Toward Separation Of Synagogue And State
Israel is in danger of no longer being governed by the people; this danger does not come from the multitudes surrounding us who seek our destruction, but rather from those who wish for rabbinic fiat and Torah law to rule supreme.
The question of Israel as a Jewish democracy
Israel is in danger of no longer being governed by the people; this danger does not come from the multitudes surrounding us who seek our destruction, but rather from those who wish for rabbinic fiat and Torah law to rule supreme.
By Ilan Ben Zion • Ha’aretz
The Israel that Herzl envisioned was a bastion of democracy and a haven for all Jews against the evils of anti-Semitism. This is the Israel I grew up on, and the Israel I had hoped to move to; a country based upon Jewish values and liberal ideals.
But this island of democracy in a despotic sea is in danger of no longer being governed by the people. This danger does not come from the multitudes surrounding us who seek our destruction, but rather from those who wish for rabbinic fiat and Torah law to rule supreme.
This faction of Israeli society is multiplying far faster than those who advocate egalitarian democracy, and in the past thirty years has benefitted from an unprecedented and disproportionate increase in religious party power.
What if the Masoretic mullahs of Mea Shearim succeed in the coming decades and take over, turning Israel into a Jewish Iran? Is half the Zionist vision good enough?
Sixty years ago, fearful that Israeli democracy would be overthrown in the future, Professor Yehuda Leo Kohn asserted it would be foolhardy for Israelis to delude themselves into believing that “nothing like [the fall of German democracy] could happen in Israel”.
Having witnessed firsthand the downfall of many European democracies in the thirty years prior to Israel’s founding, Kohn recognized Israel’s need for a constitution that enshrines civil liberties, prevents perfidious government action, and safeguards the rights of the individual.
There are measures that can and must be taken to prevent our fragile, imperfect democracy from crumbling beneath the demographic weight of black hats and coats; Israel needs a constitution.
Ben Gurion and his contemporaries balked at the daunting task of constitution building while struggling to establish the state, instead leaving it for generations to come. Today’s Israel does not have that luxury.
If Israel is to properly protect its citizens’ rights, it must finally reach a national consensus –however difficult and daunting it may be - on what laws are above the state and the people.
We the people must ratify a constitution that guarantees individual freedoms, minority rights, separation of religion and government, and a clear system of checks and balances.
With secular Jews and non-Jews together constituting a majority of the country’s population, the time has come for Israeli identity to be divested of its religious trappings.
How can a large portion of Israel’s population uphold the current state if they do not identify
with the religious Judeo-nationalism it promotes? And what if this ultra-Orthodox perversion over the law only intensifies with time?
An Israeli constitution needs to separate Israel from its Jewish religious trappings, and make the state impartial to the religious identities of its citizens.
If this does not happen, many Israelis my find themselves forced out of this Mediterranean sanctuary, preferring to live a free Jew in another country than shackled by injustice in a Jewish one.
Ilan Ben Zion is an active blogger currently living in Be’er Sheva; he is a graduate of Tel Aviv University with a Masters in Diplomacy.
What a bunch of naive BS.
Jews, like all other Hebrews, have only one law - The Law of Moses. Anything else will never work. Especially in Israel.
Posted by: Aleksandr Sigalov | October 31, 2011 at 10:11 AM
Shmarya,
What's your take on the latest Google scandal? Try googling "Romney can win", and Google automatically translates that to "Romney can't win".
Posted by: Guest | October 31, 2011 at 10:22 AM
It is time for secular Israel to take back their country from the "Black Hats" that take control of each successive government by using their "voting blocks". In essence, the tail wags the dog as each successive government panders the the Ultra-orthodox minority in order to remain in power. A constitutional government could and would curb this.
If a proper constitution were adopted the power of the UO could be curtailed. No longer would they control immigration, marriage and the like. The people could control their country instead of the orthodox rabbinate who seek to sieze power.
Posted by: Alter Kocker | October 31, 2011 at 10:38 AM
So in order to insure that Israel is governed by the people we have to exclude some of the people who disagree with "our" way of thinking.
Interesting.
