Vandals target home of professor of secular Judaism
Prof. Yaakov Malkin, provost at International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism, receives threats in the form of graffiti referencing Biblical passage about Amalek, and a knife left by his door.
Vandals spray-painted graffiti on the home of Prof. Yaakov Malkin, the provost at the International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism, and attached a threatening letter and a knife to his intercom overnight Wednesday.
The unknown perpetrators wrote a reference to Exodus 17:14-15 on the walls of the professor's home, which is a passage from the Bible talking about God's commandment to blot out the Amalek nation, which was hostile to the Israelites.
"And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Write this for a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Adonai-nissi."
Prof. Malkin's articles discuss the non-religious humanistic ethics that he says are prevalent in the lifestyle of most Jews in Israel and around the world today. Malkin perceives Judaism as a pluralistic culture - both secular and religious.
He claims that Judaism has been pluralistic since Biblical times, when the Hebrews' culture was characterized by the existence of multiple deities, religions, rituals, beliefs and opinions. In the Hellenistic era, different cultures, beliefs and opinions developed in Judaism.
In an interview with Ynet a year ago, Prof. Malkin said that "Many are not aware of the fact the Jewish culture has always been pluralistic. Our ancestors worshipped Astarte and Baal for two-thirds of the time the Temple existed. So, what, they weren't Jews? They didn't speak Hebrew? 'Judaism' is the culture of the Jewish people, in the broad sense of the world; it also contains a religious culture of some kind. In fact, everything we create today in art, music and folklore - it's all Judaism."
