'The Jewish State': Rabbi Doron Perez's vision of unity for Israel - review

Although his new book was written just before October 7, 2023, Rabbi Doron Perez foreshadowed the coming perils that have now been exposed to us worldwide. Amid the current war and a global wave of antisemitism dressed as anti-Zionism, his prophetic words written in The Jewish State: From Opposition to Opportunity could not be more relevant to the present time.

Rav Perez, as he is known, is executive chairman of the World Mizrachi Movement, a position he has held since he returned to Israel in 2014 from his birthplace in Johannesburg, South Africa. The father of a soldier killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, Capt. Daniel Perez, 22, he now lives in Yad Binyamin with his wife, Shelley, and four children. He previously authored Leading the Way, a collection of writings on some of the most important matters of Jewish life.

The first part of his new book dives into the core of the issue facing Jews worldwide. Theodor Herzl, the visionary of the State of Israel, was wrong in claiming that the founding of Israel would end antisemitism. Rather, like a mutating virus comparable to COVID-19, antisemitism keeps on changing forms, evading the moral consciousness of its human host, allowing otherwise normal human beings to demand the mass murder of the Jewish people. 

Fighting new antisemitism

Delving into a prophetic writing of the Vilna Gaon, he defines the new antisemitism as the expression of an ancient forgotten type: Philistinian antisemitism. The ancient Philistines did not have a problem with nomadic Israelite groups, nor of the Jewish religion; rather, they were diabolically opposed to any expression of Israelite sovereignty over the Land of Israel. Dubbed the Israelite-Philistinian conflict, starting with a miraculous defense against staggering odds against Philistinian armies, the Israelites would fend off for a century until King David finally put them down once and for all.

Perez presents a spot-on argument viewing the Palestinians of today and their oppositional nationalism to Zionism. The spread of anti-Zionism around the world, since Zionism was founded as a political force during the Basel conference in 1897, is a continuation and a challenge, made all the more profound with slanderous chants of genocide growing ever louder.

While his focus on the problem stems from the Vilna Gaon, in the second section Perez reviews a more contemporary source: Rabbi Avraham Kook, the first chief rabbi of Israel. Reviewing various concepts found in his works, including the two “messiahs” of the House of Yosef (nation-building) and House of David (spiritual) and how their ideas should work together, he presents “opportunities” within existing societal divisions to bring about Jewish unity.

A strong believer in the need for Torah observance, he takes a conciliatory stance, based on religious principles found in the Torah, toward the secular/religious and Right/Left divides haunting Israeli society. Both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are leading cities and worldviews, and both have a purpose in Israel just as Yosef and Yehuda were both leaders among the children of the patriarch Israel. He argues that a strong Jewish state with unique national values need not be viewed as a paradox but rather as part of Judaism’s values, and both can be contemplated in beneficial ways. 

A proponent of seeing the good in everything, Perez takes the view that unity means understanding perspectives and how they can be brought together (as the roots of the major divisions are found in the Torah, anyway). A true leader of Israel needs to be one that can unify rather than use Machiavellian schemes to divide the nation. 

While not mentioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name, it is clear that he may not be the ideal “Davidian” ruler. Who that ruler is, however, will need to show compassion and humility toward the other side as King David did toward his foes – qualities that were lacking in the judicial reform turmoil and cycles of elections before.

Like a visionary ahead of his time, Perez outlines in stark clarity the spiritual battle facing the Jewish people in the anti-Zionism movement today. Despite presenting insightful and deep reflections on opportunities to change the conversation, the book’s solutions are instead a look inward toward ourselves rather than a strategy to confront the vast sea of hatred that is found outside of Israel’s borders. Indeed, in his conclusion, Perez writes that “the internal issues are no less and perhaps arguably more threatening…and there is a correlation between the geopolitical reality facing the Jewish people in general and Israel in particular and its metaphysical state.”

The book concludes with an opening for sequels to follow. Perhaps Perez planned it this way, to illustrate the problems with solutions in spiritual insights rather than practical steps in solving problems plaguing Israel today. It is a must-read for all who want to better understand the situation in Israel today, both spiritually and practically. ■

• The Jewish State From Opposition to Opportunity: A Vision for Unity in Israel and Why the World Needs It
• Doron Perez
• Gefen Publishing House, 2023
• 224 pages; $23.50 (hard cover)