Israel's Jewish identity crisis : state and politics in the Middle East / Yaacov Yadgar.

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

©2020

1 online resource (xvi, 212 pages).

Global Middle East (Cambridge, England) ; 11.

"The book argues that the state of Israel's political and intellectual elites have failed to formulate a coherent concept of what it means for the state to be "Jewish." As a result, Israel is conceived primarily in demographic terms - as a state the majority of whose population is Jewish. The definition of who is Jewish, however, is left entirely up to Orthodox authorities. Although most observers of Israel attribute the disproportionate power of these authorities to coalition politics, Yadgar claims that the state needs to outsource the determination of Jewishness to them because the state has developed no alternative definition. Yadgar illustrates this dilemma through in-depth examination of controversies over conversion, the recently-passed Nation State law, school programs for the strengthening of "Jewish identity," and claims to an "Israeli" as opposed to "Jewish" nationality. Yadgar's elegant presentation of the intertwining of halakhic and ethnic conceptions of Jewishness, and the inability to separate "being Israeli" from "being Jewish," nicely illustrates the fallacy of clear distinctions between the realms of the religious and the secular in modern societies"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on March 16, 2020).

Print version: Yadgar, Yaacov. Israel's Jewish identity crisis Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

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English

9781108773249 electronic book
1108773249 electronic book
9781108488945 hardcover
9781108715706 paperback

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