I am proud to be a Jew the Chosen, and I know what to do

By VLADIMIR MINKOV
About forty years ago, my family and I arrived to America as Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union to join the Jewish world and the world of individual freedoms that did not exist in the former Soviet Union. We were eagerly expecting to become members of the three communities:   

1.       The American Jewish community guided by the Torah – to define and follow our Jewish living by the Torah in the world of individual freedoms

2.       The Jewish-nation community guided by the state of Israel – to define and follow the Israeli guidance

3.       The Judeo-Christian community of America guided by the Torah-originated Bible – to find out what might be a joint spiritual Torah/Bible-based foundation of the Jews and the Christians that allows building a better world for everybody together with everybody (Tikkun Olam).

I studied the Torah on my own, with rabbis, consulted numerous rabbis in the US, and in Israel, participated in numerous Jewish forums, and I found that

1.       Yes, the majority of American Jews respect the Torah and believe they are guided by the Torah – however, their interpretations of the Torah are so different that sometimes they look like having nothing in common. How to find an interpretation that the majority may agree with?  

2.       Yes, Israel is trying to unite the world-wide Jewish nation – however, the concept for unification is a very limited one being the help to the state of Israel. What might be the role of Israel in helping the Jews to live Jewish in the Judeo-Christian world?   

3.       Yes, there are rabbis who are trying to find a common spiritual foundation with the Christians – however, the vast majority of rabbis are strengthening the spiritual separation between the Jews and Christians. How to break this separation wall and strengthen our Jewishness at the same time?

After all those findings, I have decided to do my own research – using my own skills and methods in the way as a professional scientist may do his/her research. The results of this work are presented in the book “In search of Jewish Intellectual Identity in the Modern Judeo-Christian World” - A Personal Intellectual Journey to Discover Jewish Identity (for Jews and Gentiles).

Jewish publisher Targum Press published this book. This book is full with challenging ideas and I hope that many intellectual Jews and Christians may be interested in reviewing the book and in presenting the thoughts for discussion – directly to Targum Press, or to this journal, or to me at my blog “Intellectual Judaism”.