A Jewish and Democratic State or a Democratic and Jewish State? – A New Outline for Jewish Existence in Israel

The article examines the “is and ought” in the relationship between the two characteristics—Jewish and democratic—that define the State of Israel. Claiming that the precedence of “Jewish” to “democratic” is detrimental to both, the article concludes that “Jewish” must be a thin term allowing for the inclusion of all modes of Jewish existence, lest the State of Israel cease to be the state of the Jewish people and become the state of a new Jewish people created within it.