What is a Jewish state? It is a state with a Jewish majority, which treats its minorities the way Diaspora Jews throughout the world demand to be treated. It is a state that is faithful to the historical experience of exilic Jewry – ending the exile but also remembering and learning from it. And finally, it is a state that provides a protected space within which every version of Jewishness and every kind of Jew can flourish.

As a Jewish state, Israel is the homeland of the Jewish nation, thus entitling all its members to a unique key to enter the house. However, every legal citizen, whether a Jew or not, must be treated fairly, equally, and equitably within that house. 

Rising antisemitism around the world makes the State of Israel essential and the need for justice and peace with Palestinian Arabs also essential. Ultimately, Israel is a measure of Jewish moral fiber, a demand that "justice prevails over power, that awareness of God penetrates human understanding."

What it means for the State of Israel to be defined legally and cognitively as “Jewish and democratic” (in that order) has for years been at the center of public and political debate and will likely remain so in the future. How do Israeli citizens understand this dual definition?

The fear of Israel being the state of all its citizens is that it will lose its Jewish majority and will consequently cease to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people. This fear was coherent in the state’s early decades. Today as we celebrate our 75th anniversary, there are close to 7.5 million Jewish citizens in Israel, and 2 million non-Jewish citizens. Our challenge for the future is to admit victory and develop new policies that reflect our current reality, and not that of 75 years ago.

The most important and central issue with which the State of Israel has to contend is that of determining its character as a democratic Jewish state. Resolution of this issue will determine the state’s identity and, for good or ill, its future and its very legitimacy. At the heart of the tension lie two questions: What constitutional and legal elements may be derived from Israel’s “Jewish” component, and how do these elements accord, if at all, with the state’s liberal-democratic obligations?

Israel is the national manifestation of our current Jewish civilization – though not its only manifestation. To characterize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people is to recognize its diversity as well as its commonality.

We need to inculcate the concept of a shared society, where Jewish and Arab citizens are taught from an early age about mutual legitimacy in the citizenship club, and where they learn to recognize and accept each other. Citizens must be given the tools to understand the language and culture of the other, and to experience these things as beneficial to the shared public realm. In this way, a sense of closeness and sympathy will develop between all the country’s citizens.

Learning ways to manage controversies between state and religion can also teach individuals and institutions ways of dealing with conflict in other areas of life. These include interpersonal relationships in matters as simple as how to listen to the other, how to find growth in controversy, how not to abdicate responsibility prematurely, and how to figure out when to choose tenacity and when to compromise.