Irene Lancaster's Diary

The miracle of Holocaust Day and the importance of wine: a new role for Tony Blair?

Holocaust Memorial Day does seem to be making a difference:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/01/stand-up-to-hatred-holocaust-memorial-day.html

This morning, I went for a walk with a friend to Prestwich Clough, a nearby beauty spot, which for some reason I'd never visited before:

http://www.prestwichvillage.co.uk/PHOTOS/PhotoAlbums/PrestwichCloughPhotos/tabid/186/Default.aspx

My friend needed to sit down for a bit, so we knocked at the door of the local MP, Ivan Lewis, and were welcomed in by one of his aides, who couldn't do enough to assist her. And we aren't even his constituents!

http://www.ivanlewis.org.uk/

Then, when we got back, I looked at my correspondence and found an amazing email from the Muslim-Christian Forum. They are very upset at the increase in antisemitic grafitti which keeps on appearing in our area, and will be preaching sermons against this hate crime both in local churches and mosques.

And in fact, the local co-chair will be coming to see me next week. What a great thing to happen

I turned on the TV and found, to my utter astonishment, that, at a time of recession and general gloom, the government is thinking of banning alcohol for the under-15s.

To me, this is even worse than the antisemitic grafitti. At least in that case, it is somewhat expected in the current climate (you know - unemployment, recession, Gaza, etc etc), but to ban alcohol to young teenagers and children will be the utter death of the Jewish community as we know it.

No kiddush at shul; no Shabbatot, no chagim: no 4 cups at Pesach, no Purim and no Simchat Torah. I even used to teach about Judaism by alerting people to the fantastic Purim parades that take place in our area in February or March. Even the police know that we are completely out of it at that time, and even more so on Simchat Torah.

http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/25887

What I can't understand is that, given the increasing importance of RE in the curriculum (including lessons on Judaism), surely the government cannot seriously be suggesting that this aspect of our life, the one thing that makes us feel happy when all around is caving in anarchically (not to mention the Burns supper at shul last Sunday) is going to become ILLEGAL as a pedagogic tool in the teaching of Jewish values.

But maybe herein lies the solution to the current impasse between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community world-wide. If the Pope could intervene, say, with Gordon Brown on this issue, and the worrisome edict be somehow halted, then maybe, only maybe mind you, this might go some of the way to repairing the damage caused by that Church to their 'elder brother', as the late Pope referred to us.

Come to think of it, wouldn't this be the perfect new role for Tony Blair? It was he who was largely responsible for the instigation of Holocaust Memorial Day. He is a Catholic. He is popular with the Jewish community. Like all sane people, he is very keen on peace in the Middle East. Need I go on ....  

Stand Up To Hatred: Holocaust Memorial Day

Today it is Holocaust Memorial Day and I was invited by The Times' Ruth Gledhill to write a guest post on this occasion.

Here it is:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/01/stand-up-to-hatred-holocaust-memorial-day.html

I dedicate this post to my wonderful parents and all those others who died in, or survived, the Holocaust.

What would Rabbi Burns make of it all?

The Jewish community appears to be accosted from all sides.

On Friday, the Church Times called for sanctions against Israel through its letters page

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=69250

 disallowing a letter from Anglican Friends of Israel, which put the Gaza situation in context:

http://www.anglicanfriendsofisrael.com/content/view/66/33/

Meanwhile, on Sunday, an auxiliary nurse who attends a local church and comes to me for Hebrew lessons, spoke of her despair at the behaviour of violent pickets she had endured on her way to work at St. Mary's Hospital (where I was born). These pickets were targetting the BBC for declining to broadcast the charities' Gaza Appeal.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5586716.ece

Brenda told me that most of the pickets appeared to be very pro Palestinian and some were chanting anti-Jewish slogans as well.

http://www.gmrespect.org.uk/

Meanwhile, on the same day, BBC Radio 4's Sunday Programme led with the story of Bishop Richard Williamson, an Englishman and recalcitrant Holocaust-denier, who's been invited back into the fold by His Holiness, the present Pope, despite being a fervent Lefebvrian - and thus going against the spirit of Vatican II. The two people interviewed on Radio 4 were very upset at this news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/sunday/ 

But one prominent Catholic with whom I discussed the matter appeared to dismiss it as of little importance and instead expressed her very great concern at the situation in Gaza and the vast amount of arms she said had been delivered to Israel by this country. For one moment I wondered whether it was better to be Israeli or British, and then remembered I was both.

But there is always an upside. The family of Mayer, a survivor of Buchenwald, who had just died in his home round the corner to mine, had been comforted by that Radio 4 programme, which they had managed to hear at 7.10 am in the morning.

