9 AUTUMN 1985 Intmmrj-,,-J|-I Dtxp1,- Contents the Stemberg Centre for Judaism, the Manor House, 80 East End Road, I,Ondon N3 2SY Telephone: 01-346 2288

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NUMBER 9 AUTUMN 1985 inTmmrJ-,,-J|-I Dtxp1,- Contents The Stemberg Centre for Judaism, The Manor House, 80 East End Road, I,ondon N3 2SY Telephone: 01-346 2288

2 Lionel Davidson Why I Left Israel MANNAistheJoumaloftheSternberg Centre for Judaism at the Manor House and of the Manor House Society. 4 Lionel BIue lnklings

MANNA is published quarterly. 5 Paul Johnson How the Left Became Hooked on Jew and . Zion Baiting Editor: Rabbi Tony Bayfield Deputy Editor: Rabbi william Wolff Art Editor: Charles Front Editorial Assistant: Elizabeth Sarah 7 David Rosenberg Jews in Britain -Ethnic or Beligious Minority

Editorial Board: Rabbi Colin Eimer, Rabbi Dr. Albert Friedlander, Rabbi 10 David Hulbert pabbi Avihail's search for Lost Tribes David Goldberg, Dr. Wendy Green- AmongtheAfghans a gross, Reverend Dr. Isaac Levy, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Magonet, Rabbi Dow Marmur, Rabbi Dr. John Rayner, Profes- sor J. 8. Segal, Isca Wittenberg. 12 Dow Marmur Israel will confirm the Truth of Judaism - Or Destroy lt

Views expressed in articles in A4lcz72jccz do not necessarily reflect the view of the 14 Rosita Rosenberg Ticking the Minutes Editorial Board.

16 Ben segal Islam -Purity and Arrogance Subscription rate: £5 p.a. (four issues) including postage anywhere in the U.K. Abroad: Europe - £8; Israel, Asia, 17 Ju.ia Neuberger Human Fights Need More Protection Americas , Australasia -£12.

18 Ivan Lawrence Nonsense, Julia

19 Herbert Weiner Our Souls Are Booted in a Past Life

20 Evelyn Rose pot LuckandJudaism

21 David Goldberg Lastword

'The cover picture is a sculpture by Jackie King-Cline whose major exhibition at the Stemberg Centre opens on November loth.

IFC, EDITORIAL STOP STIFLING FREEDOM

HE SAGA OF THE certain amount of power and Johnson, with which it is jux- editorship of the Jew- should use it responsibly. But taposed, contentious. They T ish Quarterly makes did Tony Lerman transgress may also be challenged to sorry reading. The columns of any of these rules? Did he clarify their own positions and the Jewish press have been so give aid and comfort to our that can only be good. inundated with statements, enemies? Tony Lerman's offending counter-statements, letters David Rosenberg is a lead- editorial suggested that the and comment that the precise ing Jewish socialist. Jews have community over-estimates the facts are difficult to deter- played an important role in prevalence of anti-semitism in mine. But these three points the development of socialism the world and uses the cry of are abundantly clear: and have provided many anti-semitism to evade discus- Labour MPs in this country. sion of difficult issues relating - Newly appointed editor Yet the Jewish Socialist to the policies of the State of Tony Lerman was forced Group is execrated by large Israel and the current direc- to resign. sections of our community. tion of Zionism. A radical - The resignation was not Why? Because they con- position. But may it not be unconnected with his pub- stantly attack the accepted stated? lication of an article by views of the community on The leaders of our com- David Rosenberg. and an many subjects. And most of munity have long sought to editorial on Israel. all because of their views on suggest to the outside world - Pressure to resign was Israel. that we are a community with brought to bear on Mr. What does JSG say about a single voice, united on all Lerman by members of Israel? As we understand it, important issues. There are, the Board of Deputies and the JSG believes that there of course, times when such an other communal figures. should be two separate states, appearance is helpful. But one for Israeli Jews and one mostly it constitutes a flagrant Clearly all editors are for Palestinian Arabs. It misrepresentation of the highly selective in the choice claims that the PLO is the truth, and it is a very danger- of material that they print. legitimate representative of ous position to maintain. If We at MANNA attempt to the Palestiniaris. Furthermore dissent and debate are eradi- apply criteria relating to the the Jewish Socialists only con- cated even from internal dis- quality of the writing and the demn terrorist acts against cussions we will find ourselves intrinsic interest and freshness civilian targets. Those are heading for disaster and of the subject matter. But are challenging and confronting alienating still further all there views we would not views. But does that make those with a will to think for print? Certainly we would those who espouse them themselves. thiiik long and hard before enemies of the Jewish Unity and uniformity are publishing anything which people? Do such views debar not the same. The Talmud has advocated violence or prom- a man from writing in a debate and disagreement at oted hatred. We would also Jewish journal on a subject on its heart. It may be the `very not wish to glamourise or pro- which he holds an M.Sc.? nature of leadership t6 seek mote the views of those who We think not. Which is why to create a united front. It is would seek to harm the we are also prepared to pub- equally of the essence of the Jewish people, though we lish an article by David role of journals like the might well wish to understand Rosenberg. Some may find it Jewish Quarterly and Manna them. We also recognise that contentious. Some may also to state firmly when this is not journals and editors wield a find the article by Paul possible.I

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 WAS DRIVING ALONG the grounds for deflation. Chelm. the Derech Haifa in Israel, Of course, I didn't think any of driving in the inner lane, at this at the time. At the time, sfoevcf the prescribed speed - other cars achim gain yachad.. brothers were hurtling past in the normal manner sitting in unity. - when traffic lights ahead changed I had visited Israel first a few to red and I slowed to a halt. years before, had an idea for a Another car braked beside me and I book, A Long Way fo Sfez./ofe, made was presently aware of a familiar subsequent visits for the purpose of inspection. The man inspecting me researching it, and later on after it and my vehicle was of imperial had appeared to help with a script [' build and distinguished coiffeure, for an aborted film of it - a mission not-unlike Mr Shimon Peres but not entirely fruitless for on this with a better class of wrist-watch occasion I had an idea for another and bangle. book, Smi,th's Gaz,elle. `A good car', said he to me judi- On all these trips I was greatly cially. `But a bad driver'. Then the enchanted by Israel. It seemed to lights changed and he was off like me a model,~ place - model in the smoke. sense of miniature: a complete OK bzJbbc/ch, I said to myself. working one assembled and man- It was the Ford Mustang again. ned by Jews. Its defects as well as its This car was becoming the bane of virtues were even then immediately my life. I had bought it, just emig- apparent but no less engaging; on rated with it, on the advice of an the contrary, they added character, expert Israeli friend. These were charm, substance. There was some- days of innocence, days of 1968, thing greatly heartening. in this anyway, before sporty Mercs and embodiment of almost mythical Porsches were two a penny on the childhood archetypes; something roads of Israel. The car seemed to beyond words even that the robust represent something here, mainly a Jewish spirit had survived the great challenge, which was why I was in evil of Europe, had resurrected the slow lane to avoid murderous itself warts and all from those races. phoenix ashes. A few days before, emergivg Also on these trips, it is needless from a hard day at Ashdod Cus- to say, I became an ear for much toms-clearance office, I had found a Zionist propaganda, little of which I gang of Yemenite port workers clus- had managed to plumb. Yet when, tered round the car. They had man- in 1967, the Arabs announced that aged to get the bonnet open and the time had now come to annihi- were examining the interior. On late Israel I suffered the identical leaming that I was the owner, one o#grf experienced by Jews of them, a spare ringleted young fel- everywhere and found myself all of low like a junior prophet, came out a sudden a sheep in Zionist clo- with an observation. `God gives thing. nuts', he said, `to people without I joined committees, wrote arti- teeth,. cles, addressed rallies. I went A good car. But a bad driver. further. When the initial uneasy (Ashkenazi mflchcr) . muttering of middle-east experts God gives ruts to people without began to firm into opinion - situa- feeffe. (Sephardi prole). tion very difficult, Israel scarcely Why, whence, all this omnisci- viable, perennial source of trouble, WHY I LEFT ence, about me as well as the car? alien intrusion into, dagger aimed From either end of the spectrum, at, thorn in flesh of, the Arab world across yawning social divides, an -I firmed up, too. identical reaction - God and nuts/ In a fine moral fervour I con- good car; no teeth/bad driver. Evi- cluded -my wife and I concluded, dently a profound levelling desire the children were too young to con- ISRAEL was on display. Or more likely, clude -that if all one had to do to be Chelm had materialised again. a trouble-maker was to be Chelm, sfefe£/ of fools, whose citi- threatened with annihilation, we zens from top to bottom behave would physically join the trouble- Lionel Davidson irrationally. For I hadn't after all makers. clapped eyes on these people This fit of rectitude was almost before. How could they know I was immediately overshadowed by the `without teeth'? The desire to model state which resolved the situ- deflate had too eagerly preceded ation itself with a series of tremend-

MANNAAUTUMN 1985 ous clouts at its enemies, sending nees, had led to factionalism, inter- red, and for reasons traditionally them all reeling. Euphoria. We necine fighting, another expulsion - ascribed to the virtues already cited: `for our sins' - and longer-lasting emigrated, all the same. i:ts tolerance , rf ;s breadth . As a reason for emigration, indig- dispersion: its fruits the Western These qualities seem to be to cZo nation has to rank pretty low. wall and rz.sfecz BAT/. Of Babylon, on with the diaspora. They are not People who. emigrate are either fie- the other hand, the flower, and the much in evidence in the Holy Land eing something or hoping to better fruit, had been the Babylonian Tal- itself , and seem seldom to have themselves or the country they are mud. been. If this is so, and I have some going to. For Zionists the latter Two major literary works have qualifications, why is it so? Why is reason, of course, applies. But I was sustained Judaism, the Bible - the- the religion in toddy's Israel not not a Zionist - could see no present law-and-the prophets -and Talmud. only disregarded, as a kind of tire- reason, that is, for the very term The work of the prophets was to rail some irrelevance as in so many itself , was unconvinced by the against those who did not keep the other countries, but viewed with movement's premises, some of law. rlTie work of Talmud was to hostility, held up as a laughing which seemed mendacious or mis- define that law, and in its highly stock? It is after all the rcziso# d'Gfrc leading, at any rate cloaked in quite peculiar execution it also came of the Jews, it puts the Zion in fruity ambiguity (`Zion', Jewish `na- closest to defining the Jews - a Zionism. tionality,). people otherwise hard to define The reason, I believe, is the Still, Israel was Israel, and I liked indeed. dreaded omniscience - this time of it, and therefore tried energetically A hot question of the day - my the religious establishment, which to find some plausible motive for day and since -was `Who is a Jew?' has a truly jumbo share. And what my presence. It was a mischievous one for it was it has it uses, ruthlessly, recklessly The one I was straining away at instigated by a faction who sought and divisively, in ways which seem was that there ought to be some vi7ay to ban from the fold those of whom profoundly to affect, above all I could help in formulating a more they disapproved. It was also sterile others, the mores and the temper of rounded and cheerful view of the for in its implication - find your rc¢/ the land. place. As the country of the Jews, it Jew: he'll show you the others - it The clout of the religious is ought to reflect Jewishness, as barred a more fundamental ques- derived from small forces, but by France reflected Frenchness and tion: Wfeczf is a Jew? canny use in a politically frag- England English. What it seemed To this question the Talmud, in its mented arena it has acquired a predominantly to reflect were the rambling and anarchic way, gives an make-or-break function in the for- views of its east and central Euro- eliptical answer which all the same tunes of governments. Thus by pean founders. The novels seemed looks familiar and true. It is the one using the coin of religion, in day to pretty gloomy, racked and tor- given by the Jew in the joke to three day horse-trading that has nothing mented not only by big real prob- disputants: `You're right, and he's to do with religion, it has devalued lems but by quite trivial everyday right, and he's also right'. Why is religion. ones. So this looked a useful area. that so very Jewish? Because of its This is rather an important thing I was kindly received, made wel- common sense, its wry humour, its to do in a country where the religion come, and also made to give talks. unabashed acceptance that there has to supply not only a ritual code One I remember particularly, for I are more ways than one of being but a living culture and a national was in that rather excz/fc' condition of right? All that, and some more. It morality - the only unifying one for the o/cfe - one who has just m¢cze ekhal-es tolerance, breadth. a great ragbag of disparate ele- aliyah, fruitiness again -and I gave These qualities are well set out in ments. Take the value out of ffoczf, it with great hwyl. Its subject was the method of the Talmud. In trac- and you start draining the country the return from Babylon and the tate after tractate, page after page, of meaning. contrast between the way provi- contrasting opinions are given and This process was already well dence had dealt with the `impracti- argued and allowed to stand. under way when I was there, before cal' few who had returned and the The Babylonian Talmud is a work the days of `Operation Peace for too-well established majority who of exile. It was compiled to per- Galilee', the ruined economy, the had not. All that numerous and petuate for those outside the Land hyperinflation. It was not chance or practical establishment of Babylon, the values sanctioned exclusively the malevolence of enemies that I pointed out, had vanished without for the people o/ the Land. Again, brought these things about but trace, and so had all their works. define: something universal, that something present - or rather not Providence had favoured the dream- has yet to be kept exclusive? present - in the society itself. What ers who by returning to the However intended, this great was lacking was a ruling and an hon- impoverished land had ensured the work of accommodation completed est ethic. For there has been from survival of Judaism and c;ur pre- the work of Titus and put what was the start a lack of honesty, a devi- sence here tonight! This talk got a left of the Children of Israel on the ousness and deception, perhaps big hand. road and into the world; creating in self-deception, in the matter of Yet when I came to think it over the process not only normative aims. later I saw it was tremendous non- Judaism but also The Jews, both of From the original `Lovers of sense and that quite the contrary them products necessarily of the Zion' who hijacked a religious could have been argued. The dream- diaspora. For another Talmud, not codeword for reasons not at all ers, on their return, had blown it for of the diaspora, was all this time religious, to the later religious par- a second time. The omniscience, available, the `Jerusalem' Talmud. ties who entered the field of secular apparently characteristic of retur- Its great rival of Babylon was prefer- affairs for reasons far from secular:

