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CHOSEN PEOPLE, PROMISED LAND
&P ROPHETIC TRADITION
IRA SHARKAN SKY
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LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2005 by Transaction Publishers
Published 2017 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2004058004
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sharkansky, Ira.
Governing Israel : chosen people, promised land, and prophetic tradition /
Ira Sharkansky.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7658-0277-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1.Israel—Politics and government. 2. Judaism and politics—Israel.
3. Jews—Election, Doctrine of. 4. Palestine in Judaism. 5. Prophecy—
Judaism. 6. Rhetoric—Political aspects—Israel. I. Title.
DS126.5.S4437 2005
320.6'095694—dc22 2004058004
ISBN 13: 978-0-7658-0277-4 (hbk)
Contents
Preface vii
1. The Chosen People in the Promised Land 1
2. The Prophetic Tradition 27
3. A Politicized Economy, a Cumbersome Giant 55
Governing a Country with Unlimited Aspirations,
Severe Problems, and Limited Resources 73
4. Religion: Contentious from the Time of the Bible to
Yesterday and Today 75
5. Palestinian Terror, External Constraints, and Domestic
Dispute 101
6. Misplaced Hyperbole: Traffic Deaths and Social Policy 127
7. University Management: Aspirations and Problems in
the Promised Land 149
8. A Place with Too Much History 163
9. Decision Rules: Coping, Simplicity, and Non-Decision 183
Index 203
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Preface
Some years ago, while I was still at the University of Wisconsin, a
visiting Israeli political scientist commented on the local newspapers.
Compared to those in Israel, he found them terribly parochial, with
virtually no news about international affairs or foreign countries.
When I moved to Israel, I found that he was right. Israeli papers
provide lots of information about the Jews of Europe, the United States,
Central Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere. I never made a system-
atic survey, but I do not find them more cosmopolitan than American
counterparts with respect to their coverage of non-Jewish events over-
seas.
Soon into my life in Israel, I became even more impressed with
how fervent the people could be in describing the country. My daugh-
ter came home from school with a report that a friend had insisted that
Israel is the most beautiful country in the world. She had never trav-
eled overseas, but a teacher said that Israel is the most beautiful coun-
try. Eventually I recognized the hyperbole that serves as the focus of
this book. Journalists, political activists, and academics seemed less
restrained than those I knew from elsewhere in their use of superla-
tives to praise or criticize their surroundings. If Israel is not the best, it
is the worst. Criticism is more typical than praise. That observation led
me to the importance of the prophetic tradition.
I found it essential to become familiar with Jewish texts in order to
stay in touch with Israeli conversations. The more I read, the more I
perceived connections between ancient and modern discourse. The
hopes and expectations of the Zionists had ancient roots that boosted
aspirations and sharpened disappointments. The Promised Land had
not proven to be a Paradise for the Jews, and certainly not for their
neighbors. The biblical prophets had expressed themselves like some
of my university colleagues. Condemnation was far more prevalent
vii
viii Governing Israel
than praise. There is little moderation in the words of Amos, Hosea,
Isaiah, or Jeremiah.
My first effort to deal with these observations was an article en-
titled, “The Promised Land of the Chosen People Is Not All That
Distinctive: On the Value of Comparison.”1 It criticized Israelis for
asserting that their country performed horribly on important traits,
while systematic research found that it was within normal ranges as
defined by comparable countries.2 Readers familiar with my work can
find traces of that piece in this book, along with a number of other
articles and books I have written along the way.
The purpose of this book is to describe prominent aspects of how
Israelis govern themselves. It focuses on the style of public discourse
or political culture. And within this segment of public life, it focuses
more narrowly on features of political style that have their roots in the
Hebrew Bible.
Biblical themes of the Chosen People, Promised Land, and the style
of the prophets appear in Israeli politics, even if they are not the only
influences on the country, and even if they do not necessarily affect
the nature of Israeli policy. They leave their mark on the style of how
politicians and other activists express themselves. Biblical themes are
less important in affecting the decisions that officials actually make
about public policy.
Chapters concerned with religion, national security, and social policy
cover what are arguably three of the most problematic fields of Israeli
policymaking. A chapter on university management deals with issues
that are lower in public salience, but still important to university stu-
dents and their parents, to university staff members, and to the country’s
future. In each of these fields there is a style that draws on biblical
roots, while non-biblical features of current events are also prominent
in explaining the actions of public bodies. Another chapter surveys a
problem even lower on the country’s scale of priorities: preserving
historical landmarks. Israel has too much history. Preservationists in-
vest much emotion in their demands, but there is too little money to
save and maintain everything that is worthy.
A chapter on the economy points to one of the reasons why the
country has not realized the dreams of its people. The World Bank
places Israel among the wealthiest countries, but it is near the tail end
of that group. A high degree of governmental centralization is suitable
to a tiny country without strong attachments to internal regions. Cen-
Preface ix
tralization permits maximum control over available resources. Yet even
the advantages of centralization do not produce a government budget
that is large enough to pay for defense and the other programs activists
demand for the Promised Land.
The combination of being the Chosen People, living in the Prom-
ised Land, and inheriting the prophetic tradition make self-fascination
and hyperbole prominent themes. Here and there this hyperactive na-
tional ethnocentrism gets in the way of a more thoughtful and dispas-
sionate, analytic approach to national problems. Rather than lamenting
the nature of Israeli politics, I accept it for what it is. The country is a
political hothouse that suffers from a serious problem of national secu-
rity and a chronic imbalance between aspirations and resources. Israel’s
history, culture, and substantial problems hinder dispassionate plan-
ning and the disciplined implementation of proclaimed policy. The
result is coping with a great deal of dispute, partial treatments metered
out to the most severe of immediate problems, and unsatisfied activists
demanding more resources for programs they consider to be essential.
Notes
1. Israel Affairs, vol. 5, nos. 2 & 3, Winter-Spring 1999, 279–92.
2. For an example of applying comparative insights to a claim often made about the
United States, see Christopher Howard, “Is the American Welfare State Unusually
Small?” PS Political Science & Politics XXXVI, 3, July 2003, 411–416.
