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British Philo-Semitism, Once and FutureThursday, November 3, 2011 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Anyone who has even a passing familiarity with public discourse about Jews in today's United Kingdom can be forgiven for viewing the term "British philo-Semitism" as an oxymoron.
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A Tale of Two Pamphlets Fred MacDowell, On the Main Line. As England debated readmitting Jews, an anonymous pamphlet blamed Jews for the deaths of Christian children. An answering pamphlet absolved the Jews—but blamed Catholic priests.
Limmud Turns 33 Clive Lawton, eJewish Philanthropy. "As far as I remember, this was the first time in the Jewish world that Orthodox Jews could hear what Reform Jews really thought and vice versa."
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Wingate of Zion Max Boot, Weekly Standard. Israel remembers Orde Wingate for turning Jews in Mandate Palestine into a fighting force—as T. E. Lawrence had done for the Arabs. But Wingate's legacy stretches further still.
Lost in Translation Zev Eleff, Tradition. Samson Raphael Hirsch has been described as “the intellectual godfather of modern Orthodoxy.” But his influence on American Orthodoxy had to wait until long after his death.
A Safe Pair of Hands Jeremy Rosen, Algemeiner. Ephraim Mirvis is a good pastoral leader. But his appointment as Chief Rabbi in the U.K. testifies to the unwillingness of Britain's centrist Orthodoxy to challenge Haredi authority.
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