Daniel and I show the Prince of Wales sections of the synagogue as he visits the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London.
Last week, I met a prince, and I can’t wait to share that with you a bit further down in this blog. But first, I want us to take a moment to hold our collective breath. It has been five months since the cataclysmic events of the seventh of October and five months that our people have been at war in Israel and beyond. The first thing to say is that I have never been prouder of being a Jew, and nor should you.
Rabbi Sacks, of blessed memory, used to say that non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism.
After five months, this is what I know for sure: I have never felt more blessed to be born Jewish into a family with a strong tradition of observing Judaism. I have never felt prouder of the role Daniel and I have within our community. And though there is a lot of fear out there, and though we are continuously asked ‘when are you moving to Israel’, I have never been prouder to live openly as a Jew outside of Israel. At the same time, I wear the fact that most of my family — my children, my parents, my siblings, and almost everyone else in my family — lives in Israel as a badge of honor.
People, many people, would like to erase us, though that isn’t entirely true. For those whose very chants are uneducated, we are the latest fashionable hate; for others, we are the oldest hate. Get rid of us, and the haters will keep on hating; they will just pass their attention on to others.
Two historical anomalies that are worth considering: the first, the Spanish Inquisition. The Jews were kicked out of Spain in 1492; any Jew who was left had converted. Amongst the converts were those who were called crypto-Jews, their practice of Judaism a mere shadow of open Judaism. These crypto-Jews didn’t circumcise their children; they went to church and ate non-kosher. Their Judaism was manifest so privately that usually, only a child’s parents knew that the child may have a Jewish name. Some lit candles in cupboards; others made a Shabbat stew in hiding. The inquisition continued until 1834, looking for heretics. One of the main target populations for the inquisition were crypto-Jews; the majority of the inquisition was carried out after the Jews were expelled. On a population so small as to be nearly insignificant, for practicing a religion so privately, so quietly, that some families hid their faith for centuries. The haters will hate.
The second example is the Nazis. By the fall of 1943, the Nazis knew they were on the losing side of the war, fighting the allies on two fronts. Rather than release soldiers guarding ghettos and concentration camps across Nazi-controlled Europe, they started liquidating the ghettos, moving great masses of Jews from places far and wide across Europe to concentration camps. Had they merely walked away from the ghettos and the camps, who knows how many resources they could have put into their war effort. Instead, they started recruiting sixteen-year-old boys to fight the war and kept a maniacal focus on killing Jews and hiding their crimes until the last moments of the war. Haters will hate.
Logical arguments only work on people who are not possessed by illogical hate. Most of us Jews walk into the arena with logic on our side. We use facts and figures. We tell people that we are an ethno-religion, not a race, that our people have lived and been connected to a tiny parcel of land with almost no natural resources for our entire history. That all are welcome to live side by side with us as long as they don’t want us dead. That we will cease fire as soon as they release our hostages. That the last thing we want is war, but there is no way we will not defend ourselves against murderers intent on killing us. That each and every life is precious, including our own. We value life, our well-being, our energy, our clarity, our growth, our honesty, and above all, we value our Judaism. Do not threaten them because they are our values, inexorably linked to our survival. They are the not-so-secret secret to why we have outlasted every one of the haters. And what we don’t value, hate and lies.
Last week, my cousin Ari Spitz – Moshe Aron ben Leah Bayla was severely injured, fighting for his life. His parents have not uttered a word of hate; they have wished no one ill, have wished death on no one, and have not sought revenge, nor will they. The only thing they want is their son. They offer prayers and ask us to pray with them.
And now onto the Prince.
This time last week, I met a prince – and it wasn’t the man I have been married to for the last 28 years! Daniel is my angel, but William is indeed the Prince of Wales.
The visit was, in fact, meant to happen a few weeks previously. We were to host the Prince and Princess of Wales in commemoration of International Holocaust Memorial Day, but as the Princess took ill, the event was postponed. The visit last week was perhaps even more timely, important, and impactful than the original would have been.
As we are facing ever-mounting antisemitism in Britain, the visit that was meant to focus on the Holocaust and Holocaust education turned into something both retrospective and current. Along with the historical notes, the organizers included in the agenda what is happening today. The visit that lasted just under an hour included so many different elements.
