Torah, Democracy, and Israel’s Constitutional Crisis

For the past three years, Israel has been caught up in an internal struggle. At the centre of it is democracy itself: the role of the Supreme Court, the power of the government, and the question of whether Israel can function without a formal constitution.

But for Jews, this is not just a political argument. It touches something older and deeper. It raises a question that feels very close to home: does a Jewish state need a constitution in the modern Western sense, or have Jews always had a kind of guiding framework in the Torah?

Torah as Legacy Document

From the beginning, Israel never adopted a full written constitution. Instead, it has relied on a collection of Basic Laws. But underneath those laws is something much older: the Torah.

The Torah is not only a sacred book. It is part of the fabric of Jewish life. Jews have been reading it, studying it, arguing over it, and returning to it for centuries. It was once passed down orally, then written on parchment scrolls, and now it is available online for anyone to read. People study it in synagogues, in yeshivas, around family tables, with a hevruta, and even on Zoom.

That kind of continuity matters. It means the Torah has never been just a text sitting on a shelf. It has shaped the Jewish sense of justice, responsibility, and community for generations. In that sense, it has long served as a kind of moral constitution, even if not a legal one.

Deuteronomy’s Voice

Of all the Five Books, Deuteronomy feels especially close to this moment. It reads like Moses’ final message to the people before they enter the land. He looks back on forty years of wandering, struggle, failure, hope, and survival. He reminds them where they have been, what they have learned, and what will be asked of them.

Even now, it sounds current. We hear those words in synagogue thousands of years later, and they still speak to us. Moses speaks about memory, justice, humility, leadership, and responsibility. Those are not ancient concerns only. They are very much our concerns too.

Elul 2025: A Season of Reflection

This year, as Israel argues over law and democracy, Jews are also entering Elul, the month that leads into the High Holidays. It is a time of reflection, self-examination, and moral reckoning. We are asked to look honestly at ourselves, at how we have behaved, at where we have fallen short, and at how we want to enter the new year.

That is part of what makes this moment feel so heavy. The debate is not only about institutions. It is also about character.

During Elul, the synagogue readings bring us back again and again to Deuteronomy. Moses keeps reminding the people that being a nation is not just about land or power. It is about how you live, how you govern, and whether justice still matters when you are the one holding authority.

The Torah may not be a constitution in the modern sense, but it asks a question that sounds very close to the one Israelis are asking now: how do we live together under laws that are fair, and that apply to leaders no less than everyone else?

Abraham’s Covenant and Today’s Politics

If Deuteronomy brings us into the language of law and responsibility, the Torah begins even earlier with Abraham and the great themes that still shape Jewish life: land, descendants, promise, exile, and redemption.

These are not just religious ideas. They continue to shape Israeli politics in real ways. The land is still contested in the middle of war, yet many Jews continue to see it as part of their sacred inheritance. Israel is also home to Jews from many backgrounds, along with Arab citizens and other minorities. And beyond its borders, it lives with unstable alliances and constant threats.

The memory of Jewish vulnerability also remains very close to the surface: slavery, exile, the Holocaust, and now the hostages in Gaza. None of these experiences simply disappears. They become part of how Jews understand danger, survival, and responsibility.

For many religious Jews, the Torah affirms the Jewish people’s connection to the land, while also warning that a promise without justice cannot last. For many secular Jews, and for others across Israeli society, politics cannot be based on religion alone. Their fear is different: that Israel is moving away from democracy and toward something more dangerous.

What remains true is that both sides are still coming from the same tradition, even when they draw very different conclusions from it.

Torah as a Yardstick

The Torah begins not with the Jewish people, but with humanity. Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel. Those stories remind us that no one stands above moral judgment. Human beings are given freedom, but they are also given responsibility. From the start, they are asked to choose between what is right and what is destructive.

That matters because the Torah does not begin with privilege. It begins with accountability.

Only then does the Torah turn to one people and ask how they are meant to govern themselves.

From Covenant to Constitution

On the question of power, the Torah is surprisingly clear: it must have limits. Even a king is not above the law. In Deuteronomy, the king is commanded to write out his own copy of the Torah and read it every day, so that he does not become arrogant or forget that he, too, is bound by something higher.

“And it shall be, when the king sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah” (Deuteronomy 17:18).

I find that image powerful. A ruler carrying the law with him, not as decoration, but as a reminder that power is never meant to be absolute.

Justice needs more than good intentions. It needs rules. It needs restraint. It needs leaders who understand that they are not above the people they govern. Those lessons were true in Moses’ day, and they still feel true now.

Some modern thinkers have argued that the Torah’s central principles, especially the Ten Commandments, can even be understood as a kind of moral constitution for humanity. It does not replace modern law, but it helps shape the values underneath it.

Watch Denis Prager’s explanation here.

So, Does Israel Need a Constitution?

Maybe it does. I think there is a serious case for one. But before drafting a new document, it is worth remembering that Jews have never really lived without a foundational text. The Torah does not replace modern law, and it should not. But it does offer something deeper: a moral language of justice, accountability, and human dignity.

In Elul 2025, as Moses’ final words are read in synagogues and Jews in Israel and around the world move toward Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, the question feels bigger than law alone. It is also about the kind of society Israel wants to be.

If the Torah once helped hold together a scattered people, perhaps it can still speak to a divided state.

And democracy cannot survive on power alone. It needs honesty, restraint, and a shared sense of responsibility.

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