GEORGE KONRAD
547
day. The compulsory Sabbath is the order of intellectual distancing, to
reflect upon our life. The Sabbath is created and preserved for this purpose.
We cleanse ourselves, eat well, and look into the candle's flame.
Like the writer of these lines, many worldly Jews do not distinguish
the Sabbath: they try to make a Sabbath out of every day. They do not dis–
tinguish the sacred and the profane; they like them to play into each other.
They do not attend the synagogue; they read instead, and though it may be
out of pride, or laziness, they rarely like to become entangled in collective
rituals. All of world literature is theirs. Every good book, every work of art
they admire constitutes a higher authority. Non-Jews should also regard as
their own all of Judaica, from the bible up to the present day. This text is
also Judaica, and no less Hungarica. Every work of every Jewish author–
regardless of the language it was written in, can be regarded as Judaica as
well. The works of Jewish authors contain their way of thinking and their
sensitivity, but if the work in question is really a work of art, then the
nationality of the author is perhaps not irrelevant, but certainly not of pri–
mary importance. The significant work crosses borders, cultures, centuries.
The worldly person chooses and is interested in all kinds of sacred books,
but the "sacred" books of a worldly Jew are the ones they choose. Worldly
Jews choose their own sacramental objects. Though they can see orthodoxy
as beautiful, they do not spend as much time on ritual obligations as those
require. Instead, they have personal rituals; they regard as their own · that
which appeals to them.
To be a Jew is an extraordinary obligation to study. One must be famil–
iar wi th all the national civilizations wi th which Jews are involved, or have
closer contact. This is especially true for the Diaspora Jew, because Jews in
Israel are just as apt as any other people to overdo national navel-gazing.
They are so occupied with their own affairs that they have little attention
left for the world at large, unsurprisingly, as the affairs of the neighborhood
are often life and death matters. The Diaspora Jews also have their own
subcultural egotism, but they are compelled to understand the local sensi–
tivities, and in order to prevent anti-Semitism from becoming a menace,
they attempt to neutralize local xenophobic romanticism in their own way.
To save their skin, they must influence public opinion, because if they do
not perform this work, it may come to pass that they get killed, and of
course this has happened even when they tried diligently to carry out the
work, but did not succeed.
In the worldly Jew's circle of friends there are Jews, but there are non–
Jews as well. They eat what the locals eat, everywhere. They do not suggest
or imply the things the locals like are impure and unholy. They do not
