Religious Studies Department of FU UIN Jakarta Holds National Seminar

FU, UIN News Online – Religious Studies Department, Faculty of Ushuluddin UIN Jakarta holds National seminar titled “Melacak Yahudi di Nusantara: Dulu Dan Kini” at FU Theater UIN Jakarta, Monday (04/16/2018) by presenting Romi Zarman (Yahudi Nusatar Researcher), Monique Rijkers (Journalist, chairwoman of Hadassah Indonesia), and Hj Hermawati MA (Judaism Lecturer of FU UIN Jakarta) as the speakers.

Hermawati in her presentation revealed that the word “Jewish” is always associated something terrible and has a plan to control the world. In addition to being connected to the Zionist movement, the Jews are often also associated with various types of secret organizations and world conspiracies in order to achieve the goal of Zionism

“Until now, this contradiction always sparks a dispute between Israel, a nation that lives with Jewish culture and thought in the midst of the Arab nation that has a different culture, especially with Palestine,” she said.

According to Hermawati, the Jews came from the Arabian Peninsula to India as merchants before the Europeans came to the Nusantara (archipelago). Not many records indicate the existence of Jews who come to the archipelago. However, history records at the beginning of the ninth century, Ishaq, the "Jewish Son" of Oman, making the long journey through India to Sumatra. “There is also a record of a Jewish merchant in 1290 who came from Fustat, Egypt and lived in the town of Barus, North Sumatra,” explained Hermawati.

She also added that the Indonesian Jewish community has started to grow in 1930 after the Dutch East Indies government conducted a census in 1930. The census revealed that there are there are 1095 Jews living in the Netherlands East Indies.

Based on UIN News Online observation, the participants are very enthusiastic to follow the course of the event. Several questions were asked by the students to the speakers towards the end of the event. (usa)