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Hat tip: Judy of Adloyada

Richard Ingrams is a vile man who has a problem with Jews. He tends to disregard letters in support of Israel in the newspapers if the writer "has a Jewish name". And more recently he suggested that two of the historians on the Iraq War Enquiry Panel could not be trusted to be objective because they were Jewish.

http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/08/03/still-looking-for-jews/

Reform Rabbi Brian Fox attacked me in the Jewish Telegraph on 6 November:

"LIKE many others I was appalled, and even ashamed, of Jonathan Hoffman's 'contribution' in Bolton at the Octagon Theatre which was so admirably reported on by Gita Conn. I am sure that Mr Hoffman loves Israel, but so did Meir Kahane. Tony Sheldon may have been there, but he certainly was not listening. I did not say that being there was more important than the requirements of Shabbat. All the Jews who were there probably broke Shabbat just to be there. Like me they made a value judgement. What I actually said was that if there was an opportunity to have real dialogue with Palestinians I would turn up on Yom Kippur. Does that mean I do not keep Yom Kippur? Not at all. It is Shabbat Shabbaton: the greatest of all Shabbats. But dialogue with our enemy and maybe even saving lives must take precedence. Judaism makes value judgements all the time: it is permitted to sell a Torah scroll to save a Jewish day school. It is permitted to break Shabbat to save a life. We are living in dangerous times. Bullying a la Mr Hoffman and selected hearing a la Mr Sheldon will not help."
Rabbi Brian D Fox, Menorah (Cheshire Reform) Synagogue, Sharston, Cheshire.

The Jewish Telegraph printed my reponse today but it is not in the online version - so here it is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00p1l9q/HARDtalk_Shlomo_Sand/

Yet again Sackur shows that he's the best interviewer in the BBC........... compare this with Jacqueline Rose's obnoxious sycophancy ..

http://frontlineclub.com/events/2009/11/avi-shlaim-in-conversation-with-...

Five things I guarantee you won't learn tonight about the all-powerful 'Israel Lobby' in the UK:

- It failed to persuade the UK to veto Goldstone in the UN
- It failed to persuade the UK not to start an arms embargo on Israel
- It failed to persuade the UK Foreign Minister not to call Cast Lead 'disproportionate'...
- It failed to stop the UK financing Breaking The Silence
- It failed to persuade most Labour MPs in 'Labour Friends of Israel' not to keep stumm when it comes to asserting Israel's right to defend its citizens....

If this is "one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain" then my name is Yasser Arafat ....

When looking for role models in the Torah, one often has to look at an episode in their lives rather than take into account all the aspects of their lives. Rebecca does not come out smelling like roses, when we consider a literal interpretation of the devious and single-minded way that she favours Jacob over Esau and encourages him to con his brother out of what was rightfully his and to take advantage of his own father’s disabilities to achieve his goals.

Yet in the episode that I have chosen this morning, Rebecca is a symbol for us all as we seek to follow God’s path of righteousness. In particular, as we honour all those who volunteer in our Community for the good of others, we find exceptional behaviour exhibited by our Matriarch.

The medieval Biblical Commentator, Don Isaac Abravanel was himself an incredible contributor to the Jewish Community. Born in Lisbon in 1437, he served as Finance Minister to the kings of Portugal, Spain and Naples. He sought to use his position to lighten the burden on his people but personally suffered from court intrigues and was expelled with the rest of his People in 1492.

This Sunday marks the 75th Annual Remembrance Ceremony and Parade. The ex-Servicemen and women will fall in at Horse Guards Parade before marching to the Cenotaph at Whitehall for a memorial service.

At the time of the World Wars, it must have seemed inconceivable for those who survived them, to see the year 2000, let alone 2010. Yet here in our midst today, though afflicted by time, are those who remain true to their word, never to forget their fellow men and women who fell in battle, who were seriously injured and of course all those who have kept the memory alive who have died in subsequent years. Today, the mother of one of our members died at the age of 101. Her death today brought home to me the fact that this country now no longer has the presence of vets from the First World War, and yet time has not faded our memory of the tragedy of that war, the horrendous scale of loss – historians estimate that over 20 million people were killed - nor the immense courage of those who fought in it.

Yet what rings in my ears are the words of one of the last British veteran of the Western trenches of World War One, Harry Patch....

"Too many dossim."

This is the almost universal response I have received from Tel Avivim these past weeks, when I have informed them that I am considering a move to the country's capital (though many of them probably do not even consider Jerusalem as such).

"Dossim" (singular "doss") is Hebrew slang used to refer to the ultra-Orthodox or charedim (though it can also be used, usually less pejoratively, in relation to modern Orthodox dati le'umim).

Did you hear about this new book?

Neither did I.

And I doubt you will either - despite this: