Halakha and the Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty

Asaf Yedidya

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2019
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798216224273
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

Halakha and the Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty examines the issues surrounding national, political, and religious sovereignty from the vantage point of halakha and its evolution. The work analyzes the efforts of the interpretative communities who adhered to halakha—the rabbinical authorities—as well as other groups who endeavored to help or to change it: the Jewish jurists in Eretz Israel who sought to integrate sections of halakha into the Jewish collective; and the religious academics who wanted more meaningful recognition of halakha in non-halakhic values. The assessment extends from the beginning of the Jewish national movement in the last two decades of the 19th century to the first two decades of the State of Israel, when weighty problems arose that required a halakhic response to the challenge of sovereignty.



In this, the volume sheds light on the pliable nature of the concept of halakha, particularly in conjunction with its application to the notion of sovereignty.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One: The Halakha in the Face of Modernity and Zionism
• Chapter Two: “Government in the Spirit of the Talmud”
• Chapter Three: The Balfour Declaration and the Pioneering Debate on Halakha and the Challenge of Sovereignty (1917–1921)
• Chapter Four: The Age of Jurists (1918–1948)
• Chapter Five: The Rabbinical Debate on the Eve of the Establishment of the State of Israel and in its Early Years (1947–1953)
• Chapter Six: The Younger Generation of Zionist Rabbis Faces the Challenge of Sovereignty (1948–1962)
• Chapter Seven: Religious Academics and the Challenge of Sovereignty (1948–1967)
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author