Letters to the editor: Apathy is our greatest enemy
Send us your comments to PO Box 34296, London NW5 1YW or email us at letters@thejngroup.com
Apathy is our greatest enemy
Last weekend I joined a counter- demonstration against the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)’s rally outside the Israeli Embassy [pictured]. The PSC event was being held to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ so-called Great March of Return.
I feel despondent at the apathy of the Jewish community. Our counter-demonstration numbered no more than 50 (which included non-Jews) and our voices were easily drowned out by the megaphones and much larger numbers of the PSC supporters.
I don’t know how well this was advertised on social media (since I do not participate in social media myself) and I know it was Shabbat, but it appears so many secular Jews would have found any excuse not to join us.
Maybe fear is part of it, but that is completely unfounded. Many of us there were in our
70s and we had a very strong police cordon separating us from the PSC.
What really sickened me was the sight of Charedim in their Shabbat best, standing with the PSC with placards condemning Israel.
What will it take for the Jewish community to wake up and hear the things that are being shouted at us simply because we are supporting Israel, our ancestral homeland? A Corbyn-led government?
Janet Maltz , Enfield
Our history needs to be told
Two letter writers on 28 March, Angela Goldstein and Mervyn Smith, reached the same conclusion: today’s youth are ignorant of the facts surrounding Israel’s birth and current situation.
The charity Middle East Education exists to fulfil this need. Its speakers, a Muslim and a Jew, give balanced talks together about the ‘Arab-Israeli conflict but demand from schools around the country, Jewish and non-Jewish, has grown so much during the past year that the charity has had to curtail its work due to lack of adequate funding.
While imparting knowledge about Israel’s inventions such as the USB and cherry tomato is important, telling the facts of Israel’s history is even more urgently needed.
Nomi Benari, By email
Did New Zealand churches close?
If Y C Ornstein is “dumbfounded” regarding my email (Jewish News, 21 March),
I can only assume he or she has a very low threshold for being dumbfounded.
I did not say or even intimate we should not show support and empathy for another creed, I merely criticised the arbitrary closing of synagogues in New Zealand to demonstrate that.
Did churches close?
Russell Ballen, By email
Orthodoxy and LGBT+
In the interview with Jonny Benjamin (“More important than ever to teach our children it’s OK to be different”, Jewish News, 28 March), he says: “Children and young adults who identify as LGBT+ are hugely more likely to suffer mental health issues, self-harm, or even take their own lives. Trans pupils, in particular, have enormously high levels of suicide.”
This is tragic but, if readers will excuse my political incorrectness, their self-identification may well be a case of psychological dysfunction rather than social pressure. Mr Benjamin admits as much when he refers to the “obvious link to mental health issues and LGBT+ identity”.
Any form of bullying must be stopped, but other groups perceived as “other” suffer from it without these distressing outcomes to the same degree.
His solution, “that teachers and schools talk to children and tell them it’s OK to be different to be gay, or non-binary” may, therefore, not be the best solution.
Orthodox Judaism certainly considers certain activities unacceptable but that does not mean it condemns as intrinsically evil those who feel drawn to them, as opposed to engaging
in them.
It sympathises with their struggle with their inner desires. If making children aware that some people have certain temptations was all that was required, it might be acceptable if presented in a maturity-appropriate manner.
After all, the matter is mentioned in the Torah and it
is discussed in the Talmud.
Martin D. Stern, Salford
Licoricia a role model for today
Further to your coverage last week of sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley’s statue of Licoricia of Winchester, anyone interested in supporting us can donate via website www.licoricia.org.
We believe this will be the only named statue of a Jewish woman in the UK. She will promote religious tolerance and the knowledge that Britain had a significant medieval Jewish community, and her achievements should inspire women today.
We will be unveiling the maquette at the Art Workers’ Guild, London WC1N 3RB on Thursday, 11 April between 12.30 and 2pm. Readers are invited (please RSVP to mail@licoricia.org if you can come).
We are all looking forward to bringing this unique project to fruition.
William Carver , Trustee, The Licoricia of Winchester Statue Appeal
Against a divided state
Columnist Jenni Frazer writes against Binyamin Netanyahu’s statement that “the state of Israel only belongs to the Jewish people” (Opinion, Jewish News, 11 March).
What she does not understand, or perhaps chooses to ignore, is the phrase “a state of all its citizens” (medinat klal ezracheha; Rotem Sela used the virtually identical medinat kol ezracheha, although contested, is generally understood as code for either a non-Jewish or a bi-national state.
Sela, an intelligent woman, no doubt knows the import of the phrase. In his response to her post, Netanyahu reiterated his long-standing position that although Arab citizens of Israel are full citizens with equal rights, the state of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people only.
Regardless of what Rotem Sela or Jenni Frazer would like to think, this is the view of the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis.
Nor is this incompatible with the position of the (smaller) majority of Jewish Israelis that there should be two states: the State of Israel for the Jewish people and
a Palestinian state for the Arabs.
Some on the left want to dilute or even eliminate the Jewish character of the State of Israel while at the same time promoting an exclusively Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
If that is Ms Frazer’s position, fine, but she should come out and say so explicitly.
Bernard Schneider, By email
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
