Posts by Simon Rocker

EU to look into antisemitism on continent

Simon Rocker — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:03:03 +0100

The European Union has commissioned a major investigation into antisemitism by the London-based Institute for Jewish Research (JPR).

An online survey, which will be carried out by Ipsos MORI, will gather evidence on the experience of antisemitism in nine EU countries.

Jon Boyd, executive director of JPR, which will be collaborating with experts in Israel and Europe, said: "It is clear to all observers of contemporary Jewish life that antisemitism continues to be a major preoccupation and worry in Jewish communal circles.

"If it is ever to be effectively tackled, it is essential to have shared, reliable data. This survey is designed to provide that data: this is an important and unique opportunity for thousands of European Jews to share their experiences and voice their concerns with policy makers working at the highest European and national levels."

The study, which will be published next year, has been commissioned by the EU's Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, head of the agency's department of equality and citizen's rights, said: "Antisemitism remains an issue of concern today, not only to Jews, but to everyone in the EU."

The nine countries are Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Sweden and the UK.

Should Orthodox deputies cover their heads?

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:42:58 +0100

One of the novelties of the vice-presidential elections at the Board of Deputies on Sunday was that they were live-streamed, enabling web spectators to follow events.

The same was also true of the hustings a few days before, where the candidates also had to endure the sight of sometimes critical commentary on their performance being tweeted on a live screen by outside viewers as well as members of the audiences.

Meanwhile, here is one view of Sunday’s events which was blogged by Bnei Akiva deputy Noah Nathan:

“It was probably the most exciting election that the Board has ever seen with live streaming and twitter playing an important role in creating the atmosphere. Unlike the previous plenary sessions that I’ve attended, the number of twitter users tweeting with the #bod hashtag that I did not know of, was astounding. It just shows the growing interest that the young Jewish community is having with the Board or perhaps the growing number of older Deputies using twitter.

"The event however, was marred by controversy when one candidate was interrupted by a Deputy multiple times regarding a long-standing argument between them. The other controversy happened when one deputy took issue with one of the candidates’ Reform background. The most chutzpadik thing was that this deputy wasn’t even wearing a kippah at the time.

“This gets me onto another point – there are a ridiculous number of deputies representing Orthodox synagogue that don’t wear kippot. Why do so many shuls choose someone who won’t even cover their head in a public Jewish setting? The fact that some of the deputies chosen by the United Synagogue trustees don’t wear kippot is totally wrong and shows a bad dugma ishit (personal example) too as well. Even the President, who represents Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue won’t even wear a kippa in front of the queen!

"On a final note, after today’s plenary session, I’ve thought about a couple things. Firstly, I’ll need to wear a movement shirt to future sessions; Bnei Akiva’s other Deputy – mazkir Alex Cohen – wore his and it definitely allowed him to stand out and network better. Secondly, there was a lot of talk about ‘change’ at the Board which most candidates stressed was about introducing younger and more female deputies.

“However, if we want the Board to be a true representation of Anglo Jewry, we must also make efforts to bring back in the fastest growing group – the Charedim.”

Thank heaven for Shavuot

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:27:13 +0100

Shavuot ought to be the most popular of the major festivals. There are no long services, like Rosh Hashanah; no fasting as on Yom Kippur; no rain-spattered meals in a draughty succah. And a slice of cheesecake is a lot more appetising than a week-long diet of matzah.

It ought to be the most important festival, too, for there can be no more definitive moment for Judaism than the giving of the Torah. But the anniversary of Sinai which Shavuot commemorates is a product of rabbinic interpretation; it is not an idea found in the Bible. And here Shavuot is unique.

The observance of the other four festivals is in some way connected to their biblical origins, whether shaking a lulav, blowing a shofar or eating bitter herbs. But Shavuot’s explicit purpose as a harvest festival or Yom Habikkurim, the day of first fruits (as it is called in Numbers 28:26), has almost vanished from trace in the diaspora.

