Anonymous asked Staff ago I have tried to read what you call “Our Goals,” but it is too long and I have no idea who on earth has read it. I would be most appreciative if you could explain your goals in brief.
I don’t understand. You are an apostate and also cause others to turn to apostasy. (I apologize for being blunt, but there is no other way to write this; it’s what I feel you do.) You are aware that according to the Torah this is called apikorus and is liable to stoning, if I am not mistaken.
I don’t understand something about you. On the one hand you say that the Torah is not holy, and on the other you link to a database of holy texts. So are you a secular person tied to religion?
Today I saw a program on Channel 8 on which you were interviewed. Viewers saw you spill out your wrath against the Charedi, because they are closed-in. I think that before you left religion you should have tried to be a national-religious person with a crocheted kippah (like me), before you came out so strongly against religion. Our community has values which are suited, I think. Our community learns the three values you champion (liberty, equality, and fraternity) but in proportion. It is on this point that the secular public has failed.
I am certain that if you ask the correct rabbis and not fakers (and there’s no lack of those) they would answer everything. At some point try to debate a truly great rabbi and you’ll find that out.
Why are you Jewish? What’s the point of being a Jew if Judaism is a mistake and a large percentage of the text upon which Judaism is based are in error? You (I don’t know if you specifically, but the secular public and/or the public identified with the Shinnui political party) are a Jew, but act like a gentile. If you’ve given up on Judaism, do like the Kuzari did: go between the religions and see what’s the best.
I’m writing this to you with a negative feeling; I simply don’t understand you.
Looking forward to your response–
Yuval
jsadmin Staff answered 20 years ago
Dear Yuval,
Your words were written with heart-felt honesty, but you are very naive. From your words it can be seen that you don’t know what secularism is; your entire world view is based on a religious viewpoint, as though the age of enlightenment had never occurred. You don’t even fully understand your own religious viewpoint.
After this introduction I will answer you in order:
The goal of Daat Emet (on one foot, as you asked) is to create an Israeli society which is guided by reason, as opposed to the religious outlook, which sees G-d as its guiding light. In other words: a society which takes upon itself responsibility for its life, gladly and wholeheartedly, in contrast to the religious outlook which pins it all on G-d (a virtual entity created by theologians to rule over their followers).
Daat Emet accepts universal ethics and rejects the redemptive faith which has led to racism, just as religious people accept the values of religion (the Jewish people as the chosen nation) and reject the equality of all world citizens. Daat Emet accepts the value of “each person shall by his own faith live,” in contrast to religion, which “stones” the atheist for his beliefs — this is the battle between two ideologies which cannot live under the same roof.
Jewish literature is part of human culture and the cultural heritage of the Jewish people. Anyone who wishes to learn of his past, to understand the culture of his fathers (for good and for bad) and to use its language will find these books in the site to which we have linked. Whoever wishes can come and take of it.
There is no difference between the Charedi viewpoint and that of the National Religious. Both are obligated to follow Halacha (the Shulchan Aruch). The difference between them is marginal: should they accept the Zionist movement or reject it? (This is a minor issue for religious Judaism and was, by and large, forced upon them against their will.) All Orthodox streams reject the equality of man (see the essay Gentiles in Halacha), reject man’s freedom to determine his own life choices with no consideration of G-d, reject the granting of full equal rights to women (see the essay The Status of Women in Halacha).
We know the opinions of the rabbis very well, because we once were rabbis. What you have to do is to clarify for yourself the viewpoint of your own religion, the religion which you believe in with every fiber of your being.
As for your final question:
At the end of your letter you gave what is basically an explanation for your lack of understanding. You wrote, “Go between the religions and see what’s the best” as though everything were religion! It isn’t! The enlightened world bases its values on man’s understanding of his own happiness, without taking “G-d” into consideration. The Jewish nation, after the era of enlightenment, is a modern secular nation, a nation which combines the past (cultural, not religious) with its aspirations for the future, the desire to maintain its language, rituals, and ceremonies as part of a national identity while strengthening and encouraging the universal point of view and opposing the religious.
N.B. We recommend you read Our Goals in depth, as well as the pamphlet Democracy/Halacha and our other writings. That way you can come to know and fully understand the view of religious Judaism as opposed to the values of the enlightened world, and afterwards you can go and see which is the correct path to follow.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet