דתיּות, לאומיּות, ליברליזם – מחשבות בעקבות טיעונו של ניסים מזרחי

In two articles, Nissim Mizrachi attempts to provide explantions for the failure of Israeli liberals to embed their messages in members of the group of low-income mizrachim. In essence, Mizrachi’s argument is that liberals and low-income mizrachim live in two separate worlds of meaning. The problem addressed by Mizrachi is not unique to Israel. In recent years, liberals in many countries have attempted to understans why is it that they are losing ground among large sectors of their societies.This article is compsed of two parts. In the first part, I present two possible ways of reading Mizrachi’s argument. These two readings suggest two possible corrections to liberal theory and practice. The second part offers preliminary insights as to the balancing of the claims of liberalism and nationalism in a liberal nation-state.