The decoration of the synagogue with flowers is about as far as we get to recalling the festival’s agricultural roots. There is a liturgical echo, too, in the reading of the book of Ruth, which is set during the harvest.

In ancient times, Shavuot marked the start of the season during which the people of Israel could bring a thanksgiving offering of first-fruits to the Temple: “You shall take from the first yield of all the fruit of the soil” (Deuteronomy 26:2) — which the rabbis understood to mean the seven species particularly associated with the land of Israel, barley, wheat, figs, olives, dates, grapes and pomegranates.

Ordinary folk would carry their produce in wicker baskets: according to the Mishnah, the containers of the rich would be overlaid with silver and gold. Flutes would escort the pilgrims as they arrived in Jerusalem, where they would be greeted by dignitaries from the Temple. Even King Agrippa was said to have borne his basket of fruit on his shoulder.

They would then recite the passage from Deuteronomy 26:5-9, which recalls Egypt and the Exodus. Its text is familiar to us because the first four verses are quoted in the Haggadah, beginning “A wandering Aramean was my father.” The declaration establishes a continuity between Pesach and Shavuot — from liberation from slavery to national independence in the Promised Land. Whereas the enslaved Israelites were once dependent on the Egyptians for their food, now they are responsible, under the watchful eye of heaven, for producing it themselves. The first fruits are a sign of blessing in a land “flowing with milk and honey”.

But there is something more. Immediately after the ceremony of thanksgiving for the first fruits, the Torah reminds the Israelites of their obligations to provide for the needy: “the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan and the widow, and they shall eat within your gates and be satisfied” (Deuteronomy 26:12). If the land is fertile, its fruits must be shared with the vulnerable and disadvantaged. And since the prayer over the first fruits recall the travails of Egypt, the Torah suggests that historical memory of hard times is a necessary prompt to social responsibility.

The duty to those in need is underlined in two biblical references to Shavuot. In the section about festivals in the recently read sidrah of Emor, the passage on Shavuot concludes with the direction to leave the corners of a reaped field “for the poor and sojourner” (Leviticus 23:22).

Then, in Deuteronomy 16:11, the commandment is given to rejoice on the Festival of Weeks — “you, your son and your daughter… with the sojourner and the orphan and the widow”. In other words, a festival is no festival unless everyone is included in its celebration.

Shavuot — which falls seven weeks and a day after Pesach, hence the name, Weeks — represents a two-fold journey: from deliverance from Egypt to acceptance of the Torah at Sinai: and then to settlement in the land of Israel, with its fruitful harvests. But its upbeat mood — “You shall rejoice” — is punctuated by one surprising turn in the liturgy.

The haftarah on the second day, which comes from the Book of Habakkuk, depicts an apocalyptic vision of God, rising up to “thresh” the nations in anger and bring salvation to His people. At the end the prophet declares: “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail…. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”

Instead of a gentle pastoral scene with the people enjoying the fruits of the land, Habakkuk draws a landscape of barren vines and blasted crops. For the prophets, prosperity may hold its dangers; people may become indulgent and moral decay set in. But spiritual resilience may be most needed in times of upheaval and adversity, when it can be hard to hang on to your ideals and hopes.

Sweet shopping for the rabbi

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:04:43 +0100

Rabbi David Hulbert's daughter Lianna recently moved to Brixton in south London. When the minister of Bet Tikvah Progressive Synagogue in Ilford went to visit, he popped into the sweet shop next door, to re-appear with this snack tailor-made for him: a packet of Rabbi Coconut Candy balls.

Naomi Campbell is the model guest at King David, Israel

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:03:39 +0100

Staying at the King David in Jerusalem this week was supermodel Naomi Campbell, who arrived for her 42nd birthday.

After visiting the Old City, she went to Bethlehem, where she was quoted as saying: "Weapons and war, greed and oil… I hope it all stops". Don't we all (except for the oil, of course).

Avram Grant at Auschwitz

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:02:44 +0100

The England team's run-up to the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine will include a talk next week from two Holocaust survivors.

