Leaders of British Jewry Suggest Agenda for New Year

A leader of British Jewry addressed himself to the needs of Israel, Soviet Jews and the world Jewish community generally in his New Year’s messages. Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits of the British Commonwealth referred to the Black Panther phenomenon in Israel, observing that in a society deeply committed to promoting social justice, “it is especially grievous that ugly movements like the Black Panthers were needed to highlight the problems of poverty and discrimination in housing, education and employment. The social shortcomings, now exposed by forms of agitation we would have preferred to remain foreign to Israel, should challenge diaspora Jewry no less than the Israeli authorities.”

Dr. Jakobovits added that during the past year the cause of Soviet Jewry was the principal Jewish rallying point, especially among students, “reclaiming energies for a Jewish challenge which may otherwise have been devoted exclusively to causes remote from our people.” Referring to Anglo-Jewry, he welcomed “the shift from monumental synagogues which are empty for all but three days a year to functional buildings serving our youth which are packed for over 300 days a year.”

Michael M. Fidler, MP, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, stressed the dangers facing Israel in the absence of peace in the Middle East, and declared that “it is our duty to sustain our brothers and sisters in Israel, to give them of our treasure while they offer their lives in defense of the country.” Referring to “the continued repression of three million of our brothers and sisters in the Soviet Union,” Fidler said “It is our duty to rouse the conscience of humanity as a whole in the face of the tragedy of Soviet Jews,” and not to “neglect our duty to other Jewish communities who live in conditions of oppression, such as those in Arab lands.”