T. Belman. The way I see it, is that for being Jewish or democratic in nature and in the same country, we have to marry imperfect Judaism with imperfect democracy. Compromises are made as in any marriage. Similarly, if we try to define whether Israel embraces socialism or capitalism, we quickly understand that we are a little bit of both. What must be done in all marriages is to find where to draw the line.
A duality of visions as to what we are all about has echoed since before the State’s founding. Time to think about where you stand. Op-ed.
By Avraham Shusteris, INN Feb 22 , 2021
A Jewish state and a democracy: we say that we are both, but what do we actually mean? What is a Jewish state, and what is a democracy? If we chose to be flexible in our definition of Jewish, then why are we so parochial in our definition of democracy? If our definition of Jewish is diluted, then why should our definition of democratic be absolute?
If no one has the right to tell us what is a Jew, then why should anyone have the right to tell us what it means to be democratic? If there are absolute standards for democracy, there should equally be absolute standards for what is Jewish. If we can call ourselves a Jewish state without any commitment to or implementation of Jewish law, then why can’t we call ourselves a democracy, without a commitment to ensuring that our democratic principles are always strictly implemented?
The obvious answer is that it would be impossible to have a state that is both strictly democratic and strictly Jewish. Those two concepts clash on many levels. Whereas democracy ensures the right of all citizens to pursue their own interests as long as no harm is done to others, Judaism has a clear set of moral guidelines of conduct in which certain actions are criminal even if no harm is done to other individuals. While democracy holds no objective set of truths and each individual can interpret right and wrong in their own way, Judaism lays out a very clear and specific objective standard for right and wrong.
In democracy all men have an equal status and everyone has a right to pursue happiness. Judaism defines the Jewish people as different and special- whose purpose it is to attain closeness to G-d and bring G-dliness onto the world- often at the expense of one’s personal cravings and desires.
Once we come to terms with the fact that strict Judaism and pure democracy are incompatible concepts, we can begin to make an honest self assessment of what exactly we mean we proclaim that we are a Jewish and democratic state and realize that it will be an ongoing process to find the way to balance the two.
What many people mean when they say that Israel is a Jewish state and a democracy, is that Israel is fundamentally a democracy, with a side dish of cultural Jewishness. When they talk about democracy, they mean it, whereas Judaism is a flexible concept with only secondary importance. For others, Israel is, or at least should strive to become, primarily a Jewish state. Pure democracy is a nice concept when feasible, but not the fundamental core of our identity. This duality of visions as to what we are all about has echoed since even before the foundation of the State of Israel.
There is a hidden, beneath the surface, ideological battle taking place today within Israeli society, that places all of its citizens in one of the above two categories: do we see ourselves as primarily Jewish or primarily a democracy.
The litmus test to determine which of these two groups you are apart of is, if Israel were to outlaw democracy tomorrow, would you still want to live here and feel proud of your country? Alternatively, if Israel were to denounce its Jewish character tomorrow and drop all vestiges of government-backed Judaism, would you still be proud of your country and want to live here?
If we were to pose this question to our ideological opponents, we would begin to understand how different our perspectives really are.
Having a clear perspective on this ideological divide becomes important in trying to understand and navigate the complex ecosystem of Israeli politics. Israel has dozens of political parties and technical blocs that are composed of groups based on both ideology and narrow interests.
-It is a system whose most ideologically right-wing leaders have made more territorial compromises with its enemies than any left-wing leader.
-It is a system whose Arab Muslim parties are very often on the same page as the religious Jewish parties, who seem to find more in common with each other than with their secular Israeli counterparts.
-It is a system where someone like Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert can be the leaders of the right-wing camp and magically reappear a few years later as the leading left-wing ideologues of the day.
When you look at this confusing system and its confusing leaders to try to determine where you belong, instead of focusing on superficial differences, ask yourself the only real pertinent question: If push came to shove and you had to sacrifice either Judaism or Democracy, which would you sacrifice? Once you’ve made that determination align yourself with the leaders that you truly believe would share your convictions.
There have been and still are leaders on the “right wing” who would sacrifice Judaism for democracy if it came down to choosing. Ask your leaders and politicians, if they had to sacrifice Judaism or Democracy- what they would pick. The answers may surprise you.
Avraham Shusteris is an accountant in Ramat Beit Shemesh. He made aliyah from Monsey with his family in 2018.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Arab areas of Judea/Samaria can be dangerous. However Israel is a very safe country and as far less murders, rapes, violent crimes that the USA. USA proportionally has 12% more violent crime and 55% more rapes.
Israel has lots problems and is far from perfect but when people make statements I would not make aliyah because Israel is so dangerous. Really one may not want to make aliyah for all sorts of reasons but that one smacks like a rationalization.
I always felt safe in Israel. The exception is the roads in some places the drivers can really be reckless. Sort of like of the Mediterranean area (Italy comes to mind).
@ Sebastien Zorn:
“This is the most antisemitic population in the world”
Now, ask yourself “Why would the government of Israel seek to limit aliyah and Jewish settlement, and at the same time try to create a “Palestinian” state in Judea and Samaria by hook or by crook?”
And why are the Arab stone-throwers “they-are-just-children” but the Jewish settlers are deemed “terrorists”?
Doesn’t sound logical or fair, or even sane, does it?
de·moc·ra·cy
/d??mäkr?s?/
noun
a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.
“capitalism and democracy are ascendant in the third world”
Similar:
representative government
elective government
constitutional government
popular government
self-government
government by the people
autonomy
republic
commonwealth
Opposite:
tyranny
dictatorship
a state governed by a democracy.
plural noun: democracies
“a multiparty democracy”
control of an organization or group by the majority of its members.