Posted by: p | October 31, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Do some research and ask this question: When Aharon Barak ran the Israeli Supreme Court in such a way as to ensure there were ZERO checks and balances over it, when he trumpeted how he had a system where he could appoint other judges with no oversight, when he announced his intention to use his court's powers to transform Israel into a "state for all its citizens" because "Jewish state" was passe and offensive to him, did Ilan Ben Zion care? Did he protest that the democratic Israel he loved was being hijacked by unelected judges who had a post-Zionist agenda?
If he was okay with Aharon Barak and friends ruling by judicial fiat, why is he so upset that one day it might be a rabbi instead of an Israel-hating Jew? Ah, because it's okay to rule by fiat when you like the guy in charge!
Posted by: Garnel Ironheart | October 31, 2011 at 10:42 AM
The 'Fall of German Democracy' occurred despite Weimar Germany having a constitution and not because it lacked one.
The Weimar Constitution was as liberal and democratic as that of the USA but proved useless against both left and right political extremism. The constitution remained in place throughout the Nazi period and parts of it are incorporated into that of German Federal Republic. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Constitution
The British Empire did not have (and the UK still does not have) a written constitution however in 1940 it stood alone against Nazism.
If social, political, and economic conditions are terrible, then a constitution however liberal and well drafted will provide little protection from social meltdown. That is what may be happening with the Arab Spring in that the institutions of democracy the protesters are demanding may not stop the social meltdown arising from increasing poverty due to population growth outstripping economic growth.
Posted by: Barry | October 31, 2011 at 10:58 AM
A rabbinical Fiat? How many miles to the gallon does it get?
Posted by: WoolSilkCotton | October 31, 2011 at 11:10 AM
A rabbinical Fiat? How many miles to the gallon does it get?
Posted by: WoolSilkCotton | October 31, 2011 at 11:10 AM
An old joke. Not mine, but here goes...
This car doesn't run on fuel, it runs on Judaic belief. And to start this car you must say "Baruch Hashem" the faster you say it the faster the car goes. And the word to stop the car is "Amen".
So one day, a yeshiva bochur gets into his car and starts chanting "Baruch hashem, baruch hashem, baruch hashem..." the car speeds up and gets faster and faster. Soon the bochur realizes that he is heading towards a cliff, he desperatley struggles to remember the word and finally remembers. The second before he goes off, he says "Amen!" and the car stops.
He sighs in relief, and says "Baruch hashem"...
Posted by: HadEnuff | October 31, 2011 at 11:43 AM
###So in order to insure that Israel is governed by the people we have to exclude some of the people who disagree with "our" way of thinking###
Democracy is not a numbers game. It relies on its electorate being capable of coming to a rational decision based on all arguments being put forward. The danger Israel faces arises from the fact that a large segment of its population has been conditioned since early childhood by Hareidi Chinuch, to be irrational and indeed are psychologically unable of facing reality. Hareidi Chinuch is not education but the exact opposite. It is indoctrination designed to make a person psychologically incapable of accepting reality through education.
Can you imagine how the US would have been if Blacks or women were given the vote but were denied or could avoid a scientific or modern education now made compulsory for all?
That is the situation Israel faces. The doctrine of no representation without education is more important than the doctrine of no taxation without representation. Democracy is a product of Enlightenment and Modernity. Without enlightenment and modernity, the benefits of a 'people's democracy' will never be realised as can be seen in Iran.
Democracy together with scientific rationalism is why our lives today are longer and better than than of our ancestors and why the the US and British Empire were rich enough and advanced enough to withstand Hitler whilst the poor backward Jews in backward Eastern Europe could not. It is why Israel can at the moment withstand a hostile Arab world.
The tragedy of the Hareidim is that unlike the secular (both Jew and Gentile) they have been made through 'chinuch' indoctrination psychologically incapable of appreciating the grim reality that the first brick on the road to Auschwitz was laid by the Chassam Sofer's rejection of modernity and cannot understand what this will lead to if they continue in this way.
