The Divergence of Judaism and Islam. Interdependence, Modernity, and Political Turmoil

(Joyce) #1

298 · Ben Mollov


of both federalism and the Jewish political tradition. In his own life and
work, Elazar combined a variety of contrasts that seemed to parallel and
influence his extremely broad political thinking. Elazar, for instance, took
great pride in his Sephardic heritage in an academic milieu in which the
dominant background was Ashkenazi, and he sought to articulate the
essence of the Jewish political tradition to a wider international academic
community while emphasizing the key elements of federalism to Israeli
academia.
Elazar described key elements of federalism as relating to the idea of
power sharing and maintaining both unity and diversity.^27 This is partic-
ularly relevant during the current era in which most states are no longer
homogeneous in terms of their population. In a major integrative work
published in 1987, Elazar attempted to distill the essence of federalism
and convey its relevance to contemporary international problems. Citing
the rise of conflicting national, ethnic, linguistic, and racial claims in ven-
ues throughout the world, he offered the “federal principle as one pos-
sible resource for resolving these problems.” Furthermore, he asserted
that “the essence of federalism is not to be found in a particular set of
institutions” but in the regulation of “particular relationships among par-
ticipants in political life,” or as he wrote succinctly, “thinking federally.”^28
The relevance of federalism as a conceptual organizing principle for
advancing dialogue is further supported by Elazar’s insights in a mono-
graph composed in 1994, Federalism and the Way to Peace. He sought to
capture its essence with relevance to the effort to improve intergroup
relations in these terms: “While federalism is normally understood as
having to do with political structures, in fact the federal idea speaks prin-
cipally to the character of human relationships.”^29


The Judaic Basis of Federalism


As mentioned, Elazar was also a pioneer in studying the Jewish political
tradition. In countless writings he emphasized the basis of federalism
as rooted in the Jewish idea of Brit (covenant). Elazar described Brit as
regulating the relationships between diverse entities, such as the tribes of
Israel and particularly between man and God. Indeed, he saw the notion
of Brit as the foundation of the federal idea—as fundamental to the Jew-
ish experience. In his treatise on federalism’s biblical foundations, which
draws upon a multitude of themes, narratives, and traditional Jewish

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