Jewish law in the age of globalisation: Conceptual impacts, multi-player interaction and halachic re-organisation of the Jewish 'community'

Globalism and post-modernity replace the state and modernity as the context in which the Jewish community and Jewish law exist. Legal pluralism and complex relations between society, culture and law gain prominence. This article focuses on the practical and conceptual changes in Jewish law and on the reorganisation of Jewish communities. The changing context requires a new paradigm for the interaction of the Jewish halachic community with all the other agents and institutions. Church-state relations are to be replaced with a multi-player system. Multiple sets of considerations, a variety of strategies, overlapping communities of discourse and complex relations replace the single 'us-them' paradigm. The importance and role of coalitions and of incentive structures in the halachic process, as well as for Jewish communal organisation, are also discussed.