The other day I spent a belly-laughing half hour with two of my oldest friends recording our Jewish Mother Me podcast. No, it’s not one of those worthy parenting podcasts about how to deal with wayward toddlers or wakeful babies. Ours is a parented podcast – since we celebrate the matriarchs that we and our guests, including many celebrities, have known. As such, our tagline is “Jewish mothers – should every home have one?” (and you most definitely don`t have to be Jewish). In this fractured, dispiriting and increasingly uncertain world, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone in your life to smother you with affection, feed you till you can’t speak and fight for you like a lioness?
All of which is done with warmth and humour – and after all, isn’t that the very essence of the Jewish condition? To find comfort or tell jokes in order to indemnify ourselves from the more blunt and unforgiving aspects of the world?
Podcasts like ours however are important for another reason too. They are a reminder that even in such bleak and depressing times for Jewish people not every aspect of our story has to be filtered through a lens of bias, prejudice and persecution.
Not that it isn’t a challenge to do that. Spiralling antisemitism as well as systemic Jew hatred infiltrating our institutions makes it different to do otherwise.Aggressive pro-Palestinian protests together, hateful rhetoric online and in public spaces can literally drown out the positive or uplifting aspects of Jewish life. Aspects we should so keenly share. Not out of desperation to try and make people like us. But because they are so likeable.
Despite the horrors of Israel`s ongoing war in Gaza, the seemingly endless agony and uncertain fate of the surviving hostages and growing global Jew hatred, we remain a thriving and colourful community.We should be proudly sharing this .
Jewish contribution to cultural life in areas such as theatre, food, literature and film is extraordinary. We have a calendar crammed with life enhancing festivals – not least the cheesecake calorie buster Shavuot looming on the horizon. When I share these details with non-Jewish friends and colleagues they are fascinated There`s a reason why the TV series Friday Night Dinner and the likes of comedian Jackie Mason were so popular. They brought – and, on repeat, still bring – joy. Little wonder that though some Jews cringed at the ITV docu-series Strictly Kosher to the non-Jewish community it was a great success. To the sound of a blowsy Klezmer clarinet it rhapsodised on the positives and joy of Jewish life in Manchester and had the critics kvelling.
There needs to be more of this. For if the only ‘Jews in the News’ stories across wider media relate to antisemitism then our victimhood becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Of course we need to keep the spotlight on the failings of the BBC or the antisemitism on campus. We have to expose bigotry and hypocrisy as well as hatred.
But equally, think of all the things we could be talking about too. On our podcast we cover generic subjects which we hope will appeal to everyone. Why everyone could find their life enhanced by a weekly Friday night dinner – even if you have to do it on a Wednesday. Don’t we all need time to switch off the phone and gather with friends or pals around a plate of chicken soup for lively conversation, hot debate (and more soup)? We’ve looked at subjects which can impact everyone such as how to solve a broiges. We even offer Jewish mother advice to Victoria Beckham about how to navigate the role of mother in law. Oy very!
Celebrity guests such as Howard Jacobson, Rob Rinder, Edwina Currie and Graham Gouldman shared personal recollections of Jewish mothers and grandmothers – their anecdotes creating a world of both fathomless colour and sometimes emotional chaos. These stories are a beautiful antidote to the sorrow of persecution across the diaspora
We need to tell more of these stories so that we remind ourselves and others that we are not defined by those who hate us. And that a community which has broadly followed similar traditions for thousands of years is uplifting and worthy of celebration. Let the world talk about for all the right reasons – since, like the Jewish mothers who came before us, we all have something to say.
