Questions what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state
In one of the first books to ask head-on what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state, Yaacov Yadgar delves into what the designation 鈥淛ewish鈥� amounts to in the context of the sovereign nation-state, and what it means for the politics of the state to be identified as Jewish. The volume interrogates the tension between the notion of Israel as a Jewish state鈥攐ne whose very character is informed by Judaism鈥攁nd the notion of Israel as a 鈥渟tate of the Jews,鈥� with the sole criterion the maintenance of a demographically Jewish majority, whatever the character of that majority鈥檚 Jewishness might or might not be.
The volume also examines Zionism鈥檚 relationship to Judaism. It provocatively questions whether the Christian notion of supersessionism, the idea that the Christian Church has superseded the nation of Israel in God鈥檚 eyes and that Christians are now the true People of God, may now be applied to Zionism, with Zionism understood by some to have taken over the place of traditional Judaism, rendering the actual Jewish religion superfluous.
To Be a Jewish State deeply informs the democratic crisis in Israel, discussing whether Jewish laws put into effect by the state or political moves made to ensure a Jewish majority can be seen as undermining democracy. In our current era, with nationalism resurging, To Be a Jewish State urges a critical re-assessment of the very meaning of modern Jewish identity.
