'WE need Judaization'

[bemildred]

Don't just go off half-cocked here, read the whole thing. It's interesting.

MOSCOW - Two weeks ago oligarch Boris Spiegel, a senator and an influential figure in Russian politics, who is also the president of the World Congress of Russian Jewry, celebrated his 55th birthday at a well-attended party in a luxurious venue in this city. In honor of Lev Leviev's arrival, the organizers arranged for a special table with kosher food only.

Leviev claims that Jews have to demonstrate their Judaism proudly, and is convinced that most Israelis are ashamed of their Jewishness. He even attributes the rise in anti-Semitism to that.

"We're ashamed of what we are," he says. "That's why we feel that we have to get rid of the values of our glorious history and run to learn from other, new nations. Don't I look to you like a man of the world? Don't I speak to the leading businessmen in the world? And it's no problem that I'm a Jew, and a proud Jew who wears a skullcap everywhere, and that's my symbol and my identity. There were Jews who told people here : Don't wear a tallit (prayer shawl), don't walk around like Jews, keep quiet. But that's what brings anti-Semitism: when a Jew tries to resemble a goy. When a Jew behaves like what he is - a Jew - a goy begins to respect him, too. When he is not ashamed, then he is respected. I come to eat with very important people in the world, and I say 'only kosher,' and always with a skullcap. I don't recall that my business ever suffered from that." Two months ago the Israeli media were full of reports about Leviev leaving the country. He did, in fact, buy a palace in London for 35 million pounds sterling, and moved his wife Olga and his three youngest children (out of nine) there. But for over a decade it has been hard to say that Leviev was truly living in Israel. At most he's there on weekends. The main "victims" of his family's move to London are a handful of Israeli aides who traveled around the world with him. Now on their way home on Fridays they are forced to fly on scheduled flights instead of in the boss' private plane. For Leviev business is business, and now he has to supervise at first hand the huge Africa-Israel stock issue on the London Stock Exchange.

How did you feel about the media preoccupation with your move to London?

Leviev: "I don't feel anything. I know that I have my own mission and I know that life, unfortunately, is short: I have a limited time and we have to get as much done as possible, and that's that. And we have to preserve our health."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961664.html

[rockymountaindem]

1. Good for him

At least someone is paying attention to the Jews of Russia.

[bemildred]

2. Well, I liked him on the whole.

I have some reservations, I could quibble, but mostly he sounds like a mensch.