We welcomed the Prince to the shul, shared with him that his grandmother had been here in 1997 to unveil the memorial to Raoul Wallenberg that sits outside the shul. Then, I was privileged to share with him the stained glass windows, not just for art’s sake but to share the beauty of our rituals and an artistic representation of them in the form of stained glass. I shared with him the window representing Shavuot/Pentecost – and its connection to the book of Ruth and Ruth as the grandmother of King David, our respect for royalty. Then on to the window that showed a Seder table and told him how we are a nation of storytellers and that is what has kept us Jewish for so many generations. He was keenly interested in what was being shared, asked how important a communal space the shul was, and how integral it is to us that we feel safe in our place of worship.
From there, Daniel shared with him a prayer that was sent to King Edward VII upon the death of Queen Victoria and how we have always felt connected and have respected royalty. We then discussed our fears of rising antisemitism in Britain and, in particular, right outside our door. Importantly, I was able to share about our sons, both IDF reservists, and how proud they are to be both British and Israeli and how much they respect both countries, but how challenging it feels to fight a war on the ground in Israel and have concerns for their family and their well-being in the UK. They feel more frightened for us here in London than they feel for themselves in Israel.
Prince William shared two things: firstly, empathy for me as a mother concerned for my children as he would be for his own children. In return, I told him how proud I am, especially when you see your child and what they are doing, and you think, this incredible person is both part of me and separate from me. And second, he shared that Social Media has a lot to answer for in the current situation, and we could not agree more. He shared with us that he was preparing himself to watch the film “The Zone of Interest” and was happy that films of this nature are still being made today, showing that the Holocaust is still relevant and profound, a lesson we should not forget. He shared that he had heard that the soundtrack of the film was as equally intense as the visuals. Having seen the film, he is 100% correct. I shared with him as well that soon SkyTV will be launching the TV show The Tattooist of Auschwitz which again shares the relevance of the Holocaust in today’s day and age.
From there, he was led to speak to three Jewish students who are currently on campuses across the UK and are dealing with daily antisemitism, and three of the non-Jewish ambassadors from the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz program. Both groups expressed their fear, frustration, and anger.
The prince’s words, the ones most people have heard, were these: “You have heard it from me that Antisemitism has no place in society, and I will say it again. You have talked about your lived experiences. Both Catherine and I are extremely concerned about the rise in antisemitism…”
From there, Daniel led the Prince into the sanctuary where they ascended the Bimah (central platform). Daniel showed the Prince four elements: a 17th-century deerskin Torah scroll, presenting Deuteronomy 17:14-20 – laws of appointing a monarch; a prayer for the Royal Family; Psalm 72 – King David tells his son Solomon how a good king should engage with his subjects; and a prayer for the return of hostages.
They discussed various elements of what monarchy means in a Jewish context, and Daniel explained how the Prince is an exemplar of so many of the traits identified with God-fearing monarchy. Daniel read from the Torah and translated the relevant sections for the Prince. The Prince asked Daniel if it was difficult to read Hebrew and when did he learn to do so. Daniel explained that he learned from a very young age and that Hebrew has fewer letters in its alphabet than English! The prince seemed quite surprised that we pray for his health every week and the health of the Royal Family, as Daniel explained that this has been the case since the Jews were readmitted to England in 1656.
He led the prince off the Bimah to meet with Renee Salt, a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor, who sat with him in the area below the Ark at the front of the synagogue.
Renee, who is incredibly sweet, told Prince William that she missed his wife and wished her better. Then she shared with him some of her personal story. I wasn’t close enough to hear their conversation, but I did see that the prince held her hand and paid such attention to her, and I am so grateful. I have been privileged not just to know Renee but to have her accompany a March of the Living bus I educated on in 2017, and I know how much she was looking forward, both excited and anxious, to meet the prince. His giving her the attention she rightly deserved was so wonderful to see.
From there, the Prince made his way towards the door of the synagogue, received a bouquet of flowers from Karen Pollock CBE the CEO of the Holocaust Education Trust to pass onto his wife, and shook hands with a number of our community leaders.
Now, a week later, we are getting back down to normal. But for the rest of our lives, I think we will remember the day the prince came to the shul and for an hour heard and saw us, who we are both in our strength and in our insecurity. Appreciating both the beauty and the challenges of the British Jewish community.
Last week, I promised all of you the second part of the challah history – at this rate and considering the length of this blog post, I will keep your challah suspense for another week, but will share a new recipes all the same – Marshmallows.
Those who have ever eaten with me will know about my insane sweet tooth, anything sugary, any candy anything insanely sweet and I’m there. When I set out to learn how to make things myself that were just for fun, marshmallows the first recipe I worked on. I just needed to learn how to make myself. I tested the recipe obsessively until I got it to work every time and it is now a staple in my home, often served along with chocolate sauce for dipping or just on it one as part of a dessert platter.