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Buchenwald/Ovens.html

The family said it was essential that Holocaust Education carried on, as the small band of Holocaust survivors was now slowly dying and soon there would be none left to tell the tale.

Then I received a letter from the Muslim-Christian Forum, deploring the huge amount of anti-semitic  daubings and slogans which have suddenly sprung up in our area, and asking what they could do to help.

In addition to this, the extension on my temporary Israeli passport arrived, thanks to the sterling efforts of the Headmaster of the King David School and his wife, despite operating under siege conditions themselves, due to the situation here in Manchester.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5455450.ece

When I told them the document had arrived, they were no less than ecstatic about the news! So I shall be able to attend my daughter's wedding in Israel after all!

Today, I walked past our shul and was absolutely thrilled to see the tiny blue and gold chuppa in its grounds, with simple seating around it, awaiting the arrival of guests to that particular wedding:

http://www.aish.com/literacy/lifecycle/Guide_to_the_Jewish_Wedding.asp

As I walked, I pondered on a couple of shiurim I'd attend over the weekend concerned with this week's parsha: Pharaoh and the Plagues of Egypt. One midrash relates to the letter heh. Why does it have three sides; a large opening below; and a tiny opening on the top left? So that people who leave the 'way' are able to come back, albeit if only through the side door:

http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/treeoflifeletters.htm

And why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Because if you close your own heart and mind for long enough, the habit sets in and free will goes out the window.

And then, last night, our shul put on our very own Burns Night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns

Despite anti-Israel pickets oustide BBC Scotland and the Church of Scotland's ongoing aversion to Israel, Scotland and its people would have been proud of the efforts made by our shul to honour their national poet in his 250th anniversary year.

Posters of Scotland adorned the walls, as we entered, dressed in tartan (mostly). The piper piped us into dinner, where the haggis was splendiferously addressed by one of our most prominent Scottish members. In between Cock=a=Leekie Soup, Haggis wi Bashit Neeps An' Champit Tatties, Chicken and Alloway Sauce, we drank a fair bit of whiskey and listened to a plethora of hilarious Scottish Jews, who entralled us with tales of Rabbi Burns and his Yiddish poems.

We also attempted the quiz, which asked such questions as:

What is the name of Scotland in Gaelic?

Where is the home of golf?

Who wrote Peter Pan?

How long is a Scottish mile?

Who said: 'The greatest thing about Glasgow is that if there's a nuclear attack, it will look exactly the same afterwards?'

Name the 2 Scottish Dr. Who's 

and many other such gems.

But the best question of all was:

Who wrote: 'Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive'?

Now, who could he have been referring to: Hamas, or Holocaust-deniers?

And then, after we were asked to toast Sir Gerald Kaufmann - thoroughly - we all sang Auld Lang Syne - in Yiddish:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne

The Obama of Love

What struck the greatest chord at Obama's inauguration was the recital of the key Jewish prayer - the Shema in English

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/shema.html

and the unashamed use of biblical language and cadence in general.

Plus my daughter rang to say it was worth being there despite the great cold.

And the realisation that Obama spelled backwards means 'I will love' in Latin.

Augurs well for the future.

Dalai Lama: Non-violence can't tackle terrorism

These are the Dalai Lama's views on how to tackle Hamas:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Non-violence_cant_tackle_terror_Dalai_/articleshow/3995810.cms

He says that the minds of the terrorists are 'closed'. Sounds very much to me like Pharaoh and the Children of Israel:

http://www.ajrsem.org/index.php?id=87 

Pharaoh's mind became so closed that eventually the plagues became essential. No-one wanted the plagues. But emollience hadn't worked.

There are some people who you just can't talk to. Their eyes are blind and their ears are deaf. If they cause havoc, there just isn't any choice any more. End of story.

More little green shoots

Today's Church Times makes depressing reading, especially this piece by Ben White

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=68886

who has also written a book called Israeli Apartheid: a beginner's guide.

Maybe then it is not surprising that the same Ben White appears to think that it is OK to be anti-semitic. At least that is what he said in this article:

http://www.counterpunch.org/white0617.html

 

'I do not consider myself an anti-Semite, yet I can also understand why some are'.

 

How an Anglican paper, which I understand is taken seriously by all the Bishops in the land as well as the two Archbishops, representing a church whose Supreme Governor is the Queen, can commission a piece of work by someone who is on record as understanding anti-semitism is a mystery which it is very difficult to fathom.

 

In Nazi Germany maybe, but in good old England ....?

 

But life must go on. So it was lovely to go out and buy three bunches of flowers for Shabbat at one of the tiny businesses run by the Orthodox Jewish community of North Manchester. You arrive in their house, are seated like royalty and offered a fabulous selection at very reasonable prices. I bought two bunches of tulips for friends and one bunch of roses for my own home.

