Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Two Kingdoms: Jewish/Israeli Ambiguity
Tracing the roots of the people known as Jews, biblically, it all started with the patriarch called Abraham. Then following through numerous biblical figures, such as Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons, among them Judah. Historically, it ended up with two kingdoms.
Not delving deeply into details, a major upset among the leaders separated the one big state (The Kingdom of David) into two smaller, bordering nations called: The Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah.
According to the Bible, Israel is an alias given to Jacob by God. Therefore the people who are considered to be Jacob's descendants are named Sons of Israel or Israelites.
But I am not going to discuss the Bible here, rather I am going to talk about the modern definitions of Jewish (etymologically coming from Judah) and Israel. Judaism is the religion practiced by Israelites which originated in biblical times and has since then existed and evolved into modern times.
Israel, pre-dating the national term, is considered to be the land which the Jewish patriarchs and later on the Israelites inhabited. To distinct between Israel as a state and Israel as a land, the state is called "The State of Israel" and the land is called "The Land of Israel". This distinction is very close to the difference between Britannia which is the land and Britain which is the state (formally known as the United Kingdom).
There are several overlapping definitions of the identity of both Jews and Israelis. According to Halakha (which are the religious laws in Judaism), a Jew is a person whose mother is Jewish or a person who is a convert to Judaism. This definition goes against the idea of self-determination or religion by practice because even if a Jew converts to a different religion or does not consider himself or herself Jewish anymore, he or she is still considered to be Jewish. It also means that a Jew can be secular or even an atheist.
In addition to the religious definition of a Jew, there is also the national definition of a Jew through self-determination and/or recognition of Jewish nationality by the State of Israel. According to the State of Israel, a Jew is person who has at least one grandparent who is Jewish according to Halakha. This essentially means that a Jew through nationality can be a person whose paternal grandfather is Jewish exclusively, which means that neither his or hers parents are religiously Jewish. Ironically, this definition goes hand-in-hand with the Nazi definition of Jews or "Mischling" (a Jewish/German crossbreed) in Nuremberg Laws. The sense behind this rule is expressively "If a person is Jewish enough to be mistreated by the Nazis or worse yet, be sent to death camps, he is Jewish enough to be considered Jewish by the State of Israel". Jews by nationality or by faith (which in turn makes them recognized as Jews by nationality) can attain Israeli citizenship.
The definition of an Israeli is less complex, yet has implications and different meanings according to context and question in hand. In a flat term, an Israeli would be any person holding an Israeli citizenship. However, through self-determination, some residents in Israel may not consider themselves Israelis due to political and national reasons. Mainly those would be Arab citizens of Israel who don't at all consider themselves Israeli. In contrast to that, potential Israeli citizens such as Jews across the world or people during their conversion process to Judaism may, through self-determination, be considered Israelis.
An even stricter definition of an Israeli would be a person who was born in Israel with a national allegiance to the State of Israel, this excludes minorities in Israel who have political views opposing the State of Israel, it excludes Jews who were born outside of Israel (Jewish immigrants) but includes non-Jewish groups who align with the State of Israel and serve in the military, such as the Druze and Bedouins and even people who don't at all have an Israeli citizenship, such as those who were born in Israel to foreign workers (the law in Israel doesn't grant citizenship by virtue of geographical birth, but rather ethnically; an Israeli citizen would be a person born to at least one parent who holds Israeli citizenship, not considering the Jewish law of return).
Examining all of the above, we can assert there is a very complex ambiguity in the definition of Jews and Israelis. This ambiguity arises due to several criteria governing the definition.
Regarding Jews, the criteria would be:
1. Religion (Halakha).
2. Nationality (according to the State of Israel).
3. Self-Determination.
Regarding Israelis, the criteria would be:
1. Nationality (having Jewish nationally).
2. Citizenship (being born to at least one parent who holds an Israeli citizenship).
3. Strict definition with Self-Determination (being born in Israel with an Israeli allegiance).
The reason I bring this up is because ambiguity in national identity is very detrimental both to the person who holds the identity and the society giving the identity.
Ideally, Judaism would not be a nationality at all. It would simply be a religion as any religion. However, being a very small, antique religion with very strict regulations regarding conversion and no missionary whatsoever; Judaism can't share the same grounds regarding identity as other religions do. Judaism is in fact comparable to Roman cult religion (which no longer exists) in that aspect; both religions have a geographical attribution to a certain location in contrast to other religions which have minimal to none-geographical attribution.
Judaism is therefore a national identity, while holding certain cultural, religious, ethnical and racial (through external definitions) elements, it is primarily a national identity in lieu of the actual old identity the biblical Israelites held.
