| Revision as of 16:49, 11 October 2005 view sourceMarskell (talk | contribs)22,422 edits rm say nothing lead← Previous edit | Revision as of 16:59, 11 October 2005 view source MPerel (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers12,056 edits →Religious breakdown: shouldn't start sentence with numberNext edit → | ||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
| At the end of ], of Israel's 6.7 million people, 76.7% were (by religion) ], 15.8% were ], 2.1% were ], 1.6% were ] and the remaining 3.7% (including ] immigrants and some ]s) were not classified by religion. | At the end of ], of Israel's 6.7 million people, 76.7% were (by religion) ], 15.8% were ], 2.1% were ], 1.6% were ] and the remaining 3.7% (including ] immigrants and some ]s) were not classified by religion. | ||
| Six percent of Israeli Jews define themselves as ]m ("ultra-]"); an additional 9% are "religious"; 34% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish law or ]) ; and 51% are "secular". Among the seculars, 53% believe in ]. | |||
| Of the ] 82.3% are Muslim, 9% are Christian and 8.5% are Druze. | Of the ] 82.3% are Muslim, 9% are Christian and 8.5% are Druze. | ||
Revision as of 16:59, 11 October 2005
| State of Israel |
|---|
 |
| Geography |
| History |
| Conflicts |
| Foreign relations |
| Security forces |
| Economy |
Both ethnically and religiously Israel is an explicitly Jewish state. At 77% Judaism is the most wide-spread religion in Israel, and it is official policy to preserve this aspect of the country's character. Israel, is explicitly not a theocracy and other religions are respected. Muslims make up 16% of the population, while the remainder are Christian or unspecified.
Religious breakdown
At the end of 2003, of Israel's 6.7 million people, 76.7% were (by religion) Jewish, 15.8% were Muslim, 2.1% were Christian, 1.6% were Druze and the remaining 3.7% (including Russian immigrants and some Jews) were not classified by religion.
Six percent of Israeli Jews define themselves as Haredim ("ultra-orthodox"); an additional 9% are "religious"; 34% consider themselves "traditionalists" (not strictly adhering to Jewish law or halakha) ; and 51% are "secular". Among the seculars, 53% believe in God.
Of the Arab Israelis 82.3% are Muslim, 9% are Christian and 8.5% are Druze.
Religion and citizenship
Israel was founded to provide a national home, safe from persecution, to the Jewish people. Although Israeli law explicitly grants equal civil rights to all citizens regardless of religion, ethnicity, or other heritage, it gives preferential treatment in certain aspects to individuals who fall within the criteria mandated by the Law of Return. Preferential treatment is given to Jews who seek to immigrate to Israel as part of a governmental policy to increase the Jewish population.
The criteria set forth by the Law of Return are controversial. The Law of Return differs from Jewish religious law in that it disqualifies individuals who are ethnically Jewish but who converted to another religion; and also in that it grants immigrant status to individuals who are not ethnically Jewish but are related to Jews.
Judaism in Israel
The great majority of citizens in the State of Israel are Jewish; the great majority of Israeli Jews practice Judaism as their religion.
While Judaism has always affirmed a collection of Jewish Principles of Faith, it has never developed a fully binding catechism. While individual rabbis, or sometimes entire groups, at times agreed upon a firm dogma, other rabbis and groups disagreed. With no central agreed-upon authority, no one formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedent over any other. Judaism's core belief, however, firmly remains a binding principle agreed upon by Jews of all backgrounds: the belief in one God, creator of the universe.
In the last two centuries the other largest Jewish community in the world, in the United States, has divided into a number of Jewish denominations. The largest and most influential of these denominations are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism.
All of the above denominations exist, to varying degrees, in the State of Israel. Nevertheless, Israelis tend to classify Jewish identity in ways that are strikingly different than diaspora Jewry.
Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (hiloni) or as "traditional" (masorti). The former term is more popular among Israeli families of western origin, and the latter term among Israeli families of "eastern" origin (i.e. Middle East, central Asia and North Africa). The latter term, as commonly used, has nothing to do with the official "Masorti" (Conservative) movement in the State of Israel. There is ambiguity in the ways these two terms are used. They often overlap, and they cover an extremely wide range in terms of ideology and religious observance.
The term "Orthodox" is not used in Israel. The common term (dati) is unpopular in Israeli discourse (among both "secular" and "religious" alike). Nevertheless, the spectrum covered by "Orthodox" in the diaspora exists in Israel, again with some important variations. The "Orthodox" spectrum in Israel is a far greater percentage of the Jewish population in Israel than in the diaspora, though how much greater is hotly debated. Various ways of measuring this percentage, each with its pros and cons, include the proportion of religiously observant Knesset members, the proportion of Jewish children enrolled in religious schools, and statistical studies on "identity".
What would be called "Orthodox" in the diaspora includes what is commonly called dati (religious) or haredi (ultra-Orthodox) in Israel. The former term includes what is called Religious Zionism or the "National Religious" community, as well as what has become known over the past decade or so as haredi-leumi (nationalist ultra-Orthodox), which combines a largely haredi lifestyle with nationist ideology.
Haredi applies to a populace that can be roughly divided into three separate groups along both ethnic and ideological lines: (1) "Lithuanian" (non-hasidic) haredim of Ashkenazic origin; (2) Hasidic haredim of Ashkenazic origin; and (3) Sephardic haredim. The third group is the largest, and has been the most politically active since the early 1990s.
Gallup International reports that 25 percent of Israeli citizens regularly attend religious services, compared to 15 percent of Jewish French citizens, 10 percent of Jewish UK citizens, and 57 percent of Jewish American citizens.
