Advice for the government
The foreign secretary’s intemperate attack on Israel came as no surprise, though it did require me once again to remind astonished Jewish Labour voters that their party’s manifesto was available in full, in writing, before they voted for it.
The Israeli foreign minister’s response was robust and entirely justified. Whether it will penetrate the Foreign Office is another matter; that department has shown a rare talent for hearing only what it wishes to hear.
I do not expect Mr Miliband to seek my counsel, but I shall offer it regardless, free of charge, which is roughly what it will be worth to him. If he is serious about pressuring the Israeli government, rather than merely posturing for a domestic audience, he might start by inviting the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to sign one joint statement, on one piece of paper, committing themselves to a two-state solution. I have already blocked out the date in my diary. It falls the same week Cardiff City win the Champions League.
Shimon Cohen
London N2
The defence of shechita has and always has had a political dimension.
British politicians therefore need to be reminded that when Jesus and his disciples ate the “last supper”’, the paschal lamb they consumed had been slaughtered by shechita – the Jewish method.
Professor Geoffrey Alderman
University of Buckingham
Hidden saints
I like the idea of Lamedvavniks, the Talmud-inspired legend of 36 good and modest people described by Jonathan Romain (The hidden saints who keep the world from collapsing, August 21). He mentions Esther Rantzen, Leo Baeck and the Lone Ranger as possible candidates. I would like to add Mohammad Fahili to that illustrious list, who graced us with his presence last month at Maidenhead shul. Fahili is the director of The Charles Clore Jewish-Arab Community Centre in Akko, which brings Jews and Arabs together in a variety of educational settings, summer camps and a women’s centre. He is completely apolitical, and concentrates on getting things done. I asked what drives him at a time of so much hate and bloodshed? To which he replied, pounding his heart, the desire to repay all the love and generosity received growing up, which enabled him and his family to survive, be educated and flourish. Here was an immensely inspiring man, with an infectious sense of humour and zest for life. Unlike so many in the Middle East, he doesn’t wallow in victimhood or bitterness, and is thus able to devote his whole being to doing good and making a difference.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor
Welcome in Westcliff
Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation’s warden Geoffrey Pepper‘s kind and warm response (Letters, August 21 ) to my recent Schmooze article (I went to five US shuls in one weekend – all full of life, August 14) was most welcome. We spoke on the telephone very soon after. His shul office answered within minutes! The result is that I have been invited to visit the Essex coast after the chagim, and I have gladly and happily accepted.
The future of the United Synagogue depends on this approach and attitude. Only yesterday at a Lunch and Learn at a United Synagogue , a good friend of mine told me how he was ignored when visiting another US shul nearby which upset him tremendously. This should not be happening nor should comments (to me) that I am late for Shabbat services, which actually is very unfair. I remain open to invitations from other shuls.
Jonathan Metliss
London W1
Charedi hope
Rabbi Karmi Gross’ article (Opinion, August 21) on developments in the Charedi World was a light at the end of the tunnel. Let us hope that the difficult members of that sector are as elsewhere the minority noisy awkward squad.If the social breaches over the accelerated growth of IDF exemptions since 1977 are to be healed, then it is vital to do so without prison, which is expensive and in this case would allow skivers to pose as martyrs.
In the Israeli Charedi case it would be most quickest and sharpest to simply cut all welfare and yeshivah subsidy if the people in question do not register and serve their IDF duty. They will either do their duty to retrieve personal welfare or take to the labour market and practise the injunction against using the Torah as an axe to delve with. Why should Israel be importing foreign workers when there are over 80 000 fit young men about ?
The saved welfare moneys can be better used to fund secular (evening) classes for trade and Bagrut / AL subjects. Further yeshivah bachurim can study if nothing else and within a year should be able to furnish a corps of teachers for school exam level courses. Schoolwork is not “rocket science”.
Frank Adam
Prestwich
Could I commend the article by Rabbi Karmi Gross and the brave maverick approach at Derech Chaim Yeshivah he has made in getting students to enlist in the IDF and his respect to Israel as a country.
Unfortunately, this article will fall on deaf ears by the majority of the Charedi community in Stamford Hill. In the past few weeks we have seen the Green Party trying to break up twinning arrangements between Hackney and Haifa and as yet I have seen no evidence of any protest from the local Charedi community. Instead they thank the local Green council for a new school premises, and the easing of planning restrictions on adding “ugly” extensions to their homes. The Neturei Karta never miss an opportunity on a Shabbat to be at the vanguard of Palestinian demonstrations in central London even blatantly holding banners (is there an eruv in central London?) to show their hatred of Israel . Is it too late for Rabbi Gross to be invited to teach some common sense in London N16?
Llewellyn Gaba
Cardiff
Temple Fortune memories
These are two of the many experiences I remember from shopping in Temple Fortune those years ago. I remember shopping in Simon’s, the butcher – Mr Simon’s recommendation of the chicken/meat was always accompanied by his mother sitting at the cash desk.
Further down the Road was Kerstein’s the Poulterer where the display featured chickens of all sizes (all had to be koshered at home afterwards). The customer in front of me was turning the chickens this way and that and evidently looking for the best buy. Eventually Mr Kerstein burst into action – “Madam, could you take a test like that!”
Norma Neville
London NW4
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