60 Friday, December 10, 1976
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
•
Rabbi Assesses British Jewish Community
By HENRY W. LEVY
(Copyright 1976, HA. Inc.)
Rabbi Wolfe Kelman
has returned to the Un-
ited States after a two-
month stay as a Visitor at
the Oxford Center for
Postgraduate Hebrew
Studies highly impressed
with the status of the
Jewish community in En-
gland. The executive
vice president of the Rab-
binical Assembly, and an
Hanuka Greetings
HANUKA
GREETINGS
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HANUKA
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t
adjunct-assistant profes-
sor of Jewish history at
the Jewish Theological
Seminary, the leader of
the thousand-member
association of Conserva-
tive rabbis sees an am-
bilateral Jewish scene
very comparable with
that in this country.
For instance, he points
out, there is just as much
intermarriage and an as-
similative trend among
Jews in England, as in the
United States, whereas
at the same time there is
a similar growing trend
among English Jews to-
wards a wider and deeper
search for Jewish learn-
ing and culture. Just as in
this country, Rabbi Kel-
man states, "there is a
diminishing apathetic
center that has developed
in the past 20 years."
The quality of Eng-
land's Jewish academic
life, he feels, is "very
high" and "the integrity
and devotion of English
Jewish scholars is on the
highest possible level."
He describes the Oxford
Center as "a truly unique
institution which com-
bines ageless beauty and
reverence for learning
and Hebrew knowledge."
On the basis of his study,
travels and talks with En-
glish Jews and their lead-
ers, as well as his contacts
with non-Jews, he sees "no
visible aspects of anti-
Semitism in England."
Jews play a proininent role
in English political,
academic and community
life.
For instance, he says,
there are three Jews in
the English Cabinet and
some 40 Jewish members
of Parliament, "a greater
percentage of Jews in
high political positions
than in the United States.
The current English
community bears a proud
Jewish heritage with
great distinction. There is
an openness for diversity
and a reverence for tradi-
tion."
Unlike the general
opinion held by many
American Jews, the En-
glish Jewish community
hadn'
t been widely ac-
cepted by the English,
nor grown to sturdy prop-
ortions, much in advance
of the American Jewish
community. The present
strong Jewish community
in England of 4-500,000
persons is about one per-
cent of the country's total
population.
Jews first developed
some security in England
in 1673 under Charles II,
and the Great Synagogue
in London opened in 1722;
theirs status wasn't fully
legalized by Parliament
until 1866. This followed
the expulsion of the Jews
in England in 1290, and
the beginnings of their
resettlement in the 17th
Century during the Puri-
tan movement and the
time of Cromwell. By
1856, there was a Jewish
Lord Mayor of London,
David Salomons, and in
1871 Sir George Jessel be-
came his country's Sol-
icitor General.
Today, Rabbi Kelman
points out, the Jewish
community is as frag-
Hanuka Greetings
Davison Auto Parts
mented and diverse in its
religious and comma 71a1
life as the Americ.,in
.Jewish communit ■ . The
Board of Jewish Deputies,
established in 18:3 16, the
American leader sjd, is
not as all-encompassing as
we Americans generally
give it credit for being.
But the Zionist Federa-
tion, founded in 1899, is
stronger than its Ameri-
can counterpart because it
controls the fund-raising
structure of the country,
not only for Israel, but for
local charities also — in-
cluding such things as
s-chools.
•lish speaking countries,
and, as a firm believer in
the development of a
•Jewish cultural •enais-
sance in the Diaspora, he
trusts that the leadership
of the Jewries in the Un-
ited States and Canada
will undertake joint cul-
tural projects which will
be beneficial to Jews the
world over.
Several things that
Rabbi Kelman greatly
admires about English
Jewish life, and which he
says are "far superior to
the comparable state of
affairs in the United
States, are the administ-
ration of kashrut and
the. - synagogue's control
of burial and cemeteries.
These important aspects
of Jewish life are com-
munally controlled, and
there is an avoidance of
the commercialization in
these areas that so dis-
turbs many American
leaders."
Hanuka 'Greetings
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JOS. FRENKEL CO.
There is no central
Jewish ownership of
cemeteries or funeral
parlors, Rabbi Kelman
says, but the individual
English synagogues, or
synagogue groupings
own their cemeteries, and
control burial.
There is a growing day
school movement in Eng-
land, Rabbi Kelman re-
ports, and unlike Ameri-
can procedure, there is
government aid for these
schools.
Rabbi Kelman, who
laughingly describes him-
self as a devoted
Anglophile, says the
nomenclature of English
Jewry's de-
nominationalism is a bit
confusing to the American,
"but that it is just as varied
as in this country. What
the English call Liberal
Judasim is comparable to
the mainstream of Reform
in this country, affiliated
as it is with the World
Union for Progressive
Judaism."
"Reform in England,
Which is also an affiliate
of the World Union for
Progressive Judaism, is
comparable to right-wing
Reform and left-wing
Conservatism in the Un-
ited States. England's
United Synagogue is
comparable to our
right-wing Conservative
and left-wing Orthodoxy.
In the realm of Or-
thodoxy, there are as
many splits and devia-
tions as in this country.
Several rabbis, some
serving English Reform
synagogues, are mem-
bers of the Rabbinical As-
sembly, the international
association of Conserva-
tive Rabbis.
Kelman
Rabbi
doesn't feel that there is a
close enough cooperation
existing between the
,Jewries of the two En-
I— Best Wishes for a
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321 S. DOBSON
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342-3252
Meek M. Walker, District Sales Manager
A Happy and Joyous
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1055 W. Maple Rd.
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A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND.
JOYOUS HANUKA
1