Critique of A Secular Constitution

 

Although the details have not been published, we may assume that the secular constitution projected by the Barak Government entails the separation of religion and state.а The supposed-to-be Jewish state of Israel would then be based on the Christian doctrine, УRender unto Caesar the things that are CaesarТs and unto God the things that are GodТs.Ф Like Christianity, therefore, Judaism would become a private matter, confined to the family and the synagogue, with no relevance to public law.а A secular revolution that would destroy Israel is on the horizon.

 

Tel Aviv University professor Shlomo Sharan, who is not an orthodox Jew, has written a major critique of separation of religion and state.а He points out that the absence of such separation in Israel today stems from the historical inseparability of Judaism and the Jewish ethnic-national entity. УEvery holiday, ritual, symbol, and the vast Judaic/Hebraic literature have made religion and nation, individual and community, woven into the their very essence.а The bond between state and religion is therefore a function of a 3500 year-old interlocking of Judaism and Jewry; and one without the other is inconceivable.Ф

 

Sharan asks:а What is to take the place of this great heritage?а What will fill the cultural-historical vacuum?а American multiculturalism?а Pop culture?а УNo nation,Ф he says, Уjust Сstarts all over againТ because its ancestral heritage, including its religion, is ignored by some of its members, even if they manage to gain political power.Фа What is to provide Jews with meaning and purpose, if not their rich heritage?а Trance music, which stupefies youth and undermines their patriotism?а How can a secularized Israel persevere in its protracted conflict with Arab dictatorships animated by Islamic hatred.а (Even Egypt, supposedly at peace with Israel, is supplying arms to Arafat via tunnels into Gaza.)

 

УTo advocate separation of state and religion is to advocate that Israel become a non-Jewish nation.а Israeli Jewry will then be devoid of a past.а Diaspora Jews will no longer recognize Jews of Israel as members of the same historical-ethnic group.а This will undermine any sense of responsibility of Israel for Jews in the Diaspora and vice-versa.а It would negate the need for, and meaning of, the Law of Return.а It would foster the assimilation of Jews in the Diaspora.Ф

 

All this is so obvious that one wonders what is it that motivates those Ц primarily the Left Ц who advocate a constitution that separates state and religion.а The motive is partly political.а Because of the high birthrate of religious Jews, the Left has become increasingly dependent on the Arab vote.а Hence leftists like Shimon Peres and Yossi Sarid want to transform Israel into a Уstate of its citizensФ (precisely the initial objective of Arab MKs, whose ultimate goal is an Arab state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean).

 

Another motive is Jewish anti-Semitism. Amos Oz, for example, refers to the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria as:а УA messianic cult, insensitive and cruel Е a herd of armed gangstersЕ criminal against humanity.. sadistsЕpogromists and murderers.Ф (Yet the same Amos Oz says nothing of Arab terrorists who have slaughtered hundreds of Jewish men, women, and children.)

 

BarakТs projected constitution may well be regarded as a declaration of war against the Jewish heritage.а He was Chief of Staff when the words УJudaism,Ф УZionism,Ф and Eretz IsraelФ were deleted from the Soldiers Code of Ethics.а And now he has agreed, at Camp David, to divide Jerusalem and yield IsraelТs sovereignty over the Temple Mount.а We have here the makings not only of a secular revolution but of a civil war.а

 

Israel does indeed need a constitution, but one based on Jewish principles and values.а Yamin Israel is the only party that has such a constitution, having adopted the one designed by the Foundation for Constitutional Democracy, an Israeli-American research organization.а Given a fair hearing, the Yamin Israel constitution could bridge the gap between religious and secular Jews, secure their personal, civil, and religious rights, and provide Israel with a set of institutions that will facilitate the coherent and resolute national polices necessary for the countryТs survival and progress as a Jewish commonwealth.