ELKAN’S VIEW 21st January 2015

 Is this how the media would have reported this week’s Sedrah?

ISRAELITES CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES – EGYPTIAN CIVILIANS SUFFER AS ISRAELITES DANCE AT THE RED SEA

The Royal Press Officer for Pharaoh has accused the Israelites of serious war crimes. “Their leader Moses attacked and murdered one of our senior civil servants who was encouraging increased productivity among his workforce. Moses and his brother Aaron have brought terrible plagues, poisoning water, afflicting cattle and finally murdering many thousands of blameless firstborns. The plagues that they brought spared no one. Millions of innocent civilians suffered unbelievable hardship and privation. As they left our hospitable country the Israelites stole valuable Egyptian property and caused many of our bravest soldiers to drown in the Red Sea.

“The Children of Israel have shown themselves to be murderers and thieves. By their deeds of malice and violence they have betrayed the trust and honour showed to them by the whole Egyptian people. We demand justice!”

The following statement was issued on behalf of Moses and the Children of Israel but has not appeared in the press.

“The Egyptians enslaved tortured and brutalised the Israelite people. They ordered that firstborn be cast into the river to die, and taught their children to hate and disparage us. Our people first came to Egypt because our ancestor Joseph saved the whole nation from famine and starvation. It is true that the Almighty brought plagues upon Egypt, but Pharaoh could have stopped these at any time had he wished. As we were finally leaving Egypt, Egyptian well-wishers handed us gold and silver. Pharaoh wanted to bring us back into slavery and sent heavy armour and artillery against our defenceless civilians. He was only defeated by divine intervention at the last minute.”

ELKAN’S VIEW 14th January 2015

Last week’s events in Paris have possibly changed the world we live in, although my cynical reluctance to admit that the nations of the West have any real concept of what they are facing leads me to wonder. Of course it was predictable; there have been enough signs in France to say nothing of the rest of Western Europe for people to understand that this is a major clash of civilisations.

It is not even merely an attack on the Jews, although almost every major outrage has a parallel Jewish attack. Shared by almost every other government in Western Europe, it is actually a significant failing on the part of the French government to take the threat of Islamic Jihadists seriously. It is easy to blame any government for a lack of police, troops on the ground, security people, whatever. The struggle against Islamic extremism must be taken forward by all available means, and governments have to be very proactive (as has the Israeli government for many years) if this dangerous threat to freedom is to be defeated.

Arguably it is now more dangerous for a European Jew, especially in France, to live outside Israel. If 7,000 French Jews made Aliyah last year, the figure this year will be undoubtedly much higher to Israel’s benefit and France’s loss.

That the latest addition of the magazine “Charlie Hebdo” sold out within minutes of coming on sale, despite the fact that its usual print run was vastly increased, gives a clear indication of what the average Frenchman thinks. But would have been quite as interested in the attack on the Jewish supermarket if it had not followed so closely the attack on the satirical magazine?

In the meantime quite how long will it take the British government to bring in necessary legislation to enable them to fight terror? The bleating of woolly minded liberals, that identity cards are an attack on liberty, is self-evident nonsense and must be derided as such. Liberty of thought and freedom of speech are wonderful things, but there are times when we have to fight, vigorously, actively, and with all available resources, if they are not to be destroyed by the liberties that they themselves profess to protect.

ELKAN’S VIEW 7^th January 2015

 Israel is beginning to warm up for the elections on 17 March, which sadly offer no clear possibility of a radical change in leadership. Bibi is a Prime Minister who is increasingly viewed as having run his time. A change is badly needed but there are no exciting alternatives.

While Britain is now beginning to discover the reality of the problems that coalition government can bring, Israel is stuck with a proportional representation system that might have been a good idea in 1948, but which always produces coalitions. The effect of raising the proportion of the vote needed to secure a member of the Knesset to 3.25% does not seem to be having any particular effect.

