In this edition of his Search for Meaning podcast, Stephen Wise Temple Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback hosts Rabbi Josh Weinberg for a discussion about the current situation in Israel.
Rabbi Weinberg serves as the Vice President for Israel and Reform Zionism for the Union for Reform Judaism. On Wednesday, March 29, Rabbi Weinberg gave a Zoom briefing (co-sponsored by Wise) on the state of Israeli democracy. Rabbi Yoshi and Rabbi Weinberg met at the URJ headquarters in Manhattan this week to speak about the evolving crisis gripping the country.
In recent weeks, thousands of Israelis have turned out in protest as their government's current ruling coalition—the most right-wing in Israel's history—pushed forward on its agenda of judicial reform. The proposed reforms would significantly curtail the Israeli Supreme Court's power of judicial review, effectively removing checks and balances vital to a functioning democracy and endangering the rights of women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, Arabs, non-Ultra Orthodox Jews, and others.
Though the proposed reforms were tabled, they will likely re-emerge after the Knesset's Passover recess, re-igniting tensions both in Israel and among Diaspora Jewry.
"Here, I think people are genuinely, genuinely afraid, and deeply concerned that Israel will no longer be a democracy," Rabbi Weinberg says.
Having gone through the Israeli rabbinic program, coming from a family of rabbis, and having lived in Israel, Rabbi Weinberg brings a unique perspective as the two discuss American Jewish identity, secularism, pluralism, levels of observance, social justice, the history of Israeli Judaism, tensions between the Reform Movement and Orthodox Jews, and how all of those factor into the current state of affairs in Israel.
The fascinating discussion winds its way through the parallels between the Reform Movement and the Zionist movement, comparisons between the protests in Israel and the Arab Spring, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's own legal troubles, and political science.