Pesach 1991

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CONTENTS F e d e ra tio n N e w s ................................................. 3 -6 D A Y A N BEREL B E R K O V ITS Pesach — Z m a n C h c ir u s e in u .......................... 7 - 10

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IN T E R V IE W R a b b i Shm uel A r k u s h o f “ O p e r a tio n Ju daism ” ....................................

1 2 -1 5

S T U A R T D . ROSEN T h e Blessing o f T s e d a k a .............................. 1 7 -1 9 FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES

HAMAOR JOURNAL OF THE FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES Morris Lederman House 9/11 Greatorex Street London E1 5NF Founded 1962 Editor: Sharman Kadish Advertising: Maurice Caplin Tel: 071 -247 4471 Fax: 071 -377 9541

EDITOR’S NOTE his Pesach, we are pleased to present an expanded, 36 page edition of HaMaor. We are also proud to announce that, due to grow­ ing demand (not least for advertising space), we have increased our printrun by two-thirds - to 3,500 copies. A new computerised mailing list is being installed in time for Head Office’s plan­ ned move to new offices in North West London (see report on page 3).

Appropriately enough for Pesach, mindful of the fact that as we go to press a ceasefire has been declared in the Persian Gulf, the theme of free­ dom dominates this issue in articles

by Dayan Berel Berkovits and Michael Goldman. Avraham Greenbaum, a veteran American Israeli who witnes­ sed the Six Day War of 1967, writes from Jerusalem about the fallout (quite literally) from the imbroglio in the Gulf - and how the Israelis are coping.

On the domestic front, Rabbi Shmuel Arkush of “Operation Judaism” , in an exclusive interview with HaMaor, warns against growing missionary activity directed against Jews in this country and gives advice as to how to deal with it. Other con­ tributors examine the impact of multiculturalism on Jewish identity in the UK and the centrality of the mitzva of Tsedaka (giving charity) to Jewish life.

Wishing all our Readers a Pesach Sameach v ’Kasher and Shalom.

Sharman Kadish

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A V R A H A M GREENBAUM L e t t e r fr o m Is ra e l ......................................... 2 0 -2 1 T A M A R SEGAL T h e W a ilin g W all .................................................... 21 RAYM OND KALM AN C u ltu r e o r C h icken Soup! ........................... 2 2 -2 3 B o o k R e v ie w s .................................................. 2 4 -3 0 Social & P e rs o n a l, O b itu a r y ............................................................. 3 2 -3 3

Views expressed In articles and reviews printed in HaMaor are those held by the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editor, or of the Federa­ tion of Synagogues.

Front Cover: Bedikas Chometz, an original illustration by Bracha Broder 081-527 0786

GROSVENOR ROOMS THREE LUXURIOUS BANQUETING SUITES AVAILABLE with catering by Johnnie Michaels for 50-400 guests

Supervision by the London Kashrus Board and Beth Din of the Federation of Synagogues

WALM LANE, LONDON NW2 OS1-451 0066

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F e d e ra tio n H e a d O ffic e is s e t t o m o v e o u t o f th e E ast End t o N o r t h W e s t L o n d on in th e s u m m e r.

The Federation has acquired a low-level purpose built modern office block in Hendon. The cost: £1.3 million. The site, at 65 Watford Way, a few minutes’ walk from Hendon Central Underground station, was formerly the business premises of a travel company dealing in timeshare apartments. It is now undergoing alterations to accommodate the administrative offices of the Federation, the Court of the Federation Beth Din and a new synagogue with seating for 110 people. The shul will be on one level, with a mechitza and its Rav will be Dayan Y.Y. Lichtenstein, Rosh Beth Din. It is planned to lease out the second floor of the three storey building pref­ erably to a suitable Jewish organisa­ tion. Federation administrator Gerald Kushner told HaMaor that the top floor is currently fitted out as a gym, with exercise bicycles, a sauna and jaccusi - so making it an attractive proposition for any health and fitnessminded communal leaders!

Staying Put Those who prefer a good fress will be relieved to know that the Kosher Luncheon Club is definitely staying put in the East End. Manager Paul Levine hopes that Federation Flead Office will honour his lease which was drawn up three years ago. Officially, it has another four years to run, but a verbal promise was made that it would be on-going beyond that time. Mr Levine told HaMaor, “ I have worked hard to build up a nice family business here. I employ 13 staff, all East Enders. I don’t look upon the Club as a restaur­ ant. It is an eating house.”

Certainly, the KLC was never intended to be “economic” . Rather, it was set up over twenty years ago to provide the locals with competitive choice in kosher eating. East End Jews, many of whom are now getting on a bit, are faced with dwindling Jewish facilities in the neighbour­ hood. The KLC provides a vital service for them.

If Grodzinski’s in Whitechapel Road (the last remaining kosher bakery in the East End), closes its doors, Mr Levine plans to bring in bread from North West London to sell from the Club.

For the Record Meanwhile the old Federation offices in Greatorex Street, Whitechapel are on the market. The package includes the Great Garden Street synagogue which dates back to the turn of the century.

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At the same time, Professor Geof­ frey Alderman of London University, who is a member of the Executive as well as the official historian of the Fed­ eration, has been working to ensure the survival of our unique archive col­ lection. Negotiations are underway to transfer the material either to the Gre­ ater London Record Office (following the precedent set by the archives of the Chief Rabbinate) or to South­ ampton University which has a sub-

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Fortunately, steps have been taken to preserve the physical memory of the old shul at least. English Heritage, the government conservation agency, recently sent down a professional photographer to make a complete photographic record of the building, both inside and out.

stantial Judaica collection. Reports, minutes and correspondence down to the 1970s will be deposited. Access to the general public will be granted upon written application to the Feder­ ation, although documents of a “ sen­ sitive" nature may be subject to some restrictions.

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FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES

the Federation of Synagogues moves forward into the 1990s under its new administration, it has adopted a new logo to pro­ ject its ethos.

On the initiative of Vice-Presi­ dent Jonathan Winegarten, graphic artist Chaim Kahan produced the design illustrated here.

The new logo incorporates the Federation’s Hebrew name as its central feature, contained in an almost elliptical medallion flanked by heraldic lions. This idea was borrowed from the Lion of Judah which frequently adorns traditional synagogue carving and embroidery.

The motif will soon be appear­ ing on a range of stationery to be used by Head Office, including the Beth Din, Chevra Kadisha, Kashrus Board, the Talmud Torah Council, as well as by branch synagogues.

Mr Kahan, who is the son of Rabbi Jacob Kahan, a former minister of Tottenham Hebrew Congregation, told HaMaor, “I wanted to strike the right balance - something dignified but at the same time not staid”.

He has clearly succeeded.

Readers will surely agree that the Federation’s new logo is in the best of taste.

G u lf P r a y e r s The Federation has participated in prayer services for the safety of the State of Israel and of Her Majesty’s and Allied Forces in the Persian Gulf.

The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations addressed a joint ser­ vice held at the Golders Green syna-

gogue on 27 January. Alongside the United Synagogue and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, the Federation was represented by Dayan Y.Y. Lichtenstein, Rosh Beth Din. Ilford Federation made its own sim-

For the first time in one hundred years, the Annual Chevra Kadisha Seuda was not held in the East End of London.

This year’s event was hosted by Finchley Central synagogue, whose Rav Rabbi Z. Telsner shlita addressed a congregation of over 80 people bet­ ween mincha and maariv. The Seuda which always takes place as close as possible to 7 Adar (this year 21 Feb­ ruary) - the birthday and yortseit of Moshe Rabbenu, is in recognition of the vital work carried out by the Chevra Kadisha, both men and women, in the community.

Rabbi Telsner remarked upon the significance of the fact that the Chevra Kadisha is the only chevra to incorporate the concept of kodesh (“holiness”) in its very name. He emphasised the responsibility of a chevra kadisha to ensure the swiftest possible burial of a mes for the sake both of the living and the dead.

Memorial prayers for the Federa­ tion’s departed and tehillim in response to the crisis in the Middle East were recited.

An excellent fish dinner was pro­ vided by Paul Levine and his staff from the Kosher Luncheon Club, who had brought all of their equipment from the East End for the occasion.

The guests, who included most of the leading lights of the Federation, not least retired President Morris Lederman, were treated to a drosha by Rabbi B. Knopfler shlita of Sinai synagogue, who was described by Dayan Lichtenstein in his introduction as “the newest Rav in the Federation”.

Vice-Presidents Jonathan Winegarten and Willie Ungar gave the vote of thanks.

KOL NIDRE APPEAL 228,000 has so far been raised from the annual Kol Nidre Appeal.

Half of this sum has been donated to the Bayit Lepletot Girls’ Orphanage in Jerusalem and the Charity ‘Revival’ in aid of Russian Jews respectively. pie and traditional response to the current crisis on 3 February. Two Federation dayanim plus some dozen rabbis, for the most part representing the North East Regional Orthodox Synagogues (NEROS), led a congre­ gation of 160 in reciting tehillim.

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With Best Wishes Honorary Officers and Staff of the Federation of Synagogues and to Hamaor

C O N S T IT U T IO N A L Members of the Federation Executive are to be invited to submit sugges­ tions for amendments to the Constitu­ tion, it was decided at an Executive meeting in February. The Executive have agreed in principle that the Con­ stitution be reformed, and that mem­ bers of the Executive be canvassed for ideas. The democratic process is alive and well in the Federation, whose role and shape continue to undergo transformation.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ragol-Levy and his committee are still looking into the state of the Federation’s finances. The investigation is taking longer than anticipated, but the findings will be made public as soon as possible.

Chartered Accountants

Pesach 1991

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FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES KASHRUS BOARD Chairman: MrW. Ungar

Director of Kashrus: Rabbi M.D. Elzas

The following establishments are licensed by the Federation Kashrus Board and are under the supervision of the Beth Din of the Federation of Synagogues: R E S T A U R A N T S A N D DELICATESSENS

Tel. Nos.

Aviv Restaurant 87 High Street, Edgware, Middlesex

Golders Green Hotel 081-952 2484

Kosher Luncheon Club Kasler Hall, Greatorex Street, London E1

071-247 0039

Massada Restaurant 1023 Finchley Road, London NW11

081-905 5885

Pelter Stores 82 Edgware Way, Edgware, Middlesex

081-958 6910

Pizza Pitta 119 Golders Green Road, London NW11

081-455 8921

0202-24524/765910

Kosher Luncheon Club

5s*1harids’Orp^a9r

071-247 0039

Grosvenor Rooms Ltd 92 Walm Lane, London NW2 4QY

081-458 7127

N U R S IN G H O M E

Sonesta Luxury Nursing Home 797 Finchley Road, London NW11 8DP

081-458 3459

El Al Kosher Catering Eliko Food Distributors

Kenneth Arfin Banqueting

Kasler Hall, Greatorex Street, London E1

147/149 Golders Green Road, London NW11

M ANUFACTURERS

CATERERS

(Selfridges Hotel)

H O TE L

081-451 0066

(Cheese with label ONLY) Unit D, Ashley Works, Ashley Road, London N17 9LJ

081-801 4311

H. Forman & Son 081-985 0378

(Smoked Salmon ONLY)

Park Lane Hotel Piccadilly, London W1Y 8BX

071 -499 6321

Prince Regent Kosher Catering Ltd

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Prince Regent Rooms, Manor Road.

Woodford Green, Essex

081-505 9966

Tay Smoke House, PO Box 27, Sleepless Inch, Rhynd, Perth PH2 8YB

Marcantonio Foods Ltd

C O N F E C T IO N E R

Taste of Honey 11 Finchley Lane, London NW4

Tay Salmon Smokers Ltd

081-203 1080

(Only certified products) 20 Thames Road, Barking, Essex

081-591 3399

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Synagogue Half-M illion Pound Shul The new synagogue planned for the Croydon community is going to cost half a million pounds. £275,000 has already been put up by Federation Head Office to acquire the land in the Shirley district of Croydon. The extensive site is designated “metropolitan open land” and is situated on the edge of a major new residential development. It is expected that the remainder of the funding will come from the eventual sale of the old Croydon synagogue in Elmwood Road, when the market recovers.

The "old" shul was in fact purposebuilt only in the 1960s, although the kehilla itself dates back to the 1890s.

Population contraction and shift has rendered the 300 seat building too big - and a good walk for many in the Croydon Orthodox community.