Meanwhile, former Chelsea manager Avram Grant was at Auschwitz this week, recording a Radio Five Live programme which goes out on Tuesday.

A Streisand who wears tefillin

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:01:29 +0100

Barbra Streisand's cousin, Dale, has turned to Israel's Supreme Court to help him make aliyah. Last year his application to settle in Israel with his Philippines-born wife and daughter was rejected, reportedly because his Facebook page had a link to a Christian messianic group.

Mr Streisand was once involved with Hari Krishna but is said to have returned to Judaism. He lays tefillin and prays three times a day, says his lawyer.

New Statesman goes to the shtetl

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:58:43 +0100

The left-wing New Statesman magazine put a kippah on the cover this week for a 72-page special issue on British Jewry, which was due to go on sale yesterday.

It is a sensitive area. If you recall, 10 years ago the publication, under a different editor, ran into trouble with a cover story on Zionism, which displayed a Union Jack impaled by a large Magen David. The image was widely condemned as antisemitic.

Apart from Labour leader Ed Miliband, contributors include Will Self, David Baddiel and Linda Grant.

The debate on antisemitism between Anthony Julius, author of Trials of the Diaspora, and Liberal Rabbi David Goldberg should be lively. While Julius's opus on antisemitism has been acclaimed by such as Philip Roth, Goldberg was none too complimentary about it in his own, new book on Judaism, This is not the Way.

New team at Board of Deputies face fresh challenges

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:28:34 +0100

"It's an upset," one old-timer declared after Sunday's election results. Not that Laura Marks was elected, but that she had captured the top vice-presidential slot barely four months after becoming a deputy. Her election clearly signals a widespread desire for a breath of fresh air.

She benefited both from concerted Progressive canvassing, and from the Board's own campaign to encourage more female and younger deputies. Had neither of the two women candidates for vice-president been elected, the organisation would have faced a PR disaster.

But her main asset was her proven cross-communal credentials as the founder of Mitzvah Day, an innovation which has not only unified different sections of the Jewish community but also reached out to other faiths. She would seem an ideal choice to raise the profile of an important, but often understated, part of the Board's work - building interfaith alliances.

The prevailing mood on the floor of the Board was that it now has its strongest vice-presidential team in years. In Alex Brummer, it has one of the country's top journalists who will bring sound judgment and high-level contacts. Jonathan Arkush has been an energetic chairman of the defence division, carrying the fight to anti-Zionists.

The new team will have to find a way to strengthen liaison with the Jewish Leadership Council and prevent the outbreak of the turf wars that have flared up periodically over the past few years.

But the real test is likely to come from external events - the fallout from any military attack on Iran, a Mid-East peace process sinking into the quicksand, or political unrest on the heels of economic deprivation in Europe.

Mitzvah Day's Laura Marks sweeps the Board of Deputies poll

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:25:19 +0100

The head of a campaign to encourage more women into Jewish leadership roles set the perfect example on Sunday when she topped the poll for vice-president of the Board of Deputies. Laura Marks, founder of the cross-communal social action event Mitzvah Day, was elected senior vice-president - just four months after becoming a deputy.

The other two vice-presidential positions were secured by Alex Brummer, award-winning Daily Mail City editor and vice-chair of the Board's international division, and senior vice-president for the past triennial, Jonathan Arkush.

They defeated Jerry Lewis, who lost his bid for re-election as vice-president, and family solicitor Denise Lester, in an election in which more than 80 per cent of deputies voted.

Ms Marks, who represents the Movement for Reform Judaism and is the first non-Orthodox officer for more than a decade, said she was "amazed, honoured, flattered" by the result.

Although "a new girl" at the Board, she said that she believed the "work I do for the wider community stood me in better stead than I reckoned.

"And it's gratifying because I couldn't have got through on a Progressive-only vote. The fact that the support base must have been wider is important for the community and for the Board."

