PJA

NUMBEFt 111 SPRING 1986

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2 \/\/hat Schooling do you want foryour child in 1986? MANNAistheJoumaloftheStemberg Centre for Judaism at the Manor House and of the Manor House Society. 5 LionelBIue lnklings

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The cover pierfule Leon Kossoff Asleep , by John Lessore, is featured in his forth- coming exhibition to be held at the Stemberg Centre from May 4 -25. EDITORIAL `LET THEM EAT CHEESECAKE' IS NOTTHE JEWISH RESPONSE

tive and never liberal tradi- without question that the Rabbi. speaks out, tions. Sir Immanuel reaf- overwhelming majority of WHENpeople THE listen. CHIEF One firmed and stands by the ban today's inner city of Sir Immanuel Jakobovits' on women serving on United unemployed, black and great achievements has been, Synagogue boards of manage- white, are not without a job through dint of his. own sholar- ment. His evidence to the through choice and idleness. ship and articulateness, to Warnock Committee had a It is demonstrable that the make the voice of our chief predominantly prohibitive Jewish work ethic does not rabbinate respected through- and restrictive tenor. Now on raise wealth creating work to out the land. His profile in the the inner cities issue the Chief the highest place. general community has never Rabbi has become the darling The inner cities `are the ere- been higher than in recent of the political right and ation of a society which does months. His response to the earned the jibe that it is no not distribute opportunity or Church of England report on longer the Church of England rewards with any degree of the inner cities has been but the Synagogue which is the equity which Judaism widely quoted. He has even the Tory party at prayer. demands. The inner cities are been proposed, in certain It must be clearly and testimony to a society prone quarters, for a seat in the loudly said that not all inter- to prejudice and discrimina- House of Lords. The atten- preters of Judaism oppose tion which Judaism abhors. tion is fully deserved and abortion and artificial insemi- The Jewish experience has A4cz7®77¢ has no quarrels with nation by donor and seek to indeed often been as that of it. restrict the role of women in victim. But, in Britain, no However, it does present us communal life. And by no longer. And if we are no with a challenge. So effective means all interpreters of longer the victims of an unjust have the pronouncements of Judaism would suggest that society, what are we? To coun- the Chief Rabbi become tha.t. the problems of our inner sel the victim merely to they are widely supposed to cities can be solved by a endure is to fail totally to represent the definitive views strengthening of family life examine our part in maintain- of Judaism and of the Anglo- and a determination to ing the conditions which ren- Jewish community. Which is engage in wealth creating der and keep him victim. To far from the truth. work. It is a view which exhort those trapped by soci- Sir Immanuel's interpreta- smacks of steieotypes which ety in appalling social condi- tion of Jewish tradition is give particular offence to tions merely to work harder essentially a conservative black people, and is far and marry wisely is as out of one. And this is graphically removed from the anguish touch with reality as was illustrated when he comments and anger of real lives struggl- Marie Antoinette. Judaism on contemporary ethical and ing in circumstances of unac- has more compassion, more social issues. David Feldman, ceptable decay and disadvan- intimate knowledge of the an American expert on Jewish tage. heart of the stranger and medical ethics, the Chief It is by no means clear that more sense of social justice Rabbi's specialist area, points our society will ever be able than should evier allow us to out that in his work on abor- to return to full employment be caught saying "Let them tion Sir Immanuel consis- in the traditional `wealth eat cheesecake" .I- tently quotes only conserva- creating' sense. It is surely

MANNA SPF`lNG 1986 WHAT SCHOOLING DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR CHILD IN 1986? The Machzikei Hadath school run by the Belz chas[.dI.in in Stamford Hill was criticised as falling short of required modern standards by the government's schools inspectors. So it took the inspectors to court, and they withdrew their complaint against the school before judgement. 7lfee Gzla!rdfo# published this graphic report by Sarah Boseley about the content and method of the school's teaching. We then asked four heads of other Jewish schools what they thought of it.

HE HEADMASTER, MR. a "lingua franca" with similar com- frock coat, black hat, and beard put David Kornhauser, said he munities abroad. Hebrew and him gently right. Twas saddened by the fact that Aramaic are also studied as classical They chant the Hebrew, and then this boys' primary had to defend in languages. they chant the Yiddish translation. court the right to teach boys in the The school successfully chal- "They enjoy it", Mr Kornhauser way their parents sought. For all the lenged the inspectors in the courts said, "it is like a nursery rhyme". talk about multi-cultural education, on the grounds that they did not An introduction to traditional "there is no attempt to understand understand any of these well Jewish education, written for non- what we are doing'.'. enough to comprehend the nature Jewish teachers at the school, The Belz community in Stamford of the education offered. claims that "the children revel in Hill -the sect which runs the school Since the complaint, non-Jewish chanting out, at the top of their voi- -are very proud of this. The 130 or teachers have been brought in for ces, the age-old phrases", which the so families are the descendants of English lessons and basic maths, his- teacher sometimes intersperses with the Polish town of Belz, which was tory and geography - all of which topical quips in the Yiddish section. virtually obliterated by the Ger- are taught in English - for an hour "The system imitates the natural mans in the second world war. and a half a day. language acquisition of a toddler Mr Kornhauser, who is not actu- These subj ects are supplementary learning his first language", it says. ally one of their number but was to Hebrew studies, which occupy In this way, the children learn Heb- brought in to head the non-Hebrew the rest of the school day. These rew too. The Adz.sfe7t¢fe - the com- side of the school a few years ago, studies consist partly of learning pendium of the Laws - is learnt in explained that they were deter- passages from the Bible by heart in the same fashion. mined to rebuild the tradition of Hebrew, with Yiddish translations. The community's real claims for learning that belonged to the origi- In one of the high-ceilinged class- its education system rest on the nal community. rooms of the three old houses which teaching of the rczJmz4cZ, however - The difficulty for school inspec- make up the school, the youngest the full transcript of rabbinical tors is to assess how well these chil- class, a dozen or so five-year-olds, debates written in Aramaic some dren are being educated to face a were chanting aloud. 1500 years ago. modern and largely secular society. There was no running around the The school's introduction calls the The school philosophy is to equip classroom and no toys or learning TczJmHd "an ocean of vibrant, often the children to take their place aids in evidence. The boys sat humorous (but never frivolous) within a religious community which upright at their desks, their heads Hansard-like reports; a vast com- has been unchanged fundamentally shaved close at the front under their prehensive legal textbook; a set of for thousands of years. skull caps, and long curling single law reports; a glimpse into the men- One of the inspectors' findings locks hanging down in front of their tality of the Rabbinical Sages; a col- was a basic one -that the boys' com- ears. lection o-I theological dissertations; mand of English was inadequate. One lad led the chant, rocking a history of the Ancient World". The home tongue of nearly all the forward and backward in his seat. At eight the boys are launched children is Yiddish. It is the main When he made a mistake or stop- into this. The school's argument is language of the school and prized as ped, the rabbi in his long black. that they are gaining a training of

MANNA SPFHNG 1986 the mind in logic, argument and standing CSE, 0 and A Level that since society is diverse so must debate. Mr Kornhauser calls it a results. If our pupils leave to go to schools be. That schools are sup- "full, broad education" and com- )/es fez.vcz or university, or both, we posed to be society writ small is a pares it with mainstream project are equally satisfied. Of course, our very dangerous argument. One work. 40% non-Jewish pupils find other does not best prepare anyone for From the ' debates in the outlets for ffecz.r "Torah". any situation by plunging them T¢/777L!cZ about the exact point in the But just because we stand in a dif- straight into it. disappearance of the sun over the ferent place does not mean that I If, the argument goes, you wish horizon which constitutes sunset, cannot have sympathy with where to have a tolerant society, seperate the class discussions will broaden to the Belzer cfoczsz.dz.77t wish to stand. schools are destructive. But mixing encompass where the sun goes, for While education has some responsi- children up may only mix them up instance. The rczJmzfd says the light- bility to equip children with the and if pupils have not respect for ing of fires is forbidden on a Satur- information to survive and maintain the ethos of the school, then it will day - the boys will then consider the themselves, its much more crucial not achieve anything anyway. nature of electricity. function is to socialize and In reality, if Belzer chasidim do The school's attitude to the mod- "ethicalize" the pupils. not ¢czd much to our multi-cultural ern world is complex. Some parts of The information explosion of society - except diversity, a rather it are utterly rejected. The head of recent years has made it clear to all necessary ingredient - they do little the governors, Mr Yehuda Baum- educationalists that a school's main to detract from it. In keeping them- garten, said: "There is not a single aim must be to help its pupils to selves to themselves they do little child in this school who has access analyse and pattern the information harm and are sufficiently law-abid- to a television set. We are very strict that might come their way. ing perhaps to do some good. Self- about that. There is no doubt in my mind that evidently the DES did not under- "If we feel a child is being influ- an intensive Talmudic education can stand them but they sensed that enced some way or other by televi- attain that end. The sloppy thinking Belzer chasidim were contemptuous sion, we would speak to the parents and lack of analytical response that of the secular or, indeed, non- and the child would be dismissed one can hear daily on radio phone- Belzer world and were offended by out of the school". ins for example persuade me that cz// it. The school is an extension of the schools could benefit from the But I would not be surprised if home, they say. Parents are asked to rigours of Talmudic teaching. It is many Jews object to the school, but fill in a form every week, giving not backward, narrow, primitive or for a different and even less defensi- their child grades for the amount of limiting, but firm, rich, sure and ble reason. Jewish concern, as help he has given them, how much extending. unfortunately so often, may well be homework he has done, how he has The issue here is not the open, a result of perceived self-interest. behaved and even whether he is get- but the hidden curriculum. Whether Many Jews will be embarrassed by ting a good night's sleep. or not Talmudic studies touch on chasidim. Here we are trying to per- Mr Kornhauser said: "The whole recognised curriculum areas like sci- suade the world that we are aim of the school is that there ence, geography, history or enlightened and in touch and here should not be conflict in a child's mathematics is not the main issue. are these throwbacks to a bygone life. He should be given a balanced While it has nowhere been made age challenging the DES! and coherent view of the whole explicit, the fear about the For my part, I'm happy with as world. This is why the community Machzikei Hadath School is not the diverse a system as we can have so doesn't want outside influences content of its curriculum but its mes- long as access to any part of it is not brought to bear. When they are sage. It is this that made it impossi- based on privilege. There is no older, they can stand on their own ble for the Department of Educa- p.oint in speculating op what I would two feet„. tion and Science to maintain its do as head of the Machzikei Hadath Most of the boys will still be challenge. After all, when the 1944 School because they would not studying at 25. Only the totally non- Education Act only requires employ me -but if they did ... I academic will leave school at 17. prayers, dinners, RE and PE, it would not change it much. A little would be churlish to challenge the more on Kiddush Hashem, that is, school because of its lack of gymnas- being concerned about the impres- tics! sion we make in order to persuade CLIVE IAVTON I believe the school was chal- those who see us that God's influ- HIDDEN MESSAGE lenged on an cmofz.o7?CZJ level ence is good, a little more about because the DES inspectors felt respect. for cz// pfople, even other EW SCHO OLS CAN uncomfortable with the message chasidic groups, as God's children be as utterly removed they thought the school was trans- and a little more of my own time F fro in the Machzikei mitting in a society that they would explaining to the rest of the world, Hadath School as mine. The King like to see as "multi-cultural". This, even Jews, that while I am by no David High School in Liverpool is if I am right, is basically an exten- means a chasid, if everybody were firmly committed to the key princi- sion of the objection to any denomi- chasidim, the world would be a little ple of Nco-Orthodoxy - roroA I.77c national schools. A whole lot of bal- better, not a little worse.I Dcrccfa Ercfz - Jewish and secular lyhoo is talked about Northern Ire- learning in complement. Not only land and the coincidence of denomi- do our children, boys and girls, national schooling and sectarian vio- C+ire LZNIton is Headmaster of King David study Talmud but they also gain out- lence and we are asked to believe High School, Liverpool.

