Oh please. What claptrap. First Moses was a religious not political leader who was chosen by God rather than elected. He was also not perfect and was prevented from entering the Promised land largely for showing insufficient humility to God.
Humility and getting elected leader do not go together: If you were humble you would not try to get elected leader. Callaghan, Brown and May were appropriately humble but were not really elected. Heath, Wilson, Thatcher, Blair, Cameron, Boris; arrogant as hell.
As to honesty none of them are. What kind if dissembler could call a 1% rise even in an environment of 0.7% inflation, a Cut? Why would you complain that a Bill had no mention of Women when as a Barrister you know perfectly well that Bills are not gendered they speak of people specifically victims of sexual assault. Not only are the left fundamentally dishonest they are also violent and an awful lot of them are antiemetic too. The lesson endeth.
Boris Johnson as Moses? I am assuming this article is the famed Jewish sense of humour. No Charles Heston either, maybe played by Jerry Seinfeld. Rather than down the mountain with the Ten Commandments Boris would come out of number 10 with the list of the Ten Correctnesses, and not from God, but from Carrie Symonds and her squad of good thinkers. No, it just does not seem to work. But then, seeing the writer, Rabbis are possibly not what they used to be.
And as far as speaking the Truth? From Number 10? And from Boris? no, I just do not see that part either. But I do wish everyone a Happy Passover.
Did you miss this part “he’s not like our current Prime Minister.”
Peter Francis
3 years ago
Thanks for a very thought-provoking article! Boris could learn a lot from it. For example:
2. Numbers 15:32-36 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Now THAT is how to enforce a lockdown!
The trouble with Boris is that he has fallen between two stools: he’s not a Moses, but neither is he a Good King Wenceslas.
Last edited 3 years ago by Peter Francis
Benny Ross
3 years ago
Dear Laura,
It’s just a few years since you visited our synagogue in Newcastle in your then position as leading rabbi of the Reform movement. I don’t claim to remember your exact words, but you probably spoke then, as you write here, about truth, trust, humility and courage. That combination of qualities must provide the foundation for a moral compass that tells us when to adopt cold, narrow legality and when to challenge it on the basis of progressive Jewish values and ethics.
Israel’s rapid and successful vaccination programme is a matter of pride for all those who care about the state and its survival. But the Israeli government’s failure to roll out the vaccines to the occupied West Bank – except for settlers – is a matter of the deepest shame and anguish for those of us who believe that the Jewish state should uphold Jewish and humane values. Israel claims that the Palestinian Authority is responsible for immunizing its people. But as the occupying power – and in Gaza, as the blockading power – Israel has enormous power which it could wield for good, but refuses to do so.
Here, the Reform movement, whose rabbis you led until recently, has failed to challenge the Israeli government’s callous and arrogant treatment of Palestinians. I was relying on our Reform rabbis to show moral leadership, but instead they have chosen to side with Netanyahu. Several of us have written to them and to the lay leadership of UK Reform Judaism, but without success. I am addressing you on this public platform only because this is literally – and I mean literally – a matter of life and death. Please do whatever you can to urge our Reform rabbis to find their honesty, their courage and their consciences so that they can speak out, as difficult as it may be, and fulfill the lessons of Moses’ leadership qualities as you so eloquently describe them.
Oh please. What claptrap. First Moses was a religious not political leader who was chosen by God rather than elected. He was also not perfect and was prevented from entering the Promised land largely for showing insufficient humility to God.
Humility and getting elected leader do not go together: If you were humble you would not try to get elected leader. Callaghan, Brown and May were appropriately humble but were not really elected. Heath, Wilson, Thatcher, Blair, Cameron, Boris; arrogant as hell.
As to honesty none of them are. What kind if dissembler could call a 1% rise even in an environment of 0.7% inflation, a Cut? Why would you complain that a Bill had no mention of Women when as a Barrister you know perfectly well that Bills are not gendered they speak of people specifically victims of sexual assault. Not only are the left fundamentally dishonest they are also violent and an awful lot of them are antiemetic too. The lesson endeth.
good comment
Boris Johnson as Moses? I am assuming this article is the famed Jewish sense of humour. No Charles Heston either, maybe played by Jerry Seinfeld. Rather than down the mountain with the Ten Commandments Boris would come out of number 10 with the list of the Ten Correctnesses, and not from God, but from Carrie Symonds and her squad of good thinkers. No, it just does not seem to work. But then, seeing the writer, Rabbis are possibly not what they used to be.
And as far as speaking the Truth? From Number 10? And from Boris? no, I just do not see that part either. But I do wish everyone a Happy Passover.
Did you miss this part “he’s not like our current Prime Minister.”
Thanks for a very thought-provoking article! Boris could learn a lot from it. For example:
2. Numbers 15:32-36 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Now THAT is how to enforce a lockdown!
The trouble with Boris is that he has fallen between two stools: he’s not a Moses, but neither is he a Good King Wenceslas.
Dear Laura,
It’s just a few years since you visited our synagogue in Newcastle in your then position as leading rabbi of the Reform movement. I don’t claim to remember your exact words, but you probably spoke then, as you write here, about truth, trust, humility and courage. That combination of qualities must provide the foundation for a moral compass that tells us when to adopt cold, narrow legality and when to challenge it on the basis of progressive Jewish values and ethics.
Israel’s rapid and successful vaccination programme is a matter of pride for all those who care about the state and its survival. But the Israeli government’s failure to roll out the vaccines to the occupied West Bank – except for settlers – is a matter of the deepest shame and anguish for those of us who believe that the Jewish state should uphold Jewish and humane values. Israel claims that the Palestinian Authority is responsible for immunizing its people. But as the occupying power – and in Gaza, as the blockading power – Israel has enormous power which it could wield for good, but refuses to do so.
Here, the Reform movement, whose rabbis you led until recently, has failed to challenge the Israeli government’s callous and arrogant treatment of Palestinians. I was relying on our Reform rabbis to show moral leadership, but instead they have chosen to side with Netanyahu. Several of us have written to them and to the lay leadership of UK Reform Judaism, but without success. I am addressing you on this public platform only because this is literally – and I mean literally – a matter of life and death. Please do whatever you can to urge our Reform rabbis to find their honesty, their courage and their consciences so that they can speak out, as difficult as it may be, and fulfill the lessons of Moses’ leadership qualities as you so eloquently describe them.