Community Relations Council

Thought for the Day, 1 September 2010

Leon Litvack

Tonight marks the start of a critical, month-long public consultation about the programme for Cohesion, Sharing, and Integration, which will affect the kind of society we wish to build here in the future. There has been talk about a ‘shared space’, ‘good relations’, ‘racial equality’, and ‘strong political leadership’; but for me there are a host of questions thrown up by this discussion: for example, how do we move towards a more united society, when ninety-five per cent of social housing is still segregated? Why don’t we have more integration and sharing between schools? How do we avoid the kind of clashes we saw this summer, one of which cost up to two million pounds a day in extra policing?

It’s almost as if we have two parallel worlds here, and there are huge social and economic costs involved in maintaining this illusion. We replicate public services, just so that neighbours from different backgrounds don’t have to use the same facilities. Circumstances tend to wed the two majority traditions to peace lines: this situation can lead to competition for resources, education, and jobs, in order to maintain a kind of ‘benign apartheid’. Think of how expensive this is, in these straitened times. Think of how much our society could benefit if we had the courage to live and work together.

I think about these things as we approach the holiest time in the Jewish calendar: the so-called ‘Days of Awe’, which begin next week with Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. We mark it by attending synagogue with our families; eating special foods, such as honey, in the hope that the coming year will be sweet; reciting a blessing over our children, in which we pray that God may shine the light of his countenance upon them. We also listen intently to the shrill, distinctive sound of the Shofar, or ram’s horn, which acts as a wake-up call to address how we can act kindly and generously towards our neighbours and friends. By tradition this festival also commemorates the birthday of the world, and the dawn of creation. In a series of steps God created a single world for all to live in; He endowed human beings with tremendous potential, and in our journey through this life we must try to rediscover our true selves, and be sensitive to our infinite possibilities.

We need to take a hard-edged – even courageous – look at how we develop our shared future here. This month we have a wake-up call, an opportunity to stretch ourselves and create a new world: a truly integrated, cohesive society, in which we can all proudly share.