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 deception. When first we practice to tricksters themselves, because it's trial run, and retired baffled. The deceive ... we end up hoodwinking holy? most gifted of them, Saul Bellow, ourselves. And as Jews we re-create Either way you end up with great wrote a book on his experience, ro the mad toytown of Chelm. Which confusion. And Israel I.a confused, Jerusalem and Back. It is the lea,st thrives, of course: this week Shimon and I was not the least confused per- of his works, curiously sketchy, can be prime minister, and next son in it. Apart from these high mat- hesitant, uncertain. I know the feel- week . . . ters of principle and of state there ing. `Next week's' prime ininister were some lowlier ones, of which My own journey was not to recently came out with an observa- one in particular came to trouble Jerusalem but to Herzlia, the odd tion which illustrates the process. In me. This was the dandy motive I'd little town, or rather towns, for defending some j iggery-pokery over selected for myself of being a resi- under Chelm rules there are two of land sales on the West Bank Mr dent bringer of cheer to Israeli life them, a mile or so apart, which com- Shamir said, `From the beginning and letters. It was faulty. I couldn't memorates the inventor of the there have been people, with spe- write in Hebrew, would never be state. Herzl was a writer, too, whose cial talents, who have devoted able to. My books, to be published involvement with the Land arose themselves to the holy mission of abroad, would be imported like out of a similar fit of indignation, in redeeming land'. This they had to everyone else's. Books take longer his-case-the Dreyfus affair. do ìn weird and wonderful ways. It to write than to think up. There was Ìt bears the aspects of a mighty is no simple matter to buy land from no advantage in my being there. to dream', he confided to his diary. Arabs. There is terror, there are write them; in fact a disadvantage And a bit later, `1 am still puzzled threats, and even murders. And it for the singularity of the land how the idea of writing a novel has to be done, sometimes by tric- rapidly blurs in the endemic confu- turned into drafting a practical prog- kery'. And he warned investigators: sion. ramme. Perhaps after all the idea is `Be careful. Don't lay hands on the We stayed ten years, all the same, in no way practical and I am only redemption of land. That is a holy and enjoyed most of them. Despite making a joke of myself'. duty,. everything, Israel is very Jewish. I know that feeling too.. The problem here is, what do you My doctor called me boycfe!.k, tell the children? Do you let them everybody called everybody bwb- grow up ignorant of the weird and bc/cfe. The songs remain in my head, wonderful ways, later to fight for the catchphrases on my lips: all Ltonel Dzrvidson the best selling writer was what has been acquired by the enriching. But in those ten years no Porn in Hull on March 31, 1922. Among his besf k#ow" works are `The Night of Wences- people with the special talents? Or other Jewish writers from the west las', `The Rose of Tibet', À Long Way to do you teach them to be great little came to live. Some made a trip, or a Shiloh' a#d `The Chelsea Murders'.

I am not an uncritical believer in capacity for goodness in our official announcements whether national enemies. It tells of a fast, geographical or theological, so I remarkably like Yon Kippur which IIELIICS have decided to work out my own is observed by the latter but not by way to my destination, changing òur man'. This strange, topsy-turvy trains according to my own blend of story occasionally punctures pride, LI®IEL intuition, experience and long prac- despite its ritualisation through tice in reading the announcements. chanting and other àdornments' In a similar way, I and many other which blunt its message. I hasten to people, enjoy the Day of Atone- add that I have nothing against AM WRITING THIS ON ment, because it is the only festival chanting - indeed I like it. But in platform 2a of New Street which does justice to our intuition, today's reality this means that the Station , Birmingham , to the scripture of our life, whose book is either admired as a literary because my train has been delayed commandments are justified by artefact or listened to for a mean- by fifty minutes. Some poor `prison- experience, and whose warnings are ing. There is rarely time for both, ers of hope' have decided to wait on validated by our own mistakes. and a minister must make his the platform trying to believe the Yes, of course there are òfficial' choice, since all things are not possi- flawed scripture of the announce- scriptures for that day, but much in ble. ment board. Others have resigned them is ambiguous. The `command- I think I must clarify my own pos- themselves to further postpone- ment' we are told is not to be sought ition about tradition. I honour tradi- ments of their desired departure to in geography. It is not outside us at tion, but I do not worship it. I hon- a better place. The announcement all, but inside us. It is an inner con- our it because many people through board is to be believed, but they say viction that we must follow. The many generations have come to its information is approximate, external scripture points to an inner God through it. In part I have, too. figurative or poetic. They apply to one on this Sabbath of Sabbaths. But I do not worship it, because their. situation the postponed com- And the quirky book of Jonah, tradition is not God, only a way to fort of the prophet Habakuk (Chap- bears all the hallmarks of anti-scrip- Him - though perhaps the surest ter 2, verse 5). Fo+ the vision is yet ture, for it still shatters precon- and the greatest. for an appointed time, but at the end ceived ideas, however official they I am on a train now, re-reading it shall speak, and not lie. Though it are. There is a mocking quality as a what I have written, and I am not tarry, wait for it, because it will chosen people reads of the limita- satisfied with the last paragraph. surely come. It will not tarry. tions of a Hebrew prophet, and the Unlike scripture which is fixed and

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 Anti!±±]!|mjtismisthefatherofallconspiracytheory

Paul]ohnson HOW THE LEFT BECAME HOOKED 0N JEW & Z ION BAITING a conspiracy theory of the universe to the disquieting phenomenon of ` least in its new `respect- struggling to get out, and sometimes Judaism: they argued that the ANTI-SEMITISMable' fomi of anti-Zionism, , AT succeeding. And antiTsemitism is Jewish rejection of Greek syn- is now found predominantly on the the father of all conspiracy theory. cretism and universalism was a form Left of the political spectrum. Why The first layer of anti-semitism, of misanthropy: the Jews were a dis- in particular is this new form itself a form of anti-Zionism, was located people without true territo- increasingly common among intel- laid down by Manetho, a priest rial title deeds, and their diaspora lectuals? In tackling this question from the intellectual community of was a conspiracy against human we find a curious paradox. Anti- Heliopolis in Ptolemaic Egypt, kind. This was the intellectual jus- semitism is one of the oldest and about 280 BC. He represented the tification for the first systematic per- most persistent forms of human irra- Jews as wanderers by nature, secution of the Jews by Antiochus tionality; yet its theoretical basis has descendants of an outcast tribe of Epiphanese in the mid-2nd century always been the work of intellectu- lepers, who had no natural land of als. their own. His theory underlay the Inside many intellectuals there is response of Hellenistic intellectuals (Continued on page 6)

fast, tradition can never stand still. ways we cannot imagine. iar territory and the other is not. It is always handed on, and what- In the new Reform mczcfezo;`, it is In a tricky time, we marry the ever is handed on is modified and the modern study passages which scriptures inside our minds to the changed by the human hands it pas- affect me most, the fragments of scriptures inside the ark. To give a ses through. The chain of tradition personal scriptures which came out- railway image, at a difficult time, I is not something outside us, for we of the camps and out of ordinary did make my way home but not just ourselves are its links, and our Jewish suburban life in London and through the announcement board experience its strength. What we New York. They speak very directly. alone, but also with the wisdom have learnt from life about God and The traditional scriptures may be acquired through many hours of religion joins the knowledge of the greater but they are about other waiting on strange platforms. I past and itself becomes tradition. people at other times, and it is not Whether the consequence of our easy to relate them to where I am Rabbi Lionel Blue I-a co#vc7!or a/ffec Be/ Dz." additions will b6 great or small we now. I don't suppose the problems of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain. do not know, nor whether our mes- His `Thoughts for the Day' have recently of Manchester and Moab are that appeared in a book CBright Blue' currently in sage will be used at all, or used in different spiritually, but one is tamil- tire Best Sellers list.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 BC. In Roman times a second layer formed part of the background to .idity of Zionism, was bound to of theory was added by both Greek Karl Marx's notions of how the attack it once he seized power. At and Latin writers: Lysimachus, world economy worked. The main that time Zionism was by far the head of Alexandrine Library, element in Marx's intellectual for- strongest element within Russian Apion, Nero's tutor Chaeremon, mation was, of course, German Jewry, with 1,200 local groups total- who inspired the second great wave Idealism. Thanks partly to Voltaire, ling over 300,000 members. From this had always possessed a certain lst September 1919 onwards, Lenin #arpt|9arf,ef::itounss;n#uv:iaForace, anti-Judaistic colouring. It was used the Cfeefa& and the yet;scktsz.cz A third layer was contributed by Marx's sinister achievement to (the Jewish section of the Com- Christian writers, including some of marry the economic anti-semitism munist Party) to destroy Jewish the greatest doctors of the church, of the French Socialists to the Zionism systematically. such as Gregory of Nyssa, John philosophical anti-semitism of the As Zionism was an affront to Marx- Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine German Idealists. ist-Leninist logic, it followed that and Gregory the Great, positing the Here it is not amiss to reflect on an actual Zionist state could only be theory that the deicidal Jews were the rational frailty of intellectuals. an artificial creation promoted by in both local and universal con- The moment they emerge from one the bourgeois powers to serve the spiracies with Satan, a notion later form of obscurantism, they plunge interests of capitalism, and of its explored in innumerable plots and eagerly into another! In the second int ern ation al sup e rstructure , sub-plots by the investigators of the quarter of the 19th century they imperialism. At this second level, Inquisition. The writings of Luther were stripping away, as they saw it, there was no difficulty in finding added yet another layer of anti- the accumulated layers of millenia èvidence' for this new conspiracy semitic theory which became the of religious superstition. But almost theory, which might well have pattern for prejudice in Protestant in the same moment they substi- appealed strongly to Marx himself . Europe. When the intellectuals of tuted new, secular ones. Satan was For the Jews, it seemed, had a lead- the Enlightenment came to under- dead but lo! legions of new devils ing role in imperialism, too! In 1900 mine Christianity in the 18th cen- were everywhere, conspiring the English economist J. A. Hobson tury, they produced the first secular against mankind. In Italy it was the published his book, 7lfoe War z.# layer of anti-semitism: Diderot and freemasons, in France it was the South Africa, its Causes and Effects still more Voltaire engaged in the Protestants, in Germany it was the which contained an entire chapter, most virulent attacks on Judaism, Jesuits; and always, everywhere, it `For Whom are We Fighting?' prov- partly as an indirect but safer way of was the Jews too. If one conflated ing that this imperialist war had attacking the more dangerous target these various conspiracy theories, been promoted by Jewish financial of Christianity. the Jews were revealed as simul- interests. Two years later he This meant that the intellectual taneously in league with freemaL broadened his thesis in his famous foundations of the modern world sons, Protestants and Jesuits. Satan work Imperialism: a Study , which were warped by anti-semitism. might be dead but Rothschild had showed that international finance- It was at this point that a connec- taken his place. Jewish intellectuals capital was behind the drive to col- tion between the Left and anti-semi- abandoning their Judaism were onise the backward people of the tic theory was first established. The almost as prone to these fantasies as world. This conspiracy theory expla- early French Socialists rinked the Christian intellectuals abandoning nation of colonialism, taken over Jews to the new Industrial Revolu- their Christianity. It was Heine who from Hobson, not only became offi- tion and the vast increase in world coined the characteristic epigram of cial Soviet doctrine but in time commerce which marked the begin- the epoch: `Money is the God of our helped to shape the views of the rul- ning of the 19th century. In a book time and Rothschild is his prophet'. ing intelligentsia in large parts of published in 1808, Francois Fourier Might not Marx, the self-elected the so-called Third World. In this identified commerce as `the source scourge of all superstition, religious irrational stew, the notion of the of all evil', and the same line was or secular, and himself descended Zionist state as an aggressive local taken by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: from long lines of rabbis on both proj ection of Àmerican in a world poisoned by greed and sides, have disposed of this particu- imperialism' was a natural ingre- materialism, the Jews were `the lar superstition once and for all, and client. In this area, Soviet and Third source of evil', who had `rendered finally rid the world of its 2,000-year World conspiracy theory coincide the bourgeoisie, high and low, simi- burden of anti-semitic fantasy? In perfectly. lar to them all over Europe. We fact he did the opposite. He gave it Needless to say, the historical should send this race back to Asia a whole new lease of life and new, facts of Israel's creation reveal the or exterminate it'. Fourier's pupil, respectable garments of pseudo- theory as nonsense. The only expla- Alphonse Tousserel, worked out in rationality, calculated to appeal to nation they do support might be detail the notion of a worldwide the young of successive generations. termed àccident theory'. Israel financial conspiracy against human- Significant is the way in which climbed into existence through a ity, run by Jews. Marxist conspiracy theory lends fortuitous window which briefly These ideas of the early French itself to the new and virulent anti- opened in history. In terms of rccz/- Socialists became part of the Zionism which is the contemporary poJz.Jz.k it d.id not then seem in in aim stream of French anti- expression of anti-semitic irrational- America's interests to promote a semitism. They were also an early ity. Hatred of Zionism fits neatly Zionist state, as Roosevelt in his prototype for the National into Marxist-Leninist theory at two last months was beginning to see. It Socialism of Hitler's Germany. levels. Lenin, having denied Jewish was Harry S. Truman, with his need Equally important, however, they particularism, and therefore the val- for Jewish swing-state votes in the

