AHC: Jewish Indonesia

Essentially, have the Indonesian archipelago convert to Judaism instead of Islam. how could this be done? Would the situation of european & middle eastern jews improve with a rich and powerful area under their control? Could the indonesian peninsula be used as a springboard for further conversions in the philippines, indochina and the east of the indian subcontinent?
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
I don't think Jews will accept converts that easily. AFAIK it's quite a difficult religion to enter and stay in. It's possible only if enough contact and closeness is there. So you'd need a large number of Jewish settlers there first. Some Jewish Traders and then agricultural communities could settle there for good amount of time,develop good contact,interconnection,mixture and closeness with the locals and then this could be possible. But considering how hard all these are,it's on the border of ASB.
But yes,a fairly early POD could probably do this.
 
I don't think Jews will accept converts that easily. AFAIK it's quite a difficult religion to enter and stay in. It's possible only if enough contact and closeness is there. So you'd need a large number of Jewish settlers there first. Some Jewish Traders and then agricultural communities could settle there for good amount of time,develop good contact,interconnection,mixture and closeness with the locals and then this could be possible. But considering how hard all these are,it's on the border of ASB.
This is all assuming that these jews will not be proselytizing at all. unlike in europe, jewish merchants and scholars do not have to fear major backlash from local authorities - they're not risking anything but the continued trade in the east. any PoD which brings jewish traders and scholars to indonesia would also allow them to proselytize there. The option of jewish settler-states in southeast asia is ludicrous, I agree, but its not the only way to change the religion of indonesia as sufi traders and preachers showed OTL.
 
I don't think Jews will accept converts that easily. AFAIK it's quite a difficult religion to enter and stay in. It's possible only if enough contact and closeness is there. So you'd need a large number of Jewish settlers there first. Some Jewish Traders and then agricultural communities could settle there for good amount of time,develop good contact,interconnection,mixture and closeness with the locals and then this could be possible. But considering how hard all these are,it's on the border of ASB.
But yes,a fairly early POD could probably do this.

The Jews were known to proselytize heavily until the 1st Century CE, after which the most missionary branches seem to have been folded into Christianity as Judaism became more close-knit during the diaspora. A 1st century POD could prevent both Christianity and non-missionary Judaism, as well as butterflying Islam.

IMO, the best course of action might be a Himyar-wank resuling in the Himyarites colonizing across the Indian Ocean.
 
You’ve got an ancient community of Jews in Kerala, so have their faith somehow spread through Tamilakam and then engage in their historical trade with Indonesia and such a spread is possible.
 
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