Role of the Chief Rabbinate
It was during the British Mandate of Palestine that the British administration established an official dual Ashkenazi-Sefardi "Chief Rabbinate" (rabbanut harashit) that was exclusively Orthodox, as part of an effort to organize Jewish life based on its own model in Britain. In 1921, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935) was chosen as the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and Rabbi Yaakov Meir as the first Sephardi Chief Rabbi (Rishon LeTzion). Kook was leading light of the religious Zionist movement. He believed that the work of secular Jews in creating the state of Israel, was part of a divine plan for the settlement of the land of Israel.
Prior to the 1917 British conquest of Palestine, the Ottomans had recognized the leading Talmudic rabbis of the old yishuv (" settlement") as the official leaders of the small Jewish community that for many centuries consisted mostly of the devoutly Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe as well as those from the Levant who had made aliya to the Holy Land, primarily for religious reasons. The Turks viewed the local rabbis of Palestine as extensions of their own Orthodox Hakham Bashis (" Chief Rabbi/s") who were loyal to the Sultan.
Thus the centrality of an Orthodox dominated Chief Rabbinate became part of the new state of Israel as well when it was established in 1948. Based in its central offices at Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem the Israeli Chief rabbinate has continued to wield exclusive control over the religious aspects of the secular state of Israel. Through a complex system of "advice and consent" from a variety of senior rabbis and influential politicians, each Israeli city and town also gets to elect its own Orthodox Chief Rabbi who is looked up to by substantial local and even national religious and even non-religious Israeli Jews. Through a national network of Batei Din ("religious courts") each headed only by approved Orthodox Av Beit Din judges, as well as a network of "Religious Councils" that are part of each municipality, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate retains exclusive control and has the final say in the state about virtually all matters pertaining to conversion to Judaism, the Kosher certification of foods, the status of Jewish marriages and divorces, and monitering and acting when called upon to supervise the observance of some laws relating to Shabbat observance, Passover (particularly when issues concerning the sale or ownership of Chametz come up), the observance of the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year in the agricultural sphere.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also relies on the Chief Rabbinate's approval for its own Jewish chaplains who are exclusively Orthodox. The IDF has a number of units that cater to the unique religious requirements of the Religious Zionist yeshiva students through the Hesder program of combined alternating military service and yeshiva studies over several years.
Challenges from the left and right
The Chief Rabbinate is neverthless under constant criticism and pressure from both the "left" and "right" wings of Judaism and Jewish groups. Many secular Israelis dislike the fact that their private lives are subject to the rulings of a religious court, albeit a Jewish one. The Reform and Conservative movements based in the United States resent that they are locked out of Israel's religious establishment and remain unrecognized as official Jewish religious bodies in Israel. Simultaneously, the Haredi population, including many Hasidic groups, view the Chief Rabbinate as "too lenient" and of being the "lackeys" of the Israeli political establishment, since, for example, even members of the Knesset who are not religious, are allowed to be part of the electoral college that elects each new set of Chief Rabbis every ten years.
Islam in Israel
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to itadding to it or making an edit request. |
Religious tensions
The State of Israel generally allows freedom of religion for all religious communities, both in law and in practice, as Freedom House reports: "Freedom of religion is respected. Each community has jurisdiction over its own members in matters of marriage, burial, and divorce." However, some minority religious communities face social pressure and, on occasion, obstruction from the government.
Religious tensions exist between Haredi Israelis and non-Haredi Israelis. Haredi Israelis generally get exemptions from military service, and higher percentages of Haredi Jews rely on government assistance than do the rest of Israelis. Haredi Israelis are also represented by Haredi political parties, which, because of Israel's fragmented electoral system, tend to wield disproportionate political power. As a result, secular Israelis often view Haredi Israelis with distrust or animosity. The Shinui political party was created primarily to combat Haredi parties, and represent the interests of secular Jews against them.
Tensions also exist between the Orthodox establishment and the Conservative and Reform movements. In Israel the Orthodox Jewish movements are by far the largest, with Conservative and Reform being quite small (in marked contrast to the United States, the country with the largest number of Jews). Only the Orthodox Jewish movements are officially recognized in Israel (though Conservative and Reform conversions may be accepted for the purposes of the Law of Return).
As a result, unlike Orthodox Synagogues (or Muslim mosques or Christian churches) Conservative and Reform synagogues do not receive government funding and support. Conservative and Reform rabbis cannot officiate at religious ceremonies; thus their marriages, divorces, and conversions are not considered valid. In addition, there has been persistent tension, and even alleged outbreaks of violence, at the Western Wall, where Conservative and Reform Jews have been unable to hold services.
Messianic Jews, who believe Jesus was the Messiah, have allegedly faced frequent hostility and intermittent attacks. In 2000 a Messianic church was raided in Jerusalem and its Bible scroll stolen A congregation in Arad faced demonstrations and an arson attack in 2005. . Christians in Jerusalem's Old City complain of frequent spitting by Jewish yeshiva students. One local Armenian Apostolic bishop declared in October 2004 that such incidents occurred at least once a week.
In May 2003, Israeli government officials destroyed a newly-built Bedouin mosque in the village of Tal el-Malah after villagers defied a government ban on building a mosque to serve the local 1,500 Muslims. The nearest mosque was more than 12 kms away. Permission has been denied for Muslims to build mosques in other Bedouin villages.
Israel is also sometimes accused of acts of persecution against Palestinians, although even critics of Israel do not see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arab-Israeli conflict as being primarily religiously motivated, on the Israeli side. While these conflicts may use religious overtones or rhetoric, they are generally considered military and political struggles.