Involved & unafraid
Sir, - Rabbi Leslie Hardman's political involvement seems to have been overlooked in the tributes published by the Post's chief editor and letter writers (October 17 and 20).
He was a founding member of UK Herut in 1971, served as a life vice-president of the organization, and was very active in the Soviet Jewry campaign. I first met him during my emissary period to the Betar youth movement (1975-1977).
Rabbi Hardman was an involved clergyman, unafraid of the elitist ideological persuasions prevalent in British Jewish society. He stood up for Jewish rights in a forthright manner.
YISRAEL MEDAD
Shiloh
And I received this comment:
MEDIA EYE UK COMMENT -
IT TOOK US ONE LETTER TO THE POSTS CHIEF EDITOR AND AN ANGRY FRUSTRATING PHONE CALL TO DAVID HOROVITZ'S SECRETARY SEVERAL WEEKS AGO TO GET AN OBITUARY PUBLISHED (PENNED BY JENNY PAUL) AND AN ARTICLE BY THE EDITOR WHO WAS APPARENTLY FAR TO BUSY TO GET AROUND TO WRITING SOMETHING THAT HE INTENDED (ACCORDING TO HIS SECRETARY) - IT WAS SUGGESTED HE PICKED UP THE TIMES ON LINE OBITUARY AND MODIFIED IT - ONE HAD TO WAIT WELL OVER ONE WEEK BEFORE ANYTHING WAS PUBLISHED. BTW WE MENTIONED HIS ZIONIST ACTIVITIES TO HOROVITZ IN WRITING BUT HE CLEARLY WANTED TO PLAY THEM DOWN - A COPY OF THE LETTER TO HOROVITZ IS AVAILABLE ON DEMAND
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2 comments:
A couple of years ago, someone posted on the internet a sound recording of the first Shabbat services held for the survivors in the liberated Buchenwald concentration camp at the end of the Second World War. Rabbi Hardman conducted the service in his capacity as a chaplain with the British army forces which liberated the camp. At the end of the service, everyone sang "Hatikva". It was very moving. The web site also included a photo of Rabbi Hardman in his military uniform standing among the myriads of unburied bodies in the camp, saying Kaddish. Rabbi Hardman really saw with his own eyes the reality of the Jewish condition. This no doubt influenced his later Zionist activites. Y'hi Zichro Baruch.
Sorry, it was Bergen-Belsen, not Buchenwald that he entered.
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