Points of Jew

Not so "Jewish" Chronicle

Is the Jewish Chronicle aiming to tempt its readers to sway towards messianic Judaism?

Messianic Jews, for those who don't know, are those who believe that Jesus is the messiah, which of course is a million miles away from being Jewish.

Twice in the last few months, features have appeared in the Jewish Chronicle in which readers are invited to visit websites that promote messianic Judaism.

The first time it was to visit a podcast aimed at converting Jews to Christianity and this week, it's saying that Messianic "Jewish" rapper 50 Shekel is a top 10 Jewish interest on You Tube.

Maybe, the JC could have first visited the home page of 50 Shekel who these days uses his name Aviad Cohen and discovered that for the last couple of years he has become a messianic Jew keen to spread the word that Jesus is the messiah.

Next time the Jewish Chronicle decides to write something about the internet, it should really do some proper research on subjects it is writing about.

As the so-called "organ" of anglo-Jewry, one would have thought the Jewish Chronicle would make sure that any external links it provides whether in paper or indeed online are checked before being published.

Today it's messianic, what could it be tomorrow?

Points of Jew helps the Jewish Chronicle to enable comments on its fledgling blog

Following our posting a few days ago in which we mentioned that the Jewish Chronicle had a blog, but had not yet enabled comments, it's good to see that the "organ of British Jewry" as it also likes to be known is now allowing comments to its postings.

We did offer to post on Points of Jew any comments to any of the Jewish Chronicle blog postings, but alas, we didn't get anyone who wanted to post anything about what they read on the JC blog.

Actually, looking at the JC blog itself, it doesn't look like anyone other than its own staff are posting anything.

Jewish Chronicle goes blogging... sort of

In an attempt to try and be more "with it", world's oldest Jewish newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle has launched a blog at www.thejewishchronicle.com

Following the lead of Points of Jew, the JC blog is hosted by those nice folks at Typepad for less than £10 a month.

Of course, most blogs, including yours truly allow people to post comments, both the good, the bad and the plain ugly, but at chez JC, you can read what they want to tell you, but if you want to comment, there's no chance.

Quite why they are not able to enable commenting, is a question that needs an answer, as otherwise, what is the point of having a blog if your readers can't express their views.

So if you want to comment on a JC blog entry, then feel free to post it here.

New gig for BBC Israel correspondent

BBC correspondent Orla Guerin is to leave her Middle East reporting job and is to head off to South Africa.

TotallyJewish reports:

According to a BBC spokesman Guerin was leaving as she has already worked in the region for five years, compared to the usual three or four year stint for a news correspondent.

Deemed "controversial" by some sections of the Jewish community who claim she was anti-Israel, Israel government press office director Danny Seaman said:

“Unfortunately, despite personally liking her, she didn’t always uphold the standards of balanced and unbiased journalism one would expect.”

Meanwhile, speaking to the Jewish Telegraph, Zionist Federation president Eric Moonman added his thoughts on the move.

"Perhaps the BBC have finally come to their senses and taken notice of Jewish groups' pressure on the Corporation regarding this particular reporter."

In answer to your question Eric, no it was nothing to do with you. She spent five years in the region and it was time to move on. That is all there is to it, plain and simple.

No conspiracy theories need to be invented or even implied that it was some sort of zionist/american/pink panda plot to remove Guerin from her Middle East posting.

But if anyone wants to invent a conspiracy theory, then yes, she was removed by order of those crafty zionists with help from the americans and also a pink panda.

Why did Vanessa do it?

This courtesy of SomethingJewish.

Radio broadcaster Vanessa Feltz reported for work as usual on Yom Kippur, hosting her live three-hour show on BBC London. Leslie Bunder questions whether Jews in the media should really be seen to be working on the holiest of holy days?

No matter how irreligious you may be, the chances are that you will still acknowledge Yom Kippur – the Day Of Atonement . Whether you fast or you don’t, whether you go to Shul or whether you simply choose to stay at home and reflect on the year gone by,whether you’re a secular Jew or a practising one, the majority of Jewish people will at least mark the day in some way. For many, it’s a day when they will refrain from their usual activities – going to work, watching TV, using a computer or mobile phones.

