wsn Pesach 2013

wsni ssue: 117

the magazine of Wembley SynagoguePesach 5773

the magazine of Wembley Synagogue wsn 2

The editor wishes to thank our contributors, advertisers, printers and everyone who has assisted in the production of this magazine, including: Helen Reisman, Phyllis Vangelder, Vivien Korn, David Fisher, and Sheila Games.

Wembley shul's website has now been going for a number of years and has provided the community and the world with useful information about us and our activities. It was

originally constructed and was maintained for years by Morris Wiseman. For a couple of years, Leigh Lewis took over the job of webmaster and kept the information up to date. When Leigh's family commitments became overwhelming Morris took over the task again with Leigh continuing to supply the times of services, which he also posts on the shul notice boards.

Both Morris and Leigh are IT professionals and, in the days when the website was first produced the technicalities of production were such that their skills were needed and it was difficult for a layman to construct a website or even to maintain the information. Things have moved on since then and there are now facilities available to construct a sophisticated website with far less technical knowledge. Another advantage is that the maintenance of the

information, particularly changing details such as events can be done simply by posting it on the site or, by people who have been given the authority, emailing it there. This makes it much easier for others to take over if the person doing the job is unable to continue for any reason. Another advantage is that people with smartphones and tablets can view the website more easily.

The decision was taken to look into what the shul needed from a website and how such a website could be put in place. In the meantime the existing website was cut right down to simply showing service times and the shul's address. We consulted with the United Synagogue IT manager, Mark Shear who recommended and demonstrated a package called WordPress which is used by several other US synagogues and by millions of other websites, worldwide. He also eased the initial task by setting up WordPress for us on the server that is used for the main United Synagogue and related websites. I was given password access to WordPress and it was now my turn. Building a very simple website is quite easy but there were several new concepts that I had to learn and take on board. When I lay out this magazine I use software (InDesign) that gives me amazingly precise control and access to a wide

Cover: If Not, Not, 1975, Oil and black chalk on canvas by R.B. Kitaj, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh © R.B. Kitaj Estate.c

Wembley's new website by David Simmons

Home page of new website on 10 February

continued on page 5

wsn Pesach issue - March 2013 3

inside your wsn...2 Wembley's new website David Simmons

4 Synagogue and communal directory

6 Report from the Executive Stuart Hart, Esther Gershuny,Charles Vitez

7 Financial Representative's report Charles Vitez

8 50th Anniversary of Yavneh Primary School Myrna Glass

10 You’re in the army now! Harvey Pollins

11 Obituary – Col Hyman Brenda Hyman

12 Chief Rabbi’s Pesach message 5773

13 Message from our rabbi, Pesach 5773 Rabbi Simon Harris

Rose Friedentag - Maureen Rose remembers

14 What's in a name? adapted by David Simmons

16 Not 'just' chair of the Ladies Guild, Maureen Rose and her millions of buttons

Letters

17 Brent Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day Ziggy Reisman

Wembley's ex - Rabbi Fine announces his retirement

18 Mazal tovs

19 Jewish Museum – RB Kitaj exhibition

20 Carpet bowling morning, WIZO quiz@home, PBL WIZO, Friendship Club, Palm Court tea, Ladies Guild autumn luncheon, Wembley still cares

22 Belmonte Beautiful Mountain David Simmons

24 The men in hard hats, how we built the succah photos by David Simmons

26 Major event for Wembley Shul – Chief Rabbi's visit

Hospital kosher meals service

27 Editor's page

28 Fresh Faces, Fresh Places Jeremy Jacobs

29 Memories of cheder Ian Kay

30 Tombstone consecrations 2013

31 US Community (really) cares Vivien Freeman

32 Post-Holocaust Philosophy essay by Richard Gordon

34 connect@kenton


wsnthe magazine of Wembley Synagogue

formerly Wembley Synagogue News

Pesach 5773 - March 2013 Issue: 117

Synagogue and communal directoryWembley Synagogue Forty Avenue, Wembley HA9 8JW tel : 020 8904 6565email: [email protected] : www.wembleysynagogue.org.ukAdministrator: Mrs Elaine WeinerOffice hours: Sunday & Thursday 10.30 am to 12.30 pm excluding first Sunday of month Rabbi: Rabbi Simon HarrisChair Stuart HartVice-chair Esther GershunyFinancial Representative: Charles VitezBoard of Management: Edith Andresier David Druce Vivien Freeman Alison Friend Jack Friend Helen Reisman Eve Willman Hillier Wise Morris Wiseman David Zelinex officio Issack CohenRepresentative on Board of Deputies: Leila CumberMembers of United Synagogue Council: Esther Gershuny, Stuart Hart Ladies’ Guild: Maureen Rose; Minyan: Manny BergEducation: Esther Gershuny and Issack CohenSecurity: Martin Kirsch; SEED One to One: Ray FeatherWelfare: Vivien Freeman and Helen ReismanFriendship Club: Clarice Ofstein; SMILE: Joel Carmel

Contact for any of the above is through the synagogue office

United Synagogue: 305 Ballards Lane London N12 8GB; tel: 020 8343 8989; email: [email protected]; website: www.theus.org.uk TRIBE 305 Ballards Lane, London N12 8GB 020 8343 5656, [email protected], www.tribeuk.com

Community telephone numbersOffice of Chief Rabbi 020 8343 6301Kashrus Division of London Beth Din 020 8343 6255London Beth Din 020 8343 6270Initiation Society (Brit Milah) 020 8203 1352Board of Deputies of British Jews 020 7543 5400Agency for Jewish Education 020 8457 9700AJEX 020 8202 2323JNF 020 8732 6100UJIA 020 7424 6400Jewish Care 020 8922 2000Jewish Blind & Disabled 020 8371 6611Jewish Assoc'n for Mentally Ill ( JAMI) 020 8458 2223Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service 020 8457 9710Jewish Deaf Association 020 8446 0502Israeli Embassy 020 7957 9500Community Security Trust (CST) 020 8457 9999CST Emergency 24 hr pager 0800 980 0668Terrorist Hotline 0800 789 321Childline 0800 1111Women’s Aid Helpline 0808 2000 247 Jewish Women’s Aid Helpline 0800 591 203Jewish Helpline (Miyad) 0800 652 9249Chai Cancer Care Helpline 0808 808 4567Chabad Drugsline 0808 160 6606Jewish Marriage Council 020 8203 6311Jewish Chronicle 020 7415 1500The Jewish News 020 7692 6929Jewish Tribune 020 8458 9988Hamodia 020 8442 7777Belmont Synagogue 020 8426 0104Kenton Synagogue 020 8907 5959Kingsbury Synagogue 020 8204 8089Neve Shalom Synagogue 020 8427 0613Wembley Sephardi Synagogue 020 8904 9912London Borough of Brent 020 8937 1234Citizens Advice Bureau 020 8451 7817Raphael - Jewish Counselling Service 0800 234 6236

wsn (Wembley Synagogue News) Editor: David Simmons - email: [email protected]; Advertising: David Fisher - tel: 020 8907 5410wsn is published by Wembley Synagogue, Forty Avenue, Wembley HA9 8JW and printed by City Printers, 171 Hornsey Road, London N7 6RAArticles should preferably be submitted by email as a document attachment in *.doc format; otherwise please hand in to the synagogue office, marked WSN. Photographs are always welcome. All articles are accepted subject to inclusion and editing at the editor’s discretion. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the current policies or practices of Wembley Synagogue. All photos and articles are the copyright of the author of the article unless otherwise indicated. Wembley Synagogue is a member synagogue and part of the United Synagogue, a charity registered in England, Charity No: 242552

PLEASE NOTE - NEW EMAIL ADDRESS

and WEBSITE

The shul has a new email address :

[email protected]

and a new website:

www. wembleysynagogue.org.uk


range of fonts, sizes, colours and the ability to crop and resize photos and place them anywhere on the page. It was quite a shock to find that the basic WordPress package didn't allow me to do any of these things. But, it does have a huge variety of templates (it calls them themes) with many different layouts and colours and the ability to place text and photos in specific places. In practice, this works well. We had decided that the appearance should be very simple so I chose the plainest theme and was soon able to add some colour to the text where it was appropriate.

The initial website is up and running Please take a look at www.wembleysynagogue.org.uk – it's the same address as the old website with the addition of .uk at the end We'd love you to let us know what you think. You can use the contact section on the site. When you use the contact form you'll have to give your email address. If we haven't already got it we would like to add it to our records and circulation list. Please say if you do not wish this to happen.

Finally, we should recognise with

gratitude the contribution that was made by Morris in building and maintaining our first website for such a long time and by Leigh in running it for two years and keeping everyone informed of the service times. Leigh will continue to supply the service times to the new website; Marc Rose will update all the information; Esther Gershuny will have oversight on behalf of the executive and, for the time being, I will continue to add pages and facilities as necessary.

HELP REQUESTEDThe synagogue office has lost touch with Mrs Vivienne Posner. The last address we have is 28 Carmel Court, Kings Drive, Wembley, HA9 9JE. If anyone knows where she has moved to or can help us make contact with her, we would be grateful if they would contact the shul office. (020 8904 6565)

continued from page 2


Since we last met

This Executive Report for wsn starts where the last one left off, just before Rosh Hashanah.

We were delighted to welcome back Chazan Anthony Wolfson who led our services on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Shmini Atzeret / Simchat Torah. His return met with wide praise and appreciation from the community, and we are looking forward to his officiating again this year over the High Holydays.

Rosh Hashanah also brought us Zak Benarroche to blow the shofar and daven shacharit. Our compliments go to Zak for a splendid debut, and we are very happy that he will be joining us again this year. We send our thanks to Danny Brill for blowing the shofar for us with great distinction over many years, and wish him well for his studies in New York.

Since the Chagim the main burden of leading services on Shabbat and Yomtov has fallen on Rabbi Harris. We offer our thanks to him for the focus and musicality that he brings to both davenning and leyning. And we thank also David Druce and the choir for enriching our shul services.

In spite of our decreasing numbers we are managing to maintain a wide range of activities. This success is due to the hard work of the individuals who organise them, coupled with the unfailing enthusiasm of our members. This is a cause for pride.

On the Education front, Rabbi Harris’s shiurim after Shabbat mincha provide serious intellectual nourishment, while Joel Carmel’s excellent SMILE shiur continues every Thursday morning, and Ray Feather and a group of enthusiasts maintain the momentum of SEED 1-to-1 on Monday evenings after ma’ariv. Meanwhile the combined Kenton, Kingsbury and Kenton (KKW) Monday programme

offers talks to satisfy a wide range of interests.

Welfare continues to be a priority. Our Rabbi is key to this work on a day-to-day basis, supported by the Rebbetsin, Vivien Freeman and Helen Reisman. The Friendship Club, meeting every Tuesday afternoon, also makes a huge contribution to the well-being of our elderly members, under the leadership of Clarice Ofstein.

We are as ever hugely grateful to the Ladies Guild for the kiddushim with which they sustain us after Shabbat and Yomtov services, and especially for their efforts in beautifying the shul Succah and preparing six kiddushim over nine days. They also organised a most enjoyable and well-attended luncheon during November, which as ever attracted back many of our ex-members. Thanks are also due to the members of the coffee kiddush rota for providing tea and biscuits when there isn’t a full kiddush, so as to enable our members to schmooze after shul.

The Wembley Link Committee led by Brenda Hyman and Edith Andresier continues to provide entertainment for the community with fund-raising and social activities. The indoor bowling event last September was perhaps the most spectacular success, tempting into action even those people who came only to watch. Since then we have also enjoyed a 'Palm Court Tea' in December, and fun and games at Purim.

Those of you who are ‘connected’ will already be aware that the shul has a new website and web address www.wembleysynagogue.org.uk (along with a new email address: [email protected]). All the design and implementation has been done by David Simmons, to whom we extend our thanks. Please visit it and let us know what you think; comments are very welcome (especially if positive) as are any suggestions for improving it. We also offer thanks and appreciation

to Morris Wiseman for his dedication in developing and maintaining the previous website over more than a decade.

In addition to those who organise our shul activities, we wish to thank all those others who support them in different ways. Particular thanks go to our dedicated administrator Elaine Weiner, and to our security officer, Martin Kirsch, with his colleagues, Marc Rose and Edith Andresier and all those members who serve on the security rota. We are also most grateful to our cleaners, Anthony and Devon, who in addition to their normal duties have covered for the absence of a caretaker since Andrew left us last September.

Work in progress We are delighted to announce

that the Chief Rabbi has accepted an invitation to visit Wembley shul on the morning of Sunday April 14th. The Ladies Guild and Wembley Link are jointly arranging a brunch – with an Israeli theme, as this falls just before Yom Ha’Atzmaut.

First steps have been taken towards creating an area for ladies’ seating downstairs in the main shul. Two possible designs are under consideration, both for the rear right hand block, and both providing about 50 seats. The aim is not to displace ladies from the gallery, but to provide an attractive alternative for those who find the stairs problematic, or who just want a new perspective on services. At the time of writing drawings of both schemes are being prepared, and by the time you read this we hope to have obtained cost estimates and be in a position to select between the two options.

