Irene Lancaster's Diary

Journalism: the noblest profession

Ruth Gledhill of The Times is getting it in the neck for refusing to let up on the Bishop Williamson story. Her latest findings are published here:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/02/bishop-of-linz-ordered-to-rome.html

Meanwhile the Jewish Chronicle has printed a lead story on the work of Pope Pius during the Holocaust. It appears that he might have been the saviour of the Jews rather than the opposite:

http://www.thejc.com/articles/wartime-pope%E2%80%99s-secret-heroism

Maybe one of the reasons that Ruth is pursuing the investigation of Bishop Williamson is because of the findings of this Foreign and Commonwealth-sponsored conference on worldwide antisemitism, the findings of which have been truly shocking:

http://antisem.org/downloads/The-London-Declaration-on-Combating-Antisemitism.pdf

Lambeth Palace hosted the final session of this gathering. The Bishop of Manchester filled us in on what went on at this meeting when he addressed the AGM of the Merseyside Council of Christians and Jews ten days ago:

http://www.manchester.anglican.org/bishop/council-of-christians-and-jews

It is distressing enough when the Jewish community is attacked both physically and verbally for various perceived faults, such as being responsible for the death of Jesus; for supporting Israel; for wearing strange-looking clothes; for being rich; for being poor; or simply for being.

But we are used to this. Can you imagine what it must be like for people, like Ruth, who aren't Jewish and who nevertheless feel it their duty to take on the wrath of the majority simply to tell it how it is.

And that is over 60 years after the end of the Holocaust. What must it have been like for a righteous gentile in Poland, I wonder, the one who hid one of my father's friends in a toilet for over a year, at risk of their own lives?

The Lord is my Shepherd

Being preoccupied with my daughter's imminent wedding, for the first time in ages I hadn't listened to the news last night and was therefore shocked and shaken to read the remarkable leading article in today's Times about the Cameron family and the death of their dear son, Ivan, aged six. Here is a typical article from today's paper.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5805180.ece

Having just booked the tickets for our own daughter's May wedding in Israel (an event which one hopes will be life-giving and joyful), the contrast with the death of a six-year-old couldn't be more poignant. The reaction of Gordon Brown and other politicians in cancelling Prime Minister's Question Time was exemplary, and augurs well for the future of this country, despite all our current problems. Even the Times' usually sardonic and hilarious Ann Treneman compared the atmosphere inside the Chamber to that of a church:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5805205.ece

Then I heard that the mother of a friend in Haifa had died just before her 100th birthday. This was a lady who had emigrated to Israel from London about three years ago and had attended some of my classes. She had had all her faculties and was full of joie de vivre. We had enjoyed a Shabbat meal with her just last August and had admired her tremendous zest and enthusiasm.

But to make up for this, it was truly wonderful to learn that Ruth Gledhill, the Times religion correspondent, is one of two of their journalists (the other being Daniel Finkelstein) to be shortlisted for a British Press Award for 'Digital Journalist of the Year':

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/02/thank-you-to-readers-here.html

I remember the day Ruth invited me to London to discuss her desire to start a blog. This must have been in 2004 or 2005. One of the reasons she cited was her tremendous concern about the rise of anti-semitism in this country, and especially when this is disguised as anti-Zionism. Later, Ruth encouraged me to start my own blog and picked my brains once or twice on matters to do with Judaism and/or Israel.

Very recently, it is Ruth who has doggedly used her blog to investigate the views of the recalcitrant Catholic Bishop, Richard Williamson. This is almost a personal quest for her. As someone who is used to views expressed by people like him and his friend, David Irving, maybe I'm immune to his fantasies:

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

But Ruth is right. For the sake of the Catholic Church, people like him, however obscure, must be brought to book. And the Pope must be more sensitive to the sensibilities of fellow Catholics and Jews alike, who have been hurt by his disregard of their feelings in his quest for Church Unity.

Ruth has also exposed the plight of the Bahais of Iran, whose main centres are now in Haifa and nearby Acco, northern Israel, and whose director told me that the Bahais in Iran are being treated just like the Jews.

Most of all, she is totally dependable and reliable and never ever betrays a trust. For this alone, she deserves an award, and I hope that she wins it.

