Podcast: The Guardian (UK) reviews the Jewish highs and lows of 2010

Sounds Jewish: December 2010
Jason Solomons is joined by Jonathan Freedland as he reviews the Jewish highs and lows of 2010

The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland joins Jason Solomons to look back at a year in which Jewish people took centre stage politically and culturally. Listen to it here.


Read highlights below.

Limmud: a great Jewish alternative to Christmas

Limmud: a great Jewish alternative to Christmas
Somewhere between a retreat and a festival, the Limmud conference shows how Judaism can remain creative and vibrant

Keith Kahn-Harris
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 29 December 2010 16.56 GMT

For the diaspora Jew, what to do over Christmas can be a taxing question. It's almost impossible to ignore the festival completely and it's a wonderful opportunity for rest and relaxation with family and friends. But how to avoid being compromised by the Christian connotations?

For a truly Jewish alternative to Christmas, the Limmud conference is as good as it gets. Taking place every year between Christmas and new year, this year's festive season sees Limmud's 30th anniversary conference, held at the University of Warwick. As much of UK stumbles tipsily between leftover turkey and the sales, 2,500 Jews of all ages from the UK and throughout the Jewish world will gather for a frenetic five-day festival of learning and playing.

Guardian: Jewish refugees must not be neglected in peace talk

Jewish refugees must not be neglected in peace talks
There are two sides to the refugee story, and the Israeli side is one of the best-kept secrets of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Danny Ayalon
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 22 December 2010 09.00 GMT

For a long time now, we have been wanting and waiting to sit down and talk. After all, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not short of talking points that need to be urgently resolved. Unfortunately, however, instead of both sides discussing the problems, the Palestinians seem more comfortable issuing demands.

One of the topics that we could discuss is refugees, what some describe in the familiar mantra as the "right of return". The slogan itself is, of course, a misnomer – a right is a legal function and must be grounded in law to have applicable force. Yet, as with so many of the cliches and familiar refrains surrounding the Middle East, there are two sides to the refugee story, with the Israeli side one of the best-kept secrets of the conflict.

WikiLeaks cables: Syria believed Israel was behind sniper killing

WikiLeaks cables: Syria believed Israel was behind sniper killing
Assassination of Syrian president's top security aide caused anxiety among the political elite, US embassy cables reveal

by Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 20 December 2010 21.30 GMT

It was late in the evening of 1 August 2008 in the Syrian coastal city of Tartous when the sniper fired the fatal shot. The target was General Muhammad Suleiman, President Bashar al-Assad's top security aide. Israelis, the US embassy in Damascus reported, were "the most obvious suspects" in the assassination.

US state department cables released by WikiLeaks trace the panicked response of the authorities. "Syrian security services quickly cordoned and searched the entire beach neighbourhood where the shooting had occurred," the embassy was informed. Syrian-based journalists were instructed not to report the story. It was a sensational event, akin to another mysterious assassination in Damascus earlier that year, when a car bomb killed Imad Mughniyeh, military chief of Hezbollah.

The job of chief rabbi isn't worth the hassle

The job of chief rabbi isn't worth the hassle
When Jonathan Sacks retires as Anglo-Jewry's chief rabbi, the role will need redefining
David Goldberg
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 20 December 2010 13.34 GMT

It was announced this week that Lord Sacks will be retiring as Orthodox chief rabbi – in three years' time. Why such long notice? Nowadays, all ambitious politicians and aspiring clerics (all of whom share many of the same characteristics, as Trollope's novels show) demonstrate their person-in-the-street credentials by declaring their lifelong passion for the local football team; in Jonathan Sacks' case, Arsenal.

It is surprising, therefore, that he didn't remember the lesson of the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who has said that the biggest mistake he ever made was to announce his going prematurely. Discipline wavered. Everyone relaxed and players got lippy. One told the press that he would still be there next year, the manager wouldn't. So when Fergie changed his mind, it must have given him particular pleasure to offload that player on to, erm, Arsenal.

Who should replace Jonathan Sacks as chief rabbi?

Who should replace Jonathan Sacks as chief rabbi?
It is an odd, many-layered job, and the kind of person a polarising Jewish community should choose is not at all obvious
Alexander Goldberg
guardian.co.uk,
Friday 17 December 2010 10.31 GMT

Lord Sacks, the chief rabbi, announced on Tuesday that he will be stepping down from his post in September 2013 after nearly a quarter of a century in the job. In the next few weeks and months there will be speculation about his successor and the meaning of the role in the 21st century.

What sort of candidate should the community be looking for? Is it more important to have a candidate that can speak to the outside world or one who can speak to disaffiliated Jews? Should the candidate seek to unite orthodox factions, reaching out to the strictly orthodox, or try to engage with reform and progressive movements? How about a great intellectual or academic? Will he be a reformer or a reactionary?