I write this in my own voice as a Black Ethiopian Jewish Israeli, a Modern Orthodox Jew shaped by the moral vision of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and as someone who believes Israel’s future will be decided not only by its strength but also by its fairness.
Israel is asking its citizens to fight together, to sacrifice together, and to carry the weight of war and uncertainty together, and yet it governs them as if they are not equal partners in that burden.
Across the country, young Israelis report for reserve duty, families send their children into uniform, and communities absorb fear and loss. At the same time, billions of public funds continue to support systems that structurally avoid that shared responsibility while remaining central to political power.
A crisis of shared responsibility
This is not a marginal imbalance. It is the defining contradiction of Israeli society today. That contradiction is no longer theoretical; it is operational.
Israel’s own military leadership is warning about it.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has cautioned that the army risks “collapsing in on itself” due to severe manpower shortages. This is not rhetoric. It is a red alert. A nation that depends on a shrinking pool of citizens to defend it, while structurally excusing others from that burden, is not managing a policy dispute; it is testing the limits of its own survival.
At the same time, external reality offers no relief. The Iran war has ended not with clarity but with uncertainty. The ceasefire left Israel’s goals only partially achieved, and the public knows it. Only 32% of Israelis say they are satisfied with the outcome. That is not confidence; it is a warning.
The political system is beginning to reflect this unease.
The opposition bloc now holds a narrow majority of 61 seats compared to the coalition’s 49. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s party has surged to 24 seats, just one behind Likud’s 25. This is not just a polling movement. It is a signal that Israelis are searching for a new direction. But the deeper problem is not political; it is moral.
This is not a fight between religion and secularism. I am a religious Jew. I believe in Torah, in tradition, and in the moral obligations that come with them. But Torah does not teach selective responsibility. It does not teach that some defend the nation while others are permanently exempt, while still shaping its future.
THE GOD of Israel calls us into covenant, and covenant means we carry one another. What we are living through is not covenant. It is an imbalance. A society cannot endure when responsibility is unevenly shared but benefits are not. It cannot demand unity in moments of war while maintaining division in moments of policy.
It cannot ask one group to sacrifice while another negotiates exemption without weakening itself from within. This imbalance is now becoming a strategic weakness. The greatest threat to Israel today is not only Iran or regional instability. It is internal fragmentation, a growing sense that the burden is not shared fairly.
That fragmentation weakens Israel not only socially but also internationally. The world sees it. And future Western leaders will not respond to slogans; they will respond to credibility and to leadership that reflects the full face of Israel: religious and non-religious, black and white, traditional and modern.
This is why leadership matters now more than ever.
I say this clearly: I support Naftali Bennett at this present time. Not because I agree with him on everything, but because he represents something Israel urgently needs – a leader who understands complexity and can speak across divisions. Alongside him, figures like Gadi Eisenkot represent discipline, responsibility, and the quiet strength of service.
Together, they point toward balance. Not Left versus Right. Not religious versus secular. Not white versus black. But shared responsibility. And this is not only a call to leaders. It is a call to all of us. To the Orthodox community: faith must be matched with shared responsibility. To the Modern Orthodox community: your bridge-building role is essential.
To the nonreligious public: frustration must become renewed commitment, not rejection. We must move toward a system where those who serve are supported, those who lead represent all, and those who benefit also contribute. This is not a political reform. It is a moral correction.
Israel does not belong to one sector. It belongs to a people bound by covenant. We must return to a simple principle: no citizen is above responsibility, and no citizen is beneath dignity. Anything less is not unity; it is managed division. The Jewish people did not return to their homeland to create a system where some carry the burden, and others are permanently excused from it.
We returned to build a society where destiny is shared, where responsibility is mutual, and where no Jew is more important than another. Because a nation that asks its people to stand together must choose, in its policies and its priorities, to live that way. And if it does not, the unity it demands in times of crisis will not survive the peace that follows.
The author is a former NYC Supreme Court detective, and an investigator and educator in conflict resolution, restorative peace, and moral diplomacy expert. His upcoming book, Moral Diplomacy for a Broken World, is inspired by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.