DOCSLIB.ORG

Secular Bodies, Affects and Emotions: European Configurations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Secular Bodies, Affects and Emotions: European Configurations Gutkowski, Stacey. "Love, War and Secular ‘Reasonableness’ among hilonim in Israel-Palestine." Secular Bodies, Affects and Emotions: European Configurations. Ed. Monique Scheer, Nadia Fadil and Johansen Schepelern Birgitte. London,: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. 123–138. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 3 Oct. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350065253.ch-009>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 3 October 2021, 00:07 UTC. Copyright © Monique Scheer, Nadia Fadil and Birgitte Schepelern Johansen and Contributors 2019. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 9 Love, War and Secular ‘Reasonableness’ among hilonim in Israel-Palestine Stacey Gutkowski In his 2002 lecture How to Cure a Fanatic, Israeli novelist and peace activist Amos Oz suggested that a combination of cool rationalism on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, along with humour, imaginative empathy and the ability to feel comfortable with ambiguity, could sustain a two-state solution. He condemned the renewed rise of violent ethno-national ‘religious fanaticism’ among both Jews and Palestinians during the Second Intifada. The conflict is, he said, about ‘real estate not religion’ (Oz 2012: 43–81). This emotio-political antidote resonated particularly with hilonim, secular Jewish Israelis, Oz’s own religio-class constituency, after the collapse of the Oslo peace process.1 It remains popular across the political spectrum, not just among leftists like Oz keen to see a two-state solution. It also resonates among Jewish Israelis on the right and centre who do not share the left’s enthusiasm for Palestinian statehood, but who mobilize the formula of humour and empathy among Jewish Israelis towards, as they see it, cool, collective endurance of and solidarity in the face of Palestinian and Arab political violence. Oz’s emotio-political formula resonates because it taps into a shared hiloni habitus, a deep well of shared and individual epistemological, existential, ethical and emotional sensibilities, beliefs, identities and practices, of what it feels like to be a person living in a complex dialogue with both Western secular liberalism and Jewish tradition. For many who identify as hiloni, to be so is primarily to be a reasonable person, someone who uses her intellectual faculties for what Walzer (2002: 617–33) called ‘dispassionate deliberation’. She appreciates her own passions but tries to gain critical purchase on and sometimes restrain her emotional impulses. Across the political spectrum, there is a strong connection between hiloni self-identity as ‘rational’ (Dalsheim 2007: 546)2 and the framing of Israeli state policies they agree with as ‘unfortunate but unavoidable’ because they are ‘rational’. Following three wars with Hamas-controlled Gaza since 2008 and the onset of what some call the ‘knife intifada’, Jewish Israeli society has increasingly found convincing government discourse that there is ‘no [rational] partner for peace’. At the same time, despite this discourse of ‘being rational’ about the Palestinian conflict, hilonim are also shaped by the nationalist, emotional repertoires 124 Secular Bodies, Affects and Emotions: European Configurations of Zionism. These draw on biblical symbolism such as return from exile in Egypt to the ancient land of Israel (Eretz Israel) for some of its most emotionally evocative themes. Ethnocratic Zionism defines the Jewish self who is entitled to sovereignty in the land against the non-Jewish other, who is welcome as a ‘guest’, only in limited numbers, only in particular spaces, whose public behaviour is regulated by the Israeli state. Following Nussbaum (2003), I understand emotions as value-laden judgements about what is best for ‘us’. Of the wider emotional ecology of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (numbness, fear, worry, frustration, boredom, surprise, grief, envy, anger, shame, stoicism, joy, disgust, hatred), I choose to focus particularly on two types of love and the ways in which ethno-religious affinity does and does not shape these for ‘secular Jews’. What the ancient Greeks called philia or ‘brotherly love’ is a critical component of the ethno-national, post-secular, emotional repertoires of Zionism. For hilonim on the political right and centre, what counts as ethical is judged primarily as being in accordance with philia, brotherly love: what is ethical will protect Jewish Israeli bodies from violence, post-Holocaust. For some leftists, us or me is a more elusive concept, sometimes but not always going beyond the ethno-religious divide. For those on what is today called in Israel the ‘hard left’, a different kind of love, agape, governs emotional repertoires towards Palestinians. This is a charitable love for the emotionally and physically distant other whom one thinks of largely in the abstract, as opposed to philia’s intimacies. What is judged by these leftists as ethical and also reasonable is seen as in accordance both withphilia and agape: what will protect Jewish and Palestinian civilians from violence. For hiloni leftists, that one can feel agape towards a broader ‘us’ is a demonstration of one’s personal and political reasonableness, good judgement and ability to think ‘rationally’, but it requires conscious effort. However, for all varieties of hiloni leftists, these love repertoires are also quite complicated, determined sometimes but not always by one’s political affiliation or the ethno-religious divide or the other’s use