MANNA SPF}lNG 1986 children are well equipped with strong argument is that if the school ` CRIPPLED FEET' whatever courses they decide to pur- roll is full and the school healthily sue. financed, then an obvious need is I would urge the parents and the being supplied. Moreover the insis- T WAS WITH INTEREST, education authority to think again. tence on the use of Yiddish as the amazement and disbelief that The Hadath School limits the future •language of instruction can be I ROCHEljljEI read the I article SRAEL entitled "Jewish school wins right to stay in of children to a career in the regarded as a positive step in ensur- yesfez.v¢, but have parents the right ing the survival of this aspect of its time capsule", as published in to decide the fate of children at the Jewish culture. The Guardian. age of five years? What if they rebel In any consideration of the educa- It may be highly commendable at the age of 15 or 16 years - how tional philosophy of a Jewish for children to study the Mz.sfe77¢fe will they cope in the big modern school, the tension between the sec- and the rcz/77tz4cZ and through these world? What chance will they have ular and the religious requirements gain a "glimpse into the mentality of with their limited education to enter of the curriculum is uppermost. The the Rabbinical Sages and a history a university or to study one of the successful school is the one that of the Ancient World". The fact professions? What future do the achieves a happy synthesis of the remains that these children are liv- non-academic 16 or 17 year olds two elements, producing a creative ing in the 1980's in England and not have when they leave the school? balance and an atmosphere where in pre-war Belz. It may be advan- Mr Kornhauser professes that meaningful learning can flourish. tageous to know about the tradi- this education will enable these chil- Irrespective of whether the Jewish tions that prevailed 3000 years ago, dren, when they are older, `to stand element is orthodox, zionist orien- but not to the exclusion of the on their own feet'. I would suggest fated or progressive, the school will dramatic changes that have taken that by then these feet might be too need to exhibit a positive attitude place since then. Do we have a right crippled to stand on.I towards the culture, people and lan- to deny children the educational benefits of modern technology? guage of Israel. Chanting as a form of learning When so m=ciT=;search into the has long been replaced by a more Ftodrexhe ls:rael is Headmistress at Rosh Pinah learning process has occurred, it is individual approach. Modern teach- Nursery School but offers these comments in a essential to consider the child's strictly personal capacity. ing recognises the varying ability needs and development according and rate of development of each to each stage of his attainment and child. to provide the appropriate learning I agree in principle that parents situations and stimuli. Co-education have a right to choose the type of is desirable as this. is vital for education they wish for their chil- developing attitudes of self-respect dren. I also respect that there are MICHALEL BALRINETT and respect for others as well as differing schools of thought A TEACHER'S DREAM? being implicit in our belief in equal amongst Jews, and the followers of opportunity. Through the education the Hadass movement are entitled N SO FAR AS THE of the whole child, pupils become to their own beliefs and customs. curriculum of a school is aware and appreciative of the What I question is the lack of I designed to reflect and cater moral, religious, intellectual, physi- balance in their curriculum. I find it for the society which it serves, then cal, aesthetic, creative and inves- difficult to understand how HM the Belz school is perfectly justified tigative components that constitute Inspectorate cou.ld approve of the in organising itself along such rigid their heritage and future. They will curriculum carried out at the school lines. In many ways, such a cur- require a variety of methods of where only 11/2 hours of the school riculum is a teacher's dream because leaming depending upon the learn- day is spent on the teaching of such everything. is clear-cut and laid ing situations in which they are basics as English, Mathematics, His- down. There is an absence of per- engaged. Their teachers need to be tory and Geography. Forcing young sonal development and individual aware of current developments in children to sit at desks for long interpretation, but this may not be education and to be able to discuss educational matters on a profes- periods and to study all day must be regarded as constricting. The Belz taxing both physically and mentally. community's desire to minimise out- sional level so that the quality of the Children need play, physical educa- side influences is quite understanda- teaching is enhanced. tion, music, art and handwork -all ble, but is it practical or possible to Education is an on-going activity these are necessary, complementary ignore the wider community in that must grow to meet the needs of activities to develop body and mind. which the school operates? the present and future as well as pre- I strongly support the Jewish Day No two schools in this country are serving the best of the past. School movement. The schools I am alike. It is the proud boast of Separatism in education can be familiar with strive to attain a high educationists that the individuality dangerous if taken to extremes standard in Jv7'z.f, religious studies, a of the British system is one of its because a vital source of creative knowledge of Israel ¢s t4;e// os secu- greatest strengths. Currently there expression is restricted. The world lar subjects. Modern teaching is much demand for multi-cultural in which we live and to which our methods and technology are used. education and ethnic groups are children are the heirs demands The children emerge with a sense of requesting the right to educate their more than an introspective develop- identity, competence in the 3R's and own, so that the Belz commuriity ment and a narrowness of outlook. a sound general knowledge. These school is curiously contemporary. A At Akiva School we are

MANNA SPRING 1986 endeavouring to put these princi- ples into practice. It is our hope that In Hammersmith, a Church of we are preparing our pupils to take England minister has created a lis- their place in society as confident tening post out of a coal bunker. and compassionate citizens and People drop in, and tell their prob- Jews with a constructive and suppor- lems or just have a chat and he tive attitude towards Israel. I lends a sympathetic ear. Listening is his vocation, and I would like to Michael Bz\rnett is Headmaster Of Akiva promote such a vocation among my School, Finchley. fellow Jews, since we all talk at Once. There are a few places in Lon- don, which is a noisy city, where you PHILIP SKELKER ONDON HAS ITS O\VN can get some good quality silence. The best is obtainable on the first spiritual underworld. Be- N0 CONFLICTS floor of the West London sides the official temples, L Synagogue Office block in the synagogues, and churches where Room of Prayer. It is now furnished you can get a fixed appointment G::,y:sr:ap:Egallycl:::I:LtEf:ffEe;:f with God at such and such a time, as a quiet small synagogue. Many on Saturday or Sunday mornings, years ago it had no ark and was the Belz School. We aim to provide even simpler. It is best in the middle an excellent secular education there are all sorts of possibilities for chance encounters with the deity. It of the morning. alongside the opportunity to learn City churches are also pretty about Orthodox Judaism in a warm needs a little enterprise and you must not be scared of being free empty though often locked, and and intelligent fashion. Carmel has hospital chapels are never full. But range in religious matters. an enormous obligation to send out when someone prays alongside you It was my dog, who first alerted young men and women possessed of there, they really mean it. You can an affection for Jewish living, an me to these possibilities. There are lots of places which wouldn't let her tell . intelligent appreciation of the There are all sorts of material in, though she was a conformist sources of Judaism and a wish to rewards for the spiritually adventur- canine who stood up when every- develop both their own religious ous. Synagogues give you sweet body else stood up and sat down learning and their involvement in wine and biscuits if you stick on to when they sat down. Synagogues the welfare of the Jewish people. the end. When people give up God,. We conduct our academic life as if upon the whole - apart from my own - were not very welcoming, and ecclesiastical authorities hate a vac- there were no possible conflicts bet- uum, so they fill it with culture. Re'ach and I were reported to the ween Judaism and the best of the Suites from Carmen pop up in unex- Western Liberal tradition. We seek management, human not divine, on more than one occasion. They pected chapels, which were once to exclude from our corporate life dedicated to gloom, doom and dam- all that is meritricious and subver- forget that the first words which introduce the Jewish morning nation. Sikhs give you godly grub, sive of decent values. and they forbid top tables. Its liturgy were prompted by an ass, In response to the question of against their religion and we could and that for many people, singles, whether I believe that people learn from them. children and the old for example, a should have the right to opt for a Generally speaking the smaller philosophy such as that of the Belz pet is the purveyor of love and affec- the sect, the bigger the welcome. tion. I once met a sister of a geriat- School, my answer is an unreserved But perhaps the place to meet God "yes". The products of the Belz ric ward, who was understanding is in a crowded station. it is there enough to allow pets. With the ani- School are members of a self-sup- that real compassion floods your mals came litter, love and laughter, porting and law-abiding commun- mind as you watch the strains and and a little new life for everybody. ity; they contribute through their stresses of your fellow human Anyway I went to pray wherever religious learning and their perfor- beings. And when you spot a good they would let Re'ach in too, and I mance of 777z.Zzi;of to the greater deed done in that rugger scrum, the discovered the religious underworld good both of the Jewish people and sanctity of God becomes man- of my own city. There was a convent of the society they live in. Their ifest.I rejection `of television is not at Marble Arch, which thought altogether unreasonable granted Re'ach was pious despite her paw the corrosive nature of much of marks, and the centre for Catholic- what appears on the flickering Jewish relations always gave her a screen. I cannot for a moment share biscuit. their world picture but would feel it Because of her I got more enter- Rabbi z.s co#ve#or o/ ffe€ Bc/ D!.H an enormous violation of human prising myself , and because I am of The Reform Synagogues of Great Britain. curious as to how the other half His Monday morning broadcasts on Radio rights if that world picture were sur- Four's `Thought for the Day' have made him a pressed.. prays, nothing gives me so much household name. Among his books are To pleasure as a prayer crawl when I've Heaven with Scribes q"d Pharisees cz#d got a morning to myself . Backdoor to Heaven. Phmp Skelker is Headmaster of Carmel Col- lege, Berkshire.

MANNA SPF{lNG 1986 TALKING TOGETHER AND WORKING TOGETHER Address delivered by Cardinal Basil Hume in Westminster Cathedral at the investiture of Sir Sigmund Sternberg.

