Israel's founding values

Amid the tumult 53 years ago when the state of Israel was declared, one of the most contentious discussions was whether to include in the Declaration of Independence a reference to God.

Among the Zionists who came together on May 14, 1948, to sign the document were people representing a spectrum of the Zionist movement. The looming Arab invasion, as well as years of battling both diplomatically and militarily against Great Britain, had done much to unify the Jewish forces in the Middle East.

In fact, at the moment the state was declared, Zionists may have been as unified as they ever had been or ever would be again. Putting aside their individual egos and agendas, the leading figures of Jewish Palestine signed on to what was essentially a manifesto of the new state. The preamble included a survey of the great moments of Zionism, from ancient times to Theodor Herzl, the Balfour Declaration and the general global willingness after the Holocaust to consider the need for a Jewish homeland.

The British Mandate ended May 15, 1948, which was, by chance, a Saturday. Because the religious Jews among the Zionists would not sign the declaration on Shabbat, the declaration ceremony took place on the previous afternoon. The declaration would take effect at midnight, when the British authority officially withdrew.

In the declaration, which was largely written by David Ben-Gurion, the signatories affirmed that "The state of Israel will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their dispersion; will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be based on the principles of liberty, justice and peace as conceived by the prophets of Israel; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without
distinction of religion, race or sex; will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, education and culture; will safeguard the holy places of all religions; and will loyally uphold the principles of the United Nations charter."

The only reference to religion in this passage was relating to respect for plurality. In fact, the compromise that was made between the religious and secular Zionists was the final paragraph, which reads: "With trust in the Rock of Israel, we set our hand to this declaration...."

The "Rock of Israel" is an amorphous phrase. The Zionists were able to read into it what they wanted it to say. For a religious Jew, God is the rock upon which everything rests. For non-religious Zionists, the rock could be considered literally as the dry earth from which the pioneers coaxed their meagre crops. To take the image a step further, the rock could even be the remnants of the Temple itself.

Whatever the intention, it was a compromise that allowed the full range of Zionist viewpoints to sign their names on the document. An interesting aside is that, after all the discussion about the separation of Jewish religion from the infrastructure of the new state, once the declaration ceremony was completed, a rabbi stood up and gave an impromptu prayer of thanks, to which everyone assembled assented "amen."

But what has happened since that time?

Religiosity, as this story of the state's earliest moments attests, has always been a contentious factor in Israel. But it is the refracting of the political system over the past number of years that has blurred the lines between state and religion.

As Likud and Labor have had their support whittled away by smaller, special interest parties, it has become easier for a tiny minority party to hold inordinate sway in the Knesset. In North America, lobbyists and big donors work behind closed doors to get what they want. In Israel, coalition bargains are struck with remarkable candor. The religious parties have bargained their support in a blatantly commercial exchange for financial support for their institutions. Moreover, they have gone beyond individual gain and attempted to impose various aspects of their religious strictures onto the larger body politic. This was the basis of the entire debate about "who is a Jew"; a debate, it should be noted, that will certainly be revived as soon as stability and peace return to Israel.

It also accounts for the restrictions some communities have put on Sabbath activities, which must be seen as limiting the aspects of the 1948 declaration promising freedom of religion.

This is not what the founders had in mind and it is not what a majority of Israelis want. It can be argued that this dulling of lines between religion and state prevents the government from upholding "the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of religion, race or sex," especially when considering those people who are full Israeli citizens, yet who are not Jewish. However, Israeli democracy is elastic and we hope that time will bring back the values upon which the state was based.

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