Israeli Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, ordered the evacuation and sealing of a Jewish apartment building in the predominantly Arab Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Known by settlers as Beit Yonatan, the 7-story building is home to families linked to Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim, headquartered in the Muslim Quarter of the Jerusalem’s Old City, and institution with which I was associated 25 years ago.
While the AG’s order comes as a blow to supporters of the settlement, it was done partially in response to complaints from those on the political right who charged that Palestinians were building without permits and nobody was stopping them. AG Weinstein simply said that the law had to be enforced equally for all parties, leading him to question the legality of certain Palestinian projects and ordering the closure of Beit Yonatan.
Without invoking scripture, and like totally unaware of the dictates of Exodus 12:49, Weinstein’s move reflects the words of that ancient verse perfectly: There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.
Regardless of how one feels about the decision, nobody should miss the fact that invoking the Bible and it’s mandate for how Jews ought to govern the land/State of Israel, does not simply legitimate one political view. In fact, were those who invoke the Bible as a roadmap for settling and governing Israel, actually forced to live with all of its teachings, they might have to re-think a whole variety of common assumptions about how non-Jews must be treated in a Jewish state.
The challenge of having one law which applies to all citizens, Jewish and otherwise, while still feeling as though Israel is a Jewish state, is not a small one. In fact, meeting that challenge may be the country’s most important internal issue, and doing so will make demands on all parties, challenges which have heretofore been avoided.
If Israel cannot meet those challenges though, I wonder if it can ever measure up to the Jewish People’s two thousand year old dreams for our homeland. I wonder.