of violence, rather than ‘pure reason’. Contra Oz’s dichotomy of secular reasonableness versus religious fanaticism (the Western stereotype of the fanatic illuminated by Toscano [2010]) the picture is more complex. On the surface, it seems as though hilonim define themselves as ‘reasonable’ (rational plus ethical) people against a range of religious others, including Hamas and militant settlers from the national religious sector. However, post-secularity allows hilonim to implicitly grasp the often paradoxical dynamics of religio-politics among both Jews and Palestinians, even where the average young Israeli has little detailed knowledge. This post-secular intuition about religio-politics produces a complex three-way emotional ecology towards religious others: embarrassed and exasperated empathy for those violent settlers who see the land as given by God, effortful empathy for Gazan civilians who are ‘religious’ but not ‘ideologues’ and grim acceptance of Hamas as adversaries, rational ‘like us’. Young hiloni understandings of themselves as ‘reasonable people’, able to think rationally and not be overwhelmed by emotion, holds this tenuous emotional ecology together (Sasson-Levy 2013: 40). They understand that Hamas are rational actors and not ‘Islamic fanatics’, however much its anti-Semitic rhetoric angers them. They try to feel pity for Gazan civilians, because they feel this is what a reasonable person ‘should’ do, though they feel torn because Palestinians do not naturally feel ‘like family’, requiring ongoing efforts to ‘be reasonable’. And Love, War and Secular ‘Reasonableness’ 125 for violent settlers, against whom they most clearly define themselves as ‘reasonable’, they feel torn between anger and philia. In tension with their liberal self-definition as ‘rational’ people, for young hilonim, post-secular empathy often defines what violence is ‘reasonable’, rather than cool, dispassionate assessment of ‘evidence’. This chapter draws empirically upon qualitative analysis of over fifty in-depth semi-structured interviews with young secular Jewish Israelis aged twenty-five to forty-five from across the political spectrum from the self-described ‘hard left’ to ‘hard right’.3 These were conducted by the author between 2014 and 2016, starting in the aftermath of the 2014 Gaza War. This data is supplemented by an in-depth qualitative survey with ninety- five young hilonim conducted by the author over the same period, and this material is triangulated by other primary and secondary sources.4 This volume takes as its starting point the ways in which attention to the affective register helps scholars to understand the logics, practices and distinctions which are constitutive of the European secular. This chapter diverges from the book’s starting point in two related ways. First, the constellation of ideas and conditions that make up the European secular tradition (cf Farman 2013) forms only part of the hiloni worldview. There is an intense debate in the literature as to whether and to what extent Israel’s waves of inward migration have led its society to have a Western/European or Eastern/Arab character. While Ashkenazi cultural hegemony dominated society and governance during the first three decades of the state of Israel, today the case is best described as hybrid, taking into account the diversity of inward migration and settlement from the Euro-American, Latin American, former Soviet as well as the Arab-Mediterranean contexts. Second, while Hirschkind (2011: 634) described the secular as ‘the water we swim in’, this does not resonate for the Jewish Israeli case, for reasons described below. Hilonim borrow both from secular, Western, liberal culture and other influences, including Jewish religious influences, in order to constitute their worldview. The relationship between these resources is multi-directional, often an inverse one to the European story of the secular, with Jewish tradition shaping
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Fresh Perspective on the History of Hasidic Judaism
    eSharp Issue 20: New Horizons A Fresh Perspective on the History of Hasidic Judaism Eva van Loenen (University of Southampton) Introduction In this article, I shall examine the history of Hasidic Judaism, a mystical,1 ultra-orthodox2 branch of Judaism, which values joyfully worshipping God’s presence in nature as highly as the strict observance of the laws of Torah3 and Talmud.4 In spite of being understudied, the history of Hasidic Judaism has divided historians until today. Indeed, Hasidic Jewish history is not one monolithic, clear-cut, straightforward chronicle. Rather, each scholar has created his own narrative and each one is as different as its author. While a brief introduction such as this cannot enter into all the myriad divergences and similarities between these stories, what I will attempt to do here is to incorporate and compare an array of different views in order to summarise the history of Hasidism and provide a more objective analysis, which has not yet been undertaken. Furthermore, my historical introduction in Hasidic Judaism will exemplify how mystical branches of mainstream religions might develop and shed light on an under-researched division of Judaism. The main focus of 1 Mystical movements strive for a personal experience of God or of his presence and values intuitive, spiritual insight or revelationary knowledge. The knowledge gained is generally ‘esoteric’ (‘within’ or hidden), leading to the term ‘esotericism’ as opposed to exoteric, based on the external reality which can be attested by anyone. 2 Ultra-orthodox Jews adhere most strictly to Jewish law as the holy word of God, delivered perfectly and completely to Moses on Mount Sinai.
