Leonard Petlakh, the executive director of the Kings Bay YM-YWHA, wants to “reach the unengaged and create a Jewish memory together” (Opinion, “Getting A Communal Conversation Started,” Jan. 4).
To accomplish this goal, he suggests that “the challenge is to find Jewish leaders who can talk ‘Jewish’ without the God language. Work on easing the uninspired into Jewish civilization. Give them a subsidized experience that can lead to creating that lasting Jewish memory.”
I truly can’t understand his point. What type of “Jewish” memory is he subsidizing without God? What is he spending money on subsidizing and what lasting Jewish memory can he create without God? Is Judaism a religion without God? Sorry, but there is no “lasting Jewish memory” without God.
If this is the ideal suggested by our Jewish leadership, the money to subsidize this effort will be wasted and the next generation will be lost.
