Sovereignty and Religious Freedom

A Jewish History

By: Simon Rabinovitch

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Hardcover | 3 April 2025 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
312 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
16.3 x 24.3 x 2.9

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A comparative legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom, illuminating the surprising ways that collective and individual rights have evolved over the past two centuries

It is a common assumption that in Israel, Jews have sovereignty, and in most other places where Jews live today, they have religious freedom instead. As Simon Rabinovitch shows in this original work, the situation is much more complicated. Jews today possess different kinds of legal rights in states around the world; some stem from religious freedom protections, and others evolved from a longer history of Jewish autonomy.

By comparing conflicts between Jewish collective and individual rights in courts and laws across the globe, from the French Revolution to today, this book provides a nuanced legal history of Jewish sovereignty and religious freedom. Rabinovitch weaves key themes in Jewish legal history with the individual stories of litigants, exploring ideas about citizenship and belonging; who is a Jew; what makes a Jewish family; and how to define Jewish space. He uses recent court cases to explore problems of conflicting rights, and then situates each case in a wider historical context. This unique comparative history creates a global picture of modern legal development in which Jews continue to use the law to carve out surprising forms of sovereignty.

About the Author

Simon Rabinovitch is the Stotsky Associate Professor of Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. His book Jewish Rights, National Rites was a Choice Outstanding Academic Title and a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award.

Industry Reviews

"Group rights never died in modern times, Simon Rabinovitch demonstrates in this enjoyable and eye-opening book. Tracking the exemplary and unique case of Jews across centuries and in different parts of the world, this book illuminates how Jewish histories and global legal histories cross."-Samuel Moyn, Yale University

"This ambitious and fascinating book makes a persuasive argument that the question of what kinds of rights Jews hold-as a group and as individuals-is anything but settled."-Jessica M. Marglin, author of The Shamama Case

"With great skill, formidable range, and a capacity to rub history against the grain, Simon Rabinovitch offers a bold transnational history of Jews and collective rights over the past two centuries."-David N. Myers, University of California, Los Angeles

"Ambitious and compelling, this book offers a wide-ranging historical and comparative account of modern Jewish collective rights. A must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between minority religious groups and the state."-Assaf Likhovski, Tel Aviv University

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