Israeli nationality is also a national identity, which holds certain cultural and ethnical elements with the strength of self-determination and modern aspects such as national service (primarily in the Israel Defense Force).
Yes, those two different identities align with each other, yet not completely. An Israeli is not necessarily Jewish; a Jew is not necessarily Israeli. Some people may consider themselves more Israeli than Jewish while others more Jewish than Israeli.
As I mentioned before, the major difference between those two identities is that one bases its strength on the alignment with the continuous roots of the Jewish people beginning three thousand years ago, following the Diaspora. While the other concentrates on the modern State of Israel as it is today, sometimes even disregarding completely the notion of an old Jewish people.
In conclusion, in modern day Israel, there are yet two different kingdoms living in correspondence with each other. One is the Kingdom of Israel which resembles modern day Israel; the other is the Kingdom of Judah which traces its roots back to biblical times.
This is an entanglement not to be undermined. As the State of Israel grows older, so would the modern Israeli identity grow; it might turn to even negate the identity of the Jew on certain aspects.
The only solution is foreseeing those differences and making adjustments. For one, certain religious laws should be refuted; primarily those concerning marriage, Church should be completely separated from State. I also believe that, considering there is no longer a Jewish refugee problem as there was post-World War 2; the Jewish law of return should be heavily restricted in a manner that allows only Jews who are at risk (i.e. refugees) to immigrate to Israel.
As Israelis, we blame minority groups such as the Arabs for not assimilating completely in the state and identify themselves as Israelis. We however forget that they cannot identify themselves with an identity they don't share (old Jewish identity). We are fearful of letting go of our old Jewish roots, yet that fear is exactly the reason why many Israelis increasingly consider themselves primarily Israelis and not Jews; they do not wish to segregate themselves from a growing and changing society which creates a new identity.
As frightening as it sounds; Judaism should cease being a nationality and become solely a religion. Our nationality as Israelis is the Israeli nationality, not Jewish nationally. An Israeli nationality is a nationality which can be shared among minorities, and in being so, perhaps minorities would stop being called minorities; just as Jews in the United-States and Europe aren't considered minorities.
Due to political impression, I have to add that I do not at all believe that all minorities in Israel would begin considering themselves Israelis if the state drops the Jewish nationality. But some minorities definitely would do the mentioned; something they cannot proudly do today due to obvious reasons. The real question is, are we brave enough to do so?
Thanks for reading,
Avihoo Ilan, an amateur political author.
Not delving deeply into details, a major upset among the leaders separated the one big state (The Kingdom of David) into two smaller, bordering nations called: The Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah.
According to the Bible, Israel is an alias given to Jacob by God. Therefore the people who are considered to be Jacob's descendants are named Sons of Israel or Israelites.
But I am not going to discuss the Bible here, rather I am going to talk about the modern definitions of Jewish (etymologically coming from Judah) and Israel. Judaism is the religion practiced by Israelites which originated in biblical times and has since then existed and evolved into modern times.
Israel, pre-dating the national term, is considered to be the land which the Jewish patriarchs and later on the Israelites inhabited. To distinct between Israel as a state and Israel as a land, the state is called "The State of Israel" and the land is called "The Land of Israel". This distinction is very close to the difference between Britannia which is the land and Britain which is the state (formally known as the United Kingdom).
There are several overlapping definitions of the identity of both Jews and Israelis. According to Halakha (which are the religious laws in Judaism), a Jew is a person whose mother is Jewish or a person who is a convert to Judaism. This definition goes against the idea of self-determination or religion by practice because even if a Jew converts to a different religion or does not consider himself or herself Jewish anymore, he or she is still considered to be Jewish. It also means that a Jew can be secular or even an atheist.
In addition to the religious definition of a Jew, there is also the national definition of a Jew through self-determination and/or recognition of Jewish nationality by the State of Israel. According to the State of Israel, a Jew is person who has at least one grandparent who is Jewish according to Halakha. This essentially means that a Jew through nationality can be a person whose paternal grandfather is Jewish exclusively, which means that neither his or hers parents are religiously Jewish. Ironically, this definition goes hand-in-hand with the Nazi definition of Jews or "Mischling" (a Jewish/German crossbreed) in Nuremberg Laws. The sense behind this rule is expressively "If a person is Jewish enough to be mistreated by the Nazis or worse yet, be sent to death camps, he is Jewish enough to be considered Jewish by the State of Israel". Jews by nationality or by faith (which in turn makes them recognized as Jews by nationality) can attain Israeli citizenship.
