Judith Frishman Professor of Judaism
With effect from 12 September, Judith Frishman will be appointed Professor of Judaism at the Faculty of Religious Studies of Leiden University. She will focus primarily on modern Judaism from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Frishman is a specialist both in the Rabbinical Period which relates to the first century AD until the arrival of Islam, as well as in 19th and early 20th century. She is frequently in demand as a speaker at international meetings on the relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews in Europe.
Research
Frishman likes to study general developments in 19th and early 20th century Judaism based on specific persons. She conducted research on the 19th century rabbi Samuel Hirsch, a great name in the history of liberal Judaism. ‘Hirsch was born in Germany but left for Luxemburg and later for the USA. It is interesting that in Luxembourg, which shared its king with the Netherlands, he was very active in the world of Freemasonry. This not only led to fascinating discussions on the relations between Judaism and Christianity and on a future ‘universal religion’ but it also resulted in him changing his own ideas on the place of ritual in general and within the Jewish religion.’
19th century integration concept
In Leiden Frishman also intends to initiate comparative research on the emancipation of Jews and Catholics in the Netherlands during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as of Dutch Muslims today.
Frishman: ‘The Dutch Government demands Muslim integration according to the nineteenth century model whereby a minority group is expected to adapt to an unchanging majority group. But we are living in different times. The entire debate on values and norms, for example, has clearly shown that the Dutch identity is not clearly defined. Of course, that majority’s unchanging character in the 19th and 20th centuries was also fictitious but nowadays it is completely unrealistic to equate good citizenship with assimilation.
Frishman: ‘The Dutch Government demands Muslim integration according to the nineteenth century model whereby a minority group is expected to adapt to an unchanging majority group. But we are living in different times. The entire debate on values and norms, for example, has clearly shown that the Dutch identity is not clearly defined. Of course, that majority’s unchanging character in the 19th and 20th centuries was also fictional but nowadays it is completely unrealistic to equate good citizenship with assimilatin.
Dual loyalty
Jews have been a minority group in Western Europe for centuries but they were still for a long time considered foreigners in their own countries. In the 19th century, Jews very much wanted to belong, and they tried very hard to conform, and to behave as was required of them. Moreover, they had lived among other peoples for two thousand years without having a nation of their own; they were not used to being a majority group. To date the Islamic minority’s background is very different and Dutch Muslims express themselves more openly as an individual group than the 19th century Jews did.
But Frishman also recognises similarities. ‘In the 19th century, there were all kinds of discussions on the dual loyalties which Jews were considered to have. This also applied to the Roman Catholics in the Netherlands who were held to be more loyal to Rome than to the Netherlands. From a historical perspective I had indeed also expected such accusations as those expressed during the addresses by Albayrak and Aboutaleb to parliament.'
Broader than religion
Frishman does not intend to lecture on religion only. She wants students to realize that Judaism constitutes a much broader field and sometimes represents something other than religion. What makes Judaism unique, a phenomenon also emerging in the Islam, is that people label themselves as culturally or ethnically Jewish.