Where are we goingAs for the future, the executive

sees two main issues which need to be addressed; one concerns the shul building and the other relates to the community itself.

Report from the executiveStuart Hart, Esther Gershuny and Charles Vitez

continued opposite :


First, it is becoming clear to many who attend Shabbat services that the main shul is now too large for us. It’s partly just a question of numbers, but there is also a widely-held perception that we rattle around in a space that our voices and the atmosphere we generate can no longer fill. Moreover, critical parts of the building infrastructure – most notably the oil boilers – are not capable of being kept in service for much longer. All in all therefore we have a space that no longer meets the community’s needs, and is in addition too expensive to clean and heat, and likely to become unmaintainable.

Making provision for ladies to sit downstairs may in part address the former problem by bringing a larger number of people into the ground floor of the shul, but it cannot help with the practical issues.

And therefore we need to be looking for possible ways to create a space that suits our community’s needs, while at the same time recognising the community’s attachment to our beautiful building. A small group has recently started looking into possible alternatives, and the executive hope to be in a position to report progress at the AGM in April.

Second, a community is only as good as its volunteers. Wembley has always

been and continues to be fortunate in the range of talent, expertise and commitment that its members bring to the community. But as numbers go down, the community is placing ever-increasing reliance on an ever-smaller number of people for maintaining essential services. It has got to the point that some important tasks are now no longer getting done because there aren’t enough people to do them. Existing volunteers are stretched to the limit, and prioritisation suffers. The executive are grateful to all those who contribute, and we welcome in particular those who have recently started volunteering by coming to minyan, helping with the elderly, sick or house-bound, supporting our communal events, or reading the occasional haphtorah. But the community needs still more, and for preference it needs those who aren’t yet actively involved to offer their help.

Some examples are:

• The daily minyan urgently needs more support if it is to survive. At present it is experiencing difficulties both for morning and evening services, and this is particularly sad when there are people who wish to say kaddish. Gentlemen, you can help by coming regularly, even if just once a week, or by putting your name on the list of those who are

willing to be called at short notice, whether mornings or evenings or both.

• The welfare committee always needs more volunteers. At present we have to prioritise our time and energies in favour of those who have no relatives living nearby. This means that we may sometimes fail others who need us and who have a right to expect our care and support.

• Shabbat and Yomtov services need more involvement. At present there are fewer than 20 gentlemen who read a haphtorah, and a mere handful who daven or do hagba. If you can do any of these, or would like to learn, we want to hear from you. Training can be provided.

• The shul needs a publicity and communications officer, both to support communications within the community and also to maintain Wembley Synagogue’s image in a wider forum, for example on the US website.

These are just a few examples. If you can help, please give your contact details to the shul office.

With our very best wishes for Pesach to you and your families. Stuart Hart (Chairman)Esther Gershuny (Vice-Chairman)Charles Vitez (Financial Representative)

Financial Representative’s Report

At the last moment the FR has instructed the editor to withdraw his report as he was not willing to allow any editorial reference to it or comment on it. Members should attend the AGM to see the report and question the FR on any aspect of it.


50th Anniversary of Yavneh Primary School

Myrna Glass, former head teacher of Wembley's Yavneh Primary School writes ...

In January 1963. Rabbi Myer Berman, together with others in the Wembley community, felt that there should be a Jewish Day School in the area, so January was the 50th anniversary of its inception in Wembley Synagogue. Although it had

been expected that a new school would be built within three to five years, it took 18 years until the Michael Sobel Sinai School opened its doors in September 1981, finally making Yavneh obsolete.

During its existence Yavneh achieved many things. Although it was a tiny school, it aimed to give its pupils all the experiences a

larger school could provide. In addition to the Jewish Studies, we had to make sure that our secular education was as good as, if not better than, any other Primary School in the area. This meant that in addition to the 3 ‘R’s, all aspects of Nature/Science, Art, Music and Physical Activities were included.

Since accommodation in the Synagogue was limited, we used King Edward’s Park for football, netball, rounders and sports day. Our choir, under the direction of Sheila Games, participated in many JNF Choirs’ Concerts and in events at Brent Town Hall and Wembley Conference Centre. We had an Annual Summer Fair, where pupils manned the stalls, giving them the opportunity to raise funds for much-needed equipment in the school, as well as using their maths skills! Nor was the hidden curriculum neglected. We wanted each of our pupils to be a “mensch”, and therefore two more ‘R’s – Memory and Responsibility – were also on our agenda.

More than 30 years have passed since Sinai School opened its doors, and now many former pupils have their own sons and daughters attending the Jewish Primary School that so many of us worked so hard to establish.

We are hoping to publish a Yavneh Primary School, Wembley 50th Anniversary Book. To that end, all those connected with the school - former pupils, parents, staff, governors etc. - reading this article are invited to send information about what has happened to them – subsequent education, careers, marriage, etc., where they are, and what they are doing now, in addition to any memories or stories they may have concerning Yavneh. Finally, please pass this on to any other relevant person, to help us contact everyone who had a connection with the school.

Please send information to [email protected] or Mrs. M.L.Glass, 61

Oakington Avenue, Wembley Park, HA9 8HX.

_chanucah party 64_0001.jpg

Goodbye Yavneh, July 1981

Chanukah party 1964

Chanukah party 1964


Yavneh MemoriesWho can YOU recognise?

... tell Myrna

December 1963 School staff July 1981

Summer fair 1978

Choir at JEDT dinner, October 1979Chief Rabbi visit, June 1970

Chanukah 1976


You’re in the army now!National Service, 1958 - Part 2

by Harvey Pollins

Har

vey

in b

asic

trai

ning

, 195

8

In the first part of this story I wrote about basic training in Catterick Camp, Yorkshire. During training I was interviewed by the personnel

selection officer who would decide what my job would be for the rest of my military service. He asked me to hold up my hands and splay my fingers, then said, “Just right for a teleprinter operator”. When I told him that, in civvy street, I had been working and studying electronic engineering he proposed I try to get into the Royal Signals technical regiment. I passed the entrance exam and was transferred to a technician regiment.

Upon arrival I was told that the next training course wasn’t starting for a couple of months. The army abhors soldiers standing around with nothing to do so I was given the glorious task of stoking 10 extremely large coke burning boilers for two months. I told the officer in charge that I suffered from severe bronchitis when I was younger, but he didn’t want to know. These boilers provided heat for the whole regiment, so if one of the boilers went out during the day or night I was going to be put on a charge!

The regiment was located on the Yorkshire moors. It was November 1958 - plenty of deep snow and extremely cold. To add insult to injury, the wheel-barrow I was given had only one leg, which made it very difficult to fill it up with coke. I did a lot of walking and shlapping in those two months. However I survived, and started on a training course.

Life in this regiment was quite pleasant. Virtually all the National Service guys on my course had some form of professional qualification or a degree. The 32-week, five days a week

course was excellent. Every Friday morning you had to sit a one-hour written exam, if you failed more than a couple of times you were taken off the course and sent to a non-technician regiment. Every Thursday night the NAFFI was packed with solders cramming for the exam the following morning. I successfully completed the course. At that point I could have been posted anywhere in the world but I wanted to stay in the UK so that I could get home most weekends and do gigs. I told them I wanted to become a lecturer, so I was sent on a three-week upgrade course and this was followed with another four-week course on how to lecture. At the end of each course there was a written exam. By the time I started a proper lecturing job I had been in the army for over a year.

Once you became a lecturer you were automatically promoted to the rank of lance corporal. As a result you were given further military training such as map reading, drilling a group of soldiers (square bashing) etc. You were also sent on initiative tests. One of these took place overnight on the Yorkshire moors in December 1959. Before we left camp we were told to take food, drink and be in full battle dress. We were formed into groups of four and were dropped off at different locations in the late afternoon. One of my group said he had done some outward bound type activity, another said he had been in the scouts. The third was as clueless as me but I was relaxed as we had guys with 'relevant experience'.

Each group was given tasks to perform and a map that was marked with the point where they were dropped off and the point where all the groups were to meet by 2.00 am. It was stressed that if any group was not there by the

arranged time, a circulating searchlight beam would be seen in the sky to guide them to the meeting point. In those days we weren’t even given walkie-talkies.

Once evening set in we realised

that we should have brought torches with us - there are no street lights on the moors - so we had to work with feeble moonlight. Whilst others in the group were completing the required tasks I looked for a place out of the wind where we could sit, eat and take a nap; by now it was about 11 pm. After eating, we all decided to have a quick nap before going to the meeting point. After lying down for a short time we noticed a strange strong smell - we were sleeping on a dung heap. I had thought the ground was remarkably soft! When we started making our way back, the so-called experienced members of the group admitted they didn’t know where we were, so we stayed put and waited for an hour or two for the searchlight to appear - we were the only group to need it.

One of my initiative tests was to complete certain tasks around the country in one weekend, spending 10 shillings or less. I had to be back in camp on the Monday morning by 9.00 am. I genuinely wanted to try and complete the tasks without cheating. I was dropped off at Scotch Corner, Yorkshire, on early Friday afternoon. My first task was to get to Forfar, in Scotland. In those days if you were

The Forfar tie pin


wearing military uniform, hitching was easy. I arrived early the next morning and went into a bakery and explained what I was doing. The owner found out I hadn’t eaten and to my amazement took me to his home and gave me a large breakfast. He also bought me a tie clip with the inscription Forfar to prove I had been there and I still have it. The next task mentioned Nelson so I went off to Nelson in Lancashire. When I got there, I realised I had misinterpreted the task. It was referring to Lord Nelson’s ship docked in Portsmouth so I decided to go to Portsmouth the next day. In the meantime I needed to eat and find a place to sleep overnight. I went into a large factory and told them I was on an initiative test. Someone said that I could have a meal in the canteen and could sleep in the company’s medical room. After eating I was taken on a guided tour around the company. When I was told what they manufactured I must have turned bright red. The company’s name was Southalls!

National Service was one of the best things that could have happened to me at that time including a life changing meeting. I will explain further in Part 3, if I am allowed to!

Vivian Colman Hyman (Vivian professionally and Col to family and friends) was born within the sound of Bow Bells,

a bona-fide Cockney.He lived with his parents and his

brother, Basil, on Finchley Road, Hampstead. His sister, Henrietta, arrived three years later. His first school was the Hall School in Hampstead, but his time there was brought to an abrupt end when war broke out. At first he and his siblings, in company with huge numbers of other children, were evacuated to the country, leaving their parents in London, but his mother became extremely worried by stories of the poor treatment the evacuees

were receiving and decided they would be brought home immediately. From then on, the three children and their mother wandered all round the country looking for a safe haven, which would also offer her a chance to make a living - her husband was an ARP warden for the entire period of the war, earning practically nothing and rarely home.

As a result of this, Col attended more than 20 primary schools. When they finally settled in Blackpool for the last four years of the war they lived in rented rooms, still moving from place to place and Col attended 12 schools in one year. Finally, he became a pupil at the Bethesda Jewish School which had transferred from London to Blackpool. Chaim Lipshitz and Miss Brodetsky were the only two teachers. From there he won a scholarship to King Edward VII School. On returning to London, in 1948 he completed his schooling at Kilburn Grammar School in Brondesbury.

Col had wanted to be a Doctor from the age of nine, never wavering in his ambition. He knew that he would be drafted for National Service in the occupation army in Germany and applied for early call up (April 1949), hoping that he would then start medical school in September 1950. He became a soldier in the Royal Sussex Regiment then a military policeman. After demob, he got a job working as a lab technician whilst waiting to be accepted for medical studies. Finally, he began his first MB course at the Northern Polytechnic and then at Westminster Hospital, where he gained his degree in 1959.

His first job was as locum obstetrician at St Stephen`s Hospital. Then on to King George Hospital in Ilford where he held positions as house surgeon, house physician and senior house officer in obstetrics and gynaecology. Despite being offered other positions there, he decided it was time that he moved into his chosen field of general practice,

working first as an assistant to a practice in Tottenham, then doing further locum work for six months.

Finally, in 1962, he and his brother were awarded the practice in Wembley, which they combined with their other surgeries in Cricklewood and Harlesden. As the practice in Wembley grew, they decided to withdraw from Cricklewood and, eventually, Harlesden - the latter happening only after Basil had emigrated to the USA.

For over 40 years Col was a dedicated general practitioner, caring for his patients throughout their entire life span. He felt that an involvement in their lives was often as important as treating their medical problems, never turning away anyone who needed his help.

After he retired, he turned to his numerous hobbies and pursuits. As a knowledgeable numismatist, he relished spending time researching and learning about ancient coins. He loved carving and began producing wonderful mezzuzot for family and friends. He was an ardent sports fan and a committed Zionist. He was a man of curiosity, intellect and intelligence, constantly seeking out new facts and information which he used for research, writing on many subjects - including biblical and Israeli ones. He felt privileged to be a part of the Wembley Community which he felt to be a particularly special congregation and enjoyed attending services and participating in events.