Architects Mackintosh Haines Ken­ nedy have been commissioned to design the new shul. According to synagogue Chairman, Martin Rosen, the firm’s leading architect, Raymond James, is a practising Christian who has considerable experience in designing churches, mosques and even a Buddhist temple. He is looking forward to the challenge posed by a synagogue. He will be consulting with the Federation Beth Din and with Jewish architectural experts about the project. The brief he has been given is for a building which uses the latest functional technology, yet at the same time expresses traditional Jewish values. The structure will be two stories high, with a synagogue on ground level incorporating raised recesses and a mechltza for the women - whilst the upstairs will house offices, classrooms and a flat for the Rav and his family. Interior decoration will be limited by the budget, but the community intends to transfer fittings, including the Aron Kodesh and stained glass from the old shul \r\ Elmwood Road.

It is expected that building work will take about ten months, once planning permission has been granted by the London Borough of Croydon.

New Rav In the meantime the Croydon com­ munity has appointed a new rabbi. He is Lubavitch-trained Menachem Junik from New York City. Rabbi Junik is in his mid-twenties, with a wife and baby. His rebbetzen Golde is the

daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Lew, head­ master of the Lubavitch House Gram­ mar School in Stamford Hill and his wife Hinde. Rabbi Junik has gained experience as a Lubavitch shaliach in South Africa and as an assistant sec­ retary to the Lubavitcher Rebbe him­ self. The family will be coming to Croydon just as soon as temporary accommodation has been arranged for them in the area.

• ACTIVE ILFORD Ilford Federation has hosted a string of successful functions recently. A traditional Simchas Beis Sho’eva, held last Succos - complete with Israeli band - attracted hundreds of people. At the annual Melava Malka in January, over one hundred came to hear the guest speaker Rabbi Rashi Simon of the Jewish Learning Exchange in Maida Vale. Ex-Ilford Chazan Brian Segal provided the musical entertainment. A Shabbaton was recently organised at which Dayan Berel Berkovits was on hand to learn and debate with members of the Ilford community.

• NEROS NEROS (The North East Regional Orthodox Synagogues) is celebrating its first birthday. The brainchild of Rabbi Reuben Livingstone of Ilford Federation, in co-operation with the Ilford United, the NEROS local learn­ ing exchange has caught on. Eight dif­ ferent shiurim are held on Wednesday evenings attracting an attendance of about sixty people. A day time prog­ ramme is in place on Tuesday morn­ ings and a young adults’ discussion group on Monday nights. The latter, which is a mixed event, already has one shldduch to its credit, according 6

to Rabbi Livingstone. Besides prom­ oting education, NEROS obviously serves a vital social function in the community in North East London.

• NOT SO HARD SELL The reactivation of the Notting Hill synagogue is continuing apace.

An unprecedented advertising cam­ paign was responsible for tripling attendance on the first day of Rosh HaShanah to some 70 people. With the support of Federation Head Office, synagogue Chairman Stuart Schama advertised for members in the local press in Kensington as well as in the Jewish Chronicle. He even appeared on Spectrum Radio to “sell” his shul.

As a result the congregation has stabilised at around 200 members, with the recent influx from the former Shepherd’s Bush and Fulham synagogue being augmented by young, mostly single professionals who are settling in up-and-coming Notting Hill. Half a dozen new men have already boosted the Shobbos minyan and are set to help out in run­ ning Notting Hill’s “ DIY” services this intimate kehilla's hallmark.

Encouraged by a successful Chanuka party which attracted 130 people, the shul is now planning its first Purim party for well over a decade. A monthly breakfast shaharis club is being launched on the first Sunday in March. Likewise, a fortnightly social and cultural group, meeting in members’ homes, is also due to get underway shortly.

• NELSON STREET VACANCY The post of minister at East London Central synagogue (Nelson Street) is vacant again. Rev. Eli Kohn, who was appointed on a part-time basis only a few months ago, has been plucked up by the provinces. Rev. Kohn, who has been with the Federation since 1967, and who was formerly minister of the Tottenham Hebrew Congregation, is going to the Sheffield community. Nel­ son Street have begun the search for a suitable full-time successor.

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suit the congregation has at around 200 members, scent influx from the former 3 Bush and Fulham j being augmented by ostly single professionals settling in up-and-coming II, Half a dozen new men dy boosted the Shobbos j are set to help out in runHjH’S - D i r services -

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esach is described as zman cheiruseinu - the time of our freedom. But what is freedom?

It is an abstract concept, an elusive concept. Freedom from what? From hunger, poverty, persecution, exploita­ tion? The list is endless. And freedom for what? International documents on human rights contain a long catalogue: freedom of speech, free­ dom of movement and residence, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of peaceful assem­ bly and association. But these are only examples. They are not defini­ tions.

Maybe there is no definition.

Perhaps freedom is not so much a right, as a concept. Perhaps, indeed, it is essentially an experience. Ideas can be defined and analysed; they can be articulated and verbalised.

Experiences can only be lived.

When Rabbi Akiva was dying, he recited the Shema: ‘And you shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” .

His disciples asked, in wonder­ ment: “ How can you talk of love, when the Romans are torturing you to death?”

“All my life” , replied Rabbi Akiva, “ I have been upset over this verse. I said to myself: ‘When will the opportunity arise for me to fulfil it - “with all your soul” - even if He takes your soul’?

And now that the opportunity has come to me - shall I not fulfil it?”

Rabbi Akiva, who taught that “ love of one’s fellowman is the great princi­ ple of the Torah", understood that love of G-d is an experiential reality. He did not give his students a discourse on the acceptance of suffering; he simply showed them how to die - as he had lived - with an overwhelming love of G-d. A way of life cannot be explained: it is to be lived. And so it is with all experience. “Taste and see that G-d is good” . If you do not taste, you will not see.

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I would like to believe in something Something beyond the death that undid you I would I Ke to describe the intensity With wh.ch, already overwhelmed We longed in those days to be able To walk together once again Free beneath the sun

Perhaps, it is only those who have been deprived who can appreciate what they have; only those who have tasted slavery can appreciate the flavour of freedom. One of the most poignant expressions of man’s innate longing for freedom is a short poem written in 1946 by the Italian writer, Primo Levi:

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PESACH continued from over page Primo Levi was not an Orthodox Jew; perhaps not even a religious Jew - but he was a spiritual person. In the face of unspeakable evil, in the hell that was Auschwitz, he struggled to retain dignity, to find meaning, to remain free. The Nazis strove to dehumanise their victims, to reinter­ pret all moral values - so that good became evil, and evil good. At the very gateway to the most appalling negation of all freedom, they emblazoned the cynical slogan; Arbeit macht frei. Survivors like Levi testified to the fact that some values are inde­ structible; that the longing for free­ dom is part of man’s essential con­ stitution. * ★ ★ I learned this lesson from my great Rebbe, Rav Chayim Shmuelevitz, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir. In Sefer Melochim we are told of Dovid HaMelech's last instructions to his son. Amongst these was a command to devise a method of punishing Shimi ben Geira, who had committed a cap­ ital offence: ‘And you shall act in your wisdom", said King David, and bring about his death.

What did Shlomo HaMelech do? He summoned Shimi, and put him under a ban.

"Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell therein, and do not go out hither and thither. For on the day that you go beyond the brook of Kidron - you will surely die; you will have forfeited your life” (1 Kings, 2:36 -3 7 ).

Three years passed uneventfully.

Shimi lived peacefully in Jerusalem.

But one day, two of his servants escaped. ‘And Shimi arose, and sad­ dled his donkey, and he went unto King Achish in Gath” . By so doing he had broken his undertaking.

“Wherein lies the wisdom of King Solomon", asked Rav Chayim Shmuelevitz, “for which he is so justifi­ ably famous?" Shimi was instructed that he was not to leave Jerusalem.

Was this such an unreasonable restriction? Have we not known people, even in the twentieth century, who never ventured out of the Old City?

“Yes” , said Rav Chayim, “such a thing is indeed possible. But only when it is part of a voluntary undertak­ ing". As soon as Shimi was confined, once he was under orders, it became an intolerable burden. There is,

perhaps, a subtle irony in the story.

Just as the servants had to escape, so did Shimi. The wisdom of King Sol­ omon lay in his appreciation of the human psyche. He understood that man longs to be unfettered, that he needs to be untrammelled. He knew that Shimi must break out. That is part of man’s very being.

* ★ ★ “And the children of Israel groaned, because of the work, And they cried out, And their supplication ascended to G-d from the work.

And G-d heard their groans, And G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, And G-d saw the children of Israel, And G-d knew” .

(Shemos 2: 23-25).

The Jewish people, over three thousand years ago, was forged in the bitter crucible of slavery. Why was this necessary? What purpose did it serve? The slavery in Egypt was not an accident of history - G-d does not allow such accidents. Indeed, it was foretold to Avrohom long before it happened: “And they will enslave them, and afflict them - four hundred years” . Nor was slavery a punishment - for what sin had the Children of Israel committed? What, then, was the point?

The slavery in Egypt, was a lesson, a message, an experience, without which there could have been no Jewish people - or at least not the people that G-d wanted us to become.

“Thus says the Lord, the G-d of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day that I took them out of Egypt... that you send free your Hebrew brother who has been sold to you’" (Jeremiah 34: 13-14).

What was this covenant? How was it made? It was the covenant of the Exodus itself, of the experience they had been through.

"For the Jewish people are servants unto Me; they are My servants, whom I have taken out of Egypt” .

This is no mere metaphorical expression. Our Rabbis gave it very specific halachic meaning. “ My ser­ vants” - and not servants to servants: hence the right of a labourer to leave his work "even in the middle of the day” . For similar reasons, it is halachically forbidden to enter into a contract which ties one down irrevocably to more than three years’ employment.

Nor are the obligations of this covenant limited to fellow-Jews: 8

“And a stranger you shall not upset, nor shall you exploit him - because you know the soul of a stranger, for you were yourselves strangers in the land of Egypt” .

This is the "constitution” of the Jewish nation - to understand the soul of a fellow human being. Can there be anything greater, more mean­ ingful, more ennobling than that? Can there be any greater kind of freedom?

This is the reason why, as it says in the Haggada: “ It is the duty of everyone, in every generation, to see himself as if he had personally participated in the Exodus from Egypt”.

The story of Pesach is not an histor­ ical memory, but a living reality; not just a vicarious perception, but a very personal odyssey. Only then does it have real meaning.

In Haifa some years ago, I was talk­ ing to a friend of my uncle’s. He was a small, tough-looking man; his face was gnarled. But he had young eyes, and his expression was alive. He chal­ lenged me to guess his age. “ Fiftyfive” , I said, for that is how old he looked. He laughed. "I am seventyfive, and if you think I have had an easy life - well, I spent three years in Auschwitz. Look, here is my number”.

He turned to me with a look of intensity. “Young man” , he said, "do you want to know how I survived? I was not particularly strong. There were people much stronger than I, and they died like flies. I survived because I believed”.

“A few days after I arrived in the camp, I realised that it was hopeless.

There was no conceivable chance of escape, no realistic possibility of sur­ vival. I turned round to my fellowJews, and I said to them: ‘ Yidn\ Do you believe in the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim? Do you believe that G-d took us out, to freedom, from the vast con­ centration camp that was Egypt? If you believe this, Yidn, if you really believe it, then you must believe that next week, tomorrow, today, all this can totally disappear, and we will once again be free. The barbed wire, the guards, the searchlights, the gaschambers - all this can vanish over­ night!’ That is what I said to them”, he concluded, “and that is how I sur­ vived”.

I recall that conversation, to this day, with tremendous emotion. I shall never forget the look on the man’s face, the intensity of expression, the “naivety” of his pure faith. I was hum­ bled and overawed. I understood, perhaps for the first time, what Yetzias

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Mitzrayim really means - in each gen­ eration, to see oneself as if one had personally left Egypt. I comprehended what it meant to be enslaved and to be set free. ★ ★ ★

"!!! enJina ,t>ean.

There is another dimension to free­ dom. King Pharaoh, says the Talmud, had three men as advisers: Bilom, Yithro and Job. He passed a decree: “ Every boy that is born to the Jews, shall be thrown into the Nile” . How did his advisers respond? Bilom sup­ ported the decree - and G-d punished him with death. Yithro ran away, and was rewarded - his descen­ dants sat in the supreme Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. And Job - Job kept quiet, and was punished with suffering. And what suffering! The suffering of Job proverbial unto this day. The entire book of Job is an anguished outpour­ ing of a man who suffers beyond mea­ sure.

