In\u00a0Britain\u2019s Jews<\/i>\u00a0Freedman seems notably at ease with himself, and merely amused by the kind of contrariness and kvetching that means those working in Jewish communal organizations find \u201ceverybody else knows how to do their job better than they do, and nobody is afraid to tell them so\u201d. The author explores everything from the plight of the \u201cchained wives\u201d unable to obtain a religious divorce to \u201cthe Jewish psychedelic movement\u201d (which believes that \u201cchemically assisted mystical encounters are a normative part of Jewish spirituality\u201d), from the EcoSynagogue project promoting carbon neutrality to the Jewish schools in which the majority of pupils are Muslims. He cites the success of Jewish Book Week, the annual Limmud educational festival and the JW3 cultural centre on London\u2019s Finchley Road. The last of these is modelled on the Jewish community centres that are a notable feature of American life. While British Jewish buildings \u201ctend to be discreet, barely visible, blending in with the environment\u201d, Freedman says, JW3 has \u201ca large, unmissable, gaudy sign on its fa\u00e7ade \u2026 It deliberately shouts, \u2018Look at us!\u2019 JW3\u2019s brash building is an essential part of its brand. It wants to be noticed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another theme is the way Jewish institutions now reach out well beyond their core constituency to apply \u201cJewish values\u201d to broader concerns. Successive chief rabbis Immanuel Jakobovits and Jonathan Sacks were both prominent figures in wider ethical debates in the UK; although Freedman doesn\u2019t specifically mention him in this context, the incumbent, Ephraim Mirvis, is too. The main Jewish charities no longer focus solely on relieving Jewish suffering. World Jewish Relief, for example, works in Rwanda, and its president argues that \u201cWe helped refugees in the 1930s because\u00a0they<\/i>\u00a0were Jewish, and we help refugees today because\u00a0we<\/i>\u00a0are Jewish\u201d. According to Trevor Pears of the Pears Foundation, a philanthropic fund \u201crooted in Jewish values\u201d, volunteers may still enjoy \u201cgap year programmes in Israel\u201d, but it is \u201cjust as empowering Jewishly\u201d to \u201cgo on a fact-finding mission \u2026 to Ghana\u201d. XR Jews, a group within Extinction Rebellion, \u201cconsider non-violent civil disobedience to be a religious duty\u201d, Freedman reports, since \u201ctheir actions in defence of the environment are rooted in the Jewish value that prioritizes the saving of life over everything else\u201d. And the very existence of a lobbying charity called Nahamu, specifically designed to \u201cspeak out against harms systematically arising in the\u00a0haredi<\/i>\u00a0community\u201d, points to a \u201cnew, more open, even self-critical, attitude\u201d among British Jews.<\/p>\n
Even when it comes to antisemitism, Freedman suggests that \u201cthe situation is not as grim as it is sometimes portrayed\u201d. He cites a range of views about the former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, from a woman who, despite having what she describes as a \u201cridiculous English schoolgirl accent\u201d, \u201cbegan to feel like an alien in my own country, like the mask has been ripped away\u201d during the recent period of Labour\u2019s antisemitism crisis to those who believe that Corbyn was unfairly targeted by the right-wing press. Freedman clearly believes there was room for serious concern during the Corbyn years, yet he also puts a positive spin on the way Jews responded so forcefully to the perceived danger. While there has long been talk of a \u201cJewish vote\u201d in the US, it was hostility to Corbyn, Freedman argues, that meant that, during the 2019 general election, \u201cthere was clear evidence of a Jewish vote\u201d \u201cfor the first time in British history\u201d.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n 'During the 2019 general election 'there was clear evidence of a Jewish vote\u2019 \u2018for the first time in British history'.' (@MatthewReiszTHE<\/a>)https:\/\/t.co\/BGB4p4Xfoe<\/a><\/p>\n — The TLS (@TheTLS) March 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n