Is Israel officially a Jewish state? I believe non-Jews are allowed to be part of the government. Is that correct?
Is there any reason to say Israel is officially a Jewish state or is it a secular state that just has a population that is mainly Jewish?
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Yes
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Correct. There are several Arab members of the K’nesset.
Primarily secular with a mainly Jewish population. However, some laws and policy are guided by Jewish law.
Zev Steinhardt
Zev, how does this make them an offical Jewish state? The officials are elected and can be of any religion. They are not appointed based on some religious practice.
Couldn’t all the jewish people in Israel decide to convert to some other religion (ok they probably won’t). But if they converted would there still be something that makes Israel as Jewish state?
Isn’t there some sort of restriction on non-Jewish immigration? For example, Jews can immigrate and become citizens and vote, while non-Jews can immigrate, but can’t vote or become citizens? If this is incorrect, let me know. I’ve read conflicting things on how much of a democracy Israel is.
Excellent questions, Major Kong.
Even without converting, current demographic projections suggest that in only a few decades, the Jewish population will fall below 50%.
I guess we have to define what we mean by “officially a Jewish state”. My understanding is that it relates to a special status given to Judaism in the laws of the land, despite the fact that individuals have the freedom to practice whatever religion they belong to. For example, the law requires that kosher food be served in the army and at all official government functions, and that the Jewish sabbath is the official weekly day of rest.
There are other entanglements as well between the government and Judaism; there is no separation of religion and state like Americans are so used to.
Would you say that Israel is a Jewish state in the same sense that Iran is an Islamic state?
Ooooh. I feel this getting bumped over to GD.
Back Lot Brawl: When non-Jews immigrate to Israel, there is a procedure of naturalization which they can follow if they want to become citizens, and many do. This is similar to any other country’s naturalization procedures.
When a Jew immigrates to Israel, he also has the option of acquiring Israeli citizenship on demand, with no procedures other than the request itself, and some administrative stuff (which might involve documenting his Jewishness, I suppose).
John Mace: There is an official Rabbinate in Israel, but their jurisdiction is only over specific areas such as I described above, like whether or not the food served in the army meets the kosher requirements, or whether or not a specific immigrant has proven his Jewishness to be entitled to citizenship-on-demand.
The Chief Rabbis do voice their opinions on various other political points, such as whether or not they approve of a certain government action, but those opinions carry no more weight than that of any other popular personality.
Keeve:
Yeah, I’m pretty familiar with the situation. I just don’t think there’s a straightforward answer to this question.
That’s because the phrase “officially a Jewish state” is so vague. But then the OP clarified it, and I think we got that part nailed pretty well. (Specifically: Yes, non-Jews are in fact part of the government, and yes, there is an element of officialness which justifies calling the state Jewish.)
Yes Israel is an explicitly Jewish state, and yes non-Jews are allowed to go into government.
Just going back to what Zev said about some laws being guided by Jewish laws, this is particularly true in the area of the family courts. There are three family courts: Rabbinical, Shar’ia and Church courts which deal with the Jewish, Muslim and Christian populations of Israel respectively. Now this is a big bone of contention in Israel currently, as the family courts adminster marriages, meaning that there is no such thing as civil (that is non-relgious) marriage ceremony in Israel. However this is a big problem for couples who do not fall under the remmit of one of these three courts as they cannot get married (the main groups affected are: mixed couples, divorcees, illegitmate children, Ethopian Jews, converts to Reform and Conservative Judaism). The Israeli secularlists have long felt that as Zionism is a secular philosphy, the Chief Rabbi and the Rabbincal courts should not wield such power.
I should of added the problem with marriage can be circumvented by converting to Orthodox Judaism (which of course in itslef is another bone of contention).