Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity

Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity PDF Author: Asher Cohen
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801863455
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
The role of religion in a democratic society Best Book award given by the Israel Political Science Association Since the 1980s, relationships between secular and religious Israelis have gone from bad to worse. What was formerly a politics of accommodation, one whose main objective was the avoidance of strife through "arrangements" and compromises, has become a winner-take-all, zero-sum game. The conflict is not over who gets what. Rather, it is a conflict over the very character of the polity, a struggle to define Israel's collective character. In Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser show how this transformation has been caused by structural changes in Israel's public sphere. Surveying many different levels of public life, they explore the change of Israel's politics from a dominant-party system to a balanced two-camp system. They trace the rise of the Haredi parties and the growing consonance of religiosity with right-wing politics. Other topics include the new Basic Laws on Freedom, Dignity, and Occupation; the effects of massive immigration of secular Jews from the former Soviet Union; the greater emphasis on liberal "good government"; and the rise of an aggressive investigative press and electronic media.

Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity

Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity PDF Author: Asher Cohen
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801863455
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description
The role of religion in a democratic society Best Book award given by the Israel Political Science Association Since the 1980s, relationships between secular and religious Israelis have gone from bad to worse. What was formerly a politics of accommodation, one whose main objective was the avoidance of strife through "arrangements" and compromises, has become a winner-take-all, zero-sum game. The conflict is not over who gets what. Rather, it is a conflict over the very character of the polity, a struggle to define Israel's collective character. In Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser show how this transformation has been caused by structural changes in Israel's public sphere. Surveying many different levels of public life, they explore the change of Israel's politics from a dominant-party system to a balanced two-camp system. They trace the rise of the Haredi parties and the growing consonance of religiosity with right-wing politics. Other topics include the new Basic Laws on Freedom, Dignity, and Occupation; the effects of massive immigration of secular Jews from the former Soviet Union; the greater emphasis on liberal "good government"; and the rise of an aggressive investigative press and electronic media.

The Politics of Torah

The Politics of Torah PDF Author: Alan L. Mittleman
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438413351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Founded in Germany in 1912, Agudat Israel was the first comprehensive, international political movement among Orthodox Jews. This study examines the forces that led to its formation, setting its history into the context of both the millennial Jewish political tradition and the Jewish struggle with the disenchanting effects of modernity. Mittleman shows that from its formation to the present, Agudah has represented the political interests of the most traditional members of the Jewish community. This book addresses the question of why such arch-traditionalists turned to politics, examines in detail the conflicts that shaped the movement's character, and explores the movement's relationship with prior expressions of Jewish political thought and practice.

In God's Shadow

In God's Shadow PDF Author: Michael Walzer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300182511
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
In this eagerly awaited book, political theorist Michael Walzer reports his findings after decades of reading and thinking about the politics of the Hebrew Bible. Attentive to nuance while engagingly straightforward, Walzer examines the commentary of the ancient biblical writers and discusses the implications for such urgent modern topics as the nature of political society, hierarchy and justice, the use of political power, the justification for and rules of warfare, and the responsibilities of clerical figures, monarchs, and their subjects./divDIV DIVBecause there are many biblical writers, and because they represent different political views, pluralism is a central feature of biblical politics, Walzer observes. Yet pluralism is never explicitly defended in the Bible—indeed it couldn't be defended since God's word is one. There is, however, an anti-political teaching which recurs in biblical texts: if you have faith in God, you have no need for particular political institutions or prudent political leaders or deliberative assemblies or loyal citizens. And, Walzer finds a strong moral teaching common to the Bible's authors. He identifies God's decree for ethics and investigates its implications for just policymaking in our own times./div

The Invention of Jewish Theocracy

The Invention of Jewish Theocracy PDF Author: Alexander Kaye
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190922745
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
"This book is about the attempt of Orthodox Jewish Zionists to implement traditional Jewish law (halakha) as the law of the State of Israel. These religious Zionists began their quest for a halakhic sate immediately after Israel's establishment in 1948 and competed for legal supremacy with the majority of Israeli Jews who wanted Israel to be a secular democracy. Although Israel never became a halachic state, the conflict over legal authority became the backdrop for a pervasive culture war, whose consequences are felt throughout Israeli society until today. The book traces the origins of the legal ideology of religious Zionists and shows how it emerged in the middle of the twentieth century. It further shows that the ideology, far from being endemic to Jewish religious tradition as its proponents claim, is a version of modern European jurisprudence, in which a centralized state asserts total control over the legal hierarchy within its borders. The book shows how the adoption (conscious or not) of modern jurisprudence has shaped religious attitudes to many aspects of Israeli society and politics, created an ongoing antagonism with the state's civil courts, and led to the creation of a new and increasingly powerful state rabbinate. This account is placed into wider conversations about the place of religion in democracies and the fate of secularism in the modern world. It concludes with suggestions about how a better knowledge of the history of religion and law in Israel may help ease tensions between its religious and secular citizens"--

Orthodox Judaism and the Politics of Religion

Orthodox Judaism and the Politics of Religion PDF Author: Daniel Mahla
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108481515
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Investigates traditionalist struggles about Zionism and the emergence of national-religious Judaism and ultra-Orthodox in the early twentieth century.

The Jewish Political Tradition

The Jewish Political Tradition PDF Author: Michael Walzer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300115734
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description
"This book launches a landmark four-volume collaborative work exploring the political thought of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present. The texts and commentaries in Volume I address the basic question of who ought to rule the community."--Descripción del editor.

Ohr Yisrael

Ohr Yisrael PDF Author: Israel Salanter
Publisher: Targum Press
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
A glowing treasure now available to the English-speaking public! The trail-blazing work of Rav Yisrael Salanter, and his disciple, Rav Yitzchak Blazer illuminate the darkness of our generation with wisdom and insight. This classic Mussar work focuses on attaining closeness with G-d and on ethical introspection. This volume is a compendium of four classics of ethical thought: The Gates of Light, The Light of Israel, Paths of Light, and Stars of Light. This extraordinary book, translated into lucid, flowing English, will enable all who read it to reach a new spiritual dimension. Contains English text only.

The Jewish Social Contract

The Jewish Social Contract PDF Author: David Novak
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400824397
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The Jewish Social Contract begins by asking how a traditional Jew can participate politically and socially and in good faith in a modern democratic society, and ends by proposing a broad, inclusive notion of secularity. David Novak takes issue with the view--held by the late philosopher John Rawls and his followers--that citizens of a liberal state must, in effect, check their religion at the door when discussing politics in a public forum. Novak argues that in a "liberal democratic state, members of faith-based communities--such as tradition-minded Jews and Christians--ought to be able to adhere to the broad political framework wholly in terms of their own religious tradition and convictions, and without setting their religion aside in the public sphere. Novak shows how social contracts emerged, rooted in biblical notions of covenant, and how they developed in the rabbinic, medieval, and "modern periods. He offers suggestions as to how Jews today can best negotiate the modern social contract while calling upon non-Jewish allies to aid them in the process. The Jewish Social Contract will prove an enlightening and innovative contribution to the ongoing debate about the role of religion in liberal democracies.

Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought

Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought PDF Author: Joseph Isaac Lifshitz
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107008247
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
This book examines the political thought of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, the most important thirteenth century German Rabbi.

The Politics of Ancient Israel

The Politics of Ancient Israel PDF Author: Norman Karol Gottwald
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664219772
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
This work offers a reconstruction of the politics of ancient Israel within the wider political environment of the ancient Near East. Gottwald begins by questioning the view of some biblical scholars that the primary factor influencing Israel's political evolution was its religion.