A Danger to Democracy and Moderate Judaism

It is important to recognize that there is a less well-known face of Israeli religious society, in order to understand that the recent extremist Jewish rioting does not stem from national religious motives but from a world outlook, which is alien to them, and endangers democracy.

By Prof. Naomi Chazan, President of the New Israel Fund

In these days of spiritual conflagration in the extremist nationalist camp – the proposed march through Umm El Fahm by right-wing extremists, which remains in the headlines; violence against Palestinian residents of Hebron and a general escalation in the tone of public statements – it seems that once again the definition of legitimacy in public activism is being tested.

This conflagration includes “small” incidents that do not enjoy significant exposure to the public. For example, a complaint that was recently submitted to the Attorney General against the popular weekly Torah commentary pamphlet “Shabbat Beshabbato” in which a regular columnist urges that no non-Jewish soul should be left in Israel - “even if it means wiping out all the women.” The article compared non-Jews to “worms in a salad.”

In such an atmosphere many formulate the mistaken equation that national religious Jews, or at least those belonging to the national religious camp, belong to a movement that prefers certain religious values above democracy. In a paper documenting the topic of democracy and religious fundamentalism that was prepared by the New Israel Fund, an Ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student said that democracy is a Greek concept. For us, the people of Israel, he said, the Torah is more important. The paper, which was produced six months ago, was borne in the understanding that profoundly dangerous processes are fermenting in Israeli society that are related to an extremism that often seeks justification in religion.

In contrast to this approach, and in contrast to the ideology of hatred expressed in its extreme by the thugs on West Bank hilltops, there are many civil initiatives in national religious Israeli society that set out to protect Israeli democracy and the rule of law, among them initiatives from national religious strongholds, and even from Ultra-Orthodox society.

So it is possible to counterbalance the outlook of the aforementioned yeshiva student with the approach of the Yesodot Center for Torah and Democracy, which works to strengthen the connection between the orthodox community and democracy, and stresses the linkage between democratic principles and the Old Testament concept that Man was born in God’s image.

The organization Yudbet Heshvan – Promoting Tolerance in an Orthodox Context, which derives its name from the Hebrew date on which Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, and which unites various groups and figures in the national religious world, is unambiguously confronting the events in Hebron. Yudbet Heshvan organized a conference on December 11th, attended by dozens of public figures, rabbis and thinkers from all the diverse streams of the national religious movement, and other groups in order to protest the villainous acts by Jews against innocent Palestinians.”

Many other organizations, in Orthodox society in general, and the national religious sector in particular, are attempting to let an alternative moderate voice be heard. Among them are those who express difficult dilemmas and are trying to moderate the incitement of the extremists on the West Bank hilltops, as well as those who take a more outspoken stand, and stress that the role of religion in modern life is not in shaping government policies but as a spiritual path for people and communities. There is also a presence of Orthodox organizations among those who are committed to human rights. The most outstanding example of this “protecting the law” is Rabbis for Human Rights, which works in the field to prevent harm to Palestinians.

In these days it is especially important to hear these voices; to make clear that the struggle is not between different factions in society – not between Secular and Orthodox – but between two different world outlooks. Current observation shows us that whoever rejects democracy as a full system of government, only uses religion as an excuse. And those for whom it is worthwhile opposing the democratic rule of law, are also hurting another people, defenseless and without civil rights, as well as leading Judaism down into a dangerous moral abyss.

Prof. Naomi Chazan is President of the New Israel Fund

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