Book Review: God, Jews and the Media: Religion and Israel’s Media, by Yoel Cohen

Abstract

God, Jews and the Media: Religion and Israel's Media. Yoel Cohen. New York: Routledge, 2012. 258 pp. $135.00 hbk.This is a book to have on hand if you are trying to fathom the media situation (and even the political situation) in Israel. There is some serious reading here, but with enough anecdotes spread about to lighten the load.The author wants to show how the Jewish religion and the Jews of Israel have been influenced by the media age. He also wants to show how the media in Israel have been influenced by religion, which turns out to be a more interesting topic overall. Everyone, of course, has been influenced in one way or another by the media, but Cohen's book shows how religion has a strong influence on Israel's media and through the media (where he says most Israelis get much of their information about religious groups) on Israeli society in general. This influence may be growing. There may be a loss of reli- gious identity in the Western democracies (particularly in Europe), but the author sees an actual growth of religion in much of the world, especially in Israel. A huge majority of Israel's Jews feel at least some attachment to Jewish tradition. More and more young Jews identify themselves with the most conservative Jewish group, the Haredim.Cohen suggests God, Israel, and lsrael's media are intertwined, especially in the minds of the Haredim (or Pious Ones). In the preface, he not so subtly suggests that these most conservative religious elements in Israel will go to any lengths to use the media to promote a religion-based society despite the hopes of the nation's founders for a secular society. Cohen uses the tale of a highly promoted media interview of God by Israel's Chief Rabbi (a political appointee, he notes!) that fails to come off when God does not show up. Cohen is showing some authorial courage here as conservative reaction to much milder comments on religion have brought harassment and even physical attacks.The book focuses on the influence of the Haredim. Cohen justifies this by pointing out that with only 9% of the population, the Haredim get 43% of media coverage devoted to religion. Religious stories with a political connection get especially heavy coverage. Cohen suggests that the ultraorthodox Haredim are media stars because their distinctive black garb gives them visibility and their political clout gives them significant power in Israeli society. This is the reverse of the situation in the United States, he points out, where mainstream religions get most of the media coverage.As in the United States, the general population in Israel gets knowledge of its minority religious groups, in this case the Haredim, from the general media. But these ultraconservative Jews see the general media and even democracy itself in conflict with the values of the Torah and deal with them only grudgingly. …