Outlawed Pigs: Law, Religion, and Culture in Israel (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780299221607)

The prohibition against pigs is one of the most powerful symbols of Jewish culture and collective memory. Outlawed Pigs explores how the historical sensitivity of Jews to the pig prohibition was incorporated into Israeli law and culture.
Daphne Barak-Erez specifically traces the course of two laws, one that authorized municipalities to ban the possession and trading in pork within their jurisdiction and another law that forbids pig breeding throughout Israel, except for areas populated mainly by Christians. Her analysis offers a comprehensive, decade-by-decade discussion of the overall relationship between law and culture since the inception of the Israeli nation-state.
By examining ever-fluctuating Israeli popular opinion on Israel's two laws outlawing the trade and possession of pigs, Barak-Erez finds an interesting and accessible way to explore the complex interplay of law, religion, and culture in modern Israel, and more specifically a microcosm for the larger question of which lies more at the foundation of Israeli state law: religion or cultural tradition.

Author: Daphne Barak-Erez
ISBN-10: 0299221601
ISBN-13: 9780299221607
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Language: English
Published: 06/05/2007
Pages: 200
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.86lbs
Size: 9.03h x 6.37w x 0.64d

Review Citation(s):
Multicultural Review 03/01/2008 pg. 66