“The Invention of Jewish Theocracy: The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel”

“The Invention of Jewish Theocracy: The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel” Alexander Kaye is the Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Assistant Professor of Israel Studies, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Near East and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He received a Ph.D. in Jewish history from Columbia University, and a B.A. and M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge. He is ordained as a rabbi, having received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School, and served as Assistant Rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York. Previously he taught at Princeton University and The Ohio State University. Dr. Kaye’s research is on Jewish intellectual history and the history of political and legal thought. With David N. Myers, he co-edited The Faith of Fallen Jews, a collection of works by the late Prof. Yosef H. Yerushalmi. His new book, The Invention of Jewish Theocracy: The Struggle for Moral Authority in Modern Israel, (Oxford University Press 2020), is a history of the idea, espoused by many religious Zionists, that the State of Israel should be run by halakha.