Abstract
The Jewish view of other religions as Avoda Zara was not formed as a response to Hinduism. Contemporary Jewish approaches to Hinduism that make this issue the primary lens through which Hinduism is appreciated are carrying over attitudes that are thousands of years old and that were formed in relation to other religions, focusing on religious difference and opposition to other gods as well as to the worship of idols. Since the time of the Second Temple, Jews have imagined the battle against idolatry as a defining feature of the work and message of the founder of the Jewish people, or of the Jewish religion, namely Abraham.1
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Notes
The Bible itself speaks in more than one voice. We may be able to detect a transition from opposition to Jews worshipping other gods to a rejection of other religions as such, based on their inappropriate means of worship. See John Barton, The Work of Human Hands (ps. 115,4): Idolatry in the OT, Ex Auditu 15, 1999, pp. 63–72, especially p. 68.
See Gerald Blidstein, Rabbinic Legislation on Idolatry: Tractate Avoda Zarah, Chapter 1, Phd Dissertation, Yeshiva University, 1968 [Hebrew].
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© 2016 Alon Goshen-Gottstein
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Goshen-Gottstein, A. (2016). Avoda Zara: Introducing the Category. In: Same God, Other god. Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-45528-4_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-45528-4_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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