Is Israel a theocracy? Or just a Jewish democracy that doesn't separate synagogue and state? And who gets to be counted as a Jew in the Jewish State? The second part of our look at how Israel put the "Jewish" in the Jewish State, this time through religion.
THE PLOT
Israel is a democracy, but one that does not separate synagogue and state. The secular State of Israel aimed for a wide and inclusive definition of who is a Jew. This contrasted with Orthodoxy’s narrow interpretation — that a Jew is only someone with a Jewish mother, or who has undergone an Orthodox conversion.
Israeli identity can be manifested in three ways. Citizenship, nationality, and religion. In Israel there are two types of Jews who are citizens: those who are nationally Jewish, and those who are religiously Jewish (yeah, it’s complicated). It all leads to a bizarre paradox: you can be nationally, ethnically Jewish enough for the Jewish State to grant you citizenship, but at the same time NOT Jewish enough to be considered a Jew by the religious authorities.
in 1958 Ben Gurion posed a question to 51 Jewish scholars around the world, hoping to resolve this problem: precisely who, he asked, is a Jew? If a Jewish man marries a non-Jewish woman but they decide to raise their children Jewish, can the State of Israel officially register those children as Jewish so that they can immigrate as Israeli citizens? According to the Law of Return, the answer is yes. But according to the ultra-Orthodox who controlled religious law, the answer is no, because their mother isn’t Jewish. So which is it? The secular democratic answer, or the theological one? In the Jewish State, who gets to be a Jew and who doesn’t?
When Ben Gurion formed Israel’s first government, he included the Ultra-Orthodox in his governing coalition. One reason was politics: he needed their votes in his coalition. The second is he thought the haredim — the ultra-Orthodox — were a disappearing minority that he could afford to give some leeway in matters of religious policy.
Even before Israel was established Ben Gurion and the ultra-Orthodox had an agreement in place in which national institutions would reflect Orthodox adherence to Jewish law. For instance, Shabbat was an official day of rest. Perhaps the most consequential was a rule exempting ultra-Orthodox young men from military service — an exemption which only applied to a few hundred people at first, but today applies to tens of thousands, creating tension with Israel’s secular population.
Ben Gurion received 51 separate answers to his question about who is a Jew. And the State of Israel has never, to this day, definitively resolved the question.
THE PEOPLE
Haredi: a catch-all name for ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. Though some traditionally rejected the notion of a secular Jewish State, others embraced it, amassing considerable political power. They comprise around 12% of Israel’s population today.
THE BIG IDEAS
In Israel, “personal status” laws fall under the authority of the Orthodox religious authorities (but only for Jews — each religion has their own separate authority). Things like marriage, divorce, burial, conversion. The catch is that they only apply to Jews whom the Orthodox consider fully, religiously, Jewish. For example, if you want to get married in Israel, both partners have to be Jewish under the definition of Jewish law.
Israel established a unique institution run by the haredi called the Rabbinate. With two chief rabbis — one each for Sephardi and Ashkenazi — the Rabbinate oversees, governs, and decides all matters of Jewish religion in Israel, including the “personal status” laws. But it’s not a papacy: it doesn’t have authority over Jews outside of Israel, and it is still beholden to Israel’s democratically-elected government.
Israel doesn’t separate synagogue and state the way other democracies do. Ben Gurion said, “the State of Israel and the Jewish people share a common destiny. This state cannot exist without the Jewish people, and the Jewish people cannot exist without the state.” This lack of separation is how the Rabbinate is able to impose a strict interpretation of Jewish law on Israel’s Jewish citizens. The problem is that their strict view of who is a Jew clashes with the wide open perspective from the Law of Return.
FUN FACTS
The Law of Return — which granted the right of every Jew in the world to immigrate to Israel — did not define who is considered a Jew.
A political crisis was created when Ben Gurion’s son, Amos, married a non-Jewish woman, who then converted to Judaism under the authority of the Reform Movement, angering Israel’s Orthodox authorities.
El Al, Israel’s national airline, doesn’t fly on Shabbat.
© Jason Harris 2020