British and weather

This article in the metro newspaper was soooo true LOL! [Click here to read]

Remembering the Jewish refuges

On 30 November, the new date to mark the Annual Commemoration of the Exodus of Jewish Refugees from Arab countries and Iran, over 100 people came to the Jewish Museum in London. The event was organised by the Board of Deputies and Harif, the UK Association of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa.

It is important to remember this event, both from a family perspective and because we are constantly bombarded with the messages about Palestinian refugees. This is just one side of the story: almost 1,000,000 Jews were forced from Arab and Islamic  lands with an estimated $4.4 billion of wealth confiscated and over 100,000 square kilometres of Jewish owned land seizes by the governments of these countries (roughly 5 times the size of Israel), the refugees allowed only one suitcase each when leaving. And all of this happened after the world was realing from the events of the holocaust.

Note: I wanted to put up a brief clip about this, but you tube doesn't seem to want me to find it, so I've put it in the comments section below.

A knock at the door

This was a story I've shared before, but felt like reposting it again:

Yesterday, as I was giving the house a thorough clean in time for Passover, there was a knock at the door. Who could this be, at 11 in the morning? It turned out to be two old ladies from the local C of E Church. Me being the good Jewish girl that I am, decided to invite them into the home and offer them a cup of tea or coffee. One we'd settled down, they came to the purpose of their visit. They were collecting throughout the Parish for.... a donation to their Church, specifically to repair their organ (that is the musical instrument). Whilst I knew that there was going to be a campaign to repair the Church organ, I politely declined the offer, explaining that as a Jew I did not feel that I could donate money which  was for the specific benefit of another religion and its worship. That didn't go down well, 'but' spluttered one of them 'the Church is the centre of the community and a beautiful building; it benefitseveryone in the Parish' .

I've got to admit at that point, I sort of saw of red mist. You see I do, as a way of helping a friend in our town, who is also the Secretary of the Church, type up the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting of the Church (I do have sympathy, you see for a Mrs Hubbard type,  70 year old woman with chronic arthritis).   I couldn't quite see the logic here given that the membership of said Church is all of  50 people (out of a population of 3,000). And this is where I kinda lost it and told them that  if they had more members then they might be able to afford the repair themselves or perhaps if their own relatively affluent membership donated more than 50p per week per head to the Church, then they wouldn't need to beg off others. Needless to say they made a quick exit from my house soon after. I do feel guilty in some ways, but then I do think my point was a fair one. 

Shortly after there was another knock on the door. Oy, what is going on. This time a young women in her twenties and a middle aged women, I noticed they'd got Bibles & leaflets in their hands. At this rate I thought, I'll need another kettle. But, I thought it is raining and it wouldn't be very Jewish to slam the door in their faces. So much to their surprised and I think delight they got ushered in to our living room. So what were they knocking my door for? They were Bible believing Christians from a growing (200 members plus) Church from the bigger town by us, from something along the lines of the ' free evangelist church of Jesus the risen saviour'. They were in the neighbourhood, to invite people to a  Passover meal & presentation of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Great. 

I said, well I am a Jew, who is going to be celebrating the start of Passover next Monday evening, in my own home and therefore had the real deal .I was hoping they'd be a bit more clued to the fact that they were coming to a Jewish household as I deliberately put my Menorah in the window and of course we have a mezuzah right by the door bell (!). I guess they don't teach that at Bible school, I mused. Their eyes lit up and they asked if I had ever considered learning about Jesus in the Old Testament and how he fulfilled all of the Jewish prophecies ? I said that I had no idea why they were knocking on my door, but even if I had of know I would still have let them into my house, because  it was cold, wet and windy outside and as they looked like they had already had several doors slammed in their faces , that I should do the Jewish thing and welcome them into my house for a bit of refreshment. I pointed to their Bibles and said that this was as Biblical as they were, in Leviticus 19, 33 to 34  & as to why I could not be a Christian, Deuteronomy 10, 17 to 19 among other places. I did say to them I would be happy to discuss with them at length an essay I had written a couple of years ago whist I was reading my  MA : why I am a Jew and not a Christian. Needless to say, we got into a bit of a heated discussion. They couldn't quite grasp the fact that I had as much knowledge about their Bible as they did, which  flummoxed them and they left the house as quickly as they could , which disappointed me as we'd only covered Isaiah 53,  let alone going on to a critique of 'Hebrews', salvation and St Paul, among other things.