For his wife, Brenda, and family, he was truly their rock, their inspiration and their role model. His humour and kindness were ever apparent. He loved deeply and was deeply loved in return. Dr VC Hyman, MB, BSc 1931 - 2012

Obituary – Col Hyman by Brenda Hyman


CHIEF RABBI’S PESACH MESSAGE 5773

The Seder opens with a strange declaration: “This is the bread of affliction our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungrycome and eat.” What kind of generosity is it to invite strangers to eat the bread of affliction?

In my Haggadah I offered a radical interpretation. We find that in the course of the seder two conflicting interpretations are given of matzah. At the beginning, it is called the bread of affliction, the food of slaves. Later, however, we speak of it as the bread of freedom that our ancestors ate as they were leaving Egypt in such a hurry that there was no time for the dough to rise.

How does affliction turn into freedom? When we share our bread with others. I learned this from the harrowing account of the last days of the Second World War by one of the survivors of Auschwitz, Primo Levi. Levi writes in If This is a Man, that the hardest time was the ten days between the evacuation of the camp by the Nazis and the arrival of the Russian army.

The only people left in the camp were prisoners deemed too ill to take part in the 'death march' as the Germans left. It was bitterly cold, mid-January. There was no electricity, no heat, and no meals. Levi and a friend were digging desperately in the frozen earth, trying to find vegetables, when they were observed by a fellow prisoner who invited them to share the food he had found.

At that moment, writes Levi, we ceased being prisoners and became free human beings again. As long as the Nazis were in power, it was suicidal to share your food with a fellow prisoner. You would starve. This first act of generosity, of empathy and altruism, was the sign that the survivors had recovered their humanity. When we share our bread with others, it ceases to be the bread of affliction and becomes the bread of freedom.

We are, thankfully, a very long way from that particular Egypt, but the principle remains. There are Jews and non-Jews today who live in poverty, in Britain, in Israel and elsewhere. Let us do what we can to help them. In the last month of his life Moses warned the Israelites – children of the people he had led to freedom – that the biggest challenge they would face would be not poverty but affluence, not affliction but freedom.

When we are affluent we tend to forget about others. Affluent societies throughout history have tended to become self-centred and individualistic. People lose the sense of solidarity they had when they and their friends and neighbours were poor. The Jewish answer to this has always been tzedakah, giving to others, and hachnassat orchim, hospitality to others.

So, before Pesach, the custom was to give ma’ot chittim, money to those who lacked it, so that they could buy the requisites for the Seder meal. I can still remember from my childhood how my late grandmother, who ran the Frumkin’s wine shop in London’s Commercial Road, would give away free bottles of wine to all needy Jews in the East End so that they and their families would have their four cups for Seder night.

Please this year make sure that you give tzedakah to those in need. The move from affliction to freedom begins in the act of sharing our blessings with those who have less than us.

This is the last year that I will write a Pesach message as Chief Rabbi. The words I most want to say are simple thanks for the privilege of serving this great community these past twenty-two years. In that time Jewish life has been renewed in ways none of us thought possible. There are more Jewish schools, more Jewish learning, more cultural activities and outstanding welfare facilities than have ever existed in British Jewry since the return of Jewish life in 1656.

As I wish my distinguished successor, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, every blessing, I want to thank you for all you have done to bring about this renaissance. May our children and grandchildren go further still, and may our re-invigorated community bring blessings to all its members and nachat ruach, delight, to Heaven itself.

Wishing you all a chag kasher vesameach.

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks


Message from our rabbi Pesach 5773

The Torah is a treasure trove of sacred paradigmatic tales. 'Tales' is not a negative designation. The story is possibly the most

powerful medium for conveying truth. And the Torah is just that: a repository of truth. That is why it is repeatedly referred to as Torat Emet – the 'Torah of Truth'.

The two most frequently invoked motifs in our liturgy are those of the Creation and the Exodus. They were, and continue to be, the defining watersheds in the overall scheme of things. The world was created in order that a particular family, the progeny of Abraham, would be incarcerated in the house of bondage and emerge from there as free men.

Ma’aseh avot siman labanim – 'Whatever occurred to our ancestors is a sign to us their children.' Whatever took place on the macro-scale is similarly applicable on the micro-scale. The world was created in such a way that we are constantly being faced with nisyonot – 'trials'.

The most severe trial of all was the going down into Egypt. Mystical literature has it that there are fifty gates of impurity and we almost slid into the mire behind the last. The flip side of this spectacular plummet into near death as a faith community is that having reached that nadir we burrowed our way back to the zenith and some few short weeks after our exodus from Egypt we were standing at the foot of Sinai receiving the Torah, the font of all holiness, from God.

Our local community, our beloved Wembley Shul, is going through nisyonot . We have a contracting elderly membership and therefore don’t enjoy the income we used to receive. However, we remain about 425 individual Jews: every single one a gem. Our community

is rich in characters and thinking people. We could, if we would bind together in friendship and purpose, have a meaningful future: a pleasant, uplifting shul culture.

We are not languishing in the wicked Egyptian house of bondage. Although many of our members are housebound, to make them feel connected to the collective whole, we all need to shoulder the burden of reaching out to them: either by telephone calls, emails, or house visits. We have a small but highly functional welfare committee but anyone wishing to constructively augment its stirling work would be blessed for such an endeavour. You don’t need an official position to call someone in the community to enquire how are you?

One of the mistakes we all make is that we are active only within our own small group of immediate contacts. If this community is to enjoy a viable future we have to close ranks, banish any trace of cliquishness, and unify in the face of the apparently adverse statistics. Anything is achievable where there is good will; very little can be done where trust and co-operation are not rock solid.

I believe in this community, and hold every contributing member in the highest regard. We need to foster a breakout of unbridled optimism. We need to look forwards and not backwards. We can leave the makom tzar – the 'narrow place', exemplified by the biblical Egypt, and emerge once more as free people: the masters and mistresses of our own communal destiny. But we can only do this together. The Israelites were forged into a nation in far more trying circumstances. Come on Wembley!

Unity achieved in the face of adversity

Rose FriedentagMaureen Rose, chair of Wembley's Ladies Guild, remembers a close friend and colleague

It was with great sadness while on holiday in Israel that I learnt of the passing away of my very dear friend and colleague Rose Friedentag.

Rose had been the secretary of Wembley Synagogue for over 18 years when the shul had some 1500 members. She was also the longest serving chairman of the Ladies Guild and an extremely capable lady. Rose was well known for her love of clothes and especially her hats, of which she had many.

Guild meetings in her home were always a pleasure as she was a remarkable baker and, together with her late husband Taggy, they chaired the youth aid committee, which supported the very thriving Wembley Jewish Youth Club.

When Rose retired from the shul office, staying home was not an option; she became the receptionist for a Harley street dentist, and worked there until the dentist retired.

For me personally I have lost a dear friend someone I could always call upon when I needed advice on guild matters. She was instrumental in my becoming a member of the guild.

On behalf of the Ladies Guild may I take this opportunity of wishing her daughter Susan, her sister Lily, son-in-law John, the grandchildren and the light of her life, her great granddaughter, a future full of good health, much happiness and good memories.

She will be much missed.

AGMThe AGM is on 29th April. Please come along and find out what's going on at your shul


A chance email from a friend which gave the derivation of many frequently seen Jewish names led me to an extensive

article on the Internet on the site of the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe entitled simply, Names and Naming.* It was fascinating and I wanted to bring it to the attention of wsn readers. As there is too much material for a single article, I have split it over two issues. Impatient readers can look for themselves on the internet – see the citation at the bottom of the page.

Part 1

Jews have historically used Hebrew names based on the given name of one's father (patronymic). Some

Sephardic Jews include the names of the grandfather or an even earlier male ancestors. It is a means of conveying lineage. In the Jewish patronymic system the first name is followed by either ben- or bat- ('son of ' or 'daughter of '), and then the father's name. (The Aramaic, bar- is also sometimes seen.) Permanent family surnames exist today but although they gained popularity among Sephardic Jews in Iberia and elsewhere as early as the 10th or 11th century they did not spread widely to the Ashkenazi Jews of Germany or Eastern Europe until the 18th and 19th century, where the adoption of German surnames was imposed in exchange for Jewish emancipation. Although Ashkenazi Jews now use European or modern-Hebrew surnames for everyday life, the Hebrew patronymic form is still used in Jewish religious and cultural life, in synagogue and in documents in Jewish law such as the ketubah.

When we consider the names used by Jews in Eastern Europe it is useful to separate the discussion of personal

names from that of family names. Indeed, personal names represent an organic part of Jewish culture; their corpus developed over the centuries in a natural way, inside the community, but with a very few exceptions, the family names were invented during a short period of time, around the turn of the 19th century. Their adoption was forced by state authorities. Until the beginning of the 20th century, in numerous communities family names were marginal for Jewish self-consciousness.

Personal Names

Sources from the 13th through the 16th centuries show that in various parts of Eastern Europe,

Jews principally bore biblical and post-biblical Hebrew names, while other names originated in Jewish communities of western German lands and Austria. Names of Slavic origin were not unusual in Bohemia–Moravia (where all names were of Czech origin) and in the area of Lwów and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (where they were mainly of Ukrainian and Belorussian origin). It was only at the end of the 16th century that a large homogenization, or Yiddishising of Jewish names took place across Eastern Europe. It was characterized by the following variations: • Ashkenazi forms of biblical names:

Moyshe (Moses), Itskhok (Isaac), Ya(n)kev ( Jacob), Sore (Sara) and Rokhl (Rachel).

(At the end of the 1600s, the phonetic shift in the Yiddish dialects spoken in Poland and Ukraine gave rise to the forms Sure and Rukhl.)• Yiddish male names - from German

forms of biblical names: Ayzik, Kopl, Zalmen, Zanvl and Ziml.

• Yiddish names with Germanic roots - from Jewish names in the Rhineland, Franconia, Bavaria, and Austria: Anshl, Ber(man), Herts, Hirsh, Leyb,

Lipman, Mendl, and Volf; Freyde, Frumet, Golde, Gute, Mine, Raytse, Toybe and Zelde.

• Yiddish names of Romance origin that came to Eastern Europe from German lands: Bendit, Bunem, Fayvush, Shneyer, Beyle, Bune, Toltse, and Yentl.

• A few surviving Slavic names which were Yiddishised: Beynesh, Dobre, Drazne, Prive, Rode, Slave, Tsherne, and Zlate (all of Czech origin), and in the East: Badane, Drobne, Vikhne, and Yakhne.

All personal Yiddish names belong to one three classes:

1. Stylistically neutral full forms (as in all the above names.)

2. Forms that are familiar, intimate, and colloquial. They are mainly formed through the addition of these diminutive suffixes: • -l, eg: Yankl, Berl, Velvl; Brayndl,

Gitl, and Mindl• -ke, eg: Froymke, Moshke; Leyke, and

Sorke • -ek and –ik, eg: Moshek, Levek,

Hershlik, and Pertshik • -e , eg: Fole, Leybe; Dobe, and Tsipe • -ush and -ish, eg: Leybush and

Berish • -sye and -she, eg: Dvosye, Khisye,

Khashe, and Maryashe. 3. Pet forms that are distinctly

expressive, emotive or both. These necessarily include diminutive suffixes: • -ele, eg: Berele, Leybele, Hindele and

Rivele• -tse and -tshe, eg: Shlomtse,

Nyumtshe, Khantse, and Khavtshe• -shi, eg: Khayemshi and Beyleshi.

From a religious point of view, and not just in Eastern Europe, all male names fell into two categories. The first were called shemot ha-kodesh (sacred names) in Hebrew, oyfruf-nemen in Yiddish. These names were given to

What's in a name?how some of today's Jewish names derive

closely based on an article by Alexander Beider* and adapted by David Simmons

* Beider, Alexander, "Names and Naming." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 7 September 2010. <http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Names_and_Naming>


boys on the day of their circumcision and were used when, as men, they were called up to the reading of the the Torah in a synagogue. The same names appear in tombstone inscriptions. This group includes all biblical names, all the post-biblical names of Semitic origin, and a few names of Greek origin borne by Jews for many centuries.

The second and larger category is called kinuyim (secular names) in Hebrew, ruf-nemen (calling names) in Yiddish. These derive from languages other than Hebrew and Aramaic, and include numerous vernacular and pet forms. Both shemot ha-kodesh and kinuyim must appear on Jewish divorce documents (gets).

All female names are equal from a religious point of view. Communities in Eastern Europe had no strict rules about naming newborn girls on specific days. In some places, it was customary to do so right after the child’s birth. In other communities, people waited until the next Shabbos (more rarely, the Monday or Thursday), when the father came to the synagogue and was called up to the Torah.

Naming practices in Eastern Europe were part of a general and older Ashkenazi

tradition. The custom of calling children after deceased relatives existed in German lands by the Middle Ages and was reinforced over the centuries. In medieval times Chaside Ashkenaz - pietists - also suggested that a man should not marry a woman whose name is the same as his mother’s, or one whose father bears the name identical to his own. These rules were not universally observed.

