Introduction: Religion in the Public Square: Jews Among the Nations

The question of dealing with religion in the public square may not be Jewish in the same way that it is a modern or contemporary question because of the differences between Judaism, certainly in its classical form, and Christianity. Dealing with the issue in Israel requires an understanding of this and of the fact that Israelis and others have been misled for years in thinking that there are only two categories of Jews in the country, a secular majority and a religious minority, when in fact, in terms of actual belief and practice, the majority of the Israeli population is traditional and only minorities on either end of the spectrum are Orthodox or secular.