When one Orthodox deputy, Anthony Spencer of Borehamwood Synagogue, asked during hustings how she could defend Jewish tradition as a Reform member, he was loudly heckled from the floor. In contrast, Ms Marks was widely applauded when she declared: "I firmly believe…that the Board of Deputies represents all Jews in this country."

Board president Vivian Wineman and treasurer Laurence Brass had already succeeded in winning second terms unopposed.

Under the single transferable vote system used, each deputy was allowed to put down two names, with candidates requiring 55 votes to gain election. After first preferences were counted, Ms Marks had 65 votes and Mr Brummer 56, followed by Mr Arkush with 48, Mr Lewis, 36, and Ms Lester, 17. When second choices in the next round were added, Mr Arkush rose to 57, ahead of Mr Lewis on 48.

Mr Brummer said: "It is a terrific new team, the Board has been refreshed."

Mr Arkush - who along with Mr Brass has been mooted as a contender for the presidency in three years' time - said: "I am very pleased and gratified we have got such a team. I believe that the vote for me constituted a strong endorsement." Three months ago he had unleashed controversy after a strong attack on the Jewish Leadership Council, only to issue an apology after a backlash against the Board.

But Mr Arkush reconfirmed that he could not see how an organisation could be accountable it if were unelected. "I said it was therefore unacceptable [for the JLC] to assume political leadership of our community. I still believe that to be the case," he said.

While he supported the JLC's role as a strategic agency, he remained concerned that it should "stick to its remit"; it was a council of people including some leaders, not "the Jewish leadership, so I continue to believe it should change its name".

UK support for Israel 'declining'

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:17:36 +0100

Pro-Israel sentiment in the UK has dropped from 25 per cent to 17 per cent in a decade, while support for the Palestinians remained at the same level at 18 per cent.

Comparison of polls taken between 2001 and 2011 taken by Bicom showed that most people did not take sides and there was “a general public coolness” towards both Israel and the Palestinians, according to evidence presented in the Knesset.

Sympathy was at its highest for the Palestinians at 40 per cent in November 2006 (when it was 33 per cent for the Israelis) and for Israel at 36 per cent the following year (when it was the same figure for the Palestinians).

One in five blamed Israel for the failure to settle the conflict, compared with only eight per cent blaming the Palestinians in the most recent poll. Two thirds held both sides responsible and five per cent neither.

Sixty-four per cent supported Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state (although 46 per cent made it conditional on a peace agreement); eight per cent rejected the idea of a Jewish state.

Lieberman visit triggers bitter community clash

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:55:18 +0100

The Reform Movement has stood by its attack on visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman after coming under fire at the Board of Deputies.

Reform’s rabbinic spokesman Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner said last week that it had been “surprised and dismayed” that he had been asked to address the Jewish community, declaring that he held “fundamentalist right-wing views from outside the consensus of mainstream Israeli society”.

At Sunday’s Board meeting Jonathan Hoffman, deputy for Woodside Park Synagogue, deplored her statement, while Malvyn Benjamin (Hendon Synagogue) said that such criticism did “immense damage”.

But Reform chairman Jenny Pizer told the Board: “We cannot condone the views that he expresses publicly both inside and outside Israel about the minority groups in that country.”

Asked to comment by Mr Benjamin, outgoing Board vice-president Paul Edlin would say only: “We support the democratically elected government and people of Israel without question.”

An online petition launched by Habonim-Dror protesting at Mr Lieberman and the JNF, attracted more than 300 signatures.

Signatories included chairman of Liberal Judaism’s rabbinic conference Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, Ilana Fenster, who jointly chairs the Zionist Youth Council, Anthony Tricot, who is a board member of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, and prominent Orthodox educator Maureen Kendler.

Mrs Kendler said: “Mr Lieberman’s agenda is far from the vision of equality and fairness that I think Israel should stand for”.

The petition accused JNF of being involved in “activities which jeopardise the possibility of peace and Israel’s ability to maintain a strong democracy”.

It gave as examples the eviction of Palestinians from homes in Silwan, east Jerusalem and the displacement of Bedouins living in the Negev town of Al-Araqib to make way for trees.

