Lawton, who is CEO of the Commonwealth Jewish Council and whose talks at Limmud were frequently packed, called on the community to resume “being Jewish people who have hope in the future”.
“Things have not changed forever. We have to find a way to get back out there and create the positive experiences that Jews can give to the world.”
He pointed out that Judaism was “life-orientated, not death orientated” and that Jewish law decreed that if a festival fell during the seven days after a death, the shiva [mourning period] had to stop. “People are celebrating, so who are you to sit in mourning when the function of Jews is to celebrate?”
He said that Jews did not spend a long time grieving collectively and that a yahrzeit – the commemoration of a deceased relative – only took place once a year.
“The Torah says: ‘Choose life.’ I fear that right now many Jews are disturbingly choosing death and must stop it.”
But he conceded that the “emotional intensity” of the hostage crisis was preventing global Jewry from moving forward from October 7. “We have to rapidly get back to a place where Jews feel good, but I don’t know if we can do it before the release of the hostages. Whenever we try to get back into balance, someone will say: ‘What about the hostages?’”
