Judaism had many disagreements with the former Christian culture of Europe, but we agreed with some of its basic notions: faith in God; the belief that our human needs are not supreme; and the understanding that man is not only a master, he is also a servant. These were points of consensus between Jewish culture and Christianity, Islam, even Hinduism and Buddhism. Thus, even though we were spat upon and even killed for our disagreements, we agreed deeply — and were much more in step — with the Western world of two and three centuries ago. We are completely out of step with contemporary Western culture, because wherever we are — from Kamchatka to New Zealand — we are still walking in Abraham's path. And we are very much alone. Will the world change? It may, and if it does, we will gladly walk together with it. If not, we will remain alone.

That is not a terribly optimistic view. However, Leibniz proposed the basic idea that our world is the best of all possible worlds. His contemporary, Voltaire, maintained that ours is the worst of all possible worlds. I would say that the Jewish view is that our world is the worst of all possible worlds, in which there is still hope.

Questions and Answers

Q: You described what happened in Europe with regard to religious faith; but what about the secularisation of Jewish society?

RAS: Israel, as I said, is now a part of the Western world. But while Europe is now living in the void that Christianity has left, Israel is living in the void that Judaism has left. On a rather practical and emotional level, there may be a difference between two kinds of void. But basically, it is the same thing. Some of the Arab or Muslim countries are also similarly Westernised. They were never Christians, but they were Muslims, and some of them have practically become non-Muslim entities, a part of the Western world. Even Japan and China can nowadays be said to be part of the Western world. I did not mention militant Islam; this may be a new phenomenon, a new historic event. But what I said about Western culture is as true about Israel as it is about England, France or Denmark.

Q: So how do people who have no religious faith and do not lead a religious life, connect with Jewish culture and tradition?

RAS: Jewish culture is not just about waving a blue-and-white flag, and it is not even about knowing some Hebrew. Even this double achievement does not make it very easy to be connected with Jewish culture. To be connected with Jewish culture is to accept that it is different. As Elijah the Prophet said on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18:21): we cannot "halt between two opinions". We must make a decision once and for all — which God do we go for? You want the Baal? Fine, enjoy. But if you do want that, you cannot play with this.