 

I don't think that the one cancels out the other. Being hospitable, kind to others and welcoming of strangers is what Judaism is all about. So when we are told that the future of the Jews of Europe and especially of England is doomed, I cannot believe that such pockets of goodness might disappear forever.

 

Not if the Almighty has anything to do with it, I hope.

 

And for the record: it is not a two-state solution that Hamas wants, but a Judenrein and Christianrein ummah in which Israel disappears, and there are no more Jews or Christians left. Which is why during the recent cease-fire with Israel, it actually increased its barrage of rockets against Israel. Because peace is the last thing on its mind:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59C17RJoyVU

Little Green Shoots: or a Tale of Two Rowans

A government minister has got into trouble for using the phrase 'green shoots' when describing the present state of the economy

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4246066/Gordon-Brown-strikes-back-after-Baroness-Vadera-green-shoots-controversy.html

However, little green shoots are emerging from the dark soil of our garden. And - as if in parallel - there are also some other small signs of hope in these terrible times.

For a start, Faith Leaders, including the interfaith advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, have signed a strongly-worded statement against religious hatred, as pointed out in this blog by Ruth Gledhill of The Times:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/01/gaza-faith-leaders-speak-out-against-religious-hatred.html

I understand from Lambeth Palace that more Bishops will be signing this document in the near future.

In her blog, Ruth links to my own blog about the feelings of the Jewish community in Manchester at this critical time, which has been somewhat attenuated by the tremendous support received from the Christian communities.

But from one Rowan to another: The Times is as objective as one can get in its reporting of the Israel-Gaza situation. However, this morning (no doubt completely unconsciously) they have - in my view at least - contributed to the latent anti-semitism present in this country by gracing their front page with a horrendous picture of Rowan Atkinson.

Rowan is currently featuring as Fagin in the new West End production of 'Oliver':

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4214086/Oliver-musical-the-first-review.html 

Rowan has himself stated that he is deliberately playing up the Jewishness of Fagin, but the picture on the front page has him looking Satanic and devilish - a mixture of Shylock, Svengali and Fagin all rolled into one. What on earth is the point of this?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/profiles/3536315/Will-Rowan-Atkinsons-latest-Fagin-leave-us-crying-out-for-more.html

Funnily enough, Dickens actually apologized to his Jewish friends for the depiction of Fagin in Oliver Twist

http://www.smh.com.au/news/film-reviews/oliver-twist/2006/06/16/1149964727401.html

But pictures tell more tales than a 1000 words. And that photo will probably come back to haunt The Times if they don't take immediate action - of what sort I'm not sure.

Finally, another little green shoot: it has been announced that Dr. Denis MacEoin has been appointed editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

http://www.meforum.org/press/2049

And I am looking forward on Sunday to the fourth in our fortnightly theological dialogue meetings. This week it's on the role of women in our respective traditions. Certainly in Judaism, women are supposed to act as a challenge, which the description of Eve as ezer ke-nigedo makes clear:

http://www.floridajewishnews.com/site/a/parshat_bereishit_a_help_opposite/

These dialogical groups should be encouraged. For I believe that they are the only way in which the current sombre situation might be transcended. Yes - truly a Tale of Two Rowans:

http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythfolk/rowan.html

 

 

 

 

The Jewishness of Jesus

Much has been made of Howard Jacobson's approach to Jesus in the start of a series on this subject, currently showing on Channel 4:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/01/shame-about-the-cross.html

As it happens, some Catholic friends were discussing this programme with me last night. They were disappointed that Howard didn't seem up to date on the real progress that has been made in Catholic-Jewish relations since the Holocaust and especially since Vatican II:

http://www.adl.org/main_Interfaith/nostra_aetate.htm

However, context is everything. Recently a Cardinal has compared Gaza to a concentration camp. Tell me: were Polish Jews holed up in the Warsaw Ghetto (such as my own grandmother) firing rockets at Warsaw and beyond? No, I thought not:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/10/cardinals-likening-of-gaz_n_156871.html

 Plus, if you visit some Catholic countries, such as Lithuania, and are visibly Jewish, then somehow you don't always feel quite welcome.

In addition, some Christians seem to have a penchant for stating that Jesus was not Jewish, but Palestinian and that he would currently be siding with the Palestinians over and against dreadful Israel. This is just one disgusting example from Sabeel:

http://www.sabeel.org/pdfs/2001%20Easter%20Message.htm

Those who would deny Jesus' Jewishness in this way run the risk of being compared to Hitler and the Nazis, who deemed Jesus an Aryan.

http://jhj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/1/55

All this goes to show that people define their gods in their own image and to suit their own purposes. It is how we behave every minute of the day that counts. That is the definition of Judaism, and no doubt that is what many Christians believe as well.

