The Struggle to be Solidarity Nation
A review of The Genius of Israel by Dan Senor and Saul Singer
Prior to the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7th, Israel was already roiled by almost a year of large-scale protests. These protests were organized in response to the Israeli government's push, lead by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for a wide-range of judicial reforms. Despite this recent turmoil, the authors of the bestseller Start-Up Nation, have penned a new book, The Genius of Israel, which comes to a possibly surprising conclusion about Israel’s national solidarity. By examining social institutions and interviewing numerous Israelis, Dan Senor1 and Saul Singer, argue Israel is uniquely built to withstand the challenges of modernity.
Senor and Singer provide an eminently clear summary of their book’s thesis so I’ll reproduce it here:
At a time when people in many countries suffer from a shriveling sense of connection, belonging, and belief in the future, Israelis seem to have found a way to cultivate these treasures. A way to be modern and traditional. To be religious and secular. To embrace rapid technological change and build tight intergenerational families. To be ambitious individualists, achieve prosperity, and cradle a culture that persistently imprints that it’s not just about you. That it is about service to the larger around you — the hevre, the country, and the world. That is the genius of Israel.
The authors highlight four social institutions and/or cultural practices that have helped Israel balance individualism and collectivism: 1) the kibbutz 2) gibush (youth movements/school culture) 3) the military (IDF) and 4) the mechina (educational, spiritual, and leadership training programs). These four have enabled a diverse population Israelis to coalesce as a modern nation with a unified and resilient identity.
A Unique Place
Before we examine Israel’s innovative social institution and practices let’s ask: What are the benefits of balancing individualism and collectivism? Senor and Singer argue that it improves the national strength and health across the board. Whether we look at social, economic, public health, or demographic metrics, a society that has balanced these two competing forces will make a strong showing. This does appear to be the case at least for the statistics that the authors present, and it is difficult to envision rejoinders that dispute these points in their entirety.
The authors highlight that despite its geographic home in the Southern Levant, the data on Israel make it look a lot like “the modern and prosperous democracies of North America, Europe, and Asia.” The authors present a persuasive set of evidence to support these claims. For instance, Israel has recently surpassed Germany, the UK, France, and Japan in GDP per capita, and its economy is growing at a rate that exceeds the U.S. and EU. Also by the data, Israel is a happy,2 healthy,3 young,4 and growing nation.5 These assertions are especially the case in comparison to Western or other developed nation. It is now widely reported on that many advanced nations are in challenging demographic places, specifically aging and shrinking (due to declining fertility) populations. Israel’s outlier status on these metric are good reasons for optimism despite the other challenges they face.
Now, let’s turn the Israeli institutions and practices that Senor and Singer find special.6
The Kibbutz
Before its nationhood, the kibbutz7 was already fundamental to Israel. It was aa radical experiment in collectivism driven by young Zionists in the early 20th century. The kibbutz was idealized as a communal utopia, a self-sufficient agricultural community characterized by sharing and collaboration in all aspects of life. This vision has waned over time in the face of some of its impracticality and successive waves of economic and cultural change. Yet the legacy of the kibbutz lives on in modern forms.
The Genius of Israel isn’t particularly focused on contemporary life on kibbutzim, but it is invested in the enduring sociocultural effects. Apart from the kibbutz system fostering a commitment to the collective, Senor and Singer argue it formed many early leaders and luminaries, such as David Ben-Gurion, Amos Oz, and Golda Meir. They also suggest that the kibbutz system represents Israeli commitment to social experimentation. In many ways, the author see the kibbutz as an early iteration of the social institutions that have followed.
Gibush
Gibush (pronounced “gi-BOOSH”)8 is a Hebrew word that is hard to translate to English. It can be roughly understood to mean “bonding” or “cohesiveness,” but this (I am told by the authors) doesn’t capture the full power of the word. Senor and Saul describe gibush as “the act of bringing people together with the goal of deepening the bond uniting them.” They feel this is a deeply held cultural value in Israel. Gibush comes to fruition in various youth movements including local and school community groups and activities. This initially struck me as trivial and superficial like many of the inchoate attempts at community building and local activities in America, especially in its suburbs. However, the authors’ descriptions are persuasive.
