LONDON, England — We are suffering dreadfully in UK from the Coronavirus plague. In view of the fact that you are also experiencing the ravages of the virus, I do not need to recount the horrors.
However it is worth just mentioning that it is particularly impacting the Jewish Community in UK. It appears that Jews account for 2% of deaths, but are less than 0.5% of the population.
The main reason for this is that the Jewish population is heavily concentrated in North London, which is a virus hot spot. We get an email from our synagogue to advise of a member’s death, or family member’s death, and invariably receive 2 or 3 notifications every day. The numbers add up significantly over the weeks.
The country in general is badly served by very poor government leadership over the last few years, and the Government taking its eyes off the ball as the coronavirus approached. We have had 3 years of Brexit turmoil, and still havent actually left. Boris Johnson was elected leader a few monnths ago, and he inspired the hope of a brighter future, but alas he is very ill in hospital, brought down by the virus.
The other Government ministers are uninspiring, and appear to oldies like myself, to be mere schoolkids. The man heading the Government in Boris’s absence, is Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary. Interestingly, his father was a Czech Jew, who fled Czechoslovakia when Hitler came to power. However , Raab is unlikely to become permanent Prime Minister if Boris can’t return to duty.
The Labour Party, the main opposition party, has just elected a new leader, Keir Starmer. Starmer is himself not Jewish, but his wife is Jewish, and I understand their children are brought up as Jewish. His first job has been to reassure the Jewish Community that the Party’s anti-Semitism will no longer be tolerated. The anti-Semites will be purged. The Labour Party, previously led by Jeremy
Corbyn, was dominated by the extreme left, who are completely obsessed by “Palestine.” It became impossible for Jews to exist within the Party, and the whole Jewish Community became extremely anxious. So Corbyn’s replacement by Starmer has been met with enormous relief.
This virus is comparable to a biblical plague, but more so, I am reminded of the story of the Tower of Babel. The human race became too arrogant, and built a tower so that they could ascend the heavens and take over from G-d.
The current self confidence of mankind, and the growth of Globalisation and the destruction of individual countries to create enormous structures (eg European Community), are likely to now collapse, just like the Tower of Babel.
On a very sad note, like the Canadian Jewish News, its counterpart in Canada, the Jewish Chronicle is closing down, after 180 years existence.
It is possible it could reappear on line or in another format.
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Lloyd Levy is a freelance writer based in London. He may be contacted via lloyd.levy@sdjewishworld.com