The unrestrained attack by parts of secular Israeli society on the ultra-Orthodox, which broke the records of hatred with the unfortunate statement made by moderator Galit Gutman, has many reasons – most of them social and political – but if I were required to point to one reason, the bleakest of all, it would be the weakening of Jewish identity in Israeli secularism.
Every human society that desires life and continuity is built around identity. Without a shared identity, states are nothing more than a collection of individuals – it may be possible to hold such a collection together for a while by brute force or by threat, but sooner or later it will eventually crumble.
Not every identity works. Artificial identities usually don't last, and examples are numerous. The communist identity, imposed on the peoples of the USSR and praised as "heralding the future of humanity," collapsed as soon as it weakened under the control of the authorities and withdrew from the true identities of the peoples gathered together. The Syrian identity, whose creation was worked on by the tyrants of the neighboring country to the north of us, also turned out to be lifeless and easily withdrew from the real identities of the tribes, clans and religious communities that inhabit it. On the other hand, there are also identities that were shattered before they even took shape. Such is the pan-European identity heralded by the mouthpieces of the Union only two decades ago: their hopes of erasing the national identities of the peoples of Europe in favor of the monolithism of a new progressive world were dashed at the speed of light.
At the same time, we are witnessing today the accelerated consolidation of a new Ukrainian identity, the one distilled in the battles against the Russian invader and not based only on the ethnicity of the Ukrainian majority. Time will tell whether this identity will last and consolidate different ethnic groups of Ukraine into one people, or whether it will fail and disappear from the world.
The shattering of conceptions of artificial identity has only reinforced the importance of true identity, the one that truly reflects the deep desires of the majority of the population. In the case of Israel, there is no reason to go far in search of it to foreign fields – our state exists only because of our ancient Jewish identity, and only because of it will it exist in the future.
Israel's founding fathers recognized this, and although most of them distanced themselves from daily observance, they knew that Jewish tradition was the foundation of our spiritual and physical existence as a sovereign state. The world of action also followed this insight: Jewish identity reigns supreme in the education system and is expressed regularly and regularly in all aspects of Israeli public life.
No one forced a student to observe the commandments of religion, but the lack of knowledge and familiarity with Judaism was considered obscene and shameful ignorance.
Over the years, parts of Israeli society lost the Jewish component of their identity. Perhaps this stemmed from the desire to break away from Judaism, which they saw as an unnecessary remnant of the past, and perhaps the desire to resemble the "big world," supposedly devoid of identities, did its job. At the same time, and as in a mirror image, the desire to disconnect from Israeliness led to the loss of a Jewish component of Haredi identity. Ignorance pervades us, in the state education system and in the ultra-Orthodox education system. No one will be surprised to learn that, despite the accessibility of knowledge, the average Israeli student today knows less about his people's heritage than the average Israeli student in the 50s; And important historical knowledge about the rebirth of Israel in its land, which is an inseparable part of Jewish identity – a young student in independent education does not have to absorb.
This is only the beginning of the chain: the lack of knowledge inevitably leads to alienation, and the alienation between parts of the nation leads to the loss of a common identity. As a result, we will see and hear more hate speech and less national unity. There is only one solution: to strengthen Jewish identity – the only real glue between us – especially in sectors that are suffering from its weakening. In plain language, this means more Jewish tradition, more roots and more Jewish and Israeli education. Not by coercion or hostility, but out of love for ourselves and for what we all have in common.
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