Download or read book Israel s Higher Law written by Steven V. Mazie and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Israel's Higher Law, Steven V. Mazie sheds new light on the relationship between liberalism and religion through a detailed assessment of the Jewish state. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Israeli citizens, this compelling work scrutinizes the ways in which Israelis conceptualize and debate their polity's religion-state arrangement.

Download or read book Theology and the Soul of the Liberal State written by Leonard V. Kaplan and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2010 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rising calls in both the United States and abroad for theologizing national agendas have renewed examinations about whether liberal states can accommodate such programs without either endangering citizens' rights or trivializing religious concerns. Conventional wisdom suggests that theology is necessarily unfriendly to the liberal state, but neither philosophical analysis nor empirical argument has convincingly established that conclusion. Examining the problem from a variety of perspectives including law, philosophy, history, political theory, and religious studies, the essays in Theology and the Soul of the Liberal State suggest the possibilities for and limits on what theological reflection might contribute to liberal polities across the globe. Theology and the Soul of the Liberal State develops these issues under five headings. Part One explores 'The Nature of Religious Argument' as it can inflect discussions of public policy, political theory, jurisprudence, and education. Part Two, 'Theologies of the Marketplace,' notes that theology can by turns be highly critical, neutral, or even inordinately supportive of market operations. Part Three, 'European Perspectives,' reviews and develops arguments from Abraham Kuyper, Karl Barth, and French post-modernists concerning how one might integrate theological discourse into the public sphere. Part Four offers Israel, Pakistan and Tibet as 'Asian Perspectives' on how theology may comport with liberalism in recently created states (or, in the last case, a diasporic government-in-exile) where powerful religious constituencies make 'secular' civil action extremely problematic. Finally, Part V, 'Religion and Terror,' probes the vexed relationship between conceptions of divine and human justice, where the imperatives of theology and state confront each other most nakedly. Collectively, Theology and the Soul of the Liberal State suggests that the liberal state cannot keep theology out of public discourse and may even benefit from its intervention, but that their intersection, if potentially beneficial, is always fraught.

Download or read book The Invention of Jewish Theocracy written by Alexander Kaye and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-22 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tension between secular politics and religious fundamentalism is a problem shared by many modern states. This is certainly true of the State of Israel, where the religious-secular schism provokes conflict at every level of politics and society. Driving this schism is the idea of the halakhic state, the demand by many religious Jews that Israel should be governed by the law of the Torah as interpreted by Orthodox rabbis. Understanding this idea is a priority for scholars of Israel and for anyone with an interest in its future. The Invention of Jewish Theocracy is the first book in any language to trace the origins of the idea, to track its development, and to explain its crucial importance in Israel's past and present. The book also shows how the history of this idea engages with burning contemporary debates on questions of global human rights, the role of religion in Middle East conflict, and the long-term consequences of European imperialism. The Invention of Jewish Theocracy is an intellectual history, based on newly discovered material from numerous Israeli archives, private correspondence, court records, and lesser-known published works. It explains why the idea of the halakhic state emerged when it did, what happened after it initially failed to take hold, and how it has regained popularity in recent decades, provoking cultural conflict that has severely shaken Israeli society. The book's historical analysis gives rise to two wide-reaching insights. First, it argues that religious politics in Israel can be understood only within the context of the largely secular history of European nationalism and not, as is commonly argued, as an anomalous exception to it. It shows how even religious Jews most opposed to modern political thought nevertheless absorbed the fundamental assumptions of modern European political thought and reread their own religious traditions onto that model. Second, it demonstrates that religious-secular tensions are built into the intellectual foundations of Israel rather than being the outcome of major events like the 1967 War. These insights have significant ramifications for the understanding of the modern state. In particular, the account of the blurring of the categories of "secular" and "religious" illustrated in the book are relevant to all studies of modern history and to scholars of the intersection of religion and human rights

