Dear UK Askan,
This letter is not about Zionism or about politics.
Your beliefs and outlook as a religious, even Hasidic Jew have been built by towering Rabbinic leaders of previous generations. Certainly, “one Beis Din cannot overrule another Beis Din unless they are greater in size and sagacity” and your outlook regarding the modern State of Israel, for example, has already shaped by those founding generations of Rabbinic and Hasidic giants, and is stable and fixed, not to be uprooted by any argument, sources, or opposing views, God forbid.
Impressively, you have come to occupy a position of influence, through years of hard work and your discerning, thoughtful judgment and diplomacy. Your priority is to protect and strengthen your community. Zionism and the State of Israel remains, understandably, at a distance from those aims, due to a host of historical, theological, ideological, communal, and Halakhic reasons.
However, I have a desperate request. One that in no way, I believe, undermines your values.
The next time an MP, Cabinet Minister, or Foreign Ambassador asks you what you think of the State of Israel, do not brush the question away with mention of the stark religious-secular divide, or dismiss the subject as overly political or irrelevant to Jewish life in the UK. Rather reply simply and say, “The Jewish population of Israel are our family, and when Governments fail to support Israel, the lives of millions of members of my family are under threat.” That is all.
We are now engulfed in a “time of suffering.” By that I do not mean an increase in antisemitic verbal or physical attacks, graffiti in our neighbourhood, or hostility on the Tube, all of which are certainly terrible. But rather, I mean that the Jewish population in the Land of Israel is threatened with death, from the military attacks from terror nations intent on killing Jews.
How short a memory do we have? Have we forgotten the murderous, blood-curdling pogroms of October 7th, the butchery of our fellow Jews? Why is all of our attention focused on bus routes, roundtable discussions, or social media tweets? How can we proudly claim to represent religious Jews when our religion, God’s own impassioned command in these situations, contains only one clear message:
“Our brother’s blood cries out to us;” Do not stand by [the shedding of] your fellow's blood.”
As the saying goes, “The most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing.” We cannot lose sight that Jewish lives are at risk of being shed like water. As Jewish law codifies, to be a member of the Jewish community, means to share in its suffering, fast days, and trauma.
If the Netherlands would stop exporting parts used in the Iron Dome; if Germany stops selling arms to Israel; if France sanctions Israel; or if the UK distances itself from Israel diplomatically, it would put millions of Jewish lives at risk.
If political parties believe that they can secure the Islamist votes whilst still keeping their Jewish constituency strongholds, we would be putting Jewish lives at risk. We cannot dismiss or diminish just how important it is that Western nations stop demonising Israel.
We cannot make politicians, officials, and leaders assume that they can safely make a distinction between religious Jews in the Diaspora and the millions of Jews living in Israel. If they believe that they can, and simultaneously speak about “supporting the Jewish community in the UK” and “tackling antisemitism in Britain” whilst deploring Israel’s actions to defend the further slaughter of Jews there, then, again, millions of Jewish lives would be in mortal danger.
Please understand, this is not a call for Zionism, nationalism or misplaced activism, but rather that you do not outrightly abandon millions of Jewish lives for local political gain. If you exercise human activism in the sphere of public affairs regarding the Jewish suburbs and communities of the Diaspora, and in the name of additional protections or comforts for the Jews of your city, you should surely also exercise this influence at least in brief support of saving millions of Jewish lives or at least not endangering them.
Please, please do not overtly distance yourself from Israel when asked about its relevance to you, and simply say: “They are my brothers and sisters and do not allow for their murder.” “If I am not for me, who will be for me? When I am [only] for myself, what am I? If not now, when?”
A central teaching of Hasidism, from the founder of the movement himself, the Baal Shem Tov, is that there is individual Divine Providence, that every meeting and conversation one has, has been orchestrated from On High, and that whatever position of influence one finds oneself in, God must have put that person there for a reason. That reason may be for these brief responses, to protect millions of Jewish lives, through a positive remark or at least by stating that Jewish lives in Israel matter to us too.
Regardless of our worldviews, we cannot remain silent at this time. “Who knows, maybe it was because of this [demanding] time, you attained power” that impressive position of influence?
Yours sincerely,
A desperate petitioner