Jewish questions
Sir: Frederic Raphael's condescending dis- missal of A Sense Of Belonging (Books, 16 March) contains a curious misreading of our book. We neither advocate 'a return to Jewish practice and communal life' nor suggest that British Jews should search for a 'one-size-fits-all identity'. We do discuss the renewal of interest in religious practice, secular Jewish learning and political and cultural self-expression but no advocacy is involved. And contrary to Raphael's ani- madversions, we highlight the necessity of living with uncertainties and contradic- tions.
Perhaps your reviewer's closing smug- ness — 'God help us' — taken together with the gratuitous attack on Lionel Blue, unconsciously betray Raphael's underlying discomfort: that in the book spirituality is taken seriously. For a disdainful Jewish intellectual this may be — how can we express it? — something of an anathema.
Howard Cooper Paul Morris
37 Lansdowne Road London N3
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