Tradition, Innovation, Conflict

Zvi Sobel teaches in the Sociology Department at the University of Haifa, Israel. He is the author of Christianity: The 13th Tribe and Migrants From the Promised Land. Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi teaches in the Psychology Department at the University of Haifa and is the co-author of The Social Psychology of Religion with M. Argyle and Research in Religious Behaviour: Selected Readings.

"There is a general lack of literature dealing specifically with the roles of religious and secular life in contemporary Israel. In addition, the public perception in this country, is that social and political life in Israel is often equated with orthodox Judaism. For this reason his book provides an important contribution to the understanding of contemporary Israel." — Gertrude Lenzer, Brooklyn College

• Preface IntroductionBenjamin Beit-Hallahmi and Zvi Sobel Part I. The Communal Dimension 1. Conflict and Communitas: The Interplay of Religion, Ethnicity, and Community in a Galilee VillageZvi Sobel 2. Personal Motivation and Social Meaning in the Revival of Hagiolatric Traditions among Moroccan Jews in IsraelYoram Bilu 3. The Jerusalem Funeral as a Microcosm of the 'Mismeeting' between Religious and Secular IsraelisHenry Abramovitch 4. Tradition and Innovation in Jewish Religious Education in IsraelMordecai Bar-Lev Part II. Dissent and Religious Alternatives 5. The Identity Dilemma of Non-Orthodox Religious Movements: Reform and Conservative Judaism in IsraelEphraim Tabory 6. Back to the Fold: The Return to JudaismBenjamin Beit-Hallahmi 7. Conversion Experiences: Newcomers to and Defectors from Orthodox Judaism (horzim betshuvah and hozrim beshe'elah)William Shaffir 8. Judaism and the New Religions in Israel: 1970–1990Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi Part III. The Religiosity Factor 9. Effects of Religiosity on Attitudes and BehaviorLeonard Weller 10. Dimensions of Jewish Religiosity in IsraelPeri Kedem 11. Religious, Ethnic, and Class Divisions in Israel: Convergent or Cross Cutting?Hanna Ayalon, Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Stephen Sharot About the Contributors Index