A Simple Faith

Rabbi Yitzhak Dudkevitch:-

"Unfortunately, the State of Israel, and especially its judicial system and its constitution, has in recent years chosen to place nearly every Jewish element into a universal, rather than Jewish, definition. It still glories in the title of a Jewish-democratic state, or democratic-Jewish, but in nearly every respect, particularly that of sovereignty, there's nothing to back that up. The state stole the state from the Jews, and sovereignty is attributed to all its citizens and not to the Jewish people throughout the generations."

"Against this background," he continued, "it's obvious that a great many people who are secure in their Judaism feel emotionally distant from the state, which is in another place altogether. This has a very high price, because citizens who find it hard to identify with their state - that is very damaging. When traitors to their state are allowed to serve in the Knesset and become part of the decision-making process, how can anyone, first of all on the emotional level, identify with that state?"

In light of the possibility that additional territory and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria will be evacuated, some of your colleagues are talking about establishing a 'state of Judea' alongside the State of Israel. Do you believe in this?

"The State of Israel is not the be-all and end-all. If it decides it does not want to be in the hereditary lands of our forefathers, then other Jews have the right to organize themselves in order to live there, even without a link to the state. Is it practical? I doubt it. That's why I'm not signing up for it. But when there's talk about another expulsion, then on the ideological level, the 'State of Judea' is no worse than expulsion."