Law Commons^™

State Complicity And Religious Extremism: Failing The Vulnerable Individual, Amos N. Guiora

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Religious extremism—especially when unhindered by the state—can result in unimaginable harm to individuals. That is not to suggest that the only extremism is religious extremism.

That would be patently incorrect and a profound misrepresentation of history; secular extremism - Communism, Fascism, Nazism, Pol Pot, Mao to name but the most obvious - has exacted an unimaginable price on hundreds of millions of people over the ages. While our examination will focus exclusively on religious extremism that is not intended - in any way - to minimize the extraordinary harm inflicted on innocent individuals by extremism not based on religion. To …

Religious Alternative Dispute Resolution In Israel And Other Nations With State-Sponsored Religious Courts: Crafting A More Efficient And Better Relationship Between Rabbinical Courts And Arbitration Law In Israel, Michael J. Broyde, Ezra Ives

Faculty Articles

This paper proposes the expansion of both private and public options regarding religious arbitration in Israel, broadening both the choice of law and the choice of forum available to Israeli citizens in cases of either commercial law or issues of status (such as divorce, marriage, and conversion). The current law in Israel prohibits citizens from adjudicating their monetary disputes in state religious courts and treats private religious courts as no different from any other arbitration tribunal, precluding these private religious courts from marriage, divorce and conversion matters. We propose that both of these restrictions be lifted, while the role of …

States And Laws, Jews And Palestinians: Yadgar's Traditionalist Alternative. A Reflection On Yadgar, Israel's Jewish Identity Crisis (Cambridge, 2020), James J. Friedberg

Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay reflects on issues raised by Yaacov Yadgar concerning a devil’s bargain made decades ago between secular Zionist Israeli governments and the country’s Orthodox religious establishment, in defining who is a Jew and, therefore, entitled to the most comprehensive benefits of citizenship. It seems that that very tensions inherent in this somewhat illogical, somewhat cynical bargain are quite relevant to an us-them mentality that makes peace with the Palestinians more difficult.

From Political Hebraism And Jewish Law To The Comparative Paradigm, Amos Israel-Vleeschhouwer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Courts In Secular Jurisdictions: How Jewish And Islamic Courts Adapt To Societal And Legal Norms, Rabea Benhalim

Publications

At first glance, religious courts, especially Sharia courts, seem incompatible with secular, democratic societies. Nevertheless, Jewish and Islamic courts operate in countries like the United States, England, and Israel. Scholarship on these religious courts has primarily focused on whether such religious legal pluralism promotes the value of religious freedom, and if so, whether these secular legal systems should accommodate the continued existence of these courts. This article shifts the inquiry to determine whether religious courts in these environments accommodate litigants’ popular opinions and the secular, procedural, and substantive justice norms of the country in which they are located. This article …

Two Directions Toward Ethical Peoplehood, Jonathan R. Cohen

UF Law Faculty Publications

From the biblical era through the present day, the conception of Israel as a people devoted to ethical ends has been a core Jewish value. But how is such a model to be implemented? This essay suggests two basic ways of thinking about ethical peoplehood, namely, that one can begin with a people and try to transform it into an ethical people ("from tribe to ethics") or that one can begin with ethical norms and through those norms attempt to build a people ("from ethics to tribe"). Part I of this essay begins by sketching these two modalities in Jewish …

Immigration Policy Of Israel: The Unique Perspective Of A Jewish State, Yehiel S. Kaplan

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

“A Jewish And Democratic State:” Reflections On The Fragility Of Israeli Secularism, Zvi Triger

Pepperdine Law Review

An essay is presented in which the author explores fragility of Israeli secularism related to Jewish religion. Topics discussed are the impact of religious monopoly over personal status in Israel on Israeli secularism, the origination of religious monopoly over personal status during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine, and dispute resolution of domestic cases in communities' and tribes' religious tribunals under their religious laws.

So Help Me God: A Comparative Study Of Religious Interest Group Litigation, Jayanth K. Krishnan, Kevin R. Den Dulk

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Structural Models Of Religion And State In Jewish And Democratic Political Thought: Inevitable Contradiction? The Challenge For Israel, Elazar Nachalon

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Israel's Constitutional Tragedy, Menachem Lorberbaum

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

No More 'Sha Still', Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

This op-ed laments the consequences of staying quiet in light of recent national and international events. It takes President Obama to task for blaming Israel for lack of progress in Middle East peace negotiations, as well as Congress for its ineptitude during the recent national debt ceiling negotiations.

