Rituals of Conflict:

An assassination, the election of a new prime minister, and a fresh round of Palestinian unrest have highlighted the ongoing tensions between religious and secular Israeli Jews. Among the latter, the events have introduced fear about the onset of a new religious war and a dramatic shift in public policy. However, Ira Sharkansky notes that, while religious interests in Israel have been powerful enough to keep their issues on the political agenda, they have, to date, been unable to influence the overall direction of either domestic or foreign policy.

Ira Sharkansky demonstrates that, within the communities of both religious and secular Jews, there is division about conceding parts of biblical Israel for the sake of peace—and neither group is unified about how government should address other matters important in Judaism, including Sabbath observance, kosher food, secular marriage, divorce, burial, various medical procedures, the definition of who is a Jew, and the rights of non-Orthodox congregations and their rabbis.

In this timely and insightful work, Sharkansky offers a comparative perspective about religion and politics in other Western democracies, where some activists warn of the catastrophes that occur in secular, "godless" societies, while others see intolerant coalitions of believers. Sharkansky notes that, even where religious disputes thrive most intensely, complete victory for either party is rare; policy tends to favor neither religious nor anti-religious extremes.