And, this afternoon, as I sat in our beautiful synagogue library, researching an article on the Psalms, I couldn't help thinking that the best antidote to atheism  - the idea that 'there probably isn't a God' - was the atmosphere in Parliament yesterday and the serious suggestion that Ruth's Articles of Faith should win an award for its digital excellence:

Truly, a marriage of science and religion in the month of Adar, the luckiest month in the Jewish calendar:

http://www.ou.org/chagim/roshchodesh/adar/default.htm

FCO-sponsored conference on Antisemitism

Ruth Gledhill of The Times blogs here about an international conference on antisemitism that is being sponsored by the FCO and attended by parliamentarians from around the world:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/02/antisemitism-silence-is-not-an-option.html

One way to counter antisemitism is to invite people from different backgrounds to sit around the table and discuss controversial issues.

Tonight our theological dialogue group will be discussing justice and poverty. There will be views from Catholics, Protestants and Jews, all sitting around the table together over coffee and biscuits.

The Jewish view of poverty and how to eradicate it is somewhat different from that of most Christians. This is possibly to do with the experience of Jews throughout the millenia. Mostly they have been guests of host countries who have tolerated them for a bit and then got rid of them. Jews do not think that poverty is a good thing, because mostly their grandparents were excessively poor, pulled themselves up by their boot-strings and started again as 'strangers in a strange land'.

Israel, where most Jews live, is an aspirational country seeking for excellence. Older countries, such as Great Britain, are different.

Our Bible exhorts us to help the poor and dispossessed. Maimonides said that the best way to do this is to give people a job.

My experience of Christianty is different. Many Christians I meet are poor and dispossessed, and this includes here in Britain.

No doubt we shall al learn from one another. In the meantime antisemitism is on the rise and in the present financial climate we should all learn from history and internalize the words: 'Never again'.

And I have just heard from Lambeth Palace that the closing session will take place there with representatives of all the Faith Communities. The Bishop of Manchester - and a President of the Council of Christians of Jews - will be standing in for the Archbishop of Canterbury.

This certainly augurs well for the conference.

Marvellous BBC Radio 4 Sunday Programme from Jerusalem

For those who do not believe there is a God above, there is! I say this, because the Jewish community in Britain has been at rock bottom lately. Everything seems to be conspiring against us - the Pope, the Holocaust denier, the Church press, those who daub swastikas and graffiti outside our synagogues, on our walls and in our streets ..... not to mention the weather (actually I like it!) and the overwhelming credit crunch.

And yet, and yet ... as I drove past the pickets outside the BBC last week, the ones who are very obviously pro Gaza and anti Israel (if not actually anti Jewish as well), I realised what a risk the BBC had taken in not agreeing to broadcast that charity ad on behalf of Gaza. The chanting was truly scary!

And then, over the weekend, I met a large number of people who were not Jewish, who told me (a propos of nothing) that they really couldn't understand why Israel had put up with being targetted by rockets from Gaza for 8 years or more. 'Like being hit constantly from Wales', they said.

And then the miracle. Waking up quite early, I switched on the BBC Radio Sunday Programme,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00h9v8k

and it was about as perfect as programmes can get. Because of the impending Israeli election, the programme was being held entirely in Jerusalem!

As I tuned in, the presenter was waxing lyrical about the view of sunny, warm Jerusalem from the balcony of the BBC studio. He interviewed all manner of guests, including a British immigrant of two and a half years' standing. She explained the situation in Gaza perfectly and also discussed what it is like being a new immigrant. 

It was a brave and feisty programme. The presenter was in his element and so were the people he interviewed. Everyone rose to the occasion, even when they disagreed with each other, which Jews do from time to time.

All I can say to the BBC is Kol ha-Kavod.

When I contacted my friend who has helped to arrange political meetings in Haifa before now -including one this evening - she also felt it was unbelievable, and wondered what exactly was going on.

But it's all there in Jewish thought. Maimonides is particularly insistent on the idea.  For before the Mashiach comes, times will be very bad and then very good!

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/mashiach.htm

And no, I'm not going bonkers! After all, I've got a very special wedding in Israel in May, and I jolly well expect to attend it!!