E ARE WITNESSING drals, is created out of the Psalms of ing of today. We condemn and reject an event which, while David. The Chosen People have all ill-conceived and insensitive Wnot unique, is certainly taught Christians how to pray; they attempts - sometimes imported most unusual. In creating Sir Sig- have pioneered the paths of God's from abroad -to subject Jews, espe- mund Sternberg a Knight Comman- revelation; they have enriched us cially the young and vulnerable, to der of the Order of St. Gregory the with basic moral concepts and pre- aggressive and systematic indoctri- Great, the Catholic Church is bes- cious principles about the dignity of nation. towing on him a public sign of its man, about human rights, liberty I am sure that our Jewish friends respect, recognition and apprecia- and justice. The Covenant between understand that any relationship of tion. And since the knighthood is God and His people once made can- trust and respect has to be a growing conferred for the distinguished con- not be broken. It stands unrevoked. together in mutual knowledge and tribution Sir Sigmund has made at It is that which commands our rever- sympathy. We hope that you will home and abroad to Christian- ence and our affection. continue to explore our tradition Jewish relations, this must be seen Christians, then, should regard and our beliefs and to respect our also as a gesture of sincere the Jewish people and its faith with convictions as we do yours. friendship on the part of the respect, gratitude and understand- The Second Vatican Council, Catholic Church to the whole ing. We condemn anti-semitism in some twenty years ago, represented Jewish people. any form. We repudiate all discrimi- for Catholics a new and contempor- I want to speak about the nation, suspicion and prejudice. ary effort to interpret for our gener- relationship that must obtain bet- Mindful of the long history of Chris- ation the message of Jesus Christ. ween Catholics and the Jewish tian intolerance and persecution, Its Declaration on the Relation of people. Increasingly in our day, and we can only dissociate ourselves the Church to Non-Christian Relig- belatedly, Catholics like other wholeheartedly from past injustice ions, known by the Latin words Christians acknowledge the debt of and attempt, however inadequately, IVosfrcz Aezczfc, was of immense sig- gratitude they owe to the Jewish to make amends for the crimes com- nificance. It lays down guiding prin- people and recognise the Jewish ori- mitted against the Jewish people. ciples for dialogue with the world's gins of the Christian Church. We I cannot personally think about great faiths and, in particular, with have become more profoundly con- the Sfooczfe - the Holocaust -without the faith of the Jewish people. It scious of the Jewish soil that a feeling of total revulsion and deep acknowledges explicitly the unique nourished our Christian roots. One sadness. The pictures that have bond between and cannot begin to understand Jesus recorded that chapter in the history Judaism and calls for mutual know- Christ and the significance of his life of the world remain indelibly impre- ledge and esteem. The Council and teaching without the knowledge ssed on all our minds. The Sfeoczfe is declared: `The Catholic Church has of his people, their history and one of the most shameful episodes a sincere respect for those ways of beliefs. He was a Jew and our religi- in our human story. acting and living, those moral and ous heritage, like his, is that of the Part of our atonement must be doctrinal teachings which may differ Law and the Prophets. The Christ- the sustained attempt to study the in many respects from what she ian Eucharist we celebrate owes its richness of Jewish thought and holds and teaches, but which none- origin to the Passover meal; the religious genius throughout the the-less often reflect the brightness daily prayer we offer, particularly ages. The confrontation and incom- of that Truth which is the light of all the Divine Office sung in our prehension of the past must give men'. monasteries, convents and cathe- way to the dialogue and understand- But the Council went on in the

MANNA SPPING 1986 same passage to emphasise that the Catholic Church `... proclaims, and is bound to proclaim unceasingly, Christ, who is "the way the truth Aubrey Rose and the life" (John 14:6). In him men find the fullness of their religi- ous life and in him God has recon- ciled all things to himself'(cf 2 Cor. 5:18-19). She, therefore, urges Catholics, using prudence and charity, to join members of other religions in dis- cussions and collaboration. `While bearing witness to their own Christ- ian faith and life, they must acknow- TEWS & ledge those good spiritual and moral elements and social and cul- tural values found in other relig- ions, and preserve and encourage them' (IVosJrcz Acfczfe 2) . So this, then, is the true respect and honesty that ought to be found BLncKs: in our relationships to each other. There must be fidelity to our faiths, frank and yet gentle witness to the truth within us, care to foster and NOT MUCH T0 LEJLRN preserve what is good and true in others. We must be aware of each other, welcoming each other, acces- BUT MUCII T0 GIVE sible to each other, being ready and eager at all times to give an account to anyone of the faith which is in us. The next two articles urge Jewish involvement in tackling the tragic and This is not religious aggression; it is explosive problems of race relations in Britain. One is by a Jew, the other a ministry, a service, to the truth. by a non-Jew. Christian-Jewish relations will continue to develop if on both sides HE INNER CITY here and in the caribbean, who had we commit ourselves to that prac- problem exploded in 1985. volunteered to fight Nazism, those tice of prayer, which is the very soul TThe papers are now alive who survived and those who laid of religious dialogue. It is, surely, with comments and solutions. The down their lives. entirely right to recognise that we Church published its Report, on And I look at the problems of the are, as human beings, most authen- which the Chief Rabbi commented, community today in Britain, the tically what we are supposed to be, with perception, but drawing fire on West Indian, British Caribbean, and when preoccupied with seeking the basis that "our inner city was black British communities. I see vio- those glimpses of the glory of God not their inner city, and we are not lence in this country turned in on as it is reflected in His Creation and them". itself, and I find it heart-breaking. expressed through His Word. From By coincidence I was asked to It has been a mere 30 to 40 years this comes our worship and praise. talk on this subject to the British since West Indians settled here in This we can share together. Caribbean Association last appreciable numbers, yet look at So we shall continue to approach November. Although one of its few. the suspicion and disarray that each other in a spirit of genuine con- Jewish members, I did not draw any exists. How did all this come about? cern and love. Dialogue in the pur- analogy between the Jewish and Here are some relevant facts: suit of truth must at all times be an West Indian experience. The two The population of Britain has expression of love and mutual trust. groups are different and do not have increased by 33% in those 40 years, I believe that this is the path much to learn from each other. All from 42,000,000 to 56,000,000. This marked out for us. In this spirit the Jewish community can do is to is a crowded island, irrespective of there can be no ambiguity in a help, if asked. Offering help can be immigration. Prior to 1945 the main Jewish believer accepting a Catholic misinterpreted and appear condes- minorities were the Jews and the honour - only the affirmation of cending. Anyway we have enough Irish, with perhaps about 5,000 of shared roots and a common bond. problems of` our own to tackle. African and Afro-Caribbean I Some of us may not welcome Afro- background, and perhaps a few Caribbean involvement in our more of East Indian background. Cardinal Basil Hume I.I 4rcfebz.sfeap o/ domestic issues. The Irish, even today, remain the Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic When I saw the West Indian Ex- largest ethnic minority. Church in Britain. He made the above state- Servicemen marching past the But all minorities do not consti- ment on the occasion of the investiture as a Papal Knight of Sir Sigmund Sternberg at Cenotaph on Remembrance Day, I tute more than about 9% of the Westminster on March 4th 1986. recalled my West Indian friends, Continued on page 8

MANNA SPFuNG 1986 total population. The black British Yet others see it differently. West Indian paper at the time of the Caribbean community in particular Institutional racism is widespread in Bristol riots. The headline read `Burn Bristol Burn' . Ihthat chord did is a small minority - about three per . the world, among white- and black- cent - though living in large mum- ruled countries. In the 1930s there that strike in the heart of the major- bers in certain urban areas. was widespread unemployment, ity, who last identified fires in Bris- With a few exceptions, almost all deprivation and poverty but no vio- tol with the war against Nazism? the inner city riots or disturbances, lence or burning of buildings. Indi- But a further change is needed, from Notting Hill to Bristol and Tot- vidual pohicemen can be, often are, and here we might learn from tenham have been linked to the rela- prejudiced, corrupt or heartless. Canada. Whilst helping minorities tions between the West Indian com- But these qualities apply to police to overcome disadvantage, great munity, particularly its male forces throughout the world. They concern was taken in that country to youngsters, and authority, notably have an appalling job to do, espe- understand the sensitivities of the police. This is the position as cially in our over-crowded industrial minorities. Their most important perceived by the other 970/o of the societies. Can one judge the whole development was not to have race population. West Indian community by what a relations dealt with by separate There have been disturbances minority may do? Can one judge organisations. involving other minorities, but none the whole police force by what a The word `race' is not compare in ferocity with the scenes minority may do? emphasised. The word `culture' is, of burning buildings, stoning fire- In 1981 when speaking to the and this gives a truer picture of com- man and moving ambulances, loot- West Indian Leadership Confer- munity relations problems. The col- ing of shops, that have plagued ence, I said that I detected two mes- our of the soul, of the culture, is some inner cities. And all this sages coming from the community. what matters, and these transcend despite the valiant efforts of West One was an attempt to adjust to soc- race. Indian parents to maintain discip- iety, to progress despite the prob- Thus the Canadians have a Minis- line, of West Indian leaders to lems, realising that the original idea tter of Multi-Culturalism, and not of create educational, job-training, of most to return to the Caribbean race relations. They also have a and social facilities. was now unlikely to be fulfilled. body known as the Human Rights There is no guarantee whatsoever The other message was to deepen Commission which deals with all that, without some radical changes, antagonisms, with no effort to kinds of discrimination, on the in organisation and attitudes, the adjust to British society, a message grounds of colour, race, sex, physi- problems can be solved. The prob- very often politically inspired, to cal handicaps, etc. This has the len of group relations in the world advance political ambitions. advantage of widening the perspec- is profound. Not merely race rela- I posed this question to the Con- tive of groups, and preventing the tions, but relations between groups, ference: What is the duty of a minor- pohiticisation of race relations that transcend colour or race. ity to the country in which it lives? bodies, which has afflicted this Examples abound, Cyprus, Assam, Two well-known leaders got up and country in the last 5 years. Punjab, Northern Ireland, Sri walked out. It was not the question The result is that West Indians, Lanka. they wanted to hear. Yet it is the and other minorities in Canada, and In Europe there is a growing vital question. Riots achieve there are many, have great backlash against minority immig- nothing, in fact reduce the chance advances, supporting the general rant groups, in France, Belgium, of jobs, and antagonise the other institutions of the country, without even in Switzerland, not based sole- 97°/o of the population. losing individual identity, so much ly on colour, but on culture. After that conference, some West so that the new Governor-General And in Britain there is a growing Indian leaders wrote to me. They of Ontario Province, the Queen's impatience among the majority and had agreed with my views, but had representative, is a West Indian. some minorities with the West been afraid to speak out. And West Indians are not linked to Indian community. This is a process Many West Indians I have spoken any one political party. that could isolate the community. It to dissociate themselves from pro- We in the UK should give serious is a backlash that is largely unspo- vocative statements attacking consideration to establishing such a ken, although exploited politically, British institutions. They want to body in place of the Commission for and it cannot be countered by vio- support Britain, which is now their Racial Equality, with similar lence. home. They want to form some kind changes locally. Our present bodies Yet it is a reality that has to be of West Indians for Britain group, a have done useful work. But a radi- recognised. The police in the 1960s comradeship of construction rather cal change is needed to de-politicise and 1970s never recognised prob- than a comradeship of violence. them, and to give those involved a lems, never heeded warnings, and Whether that comes about is up to broader picture of discrimination, now face an unhappy prospect. The the British Caribbean community its causes and solutions, on a community has to recognise the itself . Other minorities have formed national and local level. same problem now, and show more organisations or worked with simi- It is essential, too, that the media perception than the police have lar objectives. acts responsibly, understanding the done. It is that identification with sensitivities and fears of minorities It is a question of perception, not national causes, not solely commun- just as minority papers must under- only of reality. There is discrimina- ity causes, that some West Indians stand the concern of the majority. tion, prejudice, enormous problems are now seeking. It is positive and The media can stir up trouble by dis- of jobs and homes. Hence these out- will strike a chord in British hearts. criminatory reporting, by sen- bursts of violence. Contrast that with the headline in a sationalising events, by provocative

