Home: From a universal human right to a Zionist vision of the five Ms

Source: Article 25: The right to an adequate standard of living in the Universal Declaration

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 25, United Nations, December 1948)

Explanation: From the ashes of the Holocaust to universal norms of human rights

In the wake of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust, the United Nations General Assembly established a Commission on Human Rights, which went on to proclaim basic norms of human rights. This declaration lacked legal force, functioning purely as a recommendation carrying moral weight, but over the years its principles became recognized within international law. The declaration as a whole encompasses two parts: natural human rights, and the duty of equality and non-discrimination among all human beings.

Perspective: A question of priorities: Does a home come before freedom of speech?

Out of the thirty articles of the Declaration, the rights to housing, food, and so on appear in Article 25. Ahead of them come political and legal rights, freedom of expression and equality, and only at the end come labor rights, housing, food, and other personal rights. This declaration reflects the values of the Western world, which sees public rights as the foundation, whereas in many countries around the world the regime is not democratic, women's rights are not recognized, and the primary achievable rights are private ones. In his famous June 2009 speech in Cairo, US President Barack Obama noted that "America does not presume to know what is best for everyone," but continued by saying: "I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose..." The Arab Spring (see Wikipedia) followed Obama's speech, with popular uprisings against Arab dictatorships that led to chaos across the Middle East. In the Middle East—and not just here—perhaps a home comes before political rights and freedom of thought.

Going Deeper: The five Ms: The Zionist vision of fundamental social rights

Ze'ev Jabotinsky, The Social Redemption, 1934:

I imagine that what we call the "elementary needs" of an ordinary person—that very thing for which today one must fight, seek a livelihood, and move heaven and earth when failing to find that livelihood—comprises five things: food, housing, clothing, the ability to educate one's children, and the ability to receive medical treatment in case of illness. In Hebrew, this can be marked in shorthand: mazon (food), ma'on (shelter), malbush (clothing), moreh (teacher), marpe (healing)—five times the letter mem. In relation to each of these needs, there exists in every country and era a certain standard of a sufficient minimum, and the state's duty, according to my "cure," ought to be: anyone who declares a need for these five mems must receive them.

Preceding Jabotinsky in formulating this principle was an Austrian Jew named Josef Popper-Lynkeus, a thinker and scientist (see Wikipedia).

Culture: Reuven Rubin's Tel Aviv houses: A colorful dream of a new home

Reuven Rubin, an artist of the Third Aliyah, painted the houses of Tel Aviv in 1923. Naturally, these houses look nothing like the Tel Aviv buildings of that era; instead, they resemble children's playhouses—a naive painting straight out of a fairy tale. The city rising from the sands symbolized the new Jewish home: colorful, innocent, secure, and modest.