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frank herbert - Are Jews in Chapterhouse: Dune the same cultural group as in our universe/timeline?


Religion features a huge role in Dune universe and there are many religions involved in the story line.


These fictional religions are mostly ecumenical or syncretic combinations of existing religions in our universe. However, in Chapterhouse: Dune Judaism appears to be a pretty much unchanged religion as we know it in our times.




Even names are the same. Note that Atreides became Odrade over time, but Rebecca is still called Rebecca just like now or in antiquities.



Now, my question is:


Are these Jews really descendants of the same cultural and religious group as we know it today? Or maybe there is a different explanation, like that their culture and religion changed somewhat over time, or maybe they are a group that tries to restore a religion from ancient times (from their perspective)?


Not that I would find any explanation implausible, when it comes to a book which features direct descendants of Ancient Greeks in far future as main characters.



Answer



In the book itself there is nothing that suggests that the Jews of Chapterhouse are not descendent from today's Jews. The names are the same, the rituals and practices are the same, and so are the beliefs. And this makes sense historically, because Jews have already been around for at least 3 thousand years. They have managed to survive conquests, dispersion, centuries of persecution, and multiple attempts at their genocide, while retaining their cultural and ethnic identity and their belief system. Extend this trend tens of thousands of years into the future, and you get the Jews of Chapterhouse.



By the way, Jewish names do change in the book. Rebecca is the anglicized version of Rivkah. :)




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