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2 DECEMBER 2021

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From the front line…

Let’s hope for a season of goodwill. We’ve waited long enough!

BY JACQUELINE CURZON

The debacle of the cross-channel migrants continues apace. I have to ask why Britain has not only promised France £54 million to intercept the boats leaving their shores, and has paid the first instalment of this, whilst the French are holding back until they have the full amount? We read frequently that French beach patrols watch the proceedings, practically waving ‘au revoir et bon voyage,’ watching inflatables no better than paddling pools and severely overloaded, taking to their waters. This lack of interception is surely criminal in itself, for they have no idea how many will be alive should the dinghies reach the other side. The tragedy which happened just last week in which 27 people died - not so much from drowning - but through being left stranded in perishing channel waters till they were finally overcome with hypothermia, was a classic example of the French refusing to show due diligence. One of the few survivors said they had called the British authorities, who refused to come, and the French who responded, ‘we’re not coming because you’re in UK waters!’ ‘UK’ waters only seems to apply if it concerns a sinking boat full of migrants, not if it’s a fishing dispute, then it’s British waters, with ‘international’ rights. Macron has a nerve, pointing fingers at Boris Johnson and effectively blaming the British for the death of migrants. He commented very recently, ‘the British want us to do what we were doing before Brexit,’ forgetting they actually weren’t doing much of a job then either. At the beginning of November an Irish ferry, the Isle of Ishinore, threw ropes to 13 migrants in a sinking dinghy and pulled them on board, then returned them to France. In a totally separate incident, an overcrowded wooden boat with 99 migrants was rescued by a team from Medecins sans Frontieres off the Libyan coast earlier in the week. Ten people were found dead crammed at the bottom of the boat, probably as a result of fume poisoning in the confined hold space, said MSF. The point remains - to the evil traffickers, the migrants and victims are not people, they are money.

Now on a practical level, these dinghies must have a do-not-exceed limit of passengers, probably not more than 7-10 per dinghy, but the mercenary traffickers pack them in, many without life vests, often showing violence to those who refuse. At Calais asylum seekers told reporters that some people were kneecapped (shot in both knees) for refusal to get on board. Neither unfortunately will the French intervene, even when seeing the boats are double or triple safe capacity. This ‘turning a blind eye’ is also criminal. Maybe Macron should just invest the £54 million into providing a ferry and bring them safely to the UK - at least that would be transparent and save people from his complicity in reckless endangerment.

I realise the French carry guns, so why don’t they simply fire at the inflatables and render them useless, thereby thwarting the traffickers plans? That would send a no-nonsense message. Should the traffickers then show violence, they would risk being shot too. Rather a bullet in a dinghy than a torn or deflated inflatable in the middle of the English Channel with innocent lives lost. Surely! With numbers reaching Britain tallying 500 a day, often far more, we could easily expect anything up to 50 - 100,000 incomers a year which would be impossible to absorb nor sustain. We do have an absolute right to send migrants back to their point of origin, or at least the first safe country they passed through, but many don’t want to go, but want to continue on to the UK. WHY? Language must be one of the factors - English is a ubiquitous language, spoken internationally, unlike French, German or Polish. Lukashenko also has a lot to answer for, regardless of who is pulling his strings. Encouraging migrants with a ‘we want to help you reach your dream’ along with very relaxed visa controls, is merely a scurrilous trick of depopulation, often bringing nothing but misery to those who fail, for many of the migrants being pushed over the Belorusian border will end up in France and finally on a wee boat in the middle of a dangerous shipping lane heading for England. Macron and Lukashenko are effectively brothers-in-arms, born with the same callous indifference to human life.

I determined I would not dedicate this week’s column to covid, but of course the emergence of the omicron variant is slightly worrying. For the present we must take the advice of Sergeant Jones [Dad's Army] whose mantra was, ‘don’t panic!’ Despite no indication by scientists or health professionals that omicron is of any more concern than other variants, new covid rules have just been enshrined in law, a path that Conservative MPs described as ‘a path towards hell.’ We will now be forced to self-isolate for 10 days if we are pinged as having come into contact with someone with omicron, even if fully vaccinated. This rule is to last until March, and it remains a distinct possibility that the festive season will be wrecked by further restrictions, and possibly education too. Across the border 9 cases of omicron have been discovered in Lanarkshire, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, however their FM underplayed the threat as no Scottish cases have required hospital treatment. Scots are however being recommended to take a covid test every time they meet someone from another family (household). The FM also called for the PM to extend the self-isolation period for those returning or entering the UK until a negative result on day 8, rather than day 2. She is demanding more funding for business support, should she decide to impose further restrictions. Her ‘demands’ show utter hypocrisy when we recall her hatred of being connected by the union's umbilical cord: happy to be bailed out by the UK when it suits her, but will shout ‘Foul, Ref!’ at all other times. Hmm. This might be just about reasonable were she following central government guidelines or initiatives, but I think in the absence of any sisterly love, there should be no more furlough or business bailout - let her show her leadership, management and superlative financial nouse and balance her own books. For once.