    [Show full text]
  • 2006 Abstracts
    Works in Progress Group in Modern Jewish Studies Session Many of us in the field of modern Jewish studies have felt the need for an active working group interested in discussing our various projects, papers, and books, particularly as we develop into more mature scholars. Even more, we want to engage other committed scholars and respond to their new projects, concerns, and methodological approaches to the study of modern Jews and Judaism, broadly construed in terms of period and place. To this end, since 2001, we have convened a “Works in Progress Group in Modern Jewish Studies” that meets yearly in connection with the Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference on the Saturday night preceding the conference. The purpose of this group is to gather interested scholars together and review works in progress authored by members of the group and distributed and read prior to the AJS meeting. 2006 will be the sixth year of a formal meeting within which we have exchanged ideas and shared our work with peers in a casual, constructive environment. This Works in Progress Group is open to all scholars working in any discipline within the field of modern Jewish studies. We are a diverse group of scholars committed to engaging others and their works in order to further our own projects, those of our colleagues, and the critical growth of modern Jewish studies. Papers will be distributed in November. To participate in the Works in Progress Group, please contact: Todd Hasak-Lowy, email: [email protected] or Adam Shear, email: [email protected] Co-Chairs: Todd S.
    [Show full text]
  • Fantasies of Liberalism and Liberal Jurisprudence: State Law, Politics, and the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian Community Dr. Gad
    1 Fantasies of Liberalism and Liberal Jurisprudence: State Law, Politics, and the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian Community Dr. Gad Barzilai Dr. Gad Barzilai is senior lecturer in political science and a jurist, co-director of the law, politics, and society program at Tel Aviv University. This paper was presented in different versions in the Center for the Study of Law and Society, Berkeley University, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, faculty seminars at Tel Aviv University and the conference on Bergman, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. I would like to acknowledge helpful remarks made by Laura Edelman, Malcolm Feeley, Tamar Herman, Menachem Hofnung, Robert Kagan, David Kretzmer, Pnina Lahav, Noga Morag-Levin, Emanuel Ottollengi, Avi Shlaim, Ronen Shamir, Oren Yiftachel, and Efraim Yuchtman-Yaar. Yoav Dotan and Ruth Gavison were encouraging editors and two anonymous reviewers improved the article. Thanks. © Israel Law Review. 1 2 I. Between Bergman (1969) and Kaadan (2000) About thirty years after Bergman case1, Israel constitutional structure and its legal culture are not responsive to minority needs, and more largely to social needs of deprived communities. The liberal language and judicial review over Knesset legislation that have been empowered by and followed Bergman have not reconciled this utterly problematic discrepancy between jurisprudence and social needs. Bergman ruling has symbolized the outset of a new area in Israel jurisprudence, the area of liberalism, since it has empowered the notion of judicial counter majoritarianism as the center, however problematic, of democracy. It has been a modest ruling, and a careful one, dwelling only on procedural deficiencies as a cause of judicial abolition of parliamentary legislation.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction: Origins
    Copyrighted Material Introduction: Origins In “The Non-Jewish Jew,” the Polish social revolutionary Isaac Deutscher, who began his education as a yeshiva student, argued that those who re- jected their ancestral religion and their people in favor of secular universal- ism had historical precursors. In a paradoxical formulation that captured something of his own identity, Deutscher wrote: “The Jewish heretic who transcends Jewry belongs to a Jewish tradition.”1 This “Jewry” is Judaism— not only the religion but all of the traditions built up over nearly three millennia. Yet, in transcending Judaism, the heretic finds himself or herself in a different Jewish tradition, a tradition no less Jewish for being antitradi- tional. Secular universalism for these heretics paradoxically became a kind of Jewish identity. Many of these ideas originated in the European Enlightenment, but they also often had a Jewish provenance or at least were believed by secular Jews to have such a provenance. Deutscher, for example, started his famous essay on an autobiographical note, remembering how, as a child in the yeshiva, he had read the story of the heretic Elisha ben Abuya (or Aher—the Other— as he is known). Elisha’s favorite student, Rabbi Meir, became one of the towering legal authorities of his generation, yet he never renounced his wayward teacher. By raising the question of the relationship of the Ortho- dox Rabbi Meir and the heretic Elisha, Deutscher implied that even the heretic remains somehow connected to that which he rejects, for the source of his heresy may lie within that tradition. For Deutscher, Elisha was the prototype of his modern heroes: Spinoza, Heine, Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Trotsky, and Freud.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Olim Survey Findings Report
