“Recapturing” the “Other”

Jewish Laws of War and International Law

Bibliographic Data

ID20384136
AuthorsBetina Kuzmarov, Betina Appel Kuzmarov (0000-0003-0993-9308, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume28
Issue1
Pages47-65
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Law and Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0748-0814 • E-ISSN: 2163-3088
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0748081400000230
OpenAlexW2300577033
LanguageEN
References cited14

The story would recapture the trace of Judaism, particularly the mystical Jew, in the early literature of international law—I think most readily of Gentilis' obsession with Judaism—a Judaism that seems at once the law that revelation and redemption replace and the mysticism that law and state refuse. Paradoxically enough, we find here our own complex relationship between law and religion exactly mirrored in the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. This article examines the relationship between the Jewish laws of war and international law. As Kennedy notes in the opening quote, one way of understanding the relationship between Jewish laws of war and international law is as part of the relationship between international law and its “other.” Kennedy defines Jewish law as mystical, and in so doing he asserts that Jewish law is different in form than state law/international law. Kennedy's opposition of Jewish law and international law is not accidental. It is a direct consequence of the history of international law. As Mutua has noted “[i]nternational law claims to be universal, although its creators have unambiguously asserted its European and Christian origins.” From this point of view, international law has “universalized” its particular origins with the consequence that any non-European or non-Christian tradition is not universal and is the “other.” This fact leads Kennedy to argue that international law has ignored (among many other things) the traces of religion, mysticism and Judaism in its history in its quest to claim secular universality

Chinese law · Comparative law · International law · Israeli law · Judaism · Municipal law · Political science · Theology · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy

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