Apparently, the critical aspect of the gibush program among Israeli youth is that the youth themselves coordinate and supervise many of the bonding activities like scouting. This looks like Lenore Skenazy’s "Free-Range Kids" vision come to fruition and then some. Also, this contrasts starkly with parenting trends in Western nations, especially America, where parenting practices have continued to ratchet up from basic helicopter parenting to 'Apache Guardian' helicopter parenting. American parents have now so integrated themselves into the lives of their children and structured their choices, that the advent of the responsibilities of adulthood appear to often be too much to bear.
Israel’s delegation of authority and investment of trust in children appears to pay dividends in terms of building personal resilience and durable social networks along leadership acumen and collaborative skills. According to Senor and Saul, these youth movements collectively function as “a happier version of Lord of the Flies.”
The IDF
Beyond the blessings and burdens of early responsibility, Israelis also are asked to confront their own mortality. Service in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is compulsory for Jewish citizens.9 After graduating secondary school, young Israelis report for duty, serving a few years before returning to a regular civilian life, whether that is higher education or work. There is also reserve duty that continues through middle age in case of national emergencies.10 The authors see the IDF as crucial to building Israel’s solidarity and as an engine of economic and technical innovation.11
David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father and first prime minister, had a vision for for the IDF that extended well beyond it being only an apparatus of national defense. Ben-Gurion envisioned it as “a melting pot of the diasporas gathering in Israel, a school of civic education and a cradle of a renewed nation.” Senor and Singer believe this vision has materialized in several ways. Although they do not provide a comprehensive history and review of the IDF, they describe many of its special units and programs and interview many current and former soldiers to illustrate IDF-related socialization in action. There are also many moments in the book where the economic success or cultural influence is traced back to IDF service in some way.
An important factor that drives the “melting pot” function of the IDF is the fact that so many Israelis serve.12 Shared experiences breed shared understandings. Israel has a number of different ethnic and cultural communities, including those who are not Jewish.13 The IDF brings many of these diverse groups together and compels them to collaborate under pressure or to solve technical problems. Another feature of the IDF that the authors emphasize is that it provides second and third chances to enlistees in order to find the best match for their aptitudes and proclivities. To illustrate just how far the IDF goes toward this end, the authors highlight the Roim Rachok and Titkadmu (Move Forward) programs. These programs are designed specifically for Israelis on the autism spectrum. They create an opportunity for autistic Israelis to fulfill their service requirements to their country and build useful skill sets. For those in the Roim Rachok unit, this often means doings tasks that neurotypical people often struggle with, such as analyzing reams of monotonously similar aerial reconnaissance images.
All told, The Genius of Israel makes it abundantly clear that the IDF is a critical institution beyond just defense, it is part meritocratic filtering mechanism and part training gauntlet for the youth. In the former role, it aims to match ability and talent with opportunity, while in the latter role, it strengthens the ties between different groups of Israelis.
The Mechina
Take roughly 40 eighteen-year-olds and throw them together for a year of study, hiking, and volunteering and you have a mechina (mechinot is the plural).14 There is variation among mechinot, but they generally serve as immersive experiences aimed at inculcating certain perspectives and abilities that are relevant to leadership and social obligation. The first mechina was founded in 1996 as a partial response to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an ultranationalist Israeli. The cofounder of the first mechina, Erez Eshel, recounts the starkness of her realization in that moment:
The assassination was an earthquake for any Jew, any Israeli, any Zionist. It didn’t matter whether you were left-wing, right-wing, religious, or secular. I realized that I must leave the army, because the real mission for the country was a social mission.”
Senor and Singer focus on a handful of mechinot, especially the Ein Prat programs, interviewing . They argue there is an underlying unity to this loose collective of programs. Despite the variable themes they may organize around, they appear to share an ethos of himeni. Himeni literally translates to “I am here” but, in context, it is a way of pledging “spontaneous, unequivocal commitment” to Israel. The authors also see the mechina as an institution that addresses the challenges of the extended adolescence or what David Brooks calls “odyssey” years. The early twenties are a time of exploration for many in fortunates in developed countries but Senor and Singer illustrate just how much more intentionality, responsibility, and opportunity Israeli have imbued it with.