Yachad director Hannah Weisfeld said: “A significant number of our supporters have expressed concern over the JNF’s ongoing involvement in activities in east Jerusalem and the Negev. In this context, the JNF’s invitation to Mr Lieberman is a cause for concern to many of our supporters, not least because of his party’s track record of bringing anti-democratic legislation in front of the Knesset.”

But Samuel Hayek, chairman of JNF UK — which hosted the meeting with Mr Lieberman on Tuesday night — said that the “libellous” claims had “no foundation. JNF UK is not involved in any of the disputes with sections of Israel’s Bedouin citizens”.

JNF UK is a separate charity from KKL-JNF in Israel, although it does send funds to the Israeli body.

Mr Hayek said that the petition had “provided a great deal of ammunition and encouragement to anti-Jewish and anti-Israel groups. The JNF, as the flag bearer of Israel in the United Kingdom, stands firmly against the demonisation of Israel.”

But Habonim fieldworker Jem Stein countered: “As a Zionist youth movement, we are committed to living out our values of justice and equality as enshrined within Israel’s Declaration of Independence. The petition raises the concern that certain actions of the JNF run contrary to these values — a concern the JNF has yet to answer.”

Mr Lieberman met Board president Vivian Wineman and representatives of other community organisations on Tuesday morning.

GCSE question asks "why do some people hate Jews?"

Simon Rocker — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:44:25 +0100

Education Secretary Michael Gove has strongly criticised an exam board over a GCSE religious studies question in which pupils were asked: “Explain, briefly, why some people are prejudiced against Jews.”

Last Thursday more than 1,000 students — including pupils at JFS — sat the paper, which was set by one of the three major English exam boards, AQA.

Mr Gove declared: “To suggest that antisemitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre. AQA needs to explain how and why this question was included in an exam paper.”

He said that it was “the duty of politicians to fight prejudice, and with antisemitism on the rise we need to be especially vigilant”.

A spokesperson for AQA said: “The board is obviously concerned that this question may have caused offence, as this was absolutely not our intention”.

But, she added, the question “acknowledges that some people hold prejudices; it does not imply in any way that prejudice is justified”.

The JC understands that Mr Gove’s department had been contacted by a senior educational figure in the Jewish community.

Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies, also took issue with the question. “Clearly this is unacceptable and has nothing whatsoever to do with Jews or Judaism,” he said.

“We will be taking it up with the examination board and it seems to me that it is also something to raise with the Department of Education, with which we are meeting anyway to discuss antisemitism in schools.”

Ofqual, which regulates exams, said that it was in discussion with AQA: “We will take appropriate follow-up action if necessary.”

Rabbi David Meyer, the executive head of Hasmonean High School, whose pupils do not sit the AQA exam, said that the question had “no place” in an exam paper.

“The role of education is to remove prejudices and not to justify them,” he said. The question “plants suggestions and implies ideas that shouldn’t be instilled into students”.

AQA’s spokesperson said that the question was part of a paper focusing on Judaism and the “relevant part of the syllabus covers prejudice and discrimination with reference to race, religion and the Jewish experience of persecution.

“We would expect [students to refer]to the Holocaust to illustrate prejudice based on irrational fear, ignorance and scapegoating.”

Educator Clive Lawton, formerly an A-level chief examiner for religious studies for another board, said: “I do understand why people might react negatively to the question, but it is a legitimate one.

“Part of the syllabus is that children must study the causes and origins of prejudice against Jews.”

The Arrow of Justice

Simon Rocker — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:57 +0100

Rabbi Aryeh Leib(Lionel) Broder addresses the question of why does God allow cruelty in the world and other hot topics in his examination of biblical stories, from Joab’s conquest of Jerusalem to the tragic naivety of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah.

Deputy debut for pr boss

Simon Rocker — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:06:11 +0100

A new face at the Board of Deputies will be Shimon Cohen, founder of The PR Office, who has been elected to represent Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue. The Board was “a great idea” which had not yet achieved its potential, he explained. “The only way to change that is to get involved.”

