MODERNITY, SECULARISM, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF JEWISH LAW

Modernity converted Jewish law, both practically and conceptually, into a solely religious enterprise. Historically, Jewish law was religious, but in pre-modern contexts, Jewish law also had a political dimension that has been greatly diminished, if not eradicated, by modernity. Understanding modern debates about Jewish law in this way allows us to appreciate two significant points: (1) modern conceptions of Jewish law signal not continuity but a break with the past; (2) despite their profound differences, views of Jewish law advanced by divergent Jewish communities, both within and outside denominational streams of Judaism, have more in common than their self-presentations might suggest. Thus, this chapter considers the modern development of "law" and "religion" as distinct categories, the privatization of Jewish law in western and eastern European contexts, respectively, overlaps between modern Jewish conceptions of law and modern legal theory and the role of democracy and egalitarianism as they play out in feminist approaches to Jewish law.