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 forthcoming 1948 election, his dis- anti-semitism which is now unavow- not only the expulsion of Israel trust of those he termed the `striped able in their own societies, find from the UN, but its èxtinction'. pants boys' in the State Department themselves in strange company. I This blatant call for genocide was and above all his strong and simple will end by giving just one sugges- well received by Marxist, Arab and sense of justice, who pushed the tive example. The history of hostil- many other Third World delega- partition scheme through the ity to the Jews over more than two tions. The Assembly awarded him a United Nations and gave immediate millenia is rich in episodes of hulrian standing ovation when he arrived, cze /czcfo recognition to the new cruelty and folly, but it contains few appl auded him p erio dically state. The constituent elements of such disgraceful scenes as that throughout his speech, and again Àmerican imperialism' were all enacted at the United Nations on rose to its feet when he left. The hotly opposed. The State Depart- the occasion of the state visit by next day the UN Secretary General ment prophesied disaster for Ameri- President Idi Amin of Uganda, 1st gave a public dinner in his honour. can interests. Max Thornburg of October 1975. By that date he was That is where the ineluctible logic of Cal-Tex, speaking on behalf of the already notorious as a mass-mur- radical anti-Zionism leads. As such US oil industry, claimed that Tru- derer of conspicuous savagery. He it is firmly rooted in irrational Mar- man had èxtinguished' the `moral had nevertheless been elected presi- xist conspiracy theory. I prestige of America'. Echoing the dent of the Organisation of African views of the armed forces, Defence Unity, and in that capacity he was Secretary Forrestal denounced the invited to address the General Pi.:wl ]ohaison freelanee author and jounìalist, Jewish lobby which had been `per- Assembly. His speech was a denun- was editor of Tfae New Statesman 1965-1970. mitted to influence our policy to the ciation of what he called `the Amo#g feis boots are À History of Christian- ity', À History of the Modern World from point where it could endaiiger our Zionist-Ame ri can conspira`cy ' 1917 to the 1980s', `The National Trust Book national security'. against the world, and he demanded of British Castles', aHcZ `British Cathedrals'. Even more destructive of the ìm- perialist' conspiracy theory of Zionism was the actual behaviour of the Soviet Union. For tactical reasons, Stalin abandoned anti- Zionism, in practice though not in theory, between 1944 and the autumn of 1948. He seems to have thought that a Socialist Israel would operate decisively against British and US interests in the Middle East. At all events, Russia played a part in the creation of Israel second only to America's, as Andrei Gromyko survives to testify (if he would!) for it was he, as Deputy Foreign Minis- ter, who cast the first major Soviet vote at the UN in favour of Israel's creation. During the spring of 1948 Soviet policy was more pro-Israel than America's, and Soviet recognition of the new state, following America's by four hours, was not just de facto but de jure. Above all, it was the Czech government, on instructions from Moscow, which made Israel's physical survival possible by defying the UN arms embargo and turning over an entire military airfield to fly arms to Tel Aviv. Five months later Stalin reversed his policy but by then Historically, Britain has long Israel was established. been a culturally and ethnically IT years IS ONLY that Britain IN RECENThas been These facts demolish the myth of described as a multi-ethnic soci6- diverse society but a carefully Israel as an imperialist creation. But ty and it has not been universally cultivated image of homogeneity when have facts been allowed to welcomed. Our Prime Minister has persisted well into the 1960s. Im- interfere with conspiracy theory, warned of Britain being `swamped' migrants have been received and above all one which reflects an by other cultures lacking essential crssJ.m!./arzcd; a lesson not lost on suc- `British characteristics' , while other underlying anti-semitic pattern? cessive generations of anglicised Those Western intellectuals who leading figures in politics and the Jewish community leaders. Witness embrace anti-Zionism, whether on media have stated their intent to halt the response of the Rothschilds, its merits or as substitute for an and reverse this process. Moccattas and Montefiores, who

MANNAAUTUMN 1985 dominated the community at the about the role of Jews in a multi- 21.10.83) end of the nineteenth century, to ethnic society. The dominant perception, rein- Jews arriving from Eastern Europe. In Britain today there are various forced by the attitudes of the Jewish As little aid as possible was given, forms of minority identification; communal leadership, is that Jews and emigration and repatriation national, religious, cultural, ethnic are merely a religious minority of were encouraged and assisted. or sexual. These are not exclusive. varying degrees with the additional Anglo-Jewish institutions such as Any one ethnic group possesses option since 1948 of an identifica- the Jews' Free School were subse- some or all of these identifications. tion with Zionism. Therefore Jews quently instrumental in suppressing But where do Jews fit in? It is still are seen, and many see themselves, Yiddish, the language of the vast controversial to claim we are an as religious or Zionist or both. In- majority of the immigrants. This ethnic minority, with needs and deed it has increasingly been the has contributed to the situation to- aspirations on a par with other case that the `option' of Zionism day where many Jews do not have ethnic minorities, and that like has been converted by our Jewish access to the rich content of their them, we are a pluralistic communi- establishment into an imperative. most immediate cultural history. ty. The sensitivity of this issue has Those falling outside this restrictive Throughout this century, the often been illustrated, particularly framework, however real their self- Board of Deputies has believed that in Harold Soref's disputes with the perception as Jews, and however ap- if the Jewish community was small, Board of Deputies. He has never propriate their analysis, are often quiet, well behaved and worked disguised his unsavoury views on attacked through community in- preferably in middle-class occupa- immigration, nationality and stitutions. tions, it would be a tolerable minor minority issues. Evidently he This framework is inadequate. A irritant to the British body politic. regards even the most minimal over- recognition and understanding of This was well illustrated in the tures by the Board to Black the historical activity of Jews in nature of their response to the Ger- minorities as unfitting for represen- British society, and a more sober man and Austrian refugees fleeing tatives of a rc./I.gr.ows ininority. The assessment of the problems faced by Nazism in the 1930s. In his pleas on Board have claimed belatedly that our community confirm this. More- their behalf, Board President its place is alongside other ethnic over, if Jews are to have a secure Neville Laski revealed his less minorities in Britain. Such a and flourishing future in a multi- generous attitude to the earlier wave response is unconvincing precisely ethnic Britain, it is high time that because of its historical denial of this restrictive mode of thinking and S:grigTiag::n:s.veT,5?`TE:dg.eg,ee: ethnicity and lack of commitment to its consequences were challenged. part of these people are not as were the community as an cffej?I.c minori- From within the organised institu- so many of the refugees of the ty. Generally, our communal tions of the community there are eighties and nineties, ignorant and leaders, ever concerned to protect powerful pressures to concentrate uncultured, many without a trade their relationship with the state on insular concerns and keep such a and speaking no language save Yid- authorities, have sought to distance low profile on domestic issues as to dish. The vast majority of the suf- themselves from other minorities almost withdraw from the British ferers today are of a class which save maintaining friendly relations political process. But what has been would be an asset to any country in- with their more conservatively in- the nature of the activity of Jews to which they were admitted. They clined communal leaders. and how far does it conform to the are cultured ... many of them are The pluralism of our ethnic model? Jews in Britain have been big industrialists and businessmen Jewish community has been vocifer- active over a range of concerns both ... men of high professional at- ously attacked by our leadership. It internal and external to the com- tall:nrneuts.' (Jewish Rights and has obviously caused discomfort munity. Particularly in the earlier Jcwz.sife Fyro#gr, London, 1939) that a variety of Jewish groups have part of this century, Jews were pro- It is with the more recent influx of received grants from the GLC minent in combating racism and immigrants from the West Indies Ethnic Minorities Committee. TTre fascism, building trade unions, cam- and the Indian Subcontinent, and most telling comment in this respect paigning around civil liberty issues, the experiences of their British-born was made by the Director of the developing their own ethnic press, children that the ascribed second- Board's defence committee referr- educational institutions and other class status and downgrading of ing to the Jewish Socialists' Group's means of communal continuity. minority cultures have at last begun grant: `1 can think of no other group These efforts were made not as a to be challenged. In an atmosphere describing itself as Jewish which is fulfilment of biblical imperatives of racism and incipient right-wing as unrepresentative of the Jewish but as a response to minority status authoritarianism, this is a welcome community and so undeserving of and class position. development which poses questions public funding' (Jew.sfe CAro#j.c/e When we look at the issues ad-

