Men and Women of the Nation

Since the 19th century, it has become a truism among many Jews that the principal if not the only determinant of Jewish identity is Jews' relationship to a "religion" called "Judaism." Corollaries to this truism abound. For instance, practically since the establishment of the State of Israel it has been common for the country's citizens, notably its elites—government officials, university scholars, and journalists—to refer to the "religious" and "secular" "sectors" of Israeli Jewish society. Correspondingly, many Jewish Israelis view themselves as either "religious" or "secular." Many other Israeli citizens, particularly among those of Mizrahi and/or Sephardi background, carve out what they perceive to be a middle ground between religion and secularity by referring to themselves as "traditional"—that is, neither ultra-secular (that is to say, anti-religious in principle), nor ultra-observant of Halakhah. In all cases, Jews' approach toward to their ancient "religion" is what supposedly defines the type of Jewishness that they embody.