This year, I decided to ask some non-Jewish friends to let me know of any Jews in the media they came across who were working on the day. I have an issue with this because if you work in the media and are openly Jewish, then you are setting an example not just to other Jews but to non-Jews who see you as a representative of the Jewish community (whether you like it or not), and get their knowledge of Jews through you. If they see you working on Yom Kippur they may assume other Jews do that, and that it’s appropriate to be seen making money on this holiest of holy days.

So I was rather taken aback to be informed that Vanessa Feltz – the former daytime TV show presenter and now BBC London morning show host – was fronting her live programme as usual on the morning of Yom Kippur. By contrast, her colleague Jono Coleman didn’t appear to have done his show, and over at LBC, nor did afternoon show host David Prever.

Which leaves me asking just why Feltz felt it necessary to broadcast her show on Yom Kippur? Maybe she forgot it was Yom Kippur – but for somebody who has always been very open about her Jewish heritage, it’s disappointing that she felt the need to take to the airwaves, when many other successful Jewish media figures managed to take the day off.

If she were not openly Jewish and kept schtum about her religion and culture, then it would be another matter entirely – but when you’re exploiting your background to the extent that she has, you have a duty, however small, to realise that other people may judge other Jews by the standards you are setting.

I appreciate Feltz is freelance and not doing her show would mean losing a day’s pay – however there are plenty of Jews in the media who are also freelance and wouldn’t think twice about turning down work on Yom Kippur.

This is the one day in the year that every Jew, regardless of affiliation, should down tools. Even if you don’t do so out of a religious nature, it’s a day of reflection about your past year and what you’ve done, and the year to come. Surely it wouldn’t have been so difficult for Feltz to do this for one day, since there are 364 other days in which to make money?

Maybe Feltz went to shul after her show finished at noon? Maybe she didn’t. But if you identify with being Jewish, one thing you don’t do is a live show on Yom Kippur. It just sends out the wrong message to not just your own community, but to non-Jews. I’m sure the BBC would not have minded her taking the day off, and getting a replacement for her slot.

After all, many Jews work at the corporation and take the day off without any problems – in fact, cultural diversity is positively encouraged at the corporation.

So why, in the face of all this, did Feltz do her show?

Vanessa, was it really worth it just for a few hundred quid? If not doing a show meant not getting paid for the day, then I’m sure someone would have bailed you out with a cheque for the amount.

Next year, let me know and I’ll personally write you a cheque.

BBC to investigate its coverage

The BBC is to launch a full investigation into its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The move comes after both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian claim the BBC is anti their cause and pro the other.

Lead by the Sir Quentin Thomas, president of the British Board of Film Classification, the review of the BBC coverage will start later this month with a report going to BBC Governors in the spring of 2006.

The review will also invite members of the public to voice their comments about the way in which the BBC has covered the issue.

Sir Quentin Thomas said: "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a complex and sensitive subject. Because of its importance, and because the BBC's coverage often attracts comment and criticism from all sides, a review of its impartiality, carried out independently both of the BBC and of interest groups, is appropriate."

So is the BBC really as anti-Israeli and anti-Palestinian as some Israeli and Palestinian supporters make out?

Surely, it is far from biased given the equal amount of complaints both sides seem to deliver to the BBC on a regular basis of its reporting. The BBC has been critical of both sides when need be,  but it has also from time to time occasionally been sloppy in some of its coverage, but again, I don't think it is biased one way or the other.  When the reporting has been sloppy it gets pulled up on that and quite right too but I don't think it is due to bias, rather it is sloppy and sometimes lazy reporting.

The BBC is certainly not in the hands of one group over the other which both groups generally like to hint at.

The BBC is not releasing figures as to how much this report is going to cost, but its likley to be not less than a six figure sum.  Of course, money that may be better of in making programmes about the conflict rather than doing research into how people may think the BBC is covering the conflict.

There's even a dedicated website for more information on this. Click here.

What do you think?