There is a problem here. Why did Job deserve such punishment? After all, there was precious little he could do. In fact, there was nothing he could do; we see that from the case of Yithro. Yithro ran away. Evidently he realised that there was no chance of standing against Pharaoh. Opposition would have achieved nothing; it would only have resulted in his death, with­ out any benefit to the Jewish people.

Yet, Job is punished for his silence, and endures terrible suffering. Why? An answer is given by the famous nineteenth-century halachist, Rabbi Ya’akov Ettlinger, in his Aruch Laner.

True, he agrees, Job could not have stood up to Pharaoh; he could not have helped anyone by his opposi­ tion. Had he done so, he would undoubtedly have been killed.

Nevertheless, he should not have kept quiet. There are some situations which are so morally repugnant, that one has to speak out, even at the cost of one’s life.

The explanation of the Aruch Laner is based on principles of morality. I heard an alternative explanation, from Rav Chayim Shmuelevitz, based on the psychology of human emotion.

"There are some things in life” , said Rav Chayim, “which cause one great pain. If you put your finger in fire, what happens? It hurts. What do you do if it hurts? You cry out. There is no logic to it; there is no rhyme or reason. Your finger will not get better; the fire will not stop burning it. But it hurts. If it hurts, you cry out. If you do not cry, it is a sign that it does not hurt".

Job kept silent. He did not oppose, despite the moral repugnance of the decree. Further, he did not cry out his finger did not hurt. How was he

98

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punished? He suffered; he learnt the meaning of pain, he learnt how to cry out. His punishment was appropriate; a lesson in sensitivity.

Man cannot acquiesce in a society which is unjust. He cannot keep silent, whilst others are suffering. This is the message of freedom which our Rab­ bis saw in the Pesach story. It is not enough to gain physical freedom from oppression, if at the same time others are deprived of their liberty.

There is no such thing, in human terms, as absolute freedom. This is true on the macrocosmic level, as well as on the microcosmic level. There is no such thing, for example, as abso­ lute military freedom; no one has yet developed the perfect weapons sys­ tem. There is no such thing as abso­ lute strategic freedom, as the Ameri­ cans learnt to their cost in Vietnam, and the Russians learnt more recently in Afghanistan. And there is no such thing as absolute economic freedom; every society is affected by economic trends elsewhere.

This is also true on an individual

level; we all live in society, and we have to relate to one another. This necessity imposes limits on personal freedom. I am not free to do exactly as I please, because my actions affect those around me. Only G-d is abso­ lutely free, absolutely powerful, abso­ lutely independent. Very often people forget this fact; many times we try to extend our own freedom, at the cost of limiting or enslaving others. ★ ★ ★ Yet this state of affairs may be avoided. Man is created “ in the image of G-d” . What is meant by “image”? It is not “reality” , not “ substance” . We are not free like G-d. But an image is a reflection, a representation, a faithful reproduction of the original. In that sense - and it is an awesome thought - the fact that we are “in G-d’s image” means that we can imitate His free­ dom. We can extend ourselves, trans­ cend ourselves, push the limits back further and further. We can make con­ scious moral choices which enhance our relative freedom.

—»

The form printed below should be filled out before Pesach and taken to your local rabbi or the Beth Din.

D E L E G A T IO N OF P O W E R OF A T T O R N E Y FO R SALE OF C H O M E T Z I, the undersigned, fully empower and authorise Rabbi M.D. Elzas to act in my place stead and on my behalf to sell any chometz possessed by me (knowingly or unknowingly) including any food wherein there is a doubt or suspicion of its containing chometz and all kind of chometz mixtures, and to lease all places wherein the chometz owned by me is stored or found, especially in the premises specified below or elsewhere, up to and including Friday March 31, 1991 at 10.45 a.m.

Rabbi M.D. Elzas has the full right to sell and to lease by transaction in any manner as he deems fit and proper and for such time as he believes neces­ sary in accordance with all detailed terms and forms as explained in the agreed Contract of Sale which will be signed on the instruction of Rabbi M.D. Elzas. This authorisation is made a part of that Contract.

Also, I do hereby give Rabbi M.D. Elzas full power and authority to appoint any proxy he deems fit in his place with the full power to sell and lease as provided therein.

The above-given is in conformity with all Torah and Rabbinical regulations and laws and also in accordance with the laws of the country.

And to this I hereby affix my signature on this day of ........................... 1991 Name Address

Signature ............................................Witness Exact location of chometz within above premises Sale price of chometz (approx.)

Keys available at

9

In this respect, indeed, we do enjoy great freedom. As the Rambam puts it: “ Every human being is given the ability to direct himself on a positive path, if he so wishes, and to be a righteous person; and if he chooses to direct himself on an evi1path, and to be a wicked person, he :s able to do so. This is the meaning the verse in the Torah: ‘Behold man hns become like one of us, knowing good and evil’ - that is to say: ‘Behold this species that is man is unique in the universe, and no other species is comparable to him in this respect, namely in his ability, of his own accord, through his own knowledge and thinkir q , to com­ prehend good and evil, and to do exactly as he pleases, v\ hout any restraint whatsoever preventing him from doing good or evil” ^Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Teshuva 5:"P Hence the well-known saving of our Rabbis: “There is nobody w o is really free but he who is involve( n Torah” because Torah teaches is discern­ ment between good and ev.., and how we should exercise oui power of moral choice. It instructs us how to give freedom to others, rather than seek it for ourselves.

My grandfather had a very indi­ vidual way of starting the Seder. I recall as a small child, my father rela­

ting how his father used to commence the great story of our freedom by thanking his wife for her hard work in preparing for Pesach and the Seder “ For there is no point” , he would say, “in our celebration of freedom, if we are not able to appreciate the sacrifice and effort of those who have enabled us to enjoy our freedom. And so I, too, would like to commence the Seder in the manner of my father” .

And my mother would be embarras­ sed, and tell my father to get on with the Seder. And he would carry on with the ancient story, and - usually - with a profound discourse on the nature of freedom. And so I learnt the meaning and nature of freedom.

In my grandfather’s house there was a live-in non-Jewish maid. She would do all the usual household chores - setting the table, cleaning the children’s shoes, and so on. But woe betide the children if they asked her to bring another jug of water, or to clean their shoes a second time, because they had become dirty dur­ ing the course of the day. “The maid is not your slave”, my grandfather would say, “to be at your beck and call. She is an equal human being, with the same rights and dignity as anyone else. She has a job to do, it is true - to fetch a jug of water, but she does not have to bring you a second jug when you are thirsty. She is supposed to clean your shoes for you in the morn­ ing, but she is not obliged to polish them whenever you fancy”.

Over the years, I have heard many stories about our Gedolei HaDor and have been privileged to observe some of them at close quarters. Invariably, one notices the same characteristics - concern for other people, exquisite sensitivity towards the feelings and needs of others, an unusually developed sense of identification with the less fortunate. These are rare and difficult qualities - they are the mark of the truly great, the stamp of the truly free, of those who are in control of their every action. ★ ★ ★ Pesach — zman cheiruseinu teaches us two great lessons of free­ dom. There is the lesson of the man whom I met in Haifa - that G-d alone is all-powerful and free, and can take us from slavery to freedom. And there is the lesson of the suffering of Job that a man cannot be silent whilst others are suffering; he must care for his fellows and refrain from exploita­ tion. Man can be free. He is created in the image of G-d. He has free moral choice, he can stretch the parameters of his own limitations. He can rise above himself, and seek freedom for others. Then - and only then - will he know the answer to the question “What is freedom?”

Dayan Berel Berkovits sits on the Beth Din of the Federation of Synagogues.

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INTERVIEW

‘OPERATION JUDAISM!* / n s the Churches’ “Decade of Evangelism” gets underway, Rabbi Shmuel Arkush, the founder of “Operation Judaism” talks to the Editor of HaMaor about the threat posed by missionary activity against Jews in this country.

Q . Tell me something about yourself, about Lubavitch in Birmin­ gham and how Operation Judaism started?

Al

I was born in Birmingham. I started off studying dentistry at Man­ chester University but “dropped out” to go to yeshiva instead. I’ve done my time in yeshivos in Israel and America.

Following my marriage seventeen years ago, I went back to Birmingham to set up Lubavitch in the Midlands.

I was disturbed by the almost total lack of provision for Jewish students on campus. There are thousands of Jewish students. But if they had a problem they had nowhere to go except the Christian chaplain. There is a Jewish Society at Birmingham and a Hillel, but in a good year maybe only ten percent of the Jewish students belonged. So I set up the Midland Region Chaplaincy Board, and was duly appointed part-time chaplain to some fourteen campuses which ini­ tially stretched from Keele down to Cambridge. I would estimate that there are about 2000 Jewish students across that area.

I began to hear rumours about stu­ dents converting and decided to investigate. I found out that there was a network on campus, targeting Jewish students and uncovered the missions to the Jews. The Jewish establishment had never really taken any notice of this activity. So, in 1986 I founded “Operation Judaism” , to stop “Jews for Jesus” infiltrating Britain.

Q.

Who are “Jews for Jesus”?

A:

It all started in America. Back in the 1960s the American Board of Mis­ sions to the Jews became very con­ cerned that, despite the fact that they were spending a fortune, they were being remarkably unsuccessful at converting Jews. They called in the 12

market research people who disco­ vered what the Big Problem was: Jews don’t believe in Jesus! One of their leaders, an ordained Baptist Minister called Rosen, persuaded them to fund him specifically to target this “problem” - and he set up “Jews for Jesus” . “Jews for Jesus” preach that it is possible to remain a Jew and to believe in Jesus, to become a “fulfil­ led” Jew, a “ Messianic Jew” or “ Heb­ rew Christian”. They claimed to pro­ vide “ instant salvation” for the lost kids of the 1960s and became very successful. They use very upmarket “selling” techniques - the ABMJ are fabulously wealthy...

However other, more conservative, missions in America did not entirely approve of J for J, and created their own alternative mission to the Jews now known as the Messianic Move­ ment. Their technique involves setting up communities of so-called Jewish “believers” and, through peer group and social pressure, building up a larger community. In America today there are well over 200 of these “ mes­ sianic communities” , most of whom have “ messianic rabbis” leading them. They outwardly copy whatever form of Judaism they see going on around them; if it’s predominantly Orthodox, Orthodox, if Reform, Reform.

This activity gradually filtered through to Britain. The Church’s Minis­ try among the Jews is one of the old­ est established branches of the Angli­ can Church. It was founded by William Wilberforce [the Victorian social reformer]. The Archbishop of Canter­ bury is one of its patrons. The CMJ and other English missionary societies took serious note of the suc­ cesses in America and certain Jewish converts were sent to the States to be trained by J for J. To date we have at least one messianic congregation in London - they had to move out of Bridge Lane [Golders Green] because they had too many people - in excess of one hundred on Friday night. They are now based in a school in Hendon.

Q : Who are the main target of the missionaries ?

A: All Jews. Especially vulnerable are people who do not have a strong umbilical cord to the community, be it formal or informal, who are not attached. Should they encounter a problem in life - and we all have our ups and downs - they don’t know who to turn to in the community to get the advice and help they need. It is a totally emotional thing. What is so despicable is that these are people

who need help and could be helped by the Jewish community. Instead of which, they are being poached from the Jewish community and converted to Christianity, in the name of being helped.

Q I Is it a failing on the part of the Jewish community?

Al

No question. We are giving the missionaries these people on a plate.

For example, people go into hospital and are never visited. The mis­ sionaries are in every ward. University students; where are all the student counsellors on campus? On the one hand we complain about assimilation.

On the other, we do nothing about it.

Not that we can cure everything, but at least do something. Show the kids that we want them...

I have a very strong provincial view on everything. There are still substan­ tial numbers of Jews spread through­ out the whole of the British Isles who are never contacted by the commun­ ity. The only exception to that is Lubavitch. This is the big bracha of the Chabad House movement - in Oxford, Leeds, Glasgow, etc. What the Chabad House offers, the shul can’t offer. The shul can only deal with its immediate members. It can’t deal with people from outside who don’t subscribe to the shul. We need organi­ sations that can reach out to people who are not subscribers.

