Separation of Church and State

Gil Graff

ISBN 10: 0817350357 / ISBN 13: 9780817350352

Published by University of Alabama Press, 2003

About this Item

pp. 240 1st Edition.

Seller Inventory # 262552014

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Separation of Church and State
• Publisher: University of Alabama Press
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0817350357
• ISBN 13: 9780817350352
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Observes that the significance of dina de-malkhuta dina and its interpretation is vital for an understanding of modern Jewish life as well as the relationship of Diaspora Jews to the Jewish community in the state of Israel

For the Jewish community, the end of the Middle Ages and the emergence of the modern nation-state brought the promise of equal citizenship as well as the possible loss of Jewish corporate identity. The legal maxim dina de-malkhuta dina (the law of the State is law) invoked in Talmidic times to justify the acceptance of the king’s law and qualified in the Middle Ages by Maimonides and Rashbam to include the requirement of consent by the governed underwent further redefinition by Jews in the Napoleonic age. Graff focuses on the struggle between 18th and 19th-century Jewish religious reformers and traditionalists in defining the limits of dina de-malkhuta dina. He traces the motivations of the reformers who, in their zeal to gain equality for the formerly disenfranchised Jewish communities in Western Europe, were prepared to render unto the State compromising authority over Jewish religious life under the rubric of dina de-malkhuta dina was intended to strike a balance between synagogue and state and not to be used as a pretext for the liquidation of the community’s corporate existence.

About the Author

Gil Graff is Assistant Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Los Angeles.