Ted Belman
Hillel Fendel interview Gaydamek on a host of issues and I wound the answers quite interesting
You can read the whole interview here Gaydamak on Olmert, Sderot, Jews, and Couch-Potatoes. Here are some quotes to whet your appetite,
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“The people in the government have forgotten their mission, have forgotten that they are supposed to serve the people.”
“We are a people, because we have this knowledge that we are Jews. We should transmit this knowledge to future generations. We must maintain and provide support for those who are transmitting this knowledge, i.e., the religious people. They do not have to come closer to the non-religious, because they [the non-religious] have nothing to offer the religious; what, they can teach them how to sit on the sofa and watch TV? Or how to make a barbecue? But the non-religious people should try to be closer to the religious so that they can learn at least a little about our history and tradition, and then to transmit it to the next generation. If not, we will disappear… I try to help the religious by giving them support. “
- “Israel is a country that was created by Jews and for the Jews to maintain and protect Jewish tradition and values, as well as the physical survival of Jews. All Jews around the world have a responsibility for Israel, even those who were never here; maybe their children or grandchildren will need it one day for protection, and that’s why we must all work for it.”
I agree with much of what Gaydamek says but the non-religious can learn about respectful modern Torah criticism, about how to make the religion more meaningful for most Jews, how to mix religion and the modern world and how to become part of a unified Jewish community (and I stress the word unified). The religious Jews have led us into continued defeat and waiting for a God that does not appear to be coming to help us – at least not obviously intervening in such things as the holocaust. It would be a shame to cut off what the non-religious Jews have to offer our civilization.