1316 - 25th May 2023

Cost of kosher crisis hits Jewish schools

Hundreds of pupils served bagels instead of hot lunches as second caterer quits

The kosher school meals crisis that has led to hundreds of pupils being deprived of hot lunches has escalated after a second caterer was forced to quit because of rising costs, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

A company called London Kosher Caterer took over the contract to provide 20 Jewish schools with kosher meals earlier this year after previous supplier, Signature Dining, which served 18 schools, went bust – leaving parents to send children in with packed lunches.

Among the schools a ected were Hasmonean Primary, Beis Yaakov Primary, Pardes House Primary, Menorah Primary, Sacks Morasha Jewish Primary, Rimon Jewish Primary, Mathilda

Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary and Menorah Foundation School.

London Kosher Caterer (LKC) attempted to step in but was only able to do so temporarily due to spiralling costs.

Miriam Kaye, headteacher at Mathilda

Marks-Kennedy Primary, said LKC was unable to provide a hot meal for less than

£5.50 per child, which is more than £2 above the amount the school receives from the government for each pupil.

Kaye told Jewish News: “We only receive £2.32 from the government per meal and LKC could not provide meals for less money. We are disappointed for our pupils that they are unable to have a hot meal at lunchtime due to the fact that kosher meal prices now make this una ordable.

“A hot meal not only helps to provide a balanced diet for our pupils, it helps them concentrate better through the afternoon. We are hoping that the government and the Jewish community find a way to support providers so they can deliver a ordable meals for all.”

The headteacher added: “If we subsidised the shortfall in meal costs we would have to cut back on what we are able to provide in terms of resources in the classroom or activities we would provide.”

The school says it feels “supported” by the understanding demonstrated by Continued on page 3

Square meal: Sinai Jewish Primary School year 2 pupils look forward to a hot kosher lunch. The Kenton school, with its own kosher kitchen on site, is one of those unaffected by supply issues

GOVERNMENT BLAMED FOR MEMORIAL DELAY

A “sorry slew of government errors” is responsible for delays to the building of “a fitting Holocaust memorial”, one of the main campaign groups against locating the £109m project in Westminster has claimed, writes Lee Harpin.

In a statement issued in response to a ruling that allows opponents of the building of a

National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens next to parliament to voice their concerns to MPs and peers, the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust said it remained “committed to supporting a fitting Holocaust Memorial and to tackling antisemitism”.

But the charity, which has challenged the government’s attempt

to push the Holocaust Memorial Bill through parliament, said it welcomed last week’s ruling which “means that alongside the plan’s advocates, reasoned and respectful concerns about rescinding laws which prevent building on public parks will now be heard by MPs and peers”.

It added: “We will now join those, including Holocaust

survivors, urging MPs and peers to avoid building on a public park in order to fulfil these worthy goals.”

But in a further criticism, LPG added: “This is the latest in a long series of regrettable setbacks for everyone hoping to see this project delivered, but the blame for delays sits with the government.

“Through this long process, LPG

UK tackled on failure to ban IRGC after vote

The government has been challenged in the House of Lords on its failure to ban the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, writes Adam Decker.

A motion to urge the government to proscribe it as a terrorist group was passed unanimously in the Commons in January. While the vote was not binding, it put pressure on ministers to respond to violence against protesters in Iran by security forces controlled by the IRGC.

Peers in Westminster have now again called on the government to take action against the military body, which has been proscribed by allies such as the US.

Labour’s Lord Walney said: “This is an organisation which is committed to armed resistance against Israel, exactly the same grounds on which the government has proscribed Hezbollah.

“Our intelligence services are clear that it is committed to kidnaps and killings on UK soil. There must be an argument within government not to do this, so can the minister enlighten the House on what this is, because it seems very obvious that it should be proscribed to many members across both Houses?”

Labour frontbencher Lord Collins

of Highbury said: “We’ve had ministers and prime ministers support the objective of banning this organisation, which is a threat not only to the citizens of Iran, but also to the citizens in this country… It’s about time we acted, rather than just talked.”

Former Tory cabinet minister Lord Pickles said there was a feeling of “groundhog day” about the government’s responses to questions about the IRGC.

Home O ce minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom said: “As an entity, the IRGC was designated in its entirety under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2018.

“More than 30 new designations of IRGC-related organisations and ocials have been made by the FCDO since October 2022. The government does keep the list of proscribed organisations under review.”

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is trying to create “floating terror bases” in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the shores of the Mediterranean, Israel’s defence minister claimed on Monday.

Yoav Gallant revealed details of what he referred to as Iran’s ongoing “pirate policy”. Its strategy, he said, consists of converting trading vessels into military vessels armed with o ensive equipment, such as UAVs and missile systems, and advancing its means for intelligence gathering.

The intention, he added, is to station the vessels at high distances from Iran, for extended periods of time.

“The [Iranian plan] is a concerning, ‘pirate policy’. Iran is conducting itself like a collection of criminal organisations and not a modern state. The floating terror bases are an extension of Iran’s ongoing maritime terrorism, as seen in its actions in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea,” Gallant said at a conference hosted by

the Institute for Policy and Strategy of Reichman University in Herzliya.

“Iran aims to expand its reach to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and even the shores of the Mediterranean. This is a structured plan designed to threaten trade and flight routes – both military and civilian – and to create a permanent threat in the maritime arena,” he said.

According to reports in foreign media, Iran has attacked and seized several vessels and oil tankers in recent years in the Gulf of Oman and the Hormuz Strait, where its navy has a dominant presence.

IRAN CREATING ‘FLOATING’ BASES Antisemitism deleted from Saudi textbooks

Saudi Arabia has removed “practically all antisemitism” and material that presents conspiracies demonising Israel from its textbooks, according to a report by a research and policy institute that analyses curricula around the world through UNESCO-defined standards., writes Jotam Confino.

The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACTse), released a report on Saudi curriculum for the 2022-23 school year, showing improvements on both matters relating to anti-Israel material as well as antisemitism.

The report analysed “entire humanities corpus” over the last five years, totalling 301 textbooks, and including 80 textbooks for the current 2022-23 school year.

