Introduction to the Zehut Platform

By Moshe Feiglin

The State of Israel is the fulfillment of the dream of generations of the Jewish people, and the tool for realizing its full message. It was established to be a Jewish State, so that the Jews could build it and be built by it and realize themselves and their destiny as individuals and as a nation. It has no other purpose.

After two thousand years, and contrary to all historical logic, our people survived, returned to its land, and made it bloom again. Eretz Israel was transformed from a dry and almost empty land to a land flowing with milk and honey and a world center of science and progress. Israel received a third chance to fulfill its destiny. Like it or not, we are not a nation like every other nation, nor a country like every other country. In addition to our very existence, we also have a destiny that humanity expects us to fulfill. This destiny is our vision, and it is that which will grant us and the world prosperity, security, a good life, and peace.

Our country, the third State of Israel, preceded by the kingdom of David and Solomon and their successors and the state of the Hasmoneans, has been the national dream of dozens of generations since our loss of national independence and the destruction of the Temple. Israel’s mission is not only to maintain physical existence in a democratic country, but to return and renew our lives and our unique culture here in our Land. The State was established so that we can maintain a thriving model society – one that will benefit not only us, but will be an example for all humankind - to learn from it and be blessed in it.

The Bible, says “And I will place you as a light among the nations”, and “To perfect the world in the Kingdom of the Almighty”[1], and “And you will eat your bread to satiety, and dwell safely in your land, and I will provide peace in the land” and “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you”. In modern Hebrew, this means a sovereign state, Jewish[2], moral, civilized, prosperous, progressive and secure. Israel is meant to be a country that exports to the world not only science and technology, but also an example of a good and prosperous human and national life, a life of liberty and morality, a life with meaning, a life in which no man is subservient to another – a life in which we are all free men under God alone. There is no Jewish identity without liberty, and liberty cannot coexist with coercion. The full Jewish message is not to be found on the Right or the Left, among the religious or the secular – it is found in every part of the People who returned to their homeland and thereby returned to history[3]. Therefore, we seek to empower liberty in order to allow ourselves to develop naturally. Any attempt at coercion in the area of identity will only delay the process of returning to ourselves. We cling to our land, and we strive for the minimum involvement of the state in private life. We want a State of liberty, run in accordance with Jewish culture and morality, and striving for the vision embodied in them. We believe that we have a clear path to that goal, which we are presenting before you in a concise manner in this platform. We believe that there is a wide range of people from all parts of the nation and the country’s citizens who share these principles with us and on their basis may be natural partners in this journey. If you are among them, join us! Together, we will make it a reality.

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[1] From the prayer “Aleinu”, attributed to Joshua, which expresses the purpose of establishing a state for the People of Israel in its land.

[2] Truly Jewish, but without either religious or secular coercion, as detailed below. By “Jewish state”, we do not refer to the distorted concept of “Halakhic state” (which is empty of any real content, when the meaning assigned to it today is “a country that imposes halakha (Jewish law) on its citizens”, while Judaism itself does not necessarily require such coercion by the state).

[3] By “return to history”, we are not dismissing the importance of the Jews in exile, but a nation can only express itself fully when it is sovereign in its land.