Israel established itself as a regional power and as a global center of science and technology due to being first and foremost a free democratic state.
Values as a differentiating factor
The democratic, humanistic and secular values that Israel adopted are actually the principles of Western progress. These principles are what catapulted her to cultural, scientific and technological achievements.
These values have always been the distinguishing factor between Israel and its hostile neighbors. These suffer from the effects of an anti-Western culture, which is based on a missionary and violent religion.
Some of the Jewish religious currents in the country (certainly not all) are negative factors and hinder progress. These are extreme religious mutations that are gaining momentum for improper reasons. If these mutations are allowed to spread, they will season the State of Israel to the loss of democracy, to economic and ideological bankruptcy followed by even physical elimination.
Dragging Israel in the direction of a religious state will make it undemocratic, and will put it into a disastrous process, which we are already in the middle of.
In order to preserve Israel for future generations, we must meet the following conditions:
- We must preserve our Jewish identity as a people and as a state
- We must preserve Israel's identity as a democratic and liberal state
Jewish identity
In the state of the Jewish people there is a vital need to define what Jewish identity is.
This definition of identity cannot include religious belief as a necessary condition, for two main reasons:
- There are many Jews who are unable to accept the religious belief, which seems to them completely illogical. However, they see themselves as belonging to the Jewish people and their heritage. The Jewish faith has played a crucial role in maintaining our Jewish identity for thousands of years. A few hundred years ago, the world changed. Science and rationality have replaced religion as better tools for understanding reality. This change did not pass over the Jewish people either. All this nowadays makes the religious religion unsuited to the role of the axis around which we can all coalesce.
- The principles of religion conflict with the principles of democracy, which is essential to our lives here.
How can a Jewish identity be maintained for the State of Israel and its Jewish residents, without turning it into a religious state?
This is, in fact, an incarnation of the well-known and critical question: Who is a Jew?
Who is a Jew?
Note:
There are organizations in the State of Israel that are already trying to deal with this complex issue today. "Secular Judaism - Humanistic Permutation in Judaism" is an organization of this type.
I propose to define the characteristics of a Jew as follows:
- Culture and heritage - a deep affinity for the Jewish cultural and national heritage.
- Freedom - belief in the freedom and individual sovereignty of a person over his choices.
- Humanism - identification with global humanist values of human society.
This definition leaves out the religious issue, and includes all Jews in the State of Israel and abroad.
There is, of course, the question of how one joins the Jewish people. I will not go into detail here, but it seems to me that the answer given in the conversion system that exists today is rigid and insufficient.
For most Jews I would also add the following characteristic:
- Zionist - identification with the goals of Zionism to establish a Jewish national home in the Land of Israel
This characteristic, which seems natural to most of us, cannot be part of the definition of "who is a Jew". Just as there are non-religious Jews, there are also non-Zionist Jews. Strangely, by the way, some of them are even part of the current government...
Some will say that among the three characteristics I proposed, the last two (freedom and humanism) are derived from the first characteristic (Jewish culture).
Why did I choose to mention them separately?
The reason is that the conduct of several extreme factions in contemporary Judaism proves that these two characteristics are not self-evident. For example, some interpret Jewish humanism as a humanism that should be addressed to Jews only, and does not apply to Gentiles to the same extent.
In any case, even if it is said that these characteristics are part of the gospel that Judaism shares, these are universal values. Obviously, it is possible to be "free" and "humanist", as defined above, and still not be Jewish.
Affinity to Jewish culture
I will try to set it up.A deep affinity for the Jewish cultural and national heritage", in which I see the unique axis, around which those who consider themselves Jewish can be gathered.
This affinity includes reference to ancient Jewish cultural assets (primarily the Bible) and also to other assets accumulated over the years, whether they were created in a religious context (Oral Torah, the writings of the Rambam, Kabbalah), in a national context (the books of the Maccabees, the writings of Ben Matthew, Declaration of Independence,...), in a philosophical context (Spinoza, Bergman, Berlin...) in a humanistic context (Freud, Frankl, Wiesel, Einstein...), in an artistic context (Chagall, Bergner, Gershwin...), in a literary context (Yehuda Halevi, Shalom Aleichem, Bialik , Oz...), in a national context (Ahad Ha'am, Herzl,...), and much more.