In other news, a pedestrian stabbed a car driver, who had been forced to make an emergency stop to avoid running him over. James Stokoe (40) who had his four-year-old son in the car, shouted at Alexander Layton (34) who had jaywalked into the road. During the verbal altercation, Layton pulled out a carving knife and stabbed Stokoe repeatedly, causing him to die within minutes. In the hours before the attack, he had threatened to murder someone who owed him money, and apparently had a history of mental health issues. The judge said that was no excuse for stabbing Mr Stokoe four times, causing him to die at the scene. Murder is by no means the prerogative of adults and youth crime is another particularly ugly subject. Peer pressure, social media, truancy and turf wars all contribute to motivation for the most awful juvenile crimes. The recent murder of Keon Lincoln (15) has made for very unsettling reading. He was chased from outside his home by a gang of five boys, aged between 14 and 17, and not content with stabbing him eight times with machetes and knives - enough to send him to hospital, if not the morgue - he was then shot by Yussuf Mustapha (14) for no apparent reason. Keon’s mother ran out to find her son dying on the pavement. At sentencing, as Mustapha was given a life sentence, she described the killers as ‘heartless, evil monsters.’ What I found particularly sad was the attitude of the killer's father, who remarked, ‘I came to Britain because… I wanted my family to have a good life. Now I regret that.’ I’m sure Keon’s parents also regret his decision, after all they would have simply settled for Keon having a life! We do have to take some responsibility for how our children turn out, and not just wave away a lack of morals or ethics as an unconnected result of social circumstance. I’m sure we also join with the nation in condemning the murder of 12-year-old Ava White, a schoolgirl from Liverpool, whose attacker has been formally charged with murder. The 14-year-old, unnamed for legal reasons, will be held in secure youth detention until trial at the Crown Court.

Further troubles are brewing over in the east, where Dmytro Kubela, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, has called on the west to prepare economic sanctions should Moscow decide to invade Ukraine. He has asked NATO for increased defence and security support in this eventuality, a not unimaginable possibility, given around 115,000 Russian troops have amassed near its borders. Lukashenko has however pledged to stand with Putin if war breaks out. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General, has said Ukraine cannot rely on assistance, even though Europe and the US are in favour of supporting the country beleaguered in an ‘undeclared war’ since 2014. This might neatly end all hopes of my Trans Siberian trip for the second year running, after all I don’t need to travel to a war zone - I have enough aggravation at home, but if I do make it, my column will likely read, From the Frozen Front Line. Watch this space for updates.

This week's ‘funny’ comes from Aberdeen University, my alma mater, where students have been warned that Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel ‘Kidnapped’ concerns abduction. Is it me, or are the staff getting stupider?

Having confessed to being a bit of a hoarder I mention that I have an original Terry’s Chocolate Box from c.1958. This is no mere throwaway item like those currently found in the shops, but a proper box, with lift-up lid for the top layer, and two side-by-side drawers below. I believe I was given it by my aunt, and cannot of course remember the contents, but it has been the keeper of numerous diaries and trinkets over my lifetime and I’m loath to throw it away. You never know, my children might one day find something useful or valuable in it, although I doubt it will be a gold sovereign. On that sweet notion - a silver shilling struck in colonial America in 1652, has just made headlines after being found in a sweet tin. The coin belonged to William Wentworth, a British nobleman, and reached the princely sum of £264,000 at auction in London. Now I suppose you should get cracking and see what delights are hidden in your old biscuit boxes or sweet tins.

Wishing you all a sweet and lovely end of Chanukah, and may we merit to see the miracles which it can bring.

Jacqueline Curzon

PHOTO: LARA MINSKY PHOTOGRAPHY

Love

Jacqueline x

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2 DECEMBER 2021

Rebbe’s Chanukah campaign still burns bright

BY DAVID SAFFER

From the leafy village of Shenley to Sydney and San Francisco, Jews around the world lit the first candle on Sunday night.

But there are many Jews unable to celebrate the festival for various reasons. This is where Chabad annually swing into action to ensure every Jew that wishes can enjoy the wonderment of the Festival of Lights.

The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, was renowned for welcoming Jews of all backgrounds to Judaism and Chanukah was a time that sentiment shone through brightly. The Rebbe called for every Jewish home to be filled with the light of a menorah and flames to illuminate the wider world.

“We should listen attentively to what the Chanukah lights are telling us,” the Rebbe wrote in 1982. “The mitzvah of the Chanukah lights symbolises, in a tangible and visible way, all the mitzvot of the Torah, all of which are defined in terms of light.”

“Living Yiddishkeit”, he added, required a “continuous growth” to enrich one’s “spiritual life”.

For the Rebbe, it was essential that menorah candles could be seen outside to “publicise the miracle of Chanukah” and symbolically convey a message that everyone who lights the candles must not forget those “unaware of Chanukah” or their “Jewish identity”.

It is our duty, he continued, to reach out and bring the “light of living Yiddishkeit” into their hearts and homes in the “spirit of Chanukah in a growing measure”.

