One of my favourite broadcasters was Rabbi Lionel Blue who was a regular on Radio 4’s ‘Thought for Today’. His insights entertained and inspired, attracting an audience which might otherwise be dismissive of any religious messaging. By doing so he achieved more than many people who speak about their faith.
Rabbi Blue was described by The Guardian newspaper as “one of the most respected religious figures in the UK”. He was also the first British rabbi come out publicly as homosexual.
I first discovered Lionel Blue on a camping holiday on the Isle of Wight when I bought a small book of his broadcast scripts. They made me laugh out loud. I now have several of his books, and I have used some of his messages in my work. He told about a man accidentally falling over a cliff edge. Catching the branch of a tree half way down, and realising that there was no one who could hear his calls for help, he decided to pray even though he was not religious. “If there is anyone up there, please help me,” he prayed. A voice came from the clouds saying: “Put your faith in me, let go of the branch, I will catch you in the palm of my hand and will carry you to safety.” He looked down and, seeing jagged rocks and an angry sea below, had his doubts about letting go of the branch. So he prayed again: “Is there anyone else up there?”
The purpose of repeating this story is because many of the people who seek help from BHT Sussex, the organisation I will continue to lead until January, may have no one else to turn to. It is why our staff are so dedicated, making sure that they do everything possible to support and represent our clients and tenants. Just last year, when 1,777 households turned to us for help when they were at risk of losing their homes, we were able to prevent them from becoming homeless.
As for Rabbi Blue, he had an early interest in Marxism. When at Oxford University he became close friends with my uncle, Colin, who later become a priest. Colin tried to convert Lionel to Christianity, while Lionel tried to convert Colin to Marxism. Seeds must have been sown as Lionel developed a lifelong fascination with Christianity while Colin became a Marxist as well as a Bishop in the Anglican Church.
In his autobiography, Hitchhiking to Heaven, Lionel wrote about hitchhiking with Colin to Jerusalem and how he experienced, first-hand, true Christian values. Lionel wrote: “He was the only Christian or non-Christian I knew who automatically shared his toothbrush with me when I lost mine. It never occurred to him to do otherwise. Not many religious or non-religious pass the toothbrush test!”
After Oxford, Lionel became a rabbi in London while Colin was ordained as a priest, serving in Eastbourne and then South Africa before becoming the Bishop of South West Africa (now Namibia). Years later, after Colin had been deported by the apartheid authorities from his diocese, he approached Lionel asking him to support a particular cause he was promoting. Sadly the two of them had both changed their outlooks. “Politically we had exchanged roles”, as Lionel wrote. They found little common ground at that meeting. “We were fighting different battles though under the same slogan, ‘Let my people go!’” They went their separate ways and never met again.
Lionel reflected in his autobiography that he had been sad to hear of Colin’s death at the early age of 53 shortly after their meeting and regretted that their friendship had not been rekindled.
For those involved in politics, as was Colin, it is so easy to neglect relationships and friendships. I know that I regret friendships I have lost through my own neglect, something I hope to rectify in retirement. Lionel, on the other hand, made and maintained lifelong friendships.
He said that in old age he learnt to listen. He still laughed and, as an entertainer, made other people laugh, but when he sat with someone who was dying, he had learned that he didn’t have to talk at all as, unlike many religious and political leaders, he knew he didn’t have to have all the answers. “Listening was just letting their hand lie loosely in mine, so that they knew I was with them and that they could drift away when they wanted.”
Sadly I never met Lionel but, having read his books, I regard him as a friend. He personified what is best about people who remain true to their beliefs, and he remains the perfect antidote to many of today’s religious and political leaders. His love and respect for ordinary people came before any cause. And he still makes me laugh.
Andy Winter's Blog 