Q : What sort of tactics do the mis­ sionaries use and what sort of tac­ tics do you use to counter them?

A:

In the past missionaries were regarded as a little bit “whacky” . Now they are very professional. They are expert at targeting. They will identify an emotional need and fulfil it. In prac­ tice, for example, they will invite a stu­ dent for social activities, to talk or, if the student is interested in reading, they will give him or her literature... I’m a rabbi who walks around with a bag full of missionary literature. It is extremely sophisticated and there are tons of the stuff. In Britain alone there are six magazines, all full colour.

I work by referral. Sometimes a member of the family will ask me for help, or a friend, or I just get to hear through the grapevine. I always ask myself: what is the real problem?

Because it is never anything intellec­ tual. I ’ve never yet met anybody who has converted out of intellectual con­ viction. There is always some emo­ tional problem - family, a broken relationship, failed exams. I ask myself, what can I as a rabbi do to help?

It is only if you accept without ques­ tion the fundamental premises [of Christianity] emotionally, and say “ I believe” that you can then go on to construct an intellectual edifice. But if you challenge the fundamental pre­ mises - no chance!

Ql

In a way then, Lubavitch is the obvious organisation to do this kind of work because of its outreach programme.

Q: Supposing a missionary approaches me. What advice would you give people as to how to deal with such a situation?

A:

A:

Yes, our outreach programme.

Lubavitch also has a philosophy which enables us to remain frum whilst also dealing with people who are not yet frum. So, when the missio­ nary problem arose it naturally devolved upon Lubavitch.

If a student needs philosophy, Lubavitch has got philosophy; if he needs Talmud, we’ve got Talmud; if he needs friendship, we’ve got friendship. Whatever is needed, it’s there. We shouldn’t underestimate the need. There are Jews really looking for Yiddishkeit and they are not getting it from us [the Jewish community]. This is what makes it so tragic. There is a big void out there, an absolute thirst. I don’t think it is within our grasp to stop missionising. But it is certainly within our grasp to minimise its effects.

13

Smile sweetly and politely say “ No thank you” . Don’t engage them in conversation. If they give you litera­ ture, take it, close the door and send it to me! You must understand one thing: we Jews are the “old stubborn remnant” and they are the “ New Israel” , who have superseded us and made us outdated. So if we get aggressive and abuse them, we are, inadvertently reinforcing their stereotype of us. It is very important that we do the opposite of what is expected.

Sometimes they may ask you to explain a passage of Bible or Talmud.

There have been cases where Orthodox students have been lost in this way.

MISSIONARIES continued from over page

WITH BEST WISHES FROM Q l / would have thought that one would need to have some kind of knowledge of the New Testament in order to deal with missionaries. You imply that this is not the case.

R O S E N F E L D E R A S S O C IA T E S

Al

I am sure a lot of Federation mem­ bers are challenged by the fact that they have never read the New Testa­ ment and think that maybe there is something lacking. There is absolutely nothing lacking. The so-called messianics are blissfully ignorant of his­ tory, and of the true nature of Christ­ ian theology.

There is an interesting Gemara Yerushalmi which refers to the fact that there were some seventy different Jewish sects in the period before the Churban, one of which, of course, was the Nazarenes. Many of these sects had their own charismatic leader who was looked upon by his followers as Moshiach. The Jewish concept of Moshiach is not the same as the Christian concept. He is basi­ cally a rabbi who has got a specific job to do - to rebuild the Beis HaMikdosh , ingather the exiles, bring peace to the Jewish people and through us to the whole world. But when the Churban came and no miracle hap­ pened, nothing more was heard about these messianic sects. Only later did Paul take the Nazarene movement and revamp it into a new religion which became known as Christianity.

This was the only one of the sects which survived. Evidence that there were any more than a handful of fol­ lowers of Jesus of Nazareth is extremely scant. Jesus did not become the “Son of God” until 300 years later at Nicaea. The Gospels came much later. Indeed, part of the Synod of Nicaea walked out, that is, half of the accepting church of the time, because the “ New” Testament was considered to be so heretical.

The Messianics seem to regard the whole of Rabbinic Judaism as a polemic written to fend off Jesus.

They forget that in Jesus’ time lived some of our greatest rabbis - who totally rejected him. It is not even an issue whether or not he was the Mes­ siah - it is so obvious that he was not that the rabbis didn’t even bother about him! That’s all, they weren’t scared, as the missionaries would have us believe.

These people claim that they want to give us instant salvation, out of

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their love for us, that it would be antiSemitic to withhold the Gospel from us. I always give a little moshel: imagine you are sitting down to Shobbos lunch with your family, singing zmiros, enjoying yourselves. Sud­ denly the front door is hacked down with an axe and in come a whole group of firemen, grab hold of you, throw you over their shoulder, run out­ side and shout “We’ve saved you!” “ Meshuggenehl” you exclaim, “what have you saved me from” ?

That is precisely the sort of feeling Jewish people have when so-called missionaries come along and say “We’ve saved you!” We’ve nothing to be saved from. The whole thing is a hangover from Victorian times. It is gross arrogance and very difficult to deal with.

Q:

Besides the Anglican CMJ, which other churches are involved in missionary activity in this coun­ try?

Al

The Catholics are not really active.

However, there is a Catholic Hebrew Christian group in Britain. It must be 14

said however that Lefevre and some other Catholic leaders don’t accept Vatican II and still believe in the con­ version of the Jews. But in general the Catholics are not a problem.

The major problem group are the Baptists, who have a very high number of converted Jews within their ranks. Baptist churches are always happy to welcome converted Jews.

Also, the Christadelphians. They used to be identified as friendly towards Jews. They are now out to convert us.

Altogether, the missionary societies are spending well over one million pounds a year on targeting Jews just in Britain. In fact, Julian Pettifer did a recent programme for the BBC on missionary activity - with special reference to the upcoming “ Decade of Evangelism” . He came up with some astonishing facts and figures: he iden­ tified thirty three major evangelical projects worldwide. What is a major worldwide project? One which involves a minimum expenditure of one billion dollars. That is thirty three billion for starters! You could probably round the figure up to forty or fifty bill­ ion. That amount of money could pull Africa out of recession. It is a major misappropriation of resources.

Ql

How do you fund your anti-mis­ sionary work?

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A: I am pleased to say that the Feder­ ation has taken up the cudgels and has pledged £6000 per annum over the next three years. Operation Judaism runs on a total budget of £18,000 per annum which, you will appreciate, is gornisht compared with the opposition. We haven’t had any similar sponsorship from other Jewish organisations, although individual shuts have given us some support. I am not looking for Operation Judaism to be “ mega-funded” , but it would be nice if I could afford to hire a secret­ ary. I am dealing with about forty enquiries every week. It is almost impossible to cope with all my other work, and be on-call twenty four hours a day.

Ql

What is your attitude to inter­ faith dialogue? ndon N W 3 1 Q S 171-794 1221

A:

Whether or not one gets involved in inter-faith work, is a sha’alah for a Rav. The Federation has its Rabbonim. I am sure they are all aware of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s teshuva on this subject, which is basically, no.

With regard to all those organisa­ tions which are set up to break down barriers between Jew and Gentile: all they have done is to soften up the ground for the missionaries. Unfortu­ nately they have done nothing to stop the missionaries. These organisations are better funded than we are. I have not noticed any reduction in the level of missionary activity. On the contrary, it is increasing. So these groups are obviously not doing the job they were expected to do. There is something wrong somewhere.

There are a small number of Christ­ ians who have found within their theol­ ogy an ability to accept the Jews for what we are and who, consequently, don’t feel the urge to convert us. I would suggest that we do not involve non-Jews on our committees, for whatever cause, and notwithstanding the amount of money they are willing to give, unless they declare that they believe that the Jewish Covenant is as valid as their own. We have had ump­ teen instances of non-Jews who have been involved in work with Ethiopian Jews, with Russians and have turned out to be missionaries. It happens all over the place: in Israel, in England, in Birmingham. We have to be very care­ ful. We don’t need closet mis­ sionaries.

*

*

Q:

Surely the number of Jews who convert compared with the num­ bers who assimilate in less formal ways is negligible?

A:

The Rambam says that every single Jewish soul is a whole world. A lot of people like to try and mar­ ginalise the problem by playing the numbers game. But from the point of view of Jewish philosophy numbers are irrelevant.

People often ask me: why don’t you deal with assimilation? I say to them: you deal with assimilation and I will deal with the missionaries. What they are really saying is that they aren’t going to help me with the mis­ sionaries and they aren’t going to do anything about assimilation either. I am not in competition with anyone to prioritise problems. There is a prob­ lem which has to be dealt with. To take the view that there are bigger prob­ lems is a “cop-out” ! But, unfortu­ nately, this argument is one which is used quite a lot.

There is a problem, it can be dealt with and it must be dealt with. • See Book Reviews pp. 27-29

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HALACHA

The Blessing of Tsedaka

by Stuart D. Rosen

The Jew s’ Soup Kitchen, Spitalfields

(The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1879) he prophet Isaiah declared: “And the deed of tsedaka shall be peace and the working of tsedaka tranquillity and assurance forever.” (Isaiah 32:17) The concept of tsedaka is one of the most fundamental and far-reach­ ing elements in Jewish life. The halachos which surround the mitzva of tsedaka are elaborate and exact­ ing; this article seeks to consider some of the themes and attitudes which underlie the performance of this mitzva. It is not intended as an examination of the detailed halachos.

The aim is to establish a conceptual framework which will elucidate many aspects of the mitzva of tsedaka from the point of view of both donor and recipient.

T

An a priori condition for the perfor­ mance of the mitzva of tsedaka is rec­ ognition of the existence and legiti­ macy of personal property from which tsedaka may be given. There is no doubt that the Torah and subsequent Rabbinic writings envisaged the real­ ity of such a concept. Witness (among many possible examples) the stipula­ tion that the kesef (“money”, or in this context “article of intrinsic value”) given for the purposes of kidushin (“ betrothal”) should actually belong to the chossen (“ bridegroom”). The vari­ ous instances of sale in the Torah, eg. when Avraham says to Efron the Hittite, “Take from me the money for the field” (Bereshis 23:13) also back up the idea that a person actually had legal ownership of the articles

(whether real estate or chattels) in his possession. Indeed, in more recent times, definite halachic problems arose when members of some of the early kibbutzim, who did not believe in the concept of personal property, wished to embark upon marriage according to the Halacha. So far then, there seems no doubt about the real­ ity of ownership in Jewish tradition.

However, a linguistic observation of the utmost importance (and of rele­ vance to the subject under discussion here) is that of the absence of a verb “to have” in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew one does not say “ I have” , but rather “there is to me” (Yesh Li). This fact is widely known; but the tension

TSEDAKA continued from over page between it and the foregoing discus­ sion on ownership is less often recog­ nised. It is submitted that upon this distinction hinges much of the essen­ tial Jewish attitude towards material possessions. In order to promote har­ mony in society, respect for fellow citi­ zens and clarity and definition in legal matters, a status of ownership is necessary. But for the individual soul contemplating his relationship with the physical world (and his degree of dominion over it - see below), it is essential to realise that we are all favoured trustees of HaShem and consequently bear the onerous responsibility of disposing of the resources placed in our charge cor­ rectly and suitably. Beyond this responsibility, there must be the awareness that we are all ultimately accountable to the true Owner of heaven and earth. Similar remarks to the preceding may be made in the context of our duty to make blessings (brachos) and on this matter the Rab­ bis were prompted to state: “A person is forbidden to enjoy [the fruits of] this world without making a blessing and all who enjoy of this world without making a blessing trespass.” (Berachos 35a).

Trusteeship If the attitude of humble trusteeship outlined above is truly absorbed by the individual, then the possession of property will not become for the pos­ sessor an expression of power or dominion over the physical world. If this latter eventuality should occur, however, the subject rapidly con­ ceives of himself as being supreme arbiter of the articles in his domain and will come (Heaven forbid) to forget the Divine Hand that bestows favour, claiming instead: “My strength and might of hand have made me this wealth.” (Devorim 8:17) Such an outlook obviously trespas­ ses upon the territory of the Divine and the end of the quotation from Berachos above chose its words very carefully in saying “and all who enjoy of this world without making a bles­ sing trespass", the word ma'al specifi­ cally meaning trespassing upon the domain of the Divine, eg. by profane use of holy articles (Hekdesh). Indeed, the intoxication with materialism leads yet further, even to idolatry, for when the individual asserts his own mastery over “his” possessions and declines to part with “his” money for the pur­ poses of tsedaka, of him the Talmud says:

Everyone who turns his eyes away from tsedaka is as if he worshipped idols” 1(Kesubos 68a) He certainly is like one who wor­ ships idols for he denies the Divine sway over all things.