A number of substitute names were specifically assigned to seriously ill or tenderly guarded children to protect them from evil spirits. Among them were Khayem and Khaye (life), Kayem (solid), Kadish (the prayer for deceased relatives), Zeyde (grandfather) and Bobe/Bube (grandmother), and Alter and Alte (old man/woman). The two last examples were sometimes used instead of the genuine name as a way to cheat the angel of death. For the same reason, some Lithuanian Jews did not address their children by their given names.

A tradition of double names also arose in other regions. It was in Eastern Europe, however, that the practice became extremely common in some communities of 19th century Poland more than 40 percent of all children had double names. Since official surnames were ignored, this simplified distinctions between individuals. It also allowed the commemoration of two deceased relatives. Often for men the first part represented a shem ha-kodesh and the second one its traditional kinui, or secular name: eg, Yude Leyb, Dov Ber, Uri Fayvish. In other common combinations the parts were linked by the biblical text: Avrom Itskhok (father and son), Sore Rivke (mother and daughter), Rokhl Leye (two sisters), and Ester Malke (Esther queen). Often however, no relation existed between the parts as in the following names common in Poland in the 19th century: Avrum Leyb, Avrum Moyshe, Avrum Yankl, Itsek Mayer, Khaye Feyge, and Khane Rukhle.

Traditional Yiddish personal names were gradually abandoned as a result of state intervention and acculturation. A law of the Habsburg Empire in 1787 required Jews to choose personal names from lists of 123 male and 37 female names. These included German forms of biblical names, a small number of

German Christian names, and a few Yiddish names. Resistance to this legislation was led by middle-class Jews in Prague who wanted to give German names to their children. In 1836 a new law permitted the choosing of any German name but prohibited name changes. With the proclamation of a general civic rights law in 1867, all restrictions on naming came to an end.

From the1830s typical German Christian given names became increasingly common. Often they sounded like or were translations of Jewish names that had been used within the same families. For example:

Arnold for Aron; Bernhard for Ber and Barukh; Ignatz for Itskhok; Isidor for Isroel; Julius for Yoyel; Leon for Leyb and Moritz for Moyshe.

In Polish lands, especially in the larger urban centres from the late 19th to the early 20th century, Jews gradually started to use Polish names. But even during the 1930s this tendency was not yet the dominant mode. In the USSR the substitution of Russian names for Yiddish ones started during the 1920s and lasted about two decades. There, Yiddish forms of biblical names were replaced by Russian ones:

Moisei for Moyshe; Semen for Shimen; Anna for Khane; Mariia for Miryem.

After the second world war all biblical names that were not also used by non-Jews (such as Abram, Isaak, Moisei and Sarra) were abandoned by Jews as well. As a result, the first names assigned to Jewish and gentile children became almost identical. Significant differences existed, however, in the frequency of use for certain names. In the generation born during the 1960s, for example, Grigorii (whose diminutive form Grisha sounds close to Hirsh), Boris (replacing both Ber and Barukh), Leonid and Lev (both instead of Leyb) and Arkadii (for Aron) were much more common among Jewish boys than among non-Jews. In many cases, these Russian names honoured deceased relatives who had had traditional Yiddish first names.

Part 2 - Family Names will follow in the Rosh Hashana issue

Hirsh Leyb Brenman, an activist in the Jewish Socialist Bund, Łódź, ca. 1890s. His personal name is an example of both the double names that were common in Eastern Europe and of Yiddish names with Germanic roots. (YIVO)


Taylors Buttons has been established in the West End for over 100 years. It offers hand covered fabric buttons for

wedding dresses, evening wear, hand made fabric upholstery buttons, vintage buttons, dyed buttons, handmade buckles and belts, and it is one of the last companies left that provide a walk-in while-you-wait bespoke hand made covered button service.

Maureen Rose has been selling and making buttons at 22 Cleveland Street for 12 years now. Previously the business was run from Silver Place in Soho for 40 years. Maureen with her late husband Leon (known by everyone as Mr Buttons) bought the business name Taylors from a father and son, when the son retired in his 70s.

As I sit talking to Maureen she carefully lines up a small square of silk, some backing material and a shank in the button press. She pulls over the lever firmly like pulling a pint of beer, lets it go and up pops a beautiful covered button. “That one’s for a bridal gown. I make covered buttons and supply to bridal, tailors, couture houses, TV and film dramas, the theatre and even royalty.” But Maureen is very discreet so she won’t name names.

A succession of customers calls into the shop: the girl who has just lost a button off her overcoat, a man who wants to change the look of his jacket by completely changing buttons and a tailor to pick up the covered belt that Maureen made up.

“I couldn’t begin to tell you how many buttons we have in the shop,” she

says. I can see there are millions in every shape and size.

“Most of my buttons were bought through the trade over many years but now there are not many wholesalers left. The oldest buttons I stock are some vintage 1930s 40s art deco silk buttons. I have many belt buckles, and buttons made of leather, horn, silk, mother of pearl, metal, plastic, nylon jet, crystal and casein which is a by product of milk.”

You can use shanks (the backing part of a covered button) made of metal cloth or plastic, then the choice of covering is made by the customer.

The craft of button making is many hundreds of years old and the Button Makers Guild was formed in 1250. In the button trade the measurement unit is a ligne which is a word derived from French which roughly equates with one milimetre.

Maureen’s buttons have appeared in many films including James Bond films Skyfall, and Casino Royale, plus the Harry Potter series. She has produced covered buttons for the royal family, Margaret Thatcher's public appearances, and a host of famous fashion houses including Hartnell, Hardy Aimes and Gieves and Hawkes.

Nowadays Maureen serves customers from all over the world via her website which was designed by her son. "I'm a little disappointed that he's not following me into the trade (he works in IT) because I love the job.” she concludes. “It is constantly changing and interesting. You meet lovely people who are making beautiful clothes.”

She's not 'just' chair of the Ladies Guild ...Maureen Rose and her millions of buttons

LETTERSHolocaust Memorial Day

25 years ago my husband and I moved to Harrow from Wembley Park but we maintained our membership of Wembley Synagogue. When we heard that there was to be a Holocaust Memorial Day event on 27th January in Wembley we decided to go. As we walked up the steps of Brent Town Hall we remembered how we used to attend the overflow services here on the High Holy Days when my son was still in his pram!

We took our seats in the hall and waited for the proceedings to begin. The first irtem was a talk by Frank Dabba Smith who spoke most eloquently on how antisemitism began. It usually starts, he said, when times are bad and some evil person, looking for a scapegoat, will convince the people that it is all the fault of the Jews. We must try, he said, to build bridges with other communities to eradicate ignorance and educate people against racism of any sort.

The Mayor of Brent then welcomed us, the Willesden Scouts lit memorial candles. The London Cantorial Singers gave an excellent performance followed by Toby Simpson of the Wiener Library. Two lovely girls from St Gregory's Catholic Science College spoke about the Holocaust memorial Trust and Rev Anthony Wolfson delivered a memorial prayer in Hebrew and English. Two minutes silence was observed and then the Brent Band gave an excellent rendering of 'Theme from Africa'.

We drove home in a very thoughtful mood.

(Mrs) José Segal (age85)

A little reminderWe would like to remind everyone that we are still collecting old coins, foreign coins, broken gold chains and other jewellery which can be turned into good money for the shul. There is a large jar in the shul office where such things can be taken.


On a bright but cold Sunday morning at the end of January about 275 people attended Brent Council’s

Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day event at Brent Town Hall. I counted 21 members of Wembley Shul in the audience or just over seven and a half percent of the total attendance. – one might have hoped for more but, to be fair a number of Wembley members brought along 'nuchshleppers'.

After a welcome by the Mayor and an introduction by Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith of Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue, 10 members of the 29th Willesden Scouts gave a short presentation following which one of the scouts lit six memorial candles. With the theme of Building Bridges Councillor Muhammed Butt requested that at the conclusion we all sign a 'Book of Promises' to show how each of us can build a bridge with other communities so that the causes building up to genocide can be avoided..

The London Cantorial Singers under the baton of David Druce then gave a very soulful rendering of Psalm 103 (“As

for man his days are as grass….”)Dr Toby Simpson of the Weiner

Library for the Study of the Holocaust

and Genocide spoke on the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and gave some publicity to the Library. He ended by

saying that we should reflect on our own actions and learn about the past so that we can confront the future.

The most touching and poignant

part of the programme was the address given by two young girls from St. Gregory’s Catholic Science College who were ambassadors from the Holocaust Education Trust. One said that she wanted to know more about the subject of the holocaust - beyond what was taught to her at school - and so visited Auschwitz. The visual aspect of Auschwitz brought out her emotions and made her wonder how people could treat others in the way the victims were treated. She wished everyone would memory each other. The other young girl said that the Holocaust is not just one story but millions of individual stories and with the lessons of Auschwitz we must remember the communities that were lost.

Rev Anthony Wolfson and the London Cantorial Singers recited the memorial prayer, followed by a minute’s silence. Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith referred to other genocides and read from a pamphlet that was on the seats - texts

about Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia. The event ended with a performance by Brent Concert Band playing two pieces entitled 'Theme from Africa'.

Brent Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day Communities together: build a bridge

report by Ziggy Reisman

Memorial Candles lit by the scouts

Phot

os: M

orris

Wise

man

David Druce and the London Cantorial Singers

Rabbi Yisroel Fine of Cockfosters and N. Southgate Synagogue and rabbi of Wembley Synagogue from 1981

to 1986 has announced his retirement from 1 January 2014.

Rabbi Fine developed and nurtured the Cockfosters and N. Southgate community and achieved significant successes, including the founding of the Wolfson Hillel Primary School, the growth of the Hadley Wood Jewish Community, the influential Cockfosters Learning Centre which has been running for nine years. He has also supported and implemented a wide array of other weekly educational learning activities and the opening of the Cockfosters Mikvah.

Aside from being an excellent spiritual leader, Rabbi Fine is also an avid cricket lover and is a member of the MCC. Judy Fine is a fully qualified Counsellor and works for various organisations and agencies in London specialising in marriage counselling.

Rabbi Fine and his wife Judy are one of the longest serving US Rabbinic couples, having been with the Cockfosters community since 1987. Prior to that Rabbi Fine, originally from Swansea, was Minister to the United Hebrew Congregation of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne from 1974 to 1981, before serving as Rabbi of Wembley until 1986. He has been chair and executive member of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue. He received

his Semicha from Gateshead and after getting married, spent time in Israel learning in the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Fine commented: “Following in the illustrious footsteps of my late father, Rev Meyer Fine, the rabbinate has been the most enriching and fulfilling of professions. My wife and I cherish the many friendships we have made in the community, and I look forward to an active and rewarding retirement being able to spend more time with my precious family.”

We remember Rabbi and Mrs Fine with affection for their time in Wembley and we wish them joy and fulfilment in their retirement.

Wembley's ex - Rabbi Fine announces his retirement


newsat Wembley Shul

We wish all these members of the Wembley

community a very hearty mazal tovCorinne and Irwin

Van Colle on the birth of a grandson - Max

Buddy Cohen - Avram Chaim (named after

Giles) and born on 24 February to Kim and

Philip Cohen

Ava Rebecca ( Zahava Rifka ) Galloway born Shabbat 4th August 2012. A 'golden' precious daughter for Gabrielle & James. First grandchild for Oma Elaine & Opa Freddy Fleischer, great-grandchild for Booba Pearly Kirsch & great-niece for great-uncle Martin.

Elaine & Freddy Fleischer Grandma Pearl Kirsch and

Shani & Peter Simmons on the marriage of Daniel

to Sara Simmons at Wembley Synagogue

Natalie and Jerome Cohen on a new granddaughter Dalia Eva Ellis born 9th October 2012 to Danielle and Dov.

Judith & David Simmons on the birth of their first granddaughter, Tamara

Deborah to Claire and Benjy Godley

21 September 2012

Alison & Jack Friend on the marriage of their son Matthew

to Amy Silver in January and to Myra

Murray, Matthew's grandmother

Pat and Martin Jacobs on the birth of a grandson, Samuel, to Ben and Julia Jacobs

Jackie & Mike Jacobs on a new 8lb 1oz grandson, a

second son, Ethan James (Eitan Moshe ben Shlomo

David), to Dahlia and Steve Jacobs. Mother and baby

doing well.

Clarice Ofstein on the birth of her 15th great-grandchild - a boy , Yoni Baruch Kaye to Hannah and Ben in Israel on 1 February

Jane Rickman on the birth of a grandson Louis to Rachel and Aaron

Rickman on 9th February in Edinburgh. (Ben would have been proud.)


Ahuva & Michael Brill on the marriage of Shlomo to Yochi Assaban in Israel on 6th January

Esther & David Miller on the birth of a granddaughter and to proud parents, Shimon and Lauren.

