Seasonal Greetings from... Jersey's Jewish Community

Monday 21 December 2020

After a "troublesome" year for the island, President of Jersey's Jewish Community Stephen Regal reflects on the way we can move forward at the twin winter festivals of Chanukah and Christmas.

In this seasonal greeting, he looks at what unites us as a species, and how, going into next year, all faiths and creeds will need to come together as one...

"As we approach the end of a singularly depressing year for much of humanity, I have therefore paused to consider a retrospective of this unusual and, dare I say it, troublesome year.

A year that has brought the twin terms COVID and Coronavirus into common everyday language. A year in which we have learned what a virologist or epidemiologist does, we have previously had little or no idea of just what these specialisations do, but thank the heavens that they appear to have unlocked the secrets of the virus and indeed designed vaccines to kill it. I genuinely hope that everyone grasps the opportunity of obtaining the protection now being offered to us all.

Pictured: " as we each respectively celebrate our almost twin winter festivals of Christmas and Chanukah, both festivals of light and celebrated in the darkness of mid-winter, I further look for the spiritual issues that join us together in the single humanity of mankind."

An oft told truth about Judaism is the sanctity in which we hold life. For instance, not many people know that the original insulin for the treatment of diabetes was derived from animal products, specifically those synthesised from pigs, a fact that most people understand that Jews do not eat pigs as they are not kosher, however within hours of the discovery being published, Rabbinic Authorities throughout the world announced that the new drug is and was, acceptable for use on Jewish people.

Thus, the answer that any product that has the ability to save life is tolerable for use upon those of the Jewish faith, a lesson that we all humanity need to heed when we consider whether to accept or reject the use of the new COVID vaccines.

All of this has started me thinking about a question that is often put to me and the most common is “how does your Judaism differ from my Christianity?" My standard response is, to many, it really differs very little. Our credos are very similar insofar as we have a common belief in one G-d, a loving G-d to whom we owe everything a G-d who however seeks little in return.

Pictured: "The answer that any product that has the ability to save life is tolerable for use upon those of the Jewish faith, a lesson that we all humanity need to heed when we consider whether to accept or reject the use of the new COVID vaccines."

As one considers this, Jesus was a Jew and indeed all of his disciples were Jewish, certainly they had well established and known differences with mainstream Judaism but all of Jesus’ teachings were intrinsically bound up with Jewish customs and lore of the time and even today when I attend Church services and I recognise much of the service as being similar to my Synagogue service, in the same manner, many of my Christian friends, when they attend services in the Synagogue, exclaim to me the similarities that they observe between the two Faiths.

So, as we each respectively celebrate our almost twin winter festivals of Christmas and Chanukah, both festivals of light and celebrated in the darkness of mid-winter, I further look for the spiritual issues that join us together in the single humanity of mankind.

Pictured: "This is something that requires remembering, there is only one human race, only one species that calls itself Homo Sapiens that walks the earth."

Just looking at the pandemic on its own, this worldwide virus did not differentiate between Jew and non-Jew, between black and white, between oriental and occidental between men and women, it was non-discriminatory, other than its preference for individuals with some debilitating circumstances such as age or infirmity.

As an outcome, we all suffered as a result of the pandemic, some who have lost loved ones, some whose livelihood has more than suffered and sadly is still suffering, to all these my heart goes out. One other thing is our debt to those who stepped up and who gave their skill and time to alleviate the pain and suffering, the doctors, nurses, auxiliaries, orderlies and support staff. The ambulance crews, the police and their support staff, don’t forgot firemen, postal workers, refuse workers, bus drivers and of course those that work in our shops.

Pictured: " One other thing is our debt to those who stepped up and who gave their skill and time to alleviate the pain and suffering, the doctors, nurses, auxiliaries, orderlies and support staff. The ambulance crews, the police and their support staff, don’t forgot firemen, postal workers, refuse workers, bus drivers and of course those that work in our shops."

All who continued their service to the community during the pandemic and indeed some of whom paid the ultimate price in doing so, let us remember and praise them all, particularly those who might be working for the good of our society over the Christmas Holiday.

The point at which I am driving is we are all of one society, one people throughout the world. The artificially constructed differences are, in the long run, just that, if I might be so forward to quote from the Bard, William Shakespeare, no not the second person to be injected with the COVID-19 Vaccine, but the man himself in the masterful Merchant of Venice which some perceive as an antisemitic play, the main point is Shylock’s impassioned speech in Court, trying to confirm that Jews are not different and I quote:

“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?”

WATCH: A contemporary delivery of a speech Stephen says we should all take on board this year.

This is something that requires remembering, there is only one human race, only one species that calls itself Homo Sapiens that walks the earth.

We are all sprung from the same stock and partakers of the same nature, we have the same hopes and desires throughout the entire world, if we have learned anything from the last year, that is the entire world unified together in order to fight the pandemic, all nations suffered in the same manner and the world’s scientists collaborated in identifying and resolving the cure for all mankind.

Not just for Jews, not just for Christians, Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists, but for everyone."