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Jewish Political Studies Review Abstracts
Volume 1, Numbers 3-4 (Fall 5750/1989)
"Jewish Political Studies in the University"
Jewish political studies is a neglected but extremely
significant dimension of Jewish life that needs to be explored.
An understanding of the influence of the Jewish political
tradition on Jewish public affairs during the epochs of Jewish
national independence and communal self-government can be useful
in meeting problems of Jewish public affairs and communal
organization. The present exploration of Jewish phenomena from a
political science perspective began in the 1950s and has
developed significantly in recent decades. That exploration has
developed a theoretical framework that looks at the phenomenon of
the Jewish polity at any time and in any place. This framework
rests upon the assumptions that the Jewish people is a corporate
entity by definition, that exploration of the Jewish polity can
be undertaken with the tools of political science, and that Jews
have continued to function as a polity throughout their history.
The field that has emerged from this exploration needs to be
incorporated into the teaching of both Jewish studies and
political science.
The Bible is infrequently taught in Western civilization
courses in North American universities. The overwhelming number
of university students are biblically illiterate and, in most
instances, their teachers seem not to be better informed than
those whom they are instructing. Attempts to introduce the Bible
and other Judaic material in general Western civilization
programs will engender opposition from many university faculty
including Jewish academics who have chosen to reject what they
often see as the confining world of a distinctive Jewish
framework. There is also an uncritical appropriation of
traditional Christian notions of the "Old Testament." Academics
have little trouble teaching the Iliad and the Odyssey, texts
that represent oral and written traditions that have evolved and
have been rewritten over a period of hundreds of years.
Paradoxically, when it comes to Bible and Talmud, these same
people will not teach or familiarize themselves with these
materials because they reject anonymous, divine, or
divinely-inspired authorship. This bias that ignores the greatest
text in Western civilization, the product of a rich
3,000-year-old oral/written tradition and civilization.
The maturation of the field of Jewish political studies has
produced a substantial literature on several topics, among them
Jewish political thought. Yet conventional teaching of political
philosophy in Western universities tends to ignore this
literature. The questions of why this should be the case and how
material from the Jewish political tradition might be integrated
into the teaching of political philosophy are addressed. Several
themes that appear in the field of political philosophy are
discussed with suggestions as to how Jewish political thought
might apply to them. These themes include: the ideal polity, the
achievement and maintenance of legitimacy, the nature of the
political community, the obligations of individual citizens, the
rights of citizens, balancing rights and obligations, the basis
for political authority, equality, the significance of the state
in the political system, the creation of the just society, the
exercise of power, and the ethical dimensions of war and peace.
Jewish political philosophy appeared rather late in Judaism,
but on its appearance became very much a part of medieval
political philosophy. Medieval political philosophy, however,
has a questionable status within the field of political
philosophy, partly because of its belief that the highest
political teaching is contained in revelation or divine law and
partly because most medieval texts are seen either as little more
than commentaries on Aristotelian texts or as attempts to
reconcile philosophy with theology. The reality of revelation
was the decisive presupposition of the medieval philosophers, and
that is the reason why medieval political philosophy is so rarely
studied today and when studied it seems so alien. Medieval
political philosophy concerns us because of its emphasis on
revelatin as the authoritative disclosure of divine law which
claims to give the ultimate direction to the whole of human
existence. Therefore revelation cannot be adequately understood
if it is approached as a merely religious experience, for it is a
part of, or at any rate, intertwined with, conceptions of justice
or the right way of life.
This essay indicates how fruitful the integration of Israeli
politics into comparative politics may be both for the study of
Israeli politics and for theory-building in comparative politics.
Special characteristics of the Israeli polity -- constitutional
government without a constitution, the religion-state
relationship, the control system of the Arab minority, the
political role of the "non-political" army, the consociationalism
between Orthodox and secular elites, and the impact of the
occupied territories on Israel's democracy -- can be better
understood in comparative perspective. In the same way
comparative political studies in areas such as the rise and fall
of dominant parties, the mode of operation of grand coalitions,
the role of the military-industrial complex in a liberal
democracy, the problem of "new" minorities, the influence of
diasporas, and the constitutional dilemmas involved in
constitutional engineering in deeply divided societies could very
well benefit from a closer study of the Israeli polity.
The study of Jewish political ideas, institutions and
behavior has not been incorporated into comparative politics, nor
have the concepts and tools of comparative politics been used to
illuminate the Jewish political experience. This article
attempts to show how the study of the Jewish political heritage,
distinguished by longevity, adaptability, and the development of
both concepts and institutions worthy of study, could enrich
comparative politics. Similarly, using concepts such as national
integration, ethnopolitics, political culture, civil-military
relations and others may help us understand better the experience
of Jews both in the diaspora and in the State of Israel.
This article gives a positive answer to the question whether
there is a Jewish dimension in the study of International
Relations. It elaborates on why one should introduce or
emphasize the Jewish dimension in International Relations
courses. Finally, it makes several practical suggestions about
how to do so.
Despite the growing body of literature now available to
students, Jewish political studies is still only on the verge of
making a major mark in education for Jewish communal service. In
order to expand the role of Jewish political studies in both
initial graduate training and continuing education for Jewish
communal service, we must first develop a rationale for the
incorporation of the study of the historical as well as
contemporary dimensions of the Jewish political tradition for the
communal professional. Appropriate formats and methods for
teaching the Jewish political tradition which embody this
rationale must then be developed. One approach which suggests
positive lines of direction for ongoing work in this area was the
course "Community in Jewish Life" which the author taught for
several years at the Hornstein Program at Brandeis University.
The very existence of a Jewish political tradition has gone
virtually unrecognized in our own time, despite the Jewish
national revival of the twentieth century. To correct this
situation, a widening group of scholars has initiated a
systematic effort to recover the several dimensions of the Jewish
political tradition, seeking to build a comprehensive and fully
integrated program in the teaching of this tradition and its
contemporary uses. The subject matter of Jewish political studies
falls into three major divisions: Jewish political institutions
and behavior, Jewish political thought, and Jewish public
affairs, which in turn include numerous subdivisions. The four
primary tasks that should occupy scholars in the field include
investigation, interpretation, presentation, and policy
application. This article focuses on the first two tasks,
outlining what has been done and what still needs to be done.
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