MANNA SPRING 1986 headlines. It is the duty of the government and the state to protect its citizens, all its citizens. It must therefore also understand the fears and worries of minorities, especially those who have suffered from an accumulation of disadvantages. I doubt whether WHY JE:WS SHOUIID any Government has really under- stood this, just as the majority has not understood the heart of the BE OUR AI-I-II:S minority. There has to be a real sense of urgency by central government Fiona Mactaggart about conditions in inner cities, this blot on the national conscience. If we are not to have two nations, the inner-city nation and others, a new S GENERAL SECRE- citizenship. These provisions led the radical approach is needed. Perhaps tary of the Joint Council E.uropean Commission of Human an Inner City Authority, similar to A for the Welfare of Immig- Rights to judge that our laws `had those specialised authorities created rants, I have during recent months racial motives and ... covered a in the USA in the 1930s, to concen- sought out opportunities to speak to racial group. . (giving) preference to trate on this single problem, with members of the Jewish faith about white people'. It concluded that the funding based on local need not on our campaign against the racism treatment black Britons received politics, with an approach that will which characterises British immigra- was `inhuman and degrading'. recognise the special disadvantages tion law and practice. Ours is an In 1985 the Commission for suffered by some minorities, and unpopular concern even among Racial Equality published a report not only minorities. many people who say they are of an investigation into the way Perhaps then a realistic start will opposed to racial discrimination. So immigration laws are administered. be made in dealing with social con- we are always looking for new allies It showed that immigration officers ditions and reduce those problems and I still hope we may find them in at ports of entry to Britain were bas- that help to trigger off social con- the organised Jewish community. ing their decisions on guidance pap- The unpopularity of the issue is a ers which describe Moroccans as flict. `simple and cunning' and Nigerians There has to be, therefore, a new reflection of the success of the pro- approach, new institutions, a clear paganda war which has been waged and Ghanaians as having `ambitions and unequivocal public statement against black immigration for over and plans out of all proportion to from leading West Indians opposing twenty years. When political parties their cap abiliti es an d cir- violence from anyone, and support- have been in ceaseless competition cumstances'. A landlord, or an ing national bodies and objectives, to outdo each other with laws employer or a publican who made a removal of group relations from designed to prevent black people decisions on the basis of such racial the areas of political and financial coming to Britain, it is inevitable stereotypes would be breaking the that white people come to regard patronage, and a special and urgent Race Relations Act, but the actions the very presence of black people as planned government policy to com- of immigration officers are excluded bat group disadvantage, especially a problem, otherwise why would we from this law. in the inner cities. If nothing is devote so much effort to excluding Now that primary immigration done, if there is no sense of urgency, them. The black communities who for work has ended almost the only are directly affected by these laws present attitudes will lead inevitably black people allowed to settle in to further confrontation, driving the receive a constant message of rejec- Britain are immediate relatives of British Caribbean black community tion, reinforced by the difficulties permanent residents. But many into a cul-de-sac rather than onto which they have reuniting their families are permanently divided. the main highway of British life. families. In the Indian sub-continent half of That, briefly, is what I told the The 1971 Immigration Act does the husbands and male fianc6s who British Caribbean Association, not specifically mention black apply to join women living in Bri- whose members, black, white, MPs, people any more than the 1905 tain are denied entry. The Home welfare workers, responded posi- Aliens Act mentioned Jews. But Office accepts that their marriages tively, and now have meetings in both laws were carefully designed to are genuine and designed to last. In hand to develop new ideas as a mat- affect particular racial minorities. In . many cases the couple even have ter of urgency. the 1981 British Nationality Act we children by the time officers get We as Jews do have a contribu- imported into the very definition of around to deciding the application. tion to make. How we make it is Britain as a nation the racist divi- Nevertheless, because of a rule often as important as what we do. . sions which have long characterised which is specifically directed against our immigration laws. Those divi- the arranged marriage tradition, i+whrey RIose is a solicitor and former Chair~ sions mean that we are the only entry is often refused. If the hus- man of the Board of Deputes Defence and country in the world which denies a band appeals against refusal, the Group Relations Committee. He is also Vice- President of the British Caribbean Associa- whole class of its nationals the appeal is heard in Britain by an tion. right to enter the country of their adjudicator appointed by the Home Continued

MANNA SPRING 1986 9 Office, which is responsible for those as well established as the lence' . If the word racism was substi- administering immigration control, Jewish community, is the particular tuted for anti-semitism that phrase in the absence of the applicant. fear of Jews of working in anti-racist could be used precisely to describe There is no independent record of coalition with black organisations. the situation of Muslim Bangladeshi the applicant's interview, only an The issue of whether is a immigrants in the East End today. `explanatory statement' prepared by form of racism lurks, usually He claims that others should the interviewing officer, justifying beneath the surface, but it may be learn from the Jewish experience of his decision to refuse. Inevitably raised at any juncture. In fact all the not demanding help from the state few appeals succeed. national and local campaigns about but `creating its own education and The violation of tradition, family the issue of racism in immigration social institutions designed to pre- life and privacy are regular features policy or about specific individuals serve and transmit what was special of the administration of immigra- threatened with deportation or and singular to the Jewish heritage'. tion control. Couples are asked divided from their families are nar- That is, of course, exactly what all about their private and sexual rowly focused. Through organisa- immigrant groups have done. tions like the Joint Council for the Within a mile of where I live there i]ea]rast£:nnsf=;Pnst'opatrhee::Sch:ir:re:a]a]:g Welfare of Immigrants individuals are four special or supplementary whole nations are automatically of all races, political persuasions schools, organised by the Viet- treated with suspicion. and opinions on other issues can namese community, by Cypriots It is in one way surprising that the unite with the single purpose of and by Afro-Carribean com- Jewish community has not been opposing racism in immigration and munities. more involved in working against nationality law and practice. While his criticism is of a Christ- this racism in immigration law and ian analysis of the inner-city experi- practice. Jews were the first victims ence, not necessarily shared by the of racist agitation for immigration black communities who live in these controls between 1880 and 1905. areas, his exhortation that the fan- The early response of the main ily should be at the core of a blue- Jewish community organisations to print for regeneration will ring hol- this immigration presaged the cur- low to those families who are not rent lack of concern shown by such allowed to live together here organisations about this issue. The But it would be foolish to pretend , because of our immigration laws Jewish Board of Guardians opposed that there is much confidence in the and practices. They will share his the immigration of poorer Jews and communities affected by the opera- belief that `when the family breaks was extensively involved in sending tion of immigration control that the down, the most essential conditions back those who had arrived without Jewish community is an ally in their for raising happy, law-abiding and funds. Benjamin Cohen MP, Presi- struggle against racist laws. While creatively ambitious citizens are dent of the Board, was created a most black people clearly reject the frustrated'. Baronet immediately after he had anti-semitism of Luis Farrakhan, it The tradition of respect for the voted for the 1905 Aliens Act. was noticeable that black newspap- family within the Jewish community That collaboration between ers which opposed his recent exclu- could provide a link for Jews con- Jewish leaders and racist legislators sion from Britain under these laws cerned to be allies of those affected was at least partly because of a laid the blame at the doo.r of `the by racist immigration controls. The desire to conform, to become a sec- Jewish lobby' . very names of the community based ure part of British society. Harry I was concerned that the recent anti-racist campaigns: `divided Samuels, another Jewish MP who response by the Chief Rabbi to the families' campaign, `immigration supported the campaign for immig- Archbishop's Commission on `Faith widows' campaign show that this is ration controls, claimed he was act- in the City' served to exaggerate the the heart of the matter. ing `to discharge his duties as an differences in the Jewish and black It is also at the heart of overcom- English citizen'. Minority religious experience rather than to stress ing the racist conditioning imposed ethnic groups are under much grea- what is common to both com- by a 25 year long debate about ter pressure to knuckle down and munities. The Asian immigrant immigration policy which has conform to the perceived norms of experience, strikingly echoes the assumed that the primary purpose society in Britain than in countries, earlier Jewish one, as Asians popu- of that policy is inevitably racial such as the USA, which are more late and rejuvenate declining inner exclusion. The people affected by genuinely multi-cultural. This is city areas establishing small busines- British immigration control are no illustrated by the greater hesitancy ses and reviving declining industries longer strangers but our of the Catholic church to express such as clothing and textiles. neighbours. They should be able to publicly its opposition to racism in The Chief Rabbi claims that claim our support for their right to immigration laws than of the estab- Jewish immigrants had `very consid- family life .I lished Anglican church. The Gen- erable extra disabilities' compared eral Synod of the Church of Eng- to black residents because they ELona. MaLctz\ggilrt was born in London and land in 1984 unanimously supported arrived `without the slightest know- educated at Cheltenham Ladies College. She a motion condemning immigration ledge of the English language, none read English a[ Kings College, London and law and practice as being `contrary sharing the dominant faith and all of became Vice-President of the National Union of Students. After working for the NCVO, she to Christian principles'. them exposed to manifestations of took up her present post as General Secretary On top of the insecurity which all virulent residual anti-semitism often of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immig- mino.rity communities feel, even erupting in organised acts of vio- rarlts .

10 MANNA SPRING 1986 And Philip Larkin puts four ques- ways not easily formulated - except tions of a book: by writing that particular novel. It is MY Could I read it? like being asked to produce a brick If I could read it, did I believe it? to show someone what your house WRITING If I believed it, did I care about looks like, and it is why the blurbs it? on novels are normally so unsatis- And if I cared about it, what was factory. A novel based on a plot, is SECRETS the quality of my caring and would often, by definition, a bad novel. it last? It's not the faculty to invent a plot, Rosemary Friedman Do you write every day? but the faculty to put oneself in the Yes, I do. I write every morning skin of another person, to think, to starting about eight o'clock. react, to suffer, not in one's own way A7tffeony Fro//ape has this to say on but in his way, to empathise, which the subject: `All those who live as is of vital importance. The greatest literary men - working as literary labourers - will agree with me that ::amd:ifm;Fott:etvoer±:dfYoafawg::t£ three hours a day will produce as Africa to say that she had actually much as a man ought to write. But met one of the characters in my then, he should so have trained him- novel, sitting by the swimming pool self , that he shall be able to work of the President Hotel! If the continuously during those three characters are true, the book will hours -so have tutored hismind, write itself. The plot, of its own that it shall not be necessary for him accord will come. to sit nibbling his pen, and gazing at Do you put your friends into your SOMETIMES GET ASKED the wall before him, till he shall books? to dinner parties where the have found the words with which he I think that writers who deny that I conversation, once it is known wants to express his ideas.' The they make use of actual persons that I write novels, goes something reply, in any case, that I write only deceive themselves, and no writer like this: in the mornings is not entirely hon- should be ashamed to acknowledge. `How long does it take you to est, because a writer writes the it. It is only if you have a definite write a book?' `Do you write every whole time, if not on paper, in his person in your mind that you can day or only when you get the inspi- head. No experience, nothing that give vitality and idiosyncracy to ration' `Do you write in longhand or he does is ever wasted. It can all be your owh creation. It is a creatio.n. use a typewriter - these days it is gathered up and used in his work. We know very little even of the often a word-processor?' `Do you The result of this is that no matter people we know most intimately: what he is doing - no matter how tri- we certainly do not know enough put`Where real do people you get into your your ideas?' books?' vial the daily round - the writer is about them to transfer them to the This catechism poses problems. never bored. pages of a_ book and make human Like all obsessive people, novelists Where do you get your ideas? beings of them. The writer does not don't really know feoi4; or wky they The writer does not choose his copy his originals; he takes what he do it. So when people ask them, themes. The themes choose the wri- wants from them - a few traits that they have to make up the reasons. ter. Great novels begin with tiny have caught his attention, a turn of The secrets of novel writing can- hints: the sliver of madeleine melt- mind that has fired his imagination. not be divulged over a dinner table ing in Proust's mouth; the shade of No one has a right to take a charac- because technique is not one of the louse-grey Flaubert had in mind for ter in a book and say: `This is meant living qualities and the novel is Madame Bovary. Henry James to be me'. The most he can claim, is primarily concerned with life. The made great novels out of little that he provided the suggestion for core quality of the born novelist is scraps, other people's talk, chance that character. human, not literary. The whole pro- happenings. He called it `the jog of Which authors have irifeuenced cess of composition is of straining to fancy's elbow'. Creation is a mys- you most? catch and record something of har- terious process and has been With one exception, I am no't co#- mony and sense, as it is relayed likened to the `ineffable experience scz.ows of being influenced by any from an unknown source. of the mystic'. one author. There is, of course, a difference Just as half the trick of being a The exception is Somerset between writing and writing well. good cook is knowing how to shop Maugham - underestimated in my Michelangelo didn't jump up full properly - which bits of meat and opinion. His guiding principles of grown and do the Sistine Chapel - vegetables to choose from all others lucidity, simplicity aLnd euphony 1 he worked as an apprentice for 7 - so a large part of being a good have sought to emulate. Like years. Beethoven learned to write novelist is knowing which bits of Shakespeare and Dickens and the his own music by studying with experience to discard. Bible, his words are for ordinary Haydn and other composers. De What are your novels about? men. Maupassant learned from Flaubert. Writers tend to get irritable or If you have to tear a paragraph Aristotle said: `To write well you depressed when asked to say what apart and wrestle with it on the car- must express yourself like the com- their novels are `really about'. A pet the novelist is not doing his job. mon people but think like a wise novel, in its totality, is bound to Obscurity should not be confused Oman.' express ideas, but messily and in with profundity.

