{"id":1060,"date":"2015-01-25T21:20:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T21:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2015-01-25T18:24:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T18:24:00","slug":"rabbi-frank-on-events-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/all-news\/news\/rabbi-frank-on-events-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabbi Frank reflects on events in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rabbifranksml\"<\/a>I am privileged to work with some very wise and perceptive congregants.<\/p>\n

In my sermon on the Shabbat immediately following the terrible attacks in Paris, I urged circumspection rather than merely emotional reactions.\u00a0 There are many possible causes contributing to these tragic incidents.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, one member offered a challenging argument:\u00a0 \u2018I\u2019ve lived through the Blitz bombardments, the worry of nuclear attack during the Cold War and the years of IRA bombings;\u00a0 how can we pretend that we can live with perfect security against any threats now? Life is<\/em> risky because people and societies will always commit violence.\u2019 \u00a0Moreover, in other aspects of our lives, we seem to be hugely more tolerant of far greater risks to life and limb. If you consult the relevant European Commission website for statistics concerning road fatalities in the EU, you will learn that, \u2018in 2011, more than 30,000 people died on the roads\u2019 and that \u2018for every death on Europe\u2019s roads there are an estimated four permanently disabling injuries such as damage to the brain or spinal cord, eight serious injuries and fifty minor injuries\u2019.\u00a0 In only one week of one year<\/em>, more people are killed on the roads than the total number of all murdered<\/em> by \u2018terrorists\u2019 in the entire time<\/em> since 2001.<\/p>\n

My wise congregant offered a valuable historical perspective but traffic statistics tell us that the equivalent of a decent-sized European town is wiped off the face of the earth each and every year. (And it\u2019s much, much worse in the United States when it comes to not only road traffic deaths but also when you consider the vast numbers of all day-to-day hand-gun deaths). \u00a0I am just old enough to remember the mass outcry in America when the federal government mandated the installation and wearing of seatbelts in the mid-1960s.\u00a0\u00a0 Even stranger, then, the mass hysterical reaction about perceived threats to our \u2018way of life\u2019, \u2018security\u2019 and \u2018safety\u2019 when it comes to relatively few extremists misusing Islam, let alone ignoring its ethical precepts concerning justice, compassion and caring for the stranger.<\/p>\n

We will never achieve perfect security as Simon Kuper has noted in the Financial Times Magazine<\/em> of 17th\/18th January.\u00a0\u00a0 There are many, many reasons why an individual might commit acts of violence in the name of religion. In the case of France, there is a background of ruthless colonial behavior in Algeria, for example, and an ongoing legacy of discrimination, unemployment and poverty in the more deprived Parisian banlieues. \u00a0<\/em>Surely, doesn\u2019t the best hope for a safer and more cohesive society lie in the long-term and painstaking work of social, academic, economic and political inclusion of all young people into the core of that society? \u00a0Should we not be capable of sufficiently valuing all human beings so that all feel a sense of belonging, meaning and hope? Of course the causes are complex but does it surprise any of us that the Kouachi brothers were orphaned early in life and that Hayat Boumeddiene\u2019s mother died when she was a small child?<\/p>\n

Should it be any surprise that emotionally deprived and disconnected youngsters might be more inclined to grow up to be insecure and vulnerable young adults who are susceptible to those extremist recruiters who seduce them by saying that their unhappy lives and deaths have a \u2018great\u2019 purpose? \u00a0One of many outlets of social alienation is anti-Semitism. What a tragedy it is that, so often, human solidarity seems to revolve around hating those in some other group. \u00a0In this regard, we are all guilty of lumping people into static negative categories. \u00a0We project the things we can\u2019t admit about ourselves onto someone else; usually someone who\u2019s somehow different and not the dominant political player.<\/p>\n

We have said, throughout history, that members of some particular group \u2013Muslims, Jews, Communists, witches– want to take over the world. \u00a0We thus make ourselves out to be victims in a struggle for our very survival; a truly dangerous outlook. \u00a0As Jews, we must remind ourselves that in Western Europe today there is no such thing as state-sponsored anti-Semitism. \u00a0We are considered by most everyone to be simply part of the basic part of the fabric.<\/p>\n

We are privileged. \u00a0Let us not fall prey to those within our own ranks who may have an interest in furthering anxiety, fear and crisis among Jews in the diaspora. \u00a0Simon Kuper echoes the urgent question asked by Rodney King who was filmed being brutally beaten by Los Angeles police in 1992: \u2018Can we all get along?\u2019 \u00a0I would go a step further. \u00a0The real question is, how can we actually support and help each other as humanitarians? \u00a0Like it or not we are all in the same very leaky capitalist boat. \u00a0We must support each other\u2019s longings for a reasonably decent existence including peace, tranquility and a sense of belonging and purpose. \u00a0Quite simply, it\u2019s the very reason why we are here on this earth.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am privileged to work with some very wise and perceptive congregants. In my sermon on the Shabbat immediately following the terrible attacks in Paris, I urged circumspection rather than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1429,"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hayleyroosphotography.co.uk\/mosaic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}