On Monday 25 February 2002 the phone rang in my basement apartment in Kew Gardens Hills, a genuine shtetl in the borough of Queens, New York. The caller was Ned Temko, the then editor of the Jewish Chronicle.
Temko and I had had a turbulent relationship which had culminated, some five years previously, in my publishing (in Judaism Today) an exposé of the manner in which he'd handled the leaking of the now notorious four-page Hebrew letter that "Chief rabbi" Jonathan Sacks had written to dayan Chenoch Padwa, Av Beis Din of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, justifying his (Sacks') decision to speak at a public meeting called to eulogise the late Reform rabbi Hugo Gryn.
In the JC of 14 March 1997 Temko had published a translation of that letter, merely omitting (he claimed) "three passages of a personal nature which are not central to its meaning." My gast was flabbered. I had counted seventeen omissions. Whilst some were just quotations of biblical text, others were in fact of pivotal significance. In my Judaism Today article I highlighted these omissions and offered translations of the most heinous of them.
Temko was not pleased, and phoned me to say so. That was the last conversation he and I had prior to his February 2002 call.
He came straight to the point. His weekly columnist, Norman Lebrecht, was moving to the Evening Standard as its deputy editor. He needed someone to write the column that week. Could I oblige?
The column has a distinguished history
I did so. (It is, incidentally, a tribute to Temko's professionalism that he approached me that February, given the previous history of our relationship). And so I've been writing the weekly Comment column ever since. But this column, this week, is my last.
The column has a distinguished history. It originated in the 19th century, in paragraphs penned by "Nemo" – actually the Reverend A. L. Green of the Central Synagogue, London - the contents of which were characterised by (in Cecil Roth's words) "sly hits at the foibles" of communal leaders. This tradition was maintained by A. L. Greens' nephew, the eccentric A. A. Green (minister of the Hampstead Synagogue), who wrote under the pseudonym "Tatler."
After the second world w ar the editorship of the JC went to an irascible Mancunian, John Shaftesley. Though not afraid, on occasion, to question received wisdom, Shaftesley took care not to rock too many boats. In 1958 Shaftesley was superseded by a young lawyer, William Frankel. Under Frankel's editorship (1958 – 77) the JC's content was refocused onto the tensions and tribulations experienced by an Anglo-Jewish community that was fast becoming polarised, pluralized and dysfunctional - at times hilariously so.
To assist him in this task, Frankel recruited a dynamic team of experienced anti-establishment journalists, chief of whom was Chaim Bermant, the son of a rabbi and a master wordsmith. At first Bermant was but one of a number of skilled writers who contributed to the Chronicle's "Personal Opinion" column under the collective pseudonym "Ben Azai." Later Bermant was given his own column –- "On The Other Hand" - which he wrote under his own name. The column appeared weekly until Bermant's death in January 1998.
It's difficult to over-estimate Bermant's contribution both to the newspaper and to Anglo-Jewish journalism. As he himself wrote in 1994, whilst he did not "dabble in outrage" for its own sake, he hated "complacency and humbug." There was none in his column. And there were certainly no sacred cows.
In taking over and writing the column I've been given a completely free hand, both as to subject-matter and as to content. The subject-matter has generally been dictated by events of current concern. As to content, I have written to my strengths and within my limitations. The wit of Chaim Bermant was unique. I cannot emulate it and I've not attempted to. I have on occasion employed humour, sarcasm and irony. But I've always tried to be scrupulously accurate. Above all, I've presented a point of view that is unashamedly mine.
Last month the present editor emailed me to say that my column could only continue if it appeared fortnightly instead of weekly. I was presented with a fait accompli. I declined to be treated in this fashion. So my contract has come to an end.
Writing this column has been an absolute privilege. I've made the very occasional factual error. I've certainly made a better class of enemy. Above all, I've tried my best to leave no turn unstoned.