MANNA AUTUMN 1985

Ll dressed by other ethnic minorities 25 rcporfcc7 incidents a month. The This i.deology - Zionism - once today - anti-racism,. questions of same people systematically putting sought to mobilize Jews on a moral language, culture and identity, the firebombs through Black people's basis of self-sacrifice and met with development of institutions to homes are daubing swiastikas on predictable opposition from the guarantee secure rights and future synagogues, and those who shout Jewish establishment. Now in 1985, continuity - we see an agenda of for the repatriation of Blacks accuse devoid of that moral basis, it is a issues relevant to Jews today. This Jews of responsibility for the very tool used by Jewish establishments does not deny the different socio- presence of Blacks in Britain. - who, it may be said with certain- economic positions of various The increasing incidence of racist ty, will not go on aliyah - to dictate minorities, or the differing form attacks is a symptom of more political priorities for Diaspora and content of racism and anti- serious and pernicious develop- communities. This reliance on the sernitism but recognises the range of ments. Britain in 1985 is a multi- centrality of Israel, - a belief that shared concerns that exist between ethnic society but it is not a liberal, Israel can confront problems on our these communities, in particular tolerant society in which racism can- behalf, that it is the guarantor of with regard to the dynamics not flourish. Many institutions and our Jewish future - is misplaced. operating between minorities and hard fought-for, democratic rights The defeatist notion that if things those in power claiming the authori- - the welfare state, full employ- get really bad we can all pack our ty and legitimacy of the `majority'. ment, the right to strike and picket, bags and go to Israel, where things Given the current economic and and the right to settle in Britain - will always be good, is a dangerous political climate, the significance of are under fundamental attack. illusion. We can only combat racism the socio-economic differences Under such conditions dangerous and effectively fight for the rights of should not be overstated. In the right-wing ideologies are surfacing minorities in a multi-ethnic society post-war boom years many Jews and flourishing, posing as common- if we believe that such a fight can be were upwardly mobile, but more sense, and considered responses are successful. recently they, too, have felt the ef- labelled `left-wing extremism'. Jewish minority rights and a fects of the recession which has Every time I hear the elevation of secure and flourishing Jewish future rendered many carefully carved the `nation', the `national spirit', or in Britain, as with other ethnic Jewish economic niches. con- the `national character', I feel the minorities, are being undermined by siderably more vulnerable. breath of intolerance and exclusive- the closing ranks of the white ma- Numerous small businesses are clos- ness. I sense that their nation has joritarian British state in a hazar- ing, the professions are being narrowing borders that do not go as dous economic and political cli- squeezed, and social services and far south as Brixton, nor as west as mate. They are equally undermined education, in which many Jews Southall, and barely stretch as far by the acquiesence of our Jewish work, are under attack. This cannot east as llford. communal leadership concerned to compare with the poverty and Under these circumstances it is protect its safe dependent status, unemployment suffered by Blacks imperative that Jews work for and by its giving priority to lsrael's in Britain but the ground beneath alliances with ethnic minorities and needs. previously well established sectors is all groups threatened by racism and A multi-ethnic society is not just becoming shakier. the authoritarian rightward drift. an expression of a current reality As regards anti-semitism in Bri- Among our Jewish communal lead- but is a necessary model for the tain today, there is even less room ership there seems little movement future. The prevailing conceptions for complacency. For many years, on this beyond inter-faith dialogue of Jewish identity and the dominant as a matter of extremely ques- which seems to mislocate the pro- ideologies of Jewish activity are run- tionable policy, the Board of blem. Here, indeed, is a crucial ning counter to a full and creative Deputies has kept information weakness in the current role of Jews Jewish participation in building a about the level of anti-semitic in- in multi-ethnic Britain. The only multi-ethnic society. Perhaps now is cidents hidden from the wider serious ethnic mobilization of our the time to reconsider. . Jewish and general public. They community occurs on distant exter- nevertheless gave evidence to a nal matters such as the Israel/ panel of inquiry preparing the Palestine conflict or Soviet Jewry. recently published Police Commit- This reflects the current dominance tee re;port, Racial Harassment in of an ideology which places Israel at Lo#do#. In this catalogue of appall- the centre of Jewish life and subor- David Rosenbeng was born I.# LOHdon I." J958. ing racist violence and indifference He lead Politics and Sociology at Leeds Uwi dinates the immediate needs of versity and completed an M.Sc. in Race Rela- from the authorities, was listed the Diaspora Jews to the requirements tipn5 at Bristol. He is currendy co-ordi.nator of extent of anti-semitic attacks: 20 to of the Israeli State. the Jewish Cultural and Anti Racist Project.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 were on holiday in India, M YTWIFEand we FIONA were getting AND used I to the way that every day in that unpredictable contry brought us its new surprises and astonishments. But nothing was quite as unlikely as our bumping into a rabbi in Kashrir. There' he was, in a crowded and chaotic airline office in the capital Srinagar, a handsome man in his for- ties with straggly grey beard, kz.p- RABBI AVIHAIL'S SEARC[ pcfo, and fzz.£zz.Z discreetly peeping out from his shirt. We were as amazed as if we had seen a FOR ILOSTTRIBES AMONG TH Kashmiri in national costume 'in the Golders Green Road. After all, we were in the North- emmost State of India, thousands of miles from any Jewish community, high amongst the snowcapped Himalayan peaks. Perhaps he was AFGHANS on holiday like us - after all, why shouldn't observant Jews enjoy exo- tic holidays? We introduced ourse- equalled the extraordinary cir- themselves, all five million of them, lves and found out that his name cumstances of its telling. For most may be Jews, he believes -he col- was Rabbi Avihail and that he came of the year, he teaches in a lects evidence from tribal names from Jerusalem. Since it was Friday, Jerusalem girls' seminary. During and place names that may have he would be delighted if we would the summer, he travels the world in originated in Israel, and from traces join him and share his Shabbat meal search of lost Jews - or more accu- of Jewish customs and rituals that on his houseboat. Yes, houseboat. rately, communities and peoples survive within the Moslem society. Srinagar is set on the shores of a whose far distant ancestry may have There was certainly no doubt in our beautiful great lake in the middle of been Jewish, but who now retain minds that the very characteristic a lush green valley - a paradise for nothing more than a few.shreds, Kashmiri features are closely similar those who,. like us, had only just perhaps a folk-memory of their to those we would recognise as gone through the intolerable sum- Hebrew origin. Jewish. mer heat of the Indian plains. In the He is a man gripped by an idea However, Rabbi Ahiv ail 's days of the Empire, the ruler of the and there can be no doubt of his sin- greatest interest is in the Pathan little independent state, concerned cerity and conviction, nor of his per- tribes people, now generally known lest his lovely capital should become sonal charisma. He has founded an as Afghans, although they are far a holiday resort, had decreed that organisation to support his from being confined to Afghanis- no foreigners could buy land. The anthropological researches, called tan. They are a proud, independent result was that the British still came 477tz.ffe¢t;,. Hebrew for Return, My people who can be found through- to Srinagar to escape the heat, but People. He claims the support of out the mountainous region close to they spent their holidays in house- leading rabbis in Israel and around the borders of Afghanistan, Pakis- boats on the lake. the world. The object of his work is tan, Kashmir and the Soviet Union Rabbi Avih ail 's hous ebo at to identify those lost Jews, collect - the `North-West Frontier', as it reflected the ease and luxury of the evidence to prove they really are of was described in Empire days. The Raj in the early years of this century Jewish descent, ultimately to con- might of British India never suc- - we were welcomed into a wood- vert them back to Judaism and ceeded in conquering and subduing panelled sitting-room, with a sofa, gather them in to E7`efz yz.s7~czc/, thus them - the Russians are encounter- dining table and chairs, .a desk and hastening the time of the Messiah. ing similar problems today. Whilst bookshelves, all beautifully carved Rabbi Avihail is the shepherd to a the Kashmiris farm the green val- and polished. It was such a com- very widely-dispersed flock - he has leys, the Pathan tribes continue plete contrast to the shabby modern cultivated contacts with Marrano their simple nomadic life in the hotel where we were staying, that it descendants in Spain and Portugal, mountains as they have for genera- was with particular joy that we sang particularly on Majorca, with the tions, gleaning a living from their Lcchcz Dodz. as the sun set behind tiny Canaanite community of horses and herds of sheep and the mountains. It seemed so com- Kerala in South India, and with an goats. It is Rabbi Avihail's belief pletely unreal to be in such comfort- isolated community in a remote and that the fifteen million Pathans are able, homely surroundings in the inaccessible area of North-East descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes midst of an alien land. India who have no Se/er rorczfe but of Israel, which disappeared from During our meal, Rabbi Avihail pray from a Sz.dczz/r and have had history after the destruction of the began to tell us his story. His hardly any .contact with other Jews first Temple'and the Exile to Baby- extraordinary nature more than for generations. The Kashmiris lon.

10 MANNA AUTUMN 1985 canfot a.nd women otose;rve niddah and light candles on Friday night, houses and jewellery are often deco- rated with the Star of David. Many Pathan names are similar to Hebrew names and are not found amongst the Moslems, and the names of the major tribes carry striking echoes: Rabbani - Reuben, Shinwari - Simeon, Levani - Levi, Daftani - Naphtali, Jajani - Gad, Ashuri - Asher, Afridi -Ephraim, Yusufzai - Sons of Joseph. So what are we to make of this strange story? There is no doubt that the man who has devoted so much of his life to collecting and sifting what evidence can be gathered is unshakeably convinced of the identity of the Pathans with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Later in our holiday, we came face-to-face with Pathan tribespeople ourselves, as we rode on sturdy little ponies on He does not claim originality for scholarly paper on the subject. But, rough tracks up into the heart of the this amazing idea - the Afghans so far as I know, until Rabbi Avihail, themselves claim descendance from Himalayas, far from any roads, vil- ` the Ten Lost Tribes and a major clan nobody else has taken any serious lages, shops or houses. interest in this curious subject. It was already September, and call themselves the Beni-Israel. Duririg his stay in Kashmir, Rabbi Their tradition is that having settled soon the first snows would fall. As Avihail was spending his time travel- we climbed higher, we met groups in the East after the Babylonian ling with an interpreter into the Exile, they were converted to Islain of Pathan tribespeople moving mountains, interviewing the heads down to the shelter of the lower pas- in the year 622 CE and each tribe of Pathan tribes and noting down tures, and we would have to give jealously preserves its genealogy, what stories and folk-tales they way on the narrow paths to the end- stretching all the way back to remembered hearing from their Afghana, supposedly a son or less streams of sheep and goats. The fathers and grandfathers regarding fine-looking men. walked with grandson of King Saul. Over the their Jewish origins. He supple- ancient rifles slung over their shoul- last hundred years or so, assorted ments such first-hand evidence with Empire-builders, travellers, scho- ders, the women had weather- the reports of the small number of beaten faces and the children wore lars, soldiers and missionaries have Jews from Afghanistan who have been fascinated by this strange story shabby rags. All the tribe's p.osses- now settled in Israel. Much of the sions were piled high on the backs and have recorded what scraps of material has been gathered together of their hardy ponies. evidence they found in a piecemeal in an English booklet called 77ze It was easy to imagine these way. In 1917, Rabbi Dr. Moses Gas- Lost Tlribes in Assyria. Of c.oulse, I ter, Haham of Britain's Spanish and people as the living heirs of the Pat- cannot reproduce here the masses riarchs, who lived exactly the same Portuguese Community, wrote in of evidence he has gathered, but the the Journal of the Royal Society of nomadic lives in ancient times in the major arguments on which he builds land of Canaan. Did their ancestors Arts: `The Beni-Israel of Afghanis- his case are as follows: a) The also weep by the waters of Babylon? tan might unquestionably be consi- Pathan's own oral traditions and dered as the last representatives of Might they or their descendants genealogies. b) Their characteristi- some of the tribes of Israel that ever convert back to Judaism, and cally Jewish appearance, especially return to Ercfz yz'sr¢e/, as Rabbi started inigrating East even before the men, with beards and sidelocks. they were carried away by Shal- Avihail dreams they will? We This, together with the fact that reflected that such a mass conver- manesur or Sargon into captivity. they are commonly involved in There is no doubt that there has sion and ¢Jz.};¢fe would undoubtedly moneylending and entrepreneur- cause such halachic problems that it been an intimate connection bet- ship, and are constantly on the would indeed hasten the coming of ween all the nations from Palestine move amongst more settled com- the Messiah - he would be the only even from Egypt up to the Indus, munities, led British soldiers at the and perhaps further east as far as time of the Raj to dub them `The person able to solve them! . China. The descendants of a good Jews'. c) Religious ritua.I. Although Da\vid Hulbert was born in 1953. He read many of those who were carried they are Sunni Moslems, many of Natural Sciences at Cambridge and then into captivity are now living there in the Pathan's religious customs dis- entered the Ministry of Defence. He later com- modern times as Mohammedans'. tinctly echo Judaism. Circumcision pleted an M.Sc. in Experimental Pathology at Twenty years ago, Israel's Presi- is practised on the eighth day, boys Londpn University before going to the City of dent, Itzchak Ben-Zvi, also wrote a London. In 1984 he entered the Leo Baeck wear a garment similar to the ¢rbcz College as a rabbinic student.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 in ISRAEL WILL CONFIRM THE TRUTH 01= JUDAISIVI -OR DESTROY IT

