ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the values of the liberal state are intrinsically at odds with the values of Judaism. The liberal state is based upon the idea that the role of the state is to prevent people from infringing upon the activities of other individuals. The pursuit of holiness through Judaism in the liberal state comes to be infected with the purposeless of the state. The chapter suggests that the liberal state is incompatible with Judaism and tends to undermine it because for the liberal state what Judaism holds to be absolute is arbitrary, personal, and subjective and because Jewish observance depends upon the sanction of the state. It offers some brief observations on how the philosophical conflict sets the parameters of Jewish political participation. The liberal state undermines Judaism because to it all individual values are arbitrary. Conceptual problems with the liberal state should lead to its reevaluation.