Material implying that Jews are the enemies of Islam, as well as interpretations of Koranic verses and oral traditions, accusing Jews and Christians of plotting against Islam, have been removed, according to the report.

On Israel-related material, the report noted a “positive trend-line of improvement”.

Anti-Israel material was removed from this year’s books, such as false accusations that Israel set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969, that it embarked on the 1967 war to expand its borders, and calling it a “falsified democracy”.

In 2020, textbooks described Zionism’s “use of women, drugs and media to achieve its goals”. Claims that the Temple in Jerusalem is a “politically motivated fabrication” have also been cut.

The textbooks do, however, still refer to Israel as “the Zionist entity”. a term also used by Iran

and Hezbollah. They also describe Zionism as a “European colonial and racist movement aimed at expelling Palestinians from their homes”.

IMPACT-se CEO Marcus She said: “Practically all the previously identified antisemitic material in Saudi Islamic Studies textbooks has now been removed. This follows the previous removal of significant amounts of antisemitism in other subjects over the last four years.

“The clear trend of moderation in relation to Israel, while still not recognising the Jewish state, is highly noteworthy. While all textbook reform is important, Saudi Arabian textbooks are particularly consequential,” She added.

“Kudos is due to the Saudi government for this multi-year and systematic removal of Jew hate and moderation of content on Israel in the textbooks of over six million Saudi children, and of many more who study the textbooks outside Saudi Arabia.”

Kosher school meals in short supply

Continued from page 1 parents, adding that “however, parents are rightly concerned about their children’s diet and believe a hot lunch would be more beneficial. Some parents are concerned about the cost and how they would be able to sustain the additional cost into their weekly budget. If they have more than one child in the school, it’s unmanageable. I really get their plight.”

Peyman Hakimi-Sefat, of Daniel’s Bakery in Temple Fortune, told Jewish News that after Signature removed its supply “suddenly we had schools coming to us and asking for filled bagels”. The bakery is now in its third week of providing schools with up to 200 bagels a day. Hakimi-Sefat said: “We supply one school and are negotiating with two others. I can’t reveal costs. From what I can hear, this will run until the end of summer term and maybe into next year. I think more schools will get in touch. We are the cheapest option.”

Gareth Jones, chief executive of the Jewish Community Academy Trust (JCAT), said: “We have put interim arrangements in place. We are working with the United Synagogue and partners across the community to assess the cause of these

issues and we hope to work together as a community to resolve them as quickly as possible.”

One mother of two with a child in Key Stage 1 at Sacks Morasha in Finchley, who is eligible for free school meals, spoke to Jewish News on condition of anonymity, saying: “Our school was using Signature Dining. However, they decided it was not worth supplying school meals as they were not cost-effective. We were

switched to London Kosher Caterer. We thought everything was going well but it withdrew its meal provisions.

“Now we have been left with no option for hot lunches at all, with no end in sight. Daniel’s Bakery is supplying bagels, with a choice of egg, tuna or plain fillings. Unfortunately if your child does not like the options, the only choice is to select a plain bagel, and supply fillings yourself.”

The parent said it was “incred-

ibly frustrating to be eligible for free school meals and then my child will be eating a plain bagel every day. The school has always been so keen for the children to have hot, healthy and nutritious meals. Now it seems a bagel will suffice.”

Moshe Roth, of kosher caterer Hermolis, told Jewish News: “We are trying our best to give the schools the lowest possible price with the lowest margins in order to provide for the

children. Hot lunches at the budget they have is impossible to achieve when it comes to kosher food.”

Natalie Salama-Levy, MD of 1070 Kitchen, told Jewish News: “It is upsetting to hear of kosher hot school meals no longer being available in Jewish schools, as it is something that should be quite straightforward. The goal should now be to create a better kosher hot school meal service that can meet the needs of the 21st century and that addresses funding, food quality and sustainability.”

Cheryl Freedman, manager of the Sharon nursery at Kinloss synagogue, sympathised with the position London Kosher Caterer found itself in. The nursery was using the caterer to provide lunches for 25 children, She said: “They were priced out of the market.”

Not all Jewish schools have been hit. Some, such as Wolfson Hillel and Sinai Primary, have on-site kosher kitchens. Debbie Gradner, head of operations at Sinai, said: “Our kitchen is running business as usual and serves hundreds of hot and nutritious meals every day.”

London Kosher Caterer and Etz Chaim Primary declined to comment. Beit Shvidler did not return calls.

News / Hertsmere politics / Conspiracy fears / Israel trip

Labour NEC delays approval of Hertsmere coalition deal

Hertsmere Labour Group leader Jeremy Newmark is still awaiting the ruling of his party’s national executive committee (NEC) into whether he can enter into a coalition deal with the local Liberal Democrats to run the borough council.

An NEC panel met on Monday to look into the viability of a coalition between a Newmark-led Labour group and a Lib Dem group led by councillor Paul Richards.

Clarifying the review process in place for any Labour Group wanting to enter into a coalition after the 4 May local election results, a spokesperson for Keir Starmer told Jewish News: “After every set of local elections, Labour groups who haven’t achieved an overall majority but feel they are in a position to be able to form a coalition have to apply to the NEC to get those arrangements signed o . There are a range of factors the NEC looks at when making those decisions, such as the viability of the coalition, the number of parties

and the relative strengths of the coalitions.”

Starmer’s spokesperson said the process worked on a “case by case basis” and that “some it approves, some it doesn’t”.

It had been reported by the Observer that Hertsmere Labour Group had come under scrutiny over claims it had breached party rules by entering into a pre-election pact with the Lib Dems. On Wednesday sources close to former Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Newmark said claims he had been told he could not continue as leader in order for any coalition to progress in the borough were an “utter lie”.

Local election results earlier this month left Labour and the Lib Dems with more seats in a partnership than the Tories in Hertsmere, although the council remains in no overall control.