Any Jew, religious or secular, can connect to these. The secular Jew will also treat with respect the assets accumulated in the religious context. He will connect more with their value as folklore, history, literature, art, etc.
On this occasion, it will be possible to refresh and pour new content into old rituals and introduce them into the Jewish canon.
Examples:
- Refreshing Shavuot rituals in the style of the settlement movement.
- Refreshing the "Passover Haggadah", which in a large part of homes in Israel usually skips multiple sections of it due to lack of interest.
The education system
The education system must build around these assets a program that will be a unifying factor for Jews (and non-Jews) in the State of Israel.
system State This will create the same glue that dissipated with the disintegration of the education system into tribal education systems that educate for separation and differentiation. This disintegration brought us to an unbearable situation. Also the fact that there are young people among us who accept fascism and racism is a result of that serious corruption in the education system.
The education system must be state based at its core, with mandatory content for all its students, while it leaves part (about a quarter?) of the content to local systems.
Every Jewish child should know the Bible, the history of his people, and some of the cultural assets that this nation created over the years, some of which were groundbreaking. Every child should also know the history of the revival of the Jews in their country in recent generations.
After we put this infrastructure in place, there will be a significant change in national cohesion. Or then, we can also see a change in the attitude of all parts of the people towards their country and their heritage.
A small example of trapping education:
Today, an atheist Jew perceives actions such as installing a mezuzah, putting on random tefillin, etc., as something that is associated with a religion in which he is unable to believe, and whose establishment he hates. This attitude can change completely, if these actions are perceived as a kind of ceremonial tribute to tradition and history, without the need for a religious tone.
On the ultra-Orthodox side, because of its characteristic dogmatism, it will be more difficult. However, common values that will be imparted to him through that state education, will make him understand his shared destiny with the State of Israel over every population.
Democratic identity
A necessary condition for maintaining Israel's democratic identity is a significant separation between religion and the state.
The democratic-liberal component connects Israel to global humanistic principles, and makes it a country worth living in.
The principles of religion are incompatible with democracy, and cannot dictate its course. However, Israel is the state of the Jewish people, and this is reflected in the Law of Return.
The education system, whose crucial role we have already discussed, must also include education for democracy
Equally important is solving the inherent weaknesses of Israeli democracy. Israeli democracy suffers from the loss of checks and balances between the authorities. Over the years, we have reached a situation where the executive authority has completely taken over the legislative authority, and recently also tried to subordinate the judicial authority to it.
All this must change, if Israeli democracy is an object of life, and in fact, if the State of Israel is an object of life.
To do this, a new constitution must be established that will clearly define the powers of each authority, prevent one authority from taking over the other, and create effective checks and balances.
Also, for the benefit of religion and the state, the new constitution will separate the two.
"Nationality Law"
In this context, it is important to say something about the "Basic Nationality Law" approved by the Knesset in 2018.
It is debatable whether there was even a need for this law, which declares that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people.
A cursory reading of the law reveals no special problems with what is written in it.
The problem with the nationality law is that it emphasizes the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, but does not refer to its democratic identity at all. This fact creates an understandable displeasure for anyone who is not Jewish in the State of Israel.
There is something worrying about this, because it seems that whoever drafted the law was aware of this delicate point, and chose for his own reasons to ignore it. There is a reasonable fear that there may have been an intention to imply that the Jewish identity is above democracy in the State of Israel.
In this regard, our Declaration of Independence did a much better job. The renewal of the "Nationality Law" added nothing to the State of Israel. He only offended loyal non-Jewish citizens and cast doubt on her democratic commitment. Israel's Declaration of Independence, similar to the American one, is a short and concise document, which, although it was prepared in a short time, is better at conveying a vision than many volumes of words.