RB Kitaj: Obsessions – the Art of Identity

From 23 February until 16 June , an exhibition of R.B. Kitaj’s art will be shown at the Jewish Museum R.B. Kitaj: Obsessions

- The Art of Identity. The exhibition will explore Kitaj’s complicated relationship with his Jewish identity, and how it influenced his art, with over twenty pieces including iconic paintings such as ‘If Not, Not’ and ‘The Wedding’.

Born in 1932, R.B. Kitaj was raised in the Diaspora in a house with almost no Jewish consciousness, at a time when Judaism was being persecuted across the world. His mother was the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, and his stepfather had fled Nazi persecution in Vienna to come to the United States, yet Kitaj’s upbringing was a largely secular one. Art, not religion, dominated the first half of his life, as he studied his craft first in New York, then in Vienna, and finally at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford and the Royal College of Art in London. In the 1960s, Kitaj and a group of his friends, including Francis Bacon, David Hockney and Lucian Freud - which he named the ‘School of London’ - defied the popular trend in abstract art, pioneering instead a new kind of figurative art, staying faithfully true to the human form. It was not until the mid-1970s that Kitaj began to position himself as a Jewish artist, and from then on his Jewish identity became a key aspect of his work.

For much of his life, Kitaj was plagued by the question of his Jewish identity, specifically as a Jew living in the Diaspora. In his 1989 First Diasporist Manifesto, Kitaj ponders the nature of

the Jews, whether they are "a nation, or a state of mind, or what they are". The Jewish Question became somewhat of an obsession in Kitaj’s life and heavily influenced his later art, with recurring themes of the Wandering Jew, the Holocaust and Jewish identity. Jewish culture was the source of much inspiration for Kitaj, as he looked to the Torah, the Talmud, and a number of other Jewish texts in his pursuit of art.

Some suggest, however, that what Kitaj produced can be seen as Diasporist Art, rather than Jewish art, focusing on the conflicts between personal identity and assimilation. Kitaj himself coined the term ‘Diasporist Art’, and wrote in his First Diasporist Manifesto that it is “contradictory at its heart”, since “life in Diaspora is often inconsistent and tense”. As a result, much of Kitaj’s art has a raw sense of conflict about it, as demonstrated in his masterpiece ‘If Not, Not’, a fragmented battle between natural paradise and human destruction and despair. Kitaj’s art is not a calm reflection of the nature of Judaism, but instead is a sometimes harsh outlet for a deep obsession with Jewish identity. In 2004, three years before his death, Kitaj described the Jewish Question as “my neurosis, my war, my pleasure-principle”. It is this intensity that comes across in his work and makes Kitaj a truly unique and striking master of art.

Here, at the Jewish Museum, we explore identity and heritage, much like Kitaj, whose work became infused with ideas of his complex Jewish identity as a ‘Diasporist’ Jew, as he developed as one the key post-war artists working in London. Many of his key works exhibited explore this Jewish heritage and, through them, we are offered a chance to re-engage with the Jewish Museum fascinating collection as we connect with objects through the lens of this extraordinary artist. Opening Times

Monday to Thursday: 10am – 5pmFriday: 10am – 2pm, Sunday: 10am – 5pm

Jewish Museum London, Raymond Burton House, 129-131 Albert Street, London NW1 7NBwww.jewishmuseum.com

Camden Town tube 3 minutes away

See cover for If Not, Not by RB Kitaj

Esther & Sidney Grant on the marriage of their daughter Yael to Andrew Hamilton, son of Maree and Kyran Hamilton from Sydney Australia on January 4th .

"The wedding was fab; Andrew rode his bike up the aisle to the chuppa much to the amusement of all the guests, hence photo of us with the bike."


A carpet bowling morning with Wembley LINK

It’s hard to find something a little different to encourage members of

Wembley Shul to come out on a Sunday morning….so we tried an Indoor Carpet Bowls event.

We gathered off Preston Road, at Century Bowl in Logan Road, a lovely indoor bowling club, had several helpers to show us what to do, and everyone seemed to have a great time. To those

new to the sport, the hardest thing seemed to be to roll the ball sufficiently gentle so as to avoid it landing in the ditch at the far end. To be truthful there were lots of big black balls going off in their own directions, lots of laughter, and a bit of frustration from the teachers, (and one or two stressed shoulders on the following Monday) but it was a morning with a difference, and a success.

A really nice lunch was prepared by Barbara Hart and Helen Reisman, and hot dogs and jacket potatoes and a variety of cakes and coffee, gave people a chance to sit and chat until we were told it was time to go.

We might do it again. ..

Watch this space.

WIZO quiz@home

On Motzei Shabbat, 2 February, 134 homes all over the country,

including nine in the Wembley area, gathered for the annual WIZO quiz@home.

Hostesses supplied supper, often with help from their friends, and at 7.30 sharp, the envelopes were opened to see what the questions were.

It’s harder and harder each year to find rounds that can’t be ‘googled’ or cheated … although we suspect that some people can go beneath the wire and use all sorts of e-quipment to find answers! Furrowed brows, and loud arguments, well laced with food and drink, meant that by 10.30 all the answers had to be entered onto the website for checking. Then another cup of coffee and piece of cake whilst waiting for the winners to be declared. This year the winning team came from Kingston (not Oxford as usual) and the best Phoebe Welcome Leon Team (the Reismans!) were 11th.

In the end it was WIZOuk that was the overall winner. Probably something in excess of £40.000 was raised including Gift Aid. A great way to have fun, and know that families in Israel who need our help will get it. Ask who is taking part next year, and book yourself in for a super evening.

Phoebe Welcome Leon group of WIZO

After Rosh Hashanah PWL WIZO

held their AGM. Marilyn Scott and Jan Saunders were elected joint-chairmen. Since then we have held a very successful and most enjoyable winter supper with guest speaker, William French.

We have lots of interesting and informative speakers planned for the coming months and would be delighted to hear from you if you or your friends would be interested in joining PWL. New members and fresh ideas are always welcome and should you have any

suggestions for a fundraising evening, please speak to any member of the committee who would be delighted to discuss such ideas.

We look forward to the pleasure of your company

Jan Saunders (8907 2193) Marilyn Scott (8907 8532)

B'nai B'rith Friendship Club

We have enjoyed a very varied programme of subjects over the past

year including musical presentations, interesting talks and live music which was enjoyed by all attending.

The children from Noam School entertained us at Chanucah with a delightful play about Sedakah.

Returning after the awful weather Geoff Bowden presented “Funny Girls - Britain’s Comediennes” which brought back some amusing memories from old favourites.

We have a full programme of events for the coming months which will include something for everyone to enjoy.

A warm welcome awaits so do join us and spend a pleasant afternoon with friendly people, and enjoy a delicious tea.

Pat Jacobs

Palm court tea at Wembley Shul

'twas a freezing cold Sunday afternoon

in December and Wembley Shul hall was transformed into a Palm Court, together with waving palm trees (and warm central heating.)

Wembley Link had sold tickets to a posh tea party, with gentle music, played by David Richmond and the Trio Kinnor, later augmented by Harvey

David Richmond and the Trio Kinnor

Ziggy strides across

Cyril bowls a high one


Pollins on the piano. The food, prepared in the Shul

kitchen, started with a non-alcoholic cocktail and cheese puffs. Then, large trays of assorted tiny sandwiches with many different fillings, an amazing delight of cakes and pastries, scones with cream and jam and endless cups of tea (or coffee) meant that absolutely no-one

went hungry. After we had listened carefully

to the lovely music, tea was served, accompanied by a range of well known melodies. The atmosphere was definitely warmer inside than out, and everyone had the opportunity to chat and meet up with friends.

A truly lovely Link function. Watch out for the next one...

and don’t miss it

Ladies Guild Autumn Luncheon

Yet another outstanding luncheon was put on by the Ladies Guild

on Wednesday 21st November. The hall looked beautiful - as though a simcha was about to take place.

Our worthy hostesses on this occasion were Pat Jacobs, who was celebrating her son’s recent wedding, and Helen Green who recently celebrated her grandson’s Barmitzvah. Mazeltov wishes were also conveyed to Franie Sampson who had also celebrated her eldest grandson’s Barmitzvah.

Following a delicious three course luncheon our chairman, Maureen Rose, introduced our guest speaker, Derek Scott. His presentation was entitled “Out of Russia and into entertainment”. I do not think that any of us quite knew just how many famous Jewish musicians in the USA had originated from Eastern Europe, as so many of them had changed their names so that their roots were completely unrecognizable.

It certainly opened our eyes, or should I say ears, listening to some of the music. Although some of us had heard him speak before his talks are always slightly different and we could have gone on listening for hours.

The raffle was drawn. Everyone left, feeling that they had had a most enjoyable afternoon. It made all our hard work worthwhile. Thank you to all who supported the function – we had wonderful feedback from many of you.

Barbara Hart

Wembley still cares

It was Friedl Radbil who first coined the phrase 'Wembley Cares' many

years ago, when launching one her many initiatives which so benefitted our community. Since her passing, Wembley has continued to care for its members,wadapting its welfare activities to the changing needs and profile of our shul membership.

Our Welfare Committee is represented on the shul board by Vivien Freeman and Helen Reisman, who have many years of experience and active involvement between them. The main areas of our welfare activities are keeping in touch, home and hospital visiting and support for carers and families.

Keeping in touch - we make every effort to maintain contact with members who are housebound, who may be without family, or isolated in another way.

Home and hospital visiting – Rabbi Harris visits members at home or in hospital when requested. He liaises with the Welfare Committee, letting them know if any further help is required. Visits are made by committee members and a group of volunteers.

Support for carers and families – we recognise that carers, and the families of our members often need support. We are extremely fortunate to benefit from a wealth of professional experience. Vivien Freeman’s many years working in local authority social care enable us to act as a first port of call for members and their families, who may be adjusting to new and difficult circumstances.

Our Welfare Committee is also able to access assistance and advice from US Community Cares and Project Chesed, as well as Jewish Care which has a dedicated co-ordinator for the Brent area.

Friedl Radbil’s legacy of caring can been seen in action every week. Friedl saw the need for a place where people could go, a warm environment where they were known. Her tremendous efforts bore fruit in the Day Centre, which offers daytime sessions on Mondays and Thursday, 10:00-2:30. There is morning tea and coffee, a three course kosher meal, and afternoon tea

and cake, at nominal cost. Activities and entertainment are offered, ably organised by Carolyn Mitchell and her dedicated team of volunteers. Transport can be provided to the Day Centre, which is situated behind

Edinburgh House, 36 Forty Avenue, Wembley. For further enquiries please contact Carolyn at the Day Centre on 020 8904 2195, or at Edinburgh House on 020 8908 4151.

Jewish Care also offers Connect@Kenton, one of its new connect@ centres, which offers a variety of interesting activities for the more active, independent older person. You can attend for the whole day, or just choose an activity or class that interests you. For more details, contact [email protected] or call 020 8922 2900.

Alison Harris

Some of the scrumptious cakes

Welfare at its best is when we all care about each other.

Everyone can contribute: it just takes a phone call.

Please tell us if a member is unwell, or needs any help. You can leave a message at our shul office, or send an

e-mail to Helen, Vivien, the Rabbi or Rebbetzin.


Almost every year in the spring and autumn I go on a walking holiday abroad with a group of old friends. Several of these

friendships date from the days when I did sponsored charity walks. The trips are brilliantly organised by Eric Weigert, a member of New North London Synagogue. Our latest trip was in the Serra da Estrela mountains of central Portugal and we set off during Chol Hamoed Sukkot. We stayed in the town of Covilhã, almost a mountain in itself as the town rises from 1,476 to 2,624 feet above sea level. The walking was quite tough and we had a tremendous time.

About 20 km north-east of Covilhã and not too far from the Spanish border is the small town of Belmonte (literally, 'beautiful mountain), the birthplace of Pedro Álvares Cabral, the navigator who discovered the land of Vera Cruz, now Brazil. Belmonte is home to the last remaining community of Marranos, (or Conversos, New Christians and, locally, 'Belmonte Jews') some of whom officially returned to Judaism in the 1970s, and opened a synagogue, Bet Eliahu, in 1996. In 2003 the American Sephardi Federation raised funds to acquire Judaic educational material and services for the community and a Jewish Museum was

opened in April 2005. To me this was very exciting as I had been to the KKW lecture by Michael Alpert in January 2010. He told us about the conversos and their discovery in 1917 by the Polish Jewish mining engineer, Samuel Schwartz. Many of the Marranos did not believe Schwartz was Jewish because he openly identified himself as a Jew and they believed they were the only Jews still living. The communities were only convinced of his Jewish identity after he recited the Shema.