Last Wednesday, at an annual general meeting of Hertsmere Council, a vote went ahead that confirmed Newmark as leader of the council, as part of a partnership agreement with the Lib Dems. But it subsequently emerged that the vote had taken place before the NEC had completed their investigation into the pact claims. One Labour source said New-

mark’s decision not to delay the vote at the AGM until after the probe was completed had left at least one member of the NEC’s panel “absolutely fuming”. Local Labour sources suggest the claims of a pre-election pact are

“spurious” and suggested the Hertsmere party leadership had acting in the “best interests” of local people by forming an administration. Jewish News has approached Labour, the Lib Dems, and Newmark for comment.

JEWISH PEER WARNS OF

AHEAD’ ON FASCISM

A leading Jewish peer has warned that “there are fights ahead” in a speech delivered at an event held to mark 100 years of fighting the rise of fascism in the UK, writes Lee Harpin.

Baroness Ruth Anderson spoke of concern that at a time when people were struggling with the impact of the cost of living crisis they were more likely to “embrace conspiracy theories and scapegoats”.

The Labour peer and former Stoke on Trent MP Ruth Smeeth also used her speech at Hope Not Hate’s

100 years of British anti-fascism event at City Hall last Thursday in east London to criticise the rhetoric from “parts of the Conservative Party”, which she said was

“empowering the far-right”. Anderson said: “You only have to look at Suella Braverman and the (small) boats. You only have to look at what parts of the Conservative Party are becoming and how that is empowering the far right.”

Her warning about the rise of far-right rhetoric came in the same week as a three day long National Conservatism conference in London, attended by government ministers, featured several examples of controversial statements from speakers relating to Jews and the Holocaust.

Israel trip ‘aids understanding’

A delegation of senior Labour Party activists have been taken to Israel and the Palestinian territories to help improve understanding of the complex issues at stake in the region.

The group, which included leaders from Labour a liates, think tanks and campaign groups, visited Yad Vashem, the Knesset, met with Israeli Labor leader Merav Michaeli, and Palestinian representatives during last week’s visit, organised jointly by the Labour Friends of Israel and We Believe in Israel organisations.

Participant Josh Willams, deputy director of the Labour Together group, tweeted the visit allowed him to meet “extraordinary people committed to two states and peace”. Peymana

Assad, Harrow Labour councillor and Labour Foreign Policy Group co-founder and co-chair said: “ Visiting has furthered my understanding of the challenges and ultimately the need for a negotiated two-state solution.”

“After every set of local elections, to get those arrangements signed

that ship agreement with the Lib Dems. But claims.

‘Prankster’ teen in court over online video posts

An 18-year-old from north London appeared in court yesterday after posting videos online that showed him harassing and jumping on Orthodox Jews, writes Joy Falk.

Bacari Ogarro, who is known as Mizzy, filmed himself trespassing in people’s houses, making unsolicited approaches in public and, in one instance, running away with a woman’s dog. He then posted the clips on YouTube and TikTok.

He did not limit his socalled pranks to Jews.

The teenager was charged on Tuesday with failing to comply with a community protection notice. His social media accounts were taken down and replaced by messages saying the accounts breached the sites’ code of conduct.

“I do not underestimate the widespread upset, distress and concern that these videos caused,” said Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway of the Central East Command Unit, responsible for policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

“Some people have referred to these as ‘prank’ videos, but I

hope that this significant development demonstrates just how seriously we have been taking this investigation since this footage began circulating online.

“A number of these videos were produced, impacting on many people and our investigation remains ongoing as we seek to build a strong picture of both the activity featured in the footage and impact on the public.”

In one video, Ogarro is seen jumping over an Orthodox Jewish man who is sitting waiting for a bus. In other videos, he films himself pointing out Jews on the street.

In one of his most troubling actions, he enters a home through an open front door while a resident, who is not believed to be Jewish, is seen cleaning outside. He then speaks to a male resident and sits down on a sofa briefly before leaving.

The Metropolitan Police cited incidents including “apparently unsolicited approaches made towards members of the public in the street or on transport and entering addresses without the apparent permission of the owners”.

Tikva UK hosts first gala dinner since pandemic

A charity that supports homeless children in Ukraine welcomed 270 guests at London’s Jumeirah Carlton Tower for its first gala dinner in four years.

Tikva UK welcomed staff and alumni alongside the Duchess of York, the singer and presenter Ronan Keating, Spurs’ Eric Dier and Made in Chelsea’s Mark-Francis Vandelli.

Tikva UK CEO Karen Bodenstein said: “The gala dinner was an important opportunity for us to share with our loyal donors the story of what has happened to our community since war broke out.”

In the first days of the war, Tikva facilitated the evacuation of 4,500 people out of Odesa. 1,000 Tikva children and alumni families are now living under Tikva’s care in Romania, while 1,200 elderly people and 200 children

and their families who were unable to leave, are still being cared for by Tikva in Odesa. Alumna Vika Gashenko described her nightmarish early childhood and said Tikva “saved” her and became “…more than a home... it’s a future”.

Sacks Shavuot guide launched

The Rabbi Sacks Legacy has launched a Shavuot learning guide aimed at enhancing both individual and group learning for adults and teenagers.

Published by the charitable trust that honours the life and teachings of former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, it includes source sheets and a guide that provide step-by-step prompts to facilitate learning, allowing everyone to explore the significance of the holiday.

The resources were curated

‘UNDERSTANDS’

Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, has said the fact that his wife’s family live in Gaza has left him able to “understand better” the fears the Jewish community have during times of conflict for their own relatives in Israel.

The leader of the SNP made the observation after meeting the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) including Senior Rabbi Moshe Rubin and SCoJeC director Ephraim Borowski on 19 May, when he also visited Giffnock Newton Mearns Synagogue.

Following the meeting, it was confirmed: “The first minister spoke frankly about his wife’s fears for her family in Gaza and said he therefore understood all the better the fears of members of the Jewish community for their family and friends in Israel.”

Former justice secretary Yousaf had shared his wife’s anguish about the safety of her family in a tweet in May 2021.

He wrote at the time: “Wife has been in floods of tears...

Her brother lives in Gaza with his wife & three young children. He tells us it’s raining rockets. As a parent, he feels helpless, they cannot leave as they are under blockade.”

In his meeting with Rubin and Borowski, the MSP for Glasgow Pollock, he restated his commitment to fighting antisemitism “wherever and whenever it appears”.

