by Kemi Badenoch, The Jewish Chronicle
‘As Faith Minister five years ago, what I saw in Whitehall was a significant degree of cultural and religious illiteracy, combined with a reluctance to speak plainly, and a hesitancy to tackle difficult issues for fear of attack, opprobrium, or difficult constituents’
My Dear Friends,
Why is this year different from all other years?
Because in other years we haven’t seen Jews murdered in a synagogue here in the UK. Because in other years we haven’t seen Hatzola ambulances torched in the middle of Golders Green. And because in no other year have I met so many Jews asking me whether it’s safe for them to stay in the UK.
This year I can’t write the usual sort of Passover message. I am tired of reading platitudes and warm words, expressions of solidarity which ring hollow when we can all see what is happening around us.
I did not learn about Passover from reading the Haggadah or even in church, but from watching The Ten Commandments over and over again. Even as a young child in Nigeria, growing up in a Christian home, the story of liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt – a journey from oppression to freedom, from exile to homeland – was singularly inspiring.
It was only as an adult that I learned the deepest message of Passover: that for Jews, gaining freedom is not a one-off historical event, but is something which Jews have to fight for and guard in every generation.
An acquaintance said recently: “As a black person in the UK, I’ve never experienced the level of racism or intimidation which Jews are facing now. People wouldn’t delve into conspiracy theories about an attack on black people”. This is exactly how I feel.
Too many Jews have lost freedoms in the past year. The freedom to walk the streets of London on a Saturday afternoon. The freedom to go to university wearing a Magen David. The freedom to go to school without security guards, to pray in a building which doesn’t look like a fortress – the freedom to do the sorts of things that all of us should be able to enjoy in a free and democratic country.