We also heard of the attempts by Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto (Avraham Israel Ben-Rosh) to bring

traditional Judaism back to Portugal. Barros Basto was born in Portugal in 1887 into a Christian family but was a descendant of Jews forcibly baptized in 1497 by royal edict. He was nine years old when his grandfather told him they were of Jewish ancestry. He commanded a battalion of the Portuguese Corps in World War I,

as a lieutenant on the Western front for which he was awarded the War Cross for bravery. Later, having had considerable difficulty in persuading the local rabbinical court, he converted fully to Judaism in Tangier. He married and settled in Porto where in 1923 he started the Jewish community of Porto, still active today. He founded the first yeshiva in Portugal in 500 years, and in 1938, he completed the Kadoorie Mekor Haim synagogue, started in 1929 and financed by donations from the Sephardic diaspora. He published and edited a theological newspaper from 1927 to 1958, translating many Hebrew

texts into Portuguese for the first time and taught Hebrew at the University of Porto. Barros Basto travelled the interior of Portugal, sometimes by horseback to isolated villages, enthusiastically exhorting the scattered Marranos back to the Jewish fold. He had great success, establishing synagogues in Bragança, and other communities.

The Serra da Estrela is unusual because the road goes right over the peak – the ‘Torre’. After the first day’s walk, which started from the Torre, we drove back to the hotel in our two hire-cars, together with our guide Nuno, in his van, The well-made road zig-zags for many miles down through dozens of hairpin bends and traffic moves at a good pace. Suddenly, as we came round a bend we saw turned across the lane in front of us the other car of our group and a police car. The car’s brakes had completely failed and they had bounced off the crash barrier and continued until the police, specialist mountain police well used to the road, had seen what happened and manoeuvred to ‘catch’ them, bringing them to a halt safely. No-one was in the least hurt but getting everyone back to the hotel and sorting out paperwork and police procedures took a long time. Our scheduled Friday night visit to the

Beautiful Mountain

by David Simmons

Old NATO radar dome on top of Sera range

Part of the display on Capt Barros Basto in the Jewish Museum

The walking group (author on left)


Belmonte synagogue and the next day’s walking were cancelled. So kiddush in the hotel and Shabbat morning in Belmonte were substituted.

The shul has a small garden, planted in the shape of a Magen David, and there is a large menorah. We were welcomed cautiously at the shul and were taken inside once we had established that we were Jewish, wore a head covering and were not going to take photographs. The shul is bright and new, seating about 70 men and was two thirds full. Seats are arranged in banks two wide, giving a feeling of spaciousness in a smallish area. Above the small ark, placed diagonally in a corner and approached by three steps is a large plaque showing a chunky gilt tripod menorah surrounded by the signs of the twelve tribes and surmounted by a lion rampant. In the centre of the floor

is a large, ballustraded bima with four entrances and a reading desk. Above us, the two women in our group sat in the ladies gallery with 17 other ladies of various ages.

The five men of our party were shown to our seats and we attempted to find our places in the unfamiliar Sephardi siddur and follow the service. Soon the rabbi, bearded and smiling, came over and made me understand that I was to take the first sepher (it was Chol Hamoed Sukkot) from the ark and my friend was to take the second. Another member of the group was given an aliyah as he had yahrzeit (and he somehow also got hagba). When they made a misheberach for me I was so surprised that they wanted my wife’s Hebrew name as well as mine that I had a ‘senior moment’ and couldn’t remember it – fortunately for only a few seconds.

Before the kriat hatorah there was what appeared to be an auction amongst the congregation for aliyot. What the

service lacked in tunefulness was more than made up for by the enthusiasm and volume, especially from the well-represented youth who were almost shouting as they joined in.

After the service we all sat in the succah and ate local fruit and drank local wine that had been certified kosher by the rabbi. It was charming and delightful and the sunny sky above the thin shchach was better than we could expect in Wembley. A gentleman with excellent English – it turned out that he was American – approached us and we got into conversation. He introduced his wife who had been born in a neighbouring village. All her life, until she went to the States, she had been known as Maria, a baptised, practising Catholic. She was from a family of conversos and at home they privately kept Jewish practices but the only place of religion she remembers from schooldays is the church. It would have been impossible to get into university or get a job without a religion, so it was Catholic. After she met her husband they went to live in New York where she converted to full Judaism.

It should be said that the conversos' need to keep their Judaism hidden and affirm their Catholicism was not due to Portuguese popular antisemitism; the dominant role of Catholicism and the Catholic church in every aspect of Portuguese life was a key means for Salazar to maintain his oppressive regime. Following the revolution in Portugal in 1974 and the ensuing unrest, about half of Portugal’s Jewish population left the country and emigrated to Israel, Brazil, Canada and the US. Today there are about 600 Jews living in Portugal, as well as a Marrano community of about 100. In 1997, Portugal’s National Assembly marked the expulsion of Jews from Portugal and commemorated the development of exile Portuguese communities throughout the world.

We wandered around the town. The ‘outing’ of many, but not all, the conversos, who still tend to keep very private, and the building of the shul and the Jewish Museum has made Belmonte a place of interest to Jews and others all over the world and it has become a (well marketed) tourist attraction.

It has a number of souvenir shops selling Jewish souvenirs and a patisserie called ‘Shalom’. The whole area had become very run down but Belmonte has received a lot of quiet and careful restoration and appears to be thriving.

We went to the Jewish Museum and were favourably impressed. The current exhibition shows many local chanukiot and there are many other interesting artefacts and explanatory exhibits. It serves a very useful role in explaining Judaism and the crypto-Judaism in their midst to the local population who have never knowingly met a Jew or known anything about them. I was delighted to see exhibits about Capt. Barros Bastos and Samuel Schwartz and attempted to read about them in Portuguese.

Out walking high in the mountains on Simchat Torah we stopped for a break and Eric, our leader, pulled from his rucksack a bottle of whisky, plastic glasses, a tzitzit and ... a miniature Sepher Torah that he had inherited from an uncle. Two chaps were appointed chatanim and were ‘called up’. The final paragraph from the Sepher was read and all joined in with the “chazaks” followed by the first paragraph from Bereshit. Our local guide was intrigued and happy to have a glass of whisky with us. Moses may have received the Torah on a mountain but we took ours with us.

Belmonte kosher shop

Cockerel chanukia in Belmonte Jewish musum

Bet Eliyahu Synagogue, Belmonte


The men in hard hats, how we built the succahph

otos

- D

avid

Sim

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wsn Pesach issue - March 2013 25 As usual, the man behing the camera doesn't appear, though he humped and schlepped like everyone else!


Major event for Wembley Shul We are delighted to announce that the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks will be visiting Wembley shul on Sunday 14th April. He will be the guest of honour at a brunch put on by the Ladies Guild together with LINK to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut which takes place on Tuesday 16th April. Places at the brunch will be limited and be awarded on a first come, first served basis. This will most likely be the Chief Rabbi's final visit to Wembley Shul before he steps down from office in September and promises to be a very special occasion for our community. To reserve your place or for more details, please contact Maureen Rose (8908 0544), Brenda Hyman (8903 5403) or Edith Andresier (8904 4018)

Hospital Kosher Meals ServiceInformation for patients in hospital over Pesach

A notice has been sent to all hospitals, intended for patients, from the Hospital Kosher Meals Service that they will be supplying Pesach kosher meals from Kedassia. All such meals will bear a yellow label, clearly marked 'Kosher for Passover.' There will be seven varieties of meat meals, seven of non-meat and seven of desserts. There will also be vegetarian, diabetic and puree meals. Hospitals may also buy in Kosher for Pesach breakfasts.

If you know of patients in hospital over Pesach, please tell them that these kosher meals are available and that they should also request a new cutlery pack with each meal.

Jewish people have served in the British Armed Forces of the Crown for over 350 years. The Jewish

Military Museum tells this story of loyalty and service. The museum grew out of a collection of memorabilia

from AJEX, the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. We have an active programme of events, including coffee morning talks on the first Thursday

of the month, family events, temporary exhibitions and group tours. Upcoming talks include Helen Fry on Churchill’s German Army and Rabbi Raymond Apple on the Jewish Chaplaincy in the Armed Forces. We work closely with schools, taking AJEX veterans in to talk with

students and holding sessions in the museum on World War II, the Home Front and Remembrance.

If you would like to visit the museum, volunteer or make a donation please get call 020 8201 5656 or email [email protected]. We are located at Shield House in Hendon, and booking is essential. We are open Monday to Thursday from 10am to 4pm and Sundays throughout the year. Please see www.thejmm.org.uk for more information.

H Jessel's Crimean war medals


Editor’s Page

Your shul billJust as we were about to go to press I, like you, got my shul bill with an accompanying letter from the financial representative. Please read that letter carefully - I think it is a complicated document which raises many urgent questions that need to be asked at the AGM. I have my own list of such questions but it would be wrong to show them here since they relate to a letter that was addressed to individual members (though it was not marked private or confidential.) Please get in touch with me if you would like to see my list or are prepared to put one of the questions to the FR. I'm at [email protected] and you can phone me on 020 8904 4832. NOTE: The email address and website address on your bills are incorrect!Remember - the AGM is on 29th April. Come along and make your voice heard.

Where are we going?Wembley is an amazingly vibrant, energetic and active community – for its age. We're all getting older and when we hear the qualifier 'for your age' we know that it's showing. So it is for our community and our shul. In spite of much dedicated effort the shul is showing signs of wear and isn't such a comfortable place anymore. The foyer and the outside are shabby, the electrics are run down; the original boilers are failing, the toilets need a make-over and the seats are 10-15% occupied, on average, on a shabbat. Getting up the stairs to the ladies' gallery is a real kriech for many.

We all love our shul and over the course of time we don't notice it is aging. What can we do? In spite of the yearnings of many and the high hopes of some, Wembley isn't going to become a prime destination for crowds of keen young Jewish families who will rejuvenate the community and have the money to pay for the upgrading the shul seriously needs. We haven't got the money – we have been hovering on the edge of deficit for over a year; our shrunken numbers are insufficient to pay our outgoings and our contribution to the United Synagogue – whose priority is the younger, growing communities who are the future of modern, middle of the road, orthodox Jewry.

Should we patch and hope? Should we assume that when Noam School eventually leave us for their own new premises we will find another tenant that will slow the demise? Should we spend some of our precious funds on converting some of the ground-floor seating to accommodate the ladies? Should we do up the toilets in the hope that the Bessie Clapman Hall will become more lettable? Or should we face reality – in the same way that those of us who have houses that used to be brimming and active with our children look to downsize to something more appropriate to our needs? It is high time that serious effort is put into finding a smaller site and converting or building, using the value of our current plot (which is four houses wide) to finance it. No-one knows whether such

a project would be financially viable but, in spite of the economic climate, now is the time to find out.

US Council vote in women chairs In December the US Council voted in favour of enabling women members to be elected as chairs (as well as financial representatives and vice-chairs) of their United Synagogue communities This was subsequently ratified.

How does this affect Wembley? After years of seeing our chairman holding the fort gamefully when no-one else would take on the task, we now have a larger pool of potential candidates and the possibility of new blood with new ideas and a women's point of view. We've had three female vice-chairs (one of whom held the fort without a chairman) but many feel that the position of vice-chair was established just as a sop to the feminine lobby without any real power and no specific duties defined by the US. With the AGM coming up in a short time and the shul fighting to stay as active and vibrant as in the past, this is an ideal time for a woman member to step bravely into the breach and lead us forward. Think about it.

wsn and the Wembley community


All our work at The US, be it in communities or at the centre, underpins our mission to provide

our members with an authentic and inclusive brand of modern Orthodox Judaism through living, learning and caring. All of us work hard to ensure our members are engaged and excited by their Judaism, and there is always plenty going on both within your own community and across the United Synagogue that you can get involved in.

Of course, many people followed with great interest the lead up to the announcement of the next Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is an exceptional man, and a highly qualified and worthy choice and I look forward to working closely with him when he takes up his post in September.

With the impending retirement of Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, the US are organising a very special evening to show our thanks and appreciation for his inspirational leadership. On 21st May , members of the community are invited to attend this event which will feature an “In Conversation with The Chief ” and choral tributes by many of our schools, performing together with the Shabbaton Choir.

Locally, we were delighted to welcome new Rabbis and Rabbinical couples and those communities that became full member synagogues. We are already seeing the benefits of these appointments, with many new programmes and initiatives receiving positive feedback from

the communities. For example the initiatives we are doing to promote Young US, aimed at the 21 – 35 year olds, have been exceptionally well received with literally hundreds of young people attending events at a number of communities. There has also been the landmark announcement that women are now able to stand for the highest positions of lay leadership at their respective communities.

That being said, our shuls and communities could not possibly function without the incredible teams of full-time staff, volunteers and lay leaders who all work to provide a great community atmosphere, offering social and educational events for their members. I would like thank them for their tireless work and dedication to their communities.

One of the great strengths of our communities is that we take pride in looking after our members’ needs. At this time of year we need to think about those members who see Pesach not as a time of celebration but of dread. Unfortunately these members struggle to afford essential items for Pesach. Our US Chesed Pesach appeal raises money for Pesach food packages, purchased for those in need in our community. A huge thank you to all of those who have already donated and our amazing US Community Cares volunteers who have delivered, in confidence, these highly appreciated packages. This is what it means to be a community and I am so proud to be part of an

organisation where its members look out for each other.

