VI.

Judaism in Israel

The modern state of Israel was founded by the Zionist movement as a secular democracy that would express the national ethos of the Jewish people. The founders of the Jewish state were largely immigrants of Eastern European Ashkenazic origins, with decidedly secularist and socialist perspectives. But as soon as the independent state was established in 1948, it became the home of a widely diverse set of Jewish immigrants. Deeply pious traditionalist Jews from the ravaged ghettoes of Eastern Europe—Hasidim and their rationalist opponents known as Mithnagdim—arrived simultaneously with equally pious Jews of Islamic lands from Morocco to Persia, whose lives had become untenable in their homelands. The Jews from Islamic countries are often identified as Sephardim, if they trace their ancestry to medieval Spain, or as the Edot ha-Mizrah (“Oriental Jews”), if they are of Yemenite, Persian, or other Middle Eastern origin. The contemporary face of Judaism in Israel reflects this unprecedented mixing of Jews of various traditional religious cultures in a society governed for the most part by the norms of a state created by secular Jews.

While most of Israel’s Jewish population has always regarded itself as secular in orientation, perhaps a fifth of Jewish Israelis consider themselves to be more or less devoted practitioners of Judaism. In addition, Israel’s large non-Jewish minorities—including Arabs and Armenians—practice various forms of Islam and Christianity. To accommodate this religious diversity in a democratic, pluralistic spirit, Israel since its beginnings has recognized the legitimacy of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity as established religious institutions. It also guarantees the freedom of Israeli citizens to practice—or not to practice—any religion they choose.

A.

Official Orthodox Judaism

Even before the state of Israel was founded, the main forms of Judaism practiced in Palestine under Ottoman and British rule were of a highly traditionalist Orthodox variety. This resulted in part because Palestine had for centuries been the home of highly pious Jewish communities of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic origins. Additionally, since the 1890s, an important minority of the Zionist immigration had been Eastern European traditionalist Jews who saw in Zionism the beginnings of the messianic restoration of Israel (the people) to its land. When the Jewish state was created in 1948, these Orthodox Jews were poised to dictate terms on which they would participate in the government of the state. Among the concessions they won was the right to define Judaism in accord with the halakhic norms preserved from medieval Jewish tradition. While Reform and Conservative Jews are welcomed as Jews to the Jewish state, to this day their versions of Judaism are regarded as deviant. Accordingly, official Conservative and Reform religious communities are denied governmental support, and the rabbis of these movements may not perform legally binding wedding ceremonies or conversions.

B.

The Zionist Orthodox

Most Orthodox Jews in Israel are Zionist in political orientation. They accept Zionism as an authentic movement of Jewish national expression, despite its secular background. The National Religious Party has been an important voice for this community. The rabbinic leaders of this stream of orthodoxy are generally the pool from which candidates for the chief rabbinate are drawn. The religious Orthodox, especially those with a strongly messianic view of the rebirth of Jewish statehood, have often played leading roles in establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank territories occupied by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War of 1967.

C.

The Anti-Zionist Orthodox

A small, but highly vocal, minority of Orthodox Jews in Israel are bitter opponents of Zionism. Their roots lie in the pre-Zionist Orthodox population of Palestine, but they include many new voices of post-Holocaust immigrants, from Eastern Europe in particular. These groups generally regard Zionism as a heretical attempt by Jews to force God to end his decree of exile. They regard their “exile in the Land of Israel under the Zionists” as even more bitter than the exile under medieval Christian or Islamic empires.

D.

The Non-Zionist Orthodox

The non-Zionist Orthodox have largely the same ethnic origins as the anti-Zionist Orthodox. However, they view Zionism as a religiously neutral fact. The state of Israel for them, in contrast to the claims of the Zionist Orthodox, has no messianic meaning, but neither is it a demonic force, as the anti-Zionist Orthodox claim. The Agudas Yisrael (Union of Israel), the major voice of this community, has been an important player in Israeli governments, where it seeks to protect the interests of Orthodox Jews. More recently, the Shas Party, composed primarily of Sephardic Jews, has played a similar role in Israeli politics.

E.

Reform and Conservative Judaism

Most Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel come from the Western democracies. While deeply committed to Israeli statehood and a presence during Israel’s modern history, they have had only small success in creating a base among native-born Israelis. Nevertheless, in recent years both movements have ordained Israelis into their rabbinates. The leaders of both communities are vocal lobbyists for breaking the Orthodox monopoly on defining the nature of Israeli Judaism.