Dow Marmur continues his look at today's Judaism

When we say that with Zionism have entered a new era in Jewish to the theological implica- Jews came to control their own history, the era of Power, has to be ATTEMPTINGtions of the TO Six POINTDay War, destiny - at least to the same extent taken seriously: `How to use the Eugene Borowitz wrote that `to our as other peoples; we were no longer . power is the new fecz/czcfe¢, but own surprise we sensed the pre- solely dependent on the actions of denial or endangering the power is sence of a transcendent reality others for our existence - we are considered the un forgivable sin. In operating in history that we had saying that we have become actors this era, which orients by the almost come to believe could no on the arena of history, and because Holocaust and Israel, such a denial longer make itself felt there' (1). we are actors, rather than mere is the. equivalent to the excom- That surprise had already come to objects, what happened to us under municable sins of earlier eras: deny- many Holocaust survivors in 1948. the Nazis cannot happen again. ing the Exodus and the God who To them, the very establishment of That is the message we convey to worked it in the Biblical age or the Jewish State was evidence that, our children and, if they don't denying the Rabbis and separating despite everything they had been understand it in theory, many of from Jewish fate in the Rabbinic through, life was worth living, it was them feel it when they are in the era' (3). worth bringing children into the Land in person. To bring them The existence of Jewish Power world and rearing them as Jews. theie, to visit or to settle, must, enables us to test our teachings. The Jews who have experienced the therefore, remain a crucial practical State of Israel will either confirm Holocaust thus tend to see in task, for in this way we live out the the truth of Judaism or destroy it. If Zionism a metaphor for hope, Hope of our People rooted in our the Jewish State acts like all other whether they actually live in Israel Faith. Tourism has become a lesson states in its exercise of Power, it will Or not. in the ideology of our time. have rendered Judaism obsolete. The establishment of the State of The very existence of the State of Therefore, inevitably, special Israel based on Faith, People and Israel is the foundation of the exis- demands are made on Israel. In the Land has rooted Hope in reality. tence of both the People and the debate whether the task of Zionism The fact that is has been `sec- Faith, manifest in Hope. Nothing is to normalize the Jewish people or ularised' in the process has only that threatens that existence can, in to bring the Messianic era closer, we increased its significance and, terms of Jewish self-understanding, cannot remain undecided but must perhaps paradoxically, made it even be morally justified. It is for opt for the Messianic alternative. more a function of the sacred. Zionists to articulate this their Without it the first triangle is As Irving Greenberg put it: `Thus unconditional commitment to the rendered meaningless, for it only the physical presence of the Jewish State and its security, whatever gov- replaces .Faith with Land and is still people - and that existence is made ernlpent is in power. Those who not a triangle; the whole structure possible by secular Israelis as well as established the Jewish State made collapses. religious Jews - is the best tes- Hope the patrimony of the Jewish How then, do we affirm Power, timony to the Divine' (2). The rede- people. Those who subscribe to the support those who exercise it and mption of the Holy Land by secular ideology of Zionism regard it as yet remain true to our Messianic means has given the dimension of their duty not to squander it. aspirations? Or to put it differently: Hope, inherent in the impact of our Ibwer how do we retain both Hope and Faith on our People, even greater Hope - which compels us to sup- Power? Greenberg's formula is poignancy. port Israel in its quest for continuity helpful: `Exercise of power must be The connection between Holo- and security, whatever other objec- accompanied by strong models and caust and sovereignty means many tives and objections we may have, constant evocation of the memory things to us Jews. To start with, it is and which compels us to dispel the of historic Jewish suffering and pow- the nearest to a guarantee we have myth of our viability in the Dias- erlessness. It is easy to forget slav- that the Holocaust will not happen pora without Israel - can only be ery's lessons once one is given again as long as there is a Jewish sustained on the basis of Power. Irv- power, but such forgetfulness leads State. That is the basis of our Hope. ing Greenberg's assertion that we to the unfeeling infliction of pain on

12 MANNA AUTUMN 1985

=1_L__ others'. And he concludes: `Mem- Israel unconditionally and yet allow the truth and to educate them in its ory is the key to morality' (4). ourselves to be critical of those who implications remains the main task As Jews we must accept the real- exercise Power in Israe.I, our guide- of today's Zionist movement. ity of history which brings us into lines must be rooted in Justice fo the Secondly, we have to help each the realm of Power. But as Jews we Land and I.# the Land. And that other to adjust to the new era in must also remember our long his- quest for Justice, inevitably, must Jewish life and accept that we have tory of powerlessness; if we don't, lead us to consider our attitude to not only the right but also the we will have denied the past, even the Arabs in general and the West means to shape our own future. betrayed it; if we do, we will have Bank in particular. That carries with it responsibilities remained true to our heritage. The If the Hope of Israel is to remain but, howeve,r grave these may be, evocation of the memory of the a reality, it cannot be founded on they do not entitle us to refrain from Holocaust is not to be a tool in the the despair of others; if the Power acting. If we refrain, we return to ruthless exercise of Power, but - on of Israel is to be exercised with the the state of powerlessness, hanker- the contrary -a corrective to it. moral, corrective of memory, other ing, like our ancestors in the desert, This, in turn, means that our peoples must not be vanquished. for the security - and the degrada- unconditional support for Israel is War can only be justified if it leads tion - of slavery. To accept the real- not identical with our unconditional to peace, not if it leads to more ity of the new era, and to act on it, support for the govcr73mc73f of wars. Justice must be the basis on should enable us to formulate our Israel, the present government or which we build our attitude and our Judaism in a new light and find a any other government. The political policy to all humanity, including the new basis for both affirmation and orientation of Israel must be a mat- Arabs. criticism of Israeli policies. We must ter for the Israeli electorate, and if Working for Arab-Jewish under- see ourselves not only as ardent stu- we want to have a say in it, we must standing must, therefore, remain an dents of Israeli political life but also draw the obvious conclusion and go integral part of Zionist ideology. It as exponents of Judaism in relation on cz/z.yczfe. But as Jews anywhere we is an aspect that Zionism has to that life. If the first task is to have the right, nay the duty, to ally hitherto neglected, at enormous bring Zionism to contemporary ourselves with those forces in Israel cost. At the same time as we affirm Judaism, the second aim must be to that appear to exercise Power with our support for Israel as vested in bring back Judaism to Zionism. the memory of powerlessness. By Hope, we also must seek to explore The basis of our critique is Jus- remaining a-political in terms of ways of co-operation and under- tice, the ffez.rd area of our concern, Israeli party politics and committed standing for the sake of Justice. and that means not only Justice for to the de-politicization of the Otherwise the A4age7? D¢t;I.d will be Jewish minorities -but for all. As a Zionist organisation, we must feel broken. Reform Je.w and a Zionist I would free to speak our minds on any issue Prudent men and women will tell like to belong to those who that affects the A4czgc# Dczvj.cZ, the us that this is a noble enterprise, but spearhead a fusion between the totality of the Jewish experience in an unrealistic one. For our quest for noble principles of universalism our time. Justice will be distorted and abused with the lofty ideals of social action. For Israel is the state of the by a hostile propaganda machinery Israel is our only opportunity to Jewish people and as such its life in the Arab world and in the West; make Judaism both relevant and and orientation concerns us all. our qualifications of Jewish Power authentic. My opposition to Israeli Sometimes our line will be identical will be seen as a loss of nerve to be Orthodoxy is based on the know- with the policy of this or that party, exploited by enemies, and our affir- ledge that it has set out to block sometimes it will not, for truth is mation of Hope as lack of loyalty to every attempt in that direction. not easy to label. But our criteria the countries in which we live. The new vista for Zionism may should be clear: we do 77of interfere Therefore, even to utter the senti- appear to be too grand. However, in any way in the process that brings ments expressed here may be seen unless we opt for the grand design about a democratically elected gov- as a way of opening Satan's mouth. we will remain in the sifting con- ernment in Israel, whether we like However, we may have to take that fines of inept party politics, instead the outcome or not; we cZo criticise risk and speak that which our tradi- of striving towards an ambitious vis- any move by that government, or tion and our conscience bid us say. ion for the future. And it is the anybody else, that threatens to Implications future that ideology is all about.I jeopardize the Jewishness of Israel, How do we translate this ideologi- for then we are all affected and the cal stance into practical action? A4czgc# D¢t;I.cZ is in danger. Our fi.rsf task is educational. It is Notes Justice a fallacy to assume that Jews all The necessity to support Israel as over the world are ideologically a function of Hope, which in turn is committed to Israel and recognise it the outcome of the interaction bet- as essential for their future as Jews. ween People and Faith, and the To educate our people, young and ijjs:;{]Igje#¥8;;ia§8;]¥:¥Nf:i.;i:%;:S;:erwi:I;_ need to be critical of Israel in the old to this truth is a primary respon- Zg!i#23:. light of our perception of Power as sibility. The `Israelness' of our the outcome of the interaction bet- Judaism is being ignored or denied ween People and Land, lead us to by many of our fellow Jews who still R8hob± Don M8[rr"r is the senior rabbi Of the the consideration of Justice as the believe that lofty univeralism or Holy Blossom I;emple, I;oronto. He was for- outcome of the interaction between merly rabbi of the North Western Roform tepid piety is all that the Lord Synagogue, N. W. London. He is c[uthor of Faith and Land. If we are to support requires of them. To alert them to `Beyond survival'.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 13 member, shamed by technology, moment when y6-u realise unable to feign another engage- IT ISthat A you FRIGHTENING are part of the ment. Establishment, when you recognise Until such Messianic days I shall that the voice uttering platitu.des stick to my old-fashioned Jewish down the committee table is your diary and not only for the glib abil- own. What an end for the young ity it gives me to impress others with rebel who challenged the ULPS my knowledge of the week's Torah leadership in the 1950s on their anti- portion. For wouldn't );ozt want to gambling principles (challenged and rely on a diary that had };oz# name lost!). Perhaps it was they who and office printed in its lists of use- ordained my fate, a liberal Jewish ful information? On second Sisyphus, forever trapped between Àpologies' and `Date of next meet- thoughts, if it is ffeaf diary that causes all those people to 'phone ing'. me with never ending series of ques- Still, if it were not for Àpologies', tions ranging from the cost of a how else would I be able to receive, mofec/ to attend their grandson born passed down the table furtively, seven days .ago in the outer Heb- from hand to hand,. those folded rides to the difference between notes which, incurable romantic Reform and Liberal Judaism, in five that I am, I still open with eager seconds because they are ringing anticipation only to find that I do from a call-box, then maybe I Rosi[aRosenberg not have an unknown admirer sfeoc4/d change diaries. aflame with enthusiasm for the style The difficulty in fixing the date of of my minutes but am merely the next meeting and which turns that recipient of some absent member's Now, our computer has rescued me item into the longest on any agenda name scribbled by one present. and I enter meetings armed with an arises from the prevalence of multi- Could I ever spend my time more alphabetical print out which I can organisational committeeitis, a profitably the few hours before the tick. It's wonderful until I have a specifically Jewish form of occupa- meeting than by listening to the complete blank or a once familiar 'phoned confidences of those tional therapy, like balancing sliced face grows a beard - still greatly pre- carrots on boiled gc/i./fe fish (do you intending to absent themselves, exp- ferable to those wandering sheets of know any non-Jews who do ffo¢/?). laining exactly why they are unable paper that either never returned or Having been around on the Progres- to be present, with true British cour- returned with indecipherable signa- sive Jewish scene since the age of 18 tesy as if it were a party to which I tures. when my well-meaning United had invited them. After the excite- As for DONM (as we cool profes- Synagogue parents were so desper- ment of hearing, of their second sionals call it) what splendid oppor- ate for me to join à nice Jewish child's school Open Day or of the tunity it offers for diary upmanship. youth club' that they even actively tickets for the play J would like to Once there were only business encouraged me to go to the one at have seen, will I remember to scrib- diaries and social diaries. Now, no the South London Liberal ble their names down on my jotter aspiring communal Jew can afford Synagogue, I have got to know a lot or will they turn an accusing eye to be seen at meetings without those of people who indulge in this form towards me at the next meeting loose-leaf diaries containing sec- of Progressive Jewish schizop- when under `Corrections', they sor- tions for railway timetables, graphs, hrenia. My problem is that some- rowfully tell the chairman of the your children's 0 and A level results times I tend to forget just who they omission of their name. and a library list or two and which are representing at a specific meet- Over two years ago, at the ULPS need a back-up filing cabinet towed ing. Some even manage to fit in Quarterly Council meeting, to along. How their owners actually three or four meetings an evening which over 100 people are entitled find the diary pages, I do not know. by arriving late at some and leaving to attend - but around 60 usually do However, soon these diaries too will early from others. With the ìn' -I made one of the major decisions be redundant, morocco leather cov- trend now for breakfast meetings, of my professional Jewish life - I ers and all, and will be replaced at their potential has no limits. But it would no longer list the apologies. our meeting by the electronic talk- is not a good practice because not My radical gesture has passed un- ing diary -`How about the loth?', only does the early bird get the best noticed - the notes still make their the chairman will ask. Around the biscuits but the peripatetic meeting hazardous journey towards me. I table, the committee members will goer may get his or her name `volun- keep them for a while in a folder, I key in the date and the robot voices teered' while in transit and end up am consumed with guilt as. though, will respond in unharmonious bleep actually having to do something. by destroying them, I reject the - `No good; Leo Baeck College I myself am on so many commit- people along with the names. Council meeting that night' -`Can't tees that I find I am reporting to I used to have an irresistible do it - Pro Zion Executive' - `No myself and then minuting what I desire to implore members at large way - JIA Regional Appeal sub- have said so that I can comment on meetings to get up and reshuffle committee' -`Clash of dates, ULPS it under `Matters Arising' next themselves to sit alphabetically like Counci.l'. One sole diary will bleep month. I have never actually writ- some adult party game, to save me back happily Ò.K. - entered' and ten myself a formal letter but that is time when preparing the minutes. all eyes will turn on the red-faced only a matter of time.

