2010 Van Der Zyl Lecture

Abstract

The arrival from Russia of the Borrensteins, the Myers and the Maccobys in England in the 1890s and their life in the East End of London. Anti-semitism at the turn of the century, the Aliens Act 1905, and the change of name from Borrenstein to Etherton. Chaim Zundel Maccoby, the Kammenitzer Maggid. Jewish identity, the Race Relations Act 1976, and the judgments of the Supreme Court in the JFS case. The author’s Jewish ethnic, cultural and historical links. The incorporeality of the Almighty. The maintenance of faith in the face of the advance of science and human knowledge. The author’s homosexuality and his Jewish faith. The idea of Britishness, commitment to the rule of law and parliamentary democracy. The relationship between religion and religious beliefs and the rule of law. The development in Britain of the right to individual liberty and personal dignity. The author’s sense of Britishness. His coat of arms and motto – hineini.