When our Sages searched for an analogy to a situation in which a compromise or balance had to be found between two opposing forces pulling in opposite directions, they invoked the picturesque image of the “muleteer and the camel driver”. The muleteer runs behind the animal and prods him with the stick in his hand, whereas whoever drives the camel must walk in front of him, tugging gently at the halter. A person who has been charged with driving both a mule and a camel at the same time must, therefore, walk between the two and accustom himself to a middle way of walking which will more or less suit both beasts.
This analogy came to mind when I was asked to review the main trends in family law in Israel. Here we have a system afflicted with legal schizophrenia, for within it, two different juridical systems — that of religious law (or laws) and that of secular law — are struggling and pulling in opposite directions. To find a balance or compromise between these two is the major part of the task with which the legislator, and also the judge, is charged, and it is a mission which is not always successfully accomplished.