As his fame and stature grew, Einstein became an iconic figure to the Jewish diaspora and after the creation of the state of Israel he was offered to be its second president, a offer he politely declined.

Had he accepted this offer and had his views about Judaism, as expressed in this letter, come to light in his lifetime, the scientist would have kicked off a huge furore. In this letter, which was written in German the year before his death, Einstein wrote: “For me the Jewish religion like all others is the incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity, have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

This letter was in fact a remarkable critique of Eric Gutkind’s newly published book ‘Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt’. Towards the end of this letter, he seems to be losing patience and takes a dig at Gutkind’s position of pride. “I find it painful that you claim a privileged position and try to defend it by two walls of pride, an external one as man and an internal one as a Jew” With such walls we can only attain a certain self-deception, but our moral efforts are not furthered by them.”

... contd.