An opportunity for an exemplary society

5. Claim: This movement is an opportunity for increased social solidarity towards an “Exemplary Society” – by visionaries among the activists, as well as analysts of the current situation

• Background:

Many classical Zionist voices, as varied as Herzl, Rav Kook, Borochov and Jabotinsky, had visions of Israel as an exemplary society where social solidarity was championed to create a new reality for the Jewish People under the conditions of sovereignty. In the early State years, social solidarity was perceived as quite high. Yet, as the welfare state dissolved into a free market, this sense of solidarity gradually broke down and has since only really expressed itself during times of national crisis (such as wars or attacks).

• These current protests present an opportunity to bolster social solidarity in a way that is not driven by crisis, but a desire to build together an Exemplary Society.
• After years of deep social and cultural divide between sectors in Israeli society, which perhaps reached its peak of alienation and distrust at Yitzchak Rabin’s assassination and the disengagement from Gush Katif, many people who joined the protest feel that there is a new sense of social solidarity and mutual responsibility that is growing around these economic issues.
  • The strategic decision of the protestors to avoid an overt political affiliation and to avoid major political disputes (such as the Arab-Israeli conflict) created a new inclusive space for sectors in society which are normally at odds with each other.
  • In addition, many individuals who had previously only been concerned with their private lives are suddenly getting involved in a collective movement. Activists who initially got involved in protests for their own financial benefit are finding themselves in this new social space, realizing that the struggle is much larger and more value-driven than previously expected.
• The recent use of Israel’s Declaration of Independence as an inspiration in the movement’s large rallies speaks of the deeper values at play, particularly highlighting that this is not an anti-national movement, but rather one stemming from a deep commitment to Zionism and the desire to work towards a betterIsrael.

• Protestors wearing traditional mourning sacks as they read Lamentations

  The secular Israeli society has been in a confused ideological state (characteristic of post-modernism and escapism) over recent past decades. The national and patriotic spirit that so characterized the early decades of Israel’s establishment has faded and gradually changed, as society became more individualistic and materialistic in nature.  This process created a situation known as the “Tel-Aviv State,” a space where sophisticated young professionals live indifferent to the larger national issues and entirely preoccupied with their own private lives, ignoring the collective. In light of this, the current protests can be seen as a counter-movement to these trends, providing a new set of values for an entire sector and generation of young Israelis to grab hold of. These values are based on social solidarity, collective responsibility, social justice and activism.

• Nevertheless, the prominent involvement of Tzohar (an organization of modern Orthodox rabbis in Israel), the different voices emerging among settlers, and the images of Lamentations (איכה) being read in the tents on the Ninth of Av, would suggest that the initial disconnect between the secular and religious is gradually being bridged.