Category: Radio 4
Date: 01.01.2006
Printable version
Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, was interviewed on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4's Sunday programme today by Edward Stourton. Here is a transcript of the interview...
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ES: Next year marks the 350th anniversary of the re-entry of Jews to Britain, do you think it is a cause for celebration?
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CR: It seems to me a real cause for celebration because there's no doubt that Jews in Britain have found this country one of the most tolerant places on the face of the earth and our community is just very thankful for the chance to practice our faith - in peace - and genuine acceptance.
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ES: You've also talked, in the year that's just gone, about anti-Semitism having reached as, I think you described it, 'uncomfortable levels' - what did you mean by that?
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CR: All the old definitions and expectations have disappeared in a global age and what we're finding is the transfer of conflicts - thousands of miles away into daily life. That's what Britain discovered on 7/7 and before that Madrid and before that United States.
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So you don't talk about anti-Semitism or Islamaphobia or what have you as features of a nation culture the way we use to do - is Britain an anti-Semitic country? Obviously the answer is no. But we do find that through the internet, though email, through satellite television conflicts are becoming globalised and they can claim victims thousands of miles away.
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ES: And when you talk about that discomfort that's quite a carefully chosen word. What does the experience feel like of contemporary anti-Semitism?
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CR: A number of my Rabbinical colleagues throughout Europe have been assaulted and attacked on the streets, we've had synagogues desecrated, we've had Jewish schools burnt to the ground - not here but in France.
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People are attempting to silence and even ban Jewish societies on campus on the grounds that Jews must support the state of Israel therefore they should be banned - which is quite extraordinary because Jewish identities, religious identity - and British Jews see themselves as British citizens.
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So it's that kind of feeling that you don't know what's going to happen next that is making some at least some European Jewish communities uncomfortable.
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ES: You've also I think talked about Jewry and the state of Israel being scapegoats in the 21st century. What did you mean by that?
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CR: What I mean is that Israel is sometimes made to seem as if it is the cause of all conflict in the world - if God forbid one could imagine a world in which the state of Israel did not exist, and I repeat God forbid, then not one of the world's conflict would be changed not one millimetre - there would still be conflict in Chechnya, in Ossettia, in Indonesia, in the Philippines so to make out this conflict where the two sides have worked now for 12 years in a process of peace - to make it the epicentre of global politics is not merely wrong - and ridiculously wrong - but is also quite troubling.
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ES: Since we are talking after the President of Iran said what he said about the Holocaust what was your reaction to that?
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CR: Sadly I wasn't surprised because Holocaust denial and other forms of anti-Semitism, from the Blood libel to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion have been circulating in best selling books and primetime television have been circulating in parts of the world now for several years and this is all a kind of tsunami of anti-Semitism which is taking place a long way from this county but to which Europe seems unaware.
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ES: That's a very strong phrase - a 'tsunami of anti-Semitism'.
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CR: I don't say it lightly - I am very scared by and I'm very scared that more protests have not been delivered against it but this is part of the vocabulary of politics in certain parts of the world.
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ES: We are as we said at the beginning of this interview approaching the anniversary, 350th year anniversary of Jewry in Britain. What challenges do you see in the year ahead?
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CR: Well I'd love to see the Jewish voice become articulate and really a part of our national conversation.
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ES: In what way would you like to hear it speaking - politically, culturally?
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CR: As you know Ed, I am utterly opposed to any involvement of religion in politics. I think that's a recipe for disaster. Religion is good at community building and we make a huge mistake when we think the only real domain of society is politics - politics is about the state but national identity is about society.
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And religions really are society building and community building institutions - and that is not political but that does create the bonds of affection, loyalty, trust and responsibility, which allow a liberal democratic, a free society to flourish.
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Notes to Editors
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Please credit Sunday on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 if using any of this material.
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The programme was broadcast today, Sunday 1 January 2006, at 7.10am.
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