    MONAMONASH SH AUSTRALAUSTRALIAN IAN CENTRECENT FORRE FOR JEWISJEH WCIIVSIHLI CSAIVTILIIOSNA TION GEN17 AUSTRALIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY SURVEY AUSSIESJEWISH EDUCATION IN THE IN PROMISEDMELBOURNE LAND:ANDREW MARKUS , MIRIAM MUNZ AND TANYA MUNZ FINDINGS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OLIM SURVEY (2018- 19) Building S,Bu Caildiunlgfi eS,ld Cacampulfieulsd campus 900 Dandenong900 Dandenong Road Road Caulfield CaEausltf iVIeldC Ea31s4t5 VI C 3145 www.monwww.ash.emodun/aarstsh/.aecdjuc / arts/acjc DAVID MITTELBERG AND ADINA BANKIER-KARP All rights reserved © David Mittelberg and Adina Bankier-Karp First published 2020 Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation Faculty of Arts Monash University Victoria 3800 https://arts.monash.edu/acjc ISBN: 978-0-6486654-9-6 The photograph on the cover of this report was taken by David Bankier and has been used with his written permission. This work is copyright. Apart for any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of it may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction rights should be directed to the publisher. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................. 1 AUTHORS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Israeli Jews' Views on Their Relationship to American Jews And
    Together and Apart: Israeli Jews’ Views on their Relationship to American Jews and Religious Pluralism Findings from UJA-Federation’s Survey of Israeli Jews 2017 January 29, 2018 Principal Researchers: Prof. Steven M. Cohen, HUC-JIR Mijal Bitton, Ph.D. candidate, NYU Prof. Lisa Grant, HUC-JIR Dr. Ezra Kopelowitz, Research Success Technologies, Israel Dr. Jack Ukeles, Ukeles Associates, Inc., Jerusalem, Israel A healthy relationship between American and Israeli Jewry — the world’s two largest Jewish communities — is crucial to the well-being of the Jewish people. Anyone who has lived or traveled extensively in both countries is aware of profound cultural, political, religious, social, and economic differences between these two Jewries. To cite just a few obvious examples, Jews in Israel are a majority in a sovereign Jewish state; American Jews are a minority in a state that is not Jewish. In the U.S., separation of church and state is a cherished value; in Israel, religion plays a major role in public life. Most young Jews in Israel serve in the army; most American Jews do not. Many American Jews are engaged with non-Jewish family and friends; Israeli Jews are surrounded by non-Jews, many of whom they perceive as unfriendly, if not hostile. With huge stakes in the relationship between Israel and American Jewry and huge differences between the two, understanding the other is urgent. The leadership of each community operates with a series of often unfounded assumptions about what “they” think, believe, and value. 1 This report aims to help American Jewish leadership better understand the perspectives of Israeli Jews that are important to both Jewries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ramah Experience and the Religious Attitudes and Behaviors of Shelih ˙ Im
    184 YAARA SHTEINHARt-MOGHADAM AND JEFFREY S. KRESS The Ramah Experience and the Religious Attitudes and Behaviors of Shelihim ˙ Introduction Each summer, without ever boarding an airplane, thousands of North American youth spend their summers living and working with Israelis. Ramah camps, along with many other Jewish educational summer camps, welcome a cadre of shelihim to their communities each summer. Shelihut, as explained ˙ ˙ by the Jewish Agency Web site, is considered to be collaboration between the state of Israel and American Jewry. The Israeli shaliah is in fact an Israeli “ambassador.” With activities and ˙ educational aids that he or she brings from Israel, such as posters, music, photographs, stories, and games, the shaliah creates an Israeli atmosphere at ˙ camp and inspires the campers’ love for Israel. [I]n this environment, the campers and staff learn about life in Israel and its current culture and see the shaliah as the face of Israel.1 ˙ The shelihim are invited to camp to serve as representatives of Israel to global ˙ Jewish communities and to be a cultural link between the two. The shaliah’s ˙ agenda includes education about Israel and Zionism. Shelihim bring to camp ˙ Hebrew language and a representation of an Israeli way of life. Their customs and personal life narratives are seen as connecting the campers to Israel in everyday pe’ulot at camp. YAARA SHTEINHART-MoGHADAM is a doctoral candidate at the William Davidson Grad- uate School of Jewish Education of The Jewish Theological Seminary. Her dissertation examines how Jewish museums conceptualize, promote, and conduct programs for students in Jewish schools.