Anyone reading this blog knows that Israelis are becoming ever-more jaded by the peace process and more conservative by the day. Anyone reading also knows that I often take a very critical view of religious intervention in public policy, even in a religious state.
Well, new interesting survey results are out, and it appears that Israelis are now more religious as well. Haaretz describes the phenomenon below.
Some 67 percent of secular respondents light Hanukkah candles and 29 percent light Shabbat candles. Ten percent of secular respondents kept kosher over the year and 22 percent observed Jewish dietary laws – kashrut – during Passover.
Among secular and traditional respondents, 52 percent light Shabbat candles at home but only 11 percent refrain from traveling by car on Shabbat. The rate of kashrut observance among the two groups collectively is 48 percent during Passover and 33 percent during the year as a whole.
Some 21 percent, which would amount to 790,000 Jewish Israelis, are more religious than they had been in the past. About 14 percent are less religious.
Among adult male Israelis, 23 percent go to synagogue daily, and 25 percent do so only on Shabbat and/or holidays, 11 percent on Rosh Hashanah and/or Yom Kippur and 16 percent on special occasions such as celebrations for memorial prayers. Meanwhile, 24 percent don’t visit a synagogue at all.
Among women, 31 percent go to synagogue on Shabbat and/or holidays, 16 percent only on Rosh Hashanah and/or Yom Kippur, 18 percent only on special occasions and 32 percent not at all.