“the intended extension of industrial democracy”
Definitions from Oxford Languages
@ Bear Klein:
Now we’re getting into semeantics, my field. A “pillar”…It’s only a descriptive word,. when you get down to it. It’s all contained in Torah….which is The ONE “Pillar”. It can be a noun, or a pronoun acting like an adjective. the way you are using it. Or the subject of the sentence. It’s ambiguous .
@ Edgar G.:
A Pillar is something stands on and without everything falls. All may be in the Torah but the Jewish people and the Land of Israel are all three essential Pillars of Judaism. They are the core!
@ Bear Klein:
Bear, Torah is a given, but your last two are, I believe, actually incorporated in the Torah. For instance when G-d says “you sre my Bachur,” my First Born,(which is often used by Anti-Semites,)…etc,(Pidyon HaBen) and also with Abraham, where G-D says Abraham will “come to a Land where I will,show you …”” etc..These Promises are repeated several times in the Torah.
There area very interesting points.
@ Edgar G.:
I should have used the the term the Three Pillars of Judaism. Elsewhere this expressed with the following words which have the same meaning as what I intended in my comment. Edgar thank you for comment and opinion but I believe the three pillars are as below.
Three pillars are:
1. Torah (learning and interpretation, belief in one G-D);
2. Land (place which is the Land of Israel) Israel
3.Jews (a special people), Jewish people who by their very existence are an example to the world. Am Yisrael
@ sabashimon:
“How is it a democracy…?”
People vote for the politicians who LIE to them and tell them what they want to hear, e.g., Likud lies that it is a right-wing party to attract voters, and when elected, they do what they want (like enabling the “Palestinian” state, muzzling the population and turning it into iab rats for Pfizer, etc.).
If people voted for deeds and results instead of for the politicians’ lying promises, and didn’t fall for their divide-and-rule tactics,. it would be a democracy.
Until then, they can change the electoral process ’til they turn blue in the face and get same old, same old.
@ Edgar G.:
I see this one seems to be staying, most likely becuase I did not use “EDIT”>
TED..I just posted a comment that my previous post, response to Bear Klein, which I saw printed, had vanished and you’ll likely find it in the trash.. Like beofre I notied that it did not appear in the hedlines so immediately now checked. NOT THERE>
Also I used EDIT to add something TWICE , and it didn’t show up when printed (before it all vanished) So is this one going to stay or not…”THAT is the question”
@ Ted Belman:
TED my answer to Bear Klein must be in your TRASH. when you next look, please restore it..I saw it was printed and posted, now disappeared.
I dispute that there are only 3 core elements of Judaism. Going by Bear Klein’s “system” there need be only one. The Torah”.. Maimonides himself in his prayer ‘Ani Maamin” mentions THIRTEEN, (his Principles of Faith) which all could be called “core elements”. And what about “Justice Justice, shalt thou pursue”…??
Thank you in advance for looking. .
@ Bear Klein:
I think that this is very misleading. There are many more than THREE core elements of Judaism. And I don’t think that “Eratz Yisrael” is in the top 10 By your system it could becut don to ONE…”Belief in the Torah”.
Maimonides 13 Principles , (The prayer Ani Maamin), The famous THIRTEEN Principles of Faith and they do not include Eretz Yisrael. Eretz is mentioned in The Torah with hundreds of “principles of faith”, You lump them all together as pne…”Belief in The Torah”…That’s “getting a bargain” using your Yiddehe Kop.
Until the electoral process is changed we don’t have a democracy anyway. How is it a democracy when time after time the People vote for a right-leaning, if not outright rightwing government, yet time after time we, due to the ridiculous nature of our system, get anything BUT a government that even comes close to fulfilling that mandate.
We like to fool ourselves into thinking we are a democracy.
The Jewish people have a long history, of what not to do in times of political and religious crisis — and beyond. So do Americans In both cases, the lessons are painful.
For anyone who is not aware the three core elements of Judaism are:
1. Ereretz Yisrael (Land of Israel)
2. Am Yisrael (Jewish People)
3. Torah (Belief in One G-D and religious principles of Jewish Religion)
@ vivarto:
I think you are merely posing a rhetotical (of a sort) question, or assertion. Because We all know, including you, that “Judaism’ Is merely the name bestowed on those who follow the Hebrew Faith, called the Judaic .. That is,from the scattering of the Tribes, and th emergence of the strongest one(s) Yehuda.
I think TED just took the bare statement seriously. If you clarified and continued that the religion of Japan is not Japanism but Shintoism etc. if would have been clearer.
Anyway I agree 100% with your goal stated in your second paragraph. The Democracy that people are always yammering about is NOT really democracy, but a way of living in social harmony together, with inevitable differences settled impartially by a panel of wise men, following a previously chosen eet of rules and guide lines.
vivarto Said:
What nonsense.
“Judaism” is a fake invention.
There is no such thing.
Just like there is no Japanism, or Francism, or Spanism, or Rusism, or Arabism.
Total bullshit.
And of course it should be Jewish and democratic.
First make sure that only Jews are citizens and have the right to vote, and then it can be democratic.
All citizens decide, Arabs should not be citizens of Israel. They can be guests, even welcome guests if they behave, but never citizens.
Another false dichotomy by a divide-and-rule-brainwashed American.
@ Vladimir:
That might be true, except for the input of the autocratic, anti-democratically nominated(not elected) branch of gov’t as they sit in their High Courts and hand down their edicts and dictates as it suits their political views without any form of corrective oversight.
The true Democracy is the governing by the will of the Majority. If the Majority wishes to be governed by the morality of Judaism, it is a democratic decision.