ABSTRACT
In the Promised Land of the Chosen People, religion is never far from the political agenda. The prophetic tradition means that much of the discourse is intense. Yet the nature of Judaism complicates the picture. Anti-religious Jews line up against various categories of religious Jews, who are also contending with one another. The condition is not new. The Hebrew Bible and other ancient texts include a record of politics that reveals severe disputes that occurred more than 2,000 years ago. The place and the political culture are similar. So what is to be expected other than more of the same? 1