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Neoliberalism Consistent with Individual Liberty? Friedman, Hayek and Rand on Education Employment and Equality
    International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. IV, No. 4 / 2016 DOI: 10.20472/TE.2016.4.4.003 IS NEOLIBERALISM CONSISTENT WITH INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY? FRIEDMAN, HAYEK AND RAND ON EDUCATION EMPLOYMENT AND EQUALITY IRIT KEYNAN Abstract: In their writings, Milton Friedman, Friedrich August von Hayek and Ayn Rand have been instrumental in shaping and influencing neoliberalism through their academic and literary abilities. Their opinions on education, employment and inequality have stirred up considerable controversy and have been the focus of many debates. This paper adds to the debate by suggesting that there is an internal inconsistency in the views of neoliberalism as reflected by Friedman, Hayek and Rand. The paper contends that whereas their neoliberal theories promote liberty, the manner in which they conceptualize this term promotes policies that would actually deny the individual freedom of the majority while securing liberty and financial success for the privileged few. The paper focuses on the consequences of neoliberalism on education, and also discusses how it affects employment, inequality and democracy. Keywords: Neoliberalism; liberty; free market; equality; democracy; social justice; education; equal opportunities; Conservativism JEL Classification: B20, B31, P16 Authors: IRIT KEYNAN, College for Academic Studies, Israel, Email: [email protected] Citation: IRIT KEYNAN (2016). Is neoliberalism consistent with individual liberty? Friedman, Hayek and Rand on education employment and equality. International Journal of Teaching and Education, Vol. IV(4), pp. 30-47., 10.20472/TE.2016.4.4.003 Copyright © 2016, IRIT KEYNAN, [email protected] 30 International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. IV, No. 4 / 2016 I. Introduction Neoliberalism gradually emerged as a significant ideology during the twentieth century, in response to the liberal crisis of the 1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion and Psychological Well-Being and Distress in Israeli Jews: Findings from the Gallup World Poll
    Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci - Vol. 48 - No 4 (2011) Religion and Psychological Well-being and Distress in Israeli Jews: Findings from the Gallup World Poll Jeff Levin, PhD, MPH Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and Director of the Program on Religion and Population Health, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, U.S.A logical well-being (1). This association works two ways: ABSTRACT greater religiousness, variously assessed, as protective against psychological distress and psychiatric diagno- Background: This study investigates religious predictors ses (e.g., mood disorders such as depressive symptoms of psychological well-being and psychological distress in and anxiety) and promotive of psychological well-being a five-year national probability sample of Israeli Jews (e.g., happiness, life satisfaction, positive affect). As in (N = 4,073). Data were taken from the 2006-2010 annual all epidemiologic studies, these findings are expressed surveys of Israel as a part of the multinational Gallup on average and at the population level; there are, of World Poll. course, exceptions to these trends. This literature also Methods: Analyses identified religious predictors of includes findings from clinical and community studies, five-item scales of well-being and distress, adjusting for social and behavioral research by gerontologists, and effects of several covariates, including health satisfaction. other population-based research by psychiatric and Additional analyses examined differences in religion, psychosocial investigators. well-being and distress, and their interrelationships by Despite the volume of work that has accumulated, the categories of Jewish religious identity and observance research literature is homogeneous in an important way.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Compilation Anniversary Edition July 2019
