Intolerance and tolerance in the Jewish tradition and contemporary Israel

Abstract

In this paper the author relates Jewish cultural resources to the structuring of intolerance and tolerance in the Jewish tradition. The role of collectivist and primordial orientations are highlighted not only in the definition of intolerance but in the construction of patterns of tolerance as well. Because of the decisive role of these orientations, the distinction between public and private spheres plays a large part in the contemporary structuring of tolerance in Israel. However, they receive a character which is inverse to the American Protestant pattern: Jewish religious values are to find expression in the public sphere, whereas the private sphere of the individual becomes the legitimate arena for secular belief and behaviors that are not in accord with Orthodox Judaism.