A feather with a steely edge

Simon Rocker — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:03:53 +0100

A purge at West London Synagogue where three of its five serving delegates to the Board of Deputies were ousted in an election. One who did keep his seat was Robert (aka Anthony) Feather.

A metallurgist with an interest in Middle Eastern antiquities, he has just turned his hand to fiction, publishing a thriller, A Clash of Steel, about two sacred relics. One is the Spear of Longinus, which was said to have pierced Jesus on the cross; the other, the Sabre of Uthman, was reputedly wielded by the Prophet Mohammed.

He was once asked to examine the putative spear, housed in a Vienna Museum, for a TV documentary.

Hacked off with confused MP

Simon Rocker — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:56:02 +0100

Labour deputy chairman Tom Watson was left with a little facial egg after tweeting Rupert Murdoch to complain that he had been insulted by Times columnist Hugo Rifkind.

A baffled Rifkind asked for, and got, an apology from the MP, who admitted that he had confused him with fellow Times columnist Giles Coren.

In the Spectator, Rifkind reflected: “Exactly what was it about the Jewish Giles Coren which led Mr Watson to get us mixed up?...It’s terribly puzzling. What could it be that made me and Giles Coren who, as I may have mentioned, is Jewish, so interchangeable in Mr Watson’s mind?”

Laura Marks romps to victory in Board elections

Simon Rocker — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:56:29 +0100

Mitzvah Day founder Laura Marks became the new senior vice-president of the Board of Deputies, after topping the poll in Sunday's election.

Daily Mail City editor Alex Brummer, vice-chairman of the Board's international division came second, with the third vice-presidential place clinched by Jonathan Arkush, senior V-P in the past triennial.

But sitting vice-president Jerry Lewis lost his seat at the top table; the other unsuccessful candidate was family solicitor Denise Lester.

Ms Marks's success was all the more remarkable since she became a deputy only in January. But she has enjoyed an increasingly high profile as the chair of a Jewish Leadership Council's commission to encourage more women into leadership roles.

She gained 65 first preferences, followed by Mr Brummer, 56: Mr Arkush, 48: Mr Lewis, 36; Ms Lester, 17.

Under the single transferable vote system, that meant that Ms Marks and Mr Brummer were elected on the first round: after second preferences were included, Mr Arkush pipped Mr Lewis by 57 votes to 48.

More than 80 per cent of deputies took part in the ballot.

Daniel Taub salutes Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at gala dinner

Simon Rocker — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:27:03 +0100

Israel Ambassador Daniel Taub saluted the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at a gala dinner to celebrate its 40th anniversary. And Mr Taub can claim first-hand knowledge of its benefits — he once was a student there.

While an undergraduate at Oxford, he took a course in Yiddish at the centre with legendary teacher, Dovid Katz.
When he told his grandmother about it, she quipped: “You go to Oxford to learn Yiddish?”

But the course helped him to translate some of her Yiddish expressions, such as “next to a kreplach, a piece of lokshen also makes a living” and “may all your teeth fall out except one — and that should give you toothache”.
The envoy also demonstrated his tutorial talents when he visited the centre recently, taking a seminar for Masters students on the biblical encounter between Jacob and Esau.

Another high-level student was Mihai Ungureanu, who last week resigned as Prime Minister of Romania. He sent a message to the dinner, saying that studying at the centre had been “one of the richest experiences” of his life.
More than 200 guests at the Savoy Hotel were entertained by speeches from TV personality Clive Anderson and producer Dan Patterson, son of the centre’s founder, Professor David Patterson. Diners included TV presenter Tania Bryer and musician Erran Baron Cohen, who composed the score for his brother Sacha’s new film The Dictator.

Oxford Centre president David Ariel said that it had raised nearly £1 million this year towards its £1.5 million fundraising target. Its chairman Lord Fink was presented with an original print by artist Carole Berman as a thank-you for his work.