    Anniversary Edition Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC) Research Compilation Anniversary Edition July 2019 This Research Compilation w a s issued on 12 July 2019. It c o n t a i n s t h e M a i n B ibliography o n D E M - D E C ( i s s u e d 24 June 2018) and all 11 monthly Global Research Updates issued to date . In all, this compilation contains o v e r 200 books, 500 articles, 30 book reviews, 40 p o l i c y i t e m s , a n d m o r e . www.democratic1 -decay.org A Special Research Compilation to Mark Our Anniversary The global online platform Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC) went live on 25 June 2018. It aims to assist researchers and policymakers focused on the deterioration of liberal democracy worldwide, and on re-thinking democracy. One of our main activities is to help analysts to stay abreast of the rapidly growing research and policy analysis in this area. Since launch DEM-DEC has been used by thousands of democracy defenders and analysts worldwide, in over 130 states. The platform has expanded over time, with recent additions including an expanded Experts Database and a special section devoted to the EU treaty process for addressing rule of law backsliding (curated by Prof. Laurent Pech and Dr Joelle Grogan). To mark our anniversary, we have issued this Research Compilation bringing together the Main Bibliography on DEM-DEC (issued 24 June 2018) and all 11 monthly Global Research Updates issued to date.
    [Show full text]
  • From “Azure” to “Hebraic Political Studies”
    More recently, studies. But the difference between the Shalem these two journals is not as clear-cut FROM “AZURE” TO Center has as the manifestos of their (entirely introduced a new different) editors might seem to “HEBRAIC periodical that suggest. Hebraic Political Studies bears the title has already published in its very Hebraic Political short lifetime articles that resemble POLITICAL STUDIES” Studies and others that have appeared in Azure, Allan Arkush identifies itself as including a piece by Shalem Center he Jerusalem-based but by “an international peer-reviewed founder and frequent Azure no means exclusively Israeli journal.” This journal seeks above contributor Yoram Hazony entitled TShalem Center calls itself “a all to recover “the Hebraic political “Does the Bible have a Political research institute dedicated to tradition” developed through the Teaching?” And Azure has Jewish and Israeli social thought ages “by Jewish, Christian, and published articles that could easily and policy.” Islamic thinkers— be imagined in the pages of Hebraic Outside observers rabbis, theologians, Political Studies, such as Joseph commonly scholars, and Dan’s “Jewish Sovereignty as a describe it as a statesmen—who Theological Problem” and Yosef “neoconservative drew ideas with Yitzhak Lifshitz’s “Foundations of a think tank” political import Jewish Economic Theory.” funded by from the Hebrew wealthy Bible, and who In fact, the article that seems to Americans and interacted with have served as the inspiration for devoted to each other and the creation of Hebrew Political providing the with the Studies, Fania Oz-Salzberger’s “The Israeli right with philosophical Jewish Roots of the Modern more solid traditions they Republic,” originally appeared in intellectual Azure in 2002.
    [Show full text]
  • Tribes, Identity, and Individual Freedom in Israel
    Tribes, identity, and individual freedom in Israel BY Natan SacHS AND BRIAN REEVES The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. This paper is part of a series on Imagining Israel’s Future, made possible by support from the Morningstar Philanthropic Fund. The views expressed in this report are those of its author and do not represent the views of the Morningstar Philanthropic Fund, their officers, or employees. Copyright © 2017 Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20036 U.S.A. www.brookings.edu Table of Contents 1 The Authors 3 Acknowlegements 5 Introduction: Freedom of divorce 7 Individual autonomy and group identity 9 The four (or more) tribes of Israel 12 Institutionalizing difference 14 Secularism and religiosity 16 Conclusion 18 The Center for Middle East Policy 1 | Tribes, identity, and individual freedom in Israel The Authors atan Sachs is a fellow in the Center for rian Reeves is a senior research assistant Middle East Policy at Brookings. His at the Center for Middle East Policy at work focuses on Israeli foreign policy, do- Brookings. His work focuses primarily on Nmestic politics, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and U.S.- Bthe Israeli-Palestinian dispute, American Jewish Israeli relations. He is currently writing a book on thought pertaining to Israel, and the U.S.-Israel re- Israeli grand strategy and its domestic origins.
    [Show full text]