The Appropriate Response to the Basic Law: Torah Study
The article argues that the Basic Law: Torah Study, passed hastily without public debate, is a constitutional hijacking that must be repealed. If not repealed, it should be balanced by anchoring democratic values in basic laws: equality, rule of law, separation of powers, and judicial independence.
The article, by Prof. Yaniv Roznai and Prof. Tamar Hostovsky Brandes, criticizes the enactment of the Basic Law: Torah Study, approved in the last week of the Knesset by a vote of 63 to 52, without discussion in the Constitution Committee. The law, a single sentence stating that Torah study is a fundamental value, is seen as a political hijacking that grants a constitutional advantage to the ultra-Orthodox sector and justifies exemption from military service. The authors reject the idea of a 'thin constitution' as an illusion of neutrality, asserting that the current situation is not neutral—it preserves a lack of equality anchoring, an unbalanced Nation-State Law, and immunity for old religious arrangements. They call for repealing the law, and if not, balancing it by anchoring democratic values in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence: equality, rule of law, separation of powers, and judicial independence. The article reflects a liberal-democratic stance and warns against a one-sided constitution.