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Author Kaye, Alexander, author.

Title The invention of Jewish theocracy : the struggle for legal authority in modern Israel / Alexander Kaye
Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

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Description 1 online resource (x, 264 pages)
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
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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on February 27, 2020)
Subject Religious Zionism -- Israel -- History
Religious Zionism -- Philosophy
Religious Zionists -- Israel -- Attitudes
Judaism and state -- Israel.
Judaism and state
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism -- Philosophy
Religious Zionists -- Attitudes
Israel
Genre/Form Electronic books
History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2019035295
ISBN 9780190922757
0190922753
9780190922764
0190922761