It might be asked, though, what about the atheist who gives money to the poor? The Talmud provides an unambiguous answer: “All tsedaka and lovingkindness performed by idolators is [as a ] sin for them.” (Bovo Basro 10a).

A useful way of understanding this is as follows. Anyone who denies the Divine power, ie. an idolator, but who gives charity to the needy, is thereby simply expressing his dominion, since the donor considers himself absolute master of his possessions and is merely highlighting the difference bet­ ween his own status and that of the recipient of his largesse.

Secular charity Herein lies the fallacy of secular charity2, ie. charity in which giving occurs without recognition of the Divine ownership of all, the donor thinking that he himself is absolute owner. On this subject the Book of Proverbs says: Tsedaka exalts a people [Israel], but the kindness of the Nations is sin.” (Mishlei 14:34).

(This translation is according to one particular interpretation, that of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabban Gamliel. There are other quite different ones, eg. under­ standing ‘Nation’ in a pejorative sense.)

So sensitive were Chazal to the psychological needs of the poor man that they required that he be main­ tained in the manner to which he was accustomed - even if this state was very luxurious. Thus the story is related of Hillel the Elder: "They said of Hillel the Elder that he bought for a poor man of wealthy origins a horse to ride upon and he took it upon himself to run before him.” (Kesuvos 63b) Moreover, Chazal were ever watch­ ful for the slightest possibility lest the donor should appear to dominate the recipient and strict ethical safeguards were enacted. These are laid down in a beautifully expressive manner by the Rambam and the Tur. The Rambam delineates a scale of merit in the giv­ ing of tsedaka which points the way for improving the quality of the act from the lowest level, where the donor needs to be asked to donate, through stages of the donor’s and recipient’s decreasing awareness of the identity of each other, to the highest state of establishing the poor person in a pos­ u

1

ition of gainful employment, ie. as no longer in need of charity.

The scale of increasing merit in this mitzva, so magnificently laid down by the Rambam, achieves two vital goals; firstly, it refines the donor ethi­ cally by decreasing his selfishness more and more, and secondly, in com­ ing to the psychological defence of the recipient, it helps him to uphold his self-esteem and to maintain a pro­ ductive and outward-looking attitude on life. This aim is further supported by the Halacha that the poor person himself should give as tsedaka a por­ tion of that which he receives. This teaches him that he is not so bereft of resources that he cannot help another; the feeling of helping society is crucial in promoting self-worth.

Furthermore, it creates a balanced attitude on his part towards posses­ sions so that when, B ’ezras HaShem in time he is richly endowed mate­ rially, he should still not forget the Source of all blessings but look with yet greater compassion upon his less fortunate brethren.

Sodom Given the schema outlined above, various accounts and opinions in the Aggada and Mid rash may be seen in a new light. Some of these will be consi­ dered here, but only after a slight dig­ ression to elaborate on the somewhat puzzling concept of Midas Sdom. It is stated in the well-known aphorism: “One who says, ‘What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours’, this is the average way; some say this is the way of Sodom.” (Pirkei Avos 5:13) The first opinion on this superficial “live and let live" approach expressed in “what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours” has won appeal in some circles which have advocated the supposed benefits of individuals being left alone to look after their own affairs. The second opinion, however, discerns the hard inhumanity implicit in such a philosophy. In view of the preceding discussion, it is clear that the one who says “Sheli, Sheli” must truly believe that he is absolute mas­ ter and dispensor of his possessions and that his fellow occupies a similar position with regard to his posses­ sions. Thus members of society would respect the ownership rights of others, but would allow no claim upon their own funds since they do not rec­ ognise the Hand of the true Owner nor heed their obligations to share the wealth which He entrusts to them with His kindness and mercy. So it was with singular accuracy that the Mid­ rash Zuta stated:

“ If the generation of the flood and the men of Sodom had done tsedaka, they would not have perished and so it is explained con­ cerning Sodom, even though they had done all [those] transgressions, their decree of judgement was only sealed because they did not want to give tsedaka." (Midrash Zuta on Shir HaShirim 1)

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Life The Aggada frequently remarks about tsedaka and its potency. Thus the Talmud Yerushalmi declares: “One who pursues tsedaka and kindness will find life, tsedaka and honour; honour in this world and life in the world to come.” (Pe’ah 1: 1)

In what manner can the power of tsedaka to achieve “ life” for the par­ ticipant be understood? “ Life” , cer­ tainly, is a commodity often con­ nected with the mitzva of tsedaka: “ Tsedaka delivers from the path [leading towards] death.” (Bovo Basro 10b) It is highly significant as a lesson to those living in this world that the Tal­ mud in Pe’ah spoke of life in the world to come. Surely the most important point here is that we must observe the mitzva of tsedaka in its essential spirit and recognise that HaShem poseach yad umasbia - “ HaShem opens His hand and satisfies” . Man must try to act in his capacity of trustee as hon­ ourably as possible, thus saving him­ self from fossilization, stagnation and spiritual death. When people act in this noble spirit, a fulsome, bright and meaningful world is beheld and exulted in by the soul which soars free from the dull, mechanical life of the materialists. All those who attempt to encourage others to enter into this happy situation are surely worthy of praise. As the Talmud puts it: “One who causes others to per­ form the deed [of tsedaka] is grea­ ter than the one who performs the deed itself.” (Bovo Basro 9a) Likewise: ‘“ Benefactors of the many’ - this refers to the collectors of tsedaka" (ibid). Through careful and intentional observance of this mitzva, a higher world - that inspired by the Divine will — is revealed and invites Man’s participation. This world is the real home of Man, and it is about this world that it is written: “The world is only enlarged and built by tsedaka, as it is said: ‘By tsedaka you shall be established’ (Isaiah 54:14)” (Tanna d ’bei Eliyahu 29). •

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'This is deduced from the use of bliya'al in the Torah in the contexts of idolatry and tsedaka see the Gemara. ‘’The secular attitude to charity can be seen in the word itself, "charity” , which derives from the Greek meaning “favour” or “ pleasantness” . The secular charity giver gives because it is a “ nice” thing to do. The word tsedaka in contrast emphasises that the giving of your own to another is not a favour but a form of “justice". It

19

is simply wrong in Jewish eyes to refrain from tsedaka because it is unjust to keep all one’s money for oneself and not to give a requisite amount to the poor.

Dr Stuart D. Rosen is a specialist in cardiology. His publications include research on medical topics and Jewish Philosophy.

THE GULF WAR

L E T TE R F R O M IS R A E L

by Avraham Greenbaum

Jerusalem , 17 February 1991 3 Adar 5751 e are now in the fifth week of this strange war. Strange, because the country is only partially on a war footing. In reverse of the usual wartime experience, the sol­ dier guarding the border calls home anxiously to find out how the civilians have fared in the missile attacks. It has become a commonplace to say that the rear is the front. This is why the mayor of Tel Aviv’s reference to those who left the city as “deserters” caused so much controversy. As one journalist wrote last weekend:

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Alert in transit: Haifa-Jerusalem bus, 22 January

“ In this strange war the citizen with­ out a task yet has a task: to contribute to the country’s economic strength by keeping the routine of the city going” .

This is easier said than done, and besides the people who are suffering directly, there are all those whose parnoso is now problematic, from estate agents and clothing shops to the entertainment industry. Some busi-

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20

nesses will benefit from pent-up demand after the war, but others will never make up their losses. Yet, the nearly complete shutdown of the country in the early days of the war soon ended, and many - including President Herzog - think it was a mis­ take. Children are back in school, and last Friday in pre-spring weather the Ben Yehuda Mall was its old self, with not a table to be had in the more popular eating places. But the nights are still, by and large, the time when people shut themselves up at home, wishing each other a “quiet night” rather than a “good night”. A few cinemas have reopened, but no theatre to speak of, no concert halls, nor the many activities which get Jerusalemites out of their homes at night. People are not in the mood, and Civil Defence does not allow large groups to gather in one place. Even so, Jerusalem is more relaxed than Civil Defence areas “A” and “ B” (TelAviv and Haifa): by my estimate half the population no longer carry their gas masks around in the streets. Dur­ ing missile attacks (14 so far) we hear neither the noise of the Patriots being fired nor the terrifying boom of the Scud explosions. At least not so far.

20

As for Miriam and I, we are relatively fortunate. No missiles in area “C” (Jerusalem and environs): not even Tel Aviv “refugees” to put up, nor grand­ children home from school to mind.

As with many other couples the woman, the “life force” as George Bernard Shaw called her, is the more cautious. Whenever the alert sounds, Miriam sits with her gas mask on in the sealed room. I sit without mine, and, once in bed, do not get up, except to “seal” the bedroom by pushing the wet shmatte against the door. We live as normally as possible.

Trying to reward the intrepid, I fre­ quented the only coffee shop open in downtown Jerusalem on the fourth day of the war, and was one of the five customers who went to the movies the night Center One reopened its doors. And of course, I work on my book and make occasional visits to Haifa University, which has post­ poned the opening of the new semes­ ter to March 10. This should give me enough time to finish my manuscript.

It’s an ill wind...

A group of American students - with gas masks - on a near-deserted Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, 20 January

Religious life in Jerusalem is back to normal. In Haifa, where security concerns are greater, one of the biggest synagogues ends every ser­ vice - including Motzei Shabbat before dark. Indeed, tomorrow we even have a daytime wedding. Shab­ bat is a nationwide problem. There have been alerts and attacks on Shab­ bat. Civil Defence no longer sounds an “All Clear” so we depend on the

radio to release us from the “sealed room” . There is now the so-called “si­ lent channel” which broadcasts only during alerts. However, some rabbis have specifically poskened against it because it means additional Chillul Shabbat to make it work. For the first two weeks of the war, we switched off the Shabbat clock and had the radio on softly in a corner but since then have tried to live normally and do the

best we can if an alert comes. Much of what happens is in the category of nes nistar (“hidden miracles”) and sometimes not so hidden...

Professor Avraham Greenbaum teaches Russian Jewish history at Haifa University. Born in Europe and educated in the USA, he has lived in Israel since 1968.

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OPINION

Culture or Chicken Soup!

Trustees of the Whitechapel Art Gallery

by Raymond Kalman

Raym ond Kalman examines afresh the question of Jewish identity in the context of a multi-cultural Britain.

We Diaspora Jews often make the mistake of thinking that not only are we a separate entity within the host societies in which we live, but that much of what makes us separate is uniquely ours and ours alone.

Likewise, we seem to place special emphasis upon our experiences as if they too are entirely unique.

Thus in Britain we have come to believe that we are, historically, the only immigrant minority which has suffered discrimination on account of our religion and distinctive “culture”.

We ignore the parallel experience of discrimination suffered by the Irish and other earlier immigrants when they began to settle in this country in considerable numbers from about the same time as the Jewish Resettle­ ment in the mid-seventeenth century.

The whole question of “ethnic iden­ tity” , together with the allied and ancil­ lary matter of “ethnic group culture” is of relatively recent origin and springs largely from the United States of America. There, the importance of analysing what black identity actually

comprised became an issue in the struggle for social and legislative emancipation from “racism”. This, in turn, led to the need to rediscover the history and particular distinctive “cul­ ture” which made and makes black Americans different from white Ameri­ cans.

With the establishment in this coun­ try of coloured immigrant groups since the Second World War on a scale previously unknown, the use of terms such as “ethnic identity” and “multi-cultural society" have become

commonplace. The Jewish commun­ ity has not remained immune from these developments and serious attention began, for the first time, to be given to questions of definition of Jewish “culture”. The destruction of east European Jewry in the Holocaust produced a preoccupation, within communities which survived unscathed, with the need to preserve what was left of Jewish culture.

If black immigrant communities were insisting that they had distinctive features which comprised distinctive cultures, and if Britain was now made up of different groupings, each of which reserved the right to resist assimilation into the dominant society, then surely the Jewish community could and should make the same demand.

