Is Polarization in Israel Unprecedented, or Has the Jewish State Been Here Before?

Are you pessimistic about Israel’s future? Optimistic? The division in Israel today is really about competing–perhaps irreconcilable–visions for what it means to have a sovereign Jewish democracy. In this conversation, Rabbi Soloveichik joins the Call Me Back podcast with Dan Senor to discuss whether these events are actually unprecedented in Israeli and Jewish history. He argues that Israel has been deeply divided before, and when these divisions in previous eras appeared to push Israel to the brink, Israelis somehow pulled back and their country hung together.