This SIIS faculty syllabus provides a comprehensive introduction to the relationship between state and religion in Israel, as well as the cultural products of this complex issue.
Essential Reading
A. Ravitzky, Religious and Secular Jews in Israel: A Kulturkampf?, (Israel Democracy Institute, 2000)
Y.Z. Stern, “Facing Painful Choices: Law and Halakha in Israeli Society,”
Avi Sagi and Ohad Nachtomy, Eds. The Multicultural Challenge in Israel, (Academic Studies Press, 2009).
Recommended Reading
E. Don Yehiya, Religion and Political Accommodation in Israel,
(The Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies, 1999)
C. Liebman and E. Don-Yehiya
Civil Religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983)
ISBN/ISSN: 0520048172
A. Cohen and B. Susser, “From Accommodation to Decision: Transformation in Israel’s Religion Political Life”, Journal of Church and State , Vol. 38 (1996), pp. 817-839
B. Neuberger, “Religion and Democracy in Israel,” (The Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies, 1997)
Gad Barzilai
Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005)
ISBN/ISSN: 0472030795
pp. 212-262
Ayelet Shachar
Multicultural Jurisdictions: Cultural Differences and Human Rights
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
pp. 45-62; 63-87 [Link to ebook for those with Brandeis account]
Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser
Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity: The Secular-Religious Impasse
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000)
ISBN/ISSN: 0801863457