Rabbi Raymond Apple
Rabbi Raymond AppleLarry Brandt


FOLLOWING YOUR GRANDPARENTS

Q. My grandparents are orthodox Jews. Do I have to follow my grandparents’ religious views in order to be a good grandchild?

A. Ahad HaAm argued in his essay, "Slavery to Freedom", that he did not need to subscribe to the opinions of his father and grandfather if he wanted to be a good son or grandson.

What he thought he needed was to strengthen his family as a means of continuity, facing the challenges of the new age in a contemporary way.

He was addressing more than the personal aspect of honouring his forebears but how to maintain his Jewish identity.

His father and grandfather might have decided to be believing and practising Jews but he should be able to make up his own mind without slavish adherence to their opinions. His preference was for a secular cultural Jewish identity regardless of what his ancestors might have chosen.

His is the dilemma of the secularist Jew in our age a century later.

His problem is how to find a Jewish ideology and position that will be sufficiently passionate and poetic to satisfy his descendants.

Breaking with the God-talk and halakhic pattern of the past may empty Jewish identity of its quality.

Does this mean that a grandson must force himself to live a lie, to "worship" a God he does not believe in and to "practise" commandments which do not appeal to him?

Not at all. Living a life of Jewish observance can be done whatever one’s present motivation.

One can say it is a source of poetry in one’s life, that its symbolic content enriches one’s ethics, that it is a mark of Jewish belonging.

And often it grows on you and you are able to say, "This religion business is beginning to make sense"…


WEARING CROSSES

Q. On official occasions I have seen members of the Jewish community wearing decorations in the shape of a cross. Is this permitted according to Jewish law?

A. It is instructive to recall that the British Chief Rabbi from 1891-1911, Dr Hermann Adler, was given the honour of CVO by Queen Victoria.

In order to avoid any problem he had a small slit made in his rabbinic robe to hide one part of the insignia so that it no longer looked like a cross.

However, from the strict halakhic point of view this may not have been necessary as such decorations are not religious emblems and do not compromise a person’s Jewish identity.

Insignia of this kind include the Victoria Cross (Leonard Keysor, VC, won his award because his cricketing ability enabled him to catch and throw back enemy grenades!).


MONTH-LONG FAST?

Q. I think you once said people should fast for a month before Rosh HaShanah. Is this correct?

A. What I was recommending was not a fast in the normal sense of refraining from food and drink, but a "fast of speech", whereby we would try to say as little as possible from the beginning of Ellul.

The Yom Kippur confessions focus largely on sins committed with the tongue. Callous or careless use of words does immense damage to others, to our society and to ourselves.

"Least said, soonest mended" is therefore a good principle, especially at this time of year.

Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple was for many years Australia’s highest profile rabbi and the leading spokesman on Judaism. After serving congregations in London, Rabbi Apple was chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, for 32 years. He also held many public roles, particularly in the fields of chaplaincy, interfaith dialogue and Freemasonry, and is the recipient of several national and civic honours. Now retired, he lives in Jerusalem and blogs at http://www.oztorah.com