Brilliant posting on Gaza on normblog

Brilliant posting on Gaza on normblog:

http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2009/02/oneeyed-in-gaza.html

The Fallability of Infallibility

The Times had a hard-hitting Leader on Friday, entitled Papal Fallibility:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article5614137.ece

followed during the weekend by the Catholic Tablet:

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/12610

The subject was the wisdom or otherwise of the Pope in remitting the excommunication of four Lefebvrist clergy, including one who is a Holocaust denier, and - apparently (according to The Tablet) - a friend of David Irving, to boot.

The effect of this decision has actually been to increase the close ties between Catholics and Jews in this country, and it was delightful to welcome two more Catholic priests (from the Franciscan Order) to our fortnightly theological dialogue group, held in my home in North Manchester.

The subject on Sunday was 'Justice'. And despite the weather, people travelled from as far away as Rawtenstal to attend:

http://www.aboutbritain.com/towns/rawtenstall.asp

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, in his highly respected work, Halakhic Man:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_B._Soloveitchik

has this to say about justice:

When a person actualizes the ideal Halakhah in the very midst of the real world, he approaches the level of that godly man, the prophet- the creator of worlds....He takes up his stand in the midst of the concrete world, his feet planted firmly on the ground of reality, and he looks about and sees, listens and hears, and publicly protests against the oppression of the helpless, the defrauding of the poor, the plight of the orphan. The rich are deemed as naught in his view.... Neither ritual decisions nor political leadership constitutes the main task of of halakhic man...."He who shames his fellow man in public has no share in the world to come" [Pirkei Avot 3:15; Bva Metzia 59a]. If a person sinned against his fellow man, repentance and the Day of Atonement cannot grant him atonement until he has appeased his fellow [Yoma 8:5; Maimonides, Laws of Repentance 7:9]

I was reminded of this when I attended a weekly shiur which is based on the Psalms. The speaker, basing herself on Psalm 127 

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Psalm+127

asked why the Temple had been destroyed. The answer was that the great King Solomon (who built it) had committed errors of judgement when choosing one of his wives. But surely, the great King Solomon, whose wisdom was renowned, could not himself have made such a grave mistake?

'But, unlike the Catholic Church. we have no concept of infallibility', stated the speaker. 'All men are mortal - and the greater the man, the more is expected of him.'

But when I was in Israel, I attended an interfaith group in Jerusalem, in which one of the topics had been infallibility. And at that group a leading Catholic theologian had explained that the concept of Papal 'infallibility' is misunderstood and has only a very technical and circumscribed significance.

And at that, a distinguished Jewish scholar got up and said that the closest we have to infallibility in Judaism is the way that the haredim consider themselves.

At which I got up and said that I hadn't met that many haredim in Israel, but that those in Britain who I had met, including the very many in Manchester, certainly did not consider themselves infallible and were often the most sympathetic and humane of people!

And I was reminded of this again today, when the same speaker, who had spoken last week on the subject of King Solomon and his vulnerable fallibility, continued with the subject of true meditation. Basing herself, this time, on Psalm 128

http://pray4israel.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/psalm-128/

she asked what a true 'fearer of the Lord' is. The answer was that true meditation in Judaism is when every minute of the day is spent doing the right thing with the right intention; dealing with stresses and strains in a mature and considered way, but not trying to avoid them by solo contemplation, the goal of which is to avoid or 'transcend' life.

A good example she gave was the true story of a mother who had just prepared umpteen boiled eggs for the Pesach Seder. However, at the last minute, when her guests were about to arrive, she found that her toddler had cracked every one of the eggs and, for good measure, had also poured cocoa poweder over each one.

To return to Rabbi Soloveitchik, he talks about 'the man in the sanctuary' and 'the man in the marketplace', or the compartmentalisation of life. This type of behaviour is anathema to Judaism. Rabbi Soloveitchick explains:

We have here a manifestation of a deep fissure in one's psychic identity. The Halakhah, however, rejects such a personality split, such a spiritual schizophrenia. It does not differentiate between the man who stands in his house of worship, engaged in ritual activities, and the mortal who must wage the arduous battle of life.... According to the outlook of Halakhah, the service of God can be carried out only through the implementation, the actualization of tis principles in the real world.... The Halakhah ... penetrates into every nook and cranny of life. The marketplace, the street, the factory, the house, the meeting place, the banquet hall, all constitute the backdrop for the religious life.'

So whether the Pope is infallible or not, he could do worse than to ponder these ideas and to read the works of Rabbi Soloveitchik. Maybe even he could learn a thing or two from them.