14 MANNAAUTUMN 1985 new notice boards, invitations to `pass on' (viz `post') and circulars marked `date as postmark', I prom- ise not to ask them to publicise my new `Be Kind to Liberal Jews Shab- bat'. Back at those ever increasing committee meetings, I wonder how many people remember that the word àgenda' means `things that must be done' rather than `things that must be talked about' and comes from the same Latin verb as does the word àction'. An ìn' expression these days is `nuts and bolts'. In general, it means that as soon as you get down to them, the most interesting part of the meeting when it looks likely something might actually happen someone suggests that as it is `nuts and bolts', it needs dealing with outside the meeting or better still, a sub-committee should be set up. I was at a meeting a while ago when a particular point arose which it was decided should be looked into by a sub-committee. It took so much time to decide who should be on the sub-committee and even more time to settle a date for it that Long, long ago when I first began been earmarked as for example it would not have taken very much my Jewish professional life, we `Save the Jewish Whale Shabbat' - longer to discuss the item in main Progressive Jews did not have such the notices usually come on the Fri- committee. The sub-committee a high profile in the general Jewish day morning.. Another organisation community as now. Regular letters (which consisted of two-thirds of has developed a wonderful system the main committee) duly met, dis- came from the Board of Deputies that throws me off balance every cussed and presented a report which and an occasional one arrived from time. A pleasant young girl 'phones was then discussed all over again the Jewish Book Council or the up to enquire why I have not replied when the main committee met. The Jewish Memorial Council but others to their recent invitation to have worrying aspect was that no-one obviously could not bring them- sherry with an Israeli of unpro- else seemed to think this at all selves to write the `St' of `St John's nounceable name. `Don't say you •Wood' that was then the ULPS stran8e! are not coming', she reproaches me Moses was a very wise man address. Nowadays, it is a rare post with a sob in her voice (shades of `How to be a Jewish Mother'). indeed for there is no doubt that a that does not bring an avalanche of sub-committee to investigate the letters and invitations from other When I reply that I do not think I degree of covetting or a working Jewish organisations, particularly ever had the invitation she those associated with Israel. But the party of fathers and mothers to apologises profusely ... a clerical define honouring would have led to fascinating truth is that while most slip up ... I am on their list ... she a long delay in issuing the com- of the writers of this correspon- will put an invitation in the post mandments by which time the Gol- dence would never be seen entering immediately. I am still waiting. Yet den Calf Council might have taken the doors of a Liberal or Reform another organisation - in our own over, or - even worse - suggested a synagogue, most of them request Progressive movement - must have me to publicise their events `with year or two of talks about possible a self-motivated document shredder merger. your next mailing to your congrega- for it is never able to keep for more Do I sound frustrated? tions'. Either they have not yet than 24 hours any mailing list we Exhausted? Depressed? realised it is ffeey who are supposed send there and usually demands of Me? Nonsense. I love every to bear the cost of advertising and our staff at regular intervals that minute -sorry minutes -of it all!| postage for their activities or they they stop everything else they are are much cleverer than me. I sus- doing and supply all the information pect it is the latter. I guess it is the over the 'phone ... again ... and price we pay for recognition in the again . . . and again. community. I have a simple but drastic solu- Rosita Rosenbeng was bor# I.# Lo#cZo#. Sfec There is one organisation that tion. Let us declare an amnesty. If joifted the executive civil service straight from regularly exhorts me to notify our they all stop sending me any more school and has been with the Union of Liberal rabbis that the coming Shabbat has and Progressive Synagogues since 1964. She is posters so large that we need to buy now Administrative Director.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 15 He will readily acknowledge that erty or corruption, the fanatical there is no god but God, though he Christian crowd was impelled by BOOKS may jib, as did the Jewish contem- primitive hatred of the hallucinatory poraries of the Prophet, at the apos- figure of a `Christ-killing' Judas, too tolacy of Muhammad. In Christian often prompted by the authority of PURITY minds there is a feeling of astonish- Church and sometimes also of State. AND ARROGANCE ment that Jews have clung to their In medieval Islam the Jew might beliefs and practices. maintain himself in cowed dignity For Jews , as Bernard Lewis points within the parameters of Moslem Ben Segal out in this fine book, Moslems have law, in medieval .Christendom the . no hatred or fear - as do many Jew had little right to survive except The Jews of lslaan try Be"aLrd Christians;theyhaveforthemrather asatargetforlegalisedvilification- Lewis. Routledge and Kegan Paul, a feeling of contempt. True, this and he had no protection under law. London,1984, 245pp. £18.95. hbk. term may seem mild to anyone who The sinister blood libel provides a has witnessed outbursts of Moslem paradigm of anti-semitism. It may fanaticism, as I have - the first have been levelled by pagans sands of Libya, many miles from unreasoning savagery of Moslem against the early Christians; it was INTRELONEIJYWIND-SWEPTthe nearest village - remote mobs in Palestine in 1929 and the quickly adapted for use by Christ- even from the encampments of the horrific pogrom against Libyan Jews fans themselves against Jews, and Beduins - I once came across the in 1945. But we cannot, I think, draw against pagans in 8th-9th century grave of a we/I. or Moslem saint. valid deductions from the behaviour Harran. In the Moslem world it Some passing Arabs had laid a tri- of the ignorant and the lawless, least appears as an accusation against bute beside the little white flags that of all when they howl in packs. The Jews soon after the Ottomans had marked the spot, no doubt in hooligans of the football stadium do occupied Constantinople; signific- gratitude for the answer to their not, after all,-represent the ordinary antly it originated through the in flu- prayers. It was a bottle of cheap per- British public; quite different were ence of the Greek citizens of that fume and a few paltry coins. For me the uniformed bullies of Nazism city, accustomed for centuries to this exemplified the faith of Islam. organised and directed in pursuance screaming contumely at the `murder- of cold policy. ers of Jesus'. In the 19th century - ?L9t::wmaesf#itE:g:t.::us:,e:iiE:E: Lewis is undoubtedly right in pin- the Age of Reason -the libel recurs customary minaret and dome and ming the badge of anti-semitism on with depressing frequency in the the cool courtyard. There the wor- the Christians of the West. In Islam, Ottoman Empire. But it seems not ship of God is direct and unadorned, Jews, like Christians and Zoroast- to have been employed in Morocco divorced from the fripperies that are rians, hold a privileged position as or Iran, although there hostility to `people of a sacred book'. This a by-product of civilisation . Jews was stronger - no doubt Among the three great guaranteed to them the practice of because the Christian element was monotheisms, Islam is of the purest their religion and the autonomous smaller. And the Nazis thrust the quality; it is most free from jurisdiction of their communal blood libel into the forefront of their anthropomorphic similitudes. It has authorities according to their own propaganda in the Middle East. a stark logic that can hardly be gain- precepts - provided always that The long residence of Jews in said. Yet this sureness of conviction they paid the poll-tax and knew their Islamic lands - that had preceded carries within it a touch of arro- place as second-class citizens. They Islam itself - has now virtually gance, an arrogance, moreover, that were to be clearly distinguished from come to an end. The last pages of this was exaggerated by the early course Moslems ; the infamous yellow token history have been written by the of Islamic history. Judaism is a Moslem invention, put to refined Jews themselves. They have elected pioneered the way to the worship of use by Christians of the West. Some to leave the restraints of Islam and, the One God and it is uncertain, and Moslem jurists even recommended with few exceptions, to face the conscious of human frailties. Christ- that Jews were to be deliberately future with upright heads in their ianity was born in sacrifice and humiliated. The doctrine of extreme own country. Moslems are wont to humiliation; it strives for perfection Shiites goes even further, for it main- divide the world into Islamic and in self-doubt. But nascent Islam was tains that Jews and Christians are non-Islamic areas. In theory their swept along by the victories of its unclean and to be shunned. religion requires them to win over or founders, and its very invincibility Apologists for Shiite activities in the convert by force the non-Islamic has become a weakness. It cannot, Lebanon today, please note. peoples; in practice they accept the like Judaism and Christianity, toler- But, as Lewis declares, the dominance of Christianity in the ate `reforming' movements; its dissi- attitude of Moslems towards Jews is West. Will they accept the domi- dents tend to be extremist fun- the `usual' - some of us would nance of Judaism in the land of the damentalists who assail those who employ a different adjective - `at- Bible?I incline to rational thought. titude of the dominant to the subor- On the whole, then, Moslems are dinate, of the majority to the minor- impatient of criticism of their relig- ity'. It has none of the theological ion. It is difficult to set up a dialogue dimension that gives Christian anti- Professor J. 8. Segal was born z.# IVcwcasf/c I.H with Islam; its credos leave small semitism its unique character. The 1912. He visited Palestine frequently where his room for argument or controversy. illiterate Moslem crowd that fell fathe_r was a distinguished Hebrew University The Islamic articles of faith impose professor. He is Eneritus Professor of Semitic upon the Jewish quarter from time L_anquages at SOAS and President of Leo no strain on an avowed monotheist. to time was driven by pressing pov- Baeck College.

