Halakha and the Challenge of Israeli Sovereignty examines the issues surrounding national, political, and religious sovereignty from the vantage point of halakha and its evolution. The work analyzes the efforts of the interpretative communities who adhered to halakha-the rabbinical authorities-as well as other groups who endeavored to help or to change it: the Jewish jurists in Eretz Israel who sought to integrate sections of halakha into the Jewish collective; and the religious academics who wanted more meaningful recognition of halakha in non-halakhic values. The assessment extends from the beginning of the Jewish national movement in the last two decades of the 19th century to the first two decades of the State of Israel, when weighty problems arose that required a halakhic response to the challenge of sovereignty. In this, the volume sheds light on the pliable nature of the concept of halakha, particularly in conjunction with its application to the notion of sovereignty.

Ze'ev Jawitz (1847-1924) was one of the foremost intellectuals of the First Aliyah and a leader of the religious faction within the Hibbat Zion movement. During his life he experienced the transition from living in the Diaspora to settling in the homeland, and he faced complex problems along with rare opportunities. Jawitz sought to adapt Orthodox Judaism to the changing reality in the Land of Israel by blending it with the nascent Jewish nationalism. He engaged in most facets of the Hebrew culture of his time, including history, literature, philosophy, biblical exegesis, linguistics, opinion writing, and even politics. He did all this out of an understanding that a people returning to its land needs a broad culture and cannot remain confined to the limits of halakha (Jewish law). This biography is based on rich archival material, most of which has never before been published. It moves along two axes: historically, it follows Jawitz's life through the places where he lived - Warsaw, Yehud, Zikhron Yaakov, Jerusalem, Vilna, Berlin, Antwerp and London; and intellectually, it analyzes Jawitz's literary and philosophical work against the backdrop of his time.