MANNA SPRING 1986 iD Sz.j7?pJz.cz.ty is achieved not by ignorance of the richness .of the English language but by discipline. THE RABBI WHO It is a mistake to imagine that the style that does not attract notice is not style'. The reader should be quite unaware of what has carried TRHATHD HIS him from page to page but it is this `unputdownable' quality which is the greatest achievement of a novelist. FLOCK LIKE PRIESTS EZJpfeony depends on the sensi- tiveness of your ear. Anthony Burgess, a master of the English language, says: `Writers only write Dow Marmur well when they listen to what they are writing - either on magnetic tape or in the auditorium of their skulls. What is wrong with most writing today is its flaccidity, its lack of plea- sure in the manipulation of sounds and pauses. ' A good prose sentence should be like a good line of poetry, unchange- able, just as rhythmic, just as sonor- ous. What is you,r opinion of critics With my friend, William Cooper, I agree that there is no word of God in literary criticism. Although I would not go as far as Flaubert on the subject: `...Criticism occupies the lowest place in the literary. hierarchy... it comes after rhyming games and acrostics, which at least require a certain inventiveness. ' How quickly do you write? Where do you find your titles? Have you ever had a manuscript rejected? Do you rewrite? Do you get an inexhc[ustible supply Of your ow77 books, frcc.? The questions are endless. If I were asked, however, to reply in a sentence to my dinner table companion who is really, after all, enquiring flow the novelist writes, to give him the advice he is seeking, I would refer him to Guy de Maupassant: `Get black on white', or tell him: `Have one hand holding your pen and the other, firmly, on the nape of the reader's neck,. What a man cannot learn by liter- ary instinct and cannot acquire by literary habit, he will never, never, be able to obtain from rules or books.I

Rosemary Friedman is a distinguished novelist. Among her books are ftose Of Jericho, Proofs of Affection, ##d A Loving Mistress. This article was extracted from a talk given at the Manor House Society Book Fair in November 1985 .

12 MANNA SPRING 1986 GNAZ MAYBAUM DIED IN congregation in suburban London. an interested publisher would be March 1976. He taught at the After the initial years of unsettled most welcome. I College virtually refugee existence , following his arri- The fact that the bourgeois con- until the end; there are, therefore, val in Britain early in 1939, gregation did not hear what their many rabbis serving RSGB and Maybaum was `called' to the small rabbi had to say, or could not under- ULPS congregations who were his Reform congregation in Edgware. stand him, did not bother the rabbi students. His ten published books in During his two decades as its Rabbi too much. He still believed in the English - apart from pamphlets, it grew into one of the major baa/ fe¢beyz.f, the Jewish househol- essays and articles - are still availa- synagogues in the country. The der engaged in some `priestly' occu- ble, at least in libraries; he could growth, however, cannot be attri- pation - doctor, dentist, lawyer, have many readers and followers. buted to his charisma but to popula- accountant , teacher , even Yet his influence on British Jewry, tion shifts and hard, often hum- businessman - who acts as a priest even its non-orthodox. sector, is drum, institutional activities. He to his own family as it assembles in small. The tenth anniversary of his was much more proud of a congre- the sanctuary that is the home, death gives us reason to enquire gation of men and women who around the table that is its altar, to why this distinguished Anglo-Jewish wanted Reform Judaism than he celebrate Sabbaths and Festivals. Rabbi and thinker has hitherto been would have been of a band of This was reality for Maybaum, and largely ignored. Cfeczsz.dz.in devoted to him person- the guarantee for Jewish continuity It is tempting to blame it on his ally. more firm and lasting than anything Germanic style. For Ignaz The congregation respected him the State could provide, including Maybaum did not have an easy in spite of his literary activities, not the Jewish State. Dignified Jewish touch with the pen. His style was because of them. Often the leaders home life took precedence in his oracular. He wrote - and spoke - of the congregation resented the thinking over assertive nationalism. like a prophet, not like a publicist. fact that he wrote books more than In this he was a product of his Ger- He was incensed at the suggestion they were proud of it, because they man-Jewish liberalism, a disciple of that he should be more `popular'. feared that the writing took him Hermann Cohen. He despised popularity even when away from committee meetings and Here, then, is another reason he craved it. He wanted- his hospital visits. why Maybaum did not become the views to be known, discussed and But he continued to write unde- influence he could have been: his accepted, but he was not prepared terred. Often he preached ¢boz// the students, once out in the `field' of to `sell' them to the public lest that congregation rather than fo it. congregational life, saw a different would distort them. That is why he Although the members wanted easy kind of Jew from the priestly bczcz/ tended to look down on the popular and amusing sermons, he preached fecbayzt of Maybaum's books. They exponents of Judaism of his day. theology, preparing his manuscripts were more sceptical, even cynical, Perhaps that is also why he was so with an eye to the next book; his ser- about synagogue life. Instead of unfair to Martin Buber. Maybaum mons do indeed appear in several preaching Maybaum's theology, knew Buber when they both lived published volumes. They are they preached `A funny thing hap- and worked in Germany and he was thoughtful and important exposi- pened to me on the way to sfez4/. . . ' - aware of Buber's impact. But he was tions of Judaism and show no evi- type of sermons. From Maybaum's critical. `Charismatic teaching does dence of mesmerizing powers over perspective they trivialized the pul- not really teach but fascinate, and his audiences. You had to work hard pit, but if he was angry, he did not creates in this way a compact follow- listening to Maybaum preach, and show it. ing of believers.' he wrote with an few Jews come to sfez4/ to work hard. A further reason for Maybaum's eye on Buber in Tlrialogue Between When as a rabbinic student, serv- lack of impact in our movement has Jew, Christian and Musli.in (tine ing my apprenticeship in Edgware, I to do with his glorification of the Littman Library of Jewish Civilisa- would simplify, and probably falsify, family over the state. It was difficult tion,1973). one or other of Maybaum's ideas to be idealistic about the family Maybaum's opposition to mysti- and express them in a lighthearted while reading R.D. Laing'and his cism and Cfe¢sI.dz's773 has to be seen sermon, many members of the coli- collaborators, as we did in the in this light. They fascinate but do gregation appeared to be pleased; I 1960's. And after 1967 you could not not transmit knowledge. Their mod- was ashamed at having given in to be an authentic exponent of ern, Westernized, exponents were popular demand. Judaism without putting Israel in charismatic writers with popular Maybaum did not castigate me the centre of your teaching. appeal, e.g. Martin Buber and Ger- for them; he was far too tolerant. Maybaum did not; most of his stu- shom Scholem. But was their My propensity nowadays for preach- dents and colleagues did. Judaism the Judaism that 20th cen- ing serious sermons may be a way of Yes, he was influenced by his trip tury emancipated and educated expiating earlier . But when to Israel, a retirement gift from the Jews should espouse? Did it not years later, I offered to prepare a congregation, but not prepared to smell of nostalgia for the mores of one-volume popular `Maybaum change his views on fundamentals. the Osf/.z{de7z, Jews from Eastern Reader' constituting a systemati- Most of us left him and followed the Europe? cally arranged anthology of the sem- trend that brought Reform and Lib- Maybaum did not fascinate in this inal passages in his books with a eral Judaism into the Zionist world. way and thus did not become the suitable introduction and `explana- We are still not sure whether we are gwJ~w of Liberal and Reform Jews in tions', he was not in favour. I still on the right path, even though we Britain, though he devoted much think that it should be done, even fear that on this issue, Maybaum time and effort to ministering to a though he might not have approved; . Continued -on next page

MANNA SPRING 1986 13 may have been wrong. The family Post-Holocaust Dialogues CNow his critique of Iialachic has changed - but has the collective York University Press, 1983) Katz Mediaevalism has been fully vindi- replaced it? puts Maybaum side by side with cated by the antics of the powerful The reasons suggested here why Richard Rubinstein, Emil Fac- Orthodox establishment in today's Maybaum has been forgotten sound kenheim and Eliezer Berkovits. But Israel. like an indictment; a heavy Ger- he is critical; he regards Maybaum And Maybaum, though naive in manic style; an unreilistic view of not merely as belonging to a bygone his hope that the Holocaust would the Jewish family and its `priestly" age, but as being offensive to his bring progress, may nevertheless character; a refusal to recognise the contemporaries. have had more to teach us on the radical new departure reflected in By denying the uniqueness of the subject than those who only saw the Jewish statehood. Holocaust, and even seeing it as an uniqueness of the tragedy and thus For Maybaum's thinking was pre- opportunity to progress, Maybaum advocated Jewish survival at any Holocaust, though he wrestled with opened himself to the misunderstan- price - with no regard for Jewish the problem of the Sfeoczfe. Be it in ding of being offensive to the mar- purpose - and who imply that his pa:raphiet The Sacrifice of Isaac tyrs of the Holocaust. Katz writes nationalistic allegiance to the State (published by the Leo Baeck Col- that `if the Holocaust is the price of should take the place of commit- lege in 1959) or in the substantial freedom, or in this case progress ment to the Kingdom of`God. It is The Face of God After Auschwitz and expiation, then better to do this latter stance which, within a (Pollak and Van Gennep, Amster- without such evolution and recon- short time, has degenerated into the dam, 1965), the question of the ciliation -the price is just too high. fanaticism that now threatens Holocaust stands in the centre of his It is morally and theologically unac- Jewish life everywhere. contemporary search. His answers, ceptable. To insist on it is to turn When Irving Greenberg, the con- however, never acquired the God, kz.vyczcfeo/ (`as if one could say temporary orthodox Jewish thinker, immediacy and apparent relevance this'), into a moral monster.' divides Jewish history into three of, say, Emil Fackenheim's Katz describes Maybaum as `a epochs, each linked with a cfez4rb¢7£, response. Instead, they seemed to victim of his inheritance; that is, of and asserts that after the Holocaust belong to a bygone age. those earlier modernizing attempts we have entered the third era, he is He chose the term Cfo#rbcz# to which sought to evaluate and inter- not too far from Maybaum's think- designate the Holocaust. CfeLfrbcz73 pret Judaism primarily through ing, even though he has come to it is used to describe previous alien standards and for largely by a very different route. calamities in Jewish history, notably apologetic purposes.' He sees too The time may have come, there- the destruction of the First Temple closed a connection between fore, to remove the dust from in 586 BCE and of the Second Tem- Maybaum's cfez{rbfl# and the Maybaum's books and to re-read ple in 70 CE By seeing the destruc- Crucifixion and assumes that it them. Liberal and Reform Jews and tion of European Jewry in the same comes `from Maybaum's great men- their rabbis could do worse than context, Maybaum seemed to deny tor '. This, how- delve into his writings for guidance its uniqueness -in contrast to those, ever, `does not make it true; it on such issues as Jewish obser- Fackenheim among them, for whom merely makes it an error with a vance, our attitude to Jewish law, a the Sfeoczfe is unique and, therefore, pedigree.' critique of statehood, an under- requires new categories of thought But is it really so? Even if standing of Jewish-Christian rela- and new solutions, all linked to the Maybaum's style is difficult to tions and an attempt to make sense rebirth of the Jewish State. By penetrate and his predictions too out of the unfathomable tragedy of suggesting that the Holocaust too optimistic, the standards he set for twentieth century Jewry by placing will lead to progress, as did the ear- us then, and the values he taught, it in the unfathomable history of our lier calamities in Jewish history, have still much to say to us today. people which spans thirty centuries Maybaum came to express astonish- The earlier glib answers of his and more. ing optimism in the face of unspeak- detractors may prove more ephem- Thoughtful study of his writings able tragedy. eral than the difficult questions that may now give Maybaum the recog- Many of his readers were baffled, he raised. nition he never had in his lifetime. for it is difficult to share this He may have over-estimated th? Even if we will not agree with his optimism - especially as it is not priestly lifestyle of his congregants, solutions, we must wrestle with the related to the consolation that but the ideal he set before them is problems he put before us. Even if Jewish statehood sought to bring to true: the Jew can only practice his we find the style out of fashion, we the survivors - but rests on the Judaism in his home, far away from will find the content relevant.. assumption that the Holocaust had the public realm. He may have not brought fecz/czcfoz.c `Mediaevalism' of properly evaluated the significance East European Jewry to an end. of the State of Israel, but his asser- The old disdain of German Jewry tion that happiness has to be found for Eastern Europe, coupled with outside the state to expand the title Maybaum's opposition both to of his posthumously published legalism and Hasidism, find here a book, is today being corroborated new -and daring -expression. by many sensitive and patriotic The only contemporary Jewish Israelis. He may have displayed the Rztohi Don Marl"r is the senior rabbi of the Holy Blossom I;emple, I;oronto. He was for- scholar to subject Maybaum's unwarranted disdain of the German merly rabbi of the North Western Reform thought on the Holocaust to serious Jew -which he was only by osmosis, Synagogue, NW London. He is author of discussion is Steven T. Katz. In his not by birth - for the Osf/.kde, but Beyond Survival.

