Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The conundrum takes shape: foundational verses
- 2 Evaluating life: rabbinic perspectives on fetal standing
- 3 Divining a prohibition: the positions of the Rishonim and Acharonim
- 4 No clear consensus: the sages of a rising modernity
- 5 The struggle returns: Jewish views begin to take form
- 6 Confronting a new reality: legislation for a Jewish state
- 7 A halakhic challenge: discerning Jewish abortion principles
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Confronting a new reality: legislation for a Jewish state
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The conundrum takes shape: foundational verses
- 2 Evaluating life: rabbinic perspectives on fetal standing
- 3 Divining a prohibition: the positions of the Rishonim and Acharonim
- 4 No clear consensus: the sages of a rising modernity
- 5 The struggle returns: Jewish views begin to take form
- 6 Confronting a new reality: legislation for a Jewish state
- 7 A halakhic challenge: discerning Jewish abortion principles
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
There is a compelling logic behind the widespread assumption that a Jewish state must surely be governed on the basis of Jewish law. Consequently, there are many who are surprised to discover that, with the exception of the laws of personal status, this is largely not the case for the State of Israel. While elements of halakhah do appear in many parts of the Israeli legal structure, they do not constitute the systemic underpinning of Israeli law. Despite the fact that this situation has come to be accepted as normative, it is, in fact, anomalous from a Jewish perspective. The halakhah, after all, was never supposed to be confined to so-called “religious” matters, but was envisaged as the appropriate source for the civic governance of any Jewish body politic. Hence, the creation of an Israeli legal enterprise that is separate and distinct from the classic Jewish legal wellsprings produces awkward implications for both systems.
The historical road that led to this situation was not smoothly paved. When the State of Israel came into existence in 1948, the law that had been in effect in the country until independence became the law of the fledgling Jewish nation. Thus, an extraordinary legislative mixture, derived from Moslem religious law, Ottoman civil procedure, and English Mandatory ordinances, once described as “a mosaic, destined perhaps to excite the eye of an archaeologist, but not able to serve as a firm basis for healthy and normal legal relations,” became the law of the land.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Abortion in Judaism , pp. 207 - 226Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002