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Jewish News 2 December 2021
Opinion
Can’t hold a candle to this accidental email JENNI FRAZER
W
e’ve all done it, haven’t we? Pressed “send” before we should have, and either sent an email full of typos and mis-spellings or, worse, to the wrong person. This week it’s a wrong person case and in a way, a bit of a Chanukah non-miracle. Come back in time with me to several weeks ago when an alert Jewish News reader – as you all are, we know – noticed that when he was shopping for Chanukah candles, almost everything seemed to be made in China. It wasn’t just the candles: those cotton wicks that you can dip in oil for the fancy, upmarket menorot, are also made in China. And the junky toys that you get at this time of year, such as mass-produced plastic dreidels — yup, turns out they are made in China, too. And so Intrepid Reader contacted Jewish News and asked if we could look into this. Because he wasn’t so much worried about the goods being made in China per se. He was extremely concerned that the Chanukah
candles, and the wicks, and the toys, might have been made under slave labour conditions, by the Uyghur people. As readers will be well aware, many of the Uyghur people are living in hellish situations, oppressed by the Chinese authorities, their freedom strictly curtailed and their ability to work controlled in specific areas. There are too many echoes of what happened to Jews during the Holocaust for our community to ignore what is happening to the Uyghurs. So it is fitting that so many in our community – from the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, to the Board of Deputies – have come out with public statements in their support. Indeed, so concerned was Conservative peer Lord Polak about the human rights abuses in China that last week he implored the government not to take part in the Beijing Winter Olympics next year. He said that Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang were “being detained in concentration camps, with testimonies of torture and rape taking place daily”. Let’s go back to the candles, because the
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THE COMPANY REPLIED WITH TWO WORDS: ‘IGNORE IT’... THE DANGERS OF PRESSING SEND problem is proving the supply chain. Uyghur people are routinely moved all over China and though people from the World Uyghur Congress have said that there is a likelihood that Chanukah candles might be made by Uyghurs, it’s not definitive. Intrepid Reader, however, was undeterred, and discovered that there are three main importers and distributors of Chanukah candles in Britain — Cazenove, Global, and Ner Mitzvah. JN inquiries found a certain reluctance on the part of the companies to disclose exactly where their candles are made, citing commercial sensitivity. One company, Global, maintained that very few of its products were made in China these days, saying instead that they came from Turkey, India, Germany and the US. But it was not the case that none of its goods
came from China. Cazenove did not respond to inquiries. So our reader wrote a polite email to Ner Mitzvah, even offering to sign an NDA – a non-disclosure agreement – to make it clear that he had no commercial interest in the information. He simply wanted to know, he said, “to be able to use Chanukah products knowing that the risk they have been made by Uyghur slave labour is negligible or very low, and to publicise to others in the community which those products are”. Ner Mitzvah replied with two words: “Ignore it”. And in those two words is encapsulated the danger of pressing “send” without paying attention to the addressee – and an apparent fearful arrogance on the part of the company. It’s told us pretty much all we need to know.
Statue compels us to embrace today’s kinder MICHAEL NEWMAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES
PAUL ANTICONI CHIEF EXECUTIVE, WORLD JEWISH RELIEF
T
oday, 2 December, marks the 83rd anniversary of the arrival of the first Kindertransport, an unprecedented act of rescue that saved the lives of some 10,000 mostly Jewish children who fled Nazi oppression. Their experiences and contributions have become part of the fabric of society and are cited as the example in contemporary calls to move the youngest victims of terror and war out of harm’s way. In 2006, World Jewish Relief and The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) were honoured and delighted to inaugurate the Kindertransport statue that adorns the entrance to Liverpool Street station, the principle arrival point for many of the kinder. Designed by Frank Meisler, a kind who came from Danzig, the monu-
ment depicts five disorientated children, including a four-year old Sir Erich Reich. World Jewish Relief played an instrumental role alongside other agencies, faith groups and altruistic individuals in instigating and implementing the Kindertransports, and the AJR has for eight decades been the national organisation representing the Jewish refugees, their dependents and descendants. Both agencies to this day play critical roles in their support of refugees with World Jewish Relief at the forefront of the Jewish community’s response to current crises, while the AJR disburses social welfare and financial support to enable our members to live in dignity, comfort and security. To coincide with this year’s anniversary of that first arrival, we are equally
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THE LIVERPOOL STREET STATUE HAS BEEN DEEP CLEANED, RETURNING IT TO ITS ORIGINAL STATE
delighted to have arranged for a deep clean of the statue, which had become tarnished, in order to restore the monument to its original vibrancy. In so doing we also want to acknowledge and thank all those who clear away litter from the statue, including staff from the restaurants that overlook the statue, all of which helps preserve the sanctity of the monument. The statue is a national symbol honouring the children who came but also their parents who sent them to safety and all those involved in their rescue and re-settlement. From the clothes worn by the children to flourishes like the violin on the boy’s suitcase, the statue reflects the culture and heritage of the child refugees but also serves as a warning and a permanent reminder of where unchecked antisemitism can lead as well as the dangers of inaction in the face of persecution. In an era when the number of people feeling conflict worldwide is a staggering 82 million and when the complexities of migration appear insurmountable, the statue reminds us of our Jewish responsibility to welcome the stranger and save a life. The monument is an educational resource fascinating passers-by, tourists and school children alike.
Plaque below the Liverpool St monument
Together with the unique archive of World Jewish Relief and the audio-visual and written archives of the AJR, the statue is used to deliver Holocaust education while at the same time is a precious resource that helps to combat Holocaust denial and distortion and antisemitism. Many of the kinder, like other waves of refugees and those who have come to this country as migrants fleeing persecution, went on to make disproportionate contributions to their adopted homeland. We would be all the poorer were it not for Dame Stephanie Shirley’s innovation and Lord Alf Dubs’ advocacy while Sir Erich Reich’s fundraising has enabled charities to benefit from extensive support.