It is, of course, wrong to speak ill of the dead—but there are exceptions. For many Jews, the life and times of Rabbi Meir Kahane were not a cause for celebration. Indeed, the bitterness which he aroused in many seemed to feed his need to achieve a self-perpetuating urge to self-destruction. Shortly after Kahane’s murder … Read more
When the scale of the defeat of the Iraqi forces in the Gulf War became apparent, there was a sense of quiet satisfaction in some Jewish quarters that the case for Israel was now fully recognized by the West. The Palestinians in the Territories had frittered away all their hard-won support by their emotional outpourings … Read more
Proud, but invisible A SENSE OF BELONGING: DILEMMAS OF BRITISH JEWISH IDENTITY Howard Cooper and Paul Morrison Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £16 Colin Shindler British Jews have that sense of oneness, often admired and sometimes resented, which appears as an impregnable fortress of indefinable purpose. The authors of this book of a new Channel 4 series … Read more
In a few weeks, the triennial election for the Presidency of the Board of Deputies of British Jews will be upon us. For many, it will be an occasion of numbing irrelevance despite the quality of the candidates. The current state of the Board is deeply depressing for all committed and concerned British Jews. And … Read more
Andrei Sakharov died on 15 December 1989. The abundance of tributes accorded to him tended to concentrate on his more recent role is an opponent of the gradualist policies of the Gorbachev regime. Yet perhaps more than anyone else, he was responsible for the historic changes that have taken place in the Soviet Union and, … Read more
A new Jewish listings monthly, New Moon, appears on Thursday. A sort of Jewish Time Out, it sets out to appeal to the younger generation of Anglo-Jews whose needs and interests have remained unanswered by the official face of the community. Whether this initiative will be translated into financial stability is another question. The Jewish … Read more
MARGARET THATCHER’S current difficulties seem to herald the end of an era: three foreign secretaries within as many months; the exit of an experienced team from the uppermost echelons of government to the back benches and less important posts; the trouncing of the Tories in the European elections — the first defeat since she entered … Read more
AS ANGLO-JEWISH personalities fly out from London to attend the “Prime Minister’s Conference on Jewish Solidarity with Israel”, a group of prominent Jewish writers, academics. intellectuals and communal leaders has issued a statement which casts doubt on the value of their visit. Asking “which Jews today do not express solidarity with Israel?” they commented that ‘it seems increasingly likely that this is a … Read more
AT A TIME when British Jews are commemorating the considerable achievements of Israel’s first forty years, some are haunted by the frozen frames of warring children and burning barricades in the Gaza slums. There is the uneasy knowledge that the most advanced military force in the Middle East is using clubs. Truly, the age of … Read more
Raising funds for Israel has always occupied a prominent if segregated role in Diaspora communities. In the United States, some $400 million dollars is allocated each year to the Jewish Agency-World Zionist Organization by the United Jewish Appeal (UJA). In recent years, there has been a slow but discernible change in aims and objectives contrasting … Read more