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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
Israel's religious parties were originally organized not to
seize the reins of power, but rather to engage in what American
scholar Norman L. Zucker has called "theopolitics"--to gain
theological ends by means of political activity. From the Orthodox
viewpoint, Israel remained an imperfect state as long as secular
rather than religiously observant Jews constituted a majority. As
of 1988, policy issues concerning religious parties included the
question of "Who is a Jew," maintaining Orthodox rabbinical control
over marriage and divorce, increasing sabbath observance, observing
kosher dietary regulations, maintaining and expanding the state
religious education systems, ensuring the exemption of religious
women and ultra-Orthodox men from military service, and such social
issues as abortion.
Despite the minority position of adherents of Orthodox Judaism,
several factors have enabled this religious bloc to maintain a
central role in the state. Such factors have included the links
between Judaism and Israeli nationalism; the political and
organizational power of the religious parties--particularly the NRP
and later Agudat Israel and Shas--in assuming a pivotal role in the
formation and maintenance of coalition governments; and the
inability of the Reform and Conservative Jewish religious
movements, although powerful in the Jewish Diaspora, to penetrate
effectively Israel's religious administrative apparatus. This
apparatus consisted particularly of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs, the Chief Rabbinate, the Chief Rabbinical Council, and
local religious councils. The Reform and Conservative movements
played a minor role in Zionism during the prestate period and thus
allowed the Orthodox to dominate religious activities in the new
state. Among the Orthodox there were varying forms of religious
observance in accordance with halakah. The main division was
between the ultra-Orthodox, who rejected Zionism and were
associated with Agudat Israel and Shas, and the modern Orthodox,
who attempted to reconcile Zionism and religious orthodoxy and were
associated with the NRP.
Taken together, Israel's religious parties have over the years
generally commanded from fifteen to eighteen seats in the Knesset,
or about 12 to 15 percent of the Knesset. On occasion they have
formed religious coalitions of their own, such as the United
Religious Front
(see Appendix B) and the
Torah Religious Front (see Appendix B).
The voter strength of the religious parties,
particularly the NRP, made them ideal coalition partners for the
two major blocs. Because neither bloc has ever been able to achieve
a majority in the Knesset, the potentially pivotal position of the
religious parties has given them disproportionate political power.
One of the greatest shocks of the 1988 Knesset elections was the
surprising increase in strength of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox
parties, which went from thirteen to eighteen Knesset seats.
Data as of December 1988
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