The definition of an Israeli is less complex, yet has implications and different meanings according to context and question in hand. In a flat term, an Israeli would be any person holding an Israeli citizenship. However, through self-determination, some residents in Israel may not consider themselves Israelis due to political and national reasons. Mainly those would be Arab citizens of Israel who don't at all consider themselves Israeli. In contrast to that, potential Israeli citizens such as Jews across the world or people during their conversion process to Judaism may, through self-determination, be considered Israelis.
An even stricter definition of an Israeli would be a person who was born in Israel with a national allegiance to the State of Israel, this excludes minorities in Israel who have political views opposing the State of Israel, it excludes Jews who were born outside of Israel (Jewish immigrants) but includes non-Jewish groups who align with the State of Israel and serve in the military, such as the Druze and Bedouins and even people who don't at all have an Israeli citizenship, such as those who were born in Israel to foreign workers (the law in Israel doesn't grant citizenship by virtue of geographical birth, but rather ethnically; an Israeli citizen would be a person born to at least one parent who holds Israeli citizenship, not considering the Jewish law of return).
Examining all of the above, we can assert there is a very complex ambiguity in the definition of Jews and Israelis. This ambiguity arises due to several criteria governing the definition.
Regarding Jews, the criteria would be:
1. Religion (Halakha).
2. Nationality (according to the State of Israel).
3. Self-Determination.
Regarding Israelis, the criteria would be:
1. Nationality (having Jewish nationally).
2. Citizenship (being born to at least one parent who holds an Israeli citizenship).
3. Strict definition with Self-Determination (being born in Israel with an Israeli allegiance).
The reason I bring this up is because ambiguity in national identity is very detrimental both to the person who holds the identity and the society giving the identity.
Ideally, Judaism would not be a nationality at all. It would simply be a religion as any religion. However, being a very small, antique religion with very strict regulations regarding conversion and no missionary whatsoever; Judaism can't share the same grounds regarding identity as other religions do. Judaism is in fact comparable to Roman cult religion (which no longer exists) in that aspect; both religions have a geographical attribution to a certain location in contrast to other religions which have minimal to none-geographical attribution.
Judaism is therefore a national identity, while holding certain cultural, religious, ethnical and racial (through external definitions) elements, it is primarily a national identity in lieu of the actual old identity the biblical Israelites held.
Israeli nationality is also a national identity, which holds certain cultural and ethnical elements with the strength of self-determination and modern aspects such as national service (primarily in the Israel Defense Force).
Yes, those two different identities align with each other, yet not completely. An Israeli is not necessarily Jewish; a Jew is not necessarily Israeli. Some people may consider themselves more Israeli than Jewish while others more Jewish than Israeli.
As I mentioned before, the major difference between those two identities is that one bases its strength on the alignment with the continuous roots of the Jewish people beginning three thousand years ago, following the Diaspora. While the other concentrates on the modern State of Israel as it is today, sometimes even disregarding completely the notion of an old Jewish people.
In conclusion, in modern day Israel, there are yet two different kingdoms living in correspondence with each other. One is the Kingdom of Israel which resembles modern day Israel; the other is the Kingdom of Judah which traces its roots back to biblical times.
This is an entanglement not to be undermined. As the State of Israel grows older, so would the modern Israeli identity grow; it might turn to even negate the identity of the Jew on certain aspects.
The only solution is foreseeing those differences and making adjustments. For one, certain religious laws should be refuted; primarily those concerning marriage, Church should be completely separated from State. I also believe that, considering there is no longer a Jewish refugee problem as there was post-World War 2; the Jewish law of return should be heavily restricted in a manner that allows only Jews who are at risk (i.e. refugees) to immigrate to Israel.
As Israelis, we blame minority groups such as the Arabs for not assimilating completely in the state and identify themselves as Israelis. We however forget that they cannot identify themselves with an identity they don't share (old Jewish identity). We are fearful of letting go of our old Jewish roots, yet that fear is exactly the reason why many Israelis increasingly consider themselves primarily Israelis and not Jews; they do not wish to segregate themselves from a growing and changing society which creates a new identity.
As frightening as it sounds; Judaism should cease being a nationality and become solely a religion. Our nationality as Israelis is the Israeli nationality, not Jewish nationally. An Israeli nationality is a nationality which can be shared among minorities, and in being so, perhaps minorities would stop being called minorities; just as Jews in the United-States and Europe aren't considered minorities.
Due to political impression, I have to add that I do not at all believe that all minorities in Israel would begin considering themselves Israelis if the state drops the Jewish nationality. But some minorities definitely would do the mentioned; something they cannot proudly do today due to obvious reasons. The real question is, are we brave enough to do so?
Thanks for reading,
Avihoo Ilan, an amateur political author.
