Between Neighbors and Strangers: Representations of the Indigenous People of America and Construction of Jewish Identity in Early Modern Western Europe

Abstract

In a time when theological and scientific concepts of the New World were molded, European Jews, like their fellow Christians, were exposed to increasing knowledge about the discoveries in the western hemisphere and endeavored to understand and integrate it into their worldview. As Europe’s former Others for centuries, the Jews now had to define their attitudes towards Europe’s new Others, the indigenous people of America. To portray a long-range and wide historical process, this article discusses different works by early modern Jewish authors from the sixteenth century through the middle of the seventeenth century. The paper examines the ethnographical aspect of works by Abraham Farissol, Yosef ha-Kohen, and Menasseh ben Israel, along with several other texts, and illustrates the process of knowledge acquisition and construction of new perceptions regarding the conquest of America and its people. The study indicates that these authors held different attitudes towards the colonial project, the conquerors, and the indigenous people, identifying with the European conquerors, but at times criticizing the colonialists, especially their attitude and behavior towards the indigenous people. The analysis of the differing attitudes of Jewish authors, reveals three central models of perceptions regarding native Americans and Christian Europeans: the dichotomous model of Abraham Farissol, the triangular model of Yosef Ha-Kohen, and the multifaceted model of Menasseh ben Israel. Each of these authors identified their own group, primarily as White Europeans, different from the uncivilized natives. Nevertheless, the representations of the stranger—the Others of Europe, the indigenes—became variable, complex and, at times, authors even identified with the conquered and forged an imagined alliance against Europeans. While describing the conquest of America and its indigenous people, Jewish authors were defining the boundaries of their own unique identity vis-à-vis these different Others and constructing their self-perception as Western European in the early modern period.