To our shame, political scandals are the daily currency of Israeli life. The fact that a former president, a former prime minister and several ministers and officials are either in prison or appealing sentences is a tribute to the rule of law in this country. In the Middle East context this is unique, but it says many sad things about the ethical standards of the Jewish state.

The recent primaries within the Likud party have strengthened Netanyahu’s grip. The scandals within Avigdor Lieberman’s party Yisrael Beitenu have seriously diminished his influence, and the biggest political winner could well be the American Naftali Bennett and his right-wing party HaBayit Hayehudi. The Labour Party under Isaac Hertzog does not seem to be a serious contender, especially since he has teamed up with the political gadfly Tzipi Livni. She changes her political party frequently, and is one of the leading Israeli advocates of the two state solution, a policy which is increasingly seen here as being unattainable with the present Palestinian leadership.

However “a week is a long time in politics” and there are currently almost 10 weeks to the election and anything could happen.

And by the way, New Year’s Eve at the Dead Sea was delightful – strawberries, sparkling wine, and a magnificent firework display brought in 2015 in the traditional way!

I am writing this on Wednesday 31st December. Last Thursday was 25th December, a day which part in this part of Israel, at least, is without any special significance.This is something that those of us who come from outside Israel, especially Europe and the English speaking countries (Anglo-Saxononim in local dialect) find very unusual.

On one of the days of Chanukah I went to Jerusalem with my grandsons, and we walked around the Old City. Outside many of the Jewish houses there was a box to hold a lit Chanukiah, and outside some doorways leading onto four or five apartments there was a glass box with shelves on which the individual flats had placed their Chanukiot. I even found one house that had built a Chanukiah from Lego! This is an interesting a new way of “publicising the miracle”.

In a society that is so closely defined by religion as Israel, it is quite logical to me that Xmas would be unmarked in Jewish areas, although like all my English friends I pine for some of the eatable traditions! When I did see one small girl in Tel Aviv holding a piece of greenery which obviously had Christmas overtones, I found it quite startling until I remembered the cosmopolitan nature of the city and the fact that she could very well not be Jewish.

New Year’s Eve is a different problem. In England we regard it as a purely secular celebration. Within the Catholic Church however 31^st of December is designated as the feast of St Sylvester, who was Pope in the fourth century. The overzealous Rabbanut in the major cities attempted some years ago to ban New Year’s Eve parties on the basis that they were a Christian religious festival. I shall be at the Dead Sea for New Year’s Eve this year, and I am quite curious to know what is going to happen this evening.

Chanukah has arrived in Israel and with it all the joys of this midwinter festival. Chanukiot abound in all places, and the custom to light seems to be universal and not restricted to the observant.

The schools are off, more or less, although as with England not every school keeps to the same dates for holidays and parents have to cover the gap. All over the country, on all major public buildings, you can find a Menorah spreading a message of freedom and the defeat of enemies which resonates with the Israelis. It is not difficult to reset the defeat of the Hellenistic Syrians by the numerically inferior Maccabees into a modern context.

All Jewish festivals are a challenge to the waistline, but Chanukah particularly so! I can clearly remember as a child grating potatoes so that my Bobba (grandmother) could make latkes. I actually read somewhere the other day a theory that doughnuts were a popular meal in the time of the Maccabees but this really beggars belief!

And yet the story of Chanukah has a worldwide significance that goes far beyond Judaism. We all know how the Maccabees defeated their enemies who were numerically and militarily much stronger. We all know the story of the one day supply of oil that miraculously lasted for eight days. What we fail to consider is the important position that Chanukah holds in the history of Christianity and Islam, as well as Judaism.

If the Maccabees had not been victorious, then Judaism might well have disappeared. There was virtually no Jewish Diaspora in those days and the extinction of the Jewish community in the land of Israel would have been final. Christianity could not have developed as an offshoot of Judaism, nor would Islam have come into being. The world would be very different, a Hellenistic and possibly idolatrous society. Quite a lot to come from a little cruse of oil!