3 ‘We speak for them’
-
Gavin Schaffer
Abstract
This chapter explores cultures of political activism in the Jewish community, focusing on two significant post-war campaigns; the campaign to support Israel in the Arab/Israeli (Six-Day) War of 1967, and the campaign to support the Jews of the Soviet Union (which began in the mid-1960s and lasted until the end of the USSR in 1991). In both cases, British Jewish activists mobilised in significant numbers on behalf of beleaguered Jews abroad, determined to use their political weight and financial resources both to support directly the affected Jewish people, and to lobby the British (and international) governments on their behalf. These two campaigns, the chapter argues, reveal much about the values and practice of Jewish people in post-war Britain and the changing nature of political campaigning beyond the Jewish community. In a period when Jewish religious practice was losing meaning for some, many Jews defined their commitment to Judaism in terms of political solidarity. Key to this change was ongoing grief and guilt about British Jewish inaction in the face of the Holocaust and a corresponding determination ‘never again’ to fail international Jewry at times of need. Beyond the community, both these campaigns reflected changing cultures of British political activism, focusing on single issues (instead of party politics) and demanding justice for oppressed peoples on similar terms to the anti-apartheid and Civil Rights movements.
Abstract
This chapter explores cultures of political activism in the Jewish community, focusing on two significant post-war campaigns; the campaign to support Israel in the Arab/Israeli (Six-Day) War of 1967, and the campaign to support the Jews of the Soviet Union (which began in the mid-1960s and lasted until the end of the USSR in 1991). In both cases, British Jewish activists mobilised in significant numbers on behalf of beleaguered Jews abroad, determined to use their political weight and financial resources both to support directly the affected Jewish people, and to lobby the British (and international) governments on their behalf. These two campaigns, the chapter argues, reveal much about the values and practice of Jewish people in post-war Britain and the changing nature of political campaigning beyond the Jewish community. In a period when Jewish religious practice was losing meaning for some, many Jews defined their commitment to Judaism in terms of political solidarity. Key to this change was ongoing grief and guilt about British Jewish inaction in the face of the Holocaust and a corresponding determination ‘never again’ to fail international Jewry at times of need. Beyond the community, both these campaigns reflected changing cultures of British political activism, focusing on single issues (instead of party politics) and demanding justice for oppressed peoples on similar terms to the anti-apartheid and Civil Rights movements.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 The last Jew of Merthyr and other bubbe meises 20
- 2 Meshuga frum? Devotion and division in religious practice 39
- 3 ‘We speak for them’ 72
- 4 ‘These wicked sons’ 90
- 5 Oi vay – I’m Jewish and gay 109
- 6 The (un)forgivable sin 130
- 7 The nice Jewish boy (who believes in Jesus) 150
- 8 The last outpost of the British Empire 174
- Conclusion 193
- Acknowledgements 197
- Figures 199
- Abbreviations 200
- Notes 201
- Select bibliography 245
- Index 253
- Plates 261
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 The last Jew of Merthyr and other bubbe meises 20
- 2 Meshuga frum? Devotion and division in religious practice 39
- 3 ‘We speak for them’ 72
- 4 ‘These wicked sons’ 90
- 5 Oi vay – I’m Jewish and gay 109
- 6 The (un)forgivable sin 130
- 7 The nice Jewish boy (who believes in Jesus) 150
- 8 The last outpost of the British Empire 174
- Conclusion 193
- Acknowledgements 197
- Figures 199
- Abbreviations 200
- Notes 201
- Select bibliography 245
- Index 253
- Plates 261