14 MANNA SPRING 1986 `Good. Stick to the facts and you ND WHY,' ASKS MY tated., `A `1 wish that I too, like that lucky fellow passenger, `are you can't go wrong.' `On the contrary, it is easier to tell flying to Israel?' boy, had something to prove. But I `Research', I reply, `I'm writing a the truth in fiction.' have no thesis, only a theme. A `Finally, the one really memora- book about the place.' theme, moreover, I did not know `Fiction or non-fiction?' she asks. ble line of our conversation. `my existed until I came to reread the `Non-fiction . ' son,' she says, `has almost disser- notes I took last May.

MANNA SPBING 1986 15 Monday, Jerusalem. M:y friends burned. Whether the `murderer was barbecues. have rented the back half of an caught I do not know. We return to Shortly before eight Pamela Arab house on Rehov Harakevet. the car and discover that the keys drives me to the Khan Theatre The front is a synagogue. A wooden are missing. Locked in the boot, we where Milan Kundera will receive sign informs the traveller that it is deduce. A resident, passing with his the Jerusalem Prize. There are the `Gateway to Heaven.' I expect Alsatian, offers assistance. It turns many familiar faces in the audience, to stay about five nights. Pamela out that we were both in California Rosemary Friedman among them, works in the Chinese department of at the same time - he in Berkeley taking notes like me. The salutation the Hebrew University. Jonathan doing political science and jour- is delivered by Pere du Bois, a Fran- produces films. Yoeli, their second nalism, .while I was down the coast ciscan friar - `a Christian come to son, wants me to help him make a at Santa Cruz studying literature. share the history of the Jewish bird-trap in the garden to catch a Now he is a correspondant for cable people' - who also happens to be pet. We dig a hole, drop in some news in the States. The house, for- head of Philosophy at the Hebrew crumbs, and cover it with netting. merly a shell, is thick-walled and University. He recalls a banner seen No birds fall for it. Later, however, cool. His two-year old daughter is in Czechoslovakia after the Soviet Yoeli finds an injured blackbird. It asleep within. He looks up the invasion of 1968; `Prague, Biafra, dies after a few days. A kind heart is names of locksmiths in the yellow Israel.' Only Jerusalem remains as not enough, even in heaven's bac- pages and calls them on his portable an example of hope, he says. Prom- kyard. Sony telephone. None can come for ising independence for Czechs as Tiuesday, Jerusalem. ]ona.than hours, though one suggests a way of well as Jews. It is a connection flies to London. My friend, breaking in. Kundera implicitly endorses when Josanne, comes up from Herzlia Uri decides to have a go. Leaving he, in his turn, leans against the lec- Pituach. I knew her when she had Josanne to mind the baby we return tern. `It is with profound emotion sparrows in her garden. Now she to the car. I sit on the boot while he that I receive today the prize that has hoopoes. Not to mention sun- cuts into the rubber seal, pushing bears the name of Jerusalem and birds in the hibiscus. These are the the lock this way and that. `What the mark of that great cosmopolitan people I grew up with. How else am are your impressions of the mood Jewish spirit. It is as a novelist that I I to know that I am in another coun- here?' he asks. I tell him and he tells accept it... And precisely in this try. me how he nearly came to blows time of undeclared and perpetual Josanne.loves me for my mind so with a spokeswoman for Gush war, and in this city with its drama- we go to see the books at the Emunim at a television studio the tic and cruel destiny, I have deter- Binyanei Ha'ooma Convention day before yesterday. The keys are mined to speak only of the novel... Ce#£rc. Among the hundreds, not in the boot but beside the rock For if European culture seems to thousands, of volumes on display I where Josanne removed the needle me under threat today, if the threat am reminded of the words of ' from her foot. Thus was the mystery from within and without hangs over another friend, an'Englishman, the solved, though not the enigma of what is most precious about it - its poet Craig Raine. `Caxtons are the bird in the air. respect for the individual, for his mechanical birds with many wings Wednesday, Jerusalem. Lunch original thought and for his inviola- and some are treasured for their with Yossel and Margaret Birstein at ble private life - then, it seems to markings - they cause the eyes to their apartment in Kiryat Hayovel. me, that precious essence of Euro- melt or the body to shriek without Yossel is a writer and raconteur. pean individualism is held safe as in pain. I have never seen one fly, but Once, when interviewed, he talked a treasure chest in the history of the sometimes they perch on the hand.' so much that his interviewer novel, in the wisdom of the novel.' I also think of the Hitchcock movie fainted. Yossel tells me the story of Afterwards there is a party at the and want to leave. Outside we are a pigeon, told to him by his son-in- House of Quality where Kundera is stopped by a grey-haired falconer. law, a zoologist. `Put a female in the surrounded by beautiful Czech- `Last night I was on television', he corner of his cage. He makes love. speaking exiles. And me. Kafka says, `Now everyone knows me. You Put a doll in the corner. He makes could only dream of such a journey, must have heard about my love. Put wood in the corner. He from Prague to Jerusalem. It was his memoirs. I was the famous Jewish makes love. Put nothing in the last chance, he thought, to begin a spy in the Nazi camp. In America I corner. He will make love with normal life. I want to know if Kund- am selling 3000 copies every week. nothing till he dies. Its's like that era, now he is here, still feels that My publishers have never known with me and Yiddish.' Israel is `the true heart of Europe,' anything like it. ' For years Yossel wrote only in a paradigm for all small nations with Lczfer, Ez.# Kerc77t. A bird-spotting Yiddish. Now he is writing a novel a culture to protect. And whether it expedition. Real ones, not books. in Hebrew. Based upon the diaries really matters to our disinterested We start at the end of a dusty track of Melech Ravitch, the Yiddish planet? Hadn't Kundera said only and walk a few metres into a stand poet, whose papers he is catalogu- this evening that `great novels are of pine. A needle gets into Josanne's ing for the Hebrew University. `I'm always a little more intelligent than beginning to feel like his son,' he their authors,' and hadn't he written foot and she sits down to remove it. •+n The Book of Laughter And Below us is a grove of olive trees, says. Thuys becoming the brother of wherein a couple of turtle doves our mutual friend Yosl Bergner, the Forgetting.. `Globally the blackbird's invasion coo. High above a hungry raptor, artist, the legitimate son of Melech probably a lesser kestrel, hovers. Ravitch. of the human world is beyond a Wi.thin days a girl is raped on It is Lag be Omer and in the even- doubt more important than the these same slopes and her body ing Jerusalem is full of bonfires and Spaniards' invasion of South

16 MANNA SPF}lNG 1986 America or the resettlement of tion, a crucified turkey, is ascend- a t¥i,?i-,i?+¥ ifi. }}¥ p¥¥F-ng Htapi¥ `ri`ri` ipR.:i Palestine by the Jews... And yet ing. nobody dares to interpret the last The idea came from a photograph :;:I::-?;;I;;I,i;;.::'!-fl=:ip::I::I:;¥:,:i:I;nif;:i?;i two centuries as the history of the published in A4cz¢rz.v. It showed a blackbird's invasion of the city of crowd of turkey farmers protesting man.?' I don't really expect an ans- outside the Knesset. At their head, wer. Though it is worth considering nailed to a wooden cross, was a tur- the following from Bz.rczs o/Jsr¢c/ by key. `This is almost finished,' says Paula Arnold and Walter Ferguson, Yosl pointing to a bird-faced Jew `The Blackbird is a resident which perched upon the spire of a cathed- only lately has spread from Galilee ral, `but I cannot decide what to put

