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I am exhausted. Kids up early and long day yesterday but so rewarding and I feel elated. Had the honour of sitting on Liberal Judaism's Rabbinic Board and welcoming 8 fantastic sincere Jews by Choice into our Synagogues. Yesterday, I was once more a Jew by Choice. The tube ride home was one of personal reflection and my response drew a few concerned faces from my fellow commuters, "Yes, yes, yes," being said not quite under my breathe. Proud to be a Jew, honoured to be a Liberal Rabbi, and blessed by being able to welcome such fantastic individuals to our Jewish Community.

If you are reading this and were interested in becoming Jewish, then see http://www.liberaljudaism.org/lifeevents_conversion.htm I look fwd to hearing from you!

AaG

Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Centre, is a Tel-Aviv based lawyers' organisation that utilises legal proceedings and lawsuits around the world to fight international terrorism, its leaders and their financial patrons on behalf of terror victims. It declares itself fully independent and not affiliated with any political party or organisations. I have no reason to doubt it does good work and it is probably a sustainable argument that, in the murky world where it operates, good taste is not a criterion.

But I must say that I find its notice to members – mainly American from the context - of “The Ultimate Mission to Israel” in June is, well, if not injudicious then in bad taste beyond the bizarre. For a large roll of dollars, it offers not only five-star, glatt kosher accommodation at the Sheraton Plaza, Jerusalem, where there will be a “dedicated Executive Communications Center,” but also (I have curtailed the list but use their own terminology):

*Inside tour of the Israel Air Force unit wbo (sic) carries out targeted killings.
*Live exhibition of penetration raids in Arab territory.
*Observe a trial of Hamas terrorists in an IDF military court.
*First hand tours of the Lebanese front line positions and the Gaza border check-points.
*Inside tour of the controversial Security Fence and secret intelligence bases.
*Meeting Israel's Arab agents who infiltrate the terrorist groups and provide real-time intelligence.

Here's something with which to cheer your children: Jewish, Muslim, and Christian fundamentalists will gain significant ground against their liberal and secular counterparts by 2050, even surpassing them in some cases. This is the view of Eric Kaufmann, a fellow of the Belfer Centre which is part of the J F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The increase in the size of a religion's fundamentalist population can change the local and even national politics of a country, according to Kaufmann, and demographic change can threaten a state's security because it produces a larger pool of potential religious militants. Kaufmann suggested that while most fundamentalists are not militant, all militants are fundamentalists.

While the overall total fertility rate (TFR) is on the decline, the TFR among those on the more religious end of the spectrum remains well above replacement. American Jews have a very low TFR of 1.43, but within this group, ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) stand out as exceptionally fertile: they increased their share of American Jewry from 7.2 to 9.4 percent during 2000–2006 alone. In Israel, the Haredim had a TFR of 7.61 in 1996 while other Israeli Jews' TFR stood at just 2.27. This will enable the Haredi to form a majority soon after 2050. Kaufmann hypothetically asked a lecture audience he addressed to consider the impact this could have on the peace process since the orthodox and Haredim are particularly attached to Jerusalem — where they are a majority — and to the holy places and "promised" land of the West Bank.

This week has seen the start of the “Jerusalem Peacemakers’ Tour”, which intends to hold talks on eight different campuses, asking: “Is peace possible after Gaza?” The discussions are led by Eliyahu McLean and Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari, co-directors of the Jerusalem Peacemakers. The tour was run by Campusalam, the university-targeted branch of the Lokahi Foundation, an NGO whose aims are to “develop a more diverse, harmonious society; provide a balanced and broad range of information on Islamic history, practices and teachings” and “to allow principled, constructive and critical debate on issues which can be contentious to raise and difficult to openly discuss”.

UJS held a party in celebration of Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary this week. The event, held in Birmingham’s Custard Factory nightclub, was attended by hundreds of Jewish students, making it the largest Jewish student event this year. The klezmer band Ghetto Plotz played alongside renowned DJs the Scratch Perverts, with live acts from acrobats and break-dancers.

King’s College Student Union escaped a take-over bid by anti-Israel campaigners at elections for its student board positions last Friday.
A group called “Another King’s is Possible” put forward six candidates who said their candidacy “emerged from the occupation at Strand”, a pro-Palestinian sit-in demonstration on a King’s campus in January, which was repeated in 17 other universities nationwide. Dalia Nelson, outgoing co-chair of umbrella student society London JSocs, says the group would have hijacked the union with anti-Israel campaigns.
“These people were intent on causing disruption. Had they got in, we would have been subjected to a constant barrage of anti-Israel protest on an almost daily basis.”

I hope the chairman of my Synagogue is not reading this as I have been listening to the radio all morning. I know that my Vanessa Feltz seem to be the background listening of choice for my friends who work from home but there is a cathartic experience to be had online. Evoke your favourite Israel scene any moment of the day by listening in to Israeli Radio on demand. My station of choice is Shmonim v'shmoneh FM (88FM): an eclectic mix of music that takes me to Tel Aviv beach or an outside table on Bograshov. Try http://www.fromil.com/radio/index.php?radio=1# I have to admit not understanding all/much of what is going on but hey, let the imagination run riot! Enjoy!

I am so proud to be a member of the Jewish Community of Northwood. The Jewish Community of Northwood has 2 Congregations, one Untied, and one Liberal - my Shul. Together, we celebrate each others commonalities and differences. Yesterday, we had nearly 200 people donate blood in our Shul in a jointly sponsored event that alternates host Shul.

We have a number of Rabbis who serve our Jewish Community of Northwood. Each one is paid by its employer - no worries, because our employer is not the State. Imagine a State that had an official religion and that religion happened to be 'Judaism.' I would hate to consider that if that were ever the case in this country, 'Judaism' would only be defined singularly. Slowly we are correcting that notion in old-English institutions e.g. more people listen to the Liberal Rabbi, Pete Tobias, on Radio 2's Thought for the Day, than the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth on Radio 4 and the Council of Christians and Jews acknowledges the leaders of the Liberal Judaism, Masorti, Reform Judaism, the Spanish and Portugeuse, and the United Synagogue as equals.

Yet in the 'Jewish State,' 'Judaism' is defined-singularly and therefore, only Orthodox Rabbis are paid by their employer: the State of Israel. Non-Orthodox Rabbis scratch around for an existence or are open to the vagaries of stock markets that provide their backers with the funds to pay them a fair salary. Contrary I think to: "the State of Israel will guarantee freedom of religion!"