16 MANNA AUTUMN 1985 genocide, in order to prevent such a creatures, and who is horrified at HUMAN RIGHTS thing ever happening again. It drew the abuses that take place. Not only NEED MORE into its ambit deliberately all the that, but He hears the voice of the groups who were most clearly the oppressed: `If you afflict them in PROTECTION victims of the holocaust - those any way, and they cry aloud to me, I against whom the system had shall certainly hear their cry. And I turned on the grounds of race, relig- shall become angry, and I will kill Julia Neuberger ion, mental or physical disability, you with the sword, and )Joz# wives national or social origin, or political shall be widows and yoz# hildren belief. (Article 14). And yet the `On Judaism and Human RIghts' -a orphans'. (Ex:. 22:22-3). British government, architects of As Haim Cohn puts it so well: review article based on Haim the new Convention (it was largely `The ominous and fearful threat to €chr3 _bock.. Human Rights in drafted by Sir David Maxwell-fyfe, make your own wives widows and Jcwz.sfe Law Ktav 1984. later Attorney-General, and Lord your own children orphans shows Chancellor Kilmuir), and its first just to what lengths.a wrathful God ratifiers in 1951, have consistently may go to vindicate human rights'. Britain as a `just society' refused to enshrine it into British The voice of the prophets is clear T HEis DESCRIPTION laughable in 1985. ThatOF thinking and incorporate it into and strong in condemning violence we choose so to describe ourselves British law. and oppression, but Jewish law, as a society calls into question our Some have argued that this is with its emphasis on duty, brings objectivity to begin with. It is because in some odd way it will be 7.z.gfets sharply into focus. For the reminiscent of the remarks of Nazi seen as a fetter on state powers, duty consists in not violating them, sympathisers in Germany who which no government in office ever and clear benefit accrues to the non- described Hitler's charm, or the fai- wants to accept. And there is almost infringer. Passive abstinence from lure by the Vietnamese to condemn certainly a grain of truth in that, for infringing such rights as those to pri- cruelty and genocide in Cambodia there have been several Attorneys- vacy or liberty brings with it the on the grounds that the Khmer General and Lords Chancellor who, reward of the law-abiding, God's Rouge were their Communist bret- in opposition, have advocated the blessing. But the least act of infring- hren. incorporation into British law of the ement brings forward God's wrath, These are statements that suggest Convention, but have in fact made as the standards of justice, per- a bias in their utterers that makes no attempt to effect it when once in ceived as divinely designed, are not the initial assessment worthless. For power. Others suggest that it is seen maintained. if we are such a just society, why is it as being necessary for the nasty. No doubt, therefore, that that we find ourselves in the dock at Europeans, on whose territory such Judaism has a vast respect for Strasbourg so very frequently? Why abuses take place, but not for the human rights, even if they are diffe- do the Europeans, no great advo- British, because such things could rently expressed from the forms of cates of human rights themselves, never happer here. Shades of John international and European Con- find us infringing the privacy of our Bull! Whatever the reason, it is pro- ventions on the subject. But why citizens over telephone tapping? Or foundly disturbing to those who, should Jews be so concerned? Why over the right to a private life as a like the Jews, have an instinctive is Haim Cohn himself one of the male homosexual in Northern Ire- sense of justice, born of divine law, great and leading figures in the land? Or think us crazy in our advo- which finds itself distinctly out of world of human rights law? To 77ty cacy of corporal punishment in sympathy with the idea that the see- mind, it is a mixture, difficult to dis- schools, in a society which arguably ular authority can arrogate to it-self entangle, of two things. has the worst child abuse record in powers which abuse the justice that The first is that there is a strong Europe - and where we allow physi- should be meted out to the indi- sense of justice and defence of the cal violence to be perpetrated on vidual citizen. weak running through Jewish law our children willingly, with our con- For Judaism has no concept of and prophecy. Clearly we are the sent and approval, where the child individual rights as such, with the heirs to that great tradition. has no possibility of lodging a for- possible but important exception of But the other is the consciousness mal objection? Are we mad -or is it the right to the receipt of charity for of recent history, the vicious abuses just that we are misguided, unable certain categories of the poor (j`4. of human rights of which so many of to recognise that we form part of a Horayot 3..8, 8 Baba Metzia 71a) us were the victims between 1933 society where unfair discrimination and the right to a place of refuge for and 1945, which makes our tender- is the order of the day, and such the accidental committer of man- ness and sensitivity towards the remedies as do exist are highly inef- slaughter (IV%77t. 35:11,15). .It is in issue greater than it might otherwise ficient and unsatisfactory. For fact a system based not on rights but have been. It is the not very satisfac- within Britain we have legislation on duties. They can usually be read tory but nevertheless compelling on sex and race discrimination. And conversely as implying rights, as the sensation of `knowing what it is like in Northern Ireland we have it on duty to give charity might imply a to be the victim'. For that reason we religious grounds as well. But the right to receive it, or the command- are perhaps extra sensitive to limitations are considerable. ment not to steal imply a right to abuses of human rights carried out This is really very peculiar. For Property. by Israel, so frequently and often the European Convention on But the basis is that of divine law, unfairly the victim of investigation Human Rights was designed in the of a deity who demands the highe.st by the UN Commission on Human aftermath of the Nazi attempt at standards of behaviour of all His Rights.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 17 But we should also be sensitive in "NONSENSE]ULIAI' this there is no evidence what- our own country, conscious as we soever. Certainly the fact that most are and should remain of the abuse parents arid most teachers, accord- of human rights so easily effected by ing to the public opinion polls, think the state in Germany not so very Ivan Lawrence - that the option of corporal punish- long ago. ment in schools ought to be retained Despite frequent attempts so to AB B I JULIA NEU- fails to support that contention. argue, there was nothing intrinsi- berger's review of Haim Rabbi Neuberger's article reaches cally different about the structure of RCohais Human RIghts i.n the borders of complete absurdity the German state that made it par- Jewisfe Lczw should not pass unchal- when she compares in the same ticularly liable to those develop- lenged. breath the `cruel injustice' of dis- ments. It could happen anywhere, I agree with Rabbi Neuberger crimination against women with even in John Bullish Britain, and on that Jews for both recent and sympathy for the Nazis and the a very small scale it sometimes ancient historical reasons are and Khmer Rouge. The essential differ- does, such as the cruel and vicious ought to be particularly sensitive to ence of course is that the Nazi State treatment of the East African issues of human rights and indi- legislated in favour of violent racism Asians to whom we had offered .vidual freedom. I also agree that we and prejudice whereas we in Britain citizenship, but against whom, should incorporate the European have legislated against such things. when they wished, persecuted, to Convention on Human RIghts into Nor does the fact that our immig- come here, we effected retroactive our law - though for different ration rules `discriminated' against legislation which said that they reasons to those which she women, until pressure from the could not. advances. For the rest, I think she is European Court recently finished It seems curious. that we should talking nonsense. this, prove that our claims to be a therefore say that Britain, or Israel, For example, Rabbi Neuberger just society are `laughable'. Except or indeed any country is above the observes that far more money is left for a voluntary separation for three need for such controls and such to the RSPCA and other animal years in the case of one of the three reminders. All countries need pre- protection groups than to organisa- ladies who petitioned the European cisely those controls. AIl govern- tions whose main concern is the wel- Courts to secure this ruling, there ments need to be reminded that fare of people. But this is not have been no separation of families, they are not absolute, and indeed because the people of Britain, with still less any inhumanity. Women that moral authority comes, as a minority of exceptions, care less who wanted to marry men from the Haim Cohn puts it, from the divine for people than for animals as she Old Commonwealth were perfectly rather than the human law. implies. It is because an enormous at liberty to go and live with them. But human law can and should amount of State aid goes to the care In any event, the `discrimination' protect that moral authority, and of people while little or no State aid existed because the British Parlia- governments should be bound by a goes to the care of animals. ment - and in this matter I believe higher code. Unless we see that con- Rabbi Neuberger next asks: `If Parliament represented the will of cept accepted, in Britain as well as we are such a just society, why is it the majority of the people - saw a the other states in Europe already that we find ourselves in the dock at far greater injustice in bringing bound by the European Conven- Strasbourg so frequently?' She able-bodied men to settle in this tion, it will be as if we are being told implies that only one valid conclu- country although they had no con- that Britain is, in some way, above sion can be drawn - that compared nection with it, at a time of high moral authority, or so certain of the with our European counterparts we unemployment and increasing racial perfection of its moral perception are contemptuous of human rights. tension. The Korcz# which many of that it has no need of codes and con- But that is not the reason. We have the complainants follow, actually trols. found ourselves in the dock more enjoins the wife to go and live That is patently not the case. Bri- often because we accepted the right where her husband lives! Even so, tain, like other countries, is far from of the individual to petition the the Court accepted that the aim of perfect. Judaism recognises that European Commission thirty years our rules to protect the domestic fact, and knows that the State can earlier than France and before most labour market was perfectly legiti- never be the arbiter of the moral of the other states. So for us the mate. The most incredible of Rabbi law. One wonders whether Jews, as European Court of Human Rights Neuberger's observations is what well as the Judaism on which they has been the first and not the last she alleges to have been `the cruel base their lives, will recognise that resort. If we are, as I believe, more and vicious treatment of the East truth, and understand the urgent conscious of the rights of the indi- African Asians to whom we had necessity for bringing the European vidual than some other nations in offered citizenship but against Convention on Human Rights into our continent, that too might be an whom, when they wanted to come British law. No State can be trusted explanation. It is after all odd if here, we effected retroactive legisla- never to abuse human rights or Rabbi Neuberger's contempt for tion which said that they could not'. always to recognise human duties.. our respect of human rights were It is difficult to know what she is widely shared that so many people talking about. The facts are these. from other countries should want to When the East African countries come to settle here. ]uhi+a INe:whenger is Rabbi of the South Lon- • Rabbi Neuberger then suggests gained independence those who had don Liberal Synagogue, Streatham, and a formerly held passports of the UK leading member of the Social Democratic that we have arguably the worst and Colonies either elected not to Party. child abuse record in Europe. For take the citizenship of the new State

18 MANNAAUTUMN 1985 or were not allowed to do so. We gave them UK passports and allowed them to settle here by exempting them from immigration E FIND IN THESE LINES controls. In 1965, until a Labour Herbert Weiner a rare and delicate reference Government introduced the Com- Wto the esoteric doctrine monwealth Immigration Act which cp]led`gilgulha-nofesh'-trams.riglaL- imposed an annual quota of special tion of the soul. Evidently, the Rav vouchers available to heads of OUR SOULS feels that not all of our problems in households who had nowhere else this world can be explained in terms to go, over 39,000 East African of our present existence. We can also Asians, mainly Kenyans, settled in ARE ROOTED IN `z.#fecrzt' a trauma, a basic injury the UK. The quota, after February inflicted upon us in a previous exis- 1968 was raised from 1,500 to 5,000 A IAST LIFE tence. When life is young and all the by February 1975. The total number juices are at high tide, this basic of voucher-holders and their depen- THE REPAIR OFTHE SOUL defect is not felt. But when the high dents in 1975 was 11,000. There are waters begin to recede, this inher- now more than 160,000 East Afri- A translation and meditation ited soul problem begins to make can Asians living in the United by Herbert Weiner itself felt. Then we have an oppor- Kingdom and in addition there are tunity for a great life turning - the 20,000 who are children or other `work' for which all our previous dependents of such Asians who soul may, in its essence, be struggles were a preparatory phase. were not actually born in East deleteriously affected not Often, the effort to do this great Africa. By what stretch of the imagi- only by varying conditiolis `wo7.k' of our life appears to be nation can this be called `cruelty' of the body, but because of `gr./gzJ/' (experiences en- thwarted by obstacles , some of them and `viciousness'? of a physical nature. Our tendency Finally, to pretend that human counteredinpreviouslives). might be to work on these physical rights are not respected in this coun- problems in terms of a linear causal try because we have no Bill of S.o long, however, as the arrangement. This is not enough. Rights is rubbish. Our judicial sys- forces of life are strong, the For, these problems - even the phys- tern protects the citizen against bodily appetites aroused ical ones - are caused by the injustice as thoroughly as our Euro- and powerful, the flow of aforementioned soul defect. They pean counterparts. The reason why juices at their height, this are `roo/ed' in a past injury inflicted, I wish to see the fundamental free- essential defect of the soul perhaps, on the soul in a previous doms of the European Convention may not be noticed, its pre- existence. The repair, therefore, enshrined in the British law through sence may not be felt. must take place in that dimension a Bill of Rights is because I am fed where past, present and future come up with reading of our own soiled When, however, the fierce together. In the esoteric vision of linen being washed in front of the hungersofthebodybeginto being, every soul is `roofecz' in upper European public and away from our subside, this inherited worlds. The `highest' or Cinnermost' own courts. I think it is ridiculous trauma of the soul may oftheseworldsis,intheterminology that French, German, Italian and make itself known. This is of the Kabbalah, called `A/zz./ztf' an other continental judges coming the time for that essential `cJ#cz#¢#.o7?' hardly distinguishable `tikkun' -`repaz.r' of the soul from quite different systems with. from the source. In that primordial cliff-erent traditions should decide for which all previous moral point, even differences of time - what is and what is not right for Bri- instruction concerned with past, present and future - are like tain. With a Bill of Rights our own physical powers was as a branches of an upside-down tree judges could do that much more vestibule. which merge in an upper root. acceptably. Ascending to this root, an indi- For myself , Rabbi Neuberger's To be sure, this tikkun pro- vidual can make a repair which may article raises a more sensible ques- ceeds on the highest spirit- even impinge on past lives. Having tion than that which has attracted ual level. And though the made that repair, his present also is her ill-founded hyperbole. process may involve con- re-ordered for the `7`oof' of his soul It is how much harm may be done frontation with what appear has been healed. to the numbers of Jewish worship- to be physical obstacles the A hint at this association of the pers by politically ill-informed rab- root of this encounter lies soul with past existence is seen by bis. For if a high proportion of a on the loftiest, most subtle the Rav in the Psalmist's words: congregation reject a rabbi's politics of planes. Complete victory `9_enerationtogenerationshallpraise or political judgments may they not depends upon a strengthen- Tky works and Th,y pious ones shall come eventually to reject the rabbi, ing of the soul at its higher bless Thee' .I the synagogue, and then the relig- level, a dimension where all ion itself?I life can be re-ordered, even H_eFpeut Wctmer is Rabbi of Tlemple Sharey lives that were . I;efilp~Israel in South Orange, New Jers;y. Ivi\n LeNIrenee, Q.a., is Conservative MP ior Aztffeor o/ `Wild Goats of Ein Gedi' a#d `91/2 Burton~on-Erent, and a member of N .VV. Sur- Myshos' he has made a life-time study of mysti- from Rav Kuk's cism, particularly amongst Jewish and Christ- rey Synagogue. The Lights of Holinessvof. Ill. ian groups in Israel.

