Secular Judaism in Israel

Abstract

Secularity among Israel’s Jews retains many elements associated with traditional Judaism. Comprising 80 % of Israel’s Jews, they define themselves as secular but nevertheless "do Judaism" by performing rituals and hold to traditional religious worldviews and values. Such behavior is comprehended in Eisenstadt’s "multiple modernities" as well as Berger’s multiple "altars" and "coexistence." Such behavior may be explained in a new balance between the traditional triad of Peoplehood/Torah[The Law]/and the Land of Israel that has characterized Judaism through the ages and found expression by a Hebrew-speaking people who imported new and diverse modern concepts and sources of authority in the return to their homeland where they constructed a "Jewish" state of ambiguous meanings.