Unity Above All, The Israeli Challenge

One of the greatest challenges in Israel these days, besides the grief for the many casualties, and the anguish over the fate of the hostages, is the fragility of our unity. This fragility began before October 7th, as we all remember.

In Parashat Yitro, we read the words of Moses’ father-in-law to Moses (Exodus 18:20-21):

“And you shall discern from among all the people men of valor, who fear God, men of truth, who hate unjust gain, and you shall place them as leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens.
And they shall judge the people at all times; and it shall be that great matters they shall bring to you, but small matters they shall judge themselves….”
In other words, do establish a proper and organized judicial system for the people of Israel.

Before October 7th, the “judicial reform” sharply divided Israeli society. On one side were those who wanted to significantly strengthen the legal powers of the government and its prime minster, while weakening the judicial system. On the other side were those who took to the streets with surprising intensity to preserve liberal democracy just as it had been.

The leaders of the judicial reform movement were mostly Kippah bearing men. At first glance, one could deduce that the Torah supported their position. The defenders of democracy, on the other hand, were mostly secular universalists, and one might have thought that democracy was a foreign invention disconnected from Torah. But is that the case?

We certainly see that the concept of a proper judicial system is derived from Parashat Yitro and elsewhere in the Torah. But what about a properly functioning executive branch, and a properly functioning legislative branch?

In Deuteronomy (16:18-20, 17:14-20), we read:
“Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself… and they shall judge the people righteously. You shall not pervert judgment, you shall not show favoritism… Justice, justice shall you pursue…” (in other words, do establish a proper judicial system).

Deuteronomy also states:
“I (Israel) shall set a king over myself like all the nations… However, he shall not have too many horses… He shall not have too many wives… And he shall not amass excessive amounts of silver and gold… And when he… (rules)… he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah… and he shall read it… in order to observe all the words of this Torah and these statutes… so that his heart does not become haughty over his brethren, and so that he does not stray from the commandment to the right or to the left…” (In other words, do establish legal limitations over the power of the head of the executive branch).

Is the legislative branch mentioned in the Torah? Yes, though not directly.

A Talmudic story (Bava Metzia 59b) describes a gathering of rabbis debating the Kashrut of an oven. Rabbi Eliezer uses spiritual powers to seek divine support for his legal position. Indeed, a heavenly voice proclaims that the law follows Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion. However, despite this divine intervention,
“Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said… (quoting Deuteronomy 30:12) ‘It is not in heaven.’ What does ‘it is not in heaven’ mean? Rabbi Yirmiyah explained: Since the Torah has already been given at Mount Sinai, we do not listen to a heavenly voice. (Why not?) For You (God) have already written in the Torah (in Exodus 23:2): ‘After the majority shall you incline’, which instructs us to rule by majority vote)…” (What does “by majority vote” mean? Do establish a legislative branch of government).

From our Jewish Sources, we learn that democracy was instructed to us long before ancient Athens and ancient Rome invented a supposedly new system based on “Kratos”, rule, by “Demos”, the people. 

Democracy, with three equally powerful branches of government, is derived from the Torah. The legislative reformers who wear kippot did not read the Holy Torah before taking on their mission to reform Israel’s governmental system. And the so-called enlightened secularists certainly did not read the Torah, which supports their position more than they even know. Our Jewish unity depends above all on our loyalty to our core shared asset, the Torah. We must become wiser, we must rise above our ignorance-based devisions, and we must unify, with God’s help.