Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Information
Journal Content

Browse

The Place of Developmental Self-Ordering in Judaism: Kahal as Spontaneous Order

Joseph Isaac Lifshitz

Abstract


Jewish political thought expresses itself primarily through law, rather than through the typical Greek search for the best political regime. A result of this common difficulty is identifying and formulating the principles that are clearly, in some way, at work. This article focuses on the legal concept of the kahal, the Jewish name for the political body. The main definition of the kahal is spatialthe community of Jews living in the Land of Israelrather than structural or organizational. Indeed, the kahal can best be understood as a spontaneous order (in Hayeks sense) and not as an order of organization. This kahal, though it comes into being in a spontaneous way, also serves as a platform on which the political body can also be arranged in an organized fashion.

Joseph Isaac Lifshitz, "The Place of Developmental Self-Ordering in Judaism: Kahal as Spontaneous Order," Journal of Markets & Morality 13, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 189-203


Full Text:

PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.