and the Mount Carmel region, in his hand. Perhaps a bird.' Years :I)!PT ]¥Pa:1 where it is common, to the coastal ago, when his daughter was still a plain.' child, he took her to the zoo and Thursday, rllel Aviv. F`chov they saw a chimpanzee catch a bird. Harakevet means the Street of the His hand just darted out without the THE Railway. Every morning, before expression on his face changing. eight, the train to Tel Aviv goes by Still deadpan he pulled off its head WONDERS the house. This morning I am on it. and handed it to his mate, eating The train rattles through the wild the torso himself . OF . . . GOD Valley of Rephaim. Kek-kek-kek go Later, Herzlia Pituach. rThe w.ife Smyrna Kingfishers as the engine of Ambassador Argov, whose shoot- MOSES scares them from perches beside the ing was the pretext for the Lebanon polluted river. On tree-tops and in War, is on television. Josanne trans- OR NATURE ? the sky Bonelli's Eagles remain lates for me. She says that her hus- unmoved. What is it to them that band hopes that this is not in fact trains come and go? the case. He is shown alert but help- Howard Cooper As soon as I arrive at his studio less and depressed. His wife Yosl informs me that he has piles. demands an inquiry into the war. After three days of suffering Yosl They say that in the North the vul- HAT REALILY HAP- Bergner's piles are public know- tures are fatter than ever. But in pened at the Red Sea? ledge. He shows me the creams he Herzlia Pituach, in Tel Aviv and in W Did God actually inter- has already accumulated. By chance Jerusalem the blackbirds sing their vene in Israel's history and miracul- I have in a pocket my own ointment intoxicating songs, unless they hap- ously divide the waters so that the for `embarrassing itching and pain- pen to catch the eye of an artist or people could pass through? To what ful haemorrhoids.' Yosl tries it at an ape. extent are we expected to believe in once and declares it the best yet. A this `miracle' which lies at the heart man arrives with a package of his of the Exodus story? special cigarettes. They converse in Is this history - oi. legend? A Yiddish. This man's father, Yosl divine action - or a freak of nature? informs me, was a /e/cfecr, a field A true record - or imaginative doctor in Russia. It reminds him of Cline Sinclain, one of Britain's most innovative and creative Jewish writers, was born in Lon- invention by a primitive tribal when he arrived in Haifa with Yos- don in 1948. His most recent novel, Blood group, embellishing a folk-memory sel Birstein from Australia. There Ljtoe+s, was published in 1985. The above as the story of their beginnings as a was a man in the town selling ther- piece carries an acknowledgement.- "With people was told and re-told over mometers, crying in Yiddish, `God thanks to Eli Rosen." many generations? forbid you should ever have to use How does the Biblical text which them.' `So these are your new describes the parting of the sea help Jews,' says Yosl to Yossel, `they are us with our questions? Chapter 14 no different ! ' of the Book of Exodus opens with Yosl's new paintings are inspired the children of Israel just having left by the early German Bird's Head Egypt, and God is telling Moses Hagaddah. He began painting bird- where they should set up camp. He headed Jews in medieval European explains that Pharaoh will believe settings, but soon saw that their that they are trapped and `1 will har- naivety and zealotry was timeless. den Pharaoh's heart that he shall Many of the later pictures have pursue after them and I will gain desert backgrounds. `The Jews are honour through Pharaoh and all his calculators, always calculating,' says host, and the Egyptians shall know Yosl, `so they never see disaster that I am the Lord' (verse 4). So approaching until it is too late.' these first verses explain what will On the largest canvas a group of happen from God's point of view. bird-headed Jews sit at a table - a Our storyteller lets us overhear pose borrowed from a Renaissance God's intentions as we eavesdrop on master - and look heavenwards this conversation with Moses. whither the object of their adora- Continued on next page

MANNA SPRING 1986 17 Verses 5-7 now tell us the story from Pharaoh's point of view: the Egyptians hear that the Israelites have gone and they ask themselves why on earth they should have let their slaves go. Suddenly aware of the consequences of the departure, they realise they have made a mis- take. Pharaoh prepares his army. From the human perspective we see the natural sequence of events - the awareness of the slaves' absence, the regret, the decision to do some- thing about it. God does not enter into it. Then, for a moment, our nar- rator steps in to remind us that the salvation of the Lord which He although the Egyptians experienced go (back) 8 will do for you today; for just as you by a strong east wind all the events in this psychologically have sce# the Egyptians today, you night C understandable human way, there is will see them no more -for ever.' and He made the sea into dry another way of talking about what land D happened: `And the Lord hardened (verse 13). He adds a religious dimension: Yes, the Egyptians will and the waters were divided.' Pharaoh's heart ..... and he pursued once and for all be out of their sight after the children of Israel. . . ' (Verse - nothing could be more down-to- This is a beautifully composed 8). This corresponds to the words description. We start with the earth than that -yet this is also `the overheard when God was speaking human action (A) as we had been salvation of the Lord which He will led to expect. The divine dimension (Verse 4). The juxtaposition of the do'. Moses' reply combines the two viewpoints shows the storyteller then follows (8) which introduces material and spiritual dimensions: allowing us to have two different `What you will see will be the an element of the miraculous. But the God who intervenes in human perspectives on the same event. absence of your enemy, but when Truth is multi-faceted - there is affairs is not the final component more than one way of explaining you see that, you will also be seeing here: nature is also involved, and something of the way in which God life. the third element of the parting of works in the world.' Again we see Our narrator goes on to shift the Sea is a strong east wind (C). our narrator presenting us - this from his omniscient commentating These three perspectives involving time through Moses - with two com- voice to pick up the action from the man, God and nature are placed Egyptian side, which he had left at plementary versions of reality. Both one after the other. They are three are `true' and the story needs them the end of verse 7: `And the Egyp- `truths' set side-by-side by the both if we are to `truly' understand. tians pursued after them and they storyteller without further explana- God's reply to Moses sets up the caught up with them. . . ' (verse 9) . tion or judgement as to what `actu- Next our attention turns to the parting of the Sea: `Lift up your rod ally happened'. The fourth phrase and stretch out your hand over the Israelites. When they see the Egyp- sea, and divide it. And the Children (D) seems to echo the second, tians they are terrified, `and they although it retains an ambiguity in of Israel shall go into the midst of cried out to the Lord.' (verse 10) the Hebrew as to who is the author the sea on the dry ground' (verse How pious, we think, how natural of this event, God or Moses. From to turn to God when under threat, 16). God seems to want this to be the narrator's point of view it does experienced as coming from Moses' when fear grips. But our storytel- not matter - it is the event itself action. The first part of the sentence ler will not'allow us such easy senti- which is decisive. His concern is to is a completely human action (`lift. . . ments. Verse 11 begins: `And they express the reality of the ct;c#f and stretch...'). The middle phrase said fo A4oscs...' There are no rather than to pander to our need to (`and divide it') describes a sym- have explained exactly feow it hap- prayers, no requests for divine inter- bolic act, and this single Hebrew vention, no mention of God at all. word -ztvkczez.few -itself `divides' the pened. He presents us with the Only the first of many bitter, angry, three perspectives, the different human action from its miraculous frightened complaints to this kinds of `truth' we know, and does consequences. As God expresses it stranger Moses (verses 11-12) : `Why not resolve the tensions between to Moses, He seems to want to have you done-'this to us? Better the them. In the end the result was the absent Himself from the actual divi- slavery we know than the anxiety of same: `the waters were divided' (E). sion of the sea. `You deal with the facing the unknown alone, where The three `truths' of the event cor- sea and 1'11 take care of the Egyp- death is the only certainty' . respond to our own attempts to exp- tians' is what in effect God says (ver- Moses' reply is skillful. He knows lain what happened at the Red Sea ses 16-18). that this people need a concrete and - strictly speaking we should speak Yet when the parting of the Sea is material manifestation , some practi- of the Reed Sea, the literal meaning actually described by the narrator in cal demonstration, if they are to be of the Hebrew words ycz;7t sit/. Some verse 21, this is what we hear: calmed. So he emphasises that they explanations of the event see Moses `And Moses stretched out his •as the central agent of the drama: a are really going to scc something happen: `And Moses said to the hand over sea A clever leader aware of the geog- people: Fear not; stand still and scc and the Lord caused the sea to raphy of the area, the areas of mud

18 MANNA SPRING 1986 and shallow water and fluctuations concern. But I amazingly happy in in the tide, he knew exactly when my job and am devoted to the and where to lead the people future of Judaism and Progressive through the waters. It was Moses Judaism. I entered the profession who planned and led this slave knowing it would be hard: I did not revolt - he alone was responsible for enter to become rich. lsrael's deliverance. Rabbis might have to realise that Other explanations allow God, in they cannot always set their stan- His infinite power, to bypass the dards of living on the example of laws of nature. We have pillars of other professions and that many of cloud and fire, water springing from their congregants are also working rocks, manna and quail provided in harder than ever. the desert - the division of the sea is yet one more miracle demonstrating Andrew Goldstein God's saving acts on behalf of His Rabbi, chosen people. Faith transcends our Northwood and Pinner Liberal rational judgements. Synagogue The third type of explanation places at the centre luck, coinci- dence, chance, impersonal natural forces: the Israelites happened to be in the middle of their crossing when PART-TIME JOB FOR . . . an unusually strong wind caused Sir' havoc and then disaster to the pur- suing Egyptians. Fate would have it OUR EDITORIAL IN that this combination of wind and Mcz##cz JO .is a little more tide allowed the Israelites to escape. Y alarming than it might be. Our Biblical storyteller almost One correction, too: Hillel Avidan seems to be aware of our need to `THEYWHINE TOO MUCH' has not left the rabbinate; he is, explain these events in terms we though part-time, our much- already recognise. We compartmen- Sir' esteemed and very successful rczv at talise truth until it fits our prior con- West Central Liberal Synagogue. So ceptions. And yet he resists that FOUND MANNA TO BE well esteemed that Bristol borrow need of ours and does not allow us extremely depressing. On him from us one Shabbat a month. to resolve our doubts. Three `truths' I the first and last pages we I have thought, for a long time, are set side-by-side. All are needed, heard of the rabbinic malaise, and that the part-time rabbi is the model for truth is indivisible. The tensions in between the further fragmenta- for the future. For one thing, this is between the three views of reality tion of the community. returning to our roots. It is only remain in the text - and therefore in To take the latter point first, comparatively recently that the us. We are left to wonder, and in our Rabbi Leigh talks of his embarras- rabbi became a full-time, fully wondering we sit at the scdcr table ment at belonging to the World salaried professional, and I think it joining our questions to those of the Union for Progressive Judaism and is, ±n fa.ct, a. ca.se of chukat hagoyim that he became so. And I do not generations of the past, recognising praises the virtues of the rival Con- a continuity with that distant cros- servative Movement. No doubt think that a rabbi is a clergyman, sing of the Sea. As Martin Buber Rabbi Leigh would claim that the nor do I think that he should be. has written: recent conversion by a Conservative Comparatively few, I suspect, of `It is irrelevant whether `much' Rabbi of a British footballer to ena- our congregations in either move- ble him to play in Israel was fe¢/czcfez.- ment are paying their rabbis all that or `little', unusual or usual, tre- ccz//y correct and quite satisfactory. they should be paying, according to mendous or trifling events hap- But if the letter of the fecz/czcfoczfe is all the official scales, and this is not pened. What is vital is only that that is of interest, then I am quite because of meanness but simply what happened was experienced happy not to be embarrassed and because they cannot afford it. If while it happened, as the act of continue my allegiance to the World they did not have t.o try to afford it, God. The people saw in whatever Union for Progressive Judaism and there would, I think, be a lot more it was they saw `the wonderous not its rival. progressive congregations, espe- power which the Lord had Regarding the rabbis: methinks cially in the smaller towns, than wielded' and `they had faith in some of them whine too much. I there are today. the Lord' (verse 31). From the realise that whatever I say may Is not the answer to build up a Biblical viewpoint, history sound self-satisfied and priggish, corps of rabbis who are willing to always contains the element of and also that I am lucky to be in a undertake the traditional tasks of wonder. ' congregation that is expanding, and the rabbi: to teach, to preach, in our content and to be married to a sup- uneducated times to `lead services - portive wife. I also realise that year though many of us smaller stew/a can Rabbi Howard Cooper z.a cz grtzd#cife o/ /fee Jmanage that part of the job as we do and practising after year the workload increases, here in Oxford - and to give rulings psychotherapist. He is married, has one child with ever more committees and and lives in Northwest London. schemes, and that there is cause for on fecz/¢cfoz.c matters when required?

