Religiously-observant people who see democratic values as a threat are doubly mistaken: They are leaving democracy to manipulative forces that understand democracy’s mission to be one of antireligious secularization. At the same time, they fail to realize that updating Judaism for our times means progressing far along the road toward democracy.

The appropriate path for Israeli society to follow on its way to a Jewish state worthy of the name, a state whose population enjoys high levels of social capital and a high degree of consensus, is the path of Jewish common ground – as seen in our ancient sources that call upon us, again and again, to assist the poor and give aid to the orphan, the widow, and the stranger, the blind and the weak.

Jews and non-Jews can reach full consensus regarding the character of the state as Jewish and democratic, without derogating in any way from the state’s uniqueness as the nation state of the Jewish people, and without derogating in any way from the full equality of all of the state’s citizens.

The melting-pot of Israeli society preserves within it the memory of two thousand years of exile, wars, and pogroms. Despite the disparities, disagreements, and tensions between the different sectors of society, the social melting-pot became the engine driving Israel to unprecedented achievements over the years of its existence.

The Bible does not mention the State of Israel by name, but it talks a great deal about all the processes that make up the state. Hundreds of prophecies on dozens of topics relate in great detail how Israel comes to achieve statehood and describe the processes underway on the global plane parallel to the founding of the state.

Israel cannot adjust its positions simply because of outside criticism, but as it becomes a more conservative/right wing country, it runs counter to the moderate/liberal views of a majority of American Jews, particularly young liberal American Jews.

A people can be scattered around the world, but usually they are concentrated in their homelands, and that’s a good thing. A people’s homeland is the cradle of its culture. However, the world benefits when portions of individual nations migrate from their own lands and return to them occasionally. This movement mixes, connects, and helps nations distinguish themselves while also integrating with each other.

Israel as a Jewish and democratic state has already become the center of world Jewish life, and its population growth and vitality will make that role even more important as it passes from 75 to 100 years old. It must, given its military prowess and growing economy, take its rightful place among the democratic states in what used to be known as the Western alliance or the ‘free world.’ And it must reach out to the Diaspora communities not to seek help but to offer it.

What we want, rather, is to stabilize the foundations on which our Jewish and Israeli discourse will continually renew itself – based on our commitment to each other and on our pledge to stick together, to take our fate into our own hands and move forward toward our shared future.