His statement added: “I have long considered myself a friend of the Jewish community in Scotland... In the fight against antisemitism, the Jewish community should be in no doubt that they have an ally in me as first minister.”

by two of the first cohort of Sacks Scholars, Dr Mijal Bitton and Michael Rainsbury.

The source material for adults, prepared by Bitton, communal leader of the Downtown Minyan in New York City and scholar-in-residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute, is a “Shavuot reader” focusing on “What ties us to Judaism”, a collection of sources and guiding questions on notions of the covenant, inspired by Sacks’ teachings.

The study guide for teenagers was compiled by Rainsbury, head of adult education at the London School of Jewish Studies, and focuses on ‘Why Am I Bound By a Covenant I Didn’t Personally Agree To?’ It draws inspiration from Sacks’ published works centring on the Sinai covenant.

Sacks, who served as Chief Rabbi 1991-2013, died in November 2020. The Office of Rabbi Sacks transitioned to The Rabbi Sacks Legacy.

‘Nuisance’ videos / Scottish support / Shavuot guide / News

British-Iranian hunger striker meets Ukrainian Chief Rabbi

A British-Iranian man who is currently on a hunger strike has met Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi in hospital, stressing the two countries’ “common enemy” – the Iranian regime, writes Jotam Confino.

Vahid Beheshti has been in hospital for 13 days, hunger striking for 72 days to demand the UK government proscribes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“I was blessed by a visit from the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, the country that was attacked by IRGC drones. We have a common enemy and we stand strong together in

this battle. I’m very happy he visited me,” Beheshti said in a video, sitting in a hospital next to the rabbi.

Azen thanked Beheshti for his steadfast strike against the IRGC, calling him a “hero”.

Azen, who is currently on a tour in the UK, has also met with Tory and Labour MPs, as well former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

“Good people are praying for you and that Iran will become a democratic country.

Ukrainians saw the damage

from the Iranian drones, destroying infrastructure and killing people,” Azen said.

Earlier this year, Iran began supplying Russia with drones, which have been used in the war against Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies have criticised Iran harshly for its interference in the war. In April, 125 cross-party British parliamentarians signed a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to ban the IRGC as a terror organisation.

The group showed solidarity with Beheshti, handing him a copy of the letter sent to the prime minister.

BOARD IN TALKS WITH CONSERVATIVE CHAIR

The Board of Deputies held a “positive and engaging” meeting with Conservative Party chair Greg Hands, which included discussion on “strengthening processes to combat antisemitism.”

The meet, attended by president Marie van der Zyl, and senior voicepresidents Amanda Bowman and

David Mendoza-Wolfson also included wide-ranging debate on issues around calls for the proscription of Iran’s IRGC terror group in this country.

Both the Board and former trade minister Hands also discussed how the government should respond to “unwarranted Israel boycott & divest-

ment campaigns” and agreed to “regular meetings going forward.”

Jewish News understands the Tory chair was responsive to suggestions by the Board on how the party could improve its own processes around the selection of local council election candidates following concerns about

Liberal Jews meet to discuss future

Hundreds of Liberal Jews came together for the movement’s Biennial Weekend – reflecting on what matters most to them and using that to look ahead to a future unified with Reform Judaism. The first major Liberal Judaism event held since the announcement that the two movements would be creating one single Progressive Judaism, it was also the first in-person Biennial for five years. Reform CEO Rabbi Josh Levy said: “This is a time that is calling out for Progressive religion. This is our moment.”

Leopoldstadt could become TV series

several individuals exposed by Jewish News over antisemitic conduct.

The meeting took place only weeks after home secretary Suella Braverman criticised the Board in a speech made at the CST dinner after it issued a statement raising concerns over the government’s illegal migration proposals.

Tom Stoppard’s Holocaust play Leopoldstadt could get a television series adaptation – with the help of Steven Spielberg. Patrick Marber, who directed the stage version, would adapt the script for television. Leopoldstadt, which made its American debut on Broadway last year to rave reviews and is expected to do well at the Tony Awards next month, follows a Viennese Jewish family before and after the Holocaust.

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Education report on Jewish ‘fears’

Jewish students “repeatedly” spoke of an “underlying fear of being targeted” over their backgrounds and being “expected to answer questions about Israel”, a report by the parliamentary taskforce on antisemitism in higher education has confirmed.

The paper adds that it is “commonplace” for students not to wear “certain clothing or jewellery around campus because it would make them visibly identifiable as Jewish”. Other students said they were reluctant to attend ectures around issues such as Israel “for fear of interrogation”.

The taskforce, established by the Government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann, with support from members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, said they were “shocked” to learn some sta kept secret their Jewish identity to avoid “negativity” from colleagues.

The report confirmed that “Jewish students generally have a positive university experience” but recognised the rise in antisemitic incidents on campuses.

Lord Wolfson joins patrons

A Jewish organisation that researches and restores Jewish heritage sites across Europe has appointed Lord Wolfson of Tredegar KC as a patron of the Merthyr Tydfil synagogue/Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre.

The Foundation for Jewish Heritage purchased the synagogue in 2019 with ambitious plans to use it partly to create the first museum devoted to the 250+ years of history of Jews in Wales. Since that time, urgent repairs have been carried out with the support of Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic environment service. The site was visited by King Charles in 2021.

Lord Wolfson served as a

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice from 2020 to 2022. He was created Baron Wolfson of Tredegar in the County of Gwent in December 2020 and introduced to the Lords in 2021.

Wolfson, who proudly has

family roots in South Wales, said: “My family lived in Tredegar when we came to the UK, and my great-grandfather Aaron is buried in the cemetery in Merthyr. I’m honoured to be a patron of the Merthyr Jewish Heritage Centre project and wish it every success.”

Dame Helen Hyde, chair of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage, said: “We are delighted Lord Wolfson has agreed to become a patron. His association is another indication of the importance of this project and what we hope to achieve.”

Wolfson joins TV presenter Huw Edwards, comedian David Baddiel and Sir Michael Moritz as patrons.

