Leap of faith: Look both ways
We need to keep the Jewish Diaspora strong
The Green Cross Code taught us all we need to look both ways when crossing the road because there is potential danger lurking in our peripheral vision. As a community, by which I mean British Jewry, of all denominations and political persuasions, I think we need to start articulating our own equivalent warning.
Time marches forward in our ever-changing world and since 7 October 2023 British Jews have inevitably been looking East. I’m not for one moment suggesting we shouldn’t be focused on Israel, the hostages, Gaza – for if we weren’t we would be the only ones who aren’t. The thousands still turning up each week for pro-Palestine rallies and the amount of news headlines focused on our tiny Jewish homeland suggest it’s the direction everyone is looking right now. Yet my fear is when you only look one way when crossing the road, you run the risk of being knocked off your feet.
One day soon, I hope and pray, in both Israel and Gaza there will be a ‘day after’ the war, the time following a ceasefire and the release of the hostages but there will not be the same ‘day after’ mentality here in the UK. Too many people flying the Palestinian flag or expressing antisemitic sentiments around the world, do so without political understanding – they do so because it’s a cause and a culture they’ve adopted. There’s no going back to the Britain I knew before the Autumn of 2023, and now with British Jewry looking the other way, focused only on what’s going on in Israel and Gaza, we will miss the opportunity to plan for and cope with this new reality.
This time next year many of the kids who did not have the full Bnei Mitzvah experience they deserved because their 13th birthdays fell during Covid lockdowns will be going off to university. These are the same kids who didn’t have the opportunity to go on Israel tour following their GCSEs because of the outbreak of war. Yet we know the profound effect those two experiences have on our sense of identity and belonging. If antisemitism and an anti-Israel agenda are still rife on campus, what will the effect be on their university experience and their ongoing Jewish identity?
With many of our synagogues and charities reporting a dip in funding because so many of our philanthropists have been directing their funds to support Israel, will we have the infrastructure to support those who need us most and the resources to create a dynamic Jewish diaspora in the post war period?
Our hearts are in the East and we are in the West. Our longing for peace and justice, just like Yehuda Halevi’s, is palpable but we also have to plan for the future for a strong Diaspora Jewry, for without it, we leave Israel more vulnerable and a Jewish future at risk.
Rabbi Miriam Berger is founder and director of Wellspring
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