To me, Oz’s great contribution to Jewish culture is the boldness and directness with which he spoke about current issues, pointing out the great challenges ahead.
It is not every day that such a daring, self-confident secular figure emerges in our midst, presenting a bold and positive secular-Jewish stance that serves as a beacon for Jews all over the world. Amos Oz was not only a literary giant, he was also an exemplary secular Jew.
Amos Oz’s secularism never involved an insidious struggle against religious coercion or religionization. It did not deal with “what not,” but rather “what is.” It did not address the ostensible appropriation of Jewish culture by the Orthodox, nor with the ostensible religious takeover of the public sphere or the education system. Oz was far more concerned with the abandonment of Jewish culture by the secular Jews, an abandonment that he felt required healing and change…Read the full article here.
