About Us Israelis - The Unifying Element of Judaism

In a previous blog entry titled The Burden of History, I tried to explain how Israelis of the Jewish faith are born into complex circumstances, carrying on their shoulders from day one, not only the weight of their people's long history, but also that of their embattled homeland's. This complicated reality is also one of the most important and overwhelming elements in our identity. It glues us Israelis together, despite the so-many differences dividing us on other fronts – mainly on the political, cultural and religious ones. This glue is called Judaism.

I don't want to tire you with huge questions, like: what is Judaism? Who is a Jew? Or, what it means to be a Jew? I am not an expert on the matter, and it won't serve my blog's purpose to help you understand us Israelis any better. My intention is to try and explain in a short article how Judaism works to connect us Israelis together, no matter what the internal or external circumstances are.

Judaism for Jews all over the world, but especially for us Israelis, is not simply a word which describes a chosen religious path. Judaism has to do, first and foremost, with our identity. Being a Jew means being a member of a people, distinct from other peoples ethnically, religiously, culturally and historically. As such, distinctions amongst us Israelis of the Jewish faith, like the place of origin and its distinctive culture and traditions, have a lesser impact than they might have elsewhere. In this respect, Judaism allows us to share a common infrastructure of beliefs and values that we consider superior to anything else.

Judaism also symbolizes our common fate. This element in our Jewish identity is so powerful that it influences the way we catch and interpret national and international reality. Israel was created, among others, to safeguard our fate as a people – the Jewish people. Jews were mistreated and persecuted throughout history, not because of their political views or for being unfaithful to their respective homelands. They were mistreated for being Jewish. Remembering history and learning from it has left us with the firm conviction that being stateless and weak is something we cannot afford – if we wish to survive as a people.

The Western Wall - One of Judaism Holliest Places

(Photo Courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism)

In his monumental book, The Clash of Civilization, Samuel Huntington claims that a civilization, economically rich and strong as it might be, would still be in great danger if immigration into it would not meet two conditions, one of them being the assimilation and integration of the immigrants into the host society, without changing its identity or succumbing to its distinct cultural pressures for change (the second one is less relevant to our case, dealing with the utilization of the most skilled of immigrants for the benefit of the hosting civilization). He goes further to claim that a civilization cannot survive if, inside of it, other distinct civilizations struggle for dominance. 

How is this relevant to our case?

Judaism is the "super-glue" that keeps us Israelis of the Jewish faith together, giving us the capacity to sustain a country or a civilization – as Huntington might put it – despite being so culturally diverse. For the last two decades, Israeli governments have been encouraging cultural diversity and teaching inter-cultural tolerance. Israel is an immigrant society by definition, and we feel committed to absorb Jews from everywhere, anytime. The result is a very colorful and multi-facetted society, where Jews from Ethiopia, Russia, France, Morocco, Iran and the United States live together in the same apartment building, while their children attend the same classes in the neighborhood's school. I won't lie to you, it is not always silky smooth and we do have our share of problems, but we do our best to fix things as we move along.

Where in other societies, scholars, like Huntington, see societies with diverse cultural identities as a source of social disintegration and political instability; we see it as a beautiful characteristic of our society and are confident in our ability to sustain our unique civilization nonetheless. Our confidence derives from relying on something that has never failed us – our common super-infrastructure in the form and shape of our Jewish identity and values. In this respect, the Israeli experience is proving to be distinctive, defying Huntington's otherwise very sound historical conclusions.  

Thus, for us Israelis, Israel must be a Jewish state. It should remain the country that was created to serve as the safe haven for Jews all around the world if and when the serpent head of anti-Semitism rises again. This is also why most Israelis, for the past decade, have supported the concept of a Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – despite the painful territorial cost in terms of the promised land of Israel it might involve. Most Israelis believe today that the One-State Solution, once a very popular idea amongst Israelis, left and right of the political wings, would result in the continuing clash for dominance of the two main civilizations sharing the land – the Jewish and the Arab.

Jews Praying In front of the Western Wall

(Photo Courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism)

In trying to understand us Israelis, one must take into account that we see ourselves first and foremost as Jews. Anybody out there who thinks he can get to second base with any of our future governments regarding a future political settlement without accepting the fact that Israel is and always will be a Jewish state, deems his efforts to complete failure.

So, keep this also in mind when forming your opinion about us Israelis.