Yiddish Such a position led in turn to the need to define what Jewish culture actually consisted of. Unfortunately, this need for definition was not seri­ ously addressed. Instead, the suppor­ ters of “Jewish culture” took one ele­ ment and concentrated most of their attention upon it. This one element was Yiddish.

All other minority groups could, and can, cite a collection of factors which together make up their individual and distinctive cultures; music, the arts, dress, religion and religious ritual, folklore, food, social customs, and so on. However, those who wished to establish that there was an individual and distinctive Jewish culture found it difficult, if not impossible, to agree whether there was anything which one might define as “Jewish” art or music. Many insisted that there were Jewish artists and musicians but that which they produced was not intrinsi­ cally or distinctively Jewish at all. The same applied to secular “Jewish” liter­ ature and poetry. At this point it is necessary to draw attention to an interesting and very significant omis­ sion by the enthusiasts for “Jewish culture” . They seldom, if ever, refer to or include religion within their defini­ tions. Judaism, which has shaped our people, our history, our thinking and philosophy, is totally ignored. Those protagonists who concede that speci­ fically “Jewish” music and applied art and even specifically “Jewish” foods, are intimately connected with Judaism, religious ritual and practice and the festivals, ignore the fact that the latter are probably the most dis­ tinctive and specifically Jewish ele­ ments in our culture. The proponents of Jewish culture restrict themselves to secular examples.

Thus the selection of Yiddish is not a neutral choice but a “ political” one,

containing very strong overtones of neo-Bundism. Moreover, this selectiv­ ity ignores several very significant facts. Yiddish is, without doubt, a very important element in Jewish culture.

The majority of the present-day Anglo-Jewish community are descen­ dants of the Yiddish-speaking immig­ rants of the turn of the century. But a substantial number are not descended from this immigration at all. Moreover, Yiddish was used for argument, discourse and debate in contexts which were primarily religi­ ous and not secular in outlook. It was in the yeshivos and kollelim of eastern Europe where the language truly flo­ wered and was employed beyond the comparatively restricted demands of ordinary day to day vocabulary. The example of Yiddish secular literature is always cited, but one is never told that the best-known authors of this lit­ erature were, almost without excep­ tion, products of intensive yeshiva education. Similarly, the flourishing of this secular Yiddish literature came comparatively late, at the turn of the century, after most east European Jewish immigrants to this country had left their homes to settle here. Con­ sequently that generation had little knowledge of these secular Yiddish classics. One is also never told that the largest body of Yiddish literature most commonly and widely known to our immigrant forefathers (and espe­ cially mothers), was the Tsena u ’Rena, the Yiddish exposition of the Chumash, as well as other transla­ tions of Hebrew prayer books. In addi­ tion, there is considerable evidence to show that while Yiddish was certainly the spoken language of the Jews of eastern Europe, it appears that many were functionally illiterate in the lan­ guage. If this was not the case, why is there so much evidence of shtetl scribes who wrote letters on behalf of their brethren who themselves could not read or write Yiddish?

Secularism If it is generally agreed that any dis­ tinctive culture is made up of many elements, and if these elements ordi­ narily include religion, then why is Judaism ignored by the so-called exponents of Jewish culture? If “ cul­ ture” ordinarily includes music, why is synagogue music, cantillation and cantorial music ignored? If “culture” ordinarily includes dress, why are those most distinctive and Jewish examples, the Arba Kanfos and taleysim ignored, not to mention the distinctive garb of some sections of our people, the shtreiml and kappota (both originally non-Jewish, but nowa­ days totally identified with Jews)? If food is ordinarily included, why are

23

the Passover matzos and the special dishes cooked for specific religious festivals and Shobbos ignored? Why are we compelled to restrict our con­ sideration of Jewish culture to secular examples alone, and why is Judaism and everything associated with it excluded?

To go from the particular to the univ­ ersal: if there is anything at all which comprises a universal distinctive Jewish culture, or at least, the strongest and most important ele­ ment in such a culture, it is Judaism.

In the community to which I belong, in North West London, there are many who cannot understand a single word of Yiddish, nor could their ancestors, and yet we share a common overarch­ ing unity with which we can all iden­ tify; Judaism, its mitzvos, Shobbos, festivals, dietary regulations and ritual (with a few minor variations, depend­ ing on country of origin).

Judaism Most Jews have some knowledge of Judaism, even if they do not regu­ larly practice or show any interest in it.

It is this background in Judaism, how­ ever imperfect, combined with the his­ tory of persecution of our people in the Diaspora - a persecution largely on account of religion - which still shapes and affects them. Many, if not most, Jews still retain some regard for, and may even still practice, some religious ritual, however oddly selected and attenuated in form, how­ ever spasmodic and illogical.

It is true that Yiddish was suppres­ sed in the Jews’ Free School at the end of the last century on pain of punishment.

Nevertheless, that school continued to provide regular Jewish religious education and instruction in Jewish ritual, the festi­ vals, their practice and observance. If one really wishes to examine the sub­ ject of acculturation in the fullest sense of that word, then one must consider how, why and if the most important and truly “Jewish” influence in our culture - our religion - was observed, taught or neglected. With­ out the inclusion of Judaism, in the widest sense, any talk of Jewish “cul­ ture” is empty and meaningless.

To consider acculturation without an adequate and comprehensive definition of what our culture com­ prises is rather like eating chicken soup with a fork, an inappropriate and somewhat unsatisfying experience. •

Raymond Kalman B.A. M.A. (Lon­ don) is a member of the Board of Deputies and writes on the history of the Jewish East End.

N o t D efinitive

Chaim Bermant: Lord Jakobovits: The Authorised Biography of the Chief Rabbi Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1990, £18

he office of Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations is unique. Its essential characteris­ tics were mapped out by Nathan Mar­ cus Adler, who from the moment of his election in 1845 determined not to permit within Britain the growth of self-governing kehillos as were com­

T

monplace in central and eastern Europe. Nathan Adler was a Talmudic scholar of international repute; he managed to contain the small Refor­ mist following that grew up in this country, and at the same time to main­ tain the respect of Orthodox circles.

His son, Hermann, who succeeded him, gave to the office a public dignity, but was neither a scholar nor respected by Orthodox immigrants; the Federation of Synagogues took part in his election but had little time for him thereafter, and he was unable to prevent the emergence of the Jewish Religious Union, which became the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues.

24

Neither body (of course) took part in the election of Hermann’s successor, Dr Joseph Hertz, and it was during Chief Rabbi Hertz’s tenure of office that its overarching and all-embracing aspects began to dissolve. Chaim Bermant claims (p. 185) that Hertz “at­ tacked Liberal Judaism with a vehe­ mence which threatened to tear the community apart”. In fact, Hertz did no such thing. He certified the Liberal Jewish Synagogue for marriageregistration purposes, but hoped that the simultaneous certification of the Gateshead community would pacify the Orthodox. Hermann Adler might have pulled off this conjuring trick; Hertz succeeded merely in outraging the religious right at a time when through the influx and influence of Orthodox German refugees - its selfconfidence was beginning to grow.

Only the grim international cir­ cumstances of the 1930s and 1940s prevented open schism. Israel Brodie, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations 1947-67, was per­ suaded to nail his colours to the mast of the right, not realising that the influ­ ence of the left had also waxed. His public career ended with the debacle of the Louis Jacobs’ affair, from which the mystique and authority of the office of “Chief Rabbi” has never reco­ vered.

To my mind, the final and inevitable breakdown of the status and power of the so-called “Chief Rabbi” has been the major theme of its history over the last twenty or so years. Mr Bermant’s biography of Lord Jakobovits does not ignore this theme, but fails to give it sufficient prominence. I use the word “inevitable” deliberately. The essentially pluralistic nature of con­ temporary British Jewry is now a fact of life; in London alone there are at least seven distinct groupings, a diver­ sity which finds its echoes in some of the provincial communities. How can one rabbi claim to be “chief” over entities as dissimilar as the ULPS on the one side and the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations on the other?

In the early years of his incumbency of the office of “Chief Rabbi”,

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Jakobovits attempted to woo the left.

He assented to an amendment of the constitution of the Board of Deputies, giving rights of consultation to the religious authorities of groups of con­ gregations not recognising his author­ ity nor that of the ecclesiastical head of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews.

Meanwhile he agreed to give the Lily Montagu Memorial Lecture, but with­ drew from this commitment after pro­ tests from the right. Bermant is fully justified in characterising this retreat as “an act of craven appeasement” (p.

93). As rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York, Jakobovits had apparently agreed to participate in adult education programmes organised by American Reform con­ gregations (p. 52), and as “Chief Rabbi” in London he hosted, at his pri­ vate residence, meetings of the Con­ sultative Committee on Jewish-Christian Relations, which includes promi­ nent religious leaders of the Reform and Liberal movements (see my arti­ cle “The British Chief Rabbinate: A Most Peculiar Practice” , in European Judaism, Autumn 1990, p. 55). Yet in December 1984 he issued a confiden­ tial circular to his rabbinical col­ leagues, warning them against modes of conduct “which could be con­ strued as according legitimacy to non-traditional Judaism” (p. 186).

The Federation of Synagogues hardly figures in the book. It is perhaps worth pointing out, therefore, that when he inducted Rabbi Kirzner into office as Rav Rashi of the Federa­ tion in 1967, Jakobovits went out of his way to support the Federation’s continued separate existence (“ Diver­ sity strengthens the vibrancy of com­ munal life”) - a far cry from his pub­ licly-expressed wish, in 1988, that the Federation should liquidate itself (“as a separate unit [the Federation] is now entirely archaic” , Jewish Chronicle, 2 September, p. 9).

The biography which Bermant has written is billed as “authorised” . It can hardly be described as definitive. The grim part played by Jakobovits in the attempted dismissal of Rabbi Simche Lieberman from his post at Jews’ Col­ lege (1985) is not mentioned, neither is a word said about the controversy triggered by Jakobovits’ handling of negotiations with the Ministry of Agriculture over shechita (both sub­ jects are covered in my Inaugural Lec­ ture, Anglo-Jewry: A Suitable Case for

Treatment, published in 1990). I am painfully aware that in the outside world Jakobovits is highly regarded.

This is in part because the truth about him is only very imperfectly under­ stood. “ He never retracts and never apologises” , Mr Bermant writes (p.

40), and the author draws attention also to his “ inability to accept that he can make mistakes” (p. 216). As one who has had to deal with Lord Jakobovits on a number of delicate issues, I can certainly attest to the truth of these observations.

The Federation (amongst a number of other synagogal groupings within the Jewish communities of the United Kingdom) played no part in Jakobovits’ election as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, and deliberately withdrew from the election of his successor. Yet in the Jewish Chronicle of 22 December 1989 the President of the Board of Deputies, Dr Lionel Kopelowitz, had the chutzpa to describe the “Chief Rabbi” as “the public religious rep­ resentative of the whole of the British Jewish community” , adding (accord­ ing to The Times of 18 December) that the traditional role of Chief Rabbi had “worked to the benefit of the entire community” . These are astonishing pronouncements; worse still, there is a danger that they may be believed by the ignorant and the misinformed. The balance needs to be redressed. Mr Bermant has made an important con­ tribution to this process.

Geoffrey Alderman

Rabbi Berel Wein: Triumph of Survival Shaar Press, Monsey, New York, 1990, £27

As the author modestly, but tactfully, attests, Triumph of Survival tells the inner story of the People of Israel which most often escapes the secular historian. It demonstrates repeatedly how Divine guidance, our holy Torah and the Jewish commitment are cent­ ral to the story of our people spanning the last three and a half centuries. The book commences with the cruel mas­ 25

4

sacres, perpetrated by Chmielnicke and his Cossacks, of east European Jewry in the middle of the seven­ teenth century and ends with the first - and, to date, only - peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state, the Camp David Agreement.

Rabbi Berel Wein is the rabbi of a congregation in New York and Rosh Yeshiva in Rockland, USA. He is a member of the Illinois bar and the author of a popular major cassette series on Jewish history.

On its journey through time, his latest erudite work records and analyses the false messianic hopes engendered by Shabtai Tzvi in the lat­ ter half of the seventeenth century.

Rabbi Wein puts into religious perspective the causes and effects of enlightenment, reform and modernity during the period from 1730 to 1830.

