State and Religion in Israel: Possible Scenarios

State and Religion in Israel: Possible Scenarios

Written by Shlomo Hasson, this 104 page booklet examines the role of religion in Israeli society. The author explores four fundamental struggles of this subject – the place of religion in public life, equality, Israel’s public space, and the borders of the state – analyzing the conflicting ideologies that confront each other during these struggles. He goes on to imagine four possible scenarios regarding the future relationship between religion and state in Israel – stagnation, occupation, divisions, and connections – showing what needs to be done to ensure that the scenario of connections will ultimately prevail. This booklet is the third and the last in the “Israel 2023” series, published by the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland. Professor Shlomo Hasson is the head of the Shasha Center for Strategic Studies at the Hebrew University and an expert in the field of complex social systems analysis.