Gaydamak: I’m a haredi without a kippah

"I’m a haredi without a kippah"

How's that for a quote?

I wonder what jblogosphere (and part time lurker) Chareidi blogger, "Ed" would say to such a statement?

While such statements probably don't win Gaydamak any fans in the Chareidi community, there is still much to be said for this statement.

"I will be the next mayor of Jerusalem, God willing," said billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak in a Hebrew-language interview with the strictly Orthodox radio station Kol Chai on Wednesday.

Gaydamak, who normally only speaks English or Russian in public, was confident he had the haredi vote. Despite his admittance to not keeping Shabbat or kashrut, he said, "I am haredi, without the kippah".

When asked about his stance on yeshiva students enlisting to the army, he said, "Why do we need an army? To protect the Jews. Our country is Jewish. If young men don’t study Torah, we won’t be a Jewish country, so why would we even need an army?"

Gaydamak called his purchase of Jerusalem’s Bikur Holim hospital "a mitzvah, not business", and vowed that it would be the best hospital in the country. "Many doctors promised me they would return if I, Gaydamak, am there," he said. (YNET)

While this will probably draw cynical snickers from some of our Chareidi readers, there was an article in Makor Rishon a few weeks back with the subtitle, "Who was the IDF Officer who ate clams, but voted Mafdal (Mizrachi)?"

No, it wasn't about a Modern Orthodox IDF officer who ate treif, but about a non-religious IDF officer, Erez Gerstein who had a deep connection to Israel and Judaism -- and died protecting Israel.

I guess while not all of Israel's kings were the finest of Torah-observers, the rabbanim at the time still gave them lots of respect for furthering the cause of Jews and Israel.

Food for thought. (Ed: What do you think?)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael