Reflections on Israeli Independence Day

Do we even need a state? - Haaretz :

In addition to the private home and the spaces of education, society, locale, time, ceremonies and culture, there also exists another public space of great value in the formation of identity: the political-government space. Here the state not only has a role, but is the sole player. This space did not exist for the Jews during 2,000 years of exile nor is it available today in the liberal Western countries.

On the 5th of the Hebrew month of Iyar in 1948, a rare window of opportunity opened in the history of the Jewish nation for realizing its unique identity in all possible contexts, including government. The challenge is great and touches upon all the organs of the state: How is a Jewish army different from other armies? Will it stand out for its morality? Can we learn something from Jewish culture that will enable us to cope with the use of force? What unique tikkun olam, 'repair of the world,' can be achieved by a legal system in a Jewish state? Will the social security that the State of Israel gives its citizens be influenced by our tradition of charity? And how will our heritage be realized in the state justice that will be shaped by the laws of an Israeli parliament? How will 'you were a stranger in the land of Egypt' influence our attitude toward the minorities in our midst? Will the Jewish discourse of obligations and communal solidarity moderate the fever of privatization that has gripped the country? These are questions that only life in a sovereign state awakens. Dealing with them will afford the state meaning and depth that will justify the sacrifice that is marked by Memorial Day and the celebration of Independence Day.

The importance of Israel, a mere pinhead on the globe, becomes clear when we allow a complex, pluralistic Jewish identity to be manifested in the public and political space. Along with strict observance of the Charter of Universal Human Rights, the state must express in its deeds, its budgets, its symbols and its laws what the Jews carry with them as distant and recent memory.

The shaping of the state through a close relationship with Jewish culture and history brings up questions, including those about citizens who are not Jews. But the complexity of the questions does not justify effacing identity altogether from the public space. Only if we face up to the challenge of identity can we celebrate independence wholeheartedly. Only then will we be transformed from the state of the Jews to the Jewish state.