Download or read book Rabbinic and Lay Communal Authority written by Suzanne Last Stone and published by KTAV Publishing House, Inc.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Religious Zionism Jewish Law and the Morality of War written by Robert Eisen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the state of Israel was established in 1948, it has been plagued by war, and that has presented religious Zionists with an immense challenge. Jewish law prior to 1948 includes little material on war because it developed during centuries when Jews had neither a state nor an army. The leading rabbis of the religious Zionist community have therefore had to create an entire body of laws on this subject where practically none had existed beforehand. These rabbis have responded to the challenge with remarkable energy and ingenuity. Religious Zionist rabbis have produced a corpus of laws on war that is both comprehensive and nuanced, and these laws now serve as a critical source of guidance for Orthodox Israelis serving in their country's military. The present study is a pioneering work on this fascinating chapter in the history of Jewish law, a chapter that, up to now, has received relatively little attention from academic scholars. Robert Eisen examines how five of the most prominent rabbis in the religious Zionist community have dealt with key moral issues in war. The figures include R. Abraham Isaac Kook, R. Isaac Halevi Herzog, R. Eliezer Waldenberg, R. Sha'ul Yisraeli, and R. Shlomo Goren. Eisen also examines how the positions of these rabbis compare with those of international law. These explorations provide critical insight into the worldview of religious Zionism, which in recent years has become increasingly influential in Israeli politics.

Download or read book People of the Book written by Moshe Halbertal and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Halbertal provides a panoramic survey of Jewish attitudes toward Scripture, provocatively organized around problems of normative and formative authority, with an emphasis on the changing status and functions of Mishnah, Talmud, and Kabbalah.

Download or read book Evolving Nationalism written by Nadav G. Shelef and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolving Nationalism examines how the idea of Israel as a nation-state has developed within Zionist and Israeli discourse over the past eight decades. Nadav G. Shelef focuses on the changing ways in which the main nationalist movements answered three distinct questions in their private and public ideological articulations between 1925 and 2005: Where is the "Land of Israel"? Who ought to be Israeli? What should the Zionist national mission be? Framed within broader debates about how and why changes in foundational definitions of the nation occur, Shelef's analysis centers on the mechanisms of ideological change and then subjects them to empirical scrutiny. He thus moves beyond the common but problematic assumptions that such transformations must be either a rare, rational adaptation to traumatic shock or a relatively constant product of manipulation by power-hungry elites. He finds that nationalist movements, including radical and religious fundamentalist ones, can and do change cardinal components of their ideological beliefs in both moderating and radicalizing directions. These changes have more to do with the unguided consequences of engagement in day-to-day politics than with strategic reaction to new realities, the use of force, or the changing incentives of leaders. Engaging with some of the most contentious debates about the nature of Israeli nationalism and the geographic, religious, and ethnic definition of the state of Israel, Shelef has made signal contributions to our understanding of Middle East politics and of the ideological underpinnings of nationalism itself.

Download or read book Orthodox Judaism and the Politics of Religion written by Daniel Mahla and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-26 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Investigates traditionalist struggles about Zionism and the emergence of national-religious Judaism and ultra-Orthodox in the early twentieth century.

Download or read book A Multicultural Entrapment written by Michael Karayanni and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-17 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The religion and state debate in Israel has overlooked the Palestinian-Arab religious communities and their members, focusing almost exclusively on Jewish religious institutions and norms and Jewish majority members. Because religion and state debates in many other countries are defined largely by minority religions' issues, the debate in Israel is anomalous. Michael Karayanni advances a legal matrix that explains this anomaly by referencing specific constitutional values. At the same time, he also takes a critical look at these values and presents the argument that what might be seen as liberal and multicultural is at its core just as illiberal and coercive. In making this argument, A Multicultural Entrapment suggests a set of multicultural qualifications by which one should judge whether a group based accommodation is of a multicultural nature.

Download or read book The Politics of Compromise State and Religion in Israel written by Ervin Birnbaum and published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. This book was released on 1970 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the safety of democracy in Israel and reveals the inner workings of Israel's political process.

