This issue of Judaism Today focuses on the theme of ‘heresy’. History testifies that it has transcended its formulation as a purely religious concept and has become a political tool in the hands of the powerful to discredit dissenting opponents and to discriminate against stubborn minorities. For Jews, the very term conjures up the Christian … Read more
When Jonathan Sacks was installed as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations at the beginning of the decade, he was determined not to provoke the publicity and public criticism of his predecessor. Lord Jakobovits was always prepared to speak his mind on Likud’s Israel and to puncture the wall of silence erected by the … Read more
Barring an electoral upset of unimaginable proportions, Tony Blair will be the next Prime Minister of this country. But is it — to put it at its most crudely — good for the Jews? Many Jews have answered this question already both by flocking to his banner and no doubt by contributing to Labour’s campaign … Read more
Zionism has always posed a problem for the ultra-orthodox. Unlike the religious Zionists of the Mizrachi, they always preferred the actual arrival of the messiah rather than his indeterminable coming to inaugurate a new era in the Holy Land for the Jewish people. Medinat Yisrael, the State of Israel, was nothing less than a blot … Read more
Despite the depressing campaign of the suicide bombers, many Jews are recalling the birth of the return to Zion by commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Theodor Herzl’s The Jewish State. Its publication proved to be the catalyst which launched the Zionist Congresses and changed a small number of disparate groups into an international movement which … Read more
So who, then, was responsible for the murder of Yitzhak Rabin? Yigal Amir, certainly. The General Security Services for their complacency, undoubtedly. But who else beyond the immediate participants of that black deed? At which point does the delineation between certain blame and political accusation become blurred? Indeed, the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press told its 350,000 … Read more
In September 1982, Erev Rosh Hashanah 5753, Israel’s Christian allies murdered over 700 Palestinian men, women and children in the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. Like Kennedy’s assassination, many Jews will vividly recall what they were doing when the news broke and will not easily forget the pictures of the dead and dying … Read more
The outgoing Jewish year, 5755 has been punctuated by many events to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the fall of the Third Reich. The return of old soldiers to the Normandy beaches last summer through to the VE celebrations outside Buckingham Palace were occasions to recapture history. It reminded us that Jews are required to … Read more
This first issue of Judaism Today appears – ironically – in the aftermath of the Chief Rabbi’s criticism of the Masorti movement’s modus operandi within Anglo-Jewry. A nerve was touched and heat flowed. Despite the acres of coverage in the Jewish press and beyond, little light was shed on the important issues. Indeed, the epicentre … Read more
On first reading, the ruling by the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, legitimizing women’s prayer groups, seems to be an important step forward for large numbers of orthodox women. He has acknowledged the growing demand from Jewish women for a more authentic framework for spiritual expression. It is also abundantly clear from his consensual statement that … Read more