This is an old revision of this page, as edited by IZAK (talk | contribs) at 06:48, 14 October 2005 (→Jerusalem and Islam). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 06:48, 14 October 2005 by IZAK (talk | contribs) (→Jerusalem and Islam)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Religion in Israel is notable in that it is the only country in the world where Judaism is the religion of the majority of its citizens. Israel is an explicitly Jewish state, both ethnically and religiously. Israel's official policy is to preserve this aspect of the country's character. However, Israel is not a theocracy and other religions are respected. According to the Israeli Ministry of Interior, Jews make up 77% of the population, 16% are Muslims and the remainder are Christians or unclassified.
| State of Israel |
|---|
 |
| Geography |
| History |
| Conflicts |
| Foreign relations |
| Security forces |
| Economy |
Religious breakdown
At the end of 2003, of Israel's 6.7 million people, 76.7% were 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 secular, 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, and 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 precedence 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 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.
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.
The secular-traditional spectrum
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 of ideologies and levels of observance..
Many Jewish Israelis feel that being Israeli (living among Jews, speaking Hebrew, in the Land of Israel) is in itself a sufficient expression of Judaism without any religious observances. This conforms to some classical secular-Zionist ideologies of Israeli religion. While many in the Jewish diaspora who otherwise consider themselves as secular will attend a synagogue or at least fast on Yom Kippur, this is not as common among secular Israelis.
The Orthodox spectrum
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.
Role of the Chief Rabbinate
It was during the British Mandate of Palestine that the British administration established an official dual Ashkenazi-Sephardi "Chief Rabbinate" (rabbanut harashit) that was exclusively Orthodox, as part of an effort to consolidate and organize Jewish life based on its own model in Britain, and in order to attempt to influence the religious life of the Jews. 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). Rabbi Kook was a leading light of the religious Zionist movement. He believed that the work of secular Jews towards creating an eventual Jewish state in Palestine 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 all the Jewish 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 local Orthodox Chief Rabbi who is looked up to by substantial regional 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. They have established offices and synagogues in Israel to propogate their views. Simultaneously, the Haredi population, including many Hasidic groups, view the Chief Rabbinate as "too lenient", "too Zionistic", 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.
Jerusalem, Jews and Judaism
- Main article: Jerusalem, Jews and Judaism
Islam in Israel
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to itadding to it or making an edit request. |
Jerusalem and Islam
- Main article: Jerusalem in Islam
Christianity in Israel
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to itadding to it or making an edit request. |
Jerusalem and Christianity
- Main article: Jerusalem in Christianity
Religious tensions
The State of Israel 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 Israeli males devote their young adulthood to full time Talmudic studies and therefore generally get exemptions from military service. Haredi couples tend to marry at a young age (usually late teens) and often rely on government assistance sooner and to a greater extent than do secular Israelis. Haredi Israelis are also represented by Haredi political parties, which like all smaller parties in a system of proportional representation may tend to wield disproportionate political power at the point when government coalitions needs to be negotiated and formed following national elections for the Knesset and therefore also for the position of Prime Minister of Israel.
At the present time there are three main Haredi parties in the Knesset: Shas with 11 seats in the Knesset represents Sephardi interests. The Ashkenazi parties are: Agudat Israel (dominated by the Hasidim) and Degel HaTorah (dominated by the Lithuanian yeshiva factions) with five Knesset seats between them. The latter two had previously been united as the United Torah Judaism alliance.
Secular Israelis often view Haredi Israelis with distrust or animosity. In recent years, the Shinui party was created as a backlash to the perceived influence of the Haredi parties, and to represent the interests of secular Jews that supposedly were not seen to by the other non-religious parties.
Constant tensions also exist between the Orthodox establishment and the Conservative and Reform movements. In Israel the Orthodox Jewish movements are by far the largest and strongest, 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 a small number of conversions conducted by Conservative and Reform clergy may have been accepted for the purposes of the Law of Return as they are performed outside of Israel, following great disputation and antipathy.)
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 protests by outraged Orthodox worshipers at the Western Wall when they see men and women comingling together during prayers when this is taboo in all Orthodox circles, preventing Conservative and Reform Jews from holding egalitarian services.
Messianic Jews, who are considered to be apostates to Judaism because they believe Jesus was the Messiah, have allegedly faced frequent demonstrations and intermittent protests. Israel considers them to be Christian missionaries whose main goal is to ensnare unsuspecting and ignorant Jews to convert to Christianity. 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.
External links
- The Masorti Movement (Conservative Judaism in Israel)
- Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism
- The Future Role of Religion in Israel
- Pluralism: Synagogue and the State of Israel
- Then and Now: Trends in Israeli Judaism