Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A religious leader who is the chief rabbi elect of Britain's Jews.
On the island
Eight records
Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde
Jon Vickers, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
This is one of my father's favorites, and it's one of mine too.
Naftali Hershtig, Jerusalem Great Synagogue Choir
The supreme moment of Jewish prayer, the Holy of Holies of Jewish time, the Day of Atonement.
String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131: I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
It was in Cambridge that I discovered the late Beethoven quartets, and ever since they've been for me the most spiritual music ever written.
Tzam'ah NafshiFavourite
My soul thirsts for you. I hope one day something like that would be my epitaph, that his soul thirsted for God.
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77: I. Allegro non troppo
David Oistrakh, Orchestre National de la Radio Diffusion Francaise, Otto Klemperer
The most exciting piece of music that I know.
A record chosen just to remind me of the things most precious in my life, my wife and my children.
String Quartet in F major: I. Allegro moderato
The piece of music of all which never fails to cheer me up whenever I'm feeling low.
This particular recording has a history... In it are all the tears and all the faith of Jewish history.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:07You don't have a long beard. Is this a new rabbinical trend?
Well, I left it in Jerusalem where I was staying with my family during the Gulf War. And of course, in the weeks before the war, we'd been warned about the possibility of chemical attacks. And the rule was, as soon as an alarm goes, go into a sealed room and put on your gas masks. But for those who have beards, gas masks will not fit, and please remove your beard. So when the sirens went, everyone else dived for their masks. I dived for my scissors and shaver and removed my beard. My children actually were extremely scared, and I was quite worried for them. But when the All Clear came, and I took the mask off, and they saw their daddy for the first time ever without a beard, they absolutely collapsed with laughter.
Presenter asks
9:31Can you describe the effect that the Six-Day War had on you when you were nineteen?
In the weeks before the war, when Israel was surrounded by States who had declared their intention to drive Israel into the sea, the entire Jewish World was riveted on what seemed to be an unfolding tragedy. It looked as if a second, unthinkable holocaust was about to take place. And it made a particular impact on those of my generation who were born after the Holocaust. It made us realize just what Jews had faced the generation before, we suddenly felt ourselves in the same situation again. And all through the university people who had never identified as Jews before suddenly turned up in the university's synagogue. And there was an atmosphere that you could feel sent shivers down your spine. We were terrified. And of course, when the war was over in six days, with a tremendous victory for Israel, the release of emotion was something that I don't think will happen again in my lifetime.
The keepsakes
The book
The luxury
Presenter asks
13:57You went into teaching moral philosophy and then gave it up to become a rabbi. What made you decide?
There came a moment after I had been teaching philosophy for a couple of years when I looked around my contemporaries, all of whom had been through the same experience as myself, and many of them had become deeply religious, but very few of them had actually decided to become religious leaders, to become rabbis. In fact, none of them had. Now I felt each of them could have made a better rabbi than me. A saying in Judaism: 'When nobody else is prepared to lead, you have to try to lead.' And in the end I said that applies to me. And that's when I decided to become a rabbi. Certainly I never felt myself particularly gifted or particularly qualified to be a rabbi. I did it because I heard some voice calling me to be one.
Presenter asks
14:57You have said you are reluctant to become Chief Rabbi. Is that sense of duty attached, and are you still reluctant?
It seems to me that if you look through Jewish history, Jews are great individualists. There are many great Jewish leaders, there are very few great Jewish followers. So leading the Jewish people turns out to be very difficult, and I wasn't sure that I had any particular skills in doing so. But when I was asked, I felt that there really are needs in this community, and if other people have faith in my ability to do something to meet them, I'll have to do it. Are you still reluctant? Absolutely. Chief rabbis never retire and only very rarely die. So I understand there's a long road ahead.
Presenter asks
20:01Are you any different from your predecessor in your attitude to the role of women in Judaism? They are excluded from so much in the synagogue.
Well, I have a strong attachment to Jewish women. My mother was one, my wife is one, and my daughters are two, and therefore I feel for them especially for my daughters that they should have a Jewish education that is fully equal to that of my son. That Jewish girls and Jewish women should not feel excluded from the most fundamental act of all of Jews, which is to study our own heritage and to feel oneself to be a master of it. And that really is something that I will work on very hard once I become Chief Rabbi. ... I don't [believe women should sit in the body of the synagogue] because there is a point at which men and women mixing or a certain kind of social atmosphere simply distracts from the unmediated intensity of prayer. ... Orthodox Jews have always believed that the sexes should pray physically separately. ... I believe they will find that they can pray much more easily if they pray as women rather than as some hybrid.
Presenter asks
25:10You are a very human, liberal, broad-minded moral philosopher who sees two sides of an argument, yet as Chief Rabbi you will be required to take a line. Do you have a dilemma?
Well, you know, there's this famous story which sums up the rabbinical dilemma about the bickering husband and wife who come to a rabbi for advice, and the wife tells her story to the rabbi, and the rabbi says, 'You know you're right.' And then the husband comes in and tells the story. And the Rabbi says, 'You're absolutely right.' And the disciple of the Rabbi turns to him and says, 'How can they both be right?' And the Rabbi turns to the disciple and says, 'You know, you're right.' Now I don't think I'm going to take that view. I try very hard to understand and respect positions that are different from mine. But that doesn't mean to say I don't have an absolute conviction that there is truth and falsity, that there is good and evil. I don't think all things are true. I don't think all things are relative.
“But when the All Clear came, and I took the mask off, and they saw their daddy for the first time ever without a beard, they absolutely collapsed with laughter.”
“And all through the university people who had never identified as Jews before suddenly turned up in the university's synagogue. And there was an atmosphere that you could feel sent shivers down your spine. We were terrified. And of course, when the war was over in six days, with a tremendous victory for Israel, the release of emotion was something that I don't think will happen again in my lifetime.”
“Incredible Line of Ancestors all of whom might have made the choice not to carry on. The heritage to the next generation. Two hundred generations of that young man's ancestors had against all odds survived and lived and had faith as Jews.”
“Well, you know, there's this famous story which sums up the rabbinical dilemma about the bickering husband and wife who come to a rabbi for advice, and the wife tells her story to the rabbi, and the rabbi says, 'You know you're right.' And then the husband comes in and tells the story. And the Rabbi says, 'You're absolutely right.' And the disciple of the Rabbi turns to him and says, 'How can they both be right?' And the Rabbi turns to the disciple and says, 'You know, you're right.'”
“He, along with two thousand other Jews, was ordered to be shot and killed. And before that the Nazis ordered this group of two thousand people to dig their own graves. As Scholem Katz stood with his colleagues in front of his own grave, he made one request of the German authorities that he be allowed to sing the prayer, the memorial prayer for the dead. He sang it. and the camp officials were so impressed with his voice that they spared his life.”