Twenty years ago, Israeli society found itself at an existential crossroads after Yigal Amir fired the three bullets that killed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Amir was not a crazed madman or a "weed" from a marginal societal group. He was a law student at Bar-Ilan University and had served in the IDF as a combat soldier. He was a young man who paid close attention to rabbinical teachings about the "law of the pursuer" from the Babylonian Talmud. This "law" was the religious seal of approval for Amir's political ideology and led him to carry out an act that undermined the very foundations of the state that had been built here over the previous five decades. Israel was established as a Jewish and democratic country, the nation-state of the Jewish people, with a parliamentary democracy that ensures political freedom and strives for equality for all citizens, regardless of religion, race or gender. From the pre-state era until the Rabin assassination, this delicate balance was maintained. State laws, the Supreme Court, government entities -- all enjoyed the legitimacy and authority granted to them by the citizens of Israel through a democratic process. But that changed on the bitter night of Nov. 4, 1995. The killing of Rabin marked the first violation of the balance that had been strictly adhered to until then. And over the past two decades, there has been a disturbing trend of more and more Israelis abandoning the vision of a Jewish and democratic state. These people want to see a greater use of Jewish law in the public sphere. They hold Jewish law above all else and view democracy as an obstacle, a foreign implant of Hellenistic culture. This trend, however, is not one-sided. There are other Israelis who are repelled by growing religious extremism and the imposition of Jewish law on the public sphere. These Israelis view the Jewish nature of the state as an obstacle and they condemn all manifestations of the state's Jewish identity. And thus the societal divide deepens. Evidence of these developments in Israeli society can be found in various data collections, polls and studies. The widening gap between the outlooks of different parts of our society is exacting a high price from us. It represents a grave danger that political leaders have repeatedly failed to deal with. Israeli society is very complex. President Reuven Rivlin touched on this diversity in a speech this year in which he talked about the different "tribes" who live here. The challenge facing our leaders is a vast one. They must find a way to narrow societal gaps and lower the flames of discord that are burning among us. The Rabin assassination and the violation of the balance between the state's Jewish and democratic identities should serve as a warning to us all, both on the Left and on the Right. A "state of Jewish law" is not an option. In the same way, a "state of all its citizens," with no Jewish identity, is also unacceptable. Both of these ideas represent perversions of the Declaration of Independence. Responsible leadership means strengthening the delicate balance between the state's Jewish and democratic identities. This balance is what enables us to live here in coexistence. Without it, the Zionist dream would turn into a battle of identity between different tribes and the state institutions which have been built here with such great effort would be stripped of their authority. Eran Baruch is the executive director of BINA, a group founded after the Rabin assassination to strengthen Israel as a democratic, pluralistic society.
Keeping the balance
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
