[NGFP-BookClub] The Elephant in the Room

[Ronny Schnapp]

I am almost finished reading a great book called Future Tense by Rabbi=A0Lo=
rd Dr Jonathan Sacks (Chief Rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth).
He eloquently puts forward a vision for the future of the State of Israel a=
nd the Jewish People.
I can try to summarise in one sentence (although I may have misunderstood):=
 Israel cannot continue on its current path and must separate "church" and =
state while at the same time embracing lessons from the beautiful and vast =
system of Jewish law and ethics to guide it forward. =





________________________________
From: George Keller <gkeller75 at gmail.com>
To: ngfp-bookclub at lists.ngfp.org
Sent: Wed, 3 March, 2010 1:50:20 PM
Subject: [NGFP-BookClub] The Elephant in the Room

Professor Gavison and the others seem to be leaving out the elephant in the=
 room, a statement Professor Gavison herself made earlier in the course: th=
eocracy and democracy are incompatible. Can anyone name one country in the =
world where religion is the defining aspect of law and which is also a demo=
cracy? I think not. There are however many countries (nearly all Muslim) wh=
ere religion is the defining aspect of the law - but none of these are demo=
cracies. It's not that Islam is inherently incompatible with democracy. Rat=
her, religion as the basis of law is inherently incompatible with democracy=
.=A0 =


The minute we let rabbis, priests or Imams define the law, democracy is ove=
r. After all democracy means rule by the people. In the "religious" world v=
iew, G-d's law trumps man's law - game over. The irony of course, can be sh=
own by example: In Israel, the Haredi community does not accept the officia=
l Rabbinate's kashrut standards, and within that community there are compet=
ing Kashrut standards. This isn't much different in any aspect of "religiou=
s life" - including marriage and divorce.=A0Ultimately G-d's law is always =
interpreted by man (or rather men - never women) who are just using people'=
s faith as an instrument to consolidate their own power.

So sure, Kashrut, Jewish Holidays, Law of Return for Jews - anything you wa=
nt to make Israel a Jewish state. Just keep the rabbis out of the discussio=
n, please! To subvert Mendelssohn - be a religious Jew at home a nationalis=
t Jew on the street.=A0


      =

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