Thanks also to the sterling work of the KLBD, there are a huge number of approved food items for Pesach, and their new Pesach website has made understanding the process of preparing for Pesach that much simpler.

Post Pesach, the Tribe team focus their attention on providing our children and teenagers with a summer they will never forget. Tribe Israel Tour is now in its third year and for the younger ones we have Tribe Summer Camps and Schemes based in the UK and Europe. Our Tribe summer programmes are a great way to keep your kids entertained in a fun, safe, Jewish environment, and give you a bit of a breather for a couple of weeks.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Chag Sameach,

If you have any questions, comments or would like to get in touch with me, you can either e-mail me at [email protected] or you can Tweet me @jeremy_s_jacobs

Fresh Faces, Fresh Placesby Jeremy Jacobs

Chief executive, United Synagogue


In the sixties my parents belonged to Palmers Green, a community not dissimilar to Wembley. The community ran its own cheder

within the premises of a local school. It was there that my formative years outside the hours of formal schooling were spent.

At school, I learned sufficient in academic subjects to secure a place in university. At cheder I learned how to misbehave with, perhaps, the odd smattering of Jewish knowledge added.

Cheder took place for three hours on Sunday mornings and for a couple of hours on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Whilst my non-Jewish contemporaries left school on a Monday or a Wednesday and went out to play football or otherwise indulge in recreational pursuits, we Hebrews were whisked off to some kind lady’s house for tea and jam. Thereafter, we were escorted to the school premises for 'religious instruction'.

The essence of good teaching is to have good teachers. Regrettably, the teachers and the method of teaching were of a classification that is truly indescribable by today’s standards. The basic method was to learn large portions of the prayers or Torah by rote. When told “Boy, recite the second paragraph of the Shema”, any deviation from the text resulted in what the teacher described as a 'firm klop in kop'.

Naturally, the pupils who were more accustomed to the methods of education used in state schools found little inspiration in these methods. Every attempt to cause disruption was welcomed – from putting grease on the door knob, so that the teacher could not get into the class, to placing the chalk in a solution which ensured it crumbled when used. The teachers, none of whom had any training in handling youngsters, became more and more furious with their charges. A certain piquancy was added as, most of the teachers, emanated from eastern Europe and had heavy

foreign accents. “ I’ve told you vonce, I’ve told you tvice, don’t let me av to to tell you a second time” was the frequent cry of one of the 'professors'. Some of the teachers became so enraged they diverted into Yiddish, making what we presumed to be a series of curses.

The whole place was a kind of mixed sex St Trinians. I distinctly recall the occasion when one of the teachers (I shall not mention his name) got so exasperated by the antics of one boy that, on observing a pot of green paint left in the corner of the room by the decorators, he painted 'NUT' on his forehead. Apparently, the boy's parents raised no objection.

Whilst the misbehaviour by boys was demonstrable, the girls were more subtle. Uses for needle and threads were found that were not intended by their inventors. They were sometimes left in places where the teachers might impale themselves. A favourite ploy was to get a willing victim tied to her seat by thread so that when it came to play break, the victim could plead she had been tied to her desk by her peers. The exasperated teacher with sense told the girls to undo her but some teachers tried to unravel the thread themselves - with mixed results.

The boys also used this trick, but the victim was usually unaware that he had been chained to his desk. Of course, all the other boys shot out into the playground, leaving the teacher trying to work out the combination of the lock or seeking chain cutters. The victims always made a matzo pudding of their plight to put pressure on the teacher to secure their release.

That same master of the green paint picked up a girl, placed her over his knee and hit her with an umbrella repeatedly. The headmaster apparently thought this was a fair punishment for her misdemeanours.

Games of marbles took place surreptitiously in most classes. The desks had an inkwell in which a marble could be deposited, run through a series of

books within the desk and then out of the hole at the bottom of the desk. I would keep myself amused for hours with this game. If one forgot to collect the marble at the end of the run, it would bounce on the floor and the cane was the normal result.

Quite frankly, nobody learned anything at all about Judaism. The only exceptions were when one was promoted, in the period before one’s barmitzvah to Reverend Domowitz’s class or, shortly before that to Mr Felton’s. Both these gentlemen were not only knowledgeable, but knew how to teach. There was no misbehaviour in their classes.

One day, when suffering the ministrations of the green paint teacher, a boy rushed into the class in an obvious state of distress. “ Sir, I’ve just been to the toilet and Mr Felton’s lying dead on the floor there.” Without batting an eyelid, Wackford Squeers got up, picked up his cane and gave the boy a ferocious beating, telling him he would soon learn the effect of telling lies. Unfortunately, the boy was not telling lies – the memoryed Mr Felton was indeed dead.

A peculiar feature of Sunday morning cheder was that when the clocks changed, whether forwards or backwards, all the pupils always arrived an hour late. Of course, we knew what we were doing.

So, what did I gain in my several years at cheder? Well, some knowledge from the years in two good teachers’ classes. A lot of friends, some of whom became life long friends. A hatred of physical violence as a means of controlling people. Above all – a lot of fun. School was for learning, cheder was for messing about.

They may learn a lot more today in Jewish schools but one can’t help thinking that, for an education for life and as a basis for entrepreneurship, the cheder system takes a lot of beating.

Memories of cheder by Ian Kay

Ian at 11 - butter wouldn't melt ... or would it?


kkw

Monday 6 May Consecration of the tombstone in memory of Estelle Malnick, late wife of our member Roy Malnick, will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 11.30 am.

Sunday 23 June Consecration of the tombstone in memory of Vivian (Col) Hyman, late husband of our member Brenda Hyman, will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 5.00 pm.

Monday 1 July Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Betty Geller will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 11.30 am.

Sunday 28 July Consecration of the tombstone in memory of Hilda Lewis, late mother of our member Leigh Lewis, will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 11.00 am.

Sunday 4 August Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Mary Hornick will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 1.00 pm.

Sunday 11 August Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Rose Friedentag will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 12.30 pm.

Sunday 25 August Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Graham Roland will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 12.30 pm.

Sunday 1 September Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Simon Feldman will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 1.00 pm.

Sunday 6 October Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Sidney Brova will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 12.00 noon.

Sunday 6 October Consecration of the tombstone in memory of Benjamin Rickman, late husband of our member Jane Rickman, will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 1.00 pm.

Sunday 20 October Consecration of the tombstone in memory of our late member Henry Shoot will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 1.00 pm.

Sunday 10 November Consecration of the tombstone in memory of John Komkommer, late father of our member Lana Solomons, will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 12.00 noon.

Sunday 17 November Consecration of the tombstone in memory of Sydney Cohen, late father of our member Deena Harris, will take place at Bushey Cemetery at 11.30 pm.

Consecration of Wembley Synagogue members' tombstones, 2013

King Achashverosh was Finnish with his wife Vashti. "Albania from the palace," he ordered her. He Austriasized her completely. After

she'd Ghana way, the king sent messengers Togo throughout his empire and Senegal worthy of being queen.

He said, "Lily Congo as long as she has finished her paper on the 'Rabbinic Elements in the Verbal System of Maskilic Hebrew Prose Fiction and their effect on Outer Mongolian slang' ”.

India end, beautiful, Jewish Esther won the crown. She asked the king to Singapore Jewish girl a song. " Burma bist du schein " sang the king and said to Esther, "You will Romania as my queen“.

Mordechai blessed Esther – “ A Lebanon you !”

Meanwhile, Mordechai sat outside the palace, where the Chile Haman would Czech up on him daily. "I Haiti you because you refuse to bow down to me!" Haman scolded Mordechai. " USA very stubborn man. You Jews are such Bahamas! If you keep this up, Denmark my words, I will have all your people killed! Just Kuwait and see, you Laos, you Turkey, Ukraine !" So Haman decided to

put in the Bhutan kill the Jews. "Norway ! " shouted Mordechai - "

Ireland you in jail " cried Haman - “ You want Tibet on it ” replied Mordechai.

Mordechai went into mourning and tore his clothes (Korea). The Jews fasted for three days and grew very Hungary . Esther said to the king, "Iran to see you. Kenya Belize come to a banquet with Haman?" She invited her guests to a second banquet to Nepal on Samoa food cooked in Greece . There was, Cuba libre and Curaçao to drink as well as Madeira cake, Malta loaf, Brazil nuts and Guinea fowl to eat. The king asked, "Esther, why Jamaica big meal like this? Just tell me what you want. There is no limit to Vatican do for you. Unto half my United Kingdom will I give you."

Esther replied, " Spain full for me to say this, but, Armenia Prime Minister Haman (not David Cameroons) is Russian to kill my people. Just like the Faroes wanted to." The king was so angry he threw his cutlery at Haman and the Falklands right on Haman’s hand. Haman's loud Wales could be heard as he carried Honduran this scene.

" Oman !" Haman cried bitterly. " Iraq

my brains in an effort to destroy the Jews. But Mordechai - Egypt me!" He tried to make a Sudan escape but was caught by the guards. So kind Benin Achashverosh put his royal Ceylon a decree that, Bahrain, on the next morning Haman and his ten sons would be hanged and go to the Netherlands. To Sweden the deal, the Jews were allowed to Polish off the rest of their foes. "You lost your enemies and Uganda friend," the king smiled, “ Honi soit qui Mali pense “.

And that is why the Purim story Israel and a true miracle. It was a time for celebrations and they had a grand reunion. Everybody was there – Mauritania, Georgia, Belarus, Andorra and all the Stans. Becky was there but Mordechai did not know her. He asked Kurdi Stan “ Uzbekistan?” Mordechai himself Cayman dressed up in a Panama hat, Bermuda shorts and wore a string of Seychelles around his neck. Esther splashed on some Fiji by Guy Laroche, put some Tonga on her feet and played on her Qatar.

So Bolivia traditions! Forget all your Syria 's business and just be happy! Serbia friends some wine, Dubai hamentashen and Taiwan on!

Purim around the world sent by David Miller


Through its Project Chesed division, US Community Cares (USCC) works in

partnership with communities to assist in supporting and developing their welfare offering to our members.

Over 45 communities now have synagogue-based community care groups which work under the direction of care co-ordinators, offering practical and emotional support.

Wembley’s Care Co-ordinators are our rebbetzin, Alison Harris, Helen Reisman and Vivien Freeman who work very closely with Rabbi Harris.

Alert to the fact that people are living longer, and often large distances away from close family members, there is increasing demand for welfare support. USCC is continually reviewing how it can improve the way this is provided. It has an advisory group which meets regularly to discuss how we do things and to share ideas.

It provides care co-ordinators with help, advice and support as and when needed. It also provides, through specialist trainers, specific training courses throughout the year for co-ordinators and their volunteers.

Stuart Bloom, the chair of the advisory group and Michelle Minsky, head of Chesed, are also there to assist co-ordinators and to advise them when and if there is a need to refer members onto external and professional organisations when a more complex need may arise. On occasions we also have been able to give advice to rabbonim when a particularly difficult welfare problem has arisen in their communities.

THE ROLE OF WELFARE IN THE US

There are a variety of care groups in existence which cover the varying size of communities. Each community care group is able to decide the level of support it provides based on the needs of its membership and the resources it has available to meet that need. Whether it's a home or hospital visit, offering a listening ear, helping with shopping, offering financial or legal advice, bereavement befriending, helping a new mum or walking an elderly member to shul, USCC has hundreds of volunteers making a difference to the lives of their members on a daily basis.

WEMBLEYAs we are all aware, our shul has a

rapidly ageing community with very few members able to act as regular volunteers. The majority of welfare support is done by our rabbi who spends many hours visiting those who are sick or supporting the newly bereaved.

Wembley does however have a great legacy of welfare support, much of it initiated by Friedel Radbil. The day centre continues at Edinburgh House; The Friendship Club, organised by one of our oldest members, Clarice Ofstein meets weekly and we have many unsung heroes whom we see up and down Preston Road helping with shopping and who knows what else.

The Ladies Guild organise annual teas for our older members with transport provided by volunteers.

Our rebbetzin liaises closely with Project Chesed, coordinating Pesach and Rosh Hashanah gifts

We know that much more could be done and would welcome more

volunteers and more contact from our members. We can only help you if you let us know there is a need. Don’t be shy or embarrassed-all of us need support at time of crisis.

It is impossible to put a value on the work that the many volunteers carry out. By its very nature, much of it is highly confidential known only to local care co-ordinators. It is only by maintaining this confidentiality that they are able to encourage people to come forward to ask for help. What is known is that every single day of the week, community members are being helped in some way. Without this help, a vast number of United Synagogue members would find life extremely difficult, and in some circumstances impossible.

The US is aware that the demand for their welfare services can only continue to grow with an ageing population and also the current difficult economic times we now live in. It is committed to continuing to develop its Community Care Groups with the ongoing support of USCC and the support of the Chesed professionals in US head office.

Stuart Bloom says “It is impossible to state in monetary terms the true meaning and significance of the service that our care groups provide. They are absolutely vital not only in terms of demonstrating that the United Synagogue has caring communities, but is a specific benefit for members of the United Synagogue. Truly, the US Community Care groups are beyond value.

