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| Jeremy Corbyn - Will he be the next Prime Minister of the UK? |
I am once again pleased to host another fine essay by Paul Shaviv, one of the most respected educators in Orthodoxy. Typical of Paul’s modesty he identifies himself only as ...an expat Brit who now lives in North America (and has) just returned from a visit to the UK. I was not going to let him get away with that.
He touches upon topics frequently discussed here.While I ordinarily add a disclaimer to guest submissions along the lines of - the views expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect my own, in this case they very closely do. His words follow in their entirety.
England’s Jewish community is in uproar on several
fronts. The biggest, by far, is on the political
scene – a situation which may be a harbinger for similar, serious, developments
in other countries. Here is a brief
roundup:
The crisis with the
Labour Party:
Britain’s equivalent of the Democrats is in crisis over
antisemitism at every level within the party.
For decades, the Labour party was the comfortable home to many Jews, and
featured several very pro-Israel and pro-Jewish leaders. This turned completely when the then (Jewish)
leader of the party, Ed Milliband, made membership and voting changes in the
party structure, opening the door to the unexpected election as leader in 2015
of a hitherto fringe veteran MP, Jeremy Corbyn.
Corbyn is a hard leftist, of the neo-Communist school, and
he brought into leadership positions a group of far-left individuals, all of
whom identified with anti-West, anti-Establishment beliefs. They were also sympathetic to Islamist
movements, and various terrorist groups – the IRA, Hamas, Hizbollah and others.
Under this umbrella, many anti-Israel and anti-semitic
individuals apparently felt safe. Jews
began to feel uneasy in Labour, and the language of discourse began to include
“Zio”s (“Zionists” – a shorthand for
Jews) and other abuse. Jewish MP’s were
under online attack in the vilest terms, and multiple episodes of abuse
surfaced. Half-hearted measures and
“enquiries” seemed cosmetic only.
This all recently came to a head with the refusal of Labour
to adopt a widely agreed definition of what constitutes antisemitism (the IHRA
document) – instead, without consultation with the Jewish community, adopting a
compromised definition which left open all sorts of loopholes. It didn’t help that Corbyn gave prominence to
a fringe, far-left Jewish group, whose leader stated that she “only identified
with Judaism in order to be able to attack Israel”; or that Corbyn’s past
identification with anti-Israel groups keeps on surfacing.
The conflict has escalated and escalated. Over
sixty rabbis – unprecedentedly in England, including Haredi, M O, Reform and
‘Liberal’ – published a letter of concern.
Jewish newspapers in the UK published a common ‘front page’, with a
giant headline “United we stand!”. Two MP’s who accused Corbyn of antisemitism
were within hours placed in party disciplinary process - contrasting with the
laggardly process of disciplining Labour anti-Semites themselves…..
But where will this end?
It is unprecedented for the community to be in open conflict with a major
political party like this. It is also unprecedented for the Labour party to
treat any other community as it is currently treating Jews.
If the party comes to power – and for many reasons,
including Brexit and an incredibly weak Prime Minister, it is possible – where
will the Jewish community, collectively and individually, stand?
If it is defeated at the next election, will “the Jews” be
blamed? Jews of all ages and all
persuasions are openly discussing emigration, and are resigning from the Labour
party in droves. For updates, just
Google ‘Corbyn’……. Stay tuned.
Charedi schools against the Government:
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| Rabbi Abraham Pinter of Stamford Hill - a Chasidic enclave in London |
In the UK, even totally private (ie non-Government funded)
schools have to meet minimum educational standards. These include minimal literacy (in English)
and numeracy standards. More recently,
they include the requirement of education regarding British society and
‘British values’.
For years, the Government ignored the Charedi sector,
content to let this tiny group alone. Several factors have changed this: the sheer growth in numbers of
Yiddish-speaking schools; the growth of Moslem schools whose curriculum content
has alarmed the authorities (and the necessity of treating all schools
equally…); the growing trend against ‘faith schools’ in British society; and parallel
concern about health and safety standards in yeshivot.
The government, via its schools inspection service,
(“Ofsted”), carried out a number of inspections of Haredi schools. Several passed the inspections with flying
colours. However, the (mainly Hassidic)
yeshivot in Stamford Hill cried “Gevalt!”.
The requirement is not that schools promote other religions,
multiculturalism, or LGBT lifestyles, or evolution – but that they tell the
students that such phenomena exist in British society, and that tolerance of
others (not necessarily agreement) is necessary.
Well, there are clear signs that the younger generation of
Hassidim (and Haredim) do not all agree with their leadership, and want higher
‘secular’ standards in their schools – particularly basic English skills. In confrontation and refusal to even consider
the Ofsted concerns, the yeshivot cannot win; and the leadership does not have
the total support of the kehilla.
Something has to change.
A third potential storm has only recently appeared on the
horizon: In the course of a complex
divorce case which reached the High Court, details emerged of an allegedly
fraudulent process in which a young Haredi family obtained funds for house
purchase to which they were not entitled; and the intricacies of which also
enabled them to subsequently claim government housing assistance. The sums involved were huge.
The wife claimed that she had been coerced into this
arrangement by pressure from her community, with the blessing of local London
rabbis, and a ‘Grand Rabbi’ in Israel.
She alleged that these arrangements were widespread in her
community. The judge had harsh words to
say, and the case and the alleged “widespread” irregularities were reported in
the local (non-Jewish) press, and in the Jewish Chronicle.
The rabbinate of the Haredi community issued a statement demanding
that the judge withdraw his comments, and declaring that they did not approve
of illegal practices in any context.
Online comment suggested otherwise….
If this triggers further investigations, trouble may lie
ahead.
The Jewish community in England’s green and pleasant land
has for centuries enjoyed a relatively peaceful and harmonious existence, with
few crises. The community as a whole has
kept its profile low – suppressing, perhaps, the component of community/ethnic
pride and activism which has played such a large part in American Jewish
life. Are things changing?
Where will it lead?
