Susie Steiner reports on how British Jews feel about their spiritual home
FOR the past eight years, Lionel Rosenfeld has commuted to work in Britain from his home in Israel. He and his wife are orthodox British Jews. They lived in north London but in 1973, in response to the Yom Kippur war in the Middle East, they decided to emigrate.
He said: "I was going to work every day on the train with the news of all these young Israelis being killed, and everyone else was reading the sports pages. I realised that emotionally I could not live my life out here when Israel existed.
"I thought it was wrong if we did not make the effort to live there after 2,000 years of exile."
Mr Rosenfeld, who was an accountant when he left Britain, became minister at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in 1988.
"I felt that Britain was my home - the soccer and the cricket and the Telegraph in the morning - but when it came to the crunch, my personal loyalty was to Israel," he said.
There are 285,000 Jews living in Britain and an estimated 120,000 fly to Israel every year with the national airline, El Al.
For many who have been born and brought up in this country, their affinity with Israel is equal to their ties with Britain. It is a loyalty embedded in the religious scriptures and strengthened by the Holocaust, which forced the Jews to scatter during and after the Second World War.
For others, the allegiance has become diluted through the generations. Some refer to the fact that Israel is a more established state these days and less dependant on outside economic and moral support. Others express exasperation with the current Israeli government.
A recent survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that 81 per cent of Jews in Britain felt a strong or moderate attachment to Israel. The figure was higher among orthodox Jews - 98 per cent - but even secular Jews expressed some affinity with the country. Jane Tobin, 26, of Chalk Farm, north London, does not observe religious laws even though she was brought up in a traditional Jewish family.
Despite being non-religious, she has travelled to Israel seven times and said she feels a connection, though not one which overtakes her Britishness.
She said: "Israel is like a mirror to yourself. The historical side definitely has an effect but it's not so much to do with religion as to do with culture and tradition and pictures in your head going back to when you were five, sitting in Hebrew classes.
"I feel very British and I don't feel Israel is my homeland but I am fascinated by it and it feels very different going there from going to another foreign country."
Rabbi Yitchak Schochet, of Mill Hill Synagogue in north London, said the affinity of British Jews with Israel was particularly intense. The survey showed that 75 per cent of British Jews have been to Israel, compared to 37 per cent American Jews.
"The bond with Israel is so profound and intrinsic it's almost difficult to describe the level of patriotism towards the country," said Rabbi Schochet. "It's a fundamental part of the Jewish belief that in the end, all Jews at some point in history, will be reunited in Israel."
Loyalty to Britain is of a different nature, he said. "We can never lose sight of the fact that we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Great Britain and to various other countries for having, in effect, saved us and opened their doors in the war.
"When somebody invites you into their home and grants you refuge while you are homeless, you have immense gratitude. You will never lose sight of what you owe the people who took you in, but you will feel a stronger attachment to somewhere you can call your own home."
But Judith Vogel, who came to Britain as a child after fleeing from Nazi persecution in Poland in 1936, believes that loyalty can be divided. "I don't feel as if I'm staying in someone else's house," she said. "Britain is my country now - I'm naturalised English and I think other Jews feel the same way."
Mrs Vogel and her husband, Michael, have a son living in Israel, two children in Britain and 12 grandchildren.
They travel to Israel twice a year to see their son and said they would move there if the other children would move too.
Their strong attachment to Israel, which predates their son's emigration, is typical in their community. Mr Vogel said: "Most of our friends have children living there. Most of them take the majority of their holidays there. A lot of people have a second home there. We love England and we love Israel equally."
His wife added: "I certainly feel more Zionist because of the war. My parents brothers and sisters were all killed by the Nazis. We feel almost as at home in Israel as we do here."
Mr Rosenfeld said he perceived British allegiance to Israel waning: "I would say there is a feeling that they need to support Israel in times of crisis, that they like to holiday in Israel but I'm not sure it goes further than that.
"The political parties in Israel now are more in conflict with the views of Jews here. Many feel uncomfortable with Netanyahu. They feel he is too jingoistic."
Mr and Mrs Vogel echoed that view. "We were hoping for the peace process to proceed a little more quickly," said Mrs Vogel.
Mr Rosenfeld's four children, who live in Jerusalem, speak English and Hebrew and have lived briefly in Britain. Yet if they decided to move to this country permanently, it would break their father's heart.
"It would be a negation of everything I fought for," he said. "It was my battle to take my Jewish family back to the Holy Land."
