From War to Peace, The Scale of Values Portraying Democratic Judaism

Conflict is part of our daily lives; individuals like groups are faced with choosing between good, expressed in dialogue, sharing and communal action, and evil, expressed in the short-term benefits gained from violence. Evil quickly degenerates from coercion to bigotry and fanaticism. This tendency can be corrected through education for freedom, equality and fraternity. These over-riding values create a society exhibiting pluralism together with solidarity, the shared vision of Judaism as a culture and of democratic society. Such a moral model is implicit in Israel's Proclamation of Independence and its creation as a Jewish and democratic state. The public education system should therefore aim to inculcate the value of dialogue as a means to achieve peace and unity. A