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Israel is a “Jewish state.” What is the meaning of this and how does it align with the democratic nature of the country? These are the questions at the core of a contentious debate that has been raging since the establishment of the state. This volume includes 75 essays on the question of Jewish — Israeli identity, by some of today’s best thinkers — Jews and non-Jews, from Israel and around the world. Its pages include dreams and nightmares, poetic visions and rational analyses, harsh critiques and songs of praise.
This collection is a first-of-its-kind nexus of thought on nationality, religion, politics, culture, society, environment, economics, and security. It is essential reading for any future discussion of Israeli identity.
“Readers of this book, particularly those readers strongly committed to
a specific Weltanschauung, will undoubtedly find themselves by turns vigorously
nodding or vigorously shaking their heads as they work their way steadily
through the essays. Be that as it may, this reviewer is of the opinion that readers
can only benefit – if simply to sharpen their own views through a consideration
of the views of others who disagree with them – by giving all of the essays in this
work their due consideration.”
— David Rodman, Israel Affairs
“[M]ost of the essays in the book focused on the central topic…Even the essays that did not relate to the main question asked (about Israel as a Jewish state) but addressed issues such as Israel’s foreign relations, the environment, and the status of women were enlightening.”
— Ephraim Tabory, Contemporary Jewry
Editors’ Introduction
Aharon Barak | Jehuda Reinharz | Yedidia Stern
Jewish and Democratic—Common Ground for a Common Camp: The Start of a Conversation
Isaac Herzog
1 A Country is Born
Éliette Abécassis
2 Israel’s Role toward the Diaspora
Elliott Abrams
3 The Struggle for Israeli Nature: Reshaping Judaism and Zionism Narratives
Netta Ahituv
4 Bringing Jews Together in an Age of Polarization
Doron Almog
5 A Shared Vision for the Jewish State
Moshe Arbel
6 Democratic and Jewish, in Accordance with the Principles of Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Amal Assad
7 What is a “Jewish State”?
Yisrael Aumann
8 The State of Israel’s Values as a Jewish State
Aharon Barak
9 From Jewish State to “Jewish Supremacy”
Nahum Barnea
10 A Return to the Bar-Yehuda Definition
Yossi Beilin
11 What Zionism Lacks at 75: A Border
Jeremy Ben-Ami
12 A Nation Running from Itself
Aluf Benn
13 The Mission of the Jewish State
Naftali Bennett
14 A (Levantine) Jewish and Democratic State
Yifat Bitton
15 A State whose Everyday Life and Conduct Breathe Judaism
Menachem Brod
16 Democracy and Monotheism: A Proposed Direction
Meir Buzaglo
17 The Triple Thread: On Hebrew Culture as a Connecting Identity
Ruth Calderon
18 A Jewish Nation-State Can Also Be a State of All Its Citizens
Mohammad Darawshe
19 Israel is the State of the Jewish People—Not a Jewish State
Alan Dershowitz
20 The State of the Jews Writ Large
Stuart E. Eizenstat
21 Can We Know the Future of the State of Israel?
Shmuel Eliyahu
22 A Spiritually Feminine Perspective
Rachel “Ruchie” Freier
23 Feeling at Home in a Jewish and Democratic Israel
Shuki Friedman
24 To Be a Free Nation in Our Land …
Motti Golani | Jehuda Reinharz
25 The State of Israel and the Jewish People in the Diaspora
Pinchas Goldschmidt
26 Israeli Judaism: The Continuing Chapter in the Jewish Story
Micah Goodman
27 Democratic Values and the Jewish State: A Work in Progress
Blu Greenberg
28 What is a Jewish State?
David Grossman
29 For the Land Shall Be Full of Judaism
Moshe Grylak
30 How Much Homeland Do We Need?
Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya
31 Israel Between Nationalism, Religion, and Liberalism
Moshe Halbertal
32 What’s Jewish About a Jewish State
Donniel Hartman
33 Israel as a Measure of Jewish Moral Fiber
Susannah Heschel
34 Jewish and/or Democratic in Numbers
Tamar Hermann
35 Between Myth and Detention Center
Ofri Ilany
36 Why the Biblical Ruth Would Not Marry Boaz in the State of Israel
Eva Illouz
37 A Jewish State Marked by Solidarity
Miron C. Izakson
38 The Imperative of a Pluralistic, Jewish, and Democratic State of Israel
Rabbi Rick Jacobs
39 Keeping Israel Jewish without Politics
Yaakov Katz
40 Israel as an Inspiration
Howard Kohr
41 A Jewish State That Recognizes a Person’s Humanity
Binyamin Lau
42 By Right, Not Might
Yisrael Meir Lau
43 Conservatism Versus Revolution: Can We Return to the Declaration of Independence?
Nissim Leon
44 A Jewish, Democratic, and Multicultural State
Menachem Mautner
45 The Vision
Eliezer Melamed
46 Not On One Leg
Sallai Meridor
47 Toward a Jewish State with Jewish Values: A Diaspora Vision
Ephraim Mirvis
48 A Mushroom State or Covenant State?
Chaim Navon
49 A Happy Birthday—Denied
Fiamma Nirenstein
50 The State of Israel—75 Years, and What Next?
Ehud Olmert
51 A Fluid Definition of Judaism
Kobi Oz
52 The State of the Jewish People, Substantive Democracy and the Republic of All Its Citizens
Fania Oz-Salzberger
53 A Raison d’etre for a Future Israeli-Jewish Democracy
David Passig
54 A Jewish State: The State the Jewish People Deserves
Yehoshua Pfeffer
55 Who Is Qualified to Decide on Ideological Questions Pertaining to Religion and State?
Yitzhak Pindrus
56 Urgently Needed: A State Education System for Israel
Shay Piron
57 Things We See from There: What I Discovered When We Went to the United States for a Year
Sivan Rahav-Meir
58 Absorption and its Difficulties
Alex Rif
59 Israel, Gateway of Hope
Jonathan Sacks
60 Israel—a Jewish and Democratic State, or a Democratic and Jewish State: Toward a New Framework for Jewish Existence in Israel
Avi Sagi
61 What Israel Means to Me
Dennis Ross
62 “Enlarge the Place of Thy Tent”: Judaism and Democracy in Harmony
Ayelet Shaked
63 “Here the Divine Presence Will Reside”
Hagai Segal
64 “Judging the Judges” in a Jewish and Democratic State
Sharon Shalom
65 75 Burning Candles
Zeruya Shalev
66 “Jewish and Democratic”—What’s It Like in Real Life?
Anita Shapira
67 What Would We Choose at the Moment of Truth—Judaism or Democracy?
Natan Sharansky | Rachel Sharansky Danziger
68 Zionism Remains a Freedom Struggle
Bret Stephens
69 The State of Israel—From Adolescence to Adulthood
Yedidia Z. Stern
70 The Jewish State We Should Be Hoping For
Michael Walzer
71 Jews and Arabs in Israel: Dancing Toward a Better Future
Mohammed S. Wattad
72 The Covenant State
Yehuda Yifrach
73 “Will Two Walk Together Unless They Are Agreed?”
Haim Zicherman
74 “Just a Word of Hebrew Pierces My Veins and My Soul” A Jewish State as Culture
Dina Zilber
75 Navigating the Tension: The Challenges and Opportunities of Being a Jewish and Democratic State
Author: ChatGPT (OpenAI)
Editing: Ghila Amati
Israel’s Declaration of Independence, May 14, 1948