Israel and the Politics of Jewish Identity: The Secular Religious Impasse By Asher Cohen and Bernard Susser. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. 167p. $36.00. The Politics of Religion and the Religion of Politics: Looking at Israel By Ira Sharkansky. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000. 161p. $40.00.

Extract

Religion has played a prominent role in Israel's history. The country was founded in 1948 with a declaration of being a Jewish state, not only a state for the Jews. This definition has been the source of two thorny problems. The first involves the relations between state and religion, the second the relationship between two communities, namely, the secular majority and the religious minority. The two books under review tackle these problems in a fascinating manner. They complement each other by presenting different aspects of the intricate religious issue in Israel. They also contradict each other by offering conflicting conclusions based on historical and contemporary analysis.