Why I won’t be singing on Jerusalem Day

Simon Rocker — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:07:07 +0100

When Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks issued his new edition of the Singer’s Prayer book, the United Synagogue’s standard siddur for the first time mentioned Jerusalem Day.

The entry was just a few lines and there was no great liturgical innovation: it stated that the event should be marked with the omission of Tachanun (the prayers of supplication) and the recitation of Hallel plus some psalms of celebration. But its inclusion was a significant step towards official religious recognition of Jerusalem Day, which falls on Sunday.

The anniversary of the city’s reunification, when Israeli forces took it from Jordan on June 7 1967 during the Six-Day War, might seem an obvious addition to the Jewish calendar. We already devote time to commemorating defeats and disasters: the four fasts associated with the loss of Jerusalem and the fall of the Temple, for example, or the current, long stretch of semi-mourning during the counting of the Omer.

So why not dwell for a moment on an occasion of national rejoicing, the return of Jerusalem to Jewish hands after nearly two millennia? Rabbi Michael Harris makes an eloquent case for doing so in this week’s sidrah column (right).

But I can’t help feeling that is premature to proclaim Jerusalem Day as public festival — and will be until a peace deal is reached between Israel and the Palestinians. It is hard to envisage the prospect of any agreement without compromise over Jerusalem and although some Israeli politicians such as former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have indicated the willingness to make far-reaching concessions that might have seemed unimaginable a generation ago — offering to cede sovereignty over the Temple Mount while retaining control of the Western Wall — an agreement remains as elusive as ever. Jerusalem continues to be a place of division and discord.

The Palestinians, not without reason, fear that Israeli settlement-building over the years has been designed to ring-fence the capital, isolating it from the West Bank. In his acclaimed history of Jerusalem, Simon Sebag Montefiore writes: “The aggressive building of settlements, designed to colonise Arab neighbourhoods and sabotage any peace deal to share the city, and the systematic neglect of services and new housing in Arab areas, have given even the most innocent Jewish projects a bad name.”

But the Palestinians themselves have embarked on an insidious form of revisionism, attempting to deny the historic and spiritual Jewish connections with the city. Whereas the pre-War Muslim authorities had no problem acknowledging the Temple Mount as the site of Solomon’s Temple, Palestinian leaders have adopted the pretence that it as an entirely Islamic site with no Jewish significance. Such claims only serve to convince Israelis of Palestinian bad faith.

In Judaism’s eyes, Jerusalem derives its sanctity from its being the location of the Temple. It may be true that many Jews may fervently pray for its rebuilding as an integral part of messianic redemption. It is also true, however that many Jews, if they were to put their hands on their hearts, care little for the idea of any return to the sacrificial rites recalled in the traditional prayers. Yet Jerusalem retains its hold on the imagination as the symbolic centre of Jewish aspirations and dreams.

The prophetic literature, while it looks to the restoration of Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, goes beyond narrow triumphalism, portraying the city’s spiritual elevation on a broader canvas. When Solomon makes a feast for the people to celebrate the completion of the Temple, he prays that the supplication of a stranger who comes to the Temple be answered.

The second chapter of Isaiah, containing the promise that the word of the Lord shall go forth from Jerusalem, immediately introduces the famous image of beating swords into ploughshares and nations learning war no more. In a later chapter, Isaiah says of the Temple that it shall be called “a house of prayer for all peoples” (56.7).

So perhaps we need a vision for Jerusalem that attempts to live up to the higher prophetic ideals. Since nothing has done more to tarnish the reputation of religion in today’s world than its association with conflict and hatred, what could be more appropriate than to try to nurture Jerusalem as a centre for interfaith understanding?

Instead of fortifying contentious Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem, it would be better to invest in projects that promote amity among Jews, Christians and Muslims, no matter the obstacles that try to thwart it. In the meantime, we can all mark Jerusalem Day by reciting Psalm 122 with its compelling sentiment, “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem”.