/ articles for review

 

 

After many years in which the perspective of traditional Israeli Jews who call themselves "mesoratim" was invisible and silent, the new book, Traditional Jews in Israel: Modernity Without Secularization,  by Yaakov Yadgar, and published by Shalom Hartman Institute, attempts to examine in depth the traditional standpoint as it touches on central issues regarding Jewish identity. The book offers an interpretative look at the traditional world of meaning, and claims, in opposition to the view that situates the Mesoratim as no more than "stuck" between secularism and religiosity, that one must see the "mesorati" identity as a clearly modern phenomenon, which offers a fascinating and fruitful solution to the possible tension between modernity and tradition.

 

Basing itself on in-depth interviews with those who identify as "mesorati," Traditional Jews in Israel offers a new and fresh look at one of one of the greatest mysteries of Israeli political sociology. The book reveals the character of the "mesoratim" as a modern identity structure that holds a fruitful dialogue, both critical and respectful, with the Jewish tradition, instead of either negating tradition or modernity. In this way traditionalism of this kind offers a fruitful alternative to the secular standpoint that negates the religious tradition as irrelevant, and presents instead a complex model of modernization without secularization.

 

Any one dealing with issues of Jewish identity, tradition, secularization and the meaning of Jewish identity in the late modern era – whether as a private person or as a researcher – will find great interest in Traditional Jews in Israel. Click here to buy Traditional Jews in Israel.

 

Dr Yaakov Yadgar is a senior lecturer in the Political Science Department at Bar Ilan University. His previous book, "Our Story: the National Narrative in Israeli Journalism" was published by Haifa University and Pardes (2004).