Book contents
- Law and Identity in Israel
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Judaism
- Law and Identity in Israel
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I Seeking to Fashion National Law
- 1 Law and Culture in Early Zionist Literature
- 2 The Hebrew Peace Courts
- 3 The Hebrew Law Society
- 4 Why a Jewish-Hebrew System of Law Was Not Instituted at Independence
- 5 A Hebrew Constitution for the Jewish State
- 6 Jewish Law and Legislation in Israel
- Part II The Resurgence of Cultural Conflict
- Part III Zionism, Democracy, Law, and Culture
- Conclusion
- List of Legal Cases
- Legislation
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Hebrew Law Society
An Abortive Attempt to Fashion a Jewish-Hebrew National Code of Law
from Part I - Seeking to Fashion National Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2019
- Law and Identity in Israel
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Judaism
- Law and Identity in Israel
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I Seeking to Fashion National Law
- 1 Law and Culture in Early Zionist Literature
- 2 The Hebrew Peace Courts
- 3 The Hebrew Law Society
- 4 Why a Jewish-Hebrew System of Law Was Not Instituted at Independence
- 5 A Hebrew Constitution for the Jewish State
- 6 Jewish Law and Legislation in Israel
- Part II The Resurgence of Cultural Conflict
- Part III Zionism, Democracy, Law, and Culture
- Conclusion
- List of Legal Cases
- Legislation
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 3 tells of the rise and fall of the Hebrew Law Society, founded in 1917, which sought to base the law of the Jewish state on secularized and modern Jewish content. All the members of the Hebrew Law Society wanted a national Jewish-Hebrew legal system, but did not agree about what materials would be used in its construction, nor on the way to construct this new legal edifice, or about who would be the architects and builders. The Society’s problem was that it could not limit itself to an academic debate over these questions. On the contrary, it was founded with the purpose of shaping clear, detailed, and explicit legal norms, building legal institutions, and crafting the whole cloth of a legal system that would stand ready for the Jewish state when it was founded. But the practical need to translate Jewish values into clear legal rules paralyzed the Hebrew Law Society and brought an end to the attempts to make Hebrew law into the living law of a modern society. The Society collapsed before World War II, a decade before Israel was founded.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Law and Identity in IsraelA Century of Debate, pp. 39 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019