Your PJS Winter Newsletter 🔯 What have we been up to, reflections on the election, and more!

A student recently got in touch with our little team at PJS to ask: what is the best way to explain to my non-Jewish flatmates why many in the Jewish community feel threatened by the idea of a Corbyn government? Another student told me how offensively insensitive she thought it was that she received a series of messages from a friend which defended against allegations of antisemitism without any acknowledgement of her experience as a Jewish person.

This time of the election can make it a confusing time to be a Jew on campus. On the one hand you might have read about the orthodox Chief Rabbi’s article condemning antisemitism in the Labour party and you are minded to heed his warning. On the other hand you might have read the posts and tweets of many Jews who do not agree and argue that the issue has been exaggerated by Tory-supporters. Perhaps you are convinced by wider Labour policy and so are not concerned by the antisemitism allegations. Or perhaps you are so concerned by them that no other factor can be more important in deciding how you vote. Surrounded by loud voices and other people who see things in a clear cut way, it might hard to know what you think.

At such confusing times it’s important to have some tools to help us navigate the confusion. I’d like to share two that have helped me. Perhaps they can help you too.

The first one of these is about thinking carefully about the lasting impact of Jewish history on me. After a recent JSoc Friday night meal, I asked a group of students to tell me about their thoughts and concerns brought up by the election and discussion of antisemitism. After a short while we found ourselves telling our own family stories of oppression, persecution, escape and survival and beginning to make connections between our perception of the current reality and the ways that our people’s collective inherited trauma impacts on how we perceive the contemporary moment. There is a spiritual task here that we are called on to do: that of discernment. How can we get to know our fear and come to discern those parts of the fear that are responses to the current reality and those parts that are re-triggered trauma from our people and our family’s pasts? I find the best way to do that is through allowing oneself to feel the fear and become curious about it. To talk about it and about the associated stories before even thinking of posting or tweeting anything. It’s a difficult task but one that can lead to the healing of wounds that you may not have even known that you carry.

The other thought on my mind is about my role as a Jew in the world. Our society is often unable to celebrate differences between people. Antisemitism is an example of this inability that particularly troubles us Jews. Sadly we know from history and from our contemporary moment that the hatred of those who are different from you is an ongoing feature of human societies that we Jews unfortunately know a lot about. Given this reality, we have the opportunity as Jews to use our position as people who have experienced hatred to challenge this whole situation of difference-leading-to-hatred. How do we do this? By standing alongside other communities. When our Muslim friends or the traveller community or citizens of EU countries speak of their fears we can reach out to them seeking to hear their stories and to tell our stories. Our experience can teach us to stand alongside others and invite them to stand alongside us.

Good luck in these confusing times. May you know that you are not confused on your own.

If you have any thoughts/questions arising from this post please email rabbidaniel@rjuk.org