The invention of Jewish theocracy : the struggle for legal authority in modern Israel / Alexander Kaye.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaye, Alexander, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religious Zionism--Israel--History.

Religious Zionism.

Religious Zionism--Philosophy.

Jewish law.

Religious Zionists--Israel--Attitudes.

Religious Zionists.

Judaism and state--Israel.

Judaism and state.

History.

Israel.

Religious Zionists--Attitudes.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 264 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"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 halakhic 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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: The Halakhic state

The pluralist roots of religious Zionism

Isaac Herzog before Palestine

A constitution for Israel according to the Torah

Modernizing the Chief Rabbinate

Failure an resistance

"Gentile courts" in a Jewish state

The persistence of Jewish theocracy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-250) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Kaye, Alexander, The invention of Jewish theocracy

ISBN:

9780190922740

0190922745

OCLC:

1110450345

Publisher Number:

99984106388