One of the most common misperceptions of Moshe Feiglin is that he’s a right-wing politician. The media is accustomed to calling him an "extreme" right-wing politician. In truth, however, Moshe Feiglin’s policies transcend the typical left-right dichotomy that divides Israeli politics. Moshe is first and foremost Jewish, and just as the Torah itself is neither left or right, so too, Moshe Feiglin is neither left nor right.
I’d like to illustrate this point by summarizing Moshe Feiglin’s views in five key areas that are not at all typical for a "right-wing" Israeli politician.
1) The Arab-Israeli conflict and the "search for peace" are not a main focus of Manhigut Yehudit. Feiglin is much more focused on how to build Israel as a Jewish state than he is on how to deal with or make peace with the Arabs. As he constantly reiterates, peace with the Arabs will be a positive side-effect of making Israel more Jewish, but it’s the Jewishness of Israel that is the main goal, not peace with the Arabs.
2) Jewish education, in Moshe Feiglin’s view, is a much more important issue that the Arab-Israeli conflict and should be absorbing much more of Israel's time and attention. In his view, providing a basic Jewish education to every Jew in Israel is an existential issue. Without it, Israel cannot continue.
3) Israel’s foreign policy should be guided by Jewish morality. Israel should be a "light unto the nations." We brought morality to the world and the Jewish state should lead the world in this area. For example, Feiglin came out strongly against Israel’s participation in the Chinese Olympic games in light of the overwhelming evidence that China was harvesting organs from prisoners, including political prisoners. Our moral compass is the Torah, which is an inseparable part of us and our Jewish identity. Israel’s reluctance to provide moral leadership on issues like Chinese organ harvesting is a symptom of the deeper problem – Israel’s reluctance to embrace its own Jewish identity.
4) Israel’s state-run welfare should be replaced - where appropriate - with community managed welfare based on Jewish values. According to the Torah, all Jews are responsible one for another. The Jewish State should be encouraging this natural Jewish sense of mutual responsibility through community-based responses to the welfare needs of its citizens. Instead, Israel has built a bureaucratic state welfare system that discourages the expression of this basic and positive Jewish value.
5) We should be model environmentalists, not just to protect "Mother Earth," but as a concrete expression of our Jewish identity. The people of Israel and the Land of Israel are one. Our Jewish environmentalism should flow naturally from our love for and sense of connection to our land. How could we pollute or destroy that which we feel to be part of us? Furthermore, this intimate sense of connection to our land that motivates us to harmonize our relationship with that land should in turn lead the Jewish state to play a leading role in the global environmental movement. The "greening" of Israel through the loving care of its native people should be the model for all of humanity to reconnect to and nurture the soil from which all life sprouts. Our "back-to-the-land" journey should be the trail that all humanity seeks to follow.
There is a common thread to all these issues - nurturing Israel’s Jewish identity. According to Feiglin, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the "quest for peace" are a huge distraction from this key task which should be the main focus of Israel’s energies.
In order to be successful, the unconventional political movement of Manhigut Yehudit faces two big challenges but offers two great opportunities.
The first challenge is that the mass media constantly characterizes Moshe Feiglin as an "extreme right-winger."
The second challenge is that even when we get past the media caricature, read the Manhigut Yehudit program with an open mind and agree with it, there’s an impression that "the powers-that-be" will never allow Feiglin to be elected. To counter that, you have to bear in mind the fact that Moshe Feiglin has already succeeded in becoming the only political challenge that the existing Israeli power structure takes seriously. That he’s accomplished so much without any of the official political titles or positions should make it even clearer that he’s the leader we need to follow.
Lined up against these challenges are two tremendous opportunities. The first is that when enough people read the Manhigut Yehudit plan and support Feiglin based on the conviction that he is right, we will finally have a leader in Israel with the power to transcend and start healing the right-left/ secular-religious polarities that currently divide the Jewish state.
Secondly, when we finally have a truly Jewish state, we will bring the whole world closer to its fulfillment at well. G-d gave us a role to play, not just to have another country, but to lead the world towards that bright future that we call the age of Moshiach. By strengthening Israel’s Jewish identity, we will make huge strides towards fulfilling the role that G-d and the rest of world expect of us.
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