Ethnicity and Citizenship in the Ritual of an Israeli Synagogue

Abstract

Tension between citizenship and ethnicity is expressed in an Israeli ethnic synagogue by changes in ritual and symbolism. The symbolic expression of these changes relates worshippers of the synagogue, who are recent immigrants to Israel, to their new heterogenous environment. Analysis of the changes in symbols demonstrates that the referential aspects have expanded, consistent with alterations in traditional relationships. The reinterpreted symbols may be categorized in terms of a typology of religious change as instances of "innovation," in the sense that the experiential range to which the symbol applies has been changed.