My 'junior' rabbi is also a solicitor and therefore lives in the heart of the real world. He has known at first hand what it is like to be a rabbi in today's hostile environment. But what an absolutely outstanding person he is, ably supported by his truly lovely wife, who I only really met for the first time a couple of weeks ago.
It's like this: he only started in the rabbi post a few years ago, but as far as I am concerned, proved that he was a tsaddik by writing a letter of support for all my endeavours, which were sent to members of the Anglican Church. And believe me, for a rabbi in north Manchester to do that for one of their 'flock' is unbelievable. But that is because he also loves Israel. He was also kind enough to say in the letter that I was a regular shul attender and knew my stuff, which is one of the reasons I do try to attend shul as often as possible.
This letter actually helped enormously in the Anglican world, especially for some reason with Bishops. They are dying to communicate with rabbis, especially Orthodox ones, and so much progress has now been made on that score. It is almost a miracle. But it also helped on a local radio broadcast. Because, unbeknown to me, a copy of this letter had been sent to the local radio people before they interviewed me, ostensibly on interfaith work and the joys of teaching Hebrew. So I wondered why the interviewer was bringing up Israel all the time. It later ensued that the the diocesan interfaith advisor, Steve (who has also featured on this blog) had sent this letter to local radio, and so they thought I was a great expert on Israel and decided to quiz me on that instead. But everything turned out all right in the end, as they had me back to talk about teaching Hebrew, but that is another story.
But what is so great about our 'junior' rabbi is that when he heard that my shipment had been packed earlier than in most cases, he and his wife invited us round for Shabbat (on the hottest day of the year) and immediately stated that he now had a good excuse to visit Haifa. Which is really marvellous and quite an honour. Because for some, Haifa is regarded as completely 'secular' within Israel, whereas others fall in love with it and know it is special, and he is in the latter category.
And all his children are wonderful too, especially his eldest daughter, who when I was having to do security on one Yom Kippur, found it delightful that I was quizzing her as to who she was, where she lived, and who her father was. And when she said 'the rabbi', we both burst out laughing, because she entered into the spirit of the moment with alacrity.
That Shabbat at his house was one of the nicest Shabbatot that we have spent here, and we felt totally at home in their house. And he even attended my final lecture in Manchester on Shabbetai Zvi, the false Messiah, some of whose antics were very embarrassing to say the least. And my 'junior' rabbi didn't even bat an eyelid.
And he and his lovely family will be extremely welcome in Haifa.
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