The Multicultural Challenge in Israel

Delving into Israel’s multifaceted society, editors Avi Sagi and Ohad Nachtomy, along with their distinguished contributors, explore the many ethnic and religious communities that comprise modern Israel and the ways in which they interact and often misunderstand each other. Detailing both the tensions between Israelis and Arab minorities, as well as issues involving recent immigrants and the different religious sects within the Jewish community at large, this collection of essays covers diverse subjects such as Holocaust education, language rights, military service, and the balancing of religious with secular systems of law. An essential read for anyone searching for a better understanding of the challenges being faced in contemporary Israel.

Avi Sagi (Ph.D. Bar-Ilan University, 1988) is a Professor at Bar-Ilan University and Senior Research Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem. His recent books include Circles of Jewish Identity (with Zvi Zohar), Tel Aviv, 2000; `Elu va Elu` A Study on the Meaning of Halakhic Discourse, Tel Aviv, 1996. Ohad Nachtomy (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1998) specializes in 17th century philosophy, and above all Leibniz and Spinoza. He has also begun a major research project in the philosophy of modern biology, on genotype-phenotype relations.