Jewish State

Aharon Barak is an Israeli lawyer and jurist who served as President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1995 to 2006. Prior to this, Barak served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1978 to 1995, and before this as Attorney General of Israel from 1975 to 1978. Jehuda Reinharz served as President of Brandeis University from 1994–2010. He is currently the Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis. He is also the president and CEO of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. Yedidia Z. Stern is the Vice President of Research at Israel Democracy Institute, where he heads the projects on "Religion and State" and "Human Rights and Judaism." He is a full professor at Bar-Ilan University Law School, and served as its Dean. His areas of professional interest are religion and state, Jewish law, public law, and corporate law. His awards include the Zeltner Prize for excellence in Legal Research in Israel (2009) and the Gorni Prize for special contribution in public law (2012). Haim Zicherman, a senior lecturer at the Ono Academic College (OAC), is an expert in constitutional and property law and also researches the ultra-Orthodox society. His book Black Blue-White (Yedioth Books, 2014) takes a broad-minded approach to understanding the ultra-Orthodox society in Israel. Until last year, Zicherman managed the ultra-Orthodox campuses of the OAC, where thousands of Haredi students – male and female – study. In recent years, Zicherman has coordinated the development and management of the "Israeli Identity" course available to all undergraduate students in Israel.

“Readers of this book, particularly those readers strongly committed toa specific Weltanschauung, will undoubtedly find themselves by turns vigorouslynodding or vigorously shaking their heads as they work their way steadilythrough the essays. Be that as it may, this reviewer is of the opinion that readerscan only benefit – if simply to sharpen their own views through a considerationof the views of others who disagree with them – by giving all of the essays in thiswork their due consideration.”— David Rodman, Israel Affairs“[M]ost of the essays in the book focused on the central topic…Even the essays that did not relate to the main question asked (about Israel as a Jewish state) but addressed issues such as Israel’s foreign relations, the environment, and the status of women were enlightening.”— Ephraim Tabory, Contemporary Jewry