Review of Chief Rabbi's New Year TV programme

This in courtesy of SomethingJewish.

You know it's that time of the year when the Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue is given a late night slot just before Rosh Hashanah to deliver his New Year message on BBC1.

And this year is no exception as Sir Jonathan Sacks goes in front of the screen for My Brother's Keeper and offers a reflection of the past year from tragedies such as the London Bombings and the South Asian Tsunami to showing how those with learning difficulties in the Jewish community can be integrated and given respect.

Sir Jonathan starts with the London Bombings and shows his speech at the Trafalgar Square memorial in which he invites all people to unite which is central to the rest of the programme. The key theme is understanding and respect for fellow human beings, something which Sir Jonathan is excellent in doing for interfaith, but has been criticised in the past for not showing within his own diverse community.

His interviews on screen are diverse.  The Chancellor Gordon Brown offers his thoughts on why cancelling debt relief is important and talks of his own upbringing while Bob Geldof talks about his anger and how that is channelled into the positive work he has done in raising awareness of poverty in Africa.

We also are given a glimpse into the work of Jewish social action and how the Jewish community is concerned about world poverty and the importance to be involved in national and international events such as Make Poverty History.

From the theme of poverty, Sir Jonathan then tackles the issue of social inclusion and looks at those with learning disabilities and the work of Kisharon and its founder, Chava Lehman..  We see Heskey and how being involved in a school such as Kisharon has brought hope to his life, first as a child and now as an adult.

From there, the Chief Rabbi meets a couple who were caught up in the Asian Tsunami last December and how certain questions can never be answered. Amanda Simons says she was saved by a Thai man and a few hours later, she saw his dead body, she asks how does that happen. Her partner Daryl Phillips  talks about the help and support he was given by local Thai people despite their own personal problems and tragedy that affected them.

Along with Amanda and Daryl,  was Liran Yechiel  who joined them and talked about how once things started to settle, they as a group went back to Thailand to offer help in rebuilding peoples lives.  Sir Jonathan mentioned it was a Jewish group who went out there to which all three belonged and Daryl said it didn't matter to him what the group was as long as he was able to go back and help.

An attempt was made to show some diversity in the Jewish community, Amanda and Daryl did not conform to the general image that Sir Jonathan usually portrays of Jews in Britain, that of orthodox Jews.   Daryl himself was not wearing a head covering.

So in that respect, the programme can be commended in not just showing those who subscribe to Sir Jonathan's own orthodox lifestyle.

Throughout the programme, we hear and see Sir Jonathan talk of respect for others and understanding each other, along with the need to looks at ways to improve the world and try to make things better.

To a certain extent, Sir Jonathan succeeded in delivering a message of hope. But deep down, one is left with a feeling of how sincere is he really?  How much does Sir Jonathan actually care when off the camera and what is he doing himself to mend his own fractured community.

Only Sir Jonathan can answer those questions, but if he is able to start acting on his own message, then maybe he will be able to prove that what he says on TV, radio and print is something he can follow himself and therefore a path for others too.

My Brother's Keeper is on BBC ONE 2 October

Holy day broadcasting cock-up

The BBC is to re-schedule a Radio 4 programme that looks at the work of the Community Security Trust after realising that the original transmission date was due to take place on the second night of Rosh Hashanah at 8pm.

Surely, you consult a calendar before announcing a transmission date for something that has importance to the community it is being made about?

I find it very hard to understand how the scheduling department at Radio 4 didn't realise that certain dates in the calendar are sensitive to the Jewish community.

Within the BBC, those involved in making programmes and deciding on dates and times to broadcast them will have access to multifaith calendars to avoid these types of cock-ups.

They could even visit the BBC Religion website to check dates on the very useful multifaith calendar at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/interactive/calendar/index.shtml

So what happened?

Even those Jews who are not very religious will generally focus their mind on spiritual issues during this time of year as well as spending the evening with family and friends, so is very unlikely to be near to a radio to listen to the programme.

But there is some good news, the broadcast will go out on October 9, the date of the original repeat which shouldn't cause any problems for Jews, let along followers of any other faith.