Parshas Chayei Sarah
It is virtually impossible to fully comprehend the conflict between secular Zionists and religious Jews today in the State of Israel without first understanding the “Status Quoâ€.
For over sixty-five years, the State of Israel’s religious laws have largely been determined by the famous “status quo†agreement entered into before the state was founded. According to the agreement, certain religious basics became the undisputed directives of the new state.
The Status Quo Letter of 1947 is generally regarded as one of the Status Quo’s most important documents. This significant letter – signed by the secular Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion on behalf of the Jewish Agency - deserves to be presented in full:
“From: The Jewish Agency for Palestine, etc.
“To: The World Organization of Agudath Israel, etc., Jerusalem
“Dear Sirs,
“The Agency’s Executive has learned from its chairman of your requests concerning guarantees on matters of matrimony, Shabbat, education, and kashrut in the Jewish state, once it is established in our days.
“As you were informed by the Chairman of the Executive, neither the Agency’s Executive nor any other body in the country is authorized to determine the law of the Jewish state in advance. The establishment of the state requires the approval of the United Nations, and this is impossible unless freedom of conscience in the state is guaranteed to all its citizens, and unless it is clear that there is no intention of establishing a theocratic state. The Jewish state will also have non-Jewish citizens, Christians and Moslems, and, evidently, it will be necessary to ensure in advance full equal rights to all citizens and the absence of coercion or discrimination in matters of religion or in any other matter.
“We were satisfied to hear that you understand that there is no body authorized to determine in advance the constitution of the state, and that the state will be, in some spheres, free to determine its constitution and regime according to its citizens’ wishes.
“Still, the Executive appreciates your demands, and is aware that these are matters that worry not only the members of Agudath Israel, but also many of the religious faithful in all Zionist parties or in no party, and it is sympathetic to your demands that the Agency’s Executive inform you of its position regarding the issues you have brought up, and what it is willing to do, as far as its influence and directives reach, in order to fulfill your wishes regarding the said issues.
“The Agency’s Executive has authorized the undersigned to formulate its position regarding the issues you have mentioned at the meeting. The position of the Agency’s Executive is as follows:
“A. Shabbat. It is clear that Shabbat will be the legal day of rest in the Jewish state. Permission will naturally be given to Christians and to those practicing other religions to rest on their weekly day of rest.
“B. Kashrut. All means should be pursued to ensure that every state-run kitchen for the use of Jews serve kosher food.
“C. Marital Law. All the members of the Executive appreciate the seriousness of the problem and the grave difficulties pertaining to it, and all the bodies represented in the Agency’s Executive will do whatever possible to satisfy the deep need of the religiously observant in this matter, lest the House of Israel be divided in two.
“D. Education. Full autonomy will be guaranteed to every education network and the state will not infringe on the religious philosophy or the religious conscience of any part of the Jewish people. The state will naturally determine the minimum requirement of compulsory studies in Hebrew language, history, science, and so forth, and will supervise this minimum, but will allow full independence to each network to educate according to its outlook and will avoid any injury to the religious conscience.
“Sincerely,
“On behalf of the Jewish Agency Executive, D. Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Y.L. Fishman, Y. Grinboim.â€
It is apparent from this letter that even the most secular Zionists understood full well that the nascent State of Israel could not ignore the needs of the religious Jews when setting up the rules of the state – even though the religious were clearly the minority.
Why it makes sense that the secular Zionists should agree to the “status quo†and to making major concessions to the religious Jews in many areas of government, was perhaps best explained by Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz ZTâ€L, otherwise known as the Chazon Ish, in his famous meeting with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on October 20, 1952.
On that day, Ben-Gurion came to the modest home of the Chazon Ish in Bnai Brak (near Tel Aviv) for what he hoped would be a “summit meeting†between the leader of secular Israel and the man who was then perhaps the country’s most respected representative of religious Jewry. The very fact of the meeting between the 66-year-old founding father of the state and the wizened, 73-year-old sage of Lithuanian Orthodoxy was the subject of great interest among the press, but only one other was actually present in the room with the two.
It was presumed that the premier’s journey to the rabbi would afford an opportunity to further sharpen the definition of the “status quo,†the compromise regarding the place of Jewish law in public life, on which Ben-Gurion had already made significant concessions – including the non-conscription of yeshiva students and the closing of businesses on Shabbat.
Ben-Gurion recorded his impressions of the meeting in his diary, where he described Rabbi Karelitz as possessing the “face and eyes of a spiritual man.†He noted that the rabbi spoke through the entire encounter “in a good spirit and with much laughter, lacking in a zealot’s anger, even though there is definitely something of the zealot about him, although it’s hidden from view.â€
From his notes, it is clear that Ben-Gurion was hoping to find common ground with Rabbi Karelitz, and that he made several attempts to broach the question of how it might be possible to reach a better form of coexistence between the Torah-observant and those with lesser levels of religious observance.
The Chazon Ish, in his oft-quoted response to Ben-Gurion’s query regarding “how can we live together,†described a scene from the Talmud (in Sanhedrin 32a) in which two camels encounter each other on a narrow steep path and only one can pass at a time.The Talmud rules that if one camel is laden and one is not, then the camel which is not laden must give way to the one that is.
The Chazon Ish then explained: “We, the religious Jews, are analogous to the laden camel – we are ‘laden’ with 3500 years of history, religious life, Torah study and mitzvah observance dating all the way back to Abraham. You, the secular Zionists, who are not ‘laden’ but are a relatively new movement, you must give way.â€
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion might not have agreed with everything that the Chazon Ish had to say during that momentous meeting – but he surely got the message about the need for an ongoing “status quo†in the State of Israel.
I hope you did too …
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=591