The Bible Museum

The Religious Holiday of Independence Day: Where to From Here?

"OK, we have a State, thank G-d. Now what?" Three religious-Zionist rabbis answer...

Rabbi Daniel Shilo, the rabbi of Kedumim, says it is imperative for us to understand our objectives:

"Many people think that the justification for the existence of the State is only to serve as a safe haven and refuge for the Jews, following centuries of persecution. According to this, the State of Israel is nothing more than the largest and most efficient refugee camp in the world. If this is its only goal, even that won't be attained...

The secular Zionist movement strengthened the link between the Nation and its Land, but harmed the bond between these two and the Torah. Over the years of the State's existence, we, the religious public, have downplayed our demand to link the State and Jewish Law, and 'this is why this trouble has come upon us.' The time has therefore come to demand and act to establish a Jewish Torah state in the Land of Israel. It must be based on these principles: 

• The boundaries must be those promised to Abraham at the Covenant of the Pieces.

• Non-Jews living here will be given two choices - to either leave, with the help of a special emigration office that will be established, or to accept upon themselves the Seven Noahide Laws before a Jewish Legal Court, thus acquiring for themselves rights of residency and work, but not political rights.

• A King will head the State, and the Sanhedrin will head the legal framework. The State's laws will be those of the Torah, and the police will be enjoined to enforce them. The State must build the Holy Temple, thus reviving full Divine service and restoring Israel to its proper place as a light unto the nations (see Isaiah 2,3)….”