Adi Sherzer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4389696 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Adi Sherzer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Adi |
| FAMILY NAME | Sherzer |
| SIGNATURE | SHERZER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2944-517X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Messianism in service of the state
This article examines David Ben-Gurion's deliberate attempt to redefine Jewish messianism as the core educational ethos of the young State of Israel. Unlike other national movements that used mythic or messianic pasts to bolster political legitimacy, Ben-Gurion's systematic turn to messianism in the mid-1950s emerged not from theological speculation but from a civil effort to reshape the national narrative amid profound demographic and ideologica…
Between national identity and active citizenship
The Sixth Scroll
This article examines the ritualization of Israel's Declaration of Independence (2011–2025) as part of broader efforts by Israeli Jewish renewal organizations to craft a national counter‐narrative. It argues that reframing the Declaration as a quasi‐sacred text—situated within the Jewish traditional corpus and recited with Biblical cantillation ( te'amim )—reflects efforts to reinterpret nationalism through a liberal lens. The study traces four i…
Yom-Tov Levinsky, Jewish Ritual, and Exile in Israeli Culture
Israeli Militarism Reconsidered
This article seeks to challenge conventional arguments about Israel’s ‘cultural militarism’ through a comparative analysis of Independence Day parades of the 1950s. Using media reports, newsreels, and archival documentation, it examines the parades and compares them to other cases from around the world. The discussion focuses on three features of the Israeli parades: the widespread civil criticism of the place of the military in Independence Day …
Israeli Military Education
This article traces the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) different perceptions of military education from the 1940s to the 2000s and discusses their place in the Israeli military strategy. It first compares the founding principles of Israeli military education with other concepts from around the world, and then examines the changes in the Israeli concept between the 1940s-1970s. Finally, it addresses some of the trends and challenges of the Education …
The Jewish past and the ‘birth’ of the Israeli nation state
The article focuses on David Ben-Gurion’s past image using a series of programmatic and widely distributed speeches he made during Israel’s first Independence Days (1948-1958). The article argues that while the founding of the state was defined as a turning point it was certainly not portrayed as a ‘beginning’, and that both the ancient sovereign and the exilic Jewish experience had a central place in Ben-Gurion’s relevant past. At the centre of …
The Chief Rabbinate and Israel's Independence Day Religio‐National Rituals During the 1950s
This article investigates the place of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the formation of Israel's national symbolic language during the country's first Independence Days. My main argument is that, like other state churches, the Rabbinate act as an important agent of memory that imparts collective myths and authenticate them. However, the Rabbinate was not willing to fully integrate the new national stance into the traditional ritual language and wa…
The Ben-Gurion—Blaustein Exchange
The article discusses Ben-Gurion's stance towards American Jewry following the establishment of the State of Israel (1949–1951) with a focus on the Ben-Gurion–Blaustein Exchange of 1950, and specifically on Ben-Gurion's alignment with the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee (AJC). Our main contention here is that Ben-Gurion's motivation in aligning with the non-Zionists cannot have been merely political or pragmatic but reflects rather a delibe…
Mamlakhtiyut from Across the Ocean
The concept of Mamlakhtiyut, defined by Bareli and Kedar as the Israeli version of republicanism, has shaped Israeli political system and civil culture from the 1950s onward. This article examines how this inter-Israeli concept affected David Ben-Gurion’s inter-Jewish policy toward the Jews of the Diaspora during the constructive era of the first year of statehood. The discussion focuses on the journey of Ben-Gurion to the USA during the spring o…
Exporting Israel to the Diaspora
The article analyzes Israel's early efforts to establish its Independence Day as a worldwide Jewish holiday and to "export" it to the Jewish Diaspora during Israel's first decade. The first part will discuss the implementation of the holiday abroad and the blurring of boundaries between local Jewish institutions and the Israeli delegation; the second part will utilize the reports of the Israeli delegates to demonstrate the importance of Jewish ce…
The Jewish past and the ‘birth’ of the Israeli nation state
The article focuses on David Ben-Gurion’s past image using a series of programmatic and widely distributed speeches he made during Israel’s first Independence Days (1948-1958). The article argues that while the founding of the state was defined as a turning point it was certainly not portrayed as a ‘beginning’, and that both the ancient sovereign and the exilic Jewish experience had a central place in Ben-Gurion’s relevant past. At the centre of …
The Ben-Gurion—Blaustein Exchange
The article discusses Ben-Gurion's stance towards American Jewry following the establishment of the State of Israel (1949–1951) with a focus on the Ben-Gurion–Blaustein Exchange of 1950, and specifically on Ben-Gurion's alignment with the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee (AJC). Our main contention here is that Ben-Gurion's motivation in aligning with the non-Zionists cannot have been merely political or pragmatic but reflects rather a delibe…
