Feeling at home in the Synod

It's an odd thing, when you are called Finkelstein, to find yourself commenting on the internal debates of the Church of England. But such was my fate - both on television and in print - when the Synod made its decision not to allow women to become Bishop.

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Cold facts from a seat of learning

I'm starting my own Middle East diversionary tactic today in the hope that this might restore some sense of proportion to the newspapers' front pages. And here is Rosengard's Breaking News Headline: Saudi Arabia has dirty fridges.

In an international study of nine countries, 95 per cent of Saudi fridges failed the bacteriology test for E. coli.

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Welcome addition to UK Jewry

For seasoned devotees of this column, this is a rare moment. I'm about to welcome the establishment of a new Anglo-Jewish communal organisation. What's more, I'm going to say that its establishment is long overdue.

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Unlovable, but not self-hating

Postwar America found not only prosperity but a new literary voice. Philip Roth, one of its principal exponents, has now laid down his pen. Having written 31 books, Roth has decided that he has said what he wants to say. He told the New York Times last week: "I sat around for a month or two trying to think of something else and I thought, 'Maybe it's over, maybe it's over'."

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Spectre of Stalin in our land

In recent weeks, two legal actions began in two different courts. The outcome of each will directly impact on Jewish communities throughout the UK.

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Arrest threatens Orthodox too

Last month, Anat Hoffman donned her talit and began leading a prayer service for women at the Western Wall. As she hummed her first tune, she was interrupted by a policewoman demanding that she wear her talit like a scarf. She complied and continued. During the Shema, she was interrupted again, this time by a policeman telling her to lower her voice.

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We all need to help Israel shift

You wait years for big elections that will shape the world, or at least shape a part of the world you care about, and then three come at once. This week, has seen a US presidential contest and a change at the top in China (admittedly without a single democratic vote cast). And the third? That’s coming in Israel in January.

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Why anti-Zionists are racists

Last week marked the 95th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This took the form of a letter, written on 2 November 1917 by Arthur Balfour to Walter (Lord) Rothschild. Balfour was then Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George’s wartime coalition government. Rothschild was an eccentric but well-respected zoologist who also happened to be the country’s richest Jew.

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The everyday language of hate

It wasn’t so much what a young woman called Naz Kahn said about Jews a few weeks ago that triggered my flight or fight response. It was how she said it.

To recap: Ms Kahn is a recently appointed woman’s officer in the party, Respect, which plays backing band to Bradford West MP George Galloway’s political PJ Proby.

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Facts behind a skewed survey

On October 23 Ha’aretz published a sensational headline, supported by a breathtaking editorial. It read: “Survey: Most Israeli Jews would support apartheid regime in Israel.” The editorial, penned by the paper’s well-known, empty rhetorician (and editorial board member) Gideon Levy, did not mince its words.

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