Contemporary Israel: New Insights and Scholarship

Published by New York University Press 2016

Contemporary Israel

New Insights and Scholarship

Edited by: Frederick E. Greenspahn

Volume 3 in the series Jewish Studies in the Twenty-First Century

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479896806.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

For a country smaller than Vermont, with roughly the same population as Honduras, modern Israel receives a remarkable amount of attention. For supporters, it is a unique bastion of democracy in the Middle East, while detractors view it as a racist outpost of Western colonialism. The romanticization of Israel became particularly prominent in 1967, when its military prowess shocked a Jewish world still reeling from the sense of powerlessness dramatized by the Holocaust. That imagery has grown ever more visible, with Israel’s supporters idealizing its technological achievements and its opponents attributing almost every problem in the region, if not beyond, to its imperialistic aspirations.

The contradictions and competing views of modern Israel are the subject of this book. There is much to consider about modern Israel besides the Middle East conflict. Over the past generation, a substantial body of scholarship has explored numerous aspects of the country, including its approaches to citizenship and immigration, the arts, the women’s movement, religious fundamentalism, and language; but much of that work has to date been confined within the walls of the academy. This book does not seek not to resolve either the country’s internal debates or its struggle with the Arab world, but to present a sample of contemporary scholars’ discoveries and discussions about modern Israel in an accessible way. In each of the areas discussed, competing narratives grapple for prominence, and it is these which are highlighted in this volume.

Author / Editor information

Greenspahn Frederick E. :

Frederick E. Greenspahn is Gimelstob Eminent Scholar in Judaic Studies emeritus at Florida Atlantic University. He has written/edited 16 books, including When Brothers Dwell Together: The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible (OUP '94) and Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East (NYU Press, '00) . He is a former President of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew and was, for 5 years, editor of its journal, Hebrew Studies.Frederick E. Greenspahn is Gimelstob Eminent Scholar in Judaic Studies emeritus at Florida Atlantic University. He has written/edited 16 books, including When Brothers Dwell Together: The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible (OUP '94) and Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East (NYU Press, '00) . He is a former President of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew and was, for 5 years, editor of its journal, Hebrew Studies.

Reviews

Miriam Elman,Syracuse University:
One of the best new anthologies in the burgeoning field of Israel Studies. For both those unfamiliar with the interdisciplinary study of modern Israel, and those more versed in this scholarship, the books authorsall leading researchers in the fieldoffer a wealth of information and insight on Israels diverse population, its contested national and sub-national identities, and its transforming public and private spaces. . . . A refreshing volume that steers clear of the stale partisan polemics that characterizes much of the current discourse on Israel, this work offers a rich, complex, and deep grasp of Israels multifaceted society and its relationship with both state institutions and the Jewish diaspora.

Kenneth D. Wald,Samuel R. "Bud" Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture & Society, University of Florida:
Like any complicated country, Israel is a land of myths and realities. In this volume, Frederick Greenspahn has assembled an outstanding collection of essays that will help readers to distinguish between the two. Israel has changed enormously over its sixty-some years of statehood. As the chapters demonstrate, many images inherited from the past, frozen into the memories of people who pay attention to the country, no longer conform to everyday reality. This volume is a good place to start in making sense of Israel as it is, not as an idealized or mythical entity but as a country coping with an astonishing array of social challenges.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Frederick E. Greenspahn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. History
1. Contesting Israel Narratives in Scholarship and Beyond Arieh Saposnik Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Palestinian Citizenship in Israel A Settler Colonial Perspective Nadim N. Rouhana and Areej Sabbagh-Khoury Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Part II. Society
3. Immigration Social Strains and the Challenge of Diversity Calvin Goldscheider Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
4. Kibbutzim The Challenge of Transformation Raymond Russell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
5. The Women’s Movement Mobilization and the State Patricia J. Woods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Part III. Religion
6. Modern Orthodox Feminism Art, Jewish Law, and the Quest for Equality Paula J. Birnbaum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
7. Jewish Ideological Killers Religious Fundamentalism or Ethnic Marginality? Michael Feige Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Part IV. Identity
8. Israeli Fiction National Identity and Private Lives Nehama Aschkenasy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
9. Israeli Hebrew National Identity and Language Shmuel Bolozky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
10. The Politics of Israel Relations with the American Jewish Community Theodore Sasson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
Conclusion. Imagination and Reality in Scenarios of Israel’s Future Ilan Troen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
About the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: August 9, 2016
ISBN: 9781479870141