Rabbis lonely and loud
As a recently retired communal rabbi, I concur with Daniel Greenberg’s remarks (Dayan’s sudden exit triggers shock waves, JC March 15). However, he neglects to mention that the position of the communal rabbi can be a very lonely and arduous one.
I enjoyed my 40 years serving communities and felt a tremendous privilege at interacting with so many people both within and beyond my communities, as well as with Jews and non-Jews alike. Nevertheless, I was aware of the huge responsibilities I carried as a spiritual leader.
Therefore, while I agree with Daniel Greenberg’s assertion that communal rabbis need to be more professional, accountable and open to regular reviews, they also need to have support just as any other professional. I have advocated for a long time a panel of confidential counsellors and advisers to whom rabbis can turn when faced with personal difficulties. The present focus on mental health should also include rabbis.
Rabbi Dr Martin van den Bergh
Bet Shemesh, Israel
JC readers might be forgiven if they assumed, given the recent extensive coverage of his antics, that Rabbi Aharon Bassous is representative of views held by the Charedi community at large and that his barmy behaviour should be taken seriously. As a member of this community, I would like to dispel any such notions.
Until the Dweck affair, Bassous was a relatively insignificant rabbi in Golders Green, holding no influence beyond his own synagogue. However, more prominent Charedi rabbis, declining to speak out personally due to the sensitivity of LGBT issues, were happy to use a fanatic as a “useful idiot” to publicly condemn Dweck and his innovative views. The problem with letting a mad dog loose is that, once unchained, it can be impossible to restrain.
Since then, Bassous has defended an alleged sex predator; compared the Chief Rabbi to the Nazis , implied that the London Beth Din was corrupt and “Reform” ; vengefully milked the Dayan Abraham scandal; and invited hate preacher Yosef Mizrachi to lecture at his synagogue. His rants are lapped up by the media, even if no one in our community takes him seriously.
Bassous has also sent annoying messages to rabbis who disagree with him. He admits he is no fan of Mizrachi, but merely invited him to speak “because the Chief Rabbi and Dweck oppose him”. He is simply trying to be as provocative as possible to avoid being irrelevant, just like an internet troll.
Shmuli Krausz
London NW11
Can we assume that Rabbi Bassous, as a consequence of his public announcements, will be banning the reading of David’s psalms in his Synagogue?
Rabbi Lionel Broder
London NW4
Racial ‘purity’
The news that Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi endorses the use of DNA testing to help prove Jewishness should fill us all with disgust. (Rabbinate admits DNA testing before marriage, JC March 15).
Jewish people are especially aware of where the pursuit of racial purity can lead. People should be free to follow their own religious beliefs as they wish, but only to the extent that it does not impinge on the freedom of others. In the modern democratic state of Israel, there should be no place for this bigotry.
Mycal Miller
London NW2
Occupational enmity
It is a matter of concern that Esther Craven (Letters, March 15) thinks that having been on a propaganda tour with Breaking the Silence entitles her to patronise the majority of the Jewish community who, apparently, find it too difficult to talk about the “occupation”. Well, yes, it is difficult, but only in the sense that it helps to know far more about the history and the issues than she appears to.
Does Ms Craven know, for example, that there were Jewish communities in the “occupied territories” centuries before they were ethnically cleansed in 1924, 1929 or 1948?
Does she know that the Palestinian people were invented in the 1960s for propaganda purposes; no one prior to that thought that there was any distinction between “Palestinians” and other Arabs? And that there was no suggestion of any Palestinian independence movement during the years when what are now called the Palestinian territories were illegally occupied by Jordan and Egypt (or indeed, at any period in history before that)?
Most importantly, does she know that Israel “occupied” these territories in a defensive war against enemies who sought to wipe it off the map, and that the Palestinian leadership has never ceased to incite its people with genocidal hatred against Israel and Jews?
I remember the debates in 2005 over the Gaza withdrawal, when Israel did exactly what Esther Craven apparently wants them to do now in the West Bank, i.e. remove every soldier and every settlement.
We were told that this would enable the people of Gaza to create a prosperous future and encourage them towards peace. And that the world would realise Israel’s good intentions, and squarely blame the Palestinians for any continuation of the conflict. Sadly, it didn’t exactly work out that way.
Harry Goldstein
London N14
Guide who lied
The very idea that David Irving, a Holocaust denier, could possibly lead a “guided tour” of some of the most horrifying sites in European Jewish history (JC online and page 19 in today’s issue), as a kind of day-trip to Hitler’s Disney Land, is at best abhorrent and at worst dangerous.
JRoots takes hundreds of Jewish people every year to Poland to see where horrific events took place. Irving’s opposing agenda is to minimise the significance and accuracy of the atrocities of the Holocaust. He has found yet another opportunity to add insult after insult to the memory of all the 17 million victims of the Holocaust.
Together with JRoots, I have had the privilege of escorting many Holocaust survivors to death camps mentioned in Irving’s “sightseeing” itinerary and it pains me to consider, even for a moment, that these brave survivors, souls of their family members, and the millions of other people who perished during the Holocaust could have their memories dishonoured in this way. Irving must not be allowed to go ahead with this escapade and we have a moral obligation to do everything we can in order to stop him.
Rabbi Naftali Schiff
Chief Executive Jewish Futures and Director of JRoots
Stamp of disapproval
Your report of the exhibition at the Jewish Museum about Jews and money reminded me of an incident a few years ago. Gerald Kaufman had made a very unkind comment about Jews and money. By coincidence, that same week, the JC published a magazine about Jewish charities. I sent a copy to Mr Kaufman, to show him what Jews do with their money. So I wasted half-an-hour of my life waiting at the post office, and £1.25 on a stamp.
Renee Bravo
London, E18
Top flaws
A hitherto respected dayan, a very senior cardinal and an ex-CEO of the JLC -- all in the news for alleged misbehaviour in various forms.
Should we succumb to the view that religion is a hypocritical sham or acknowledge the frailty of human morality — or just go back to worrying about Brexit?
Neville Landau
London SW19
