Judaization is a process of cultural assimilation in which a person or a demographic group acquires Jewish cultural and religious beliefs and values.
The concept is important in Antisemitism in the context of theories of a Jewish world conspiracy.

Personal acculturation

Acculturation

Acculturation explains the process of cultural and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both interacting cultures. At the group level, acculturation often results in changes to culture, customs, and...

In modern Hebrew, the term judaization is used to describe the cultural life of baalei teshuvah

Baal teshuva

Baal teshuva or ba'al teshuvah , sometimes abbreviated to BT, is a term referring to a Jew who turns to embrace Orthodox Judaism. Baal teshuva literally means, "repentant", i.e., one who has repented or "returned" to God...

, or 'returnees', and refers to 'a process through which secular, non-observant, young (and not so young) Israelis who have grown up in Israel within the majority culture, have become practicing Orthodox Jews and have joined the minority subculture of Orthodoxy

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

'.. It is the obverse of 'de-Judaization', the process, observed for example in Soviet Russia

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....

, where discriminatory practices against Jews gave momentum to their 'de-Judaization'

Geopolitical acculturation

It refers to the act or process of assimilating or absorbing a demographic group or geographic region to nominally Jewish cultural and religious norms. Due to the cultural ties of Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 with the Hebrew language

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, it can be alternately designated as Hebraization in regards to the renaming of geographic areas and personal names with Hebrew appellations, as has been the case with Jewish immigration

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

 and human settlement in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and related territories

Israeli settlement

An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...

; this Hebraization of Jewish culture in Israel extends to the Hebraization of political and military institutions which were imported from Western countries. In a strictly religious sense, Judaization can also apply to the making or designation of a thing in a more religiously-compliant (by such guidelines as kashrut

Kashrut

Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...

) or religiously-appealing context.

It is often derided by Islamists

Islamism

Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...

, Arab citizens of Israel

Arab citizens of Israel

Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....

 and Palestinians as "Zionization", since they primarily view any Hebraization or Judaization of a geographic area as a form of competing cultural expansionism or assertion

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

.

Haredization

A late-20th- and early-21st-century phenomenon, in which urban and suburban areas of Israel, such as Beit Shemesh, have become demographically and politically dominated by Haredim

Haredi Judaism

Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....

 at the expense of non-Haredim (including Religious Zionists

Religious Zionism

Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...

, Hilonim

Hiloni

Hiloni , plural hilonim derived from the Hebrew word hulin, meaning secular or mundane, is the term used in Israel for non-religious Jews.As natives of Israel, hilonim speak Hebrew...

 and Hasidim

Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...

) has become known as Haredization; the trend is often the subject of protests in various Israeli cities.

See also

• Hebraization
• Hebraization of English
  Hebraization of English
  The Hebraization of English is the use of the Hebrew alphabet to write English. Because Hebrew uses an abjad, it can render English words in multiple ways. There are many uses for hebraization, which serve as a useful tool for Israeli learners of English by indicating the pronunciation of...
  
  
• Hebraization of surnames
  Hebraization of surnames
  The Hebraization of surnames is the process of adopting Hebrew family names ....
  
  
• Judaization of the Galilee
  Judaization of the Galilee
  Judaization of the Galilee is a regional project and policy of the Israeli government and associated private organizations which is intended to increase Jewish population and communities in the Galilee, a region within Israel which has a Palestinian Arab majority.-Background:With the termination...
  
  
• Judaization of Jerusalem
  Judaization of Jerusalem
  The Judaization of Jerusalem refers to the actions that Israel has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to correspond with a vision of a united and fundamentally Jewish Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty...
  
  
• The "Negation of the Diaspora" in Zionism

External links

• Al-Quds: The Ailing City - Under the Grip of Judaization IslamOnline.net