"Sacred in Your Midst": Sounding Israeli Identity through the Performance of Jewish Liturgy in Jerusalem's Public Spaces

זהות יהודית-ישראלית חברה ישראלית טקסים יהדות המזרח ירושלים מסורת וחידוש פמיניזם תרבות יהודית-ישראלית

This dissertation investigates how Jewish liturgy performed in Jerusalem's public spaces - such as the "First Station" (HaTachana HaRishona), Zion Square, and the Western Wall - actively constructs a complex "Israeli identity." The author analyzes the "soundscapes" of these events, where the boundaries between the sacred and the secular, as well as between Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions, are constantly negotiated and blurred. By examining phenomena like public Kabbalat Shabbat and Selichot concerts, the study argues that these musical performances create a civic-religious hybridity. This "Israeliness" allows participants to bypass rigid religious dichotomies and reclaim Jewish tradition as a shared cultural and national asset within the urban landscape.