After suffering the ravages of the communist regime, including imprisonment for his religious tenets and for his beliefs in freedom of ideas, it comes as somewhat of a shock to hear Israeli Interior Minister Natan Sharansky repeat his views on conversion, over and over, on radio, television and in the newspaper.
“One nation, one conversion,” he has declared. Of course, that one conversion is Orthodox.
Israel is a nation that thrives on diversity. A recent Supreme Court decision stated that religious diversity is essential to a democratic Jewish state. Opined Justice Yitzhak Zamir, “Any organization or person has the right to adopt for itself the religious precepts that it prefers. Religious pluralism is indeed fundamental to the concept of Israel as a Jewish democratic state.”
One can only imagine what might occur if Sharansky’s view held sway in other areas of life here.
Imagine Sharansky claiming, “One nation, one kashrut.” Yes, imagine the haredim no longer able to grant kashrut supervision to the many products that today carry their stamp.
After all, we are one people — how many standards of kashrut do we need in our state? And while we are at it, let us put an end to the rabbinate’s varying levels of supervision. After all, if it is the rabbinate, do they really need more than one standard?
Do we really need to have the state employ both Sephardi and Ashkenazi chief rabbis? Why not “One nation, one rabbinate” (quite an intriguing idea, actually)? And why bother with the expense of printing various versions of the prayerbook?
If we’re doing this already, let’s go all the way. Who needs to import cars in a selection of colors or models? Perhaps all Israeli citizens could wear the same style of clothing. Let us return to the plain apartment blocks of the austerity era. “One people, one housing” is a lot cheaper. Pizza stores will no longer offer mushrooms, onions or olives. Let’s hear it for “One people, one pizza.”
Hey, forget about cable TV and satellite. State-run TV should meet the needs of all viewers. And why allow two Russian political parties? In fact, why allow more than one party at all?
Now one could charge that I am taking this too far. Sharansky is opposed neither to variety nor to pluralism. It is only in the sphere of Torah that he holds for unity. After all, the Jewish people were given only one Torah at Sinai. Israel and the Torah are one.
But, in fact, our oral tradition declares: There are “70 faces to the Torah” — unlimited ways to understand Torah. How does Sharansky argue against that?
Indeed, we must seek to build bridges between the segments of our fragmented people. But we do not draw close by abolishing varied approaches. We do not become united by eliminating diversity.
There is unity in diversity — if only we keep our minds and our hearts open.