• Editors’ Introduction Aharon Barak | Jehuda Reinharz | Yedidia SternJewish and Democratic—Common Ground for a Common Camp: The Start of a ConversationIsaac Herzog1 A Country is Born Éliette Abécassis2 Israel’s Role toward the DiasporaElliott Abrams3 The Struggle for Israeli Nature: Reshaping Judaism and Zionism Narratives Netta Ahituv4 Bringing Jews Together in an Age of PolarizationDoron Almog5 A Shared Vision for the Jewish StateMoshe Arbel6 Democratic and Jewish, in Accordance with the Principles of Israel’s Declaration of IndependenceAmal Assad7 What is a “Jewish State”? Yisrael Aumann8 The State of Israel’s Values as a Jewish State Aharon Barak9 From Jewish State to “Jewish Supremacy”Nahum Barnea10 A Return to the Bar-Yehuda Definition Yossi Beilin11 What Zionism Lacks at 75: A Border Jeremy Ben-Ami12 A Nation Running from ItselfAluf Benn13 The Mission of the Jewish State Naftali Bennett14 A (Levantine) Jewish and Democratic StateYifat Bitton15 A State whose Everyday Life and Conduct Breathe Judaism Menachem Brod16 Democracy and Monotheism: A Proposed Direction Meir Buzaglo17 The Triple Thread: On Hebrew Culture as a Connecting IdentityRuth Calderon18 A Jewish Nation-State Can Also Be a State of All Its CitizensMohammad Darawshe19 Israel is the State of the Jewish People—Not a Jewish State Alan Dershowitz20 The State of the Jews Writ Large Stuart E. Eizenstat21 Can We Know the Future of the State of Israel? Shmuel Eliyahu22 A Spiritually Feminine PerspectiveRachel “Ruchie” Freier23 Feeling at Home in a Jewish and Democratic Israel Shuki Friedman24 To Be a Free Nation in Our Land … Motti Golani | Jehuda Reinharz25 The State of Israel and the Jewish People in the Diaspora Pinchas Goldschmidt26 Israeli Judaism: The Continuing Chapter in the Jewish Story Micah Goodman27 Democratic Values and the Jewish State: A Work in Progress Blu Greenberg28 What is a Jewish State? David Grossman29 For the Land Shall Be Full of Judaism Moshe Grylak30 How Much Homeland Do We Need?Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya31 Israel Between Nationalism, Religion, and LiberalismMoshe Halbertal32 What’s Jewish About a Jewish State Donniel Hartman33 Israel as a Measure of Jewish Moral Fiber Susannah Heschel34 Jewish and/or Democratic in Numbers Tamar Hermann35 Between Myth and Detention CenterOfri Ilany36 Why the Biblical Ruth Would Not Marry Boaz in the State of IsraelEva Illouz37 A Jewish State Marked by Solidarity Miron C. Izakson38 The Imperative of a Pluralistic, Jewish, and Democratic State of Israel Rabbi Rick Jacobs39 Keeping Israel Jewish without Politics Yaakov Katz40 Israel as an Inspiration Howard Kohr41 A Jewish State That Recognizes a Person’s HumanityBinyamin Lau42 By Right, Not Might Yisrael Meir Lau43 Conservatism Versus Revolution: Can We Return to the Declaration of Independence?Nissim Leon44 A Jewish, Democratic, and Multicultural State Menachem Mautner45 The Vision Eliezer Melamed46 Not On One Leg Sallai Meridor47 Toward a Jewish State with Jewish Values: A Diaspora VisionEphraim Mirvis48 A Mushroom State or Covenant State? Chaim Navon49 A Happy Birthday—DeniedFiamma Nirenstein50 The State of Israel—75 Years, and What Next? Ehud Olmert51 A Fluid Definition of Judaism Kobi Oz52 The State of the Jewish People, Substantive Democracy and the Republic of All Its CitizensFania Oz-Salzberger53 A Raison d’etre for a Future Israeli-Jewish Democracy David Passig54 A Jewish State: The State the Jewish People Deserves Yehoshua Pfeffer55 Who Is Qualified to Decide on Ideological Questions Pertaining to Religion and State?Yitzhak Pindrus56 Urgently Needed: A State Education System for Israel Shay Piron57 Things We See from There: What I Discovered When We Went to the United States for a Year Sivan Rahav-Meir58 Absorption and its Difficulties Alex Rif59 Israel, Gateway of Hope Jonathan Sacks60 Israel—a Jewish and Democratic State, or a Democratic and Jewish State: Toward a New Framework for Jewish Existence in IsraelAvi Sagi61 What Israel Means to MeDennis Ross62 “Enlarge the Place of Thy Tent”: Judaism and Democracy in Harmony Ayelet Shaked63 “Here the Divine Presence Will Reside” Hagai Segal64 “Judging the Judges” in a Jewish and Democratic State Sharon Shalom65 75 Burning Candles Zeruya Shalev66 “Jewish and Democratic”—What’s It Like in Real Life? Anita Shapira67 What Would We Choose at the Moment of Truth—Judaism or Democracy? Natan Sharansky | Rachel Sharansky Danziger68 Zionism Remains a Freedom Struggle Bret Stephens69 The State of Israel—From Adolescence to AdulthoodYedidia Z. Stern70 The Jewish State We Should Be Hoping For Michael Walzer71 Jews and Arabs in Israel: Dancing Toward a Better Future Mohammed S. Wattad72 The Covenant State Yehuda Yifrach73 “Will Two Walk Together Unless They Are Agreed?” Haim Zicherman74 “Just a Word of Hebrew Pierces My Veins and My Soul” A Jewish State as CultureDina Zilber75 Navigating the Tension: The Challenges and Opportunities of Being a Jewish and Democratic State Author: ChatGPT (OpenAI)Editing: Ghila AmatiIsrael’s Declaration of Independence, May 14, 1948