Download or read book Truth and Compassion written by Howard Joseph and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays represent a multidisciplinary approach to the study of religion and, especially, Judaism. Setting aside common scholarly concerns with source criticism and history of interpretation, Shimon Levy argues that in Numbers 11 the redactor has forged diverse elements into a unity. Observing that much of what is said about Second Commonwealth Judaic culture is speculative, Jack Lightstone calls for radical revision of accepted portrayals of the period. Ira Robinson's study of al-Kirkisani's effort to differentiate magic and miracle while demonstrating the rationality of belief in miracle locates his thoughts in the context of Rabbinic and Muslim treatments of the subject. While historians of modern Judaism have acknowledged in the influence of Kant and Hegel, Rousseau, contends Michel Despland, is often overlooked; he opened the way for changes in social and religious life. In Walter Benjamin's philosophy of history Charles Davis finds a significant combining of elements from Kabbalistic and Marxist thought. Michael Oppenheim finds a common core of concerns addressed by modern Jewish philosophers: a struggle with modernity, identification with Jewish thought and values, and commitment to their Jewish communities. Gershon Hundert's "Reflections on the 'Whig' Interpretation of Jewish History" argues—vis-à-vis the Jerusalem school of Zionist historians—that the responsibility of national historians to their community can be fulfilled only by repudiating ideologies that may stand in the way of the search for truth. Howard Joseph's survey of teh extensive literature on the Holocaust indicates the options the authors find most worthy of continued focus. Jerome Eckstein critically examines one of the few published pieces by Joseph Soloveitchik, who combines the Talmudic genius of the Lithuanian Yeshiva world with mastery of the Western intellectual tradition. B. Barry Levy's study of the Artscroll series of translations of and commentaries on biblical literature examines the assumptions and methodology of the series and the hidden agenda that emerges. Frederick Bird's comparison of charity ethics in Judaism and Christianity draws attention to the imprint on these ethics of the formative period of each religion. The volume will be of interest to student of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity.

Download or read book Is Judaism Democratic written by Leonard J. Greenspoon and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As government by the people, democracy has always had its proponents as well as opponents. What forms of government have Jewish leaders, both with and without actual political power, favored? Not surprisingly, many options have been offered theoretically and in practice. Perhaps more surprisingly, democracy has been at the heart of most systems of governance. Biblical Israel was largely a monarchy, but many writers of the Bible were critical of the excesses that almost always arise when human kings take charge: the general populace loses its freedom. In rabbinic Judaism, the majority ruled, and many principles that support modern democratic institutions have their basis in interpretations offered by the classical rabbis. This is true even though rabbinic Jews did not govern democratically. When Jews did have some degree of self-governance, democratic principles and institutions were often upheld. At the same time, so most communal leaders insisted, God-the ultimate judge-ultimately judges everything and everyone. Modern Israel provides the first instance of an independent Jewish nation since the Hasmonean monarchy of the second and first centuries BCE. On an almost daily basis, common features uniting democracy and Judaism, as well as flash point of controversy, are highlighted there. The fourteen scholars whose work is collected here are mindful of all of these circumstances-and many more. In a style that is accessible, clear, and balanced, they allow readers to assess these issues based on the most current thinking. This volume is required reading for anyone interested in how religion and politics have interacted, and continue to interact, in Judaism and among Jews.

Download or read book Arab Liberal Thought after 1967 written by Meir Hatina and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume aims at confronting the image of the Middle East as a region that is fraught with totalitarian ideologies, authoritarianism and conflict. It gives voice and space to other, more liberal and adaptive narratives and discourses that endorse the right to dissent, question the status quo, and offer alternative visions for society.

Download or read book The Politics of Jewish Commerce written by Jonathan Karp and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-21 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study demonstrates the centrality of economic rationales to debates on Jews' status in Italy, Britain, France and Germany during the course of two centuries. It delineates the common themes that informed these debates - the ideal republic and the 'ancient constitution', the conflict between virtue and commerce, and the notion of useful and productive labor. It thus provides an overview of the political-economic dimensions of Jewish emancipation literature of this period. This overview is viewed against the backdrop of broader controversies within European society over the effects of commerce on inherited political values and institutions. By focusing on economic attitudes toward Jews, the book also illuminates European intellectual approaches toward economic modernity. By elucidating these general debates, it renders more contemporary Jewish economic self-conceptions - and the enormous impetus that Jewish reformist movements placed on the Jews' economic and occupational transformation - fully explicable.

