A study of secularization in Israel may seem strange considering the fact that a separation of religion and state is unlikely in the near future, only Orthodox Judaism is recognized by the state, religious parties hold significant political power, and a 2009 survey indicates that more Jewish Israelis described themselves as “religious” or “very religious” than they did 10 years ago and fewer describe themselves as “secular.” Religion in Israel is welded into the essence of nationality that is built into the Jewish definition of the state and is institutionalized through religious institutions that have a direct bearing on individual lives on intimate issues such as marriage and divorce. The prolonged and lingering failure of secular Israelis to change any of the above was a reason why scholars were dismissive of Israeli secularism:

Studies of religion and politics in Israel may have been right to regard secularism as weak but seemed to have missed important developments that suggest secularization may be part of contemporary life. The expansion of commerce on the Sabbath, a thriving nonkosher culinary culture, marriages performed without Orthodox rabbis, civil burials, and even an annual lively gay pride parade, all relatively new developments, allude that the religious hold on public and private life may be changing. What is unique about these developments, and why they remained below the radars of social scientists, is, first, the fact that they are not necessarily related to a secular ideology; second, that they occur alongside a religious resurgence; and, third, that they advance outside of formal political processes.