On the occasion of Israel's approaching sixtieth anniversary, and prompted by a desire to promote a solution to an issue that lies at the core of Israeli society - the relationship between religion and state - the Israel Democracy Institute created a public forum to analyze this issue in depth and recommend new ways of resolving the conflicts it produces.
Since the country's naissance (and even stretching back to the beginnings of the Zionist movement), Israeli society has been marked by tension between two conflicting visions of its character. In general terms, secular Israelis envision a liberal, enlightened country that offers each of its citizens every conceivable right or liberty; a country that does not subject them to what they view as anachronistic restrictions based on laws written thousands of years ago; a modern, Western country in its values and culture; a country in which Jewish identity, while not absent, takes on a national and cultural, rather than a religious, form; a country that, in addition to having a self-proclaimed Jewish identity, fully separates religion from state.
Israel's national religious population, on the other hand, also generally speaking, envisions a democratically run Jewish country in which everyday life, laws, and customs are rooted in Jewish principles, traditions, and law (Halacha), originating with the Torah given to Moses on Mt. Sinai; a country in which all individual liberties, including the right to freedom from religion, are granted, as long as they do not explicitly mar the state's Jewish character; a country in which the Knesset, while still the sovereign legislature, is clearly restricted - perhaps even by a constitution - from enacting any law it wishes, and whose political playing field is restricted, first and foremost, by the country's Jewish character.
The dichotomy between these two world views is a deep-seated point of conflict in the Israeli experience. The continual tension between the secular view, rooted in democracy and liberal Western values, and the Jewish view, which draws on a rich body of ancient Torah-based precepts, has an erosive effect that works to unravel society and weaken the country, even to the point of threatening its future existence.
In the end, the heart of this ideological conflict is expressed in the country's daily life in arrangements that determine the country's character and spark a caustic, profound debate among its citizens. Key issues that have plagued the nation since its inception are still hotly debated: the Jewish right of return, marriage and divorce, the Sabbath, conversion to Judaism, Kashrut and the status of rabbinical courts. While some status-quo agreements have been reached on these issues - general arrangements that each side interprets differently - the delicate threads holding them together have begun to unravel in recent years The continual erosion of the status-quo agreements have led to out-and-out war in which each side tries to carve out its own victories in the shape of arrangements that reflect its own world view.
The flames of the conflict have grown over the past few years. Religious Israelis continue to claim that status-quo agreements are being violated and that the country is losing its Jewish character, while secular Jews feel they are unjustifiably relinquishing much of their liberty in the name of maintaining the country's Jewish identity. While there are efforts to bridge the gap between the two sides, there is reason for concern that the escalation of the conflict may lead to the legislation of constitutional principles that do not adequately reflect the democratic, liberal nature of the country, alongside its Jewish character.
Given the situation of perpetual conflict with no possibility of a dialogue aimed at reaching tension-reducing solutions, a new forum is required to clarify the issues and make concrete recommendations that can be viably implemented. That, in essence, is the purpose of the Public Forum to Shape the Jewish and Democratic Character of the State of Israel.
As its name suggests, the Forum is designed to closely examine, sixty years into the country's existence, the desirable and existing expressions of the nation's Jewish character and the ways in which this Jewish character influence—and should influence—the Israeli public and its way of being. The Forum is composed of leaders, public figures, and intellectuals who represent the widest possible spectrum within Israeli society and who are concerned with both the Jewish and the liberal democratic aspects of the country.
The members of the Forum will attempt to tackle the burning issues from new angles and points of view, with the aim, at a later stage, of recommending concrete ways of reaching an agreed-upon solution to each of these issues.
Working independently and in cooperation with the Israeli government and Knesset, the Forum will direct its attention initially to the most hotly debated issues of Sabbath observance and conversion to Judaism. Should the recommendations it makes be accepted by the Prime Minister and lead to a change of policy in government ministries, the Forum will continue its work to address the full range of issues in an attempt to resolve conflicts that have plagued the nation since its inception.