So, p, Hareidism is not 'a way of thinking' but rather 'a way of not thinking' and it is perfectly proper (and indeed an obligation), for any state (including Israel) to repress such a philosophy as a danger to democracy and physical survival in an unforgiving Darwinian world..
Posted by: Barry | October 31, 2011 at 11:58 AM
If he was okay with Aharon Barak and friends ruling by judicial fiat, why is he so upset that one day it might be a rabbi instead of an Israel-hating Jew? Ah, because it's okay to rule by fiat when you like the guy in charge!
Posted by: Garnel Ironheart | October 31, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Because one makes decisions based upon a relatively objective worldview, while the other makes them based upon a worldview in which the universe is 6,000 years old, mice have asses made of dirt and cholent has magical properties. You really need to be told this?
Sometimes it makes me uneasy that you practice medicine.
Posted by: Jeff | October 31, 2011 at 12:16 PM
He sighs in relief, and says "Baruch hashem"...
Posted by: HadEnuff | October 31, 2011 at 11:43 AM
HA!
Posted by: Jeff | October 31, 2011 at 12:16 PM
It is not "in risk." It is already being ruled by a coalition of religious freaks and russian mobster. We Americans pay they price of what these freaks do
Posted by: Shlomo | October 31, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Jeff, how I practice medicine isn't what's making you uneasy. Your not taking your pills as prescribed to calm your mental status is what's doing that.
First of all, Barak is working with an objective world view? No, he's not. He's got an extremely biased world view and an attitude that says that anyone who disagrees with him is automatically wrong. He is not the epitome of a dispassionate, open thinking individual.
And if Rav Eliashiv believes the world is 6000 years old, so what? If he believes mice come from dirt, so what? His decision making process is based on the parameters of halacha as he understands them. No better or worse than Aharon Barak, he has a biased system and he works within it. My point (which as usually you missed) is not that his way is better but that the author is a hypocrite because the uber-secular way is no better than the uber-religious one.
Posted by: Garnel Ironheart | October 31, 2011 at 02:41 PM
Jeff, as usual, speaks like a typical liberal. Everyone else is wrong and he is right.
Posted by: Guest | October 31, 2011 at 02:48 PM
It's a shame he limited his call to secular Jews and non-Jews. There are plenty of Modern orthodox Jews like myself in Israel who would happily join such an endeavor. I'd much prefer a completely secular state to a theocracy ruled by religious fanatics.
Posted by: Yoni Doe | October 31, 2011 at 04:24 PM
Guest, you do the same. That must make you a liberal.
Posted by: SkepticalYid | October 31, 2011 at 05:41 PM
@Garnel: you do have a point about fundamentalist doctrine be it secular or religious. However it is usually the religious who exploit the democratic process with the goal of dismantling democracy. Consider Iran- immediately after the revolution, the leaders of the country were mostly survivors of the democratically elected Mossadegh government of 1953. Once they served their purpose, legitimizing the revolution, they were exiled by the Khomeni regime and many were assasinated. I seriously doubt that a rabbinical theocracy would be any more tolerant of dissent.
Posted by: SkepticalYid | October 31, 2011 at 05:45 PM
@Garnel: you do have a point about fundamentalist doctrine be it secular or religious. However it is usually the religious who exploit the democratic process with the goal of dismantling democracy.
This speaks for me as well - although I do maintain that there is a profound difference between the worldviews of someone like Barak, and someone like Elyahsiv. One is biased, the other is batshit insane.
Yes, Garnel - it does matter whether or not someone thinks mice are made of dirt. If you can't see that, please call up your alma mater and give back your medical degree.
Posted by: Jeff | October 31, 2011 at 05:59 PM
Guest, you do the same. That must make you a liberal.
Posted by: SkepticalYid | October 31, 2011 at 05:41 PM
Heh! SY, it's like government spending - when we do it, it's a shander. When they do it, it's a virtue.
Posted by: Jeff | October 31, 2011 at 06:01 PM
Garnel, I agree with your comments.
I also think that government by any religious group which does not show pragmatism is a government doomed to failure. I am sure if the Haredim got into a power, they might start off being "talibanesque", but eventually they'd start noticing Israel heading for bankruptcy and then they'd realize that their course of action was like cutting off the tree branch you're sitting on, so they'd change course.