‘ERROR’ BLAMED FOR MEMORIAL DELAYS

Continued from page 1

“Through this long process, LPG – the charity charged with protecting London’s historic parks – and its partners have successfully challenged

a sorry slew of government errors right up to the High Court, which have ill-served this important cause.

” Had the government originally adopted a legal plan and

Situated on Finchley Road and within very close proximity to all shopping amenities including, Marks and Spencer’s and Waitrose is

listened to reasoned feedback, a fitting Memorial would have been delivered years ago and full public access to a riverside park protected. ”

The charity, set up to protect green spaces in the capital, said it was “not LPG’s place to propose an alternative to the current plan” but said they “hope that the Government will fulfil the Holocaust Memorial Commission’s noble ambition far sooner by listening and building on a location which does not require new legislation. ”

Plans for Westminster Memorial were first announced by David Cameron in 2016.

• Editorial comment, p18

New eruv approved around Bevis Marks

The City of London has approved the establishment of a new eruv on behalf of Bevis Marks Synagogue to accommodate Shabbat, writes Joy Falk.

Ben-Gurion University Foundation in partnership with South Hampstead Synagogue presents Eyes

in the Sky:

Monitoring of Earth and Israel’s Space Assets

Israel is a small country with less than 10 million inhabitants. Despite its many challenges it became the eighth country in the world to gain full access to space.

Ben-Gurion University is a major driver of engineering talent, scienti c breakthroughs and developing space solutions.

Wednesday 21 June 2023 at 8:00 pm At South Hampstead Synagogue, 3 Eton Road, London NW3 4AY For tickets, please visit www.bguf.org.uk/events bengurion.foundation@bguf.org.uk | 020 7284 7379

The eruv, which extends the private domain of Jewish homes into public space, will benefit some 500 practising Jews, according to the new plan.

The boundary will extend to the following locations in London: Riverside Footpath Underneath Blackfriars Road Bridge, Ludgate Hill junction with Ludgate Circus, Holborn Viaduct and Holborn Circus, Farringdon Street junction with Charterhouse, and Goswell Road junction with Baltic Street.

“The City is a melting pot of nationalities and backgrounds, so I’m delighted that we have approved this application, which will enable our Jewish community, as well as visitors and tourists, to more easily practice their faith,” chairman of the City of London corporation’s planning and transportation committee, Shravan Joshi, said.

“Recognising the huge contribution the Jewish community makes to the City of London,

it will also support our Destination City vision to make the Square Mile a seven-day-a-week visitor destination for everyone, no matter their faith,” he added.

Rabbi Shalom Morris of Bevis Marks Synagogue, which is the oldest synagogue in the UK, said: “This will assist us in ensuring this continuity is maintained and reflects our encouraging collaboration with the City of London to protect Bevis Marks Synagogue more broadly.”

He added: “We look forward to similar planning approvals from Islington and Hackney to proceed with establishing the eruv.”

Migdal Emunah adviser awarded

An inspirational caseworker from a charity that supports sexual abuse victims has scooped a national award.

Eve Selfridge, an independent sexual violence adviser (ISVA), was given a Limeculture Award for her work supporting Jewish children and families in Manchester for charity Migdal Emunah.

Selfridge works with men, women and children across the charity’s Manchester base at the Nicky Alliance Community Centre.

The honour was presented to Erica Marks, CEO of Migdal Emunah on Eve’s behalf, by Edward Argar MP, Minister for Victims, during a special ceremony at the National ISVA Conference in Leamington Spa earlier this month.

Selfridge told Jewish News: “I’m humbled every day by the strength, courage and resilience of the people who access our services. It’s my hope that Migdal Emunah will continue to be a comfort and safe refuge for the Jewish people in times of need.”

Marks said: “I am delighted to have Eve’s incredible work recognised in this way... in acknowledging Eve’s work, Limeculture also recognised the ever-growing needs of the Jewish community.

“As a small charity we have a huge task ahead and to have our e orts recognised in this way really does mean a great deal to our whole team.”

Migdal Emunah was founded in 2013 and provides a support service for Jewish people who have experienced sexual abuse.

BRIGHTON WELCOMES MATT

A husband and wife team have joined Brighton & Hove Jewish Community (BNJC) to lead programming for the ambitious hub.

Rabbi Matt Marks and wife Sheerelle have been appointed to oversee education and planning strategy for the charitable initiative, recently opened to revitalise Jewish life in the popular east Sussex seaside resort, with an ocial launch planned for the summer.

Working on the site in Hove, they will coordinate locally-run art classes, volunteering events, celebrations for Jewish festivals, and various Shabbatonim and residentials.

In a BNJC blog, the couple said: “We were sold on the idea of living in a place with a football team that constantly defies expectations and brings joy to its fans. Plus, living so close to the sea and the South Downs is perfect for Sheerelle, who loves being surrounded by nature, quirky

shops, trinkets, and second-hand stores.”

The BNJC hub, supported by the Bloom Foundation in partnership with Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation, features a new Orthodox shul, complete with mikveh, nursery, kosher restaurant, bakery, deli, shop and gym.

Prince Edward honours the House by the Lake

Prince Edward has visited the former home of a Jewish family forced to flee Nazi Germany that has been repurposed as a reconciliation centre, writes Jotam Confino.

Alexander Haus, known as the “house by the lake”, is named after the family who lived in the weekend house in Groß Glienicke outside Berlin, but had to abandon it in 1936 when they fled to London.

It was built in 1927 by Dr Alfred Alexander, whose patients included Marlene Dietrich and Albert Einstein.

Several families lived in the house from 1937 until 2003 when it was abandoned and vandalised. The Alexander family, however, never forgot their house and its idyllic surroundings. It continued to hold a special place in Alfred’s daughter, Elise Alexander’s heart (Alfred’s daughter).

In 1993, at the age of 80, Elise finally visited Berlin and the family’s old weekend house with her grandson, Thomas Harding: “There was nothing left of their apartment and [Alfred’s] practice in Berlin. None of it had survived the war, so this was the last physical trace of their life in Berlin,” Harding told Jewish News

Thomas, who remembers how Elise would tell affectionate memories from their years in the house, eventually decided to take matters into his own hands and restore the old house.

