Q Numero Uno – As the former head of Seagram and a billionaire philanthropist who has spent much of his fortune battling anti-Semitism worldwide, you have just written a book, “Hope, Not Fear,” that argues for a kind of neo-Judaism that loosens up the rules of observance, welcomes converts and has nothing to do with synagogue.
A: I don’t know that I would call it neo-Judaism. The Jewish part will remain, but it’s our attitude that has to change. Instead of shunning people who marry out, we need to welcome them. I think that if we want to grow Judaism, we have to accept interfaith marriage for what it is.
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Shemspeed is an independent recording label and promotional agency highlighting cross-over music artists with positive and unifying messages. Founded by Erez Safar, an American-Israeli DJ/Producer, Shemspeed promotes over 15 dynamic artists representing a wide range of genres including hip-hop, reggae, and rock. These artists include Y-Love (revolutionary Jewish hip-hop), Diwon (Yemenite / Sephardic hip-hop, Israeli music and more), DeScribe (soul-awakening dancehall, hip-hop, & soul), and Electro Morocco (Israeli rock, dance music.) Shemspeed artists, collectively showcasing the diversity in world Jewish music, have performed with musicians as varied as Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Idan Raichel and Eminem; they’ve been profiled in Rolling Stone, SPIN, The New York Times and XXL; and they’ve been seen and heard around the world on various TV appearances (Conan O’Brien, CBS and BBC World) and global radio. Shemspeed’s mission is unifying people through culture and education, celebrating diversity and common ground. By way of this work, we add a public Jewish voice to multi-cultural, inter-faith, creative and collaborative bridge-building.