80% of Jews in Israel

 Q:

Is Hashem also Elokei Yisroel of the assimilated Jews?

A:

Now you must know that Yisroel means only those who are ma’aminim baHashem, ma’aminim in Matan Torah, ma’aminim in briyas ha’olam yesh me’ayin.  Although there’s a maamar that says ישראל אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא, it doesn’t mean Yisroel who’s an apikores.  No. שחטא means he sinned; let’s say there’s a Yisroel who did certain sins, but he’s a Jew who believes in everything. And therefore he’s a Yisroel.  

But once he stops belonging to the Klal Yisroel that believes in Elokim, in briyas ha’olam yesh me’ayin or in Matan Torah, then he doesn’t belong at all to the Am Yisroel.  Of course he can come back if he does teshuvah, but in that state of meridah, of rebellion, he does not belong to the Am Yisroel.  

The truth is, we’re not even mechuyev to worry about his life.  If he’s in danger, we’re not interested in saving him.  I don’t want to say it in public, but that’s a rule.  If a person is a mumar who is porek ol and he doesn’t believe in Hashem, he doesn’t belong to us.  

In some ways, he’s worse than a goy.  He’s worse than a goy.  The Gemara says he’s worse than a goy.  And the Rambam says, atheism is worse than avodah zarah.  The Rambam said that.  

July 1996