An Optimistic Take with a Chance to Prove Itself
Israel is not without its critics. Senor and Singer are obviously not blind to this nor do they choose to ignore it. However, this book is not particularly focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict or other geopolitical questions, which is the usual sources of criticism. This book was written in a quieter moment in that long-running conflict - before the October 7th attack. Thus, it is understandable why the conflict was not a discussion item in the book. It had taken a back seat to developments like the Abraham Accords and judicial reform.
Instead, the anticipated critique the authors respond to concerns minority populations in Israel, specifically the Haredi and Arabs. Both populations are segregated from the broader, more secular, and economically vibrant parts of Israel like Tel Aviv. Senor and Singer subsequently dedicate a chapter to both of these minority groups (Chapter 11: The Other Israel). They argue that despite the challenges these communities face and some of their separateness from the mainstream culture, these distinct communities are increasingly developing ties to the rest of Israel and yet still retaining the own ways of life. As evidence of this, the authors point to the increased employment of Haredi women in the tech sector of the economy and the first inclusion of an Arab party in the majority coalition of the Knesset. The authors concede that Israeli society can do more to improve integration and relations with these communities, but see that the trajectories are headed in a positive direction.
Ultimately, I think Senor and Singer have presented a compelling case for the resilience and robustness of Israili civil society, especially among their Jewish population. They don’t obscure the challenges and disagreements that exists either. In fact, the authors see the frequent political disagreements, even discord, as healthy conflict that prompt solutions and innovations. Now, they don’t load all of the success on the four institutions discussed above, but they do think that whatever mixture has helped balance individual and collective impulses is building a national identity that can support enduring success in a modern and changing world.
Dan runs a podcast that provides “political and geopolitical analysis” that is currently following Israel’s response to the October 7th attack called Call Me Back with Dan Senor. I am a frequent listener and would recommend to anyone interest in world events and political trends.
On the Pew Research Center survey question on the expected financial prospects of the next generation, Israel outscore the average of the other countries surveyed by a whopped 43 percentage points, signaling a wellspring of optimism. Israel has also been climbing the World Happiness Report rankings, reaching 4th place in the 2023 report.
As of 2019, the WHO reported life expectancy in Israel at 82.6 years ranking it as 9th highest in the world.
As of 2019, the median age in Israel is 29. This contrasts starkly with the median age of Europe, which is 41.3.
Israel’s total fertility rate (TFR) is well above replacement, ~3, which is well above the TFR of OECD counties, 1.61. The high rates of fertility are not exclusive to the orthodox community either.
I will include the number of mentions per term in the footnotes to give the reader the relative importance the author appear to give to each social institution/practices
19 mentions in the text
23 mentions
96 mentions
After the October 7th attack approximately 360,000 reservists were called up for duty.
For instance, a member IDF’s 8200 intelligence unit, Inbal Arieli, founded 8200 EISP, which may have been the first start-up accelerator staffed primarily with military veterans. In 13 years, 8200 EISP ignited almost two hundred start ups and raised $1.4 billion in VC investments.
The IDF only drafts men and women from the Jewish community and men from the Druze and Circassian communities in Israel. Other Israelis including Arab citizens, married women, women with children, and orthodox men who are undertaking religious studies (the Haredi community). In rare instances, there are volunteer enlistees from those exempt from service.
The major Jewish ethnic groups are the Ashkenazim, the Sephardim, and the Mizrahim. The the Ashkenazim are 45% of Israeli jews while Sephardim and Mizrahim are 48%. For an analysis of the ancestral history of Jewish populations now living in Israel, I recommend the writing of
on the subject. See his pieces on Ashkenazi Jewish genetics and Jews and Palestinians as Canaanite cousins. The latter piece is an attempt to provide an apolitical analysis on the question of whether it is accurate to call Israeli jews “settlers” or “colonists.” That latter piece does clearly demonstrate that the major ethnic populations of Jewish Israelis have ancestors tied to the Southern Levant going back millennia.29 mentions