Legal Pluralism, Religious Identity and Citizenship in the State of Israel: The Case of Non-Orthodox Jews

The Chapter analyses the challenges posed to non-Orthodox Jewish minorities by the Israeli millet system in matters of personal status and citizenship. From the outset, the complex system of interplay between different sources and implementations of the law becomes prominent, including the plurality of courts dealing with personal status matters. In Israel, the adoption of the millet combines with the partial establishment of Orthodox Judaism in State institutions. The Chapter maintains that Israel’s constitutional and legal framework regulating the relationships between the State, religion and religious groups is mainly based on a communitarian paradigm, which constructs citizenship along ethno-religious lines. While granting recognized religious communities a great deal of organizational and jurisdictional autonomy, the millet conceives them as homogeneous groups; thus, ignoring inherent pluralism in religion. The main purpose of this contribution is to highlight the shortcomings of the Israeli millet, which raises questions in terms of freedom of religion (and from religion), citizens’ equality before the law, and identity rights with regard to both non-Jews and non-Orthodox Jewish groups within the Jewish majority of the population.