Contemporary Threats To Klal Yisrael

Abstract

Traditional Judaism according to time and place, emphasized different symbols and aspects. This chapter distinguishes three flows or streams of Jewish identities according to the aspect of the identity structure which they most evince, and which themselves undergo ramifications depending on the precise answers they give to the three identity questions. The flows include: the ultra-orthodox flow, ethno-cultural flow, and the national flow. These flows are not the only possible ones, and some formulations of Jewish identity may combine the influence of more than one flow regarding different aspects. The flows relate to 'the Land of Israel', or at least to the State of Israel, out of a sense of solidarity, if not of ideological conviction. The chapter highlights that the complexity of elements that give shape to the field of forces on which the retention, strengthening and weakening of Klal Yisrael is played does not leave room for prophecy. Keywords: Israel; Jewish identities; Klal Yisrael ; traditional Judaism