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Outlawed
Pigs
Law, Religion, and Culture in Israel
Daphne Barak-Erez
"It is hard to underestimate the significance of the
pig for Jews, and Daphne Barak-Erez's book shows it to be a delightfully
apt way to get at the fascinating maze that is Israeli politics."
—William
Ian Miller, University of Michigan Law School
The prohibition against pigs is one of
the most powerful symbols of Jewish culture and collective memory.
Outlawed Pigs explores how the historical sensitivity
of Jews to the pig prohibition was incorporated into Israeli
law and culture.
Daphne Barak-Erez specifically traces the course of two laws,
one that authorized municipalities to ban the possession and
trading in pork within their jurisdiction and another law that
forbids pig breeding throughout Israel, except for areas populated
mainly by Christians. Her analysis offers a comprehensive, decade-by-decade
discussion of the overall relationship between law and culture
since the inception of the Israeli nation-state.
By examining ever-fluctuating Israeli popular opinion on Israel's
two laws outlawing the trade and possession of pigs, Barak-Erez
finds an interesting and accessible way to explore the complex
interplay of law, religion, and culture in modern Israel, and
more specifically a microcosm for the larger question of which
lies more at the foundation of Israeli state law: religion or
cultural tradition.
"A meticulously researched narrative of the surprising
consequences of efforts to abolish the business of selling pork
over the course of the modern history of the state of Israel.
. . . Anyone interested in the history of regulations, particularly
anyone interested in the history of regulations in societies
marked by religious pluralism and controversy, will learn much
from this model case study. —Hendrik Hartog, Princeton University
Daphne Barak-Erez is professor of law at Tel Aviv University
in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is the author of numerous books and
articles, including a coedited book in English titled Human
Rights in Private Law.
Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@wwwtest.uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.) |
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May 2007
LC: 2006031811 KMK
160 pp. 6 x 9
"The peculiar regulation
of pig-breeding and pork-trading in Israeli law is not only an
interesting chapter in Israeli legal history, but is also a living
dilemma relevant to the understanding of current processes in
Israeli society and politics. The pig controversy can be seen
as a microcosm of larger developments, including the growing
gap between secular and religious Jews and, chiefly, the crystallization
of a new identity for secular Jews in Israel."
—excerpt from Outlawed Pigs
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