ABSTRACT

It was observed, in the previous chapter, that the influence of religion is experienced most directly by Jews who are most observant of religious injunctions. This chapter points out that religion has an impact on almost all Israeli Jews and Israeli political institutions. This impact, so much more pronounced than is found in any other western industrial democracy, is best explained by the peculiar security conditions which Israel has confronted since its establishment. This was alluded to in the previous chapter but it merits more elaborate explanation.