It is possible and appropriate to amend the "Nationality Law" as soon as possible.
A funny article in its lack of logic…..
1. Who is a Jew? Who is like me (meaning a liberal Ashkenazi) 2. The problem is the nationality law? Not to mention democratic. Even in the Declaration of Independence that she compared, the word democracy in its various tendencies is not mentioned.
And many more points that the connecting line between them is a concealment of what the various progressive systems did here (mainly academic and media law) in which they changed the consensus of the founders of the state that the state is Jewish in its publicness (marriage. Shabbat and holidays. language and more) while in your home/car you will be free to do as you wish within the framework of the law.
At least be honest then we can discuss.
Until I get a certificate of integrity, I will try to muster some logic to explain:
In the Declaration of Independence, it is stated that the State of Israel "will maintain full equality of social and political rights for all its citizens without distinction of religion, race and sex; will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture", and more.
Meaning: liberal democracy.
Regarding the nationality law: the problem is not what is in it but what is missing in it.
I mentioned it mainly in the context of hurting the feelings of non-Jews, who accept the principle that this is the state of the Jewish people, but want to be sure that there is no hidden agenda here to harm their rights as citizens.
It cannot be denied that Druze, Circassians and others were affected by this. What did we need it for?
Minorities are, by nature, very sensitive to threats to their civil rights. Diaspora Jews are like that too.
The purpose of the article is to offer a comprehensive definition of Judaism that would be beyond Orthodox Judaism, which a very large part of the secular Jews living here are unable to connect with.
Instead of agonizing, go to Germany, marry a blonde and don't tell who your father and grandfather are
Interesting and important article,
It is clear that the majority of the religious will oppose the idea of a liberal state.
I would return to the definition of "who is a Jew" as defined by Ben-Gurion from the founding of the state - although minor changes should be made to it.
When I look around, I doubt whether the ideas written in the article can come true.
Too many forces have eroded the education system from 40-50 years ago.
Begin contributed to the destruction that is now taking place in the country - I will not add to that, because I will immediately receive insults from the extreme right.
Congratulations on your eloquent writing.
I suggest everyone to read some articles by Rabbi Eli Sadan on the whole matter of Judaism in democracy
An interesting article that gives ideas and solutions. It is appropriate that the captains of the country give it consideration. In its beginning, the separation of religion from state.
Yoram, you did yourself an easy job. You knew very well how to criticize the Jews, but you avoid the enormous landmines if, in the laundry of your words, you give up the definition of the nation state of the Jewish people and constantly insert the liberal democracy that is in the forefront of your mind despite its enormous shortcomings. Regarding the nationality law, you probably do not understand the Middle East. "Those who are not Jews" are very interested in how you define yourself. For them, you are a temporary being and it doesn't matter how much you pamper yourself. The Nationality Law is extremely necessary because the State of Israel was established as affirmative action for the Jewish people and for them alone. Those who live here and are not Jewish will not be deprived of their civil rights, but they want nationalism and autonomy. The state today does not give them that. Your liberal democracy will cause us to become a state of all its citizens and hence the path to the destruction of the Jewish state is short. You have a lot to think about before your next essay on this topic.
Dear Ronnie,
It is not clear to me where the assertion that I gave up on the definition of the nation state of the Jewish people came from.
The opposite is correct. This article discusses how to maintain the Jewish nation state as a liberal democracy. There is no contradiction between the two.
If you didn't understand this, please read again.
The majority of non-Jews in the State of Israel accept their existence as a minority in the nation-state of the Jewish people. They do not accept and should not accept the idea that someone would violate their rights as citizens.
If you think that the State of Israel should not be a liberal democracy, but something else (a religious autocracy, perhaps?), then we probably won't find a common denominator.
By the way, those who want and receive autonomy today are precisely the ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Religion should be separated from the state in Israel! According to Or and former rabbi Yaron Yedan