The Rebbe’s global Chanukah campaign kicked off way back in 1973.

The aim was straight forward, share the light of Chanukah with families and friends. Almost 50 years on and ChabadLubavitch emissaries around the world continue that desire.

The age-old Chanukah story will be told forever and this year Chabad emissaries on six continents will share the beauty with around eight million Jews through 15,000 public menorahs erected in public spaces and courtesy of 6,500 menorah-topped cars taking over streets aside a plethora of inventive events.

Online an estimated 10 million unique visitors will utilise Chabad’s ‘how-to’ guides.

Chabad will distribute 64 million Chanukah candles, over 700,000 menorah kits and 2.5 million holiday guides in 17 languages. It is a monumental effort but one emissaries do annually.

“There is a pre-eminence in the mitzvot connected with lighting candles, in that the effect of the action, the appearance of light, is immediately visible,” the Rebbe explained in his ’73 letter.

“The mitzvah of kindling the Chanukah light is unique in that it is required to be displayed to the outside. Thus, every by-passer, including non-Jews, immediately notices the effect of the light, which illuminates the outside and the environment.”

Twelve months after his famous public letter, the first public menorah outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, followed by a 25-foot menorah in Union Square, San Franciso in 1975.

By the end of the decade, public menorahs were in New York City, outside the White House in Washington D.C., and on Hollywood streets in central Los Angeles.

Meantime, Chabad emissaries distributed tin menorah and candle kits. The uptake was a huge hit alongside programs such as Chanukah on Ice and olive-oil press workshops not only in the US but around the world.

Creative thinking was essential on different continents indeed, a boomerang-themed menorah was available in Northern Queensland, Australia!

Drive-ins have been hugely popular, Borehamwood hosted one at the weekend, the same day Minneapolis participated. Games, firework shows, this year there will be every kind of celebration imaginable catering for different temperatures and landscapes.

Central to many communities will be a car menorah parade that started in the US as part of the Rebbe’s Chanukah-awareness campaign.

Thousands of cars of all shapes and sizes have hit the roads this year but how did it start?

As the Rebbe’s fledgling Chanukah initiative built Rabbinical students, newlyweds and veteran rabbis were more than happy to skip knocking on doors to distribute fliers and portable menorah kits.

Rabbi Shmuel Lipsker was a student at Lubavitch World Headquarters in the Crown Heights, Brooklyn. A regular on 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan to attract New Yorkers he recalls building a homemade menorah and placing on top of a station wagon, stopping to pick up flares to light it.

“This was before public menorah-lightings, the concept didn’t exist,” he reportedly told Chabad. “It was such a huge attraction. We were giving out menorahs, more and more people were gathering around us. By the time we lit our menorahs with the flares, we had a huge crowd. It was unbelievable, just a knockout.”

The group continued lighting their menorah in Manhattan, and by the next year, a new tool in the Chanukah campaign was officially born.

Throughout the late ‘70s the parade gained strength and continued into the 1980s.

The mid-90s brought a new development when Nochum Goldschmidt, a yeshivah student in Sydney, Australia, felt that the parade initiative needed a boost so designed an improved car menorah, and in 1998, started Carmenorah.com to sell everyone you need for every type of car.

“What’s interesting is that over the years, we’ve begun seeing more and more orders being made from outside the Chabad community,” he reportedly told Chabad.

The “Happy Chanukah” sign and “Chabad wishes you a Happy Chanukah” are well known.

The Rebbe’s initiative has taken may turns, the car menorah is one of the best.

This week, sports fans will once again enjoy an annual sight of a giant menorah being lit across the US at big sporting events including at Columbus Blue Jackets’ 18,000 seater Nationwide Arena.

The Columbus Blue Jackets take on San Jose Sharks in an NHL clash takes place on Sunday. The game will include kosher food and Columbus Blue Jackets-branded Jewish Heritage scarves.

Rabbi Areyah Kaltman, co-director of Chabad Columbus, will perform the honours with “Maoz Tzur” played over the speakers before an exultant crowd.

“We empower the kids with Jewish pride and identity,” his wife, Esther reportedly told Chabad. “I cannot describe the effect this has on thousands of children. It ignites a pride to be Jewish in their hearts.”

Back in 1987, Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, co-director of Chabad South Broward County, Florida was in at the start of the boom when he lit a menorah at the Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami before 80,000 fans.

Days before that Chanukah, Rabbi Pinny Andrusier, co-director of Chabad Southwest Broward, was attending a farbrengen in Brooklyn and told the Rebbe of the pending lighting at the Miami Dolphins game.

“L’chaim,” the smiling Rebbe acknowledged, knowing the significance of a vast live and TV audience.

It is now the norm for Chabad to host a ‘Jewish Heritage Night’ at games.

Almost 50 years on from the Rebbe’s Chanukah wish to light up the world his dream is still growing.

So, the final word must go to the Rebbe who concluded in his famous letter, “May G d grant that everyone of us be truly inspired by the teachings of Chanukah and of the Chanukah Lights, and translate this inspiration into actual deeds, in our everyday life and conduct.”