I'm not sure about this for several reasons. First, at least as of 20 years ago, a good deal of the music played in the typical Israel dance was religious. Dodi Li is both a dance and a Hebrew prayer. Second, I think it is going to be very hard to draw a very sharp line between Israel national culture and the Jewish religion, given that Israel claims to be a Jewish state (and insists on a religious conversion for those not deemed Jewish by the religious leadership). There is a lot more to be said on this subject. Thus, a great many people claim to be non-religious Jews (can one be a non-religious Christian or a non-religious Hindu--Jacobsohn might suggest the latter is puzzling given the lack of an official Hindu doctrine). Still, I think I will stand by my basic point that with both Christian skating time and Israeli folk dancing, there is a mix of secular and religious elements that is practically impossible to disentangle.
Mark A. Graber (whose parents met Israel folk dancing and met his spouse Israeli folk dancing!) >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07/03/06 12:11 PM >>> Mark: An Israeli folk dance is the folk dance of a national culture. It is not a religious dance. That is the whole point! Mark Graber wrote: >May I suggest that this thread might benefit from Gary Jacobsohn's >wonderful analysis of Hindutva in his THE WHEEL OF THE LAW: INDIA'S >SECULARISM IN COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT. As Professor >Jacobsohn notes, Hindutva can be understood both as a culture and a >religion, there not being a very sharp difference. My sense is the same >is true for Christianity (certainly true for Judaism--witness Israeli >folk dance). If this is the case, then both the claims that this is >simply secular or purely religious need to be modified. The more >crucial issue is how to First Amendment issues play out when the >religious issues canno tbe disentangled from secular issues. > >Mark A. Graber >_______________________________________________ >To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu >To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > >Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. > > -- Paul Finkelman Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law University of Tulsa College of Law 3120 East 4th Place Tulsa, OK 74105 918-631-3706 (voice) 918-631-2194 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] After July 21, 2006 my address will be Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, New York 12208 518-445-3386 (office) 518-605-0296 (cell) [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
