Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Marks, Susan
Keywords
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Israel, Zionism, Jewish Law
Area of Concentration
Religion
Abstract
This thesis explores the writings of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel. It addresses the political implications of his application of Jewish Law to the institutions of the State of Israel. In light of the history Sephardic experience in Israel and the rise of Rabbi Yosef’s political party, Shas, I ask what political narrative Rabbi Yosef’s theology has to offer for a political Judaism other than Zionism. I intellectually engage the implications of Rabbi Yosef’s political theology from the standpoint of post-‐modern leftist political theory. I look to the theoretical work of Giorgio Agamben, who provides an interpretive lens that allows reading Rabbi Yosef’s works as a critique of modern politics without opposing those categories from the start. Following a biopolitical reading of Rabbi Yosef’s politics, I argue that Rabbi Yosef, contrary to what many of his critics suggest, has a political ideology which not only works within modern liberal politics, but undermines the modern political Zionist narrative dominant in the State. Thus, Rabbi Yosef’s theology offers a picture of resistance which is grounded in an innovative approach to the ultra-‐orthodox tradition of Jewish law.
Recommended Citation
Wells, Connor Manning, "From Religious Life to the Death of Politics: The Biopolitical Theology of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef" (2015). Theses & ETDs. 5133.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5133