Tension between the religious and the secular, between Jews and Arabs, between a Jewish versus a democratic State; questions about peace, security, and the settlements; increasing discomfort with privatization – these issues are all under constant debate on the street and in living rooms, on television and the Internet, at universities and in the Knesset. Yet it often seems that what is being said is a repeat of what has been said before. Ultimately, no one convinces anyone, and everyone remains unconvinced. Put more accurately: No one is really listening.
We can break this impasse. But to begin to repair the schisms in Israeli society, we must change our way of thinking. We must look at familiar issues from a different perspective, and connect between that perspective and the myriad questions we cannot ignore, but which do not always make it to the public agenda.
For example: We cannot disengage the question of Israeli democracy from questions of economic equality; or separate questions about the role of religion in society and the State from questions about identity and meaning. We cannot talk about the desire for peace without addressing attendant fears and dangers; and we cannot address issues of security without addressing social solidarity. Identifying these essential links and holding an open, comprehensive discussion of all aspects of these issues is the fundamental intellectual challenge facing Shacharit. The state of Israeli society demands immediate attention. However, and as has been apparent in recent decades, the lack of basic, nuanced discussion of the pivotal issues of life in Israel makes a straightforward, fundamental improvement impossible. Shacharit is closely following multiple aspects of daily life, from within an ever-widening circle of partnerships encompassing multiple focal points and groups within Israeli society. Links between theory and practice, between tradition and the willingness to innovate, and among people from differing backgrounds; identification of commonalities beyond the disagreements that arise from habit and stereotypes; and an absolute belief in the basic desire of all people to live together a good life that fosters mutual prosperity and ensures the well-being of generations to come – these are the principles that enable the partners of Shacharit to cope in new and refreshing ways with the crucial challenges confronting Israeli society.
Flourishing Communities
At the juncture between the individual and his or her freedom, and the state and its responsibilities, lies the community. There are many types of community: Some communities form through a shared attachment to a place – a neighborhood, village, city or region. Others are formed through a shared heritage or unifying worldview. These latter arise at mosques, synagogues and churches, but also surrounding soccer clubs, choral groups, and factories. For many people, connection to a community is a source of identity, security, fulfillment, creativity and happiness.
In some circumstances a community can flourish, while in others, it will wither. For a community to flourish, it needs an economic policy that enables individuals to live with dignity, gives workers job security, encourages local initiatives and production, and ensures appropriate medical care for all. For a community to develop, it needs a social policy that establishes educational and cultural infrastructure that meets the needs of discrete, unique communities without impinging on civic unity. For a community to blossom, it needs sustainable development policy that preserves the delicate fabric of neighborhood life, while fostering many rich encounters among varied populations in a shared, open public space.
In recent decades, politics in Israel has tended to be engaged in “big questions of principle”, as divorced from the material, quotidian world of the community. Shaharit believes that the rehabilitation of politics – and Israelis’ faith in politics – is essential, and must be effected with an awareness of the importance, and fragility, of communities, and a recognition that flourishing, blossoming communities are vital to reaching political, economic, and cultural accord in Israel.
Culture as a Value
Israeli society is seen as being shot through with countless fissures, which threaten to split the country into pieces. But what if we were to approach this multitude of fissures as a treasure to be capitalized on, rather than as cracks to be mended? How would Israel’s “town square” look, if public policy were to respect the place of each and every culture, not as an ultimate end, but as an opening, a starting point for a lively, colorful meeting of worlds and perspectives, which would ultimately change us all?
We approach culture with respect, seeing it as an expression of the most basic intuition of man as a social creature who seeks meaning in partnership with others. The current cultural flowering is in part a product of Israel’s cultural capital. A creation of hundreds and even of thousands of years – from the God-fearing awe of Yom Kippur and Ramadan to the strains of Christmas carols and Sabbath zmiros– it is part of the stirring, brimming cultural creativity that has developed in Israel in such a short, compressed time. A “being Israeli” that means something will know how to make the most of this treasure, to allow each culture the safe space it needs in order to be open to its surroundings, open to the challenges that the shared task and values of “being Israeli” pose.
