11 Spring 1986
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PJA NUMBEFt 111 SPRING 1986 J~ Effl mmFj-u-I,-IO-- The Stemberg Centre for Judaism, The Manor House, 80 East End Road, Contents London N3 2SY Telephone: 01-346 2288 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 MANNA is published quarterly. 6 Basil Hume Talking Together &\/\/orking Together Editor: Rabbi Tony Bayfield Deputy Editor: Rabbi Willian Wolff 7 AubreyRose Jews&Blacks: NotMuchto Learn But Art Editor: Charles, Front Editorial Assistant: Ehiabeth Sarah Much to Give Editorial Board: Rabbi Colin Eimer, 9 Fiona Mactaggari \/\/hyJews should be ourallies Rabbi Dr. Albert Friedlander, Rabbi David Goldberg, Dr. Wendy Green- gross, Reverend Dr. Isaac Levy, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Magonet, Rabbi Dow 11 FtosemaryFriedman Mywriting secrets . Marmur, Rabbi Dr. John Rayner, Profes- sor J. 8. Segal, Iscawittenberg. 12 DowMarmur The RabbiwhoTreated His Flock Like Priests views expressed in articles in A4la7t7!a do not necessarily reflect the view of the Editorial B oard. 15 C[ivesinclair Of Birds &Brains Subscription rate: £5 p.a. (four issues) 17 Howard cooper The\/Vonders of Nature including postage anywhere in the U.K. Abroad: Europe - £8; Israel, Asia, Americas, Australasia -£12. 19 Letters 21 DavidGoldberg Lastword 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.