President Reuven Rivlin's address at the Herzliya Conference earned him a minute of live broadcast on Channel 2. It did not result in dramatic headlines, poignant disagreements, or even a hint of loud debate in the media, yet it was one of the most important speeches voiced in recent years. It was like the "waters of Shiloah that go softly" (Isaiah 8:6). For the Israeli elite, horrified by the changes our society has been undergoing, his words will run deep. But the image of society perceived by Rivlin is different from the one set in the minds of many. Our education systems indicate that a new demography has been gradually forming, which includes more ultra-Orthodox and Arab citizens and less clearly defined Zionists, although ultra-Orthodox society has been showing signs of adopting the national religious viewpoint. Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg, known by his pen name Ahad Ha'am, critically referred to this phenomenon as "imitation out of assimilation"-- In that context, the assimilation of ultra-Orthodox youth into national religious society as well as the secular one. The president did not offer any solutions except one important axiom: The four tribes that comprise Israeli society should strive for unity for the purpose of strength, and not behave as if living here together has been forced on them. The Israel Defense Forces, said Rivlin, are no longer our country's melting pot. In the future, half the population will not share our unique experience of security. What, then, will serve as a source of cohesion- Rivlin did not arrive at the podium with a sack of solutions, but with a bag of alarm bells. In years to come, will the Knesset still have a majority to support the Zionist movement's protected status? Will the demand to remove Theodor Herzl's portrait from the plenum resurface? Who can guarantee the preservation of the majority to uphold the Law of Return, Israel's first "identity card," issued by its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, when the British mandate's White Paper was canceled- Rivlin has noticed that to unite our society in its new form, extremists from every group must be excluded, and that most members of those four tribes are interested in building a shared interest with reliable conduct agreed by all. The question is, how? This is the debate Rivlin has opened in his address, and no one knows how long before it is decided. Perhaps it will reach a point of acceptance and reconciliation, or, God forbid, a powerful flare-up. How will this affect the communities in Judea and Samaria and the Palestinian population living there? Let's cross that bridge when we come to it. According to Rivlin, the stabilizing solution must begin within the Green Line.