Obama's Woes, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

This short op-ed piece discusses Barack Obama's presidency, particularly with regard to Jewish issues and with Israel and the Middle East. The writer offers his rationale why the President's support among Jewish voters is slipping.

Family Values In The Jewish Tradition, J. David Bleich

Articles

In Family Values in the Jewish Tradition, Professor J. David Bleich presents Judaism as a religion of law. He describes the family unit, "both as a social unit and as a legal institution," and how it helps to provide comfort, companionship, and stability. He discusses the role of reproduction within the family unit, artificial insemination, and the homosexual act (not the homosexual as a person). Professor Bleich concludes with a discussion of the phrase, "be fruitful and multiply." He notes that this phrase is understood as both a commandment and a blessing.

Sacred Visions Of Law, Robert Tsai

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Around the time of the Bicentennial Celebration of the U.S. Constitution's framing, Professor Sanford Levinson called upon Americans to renew our constitutional faith. This article answers the call by examining how two legal symbols - Marbury v. Madison and Brown v. Board of Education - have been used by jurists over the years to tend the American community of faith. Blending constitutional theory and the study of religious form, the article argues that the decisions have become increasingly linked in the legal imagination even as they have come to signify very different sacred visions of law. One might think that …

Handling The Truth, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ub Viewpoint – The Silence Of The Muslims, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

This article, written in the wake of the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, questions the failure of Muslims strongly to condemn acts of violence and murder committed by Islamic extremists, and argues that such silence encourages neutral parties to wonder if moderate Muslims may indeed sympathize with "the killers of 'infidels'" - which in turn can lead to fear, bias, and group defamation.

International Red Cross Must Include Israel, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

Israel's corresponding relief agency, the Mogen David Adom, has provided emergency services to countries all over the world since 1939, and it meets or surpasses every other standard for IFRC membership. Yet Israel remains the only nation left out of the 178- country federation. Why?

An IFRC spokesman says that it is "governments, not the federation, that give emblems the protective force of international law," and that "governments" are preparing to adopt an additional emblem, with no religious or national connotations, to stand alongside the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, one that Israel could adopt as its own.

The …

Field Report: The Right To Freedom From Religion In A Jewish State, Omri Kaufman

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Law And Religion In Israel And Iran: How The Integration Of Secular And Spiritual Laws Affects Human Rights And The Potential For Violence, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

The first area of discussion is the structure of each government system. This analysis not only sets the legal framework for later analysis, but demonstrates how both Israel and Iran have brought religion into the very fabric of their legal institutions.The second area of analysis in Part II focuses on the principles of sovereignty and constitutional interpretation utilized by each State. Familiarity with these concepts is necessary in order to learn which religious principles, if any, are incorporated into each nation's general legal environment. These principles, which are implicitly understood by members of the society, are often unstated in judicial …

Law And Religion In Israel And Iran: How The Integration Of Secular And Spiritual Laws Affects Human Rights And The Potential For Violence, S. I. Strong

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this article provides a brief sketch of the principles of the two majority religions at issue in this discussion and an overview of the history of both Israel and Iran. It explains why each nation has chosen to structure itself as it has and why the imposition of U.S.-style secularism would be an inappropriate method of dealing with the religio-legal conflict in the two societies. Part II compares the fundamental or constitutional laws of the two nations by analyzing the provisions, policies, and practices most influenced by religion. After identifying and analyzing the laws themselves in Part …

Law And Religion In Israel And Iran: How The Integration Of Secular And Spiritual Laws Affects Human Rights And The Potential For Violence, S. I. Strong

Faculty Articles

Because law and religion are by themselves complex cultural and historical issues, any study of the interaction between the two will be at least as complicated. If one is to understand both a State's current re­ligio-legal regime and what reform measures are most likely to succeed there, it is necessary to understand at least a little of the nation's history and majority religion. Therefore, Part I of this article provides a brief sketch of the principles of the two majority religions at issue in this dis­cussion and an overview of the history of both Israel and Iran. It explains why …

I Know It's Not Racism, But What Is It?, Michael H. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The author recalls the founding of the state of Israel, and discusses the influence of patriotism and Zionism.