Because I began this journal about living in Tel Aviv, with no looking back to edit or revise, it is difficult for me to write when I am outside of Tel Aviv.  And this time it is doubly difficult because I am careful not to write details about family and friends and coopting their lives into my own narration, and I am spending all my time with friends and relatives in New York.  So I have only theory to discuss.

And as you know, my theories of the Jews are strange and changing.  And then Marek asked me: 

“How can we transcend these oppositions and rise above these limitations?” – that seems to be a difficult question. But I am interested in a question that I hope is much easier for you to answer: What do you think is actually stopping Jewish religious interpreters in Israel from emphasizing universal love? Can you name like some key factors that make the concept of universal love undesired?”  And my first response is.  “Universal love is much to be desired – but if we have been persecuted and murdered throughout the generations, it is a bit unrealistic to assume we will continue to believe that universal love is something to sing about.  One thing I have noticed is that we continue to send out fully staffed and equipped field hospitals every time there is an emergency in the world, as well as financial and other help.  I’ve also noticed that this is rarely mentioned in the media.  So that while I think we practice universal love in general, we are not ideal, and we are not recognized for it.  On the contrary, we are blamed for what we do not do.  

The problem is more that although the Jewish religion is supposed to discourage non-Jews from converting to Judaism, the aggressiveness of the extremists to realize their messianic goals makes it difficult to include them in the concept of universal love.     

But what do I know?  I admit my lack of complete information in the world.  This lack of complete information is the major problem in most of the issues we discuss in which we pretend to have authority.