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Cambridge Forum for Jewish Studies

 

This study looks at the changing place of religion in Israeli culture by following the changes in the representation of religious references and imagery in Israeli films from the 1960s to the present.

The study examines the metamorphosis in the cinematic representation of  religious Jews and their way of life in Israeli films over a period of five decades. The study's underlying premise is that religion in Israeli culture has undergone a major change since the country's independence, and has moved from the margins of culture and politics to the center of both.

The study deals with the way this process is articulated in Israeli cinema by focusing on three social groups: Mizrahi Jews, national religious Jews, and orthodox Jews. During the period examined, the cinematic portrayal of each of these groups has evolved in significant ways that point to some of the most fundamental changes in Israeli society in the previous century.

The study is also framed within a larger historical context to examine the case of Zionism as a Jewish-cultural phenomenon.