Secularism, Religion and the Status Quo

The Spousal Covenant (Brit Hazugiut), or the Covenant with the Status Quo

“…The Orthodox NRP held basically the same view as the ultra-Orthodox parties on family issues. This is not surprising, because for years the NRP had been the gatekeeper of the status quo (Cohen 2011;Levy 2011). But as a Zionist party, the NRP was fully aware of the invaluable contribution of the immigrants from the FSU to the demographic competition between Israeli Arabs and Jews and to maintaining the Jewish majority in the Promised Land.…”

“…Only in 2006 was another bill-actually two-introduced, one by an MK of the centrist Pensioners of Israel Party (Gil) (Knesset 2006a) and the other by an MK of Yisrael Beiteinu (the far-right, secular 'Russian' party) (Knesset 2006b). 9 Ehud Olmert had succeeded Sharon as prime minister, and the coalition in power included the ultra-Orthodox (Mizrachi) Shas Party, but not Shinui, which was in decline (Levy 2011). The bill met strong opposition from Shas and received no support from Kadima, the leading party of the coalition, 10 even though it had signed a coalition agreement with Yisrael Beiteinu on this issue (Marciano 2006a).…”

“…Over the decades, this compromise has been reinforced by further agreements between the Orthodox and secular sectors, represented generally by the National Religious sector and the Labor movement respectively. These arrangements have affirmed the inherent link between Orthodox Judaism, citizenship, and nationhood in the Jewish state, on the one hand, and the state's Jewish ethno-religious regime, on the other, implying limits to the integration of non-Jewish Israeli citizens into the new state (Barzilai 2010;Bystrov 2012;Levy 2011;Peri et al 2012).…”

“…• Shas feared that this process would strengthen the 'Russian' party and its Ashkenazi and 'non-Jewish' constituency, again tipping the ethnic balance against Mizrachi Jews, just as they were making inroads into the echelons of power (Levy 2011). • Above all, it was the 'demographic threat' that reinforced their inflexible approach.…”

“…For the secular Shinui (Levy 2011) and Yisrael Beiteinu (Khanin 2004) parties, the expanded version of the spousal covenant-which included people unwilling or forbidden to marry under religious law-was a move toward reconstruction of the status quo, part of a strategy for redefining state-religion relations in a more secular direction. This move was bolstered by the fact that Shinui had succeeded in attracting Russian-Israeli voters, and that Yisrael Beiteinu was created expressly to defend the interests of the immigrants from the FSU.…”