Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

January 27, 2023

A Theology for Israeli Conservatives

“For Rabbi Navon, there is nothing less authentic than searching for authenticity.”

To Americans, the idea that religious traditionalists should gravitate toward political conservatism seems a natural one, but in Israel such an alignment is a rather more recent phenomenon—and many who would consider themselves both religious and “of the right” would not necessarily choose the term “conservative.” In a recent book, Rabbi Chaim Navon attempts to articulate a Jewish rationale for religious conservatism. Yitzchak Blau writes in his review:

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