The Rift in Israel: Religious Authority and Secular Democracy

198 Pages·2015·7.146 MB·English

by  S. Clement Leslie

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
Volume 12
THE RIFT IN ISRAEL
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THE RIFT IN ISRAEL
Religious Authority and Secular Democracy
S. CLEMENT LESLIE
Firstpublishedin1971
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2015
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©1971S.ClementLeslie
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ISBN:978-1-138-89267-5(Set)
eISBN:978-1-315-69513-6(Set)
ISBN:978-1-138-90234-3(Volume12)
eISBN:978-1-315-69748-2(Volume12)
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S. Clement Leslie
The Rift in Israel
Religious Authority and
Secular Democracy
London
Routledge & Kegan Paul
First published in 1971
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane
London EC4V 5EL
Printed in Great Britain by
C. Tinling & Co. Ltd, Prescot and London
© S. Clement Leslie 1971
No part of this book may be reproduced
ill allY form without permission from
the publisher, except for the
qllotation of brief passages in
criticism
ISBN 0 7100 7033 0
Contents
Preface vii
Some Hebrew Terms ix
Background
I ISoo Be-AD 135 3
2 AD 135-1945 17
Division
3 'Who is a Jew?' 35
4 Segregation in the Schools 49
5 Religion 57
6 Non-Religion? 72
Witness
7 Basis 93
S Two Pillars (i) THE ARMY 101
(ii) THE KIBBUTZ 103
9 Ingathering II5
10 Arabs (i) 'WITIDN THY GATES' 120
(ii) THE GREAT DILEMMA 122
II Diaspora 127
What is a Jew?
12 Jewish Identity: Descriptive 141
13 Jewish Identity: Analytical 149
Appendix
Some Notes on Israel as a Factor in
Jewish-Christian Relations 167
Notes 176
Index lSI
v
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Preface
This book is an essay in interpretation, not a work of scholarship. Its
primary material was gathered in about 100 interviews in Israel, from
Dan (or a few miles short of it) to Beersheba. This was supported by a
programme of reading, whose nature will be clear enough from the
text and references.
The question which the book seeks to answer was born in my mind
during a first visit to Israel shortly before the Six-Day War. The
impulse to investigate was encouraged by the editor of International
Affairs, and even more by Norman Bentwich who supported and
nourished it, as friend and counsellor, without stint of his time,
experience and wisdom, during nearly two years.
The first outcome was a pair of articles in International Affairs in
1969. Since these aroused some interest, and were reckoned both in
Israel and in London to be not too far off target, I went on to extend
their scope and deepen their probings. Six or eight short passages from
them are included in the present text, which also overlaps a little the
material of an address to the Anglo-Israel Association in May 1970.
Almost everyone of the many and diverse men and women ap-
proached in Israel was generous with time and thought, frank in spirit
and clear in exposition. I am sincerely grateful to them all. There are
seven to whom I have particular reason for gratitude, since as they well
know I made unusual demands on them, all fully met. They are (and
I leave the order of the names to the hazard of the alphabet) Joseph
Bentwich ofJ erusalem, RabbiJackJ. Cohen of Hillel House,Jerusalem,
Dr Harold Fisch, Rector of Bar-Ilan University, Ephraim Kritzler of
Kibbutz Lavi in Galilee, Uzi Peled of the Israel Institute of Applied
Social Research, Chaim Raphael of London and Sussex University,
and Aryeh Simon of Ben Shemen Youth Village.
Finally, there is my wife. I am more grateful to her than I can well
say, not only for helpful criticism, but for cheerfully coping over
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