Download or read book The Semiotics of Israeli Space and Time written by Michael Feige and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-24 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyses by the Israeli sociologist Michael Feige embraced every aspect of the State of Israel. He examined the ever-changing and complex identity of Israelis; how they remember and commemorate themselves; the long- and short-term conceptions of time of the left- and right-wing political movements; the spacial concept of the settlers; myths underlying the lives and deaths of its citizens; and the dialectical vicissitudes of the real and imagined Israel. The book contains material from Professor Feiges literary output, contextualized in an Introduction by David Ohana. Chapters delve into the meaning of Israeli signs and symbols; the semiotics of secular spaces (sites of disasters and graves of political and religious leaders); the semiotics of historical time and daily existence; forms of commemoration (of figures like David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Rabin, airforce pilots, a female settler and a peace activist). Feige scrutinized communities formed around political cells, the processes of fragmentation and globalization in Israel, the traumas and scars from the Yom Kippur War, the evacuation of settlements, and the killing of Yitzhak Rabin. Feiges scrutiny illuminated Israeli society in myriad ways. He was a sociologist among historians and a historian among sociologists, and internationally acknowledged as having an extraordinary ability to convey sociological meaning and structure to Israels radical political culture as expressed in its social actions and underlying mythology. Semiotics of Israeli Space and Time is not only an essential sociological toolbox for students and an historical masterpiece for the wider Israeli public to better understand the society to which they belong, but a commemorative volume to honour his life and work. Michael was murdered on 8 June 2016 when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire in the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv.

Download or read book The Jewish Life Cycle written by Ivan G. Marcus and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this original and sweeping review of Jewish culture and history, Ivan Marcus examines how and why various rites and customs celebrating stages in the life cycle have evolved through the ages and persisted to this day. For each phase of life--from childhood and adolescence to adulthood and the advanced years—the book traces the origin and development of specific rites associated with the events of birth, circumcision, and schooling; bar and bat mitzvah and confirmation; engagement, betrothal, and marriage; and aging, dying, and remembering. Customs in Jewish tradition, such as the presence of godparents at a circumcision, the use of a four-poled canopy at a wedding, and the placing of small stones on tombstones, are discussed. In each chapter, detailed descriptions walk the reader through such ceremonies as early modern and contemporary circumcision, weddings, and funerals. In a comparative framework, Marcus illustrates how Jewish culture has negotiated with the majority cultures of the ancient Near East, Greco-Roman antiquity, medieval European Christianity, and Mediterranean Islam, as well as with modern secular and religious movements and social trends, to renew itself through ritual innovation. In his extensive research on the Jewish life cycle, Marcus draws from documents on various customs and ritual practices, offering reassessments of original sources and scholarly literature. Marcus’s survey is the first comprehensive study of the rites of the Jewish life cycle since Hayyim Schauss's The Lifetime of the Jew was published in 1950, written for Jewish readers. Marcus’s book addresses a broader audience and is designed to appeal to scholars and interested readers.

Download or read book Authentically Orthodox written by Zev Eleff and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-21 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores religious change in Orthodox Judaism, specifically the indigenous American religious culture. With a fresh perspective, Authentically Orthodox: A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life challenges the current historical paradigm in the study of Orthodox Judaism and other tradition-bound faith communities in the United States.Paying attention to "lived religion," the book moves beyond sermons and synagogues and examines the webs of experiences mediated by any number of American cultural forces. With exceptional writing, Zev Eleff lucidly explores Orthodox Judaism's engagement with Jewish law, youth culture and gender, and how this religious group has been affected by its indigenous environs. To do this, the book makes ample use of archives and other previously unpublished primary sources. Eleff explores the curious history of Passover peanut oil and the folkways and foodways that battled in this culinary arena to both justify and rebuff the validity of this healthier substitute for other fatty ingredients. He looks at the Yeshiva University quiz team's fifteen minutes of fame on the nationally televised College Bowl program and the unprecedented pride of young people and youth culture in the burgeoning Modern Orthodox movement. Another chapter focuses on the advent of women's prayer groups as an alternative to other synagogue experiences in Orthodox life and the vociferous opposition it received on the grounds that it was motivated by "heretical" religious and social movements. Whereas past monographs and articles argue that these communities have moved right toward a conservative brand of faith, Eleff posits that Orthodox Judaism—like other like-minded religious enclaves—ought to be studied in their American religious contexts. The microhistories examined in Authentically Orthodox are some of the most exciting and understudied moments in American Jewish life and will hold the interest of scholars and students of American Jewish history and religion.