from Part III - Zionism, Democracy, Law, and Culture
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2019
Chapter 10 discusses the complex interaction between Israeli law and Jewish heritage. I address the Zionist-Israeli resolve to ensure its political and legal independence—that is, an independent Israeli legal system that is not subordinate to foreign law and which legislates for itself in accordance with Israeli society’s needs, interests, and values. I also consider the attention the Israeli legal system gives to symbols of national independence. This includes both what might be called general symbols, such as the Hebrew language, and also specifically legal symbols, such as the effort to promulgate a constitution and civil code. Finally, I show that the Zionist movement and Israel have adopted “a moderate cultural option” centered on muting cultural debates while adopting common cultural symbols that arouse no dissension—the Hebrew language, devotion to the Land of Israel, evocation of Jewish history, and a long list of consensual symbols, values, and concepts with roots in Jewish law and heritage. I show that Israeli law cannot not be Jewish and Israeli, and that Israeli law and culture are today lieux de mémoire of primary importance in the preservation of Jewish law and heritage and an important guarantee of the future of Jewish culture.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.