Posted by: Dave | October 31, 2011 at 10:27 PM
but eventually they'd start noticing Israel heading for bankruptcy and then they'd realize that their course of action was like cutting off the tree branch you're sitting on, so they'd change course.
No, Dave. They would tell everyone that it is because the women are not dressing tznius enough, and because more Torah needs to be learned, and they would cut off the tree branch they are sitting on, and tell everyone (and convince themselves) that Hashem will save them if daven more.
Their worldview is set up to believe in magic and miracles, so that is what you will get when they rule.
The inability to see or deal with reality and the belief that some magical miracles will save you because you are "doing God's will" is one of the fundamental flaws of religious rulership.
Posted by: Abracadabra | November 01, 2011 at 01:29 AM
...the grim reality that the first brick on the road to Auschwitz was laid by the Chassam Sofer's rejection of modernity...
Barry - I'd be interested in hearing some sources for that idea. Please note that I'm not saying that you are wrong, I am just curious if that is your own opinion, or if it is the opinion of any historians or scholars of history.
I agree with the main point of your post though. And I think it should be enforced in Yeshivos in the USA as well. In all the Hareidi boys yeshivas in NY and NJ the teachers give the answers to the kids on the standardized tests. (They have all kinds of ways of doing this. One is by reading all the multiple choice answers out loud and saying the correct answer a little louder than the rest.) That is how the yeshivas get away with not teaching the boys basic English subjects, but still issue elementary and high school diplomas. I know a 20 year old guy who can't write an English sentence, but who has a high school diploma and a "BTL" - a BA in "Talmudic Law".
This needs to be enforced in the USA as well.
Posted by: Abracadabra | November 01, 2011 at 01:42 AM
they'd realize that their course of action was like cutting off the tree branch you're sitting on, so they'd change course.
Posted by: Dave | October 31, 2011 at 10:27 PM
But, at that juncture it would be too late, by than you will see a brain drain and a major exodus from the state, and you will lose a few generations and the country will be bankrupt, and they will run to the diaspora and shonor money from us the none-believers who will still feel pity on the state.
Posted by: OMG | November 01, 2011 at 03:14 AM
Posted by: Barry | October 31, 2011 at 11:58 AM
Excellent respond to P, hopefully, he has the brain to process what you wrote.
Posted by: OMG | November 01, 2011 at 03:21 AM
A monarchy is in the offing. The rejection of the four votes of no confidence in the Knesset this week was significant.
Posted by: Adam Neira | November 01, 2011 at 04:09 AM
I believe we are at the point of no return in Israel.
The disproportionate high birthrate of the frumiks in Israel compared to that of everyone else, including Arabs, ensures their ultimate control of the government. It will take no more than their entire community voting as their mullahs tell them to for them to control the state.
The major reason they have not done this to date, I believe, is the more than one million Russians who are largely secular.
However, even the Russians can't match the frumik birthrate.
Posted by: Litvish | November 01, 2011 at 04:53 AM
but eventually they'd start noticing Israel heading for bankruptcy and then they'd realize that their course of action was like cutting off the tree branch you're sitting on, so they'd change course.
No, Dave. They would tell everyone that it is because the women are not dressing tznius enough, and because more Torah needs to be learned, and they would cut off the tree branch they are sitting on, and tell everyone (and convince themselves) that Hashem will save them if daven more.
Their worldview is set up to believe in magic and miracles, so that is what you will get when they rule.
Posted by: Abracadabra | November 01, 2011 at 01:29 AM
Dave, Abracadabra is right. It wouldn't work that way. That isn't the way they think.
Look at what happens to the occasional Haredi who suggests that not all of them should spend their lives in kollel, that some of them might want to consider working. He receives death threats.
Reality rarely, if ever, penetrates denial that thick.
Posted by: Jeff | November 01, 2011 at 06:40 AM
The Israeli Jews are lacking the common sense of Italy and Ireland etc who long ago told their clergy where to get off
Posted by: Michael David Kittell | November 02, 2011 at 05:55 PM