The Commons
In the Israeli discourse, economic policy usually concerns things that can be quantified and given a price tag. But in effect, a significant portion of our essential resources are things we use for free: the rich language of the Torah and the Qur’an; the rare beauty of the Ramon Crater and the Dead Sea; the folklore and folk songs we grew up with; cultural classics from Shakespeare to the Mona Lisa and from Umm Koulthoum to the Beatles; the insects that fertilize fruit trees; the crocus and the wagtail that herald the coming of autumn. And the ability to count on the community: from the pulling together of friends during time of crisis to organ donation to the “economy of love”: parents who care for their young children and children who care for their aging parents. Some of these are gifts of nature and others of history; some of them, like the internet, are new, and others, like folklore, are ancient. But they form the basis of our lives more than does the economy or the state. At one and the same time, these things do not belong to anyone, yet belong to everyone: they are common property.
Economic and social policy-makers must take these things into consideration and recognize their value. The entire population – regardless of sector or proximity to loci of influence – must be able to enjoy this common property. Once this has been ensured, everything will look different. The apparent polarization between a welfare state versus a thriving market economy, between the public sector and the private sector, will be revealed as illusory. For example, if we use the market correctly, it can be a font of innovation and power that will help guarantee the well-being of all. If we acknowledge the immeasurable value of things that have no price tag – things such as clean air, public spaces free of violence and crime, truly equal opportunities, and a thriving civic culture – we will be able to establish an economy, society and culture that will generate and fulfill the promise of common property, to the benefit of our generation, and future generations.
Israel Among the Nations
Too often, the State of Israel is run like an isolated fortress in the Middle East. The reasons for this are manifest: existential threats, wars experienced on the home front, and a history of having been abandoned by the world. But in a global world, where interaction among geographically distant places grows ever greater, no one place can function in isolation from any other. It is almost impossible to solve local problems without taking into account the environmental, social, economic, security and political context in which they exist.
In the long run, it won’t be possible to stem the flood of refugees from Africa without addressing the poverty and instability on that continent. It will not be possible to address the fear of terror in Europe without changing the conditions in southern Asia and the Middle East that foster Muslim fundamentalism. It will not be possible to prevent the abuse of laborers from Asia without ensuring economic and social fairness in Europe and the US. And it will not be possible to solve the problem of global warming without addressing the developing world’s desire to attain a Western-style quality of life. Not only are the people Israel their brothers’ keeper, but we are all our brethrens’ keeper.
Israel is part of the Middle East. This is not only a geographic fact, but also a social and cultural one. The future of Israel depends on an investment in the success of the entire region. The poverty in Gaza is a hothouse for the growth of dangerous extremism; the shortage of water parches all of the region’s countries; and avian flu doesn’t stop at national borders. Jews and Arabs share 1,300 years of history in the Middle East: A 60-year-old political border can’t erase that history. We have a future, no less than a past, in common. Our problems can only be solved together.
The Arabs of Israel, who are part of the Palestinian people and at the same time citizens of the State of Israel, have played an historic role in establishing good, cooperative neighborly relations with the peoples of the region. At the same time, relations between the Arab and Jewish populations must be based on partnership and equality. We must heal this open wound.
Israel can help to build a more just world. Our scientific and technological ability, our culture of entrepreneurship, and the desire of a great many Israelis to contribute, are peerless riches. Once we have reached the peace with our neighbors that is so very essential, we will be able to free these treasures to benefit the entire region. Instead of being a villa in the jungle, Israel can be a member of the neighborhood.
Sustainable Politics
This type of politics is the beating heart of a democracy. Politics is not something debased, but rather a way to plan our collective lives as individuals and groups, to resolve conflicts and disagreements, to establish partnerships and to build a thriving society. We must find an alternative to agreements arrived at via market mechanisms, whose agency deprives us of control over the most important decisions. A healthy democracy must find ways to encourage political engagement at all levels of society: the neighborhood level, the level of schools and community centers, the municipal and regional level, and the national level. It must create mechanisms that foster real and significant public involvement.
Sustainable politics is politics that finds a way to decentralize power to all citizens, and strives to find appropriate answers for our collective lives. The more successful we are in doing this, the easier it will be to extract ourselves from the current trap of frustration, cynicism and loss of faith in politics.