Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' book ‘The Great Partnersh

A woman bound or ‘chained’ either to a missing husband
or to one who refuses to divorce her.

The problem of the Agunah was discussed as long ago as Talmudic times. When Chief Rabbi Hertz published his Chumash in 1936, seventy years ago, he wrote ‘Learned rabbis are today seeking a radical solution of this urgent problem’. I doubt whether this information will be of much comfort to the women caught up in these tragic circumstances. They may well ask, ‘how urgent is urgent?’

We can perhaps gauge how urgent the matter is by looking at the non-event scheduled for the end of 2006. A meeting, to be held in Jerusalem, had been arranged by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to discuss the problem of the Agunah. Leading rabbis from many countries had been invited and many had accepted. A week or so before the meeting was due to be held it was cancelled. No public statement was issued but it is alleged that the meeting was cancelled at the bequest of one of the ‘Gedolim’ rabbis of the Charedi community who thought that the meeting was inappropriate. Is this really the reason?

Conflicting advice on Yizkor

In an edition of the Hainault & Chigwell Synagogue’s Communal News Letter, two very interesting contributions on the subject of Yizkor appeared.  The first contribution gives several reasons for requesting those with both parents alive to leave the service during Yizkor.  One reason is:

Religion has been defined as a system of Faith & Worship.  Judaism is believed to be a revealed religion.

Ethics/Morality (these words are interchangeable) is the attempt to arrive at a view of the nature of human values, of how we ought to live and of what constitutes right conduct, by force of reason alone and not by revelation.  In order to arrive at a view, it sets goals and assesses actions by the extent to which they further these goals, e.g. if happiness is a goal then the action which produces most happiness to all effected is the right one.

Will we have religious Great-Grandchildren?

Although I have visited Israel many times over many years, this year presented the first opportunity for a protracted stay with people of similar age and background. Among the subjects discussed were children, grandchildren and their future in a country as volatile as Israel. Another aspect discussed was the type of religious education they were receiving.  Many of these children or grandchildren were attending, or had attended, a State Religious School and dissatisfaction was expressed about the results achieved. I mentioned this to a local rabbi who acknowledged that that were problems with Religious State schools. They were, he said, not producing the kind of religious student as intended.

Will we have Jewish Grandchildren ?

Because I was actively and continually involved in various aspects of  Jewish education, both formal and informal, for the past 50 years or so, it was with great interest that I read and re-read the Chief Rabbi’s latest book, “Will we have Jewish Grandchildren