CONTACT DETAILS:Michelle Minsky, Head of Chesed: [email protected] Bloom:

[email protected]

US community (really) cares


PreambleThese are my initial thoughts after attending a brief course on “Philosophy after the Holocaust” at London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) in 2011 which quickly explored the works of a handful of philosophers. The course was marketed as addressing “….some of the perennially challenging issues raised by the Shoah” such as:• Has the Holocaust fundamentally

altered our understanding of God’s nature?

• In what way has the Holocaust affected the covenant between God and the Jewish people?

• How has the Holocaust influenced our Jewish faith?

IntroductionThe families of my father, father-

in-law and mother-in-law were largely destroyed by the Nazis. Those on my father’s side who survived the Holocaust were identifiably Jewish but not observant and, because of war-induced social upheavals, some have now probably abandoned any future Jewishness by marrying out. My wife’s parents were intensely orthodox and stayed that way after the Holocaust. They emigrated to Israel soon after the creation of the state but many of their surviving relatives were not orthodox. To me this implied that the Shoah itself did not modify any of their specific attitudes to faith and religion. I noted that when holocaust survivor members of my father’s family first met those of my wife’s family, the question they asked of each other was: “What was your luck?”

We Jews have suffered many holocausts in our history. The psalmist’s cry “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” has been truly relevant on too many occasions. Our prayers are suffused with statements attributing infinite power, greatness, understanding, kindness, love to our God, the King, Redeemer, Rock. Daily, three times, we state that “God protects all who love Him but all the wicked He will destroy”. For those who suffered and perished in the name of their religion, this is

evidently untrue. The simple answer is that there is no God or at most a non-interventionist God. The Holocaust proves it – unless, God-forbid, it was truly the hand of God! “For those with faith there are no questions, and for those without faith there are no answers.”

For those who have faith and want to justify and maintain their faith, explanations are needed. My interest in this course was not to understand the failure of humanity, the fragility of so-called civilisation, the impotence of righteous authorities (the Church!), but, in relation to God, to see how great philosophical minds defend the indefensible.

The philosophersIt took around thirteen years following the end of the Second World War for Holocaust literature both philosophical and narrative to appear. Not surprising really; those involved and surviving had more immediate problems and tasks whilst those able to observe more dispassionately needed time to absorb and understand the enormity, origins and implications of the disaster.

Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-1998): Deeply religious (mitzva observant) Jew, scientist and philosopher.

He viewed historical events as having no religious significance. It is unclear to me how he viewed the exodus from Egypt and the events at Mount Sinai. For the professor, a Jew’s relationship to God is just to perform mitzvot. Specifically in relation to the Holocaust, he felt that these things happen and that it had no bearing on the relationship between man and his creator. So Professor Leibowitz’s attitude was the opposite of the revered Rabbi Akiva – who was cheerful when he saw prophesies of God’s punishments for the Jewish people coming true as a portent that prophesies of His, bringing success and triumph, would also come true. Professor Leibovitz’s faith was unaffected by the Holocaust which, presumably, caused him no religious philosophical problems. I wonder if Rabbi Akiva would have been cheerful in 1945.Rav Meir Simcha Ha-Kohen of Dvinsk (1843-1926): Orthodox leader in Eastern Europe.

He pre-dates the Holocaust but in his writings he expounded that Judaism had no future outside of Eretz Yisroel. This is because in exile, the Jews’ instinct will initially ensure that they return to Torah study and observance and reach the highest possible level. Subsequent generations, unable to surpass in Judaism what has already been achieved, will assimilate and outperform non-Jews and so inevitably lead to anti-Semitism and disaster. Prophetically, he wrote: “They will think that Berlin is Jerusalem [and] a storm of destruction follows.” Thus anti-Semitism exists to make Jews return to Judaism implying that anti-Semites are doing God’s will.

Rav Isaac Hutner (1906-1980): Orthodox Polish “Chassidic Litvak” rabbi and eventually American Rosh Yeshiva.

According to Michael Pollack, Rav Hutner believed that the Holocaust was divine punishment for enlightenment , assimilation and Zionism! Rav Hutner described the Shoah as part of a 2,500 year Churban that would ultimately lead to the redemption of the Jewish people. He explained the persecution of orthodox communities in eastern and central Europe by stating that since all Jews are mutually responsible, orthodox communities had to be punished for lack of observance elsewhere. If so, how come the orthodox communities outside of Europe were untouched by the Shoah? He also maintained that the Jewish people were viewed as completely righteous people (V’amekh kulam tzadikim) and so were to be judged strictly according to halachah (midat ha’din) rather than with mercy (midat ha’chesed). I understand neither this nor Rav Hutner’s objection to Zionism!

Rav Joel Teitelbaum (Satmarer Rebbe) 1887-1979: Vigorous anti-Zionist leader of Satmar chassidim (and Neturei Karta).

He held that Zionism and the State of Israel violated Halacha and consequently were delaying the coming of the Messiah and complete redemption and had resulted in the troubles affecting the Jewish people in the 20th century and particularly the

Post-Holocaust Philosophy an essay by Richard Gordon


Holocaust. Although the State of Israel did not actually exist until after the Holocaust had ended.

Elie Wiesel (1928): Holocaust survivor, author, journalist.

Though not officially classed as a philosopher, Elie Wiesel, in his written dramatic and harrowing descriptions of existence in concentration camps, asks questions that are not truly answered by philosophers. He refuses to allow God’s apparent injustice to make him abandon his belief in Him. Being marched with his father toward what he thought was his certain death, he recited the Jewish prayer for the dead, Kaddish, but this time for his own death. Just a few steps from the burning pit, the procession turned left and they were marched into a barracks. No doubt there were many elsewhere who said their Kaddish but were then killed.

Richard Rubenstein (1924): Reform Rabbi and noted American writer on Holocaust Theology.

Rabbi Rubenstein, in his controversial book After Auschwitz (1966), stated that the pre-holocaust vision of God as a force for good had died in the Shoah: “How can Jews believe in an omnipotent, beneficent God after Auschwitz?”. In later years he explained that he was not denying the existence of God, rather he felt that the view of God as specifically related to the Jewish people was no longer tenable. Presumably he was holding man rather than God responsible for the Holocaust.

Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits (1908-1992): Orthodox theologian.

He did not consider the Holocaust to be unique in Jewish history. It was yet another example of God, metaphorically, hiding his face (hester panim) because of sins committed. Presumably, in this theology, rather than exacting punishment, God removes His protection. “[We do not have] the thought that what happened to European Jewry in our generation was divine punishment for sins committed by them. It was injustice absolute; injustice countenanced by God” and, presumably, allowing the existence of free will.

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995):

Lithuanian born French Jewish philosopher and talmudic commentator.

His massive use of abstract nouns and obscure ethereal concepts means (at the moment) I do not really understand Levinas. We were lectured that he was against Theodicy (the justification for God’s beneficence and powerful attributes despite the existence of evil). It’s unclear to me what Levinas, one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, was really for. His response to the Holocaust (during which he was relatively safe as a French prisoner-of-war but his wife’s mother, his father and brothers perished) is gleaned from his few essays on the subject and a survey of the rest of his major writings. He sees the suffering caused by the Holocaust as a failure of mankind’s morality rather than the responsibility of God. He also maintains his faith via a love of God’s Torah, not a love of God.

Rabbi Irving Greenberg (1933): Orthodox American educator, scholar and writer.

Rabbi Greenberg sees the Holocaust as a further step in God distancing Himself from the covenant with the Jewish people. At Sinai, man and God were in direct contact. After the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem, there was no more direct prophesy to the Jews. After the destruction of the second temple there have been no more temple sacrifices. The Holocaust implies that God no longer listens too much to the prayers of the Jews. Rabbi Greenberg interprets this as God expecting His people

(and all mankind?) to take increasing responsibility for their actions. So the Holocaust is man’s responsibility.

Prof. Avi Sagi (1953): Israeli academic writer and philosopher.

Professor Sagi discusses theodicy (how a belief in the existence of God can be substantiated in view of the existence of evil) in relation to the Holocaust. In analysing various arguments about: modifying the concept of good to somehow permit evil; the cause of evil somehow leading eventually to good; just not understanding the ways of God; and finally evil as a consequence of freedom of will, he concludes that the Holocaust does not specifically affect any of these arguments. At least that’s how I currently understand Prof. Sagi!

Hans Jonas (1903-1993): German-born, non-orthodox, American professor of philosophy.

Professor Jonas argues that the existence of evil stops us from accepting that God can be simultaneously all-knowing, all-powerful, and understandable. Any two of these

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Dorit recalls eating matzah as a child in Berlin years ago, but forgets the toast she ate moments ago. That’s because she has dementia. And why she’s a regular at Jewish Care’s Sam Beckman Dementia Day Centre in Hendon, where Dorit and others receive all the care, support and attention they need. Sadly, as numbers of those with dementia increase, outside funding for such valuable resources is shrinking, making donations more urgent than ever. So, as you celebrate Passover, think of Jewish Care as the purple thread that connects you to Dorit. And remember those who struggle to remember.

Please remember to donate by calling020 8922 2600 or visitingjewishcare.org/donate

attributes exclude the third. He concludes that the Holocaust leaves us Jews with an omniscient, understandable but not omnipotent God.

Jonathan Sacks (1948): Chief Rabbi of United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, formerly Principal of Jews’ College, London.

As a professor at Jews’ College, he argued that Galut for the Jews removed them from the mercy of God (although they had not been so well looked after whilst in the ancient land of Israel!). “Understood in this way, the Holocaust does not tell us about God but about man.”

SummaryOh well – pay your money and choose your philosopher. Trust in the Almighty can do no harm but don’t rely on Him; “Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry!”

Defeating some types of divine retribution has always been possible as mankind was increasingly able to understand nature and nature’s laws. Plagues and famines can be neutered by better healthcare, environmental controls and prudent organisation (as Joseph demonstrated in Egypt). Even avoidance of the Holocaust was possible if you were able to move to the right country early enough.

Leibowitz’ non-interventionist God, requiring only that doing mitzvot is good for us, appeals to me and corresponds to my religious attitude. He makes no attempt to defend the indefensible!1 The 7-lecture course was given by Dr. Simon Cooper (4), Dr. Tamra Wright (1), Rabbi Dr. Michael Pollack (1), Dr. Elliott Malamet (1).2 Psalm 22 v23 Psalm 145 v204 Hafetz Hayyim (Israel Meir Ha-Kohen 1838-1933) 5 Primo Levi’s Se questo è un uomo (If this is a man) was published in 1958. 6 “Or Sameach” – Parshat Bechukotai 7 Although he ran an orthodox yeshivah that allowed its students to attend university in the evenings!8 Encyclopaedia Judaica (Teitelbaum entry).9 Elie Wiesel Night10 Eliezer Berkovits Faith After the Holocaust11 Avi Sagi “Chapter 6 The Holocaust: A Theological or Religious-Existentialist Problem” in The Holocaust in Jewish History……. Ed. Dan Michman12 Hans Jonas "The Concept of God after Auschwitz: A Jewish Voice." Journal of Religion 67, no. 1 (1987): 1–1313 Jonathan Sacks Tradition in an Untraditional Age (1990)14 Oliver Cromwell’s advice to his troops in Ireland about to cross a river (allegedly) – 1834 poem “Oliver’s Advice” by Col. Valentine Blacker

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connect@kentonA club for the young@heartCharity Reg No 802559

connect@kenton is held every Monday in Kenton Shul from 10am to 2.30pm. It is the club for the young at heart, and offers something different in a relaxed and friendly setting.

The programme includes a large range of activities, including a Tai Chi class, board and card games, discussion groups, arts and crafts, play reading and a book club. You can have one to one tuition on your gadgets: eg, using an iPad, texting and computer lessons. We are always on the look out for new ideas.

Each week there is a different entertainer, speaker, quiz or interactive workshop. Over the next few months we will be arranging many outings and trips.

Coming up Thursday 28 March – Matzah Ramble. Bring your Pesach picnic and your friends and family to Knebworth House (£13 including transport)

Natalie Burger, Day Services Outreach Manager, Mobile: 07771 389 674 email: [email protected] FREE TO TELL US YOUR IDEAS!BRING A FRIEND AND COME IN FOR FREE!

I REMEMBER MY FIRSTSEDER AS IF IT WASYESTERDAYIF ONLY I COULDREMEMBER YESTERDAY

REMEMBERREMEMBER

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Dorit recalls eating matzah as a child in Berlin years ago, but forgets the toast she ate moments ago. That’s because she has dementia. And why she’s a regular at Jewish Care’s Sam Beckman Dementia Day Centre in Hendon, where Dorit and others receive all the care, support and attention they need. Sadly, as numbers of those with dementia increase, outside funding for such valuable resources is shrinking, making donations more urgent than ever. So, as you celebrate Passover, think of Jewish Care as the purple thread that connects you to Dorit. And remember those who struggle to remember.

Please remember to donate by calling020 8922 2600 or visitingjewishcare.org/donate

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