MANNA SPF}lNG 1986 19 In other words, a body of part-time dard person' . officiating at mixed marriages, I rabbis, enthusiastic for their proper Every rabbi - and every congre- have never heard of this being prac- roles, leaving it to the congregations gation - is living, growing and tised in Britain and hope I never to cope with the manifold tasks changing. Sometimes one outgrows will. which are ho proper part of a rabbi's the other and change is needed. By strict adherence to a fJcz/czcfeczfe job, however much they may be a Perhaps it is change of career: inspired by the Middle Ages we will customary duty for a parish priest of perhaps change of scene, opportun- not be more acceptable to our the established church. ity, people or type of rabbinic activ- orthodox co-religionists than we are If a rabbi wishes to act as a social ity. now. worker, he can; but he can also Many rabbinic departures have work as a rabbi. If a rabbi wishes to been sore blows for the congrega- Nonek Jacobson go hospital-visiting, that is a duty tion. Yet in almost every case the NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE incumbent on all Jews; he can also rabbi has obtained a more satisfying work as a rabbi. If a rabbi wishes to position and the congregation has work as a lawyer, or even as a steve- found a new minister - who is cer- dore, he can; he can also work as a tainly different, but no less good. rabbi. The Progressive movements BROAD CHURCH will progress far faster if there were John in. Davis Sir, more rabbis available who were wil- LONDON NWll ling to spend Shabbat and OTH ARTICLES ABOUT whichever day was chosen for the Conservative Judaism in cfeedcr for their congregation, with B A4¢## cz JO co ntaine d a day for study, and then work for deliberately vague statements and the rest of the week as did the rab- TEAR OFF LABELS several inherent contradictions. Jac- bis of olden times, at whatever they Sir, lyn Chernett writes "... Conserva- find most rewarding in every sense tive services are traditional in con- of that word. ABBI MICHAEL LEIGH'S tent and style, including . . . explana- article in the last issue of tion and discussion . . ." -hardly my Jeremy Montagu R A4cz#Jccz left me very per- experience of a traditional service. President, West Central; turbed. While there may be congre- Rabbi Leigh urges Reform "to Member, Oxford Congregation. gations within RSGB where the ser- experiment in a more traditional, vices are nonTparticipatory, there and not just a Liberal direction". At are others,. especially our own the same time he points out that the synagogue, where the great major- latest Shabbat prayer book is fuller, ity of congregants participate in presumably in the type of content PROVOCATIVE both Hebrew and English, with the he desires, and that much work is Sir, primacy in Hebrew (75-80°/o). We being put into producing various endeavour to impart learning to our •guides which show "a serious and HE M4IVIVA WINTE R members of both sexes by using our detailed approach to the subject". editorial is as stimulating, synaLgogne not only zLs a. Bet I;efilah One is tempted to ask what the Tprovocative and worth- but also as a Bef A4z.drczsfe. A good two writers really want that is not while as the rest of this excellent available either within the orthodox percentage of our members have "" or Within the periodical. However is it right? learned in one year's membership Perhaps the other side of the coin and attendance more than in 20 -30 Reform movement which we are should be exposed . . . years' membership of the United told is able to sustain a successful A loo/o annual turnover in any Synagogue. Could that be because alternative `traditional-style service' organisation is good. It provides job the variable 25°/o of the service is in where it is required by members. opportunity, variety and change - the vernacular and because of the Sadly, the answer may well be for both rabbi and congregation. translation and exploration of the whom they DON'T want. There is far more peril for an Torah readings? I strongly disagree with Rabbi organisation where no new posi- I, personally, dislike all kinds of Leigh where he states that a "prolif- tions are available for the `new labels and feel deeply that as Jews` eration of movements in the com- blood' waiting to enter. Look at we must strive for K/cz/ yz.s#¢c/ and munity actually can be positive over- those groups where the secretary or further the things which unite us all". I am privileged to be spending chairman `hangs on' for 30 years. rather than drive wedges to sepa- this year studying in Jerusalem, Too often there is a collapse after rate us. I still remember as a small where I can view my own commun- his/her retirement because the boy in Warsaw, where my family ity from a different perspective, but group has become a `one man were members of the Great often have to explain why, in a com- band'. Loo-k at industry and other Synagogue in Thomacki Square .- munity of less than 60 autonomous, careers. The successful are often our minister was Prof Dr Rabbi non-orthodox synagogues, some those where there is change every Schorr - being called by the have felt it necessary to maintain 10/15 years. orthodox section "The Deutsche two separate movements. To have The rabbinate is not a career/voc- Shool". The language used was THREE organisations is clearly an ation where a job profile or specifi- mostly Hebrew with very little absurdity. cation is indicated. No attempt Polish, but no German. In showing the variations in prac- should be made to produce a `stan- On the point of American rabbis tice amongst RSGB synagogues,

20 MANNA SPRING 1986 DYNASTY AND j.UDAISM the writers have clearly Sir, demonstrated the breadth of possi- bility within the existing movement. IIAVE ATTENDED orthodox, conservative, refomi J6nathan Black I and liberal synagogue services Rask in four of the five continents. I have IIfr4o`J'' JERUSALEM listened to hundreds of sermons. With the exception of those specifi- D;rid Goldberg cally prepared for Bnei Mtzvah, none of these has been directed Im- pREFlx JVEo IS MucH towards teenagers. used by journalists, sociol- Last summer, I set up in my own Togists and theologians who FIRSTLOVE? syngagogue, a teenage competition, have `small Latin and less Greek', with prizes, for the best essay on but know it sounds smarter than its Sir' one of the following Subjects: boring English equivalent of 7®ew. It Dynasty and Judaism; Dallas and is not surprising that Dayan Ger- OUR EDITORIAL Judaism; Sport and Judaism. Only shon Lopian should misunderstand concerning the exodus one entry was received. Perhaps I its meaning, since the zealots of from the rabbinate is both was hopelessly overambitious, but ancient Palestine were strenuously Y opposed to anything that smacked alaming and worrying. the negligible response was not Being a post-graduate college, attributed to widespread ignorance of Hellenism. They reached for Leo Baeck accepts as students men of, or lack of interest in, Dynasty, their catapults whenever they heard and women from other scholastic Dallas or sport. . the phrase `Greek Culture'. His disciplines -medicine, engineering, The main problem - and this is an reason for forbidding Dr. Michael etc. These may well be valuable indictment levellable throughout Weitzman to read from the Scroll in experiences to a potential rabbi, but most of British Jewry - was a com- his synagogue was that Dr. I find myself asking the question, plete inability to see what Judaism Weitzman had given a series of lec- "Why did they leave their original has to do with these popular soap tures at the New London Synagogue, which is `closest to lec- profession and why did- they enter operas or sporting activities. the rabbinate?" Why was the rabbi- Perhaps it should be asked "What turing at a nco-Christian Church'. nate not their first choice of career? percentage of adult members of all What Rabbi Lopian meant to say, I recall once speaking to a group our synagogues. could have entered presumably, is that the brand of of undergraduates and asking their that same competition?" . Orthodoxy practised at New Lon- don is an unacceptable recasting of plans. Many had not yet made up Indeed, British Jews as a whole their minds but said, "Well we can are probably better acquainted with traditional Judaism, i.e. `neo- Judaism'. But to assert that Dr. always go into teaching". Of course Dynasty, Dallas and sport than these were the`very last people we Judaism. Even worse, perhaps they, Louis Jacobs and his flock are neo- wanted in teaching. too, cannot see what the latter has Christians is to suggest that they I do not have sufficient know- to do with any of the former. have tampered with traditional ledge.to say that this applies to Leo Our prophets addressed them- Cfe7.isf!.fl72 dogmas -the Virgin 13irth , Baeck students. I am however selves directly to their audience in a perhaps, or the Resurection! Which prompted to ask the question, compelling and unmistakeable vcr- goes to show just how ludicrous this "lh7hat does motivate students to nacular. They came into the market- act of censorship is. enter Leo Baeck?" It also prompts places to proclaim the Torah mes- PERSIST IN MY ITERATION me to ask a further question of the sage in dramatic terms. Who, today, that the Likud government of . powers that be. What other criteria, is following their example? Judaism I 1977-84 was the worst thing to apart from academic excellence, do is too wordly to be confined to the happen to the Jewish state since Bar you apply before accepting stu- patois of the Temple, the liturgy of Kochba, and that supporters in this dents? How do you assess a stu- the synagogue or the esotericism of country include some of the biggest dent's suitability? Answers to these the yeshivot. hooligans to be found outside of questions may help to solve some of To cite one practical example. West Ham's notorious Intercity the problems. Sermons on the sidra Of Ki Tzavo Firm. Nevertheless, it is always nice Finally in -an editorial some time (Deuteronomy Ch. 28) should to acknowledge when those of back you stressed the importance of preach on Aids and Herpes linked diametrically opposed views are a to sexual activities; reduced life a good career prospect and struc- pleasant surprise to meet. Recently ture in the rabbinate. This was a per- expectancy resulting from drugs; I shared a platform at Oxford's fectly correct demand, but in insist- environmental destruction - all Israel Society with Malvyn Benja- ing upon this, we must safeguard issues of direct concern to Youth, min, one of Herut's lulninaries. This agalnst losing other factors. A rabbi which impinge on their own lives right-wing hawk turned out to be must have qualities and attributes and which can be literally related to softly-spoken, courteous, thought- not required in any other career, the text of the Torah. By what right ful, insidiously plausible with his and unless he has some of these, do our preachers whitewash Torah arguments. I heard subsequently both he and his congregants will for those who do not understand it that he was quite taken with me too. never be happy. in the original? If we could get on so amiably, then Gerald Cas.s maybe there is even hope for an David Abrahams The Avenue acceptable Lopian-Jacobs coali- lh7ESTCLIFFE-ON-SEA PINNER tion.I

MANNA SPRING 1986 21 ifm= The Manor House

ThT.rfTinnDtmTh)- Society

The Manor House Society is an ambitious cultural venture. Its aim is to bring a wide range of J.ewish cultural and intellectual events of a high level within easy reach of a large audience. Regular activities include concerts, debates, exhibitions, drama, seminars and lectures.

Membership of the Society gives easy access to the many amenities of the Manor House Centre for Judaism, the largest Jewish centre in Europe. These facilities include a bookshop, library, coffee~shop, extensive grounds and tennis courts. Membership also brings advance information about events, priority. booking and ticket discounts and automatic subscription to Wanna. Membership can be on either an individual or family basis.

Subscriptions are modest: Single membership £10 per annum Family membership £15 per annum Senior citizen/student single £7.50 per annum Senior citizens - family £10 per annum

Existing subscribers to Manna may deduct the unexpired portion of their subscription from the Manor House Society subscription.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Sunday April 20th, 7.30 pin. A celebration of vIddish drama, song and humour wit:h Anna Tzelniker, Harry Ariel, Bernard Mendelovitch.

Sunday May 41:h to Sunday May 251:h. An exhibition of paintings, drawings and watercolours by John Lessore. Sunc/ays..11.00 am -1.00 pin; 3.00 pin -5.00 pin. Monc/ay -77}ursc/ay.` 11.00 am -4.00 pin. Evenings: Mondays and Wednesdays: 7 .30 pin -9.30 pin.

Sunday May 18th, 7.30 pin. The Survival of Figurative Art, a lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen.

Monday 91:h June -Sunday 29th June A sixtieth birthday exhibition of Jacques Kupferman -landscapes and other works.

Sunday June 15th, 7.30 pin. An evening of Jazz and Food with the Jonathan Gee trio. Sunday July 6th Fine Arts Ensemble: D/.rector/So/o V7o//.n -Jack Rothstein.

Lunchl:ime recitals: Wednesday May 7th, 21st, June 4th,18th, July 2nd,16th: 1.15 pin.

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