He chronicles the ideology and impact of personalities such as Moses Mendelssohn and Abraham Geiger and of such towering Torah personalities as Rabbis Bamberger, Hirsch and Sofer.

The reforms effected by Napoleon, especially vis-a-vis the Jews, are documented and studied in depth. So too is the role of the Rothschild family and that of Moses Montefiore, the lat­ ter a friend of Queen Victoria and Lord Palmerston, who used his influence and status to benefit his fellow Jews.

Many pages highlight the Torah scholarship prevalent in Europe, which was essential to the survival of traditional Judaism; the rise, ideals and aims of the leaders of Chasidism and their adherents, beginning with the Baal Shem Tov; the strong reac­ tion and opposition to the Chasidim on the part of the Misnagdim, led by the Vilna Gaon; and the founding and expansion of the yeshiva movement as we know it today.

A complete section is devoted to the Russian oppression of the Jews under successive Tsars during the nineteenth century, the anti-Semitism that was rife and the new yearning for Jewish nationhood.

The book describes the trials and tribulations of masses of traditional Jews who forsook the borders of Rus­ sia to seek a new life in the “Goldene Medina” of the USA in the period from 1881-1914. The author recounts too the unimaginable hardships borne by a handful of idealists who made aliyah to the Holy Land during that same

4) period. He analyses the impact that Theodore Herzl had on the course of Jewish history and the founding of modern political Zionism - and the ideological opposition this generated amongst Orthodox Jews.

As is to be expected from an Ameri­ can scholar, Rabbi Wein devotes much attention to Judaism in the USA - Orthodox, Reform and Conserva­ tive, as well as to the elevation to pub­ lic office of many Jewish per­ sonalities.

Such landmarks of our recent his­ tory as the First World War, the Balfour Declaration, the Russian Revolution, the Second Polish Republic, the rise to power of Hitler and his reign of unforgiveable terror, the Second World War with its attendant Holocaust, the partition of Palestine under the British Mandate and the founding of the State of Israel, are all given ample treatment from the view­ point of traditional Judaism. Rabbi Wein charts the resurgence of Orthodoxy in the USA and Israel in the wake of the decimation of European Jewry - together with the signs of a religious revival in the Soviet Union.

Finally, he deals with the continuing Arab-lsraeli conflict, dominated by war and the as yet unfulfilled search for peace.

Triumph of Survival runs to almost 500 pages. It is clearly presented and illustrated, is indexed and has exten­ sive footnotes quoting source mate­ rial and amplifying the text.

May HaShem who performed mira­ cles for our ancestors and redeemed them, redeem us speedily and gather in our exiled ones from the four cor­ ners of the earth. Then all will testify to the “Triumph of our Survival” .

E. Frame

Simon Lee: The Cost of Free Speech Faber & Faber 1990 £4.99 Paperback

Perhaps the most trenchant lesson to be drawn from the study of Jewish history is the terrible power of words in writing or in speech - over our lives and destinies. From the “blessings” of Balaam (vide T.B. Sanhedrin 105b),

Fi

through the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the serpentine propaganda of Dr Goebbels, to the doublespeak of left-wing anti-Zionism, we have suf­ fered more insidious libel and calumny than other group. “ Death and life are in the grasp of the tongue” , said King Solomon (Proverbs 18:21), an axiom verified repeatedly through­ out the Jewish saga.

Echoing King Solomon’s maxim, Vaclav Havel, the reluctant playwright President of the new Czechoslovakia, has said: “All important events in the real world - whether admirable or monstrous are always spearheaded in the realm of words... There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them...”

These truths are quoted in Profes­ sor Simon Lee’s The Cost of Free Speech, wherein he underlines the dangers. “Speech is not free; it costs lives” , he writes in his preface, and proceeds to argue the thesis that the liberal belief in freedom of speech has often been betrayed by its adherents.

Voltaire, he tells us, never actually said “ I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it” and, in any case, the adage is not very convincing. Simon Lee’s book was written at the height of the still simmering Salman Rushdie affair, and he proposes that speech, in literature and in the media, must be controlled by enlightened censorship, and by mutual respect in private: "A utopian society would not need to restrict free speech because its members would respect one another instinctively and would be self-confi­ dent enough as to their standing in society not to take umbrage at imagined slights”.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a utopian society and can ill-afford such self-confidence.

Of freedom itself our Sages teach: “ Do not read chorrus (“engraved”) but cherrus (“freedom”),” referring to the Tablets of the Law. Real freedom is that which submits to the discipline of the Divine commandments. The Torah warns against unbridled speech, loshon hora and rechilus, and sets very definite limits to what we may or may not say. “ I have been raised amongst wise men” , said Rabbi Shi­ mon ben Rabban Gamliel, “and have discovered nothing better than silence”, which might seem a rather

extreme position to take. Neverthe­ less, since much of our conversation and most of our daily papers consist of idle rumour or malicious gossip masquerading as “ news” , perhaps Rabbi Shimon’s perception is worth pursuing. As I compose this review, the war against Saddam Hussein gains pace; naturally, we spend a great deal of valuable time concen­ trating on newspaper, radio or televi­ sion reportage. To what end, I wonder.

How healthy is our dependance upon “news”? Should we not rather calcu­ late the damage engendered by the worst practices of journalism and the media, the prejudices, the meretri­ cious slander, and the sheer mischiev­ ous inventiveness that multiply a thousandfold the miseries that humankind inflicts upon itself? How much pleasanter might life prove to be if we were to abandon our slavish attachment to “news” and to develop instead an addiction to silence - or, at least, if we could learn how not to relay, or lend a receptive ear to, loshon hora.

Amongst the outstanding halachists of this century was the revered and saintly Rabbi Meir HaKohen (Kagan) of Radun (1838-1933), best known for his instructive collection of glosses on the Shulchan Oruch, Orach Chayim, called Mishna Berura, which is now recognised as an indispensible handbook for Rabbis - and laymen - in their daily round. Less widely consulted, perhaps, is his other famous work, Chofetz Chayim, which provided the author with his universal pseudonym. This title is derived from Psalm 34: “Who desires life?.. Spare thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking deceit”.

Sefer Chofetz Chayim1 is a unique classic; it codifies in explanatory detail the halachic boundaries of speech, and applies its principles to everyday family, social and business intercourse. It defines loshon hora and rechilus (both prohibited, inciden­ tally, even if what is said is true), but reserves its severest condemnation for those who endanger the welfare and security of fellow-Jews by report­ ing their real or imagined wrong­ doings to a wider, gentile, audience.

Indiscreet disparagement of our breth­ ren is no less a Chillul HaShem than disreputable behaviour.

Ardent advocates of free speech can be the cause of incalculable harm

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?age engendered by the ctlces °f journalism and the le Prejudices, the meretri'der, and the sheer mischievntiveness that multiply a old the miseries that i inflicts upon itself? How Jsanter might life prove to fere to abandon our slavish t to "news" and to develop addiction to silence - or, at e could learn how not to id a receptive ear to, loshon

when they insist, for instance, that the details of every anti-Semitic manifes­ tation must be fully reported in the press. Public opinion, they aver, should be relied upon to denounce and proscribe such incidents. History teaches us otherwise; aveiro gorreres aveiro, each publicised outrage incites the next. Freedom of speech is not more precious than freedom from fear, from distress, from physical injury.

And finally, may I plead with those given to public utterance, be it in ser­ mons, lectures or letters to the press, to exercise the utmost care: one Jew’s freedom of speech could be another Jew’s misfortune.

ignored by historians (except perhaps by the Zionists for ideological reasons of their own). In the last century, British Jews were fighting for legal equality and social acceptance. They were, understandably, not predis­ posed to acknowledge that “tolera­ tion” could have its price. In an open society, where the authority of the rabbonim was challenged and where the barriers against absorption into the mainstream had come down, the con­ ditions were ripe for defection, drift and indifference.

In the absence of official state or church records on intermarriage and conversion, as existed elsewhere in Europe, Professor Endelman has

been forced to rely heavily on case studies of individual families to docu­ ment assimilation patterns over the past three and a half centuries. Admit­ tedly anecdotal, this approach has the merit of making sound scholarship into entertaining reading. The chapter on the Victorian missionary societies is particularly enjoyable. Did you know, for instance, that the founder of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews (1809) was a renegade Jew by the name of Joseph Frey? Or that the first Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem was a meshumed by the name of Michael Solomon Alexander?

1A practical guide in English, by Rabbi Z. Pliskin, based on Chofetz Chayim is avail­ able.

Michael Goldman

Todd M. Endelman: Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History 1656-1945 Indiana University Press, 1990, $29.50

What has become of the Goldsmids, Montefiores, Jessels, Henriques, Sas­ soons, Beddingtons - and even the Rothschilds? The big families who dominated Anglo-Jewry in the heyday of Queen Victoria have, for the most part, disappeared from the scene.

This is one of the intriguing questions posed by Todd Endelman’s new book which, despite its academic-sounding title, deals with a subject of interest to every British Jew. The theme of this book is the littletalked-about obverse side of modern Jewish history; an exploration not of the phenomenon of survival but of dis­ integration. It is a courageous attempt to wade into an area which has long been taboo. Conversion and intermar­ riage (the social consequences of which as Professor Endelman points out are very much the same), has long been regarded as tantamount to bet­ rayal in traditional Jewish society.

Parents sat (and sit) shiva for children lost in this way. Likewise, the whole question of assimilation, often the result of simple apathy rather than active decision making, has been

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, perhaps the most fam ous convert in Anglo Jewish history, as depicted by Vanity Fair in 1869.

27

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BOOK REVIEWS The conclusions reached in this study contain few surprises. “The decline of Jewish attachments” , the Professor observes “is a cumulative multigenerational process” (p. 5). In Britain, conversion, and more fre­ quently intermarriage, was not usually a matter of principle. It was, more often than not, the result of general secularising influences: linguistic acculturation, education, residential dispersion and occupational diversifiBook Reviewers in this Issue Prof. Geoffrey Alderman is Professor

of Politics and Contemporary History at Royal Holloway & Bedford New Col­ lege, University of London. He has also written the official history of the Federa­ tion and is a member of the Executive.

E. Frame lives in Gateshead and works

in Jewish education.

Michael Goldman retired from the

post of Secretary to the Federation of Synagogues in 1988, after 33 years’ service.

Dr. Sharman Kadish is the Editor of HaMaor. She is a Researcher in the

Department of History at Royal Hollo­ way & Bedford New College, University of London.

cation. The serious effects of such factors have been masked by succes­ sive waves of immigration which periodically bolstered the number of Jews in the community. Now that immigration has more or less dried up, it is becoming increasingly evident that assimilation is sapping both the spiritual strength and physical survival of Anglo-Jewry in a way which neither the missionaries nor the Jew-baiters could.

Endelman contends that the kind of ambivalent toleration practised in western Europe, which welcomed outsiders provided they conformed on terms dictated by the dominant culture, has been inimical to the per­ petuation of a separate Jewish iden­ tity. However, the underlying implica­ tion that an evolving cultural pluralism, on the lines of the United States, may be more effective in this respect is questionable. The inroads made by intermarriage and the havoc played by the Reform movement with fundamental definitions of Jewish status is, if anything, more serious in the Professor’s own backyard.

The moral of the whole sorry tale is, nevertheless, positive. Sound Jewish education and Jewish social

29

4

institutions are the only way to com­ bat assimilation and to promote Jewish identity in a so-called free soc­ iety.