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 19 was made with the local barley or known for centuries that if a dough buckwheat and the brown chz.ssc/ is left to rise overnight ozttsz.de in the containing it was left to simmer cold, it produces a more tender loaf overnight in the village baker's than when it is risen more quickly in oven. In North Africa, the Jews had a warm kitchen, in the accepted to use completely different ingre- manner. And as for that old wives' clients - and adapt the native panacea, chicken soup, it has now methods of cooking to suit the Law. been proved in the laboratory that it So into an earthenware m¢rmz.fe definitely contains extractives with they put chick peas and haricot exceptional restorative properties. beans, then sealed it into a pre- Perhaps it was by the same heated clay oven until Shabbat methods of `research' that a diet was lunch. This dish is called dfi.#cz from developed by the poorest Jews of the Arabic word for `hidden' or Eastern Europe, which coincides `concealed'. Here then are two dif- very closely with current nutritional ferent dishes from two different guidelines. It is true that this diet, cuisines but skilfully woven into the which was brought to this country fabric of our Jewish food culture. by immigrants at the end of the Evelyn Rose Those dishes that are by tradition nineteenth' century, was loaded with cooked in honour of the different fat and carbohydrate to a degree Festivals, are perhaps the most var- that we now consider unacceptable. the Dietary Laws and ied and inventive in the Jewish But in the bitter cold of a Polish TIIE theDEMANDS need to prepare OF cuisine. They also make the greatest winter, a plate of potato kztge/ or of enough food in advance for Shabbat demands on the culinary skill of the chicken grzbc#es.provided a cheap and the Festivals were responsible housewife. Again it is the local dis- and delicious form of personal `cent- for concentrating the Jewish mind hes that have been adapted through- ral heating'. On the positive side, on food to a degree foreign to their out the centuries. To give thanks for the diet was amazingly rich in a neighbours. The housewife had to the harvest festival of Sz/kkof for wide variety of food nutrients. The think about the subject for almost example, the Ashkenazi Jews of smcftz73¢ and k¢es was ric-h in cal- all her waking hours. Take just Vienna would stuff a strudel with cium and Vitamin A and D, and the kosher meat. I don't think there has apples and spices, the Sephardi borscfef had a high content of iron. ever been a time or place when it Jews of Damascus would layer their Show me a better source of dietary hasn't been both scarce and expen- Baklava with ground nuts and rose- fibre than black bread, and a richer sive, and at no period more so than water. And as for Shavuot, what a source of the 8 complex vitamins in the eighteenth and nineteenth bake-in there was of cheesecakes than feobe77e gropc7i (huber grits). centuries in the Russian Pale of Set- (from classical Greece), blintzes And the man who sat down to two tlement. So long hours had to be (from Czarist Russia), of Filikas salt herrings and a plate of potatoes spent in the kitchen, preparing deli- (cheese triangles from Turkey) , and boiled in their skins was eating his cious but labour-intensive dishes eggahs (vegetable omelettes from complete requirements of protein s.nep as _vp!ehikes, holishkes , krep- Alexandria), but all in honour of and a good portion of that of Vita- /ace and a/z.72fzcs that might be clas- the Giving of the Law. min C for the whole day. sified as `gastronomic economics', Even amongst the learned, the But that was how Jews ate a because with the help of a potato good Jewish cook was prized above hundred years ago; has it any rele- dough or a cabbage leaf, a noodle mbies. In her book, `Gastronomie vance to the way we live and eat pastry or a pancake, they made a lit- Juive' the French writer`-Suzanne now? And isn't there a danger that tle expensive meat go a very long Roukhomovksy tells the story of instead of reinforcing our commit- Way. Dovid the wunderkind of Lvov and ment to our faith, food may become When people assert that there is of his parents' search for a bride to a sz4bsfj.fz/fc for it - like the so-called no such thing as truly `Jewish' food match his brilliance at pz./pw/ which `delicatessen Jews' for whom -that it is really Polish, or Syrian or is only resolved when they chance Judaism boils down to a bowl of Roumanian, I remind them of those upon the beautiful Miriam `cutting chicken souf} and a plate of .fJotato dishes that used to be cooked in and rolling lokshen as fine as her latkes. Certainly food `like mama every Jewish home, and in every own golden hair!' used to make' loses all meaning comer of the globe, to meet the Although Jewish cooks have when it is divorced from the forces requirements of Sabbath obser- never, until recent years, cooked by that produce it -the food laws, the vance. Quite independently, each the book - the earliest Jewish cook- festivals and family life. community adapted the local ery book I know of is dated 1847 - Perhaps we should be looking for cuisine to suit this very deinanding by constant practice and the exer- a 7ccw Jewish cuisine, the kind of law. Take the case of cho/e7zf , that cise of their perceptive if untrained diet that fits into oz# lifestyle as archetypal Shabbat dish which has powers of deduction, they unwit- snugly as the black bread and been defined as `a casserole that can tingly discovered many of the scien- schmalz herring did into stetl life a stand up to eighteen hours in the tific principles that underlie the hundred years ago. It needs to be a oven'. (The actual etymology of the chemistry of food. It is barely thirty way of cooking and eating that goes word is said to derive from the years, for example, since the discov- with central heating and motorcars medieval French `chaud lent', or ery of the so-called `refrigerator' as well as with low fat and high fibre slow heat). In Russia and Poland, it yeast doughs, yet Jewish cooks have diets. But it also needs to be able to

20 MANNA AUTUMN 1985 celebrate the difference between of mine as `the most nauseating' he Shabbat and the rest of the weck, to had ever read, so I'm compliment- help us remember when we were ing bin in kind). And he is allowed, slaves in Egypt, to feed the family in by some strange editorial licence , to sickness and health, and yes, to be continue his vendettas in the corres- an expression of motherly love. pondence columns of the J. C. It The emergence of this kind of IIfr4o€J'' would be a mjfzi;¢fe of the highest order were Geoffrey Paul, the 9|aet::|r,ns::nei:Ts:a::.Eehreha£:,?,:: David Goldberg Jewish Chronicle editor, to reward from Western Europe brought their bin for his diligence as a one-man traditional cooking customs with Protocols of the Elders of Zion in them - they were the only ones they about three months away, -re-v6.I-s-6`.by rdedsing hilri to try his knew. And one can still see people TIH divided GOOD between THING wind- hand on the gardening column. tucking into c%oJe#f and J¢£kes in swept Derbyshire and sunriy Mind you, after all these years of Fefferberg's restaurant when it's 90 Andalusia, is that absence and dis- brain washing, Kleinman would degrees in the shade of a Jerusalem tance make one more indulgent pro.bably find something `sinister in summer. But the Jewish talent for about the nonsense of our commun- a mention of a Jerusalem artichoke. adapting to circumstances soon ity; about the 225th anniversary Fes- asserted itself, and once Israel tival of British Jewry, for example, became the market garden of the the great non-event of the year, expressed our anxieties riddle East, unfaniiliar fruit and mounted now rather than after 227, WIIEN aboutSohffi Menachem. OF US Be- vegetables such as avocados, auber- 241 or, more logically, 250 years, for gin's election in 1977, we were reas- gines, peppers and courgettes were no more plausible reason than that sured that the former Irgun leader tuned into imovative salads, pat6s the recently and reluctantly retired had become a model padiamenta- and casseroles of a kind previously President of the Board of Deputies rian. When some of us .voiced con- unknown to the Jewish kitchen.. who craves the oxygen of publicity cern about Likud's colonisation of And the Israeli government actually even as, yea verily, the hart panteth the West Bank, we were dismissed organised cookery classes to teach after the water brooks, wanted to as alarmist. When some of us their new citizens how to make mark his departure in grandiose opposed the invasion of the Leba- them. fashion. The eruption of fury from non, we were accused of giving com- So the Moroccans and the Yeme- those deputies who had paid up for fort to Israel's enemies. nites, the Iranians and the Ethio- the Hampton Court fress-up in the It is no pleasure to say that we pians, the British and the Austra- fond belief that they would have the were right on all three issues. Less lians will soon all be contributing to opportunity of advising the princess easy to accept than the gullibility of this new Jewish cuisine. And as on the way to bring up her children, the majority was the way in which Jews from East and West marry and and had to talk to each other certain of Progressive Judaism's sot up home, a whole new world of instead, was airily dismissed by Gre- leaders, lay and rabbinic, in this Jewish family food and food cus- ville as `minor logistical problems' - country and America, either turned toms is set for development. Shall an example of the breathtaking a blind eye to, or actively condoned the Charoset be made, Lithuanian insouciance (chutzpah is the yiddish the deeds of the Likud years. style, from walnuts and cinnamon, translation) which made him, So let me raise an issue now to or from pistachio nuts and car- despite one's irritations and criti- see who dares suggest that I am damon in the Persian fashion? Wfll cisms, probably the most dynamic, over-reacting. Were an election to it be Polish j2J7czz4me# tsz.77eJ7?es for high profile, ochz.ei;z.7?g president of be held in Israel tomorrow, then - the New Year of Tunisian prune and the Board since its foundation in on the evidence of the opinion polls lamb tagine? Shall we in Britain 1760. - Arik Sharon, Rafael Eitan and celebrate Shavuot with low fat soft Meir Kahane would all have cheese and yoghurt or with s77?eftz72c7 EING AWAY ALSO portfolios in the next government. and faces? gave me time to ponder The two ex-generals fit comfortably The Jewish love affair with food the ultra sensitivity which in outlook and personality into a will never come to an end - it's per- has become a contemporary Jewish South American military dictator- sisted for too many thousands of neurosis. The masochistic pleasure ship. Kahane is an obscene racist. years. But I hope we can find a mid- in detecting real or imagined slights Proximity to power for any two out dle path between those whose relig- is given a weekly display in Philip of the three of them would mean ion is their food and the others Kleinman's media. column in the the beginning of the end of Israel as whose food is their religion, so that Jewish Chronicle. For several years a parliamentary democracy. it will continue to enrich our cul- now he has had the soul destroying If the prospect alarms you, then ture, our faith and our daily lives for task of reading every international, make it your resolution for the the next five thousand years.I national and parish pump news- Jewish New Year not to be lulled by paper, in order to unmask examples the soothing noises of-JIA fundrais- ENekyn Rose is a well known home econorrdst of alleged anti-Israel bias. Not sur- ers, Bipac, and other public rela- and cookery writer. A regular contributor to prisingly, the job has so soured him tions agencies. But actively support TJJ:oman's Hour; she recendy had her own TV and warped his judgment that he seriesonBBC1'sLookNorth.Herbestknown only those organisations and politi- books I.7!cJnde `The Complete International writes the nastiest, most paranoid cal parties in Israel ready to stand Jewish Cookbook' cz#d `Jewish Home'. `The column in Fleet or any other street up against the rising tide of demag- RTow1e;wishCwisine;'ispublishedthisautumn. (well, he did once refer to an article ogy, extremism and racial hatred. .

MANNA AUTUMN 1985 21 •m The Manor House

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS Sunday loth November to Sunday 24th November An Exhibition of Sculpture by Jackie King-Cline Sunday loth November, 7.30 p.in. Lecture: George Weil Sunday 17th November to Sunday 24th November Jewish Book Fair vyi|h Lynne Reid Banks, Chaim Bermant, Lionel Blue, Ray Bruce, Lione| Davidson, Elaine Feinstein, Fialph Finn, Michael Freedland, -Albert Friedlander, Rosem.any Frieq.man, _S_he.IIa & Charles Front, Martin Gilbert, Bernard Kops, george L_ayton, Hyam Maecoby, Johnathan Magonet, Evelyn Rose, June Rose, Bernice Rubens, Clive Sinclair, Martin Weiner, Arnold Wesker, and Stuart Yioung

Sunday 8th December, 7E30 p.in. `Life, Art and the Price of Chopped Liver' An Evening w.Ith Maureen Lipman Brochure and membership application form from: Manor House Society Sternberg Centre for Judaism, The Manor House, 80 East End Road, Finchley, London N3 2SY

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