“The house was in ruins, there was graffiti on the walls and one the rooms and been used as a drug den. So I said, let’s all go back and fix this place up,” he said. His idea, however, was met with criticism by his family at first: “There were many members of my family who weren’t sure about what we were doing. They were angry with me. But one of my cousins said that this was a chance for reconciliation.” The local residents also played a crucial

BETTER PATHWAY FOR GET PROCESS

London Beth Din (LBD) has recommended that the Jewish divorce process should be made clearer, stressing the need to improve the overall application experience and make it easier to understand.

United Synagogue (US) trustees commissioned the independent report at the start of 2022 which focused on improving the practical and administrative elements of applying for and getting a get

Other recommendations include:

• A formal complaints process.

• A befriender for those giving or receiving a get

• A named friend allowed to attend in addition, if desired.

The Partnerships for Jewish Schools leadership conference welcomed attendees from London and Manchester.

The first educational gathering of its kind brought together 34 participants from across the spectrum of Jewish primary and secondary schools.

The PaJeS Jewish Schools’ Leadership Conference also welcomed more than 100 educators undertaking National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) as part of the PaJeS Jewish Schools’ Leadership Programme, in partnership with Ambition Institute.

Ambition delivers the NPQs, with PaJeS delivering a follow-on ‘Leading Jewishly’ programme, focused on aspects of educational leadership within the context of the Jewish schools’ community.

The conference featured an array of interactive and informative sessions across areas including multiculturalism within Jewish early years’ settings, building a whole school Jewish ethos and leading inclusive teacher development in Jewish primary schools.

Additional sessions were run by Michelle Janes, co-CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council and executive director of Lead, and Debbie Lebrett, previous headteacher of Hasmonean Boys’ and now CEO of Work Avenue.

Samantha Benson, PaJeS director of leadership programmes, told participants: “You are already Jewish school leaders at different stages of your journey, and some of you undoubtedly are the Jewish school headteachers of the future.

“Our aim is to support you

part in restoring the house and building a bridge from the past to the future.

“The residents were really keen on remembering this history. If that hadn’t been the case, we wouldn’t have done this,” Harding said. “They had already independently researched the history of the Jews in the village. It was important for them to acknowledge the crimes of the past.”

Harding, who has written an acclaimed book about the house, The House By The Lake, said it was “an honour” for the family to host Prince Edward, who unveiled a plaque for the house.

The report also aimed at improving communications to tackle unresolved cases with agunot, or ‘chained’ wives, who have been denied a religious divorce by ‘refusers’ and cannot remarry.

At least 18 individuals were interviewed for the report, and in the executive summary documents seen by Jewish News its recommendations focus on good practice, governance and improved communications.

It also recommends the LBD and US work together to decide the levels of sanctions able to be held against get refusers.

The LBD has already implemented several recommendations, including the appointment of a part-time get caseworker, the creation of a separate LBD website and the reinstatement of its female ‘befriender’ system, which was curtailed during Covid.

While the organisation admits criticisms of the Jewish divorce process were made by the interviewees, it says the overall experience was regarded as a positive one.

Finalised in 2022, the review was undertaken by solicitor Sarah Anticoni and retired circuit judge Dawn Freedman. An All Party Parliamentary Group on Get Refusal was set up in May 2022.

Jewish News understands that the work to implement all the recommendations of the review is ongoing.

as you embark on your leadership development, with a particular focus on aspects specific to Jewish schools… investing in and nurturing all of you is crucial to enabling our Jewish schools across the spectrum of the community to survive and thrive in years to come.”

One attendees said: “I feel privileged to be in a position in the Jewish education sector where such opportunities are available to me.

“Generations of professionals and pupils will benefit from these opportunities.”

PaJeS shows its support for ‘heads of the future’ THIS SHAVUOT WHY NOT TAKE WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW AND DIG A BIT DEEPER?

CNN apologises to Dees for

a ‘shootout’

CNN’s international anchor Christiane Amanpour has apologised after saying that three members of a BritishIsraeli family were killed in a “shootout” in April, rather than in a “shooting”.

The well-respected Britishborn journalist, who was a UNESCO ambassador for freedom of expression, apologised to Rabbi Leo Dee, a former senior rabbi in Radlett, whose wife and two daughters were killed in the West Bank in early April. After Dee threat-

ened to sue CNN for around £1bn, Amanpour apologised on-air, saying: “On April 10, I mentioned the murders of an

Israeli family: Lucy, Maia, and Rina Dee, Rabbi Leo Dee’s wife and daughters.

“I erred when I men-

tioned that they were slain in a ‘shootout’ rather than a ‘shooting’. I have written to him to express our regret and let Rabbi Leo Dee know that we are sorry for any additional suffering we may have given him.”

Dee, who lives in the settlement of Efrat, earlier slammed Amanpour’s initial description as “the perfect example of ‘terror journalism’, where you have moral equivalence between the victim and the terrorist”.

MUSWELL HILL RABBI BOWS OUT

Rabbi David Mason, a popular fixture at Muswell Hill United Synagogue for 15 years, has been given a rousing community send-off.

Mason leaves to start a new role as executive director of Hias and JCore, an organisation committed to leading a Jewish response to issues around refugees and social justice.

The send-off for the Mason family

included a young families’ event, a picnic with cheder families, a Shabbat service and kiddush attended by local dignitaries including Haringey MP

Catherine West and Councillor Ajda

Ovat, the Deputy Mayor of Haringey, as well as Marie van der Zyl, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

Speakers from across local faith

groups including Bibi Khan Deputy Lord Lt and Chair of Wightman Road Mosque, praised Mason for his inclusive attitude and pioneering work as chair of the Haringey Multi Faith.

A women’s mincha and seudah were held to celebrate Elisheva Mason, particularly her achievements in increasing opportunities for women’s prayer at Muswell Hill synagogue.

Mental health charity Jami has raised more than £900,000 in a match-funding campaign.

Throughout its 36-hour campaign, fundraising teams promoted the vital work of Jami through a series of films focusing on a handful of the 1,700-plus young people and adults who benefit from the charity’s services each year.