Sharman Kadish

Pamela Fletcher Jones: The Jews of Britain: A Thousand Years of History The Windrush Press 1990 £16.95 Jonathan A. Romain: The Jews of England Michael Goulston Foundation/ Jewish Chronicle Publications Ltd. (Reprinted paperback 1990) £6.95

The publication in 1990 of Miss Fletcher Jones’ book coincided with two significant anniversaries - both of them misfortunes - in Anglo-Jewish history. On Erev Shabbat HaGadol nine hundred years ago (1190) 150 Jews of York, together with their Rav, Rabbi Yomtov of Joigny, committed mass suicide in Cliffords Tower rather than submit to apostasy or face death

at the hands of a murderous mob sur­ rounding their refuge. A hundred years later, on 9th Av 1290, King Edward expelled all the Jews, then numbering probably less than 15,000 souls, from Britain. Jews were not formally re­ admitted to this country until 1664, during the restored monarchy of King Charles II. Estimates of the size of British Jewry today vary from about 330,000 to 400,000 (depending to a degree on one’s definition of Jewishness for this purpose), by far the great majority descended from immigrants who arrived here after 1880 in successive waves, from Russia and Poland, from Germany, Austria and Western Europe, from Roumania and Hungary, and more recently, from the Near and Middle East and from Asia. There is a gap of nearly four hundred years bet­ ween the Expulsion edict of Edward and the Restoration (markedly reduc­ ing the faintly pompous “Thousand Years’ of Miss Fletcher Jones’ title), and no-one living in these isles today could seriously claim descent from those original exiles, or even from the handful of Jews who might have avoided detection and stayed, or from the few adventurous individuals who arrived here as crypto-Christians or were allowed to settle prior to 1664.

Despite this, our appetite for new histories of the Jews in Britain remains unsated, as indicated by the regular appearance of fresh studies.

We have been promised an updated edition of the late Dr Cecil Roth’s stan­ dard History of the Jews in England from the erudite pen of Professor Geoffrey Alderman, and on the basis of his “confession” in the last issue of HaMaor, we can anticipate a provokingly “realistic” - as opposed to an “establishment” historical approach.

Continued interest in Jewish history is noteworthy, for it arises, I believe, not simply out of an enduring curiosity about our antecedents, but from that innate, profound and abiding emo­ tional response of every Jew to the fate of his brother, however distantly separated by miles or centuries.

Neither of the two histories under review here could possibly be thought to pre-empt Professor Alderman’s forthcoming work. Miss Fletcher Jones’ book, though handsomely bound and attractively printed, and enhanced by excellent black-andwhite photographs and drawings

(many only vaguely related to the sub­ ject matter) can hardly be described as other than a readable decoration for the coffee-table. Several passages are only too obviously extracted with minor literary disguise direct from Cecil Roth, and there is an irritating imbalance in emphasis. Thus, two whole pages (out of less than 170 of narrative) are devoted to a couple of minor anti-Jewish incidents in Limerick, four to Marks & Spencer, and a similar number to celebrate var­ ious artistic or political notables whose associations with AngloJewish history are obscure. On the other hand, the origins and growth of the Reform and Liberal movements are considered worthy of over four pages (including an odd description of certain dissenting clerics as “en­ lightened Orthodox Rabbis”) whilst the United Synagogue together with the Chief Rabbinate warrant two paragraphs and the Federation of Synagogues just one! Today’s provin­ cial communities merit scarcely a mention.

The author’s religious predilections are apparent; but she also displays an inadequate acquaintance with Jewish affairs, instanced by her quaint description of Lubavitch Chasidim whose members “still wear the same style of gar­ ments... as the followers of the Baal

Shem Tov... and are strongly discour­ aged from marrying even into mainstream Jewry” .

Though Miss Fletcher Jones has presented us with a pleasing, if flawed, book, it is hardly the "full his­ tory of the subject” its publishers claim and it does not appear to be aimed at a Jewish readership.

Jonathan Romain’s book is sub­ titled “A Portrait of Anglo-Jewry through Original Sources and Illustra­ tions” and it succeeds in achieving this aim. Understandably, a great deal of the basic information and many of the illustrations are common to both histories, but Jonathan Romain’s fas­ cinating collection includes much material not found in the standard works, and thus provides a fresh, illuminating and lively background to the subject. Intended for use by teachers and students, the book will serve the casual reader, too, as an informative primer of Anglo-Jewish history. Though the author ministers to a Reform congregation, his book, unlike that reviewed above, is unmar­ red by prejudice and qualifies as a useful addition to the Jewish book­ shelf.

Michael Goldman

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31

OBITUARIES

ARYEH CHONTOW

The death, in his 75th year, of Mr Aryeh Chontow, removes from the communal scene a Torah scholar who did much to enhance Orthodox stan­ dards in Anglo-Jewry and made an important contribution to Orthodox Jewish education. For a number of years he was president of the Stam­ ford Hill Beth HaMedrash (Grove Lane) and he was a generous philan­ thropist.

Mr Chontow was one of the dwindl­ ing band of survivors of that genera­ tion of Orthodox Anglo-Jewry which received its higher education in the decade immediately preceding the Second World War and which sub­ sequently established itself in the 1950s.

He was born in Biaylstok, Russia, and at the age of 13 joined the yeshiva of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman at Baranovichi, Byerlorussia. In 1932, while he was still at Baranovichi, his family moved to East London where his father had been appointed rabbi of Dunk Street Beth HaMedrash. A year later, at the age of 18, he joined the Yeshiva Etz Chaim.

While at the yeshiva he ran a stu­ dent benevolent fund, organising holi­ days for those who required them.

After evacuation during the war years, he and his young family returned to London and in due course he joined the Grove Lane shut.

He became actively involved in the management of the congregation and was also responsible for the running of the mikva attached to it, becoming chairman of the mikva committee. As there were few mikvos in London at that time, the importance of his task, lovingly undertaken for many years, cannot be overrated.

In those years he took an active interest in the Yesodey HaTorah School, which his own children attended, and he subsequently became a leading supporter of the Kollel Rabinow, established in mem­ ory of Rabbi S J Rabinow. Eventually he was able to combine his patronage of the kollel with his presidency of Grove Lane by moving the shul into the more suitably-sited premises of the kollel.

Notwithstanding his business and communal philanthropic activities, he always found time to study Torah, a trait inherited by his children. They are following his example, in particular through the framework of the Gateshead Yeshiva Alumni Associa­ tion, which, under the guidance of his eldest son, David, is undertaking a major redevelopment of the yeshiva.

Arnold Cohen [R e p rin te d from the Jew ish C hronicle, 7 S e p te m b e r 1990.]

RABBI JOSEPH ROSENFELD

Rabbi Joseph Rosenfeld, who has died in Jerusalem aged 82, was for 37 years minister of the Sinai synagogue, Golders Green.

He was born in Jerusalem and came to Britain in 1929, having received a certificate from Rabbi Abraham Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, to practise as a shochet.

His first job in Britain was as a shochet to the Federation of Synagogues.

Rabbi Rosenfeld left for Jerusalem on his retirement in 1974. One of the causes to which he was dedicated was the Bikur Cholim Hospital in Jerusalem, for which he raised large sums of money. He was the Honorary Secretary of the British Aid Commit­ tee and a member of the hospital’s board of governors.

[R e p rin te d from the Jew ish C hronicle, 2 N o ve m b e r 1990.]

An obituary of the late Mr Mark Kasler will appear in the next issue of HaMaor

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SAMUEL SYNETT Sam Synett, who has passed away at the age of 83, was closely associated with what became the Ilford Federa­ tion synagogue, from the time he was “demobbed” at the end of the Second World War. The kehilla grew out of the Ilford and Valentines Park synagogue which had operated out of a converted house since the 1930s. Sam, with his strong background of communal ser­ vice and Zionist activism, was soon elected President of the shul and was responsible for much of its sub­ sequent development. In the early 1950s, he arranged for the payment of an outstanding debt to the Federation and raised funds to build an extension to the shul. The congregation expanded with the movement of exservicemen and their families from the East End to the suburbs in search of affordable housing.

The growing number of children led Sam to concentrate his energies on the development of the cheder. At this time too, he was engaged in negotia­ tions with the Zionist Federation, the Mizrachi and the Ilford District synagogue (United) to set up a Jewish Day School in the neighbourhood.

However, the plan foundered owing to lack of funds.

By now, the late Rev. Isaac Nodel (z./.) had taken up his duties as Rav of the shul and Sam was ready to step down from office in order to make way for a younger man. But the commun­ ity was anxious not to lose his imaginative and vigorous leadership.

Accordingly, they instituted a shrewd reform of the congregation’s constitu­ tion, whereby Sam would remain President, and two new positions, those of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Management, would be created. Later on, this system was modified to allow for the Chairman to be Chairman of the shul rather than of the Board of Management. The new arrangements had the advantage of retaining Sam’s expertise as well as of establishing a “training school” for future officers. To this day, Coventry Road is the only Federation shul which constitutionally has both a President and a Chairman.

The scheme worked: by 1963 the shul membership had quadrupled, a

C o n g r a tu la tio n s On behalf of the Federation of Synagogues, H aM a o r extends sincere congratulations to: BIRTHS

Mr & Mrs Arnold Cohen (President) on the birth of a granddaughter.

Mr & Mrs J Gaus (retired secretary, Woolwich) on the birth of a great­ grandchild.

Mrs H. Levy (telephonist at Head Office) and her husband on the birth of a granddaughter in Israel.

MARRIAGE

Dayan & Mrs B. Lopian (Edgware Yeshurun) on the marriage of their daughter.

ANNIVERSARIES

Mr & Mrs L. Hanover (President, Croydon) on their Golden Wedding.

Mr & Mrs A.B. Olivestone (Edgware Yeshurun) on their Diamond Wedding

C o n d o le n c e s On behalf of the Federation of Synagogues, H aM a o r extends sincere condolences to: DEATHS

The family of the late Mr S. Abrahams (Founder-member, Sinai Synagogue).

Mrs H. Caplin (Edgware Yeshurun) on the loss of her father, Mr Aaron Rose.

Rabbi M.D. Elzas (Kashrus Director) on the loss of his father.

The family of the late Mr M. Kasler (President, Great Garden Street).

Mr S. Symons (Founder-member and Secretary of Sinai Synagogue for over 40 years) on the loss of his wife.

The family of the late Mr S. Synett (Life President, Ilford).

new synagogue was built and became a constituent of the Federa­ tion. The Hebrew school was enlarged and full-time officials appointed.

In appreciation of his vital role in the upbuilding of the Ilford kehilla, Sam was made first Honorary Life Presi­ dent, an office which he held with grace and distinction, representing the shul on many public occasions and being held in high esteem by the whole of the Ilford Jewish community.

With the marriage of his children, and their removal from the Ilford area, Sam decided to follow in order to be 33

near them. He did, however, maintain constant touch with Coventry Road and was ever concerned to be kept abreast of happenings there, even during his last illness.

Sam faced death with the same calmness, courage and dignity which he displayed throughout his life. He died on Rosh HaShanah 5751. We shall always miss him.

We only have one way of facing the future - by taking to heart what we remember and have learned from the past.

Israel M. Segal

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SOUTH LONDON (Wimbledon) 081-944 1581

MEMORIAL STONE INSURANCE

by Samson Insurance Services

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129 s t Albans Road, Watford, Herts

w d i ir a

P R O TE C T TH E M E M O R Y OF A L O V E D O N E It is a sad reflection on today’s society that many memorials suffer wanton vandalism, and these attacks are not restricted to grand or elaborate monuments; often the simplest family stones are the target of malicious or accidental damage.

Whilst it is impossible to prevent this happening, STONEGUARD Insurance can ensure that any damage can be put right very quickly - even to total replacement of the memorial^The cost of this unique insurance is 1% p.a. payable on a renewable 5 year term.

Many insurance policies are limiting in what they will insure you against. But STONEGUARD is different. This scheme covers ALL RISKS - accidental or malicious, including damage by storm. STONEGUARD covers the full value of replacing or repairing the stone and provides third-party liability up to £1,000,000. There is no need to renew the policy every year. STONEGUARD cover lasts for five years and can then be renewed each successive five years for as long as you wish. The memorial stone value will be index linked at 5% p.a.

THIS IS WHAT YOU PAY Replacement Premium Payable Value of Stone For 5 Year Cover £ 1,000

£50.00 £62.50 £75.00 £ 100.00 and so forth at 5% o f the value o f the stone

£1,250 £1,500 £ 2,000

Please return this form completed to: Samson Insurance Services, 129 St Albans Road, Watford, Herts WD1 1RA Tel: Watford (0923) 225201. Fax: (0923) 818657.

Name of Deceased

Your Name

Date of Death

Your Address

Cemetery Position of Grave

Your Tel Nos. Day

Replacement Value of Stone

Evening:............

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MONUMENTAL MASONS Showroom and Office: 187 GRANGE ROAD, PLAISTOW, LONDON E.13 Telephone: 071-476 4941

TYPES OF CEMETERY WORK NEW STONES IN MARBLE AND GRANITE AND RENOVATIONS ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS, etc.