 I received visits from two different types of Christians. Musing about this is  important because I still live in what is overwhelming a white middle class 'christian' area. I live in what is still technically a national Christian state,so that will always be the predominate culture of the UK*. Therefore to a Jew,who will always be a minority in the UK, important to know what is going on within Christianity as this has an impact upon our faith and fortunes as well. To me I saw that one  group seemed to be entirely wrapped up in their own world, but entirely confident that someone else should be picking up the tab for their Church. The other group was outward looking, but again entirely confident that someone else would just automatically accept whatever they had to say at face value and without comment and getting a tad upset at the challenge. I'm not sure whether or not either approach was particularly effective. I do know that Christianity in all of its forms is certainly not dying in the UK. Rather, perhaps it is shifting and changing. As the C of E withers into discussions, often byzantine e.g. 'saving the organ' at a local level, or the obsessions with women Vicars and gay marriage at a national level, there are other, younger and confident denominations that are taking its place. So I don't buy this baloney about the Christian Church dying in the UK. It is merely a matter of change. 

*mythology about Islam aside- I doubt that the majority of the English would ever be truly comfortable ever adopting that religion, although I accept it will be a large minority of the population in years to come, which brings  problems and issues as well

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Today is the international day for the elimination of violence against women. The UN gives us the following harrowing statistics:

• 35% of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime with up to seven in ten women facing this abuse in some countries. 

• It is estimated that up to 30 million girls under the age of 15 remain at risk from FGM/C, and more than 130 million girls and women have undergone the procedure worldwide. 

• Worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children, 250 million of whom were married before the age of 15. Girls who marry before the age of 18 are less likely to complete their education and more likely to experience domestic violence and complications in childbirth.

In Britain the charity shelter notes the following( NOTE: domestic abuse against men also occurs and this is equally unacceptable) :

• Metropolitan Police statistics show that male violence against women made up 85% of reported domestic violence incidents

• A 2009 study based on police reports, which accounted for the dynamics of domestic violence, found that only 5% of domestic violence incidents were perpetrated by women in heterosexual relationships

• Domestic violence is patterned, repeated behaviour intended to assert power and control over the victim. Of those who experience 4 or more incidents of domestic violence, 89% are women

• Four times as many women as men are killed by a current or former partner.

• Two women a week are killed as a result of domestic violence in England and Wales

So I think it's perfectly laudable that there is a day to raise awareness of these issues within our society,including our particular Jewish community. Yes it is true that Jewish women also suffer from domestic abuse and this is in NO WAY condoned in our religion. Jewish law expressly forbids personal violence and requires commitment to shalom bayit, a happy and peaceful family life. Jewish men who commit domestic violence, are destroying shalom bayit and breaking Jewish law.

Here are some Jewish sources in relation to this : 

• 'Do not stand idly by and see your neighbour’s blood spilled' – Leviticus 19:16

• 'A husband should love his wife as much as he does himself and should respect her even more than he respects himself' – Gemara Yevamot 62b

• 'Maintaining the dignity of a person is so great that it may override halacha' – Gemara Brachot 19b

• 'A man who strikes his wife commits a sin, just as if he were to strike anyone else' - Rama, Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 154:3

We need to be unequivocally supportive of those who've and those who are suffering from these abuses & not to treat them as taboos. Here's a link to the charity I've just mentioned so people can  familiarise themselves with the issues and become more aware of how to help or if you need help to go to a website like the ones below (Please!) :

Jewish women's aid

Refuge

Jewish mother

No I'm not preggers!Just thought I'd say that.... I've not been posting because I'm a busy Jewish mom!

Remembrance Sunday

A traditional poem read today:

"They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam

Lest we forget"

Student politics-scoff contemptuously or cry?

Student politics was always something outlandish and bizzare to me, but when I read, courtesy of the Jewish news, that the NUS refused to pass a resolution condemning IS because this could be seen as islamophobic, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

Let's put aside the fact the argument that said boycotting Israel could be seen as antisemitism, didn't stop the same body from deciding to pass a boycott resolution or the fact that if one won't condemned IS because it is ialamophobic to do so, you are de facto admitting that IS is a legitimate expression of Islam (something which politicians have gone out of their way to deny).

Instead, let's note instead that the greatest victims, aside from Christians and  Yazidis are in fact fellow Muslims. IS are quite racist with an utter contempt for Kurds ( Jews share an affinity with the Kurdish people, in many ways, who are by and large very moderate and modern: as in Israel, men and women are defending their homes  together, during the recent is onslaught). 

I do wonder therefore why anyone wouldn't want to condemn IS and support Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and others in defeating this wicked menace.