Introduction

Abstract

Introduction Gideon Katz (bio) The strain between the secular and the religious—and between secularism and religiousness—is one of Israel's basic tensions. It has been a controversial issue since Israel's inception, a constant focus of public debate, and the cause of political crises such as education; the question of "Who is a Jew?"; the status of the Reform and the Conservative movements; the recruitment of yeshiva students into the IDF; and the Roffeisen and Shalit trials regarding Messianic Jews and the Law of Return. However, this intensity blurs the fact that the various experiences that feed it—the secular and secularism, on the one hand, and the religious and religion, on the other—are not necessarily deadlocked in an eternal dichotomy. These are complex experiences, forever changing and influencing each other in more ways than one. In order to grasp the dynamic nature of this tension, it is important to understand that this tension is not only between various groups but also between worldviews. There is a profound disagreement between those who believe that God revealed his will to the Jewish people and that his demands are to be fulfilled by following the halachic precepts, and between various secular views, according to which the Jews are perceived as a collective that is to be organized within the framework of a secular state. As such, secularism is likely to set itself free from the tight grip of religion, and its unique spiritual contents should be perceived as its own creation, i.e., as culture. Secularism always implies a reaction toward a concrete religious tradition, which is why it makes sense to focus on Israeli Jews. Naturally, this does not mean that secularism is irrelevant to other groups within Israeli society. The tension between secularism and Judaism in Israel implies the presence of groups and camps that are inseparable from the various ideas and beliefs. In what way can we perceive the dynamic nature of the tension that characterizes these complex experiences? The ideas and the camps develop in relation to historical events and, to a large extent, represent reactions to processes and events. For example, the writings of Yeshayahu Leibowitz can only be understood in relation [End Page V] to the Six-Day War, and an important part of the writings of rabbis and legislators of the last generations reflect their outlook on the secular State. Secularism and the secular, on the one hand, and religion and the religious, on the other, are not two separate entities. They constantly influence each other in the course of their ongoing struggle. The deeply engrained patterns in the Israeli intellectual discourse about secularism clearly reflect this point, as seen in this issue. The articles in this special issue, written by scholars in history, anthropology, philosophy, and geography, shed an important light on dialectic tension between secularism and religion within Israeli Jewish society and highlight the historical and dynamic nature of their links. In Reconstructing the Past: The Creation of Jewish Sacred Space in the State of Israel, 1948–1967, Doron Bar describes how sacred space was shaped in Israel following the War of Independence. Secondary sites became central and in the 1950s Moslem sites were turned into sacred Jewish sites. He argues that sacred spaces are created by official and semi-official authorities, and by the public authorities in Israel. Nissim Leon in his article, The Secular Origins of Mizrahi Traditionalism, analyzes the development of traditionalism among Jews from Islamic countries. Leon presents an alternative paradigm for understanding this phenomenon: oriental traditionalism should not be analyzed through the model of East European orthodoxy; it can only be understood based on an understanding of its historical and social background, which includes Islam and the process of secularization that took place in Islamic countries. Gideon Katz, in his article Secularism and the Imaginary Polemic of Israeli Intellectuals, deals with the public debate on secularism in Israel. He describes the arguments Israeli intellectuals hold with the religious position, and explains why this can be labeled an "imaginary polemic". Instead of witnessing a genuine dialogue, claims are made against a religious opponent who is only a shadow enemy. Instead of clarifying the nature of this...