Riskin on Jewishness

A great passage from R' Shlomo Riskin's latest book, Listening to God. I've written about this numerous times, and I just hope most of Israel will realize how the lack of attachment to our Jewish identity and history is destroying the country far more than any other Arab country could

'I believed in peace based on compromise with Israel when I thought Israel would win. I changed my mind; I now believe that we will win in an armed battle. I changed my mind shortly before the prisoner exchange. I was exercising in the prison courtyard when I saw the Israeli guard eating pita and falafel. 'How can you eat what you're eating?' I asked him. 'I'll eat whatever I want,' he responded. 'I am still the guard and you are still the prisoner! I tell you what to eat. You don't tell me what to eat.' 'But today is the third day of Passover,' I told him. 'Your Bible forbids you eating pita bread on Passover.' 'I couldn't give a damn what a book written four thousand years ago hast o say about anything,' said the guard. At that moment, I felt I had experienced an epiphany. 'If the Israels don't care what the Bible says about Passover, they won't care about the Land of Israel either. If they are not connected to the Bible, they are not connected to the land They will not be willing to sacrifice for the land. This is a bad neighborhood for you Israelis.'
Salah Ta'amri

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