During the Second World War, evacuated to non-Jewish households, I encountered Christianity at home and in school.

I began to see that my problems, seen spiritually, were really my soul's plusses.

I feel that the Christian experience and the Jewish one have much to give each other. If this open society continues and there is no return to political anti-Semitism, then this encounter, deeper than any theology, may happen.

Because of my Marxism, I was not into myths or miracles, whether it was the virgin birth, the physical resurrection or casting out demons from an epileptic.

I learnt pity, sympathy, and what it was like to be at the other end of the stick. Such lessons can't be learnt in lecture halls.

Jews are just like everyone else, only more so.

When you do a good turn you feel rich, even if you are broke.