Is the fact that you feel a duty toward society and that you are involved in public action linked to the fact that you are Jewish?
David Grossman: It is not possible to deny the fact that from the Tanakh (Bible) — from the words of the Prophets — there came some of the social and moral imperatives that serve today as values for the whole of Western society.
A small people that is always an outsider can develop feelings toward those who suffer, who are excluded, who are pushed aside, and also a doubt toward force and arbitrariness.
But in spite of all that, I think that the need to involve oneself in the affairs of the city is wholly personal, and that the Jewish basis gives it a moral support. With this it must be kept in mind that there have also been numerous Jews in the criminal world and in the mafia; thus one must be cautious.
David Grossman, Israeli writer, activist for Judeo-Arab peace. (conducted by Zvia Walden for PLURIELLES)