditions, and that the enactment of such a concept takes on different forms depending on the context in which it is enacted. This understanding of Judaism, as an idea that connects to a tradition rather than a tradition in and of itself, affords us the ability to see how Jewish communities across the globe behave and perceive of Judaism in different ways. The way someone perceives of an idea and then acts on it depends on their circumstances. Furthermore, similar to how Christmas is both a concept and a holiday that is performed in a multitude of ways depending on who is performing it, the idea of Judaism performs ideologically by informing people’s actions while connecting them to the history of it …show more content…

Also called Crypto Jews, these people were “Spanish and Portuguese Jews who converted to Christianity, but continued to observe Jewish practices and maintain Jewish beliefs” (Gutierrez 2011: 1). The practices I would like to focus on are specifically those adapted by these Crypto Jews following their conversion. In other words, I would like to argue that the performance of Catholic and/or Christian rituals and practices are Jewish practices for the Converso. This is not due, simply, because of this individual's self-identification as Jewish (although that is crucial). Regarding my understanding of Judaism, The performance of such Christian practices constitutes a Jewish practice because it connects the agent with the past and histories of the Jews estranged in Spanish-occupied territories. The agent is not purely performing Christian actions, but entering into conversation with the legacy of Crypto Jews and constituting their future. A facet of religion that is particularly focused on is that of belief. This is one of the reasons why looking at Judaism purely as a religion does not stand up to the evidence, if even eating at a deli, a non-religious action, can be considered a Jewish practice for some then belief has no hold on Judaism as an

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