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The Hull Reform Synagogue - Ne've Shalom

   

WHY JEWS PRAY FOR THE QUEEN

The article by Rabbi Jonathan Romain was originally published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday 13 April 2012 and discusses that, as Jews, we traditionally follow the teachings of Jeremiah by acknowledging "the city in which you live"

Princess Margaret was astonished. In 1990 she was attending a service marking the 50th anniversary of Maidenhead synagogue and was struck by the fact that we read a prayer for the good health and wise counsel of the Queen. When I explained that the prayer was not a one-off but recited every Shabbat in every synagogue in Britain, she remarked: "How lovely, they don't do that for us in church; I'll tell my sister."

Whether the message was ever relayed back to Buckingham Palace is unknown, but the custom itself is symptomatic of the very particular relationship that Jews have had with ruling monarchs. It dates back to the period when Jews first went into exile in 586BC after the Babylonian conquest and those taken there wrote to Jeremiah - still in the land of Israel - asking how they should behave.

It is an eternal question that faces every extraneous group: merge into the surrounding culture, be disruptively independent of it, or find some sort of accommodation? Jeremiah's answer was unequivocal: "Seek the peace of the city in which you live ... for in its peace is your peace." (Jeremiah 29:7)

The message was two-fold and applies as much to migrant populations today as it did then: first, that there is a responsibility to work for the well-being of the society in which you find yourself; it may not be your original home, but you should try to make it your new one.

Second, this is not only the right course of action, but a matter of self-interest too: if society is volatile, then it is the minorities that will suffer most. Those who are different will be seen as dangerous and subject to discrimination, if not persecution. As a result, it became customary for Jews to pray for the welfare of the ruler of whatever kingdom in which they lived, recognising that while they may have their own separate religions traditions - such as festivals and food laws - this did not preclude participating in life around them.

It is for this reason that most Jews have no problem with an established church in this country: many of us can trace our roots in Britain further back than the Queen's own family - Jews resettled here in 1656, long before anyone had heard of the Hanoverians - and have as much right as anyone else to debate the matter, but we still do not wish to alter a national structure embedded so deep in history unless the country at large desires it too.

Adapting to the general culture is also why every year I send Christmas cards to friends and listen with pleasure to carol singers, perfectly able to be part of the prevailing culture without feeling it threatens my own Jewish identity.

Of course, there can be occasional conflicts, such as the fact that Judaism prefers immediate burial of a corpse whereas the state sometimes insists on delays for post-mortems; in such case the rabbis ruled as far back as the 3rd century that "the law of the land is the law" and has to take precedence. It was a profound recognition that religious traditions have to fit in with the host society, and not vice versa.

Praying for the head of state has been a distasteful experience in some other countries in the past, but British Jews have not had any problem doing so for several centuries.

It illustrates how it is possible to be loyal to both one's faith and one's country by using common sense and goodwill - both of which are severely underestimated as important religious values.

 

Ne've Shalom
Great Gutter Lane
Willerby
Hull
HU10 6DP

 

 

 
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