Exporting Israel to the Diaspora
The article analyzes Israel's early efforts to establish its Independence Day as a worldwide Jewish holiday and to "export" it to the Jewish Diaspora during Israel's first decade. The first part will discuss the implementation of the holiday abroad and the blurring of boundaries between local Jewish institutions and the Israeli delegation; the second part will utilize the reports of the Israeli delegates to demonstrate the importance of Jewish ce…
The Chief Rabbinate and Israel's Independence Day Religio‐National Rituals During the 1950s
This article investigates the place of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the formation of Israel's national symbolic language during the country's first Independence Days. My main argument is that, like other state churches, the Rabbinate act as an important agent of memory that imparts collective myths and authenticate them. However, the Rabbinate was not willing to fully integrate the new national stance into the traditional ritual language and wa…
Mamlakhtiyut from Across the Ocean
The concept of Mamlakhtiyut, defined by Bareli and Kedar as the Israeli version of republicanism, has shaped Israeli political system and civil culture from the 1950s onward. This article examines how this inter-Israeli concept affected David Ben-Gurion’s inter-Jewish policy toward the Jews of the Diaspora during the constructive era of the first year of statehood. The discussion focuses on the journey of Ben-Gurion to the USA during the spring o…
Exporting Israel to the Diaspora
The article analyzes Israel's early efforts to establish its Independence Day as a worldwide Jewish holiday and to "export" it to the Jewish Diaspora during Israel's first decade. The first part will discuss the implementation of the holiday abroad and the blurring of boundaries between local Jewish institutions and the Israeli delegation; the second part will utilize the reports of the Israeli delegates to demonstrate the importance of Jewish ce…
The Ben-Gurion—Blaustein Exchange
The article discusses Ben-Gurion's stance towards American Jewry following the establishment of the State of Israel (1949–1951) with a focus on the Ben-Gurion–Blaustein Exchange of 1950, and specifically on Ben-Gurion's alignment with the non-Zionist American Jewish Committee (AJC). Our main contention here is that Ben-Gurion's motivation in aligning with the non-Zionists cannot have been merely political or pragmatic but reflects rather a delibe…
Israeli Militarism Reconsidered
This article seeks to challenge conventional arguments about Israel’s ‘cultural militarism’ through a comparative analysis of Independence Day parades of the 1950s. Using media reports, newsreels, and archival documentation, it examines the parades and compares them to other cases from around the world. The discussion focuses on three features of the Israeli parades: the widespread civil criticism of the place of the military in Independence Day …
Israeli Military Education
This article traces the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) different perceptions of military education from the 1940s to the 2000s and discusses their place in the Israeli military strategy. It first compares the founding principles of Israeli military education with other concepts from around the world, and then examines the changes in the Israeli concept between the 1940s-1970s. Finally, it addresses some of the trends and challenges of the Education …
The Jewish past and the ‘birth’ of the Israeli nation state
The article focuses on David Ben-Gurion’s past image using a series of programmatic and widely distributed speeches he made during Israel’s first Independence Days (1948-1958). The article argues that while the founding of the state was defined as a turning point it was certainly not portrayed as a ‘beginning’, and that both the ancient sovereign and the exilic Jewish experience had a central place in Ben-Gurion’s relevant past. At the centre of …
The Chief Rabbinate and Israel's Independence Day Religio‐National Rituals During the 1950s
This article investigates the place of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate in the formation of Israel's national symbolic language during the country's first Independence Days. My main argument is that, like other state churches, the Rabbinate act as an important agent of memory that imparts collective myths and authenticate them. However, the Rabbinate was not willing to fully integrate the new national stance into the traditional ritual language and wa…
Yom-Tov Levinsky, Jewish Ritual, and Exile in Israeli Culture
Between national identity and active citizenship
The Sixth Scroll
This article examines the ritualization of Israel's Declaration of Independence (2011–2025) as part of broader efforts by Israeli Jewish renewal organizations to craft a national counter‐narrative. It argues that reframing the Declaration as a quasi‐sacred text—situated within the Jewish traditional corpus and recited with Biblical cantillation ( te'amim )—reflects efforts to reinterpret nationalism through a liberal lens. The study traces four i…
Messianism in service of the state
This article examines David Ben-Gurion's deliberate attempt to redefine Jewish messianism as the core educational ethos of the young State of Israel. Unlike other national movements that used mythic or messianic pasts to bolster political legitimacy, Ben-Gurion's systematic turn to messianism in the mid-1950s emerged not from theological speculation but from a civil effort to reshape the national narrative amid profound demographic and ideologica…
Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · History (6 works) · History (5 works) · Judaism (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Politics (5 works)