To be Jewish is to be a mensch -  the rest is .....

Kenton's Year Out

It gives me great pleasure to write about the immediate plans of Kenton, the son of one of my great friends, Revd Lisa Battye, a local vicar in the Greater Manchester Diocese.

Kenton (who visited me with his father, mother and sister in Israel just over a year ago) will be working in the very tough environment if 'Boy's Town' school, Durban, South Africa:

http://www.schoolguide.co.za/schools/boys_schools/boys_town_school.html

The programme for which he has been selected is one of many chosen by Project Trust, an Education Charity, who send out 200 volunteers to 25 countries every year. It is one of the oldest gap year oganisations in the world, and is based in the Isle of Coll, Argyll, Scotland:

http://www.volunteerafrica.org/blue/project_trust.html

 Kenton studied English, History and Fine Art at Manchester Grammar School:

http://www.mgs.org/

After his year out, he  wants to study English at University and then become a teacher. In South Africa, he will be working as a social carer and remedial teacher in a very tough Aids-ridden environment. 

Kenton underwent a gruelling selection process, but managed to come through all the physical, mental and other challenges to be one of the very few chosen for this challenging enterprise.

If you would like to donate, or are otherwise interested in the project, please contact Kenton at [email protected], or on 0750 523 5468.

Any cheque should be made payable to PROJECT TRUST, c/o Kenton Battye, 1 Moorside Rd, Kersal, Salford, M7 3PJ.

He will be providing a monthly circular for all who show an interest in his work, telling them how he's getting on in Durban and also sending pictures.

Support for the Jewish people at this time of pain and suffering for Israel and Gaza

Faced with the plethora of detail coming out of the situation in Israel and Gaza at present, accompanied, as always, by a frightening increase in antisemitic incidents all over Europe, including here in Manchester, just a couple of good stories and a couple of funny ones.

The funny ones first: in the wake of my daughter's wedding in May, I'm trying to obtain an extension for my temporary Israeli passport. It's rather difficult doing this as a resident in the UK, especially as the Hebrew and English sides of the form don't appear to tally and some of the questions as posed in English are rather vague.

At the same time, my daughter is trying to renew her British passport in Tel Aviv for a trip to the USA on Thursday and has also encountered a few difficulties! I wonder which one of us will be sorted out first.

Then a couple of positive stories. An Orthodox Manchester University student I encountered around the table on Shabbat tells of how welcome he has been made to feel in the Politics and Modern History Department. Mind you, he's only studying the French Revolution up to now. When he gets on to the Middle East, things may well be different.

A second student, also wearing a kippah, reports how he was studying in the university library when a very tall black guy approached and put his hand on his shoulder. The guy then intoned the words: 'I love you', in Hebrew. Seems that he comes from a Nigerian tribe which has converted to Judaism:

http://www.forward.com/articles/14317/

And a third student reports sitting in Piccadilly Gardens

http://www.art2architecture.co.uk/reconnected/piccadilly.htm

 when a guy approched and said 'I support Israel and wish the Israelis the best of luck in their current fight against agents from Iran'. This article from Saturday's London Times sums up the situation well:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article5484881.ece

If these stories appear to be unbelievable in the current climate, what about the two or three Christian clergy (none of them evangelical by the way - and one, positively left-wing in his religion, politics and general aspirations) who called me on Saturday night to complain that the rally in support of peace in Israel, held in Manchester on Sunday, should have been postponed from 11.00 am till about 2.00 pm in the afternoon. These clergy could not attend the rally because they themselves were taking services in their own churches in the morning:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424919890&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

But one vicar rang my rabbi to ask how he could be of assistance in the present climate of increasing animosity towards the Jewish people.

The current issue of the Church of England Newspaper seems to be on the ball about all these matters:

http://www.churchnewspaper.com/

I'd like to end with a truly remarkable nugget in the Christmas edition of the Catholic Tablet.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/review/425

In a book review by Eamon Duffy (who if I remember correctly also reported the news of the election of Pope, Benedict for the BBC) cites Father Timothy Radcliffe

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/documents/JA10-8.htm

one of the contenders to take over as Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. In one of his books, Father Timothy, who I understand is the world-wide head of the Dominicans (an Order whose history vis-a-vis the Jewish people has been dire, to say the least) makes the following observation on a passage in the New Testament:

'The disciples [of Jesus] were locked in the upper room, 'for fear of the Jews'. This is a strange fear, since they themselves were Jews. They were afraid of themselves'.

What a simple, yet world-shattering observation. Especially in present times .....