Among those featured in the campaign was Alison, who spoke about the vital support that she and her child have received through Jami’s Carer and Family Support service and its Children and Young

Person’s service, respectively. She said: “I don’t think we would be here today if it wasn’t for Jami.”

Daniel said that Jami had given him a reason to get out of bed every day and had prevented him from becoming homeless, while Paola remarked that her life would have been empty without Jami had it not been for the visits she received from staff.

The funds collected will contribute to the £5m cost of delivering Jami’s services, which have seen a huge increase in demand.

News / Antisemitism inquiry / Social justice / School demand

Goldsmiths University has announced an independent barrister-led inquiry into allegations of antisemitism in the institution, writes Lee Harpin.

Professor Frances Corner, warden of Goldsmiths, confirmed the investigation, which will be led by the highly-regarded KC Mohinderpal Sethi.

The announcement follows a Jewish News report last June which revealed how the Jewish lecturer Dr David Hirsh, from the sociology department, had been labelled a “far-right white supremacist” and a “Zionist Goldsmiths academic” by former student union leader, Sara  Bafo.

Several academics at the university also signed petitions in support of disgraced Bristol professor David Miller.

In a message to students last Thursday, Corner confirmed the inquiry adding that

it would “determine whether students or sta have experienced antisemitism at Goldsmiths, as well as examining the college’s response to any reports, if our policies are adequate and if we are meeting

legal duties”.

She added the university was “committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for Jewish students and sta and we hope this inquiry will provide a clear picture of the experiences of our Jewish community and allow the college to take appropriate action to support students and sta ”.

The south London university is to announce a call for evidence in which students and sta , current and former, are invited to submit evidence.

Hirsh said: “Goldsmiths is acting with courage, asking for help in determining whether it has institutional antisemitism, and if it does, asking what should be done about it.”

BOOKS CHARITY RAISES £250K

A charity which sends a monthly book on Jewish values to young families raised more than a quarter of a million pounds in its annual fundraising campaign.

PJ Library was supported by match-funders including the model Caprice Bourret, 1,100 donors and 100 young

PJ Library Champions, who shared personal stories of what the books mean to them.

They received a special message of support as the campaign launched from TV presenter Rachel Riley.

Dad Ben Waidhofer said:

“Our children love reading the books which have become a

wonderful tool for us at home, school and even during festivals.  As each book arrives through our postbox, it provides our children with what we consider to be perhaps the most important message of all: that they really are part of a much larger family than the community on our doorstep.”

Sharon Blackstone, director of development, said: “As well as raising the funds needed to support the programme, it has been so heartwarming to receive messages from families about what PJ Library means to them in so many places – from Belfast to Brighton.”

The founder of the National Jewish Assembly (NJA) has questioned the relevance of social justice in Judaism during an appearance on a television talk show.

Gary Mond, who resigned from the Board of Deputies ahead of an investigation into Islamophobic comments to set up the NJA, launched an attack on the communal organisation’s social justice committee during a Talk TV

debate on the UK’s migration crisis. He said: “They have, believe it or not, on the Board of Deputies a social justice committee. What has that got to do with Judaism?” Mond (inset) had been responding to Talk TV presenter André Walker, who said: “[The Board] are all Labour apparatchiks supporting a political party which is basically fairly antisemitic. I can’t understand that.”

Uni reviews racism claims NJA founder Mond questions equality Hasmo school plan

A religious secondary school for boys plans to transfer its incoming Year 7 class to temporary cabins as its only option to meet increased demand.

In correspondence shared with Jewish News, prospective parents were told Hasmonean High School for Boys will only be able to accommodate the anticipated 150 students (including 50 on the waiting

list) for September 2023 by locating them in the temporary buildings on a separate area on the grounds of Hasmonean High School for Girls. They would be educated there for the academic year and would then return to the main Holders Hill site.

If approved the project is expected to be finished by December 2025.

‘The difference between being told something and witnessing it’

“I’ve always known that the Holocaust has been a part of my family’s history,” says Rob Rinder in the opening moments of critically-acclaimed My Family, My Holocaust and Me, the 2020 two-part BBC documentary that explores the impact of the Shoah on second and third generations.

Earlier this month, the lawyer and TV personality embarked on “another step in the journey”, travelling to Auschwitz and speaking exclusively to Jewish News

He was accompanied by close friend, Emmerdale actress Louisa Clein, whose mother Channa was born in Amsterdam in 1939 and hidden by a non-Jewish family until her parents, supported by the resistance, returned for her.

The 2020 programme featured Rinder and his mother, Angela Cohen, travelling to Nazi death camp Treblinka to visit the area where her father’s family were murdered.

That visit was inspired by Rinder’s own moving story of his Holocaust survivor grandfather, which had featured two years previously on Who Do You Think You Are?

Speaking of these experiences, Rinder says he is glad he went to Auschwitz when he did, admitting he would not otherwise have been “emotionally ready” to visit. “I went when I had made lots of documentaries and had privileged experiences of speaking to survivors,” he says.

He is imbued with a tremendous personal sense of responsibility to Shoah education. He tells Jewish News: “I’ve been immersed in Holocaust stories and had the gift and privilege of sharing the work. There is a concern that often people think Auschwitz is the entire Holocaust narrative. But it’s not the only part.”

He says we forget about the “rich tapestry of Jewish life before the war”, adding: “Auschwitz feels like a grey monument through which you see this factory of death; you think of an explo-

sion of violence but it’s seen through the prism of black and white; a detail; a bleak one to be sure, but a detail that has passed. That’s a dangerous force in the world.”

Having visited the death camp, he says he now understands “much more deeply what it stands for and its inherent limitless value as a place”. While he is “completely unworried” that Auschwitz is “a tourist place”, he admits: “There is something di cult about a gift shop or the fact there is a café; I sense the distaste for it.

“But for every one person who might walk around and perhaps think they had ‘seen it now’, it doesn’t need that many to be profoundly touched by it. You only need two percent to go back to their communities and be changed.”

The Holocaust Educational Trust provided an “extraordinary” guide, whose family used to sell ice creams outside Auschwitz when it was a small museum. “Then,” Rinder continues, “our guide started learning about the story; now he doesn’t guide so much, it’s more he is completely invested in the place.”

