British Chief Rabbi Says Jews Outside Israel Are Tied Spiritually to Jewish State

“Although politically we do not belong to Israel, spiritually and culturally we are of the body of Israel,” British Chief Rabbi Israel Brodis declared today at a reception tendered him by the British Mizrachi Federation. “Religion, as we understand it, serves as a binding force that links the Jew in the Diaspora with Israel,” he added.

Declaring that recent events in Palestine affected Jews throughout the world and helped to bring about a “normalization of Jewish life,” Chief Rabbi Brodis warned that such a normalization cannot be regarded as an aim in itself. “However normal may become our national attributes, our distinctiveness as a people will be recognized by the peoples of the world only insofar as the state of Israel is based on the eternal values of Judaism,” he said. “We in the Diaspora will always look to Israel for guidance.”