Rinder and Cohen’s journey around the camp was filmed “very respectfully... I was very mindful I didn’t want to be there for work or to make a documentary. I was there to experience”.

Clein says she feels passionately about bearing witness to keep alive the stories. “The importance of seeing almost the normality of the geography, in relation to the horror that took place, in itself creates something even more horrific,” she says. “We constantly try to dehumanise the Nazis as a way of rationalising how it could ever happen. But when you go there and see how normal it looked... I was struck by the trees that grew along the pathways, the green grass and the brickwork and the wallpaper inside some of the bunkers. There were moments I felt I couldn’t breathe properly.”

People from every country come through Auschwitz. “You can’t fail to be touched by it if you have a heart, soul and a willingness to hear,” says Rinder. “It a ected me more than

I predicted. It’s not a museum you visit and compartmentalise it away, like a bucket list of places. There is nothing as richly-preserved as this place. I’m still processing the impact and its value to the world and why we need to protect it.”

and can arm individuals with “profound, deep examples to pass on to their communities”.

“To feel the weight, force and magnitude of the place,” he says. “So much of what I experienced was unexpected.”

Going to Auschwitz, he says, “is the di erence between knowing something and seeing something. You can know all you can about history but to be in the place imprinted by memory and human hair, glasses and prosthetic legs doesn’t breathe life back into the millions of souls who died; what it does is dial up this profound truth that is the most critical aspect: that every single person who went through their gates had a soul, was an individual; each one of them had a story.”

For Rinder, history is not just flat on the page. Indeed, the instant the Shoah becomes “another incident on the page of history, we are in real danger – especially the Jews”, he says.

Rinder struggles to see how, having gone even as a tourist, “you don’t leave as a witness”. adding: “I would be surprised that anyone stood on that earth are more or not less likely to be courageous when it comes to preserving and protecting democracy and think about the overwhelming necessity for a Jewish state.”

He stresses that Auschwitz was the “end point” and “not the beginning” of the Shoah,

Rinder adds that the camp is “being preserved and protected. It’s not just to look at as a place of death because they’ve seen Schindler’s List. It’s to learn. And that gives me hope.”

After their visit to Auschwitz, the two friends went into Krakow town. They ate kosher food, listened to klezmer music and had many, many vodkas. It was, says Rinder, “one of the most poignant simchas of our lives”.

YOU CAN’T FAIL TO BE TOUCHED BY AUSCHWITZ IF YOU HAVE A HEART, SOUL AND A WILLINGNESS TO HEAR

❝

World News / Kanye West / Israeli survey / UAE invitation / Football flag-waver

Warning on Kanye ‘damage’ Netanyahu invited to UAE climate talks

Kanye West’s antisemitic outbursts and the damage it caused should not be underestimated, New York City mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday at a symposium on antisemitism, writes Jotam Confino.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) hosted a range of Jewish and non-Jewish leaders, as well as 55 partner organisations, to discuss strategies.

“We are using antiquated methods to dismantle a modern-day crisis,” Mayor Adams said.

“Young people are being fed hate every day. If you aspire to be like someone, even when they do positive things, you’ll aspire to be like them when they start to do negative things.

“Don’t underestimate the power of Kanye West and what he did, and the millions and millions of young people who

Most Israelis (60 percent) blame Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for the high cost of living, while 40 percent of people aged 25-44 cite it as the issue that concerns them most, according to a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute.

Inflation in Israel has risen sharply, with prices on eve-

know nothing about the history of what antisemitism represents,” he added.

Adams called on the world’s greatest legal minds to come together and “sue the social media companies that are destroying our communities and our

ryday goods such as milk, meat and eggs causing concern.

About two-thirds of Israelis cite food prices as the most significant factor in the high cost of living. According to the poll, 75 percent said they have been forced to give up “some type of expenditure” in the past year, and a majority had given up

cities and feeding our children the hate and despair they’re witnessing”.

Natan Sharansky, former deputy prime minister of Israel, and the leader of the Free Soviet Jewry Movement, also spoke at the event, saying the important “beachhead in the struggle for the future of the Jewish people are on our campuses”.

Sharansky, chair of CAM’s advisory board, said some rabbis are “afraid” to speak about this phenomenon in their shuls, “because it has become very political... One says, ‘The real antisemitism is on the left.’ The other says, ‘The real antisemitism is on the right.’ Or the real antisemites are Antifa, or the Proud Boys.”

Hassan Naveed from the O ce for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, a mayoral o ce in New York City, praised the coalition as “the first of its kind”.

some sort of “leisure activity” such as going to films, theatre, restaurants or on holiday.

Twenty-seven percent chose not to buy a car, 14 percent refrained from buying a flat and 12 percent reduced education or health spending.

“The survey finds that the public distinguishes clearly

between the responsibility of companies in the private sector and that of the government, and explicitly states that the government bears the main responsibility,” Daphna Aviram-Nitzan, director of the Center for Governance and the Economy at the Israel Democracy Institute, said.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog have been invited to attend the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai this November.

Ambassador Mohamed Mahmoud Al Khaja handed a letter to Netanyahu from President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan inviting him along with other world leaders.

This will be Netanyahu’s first visit to UAE since he was re-elected last year. Shortly after announcing that he would make an o cial visit

to the UAE in January, it was cancelled. Israeli media speculated it was due to security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to Temple Mount, which was condemned by the UAE.

Around 4,000 Jewish Argentines showed up to cheer on Israel at their first appearance in a FIFA World Cup tournament in over 50 years, at times singing songs in Spanish. But their festive mood changed after a Palestinian flag surfaced in the crowd — and after the Israeli team lost narrowly in the final minutes to Colombia.

On Sunday at La Plata stadium, Buenos Aires province, Israel lost 2-1 in the first match of the first round of the U-20 World Cup. When Colombia scored its first goal, in the second half of the game supporters in a Colombian fan section raised a Palestinian flag. Almost immediately, nearby Israel supporters shouted at the flag bearer: “This is not politics, this is soccer.” Police eventually intervened and expelled the Palestinian flag holders.

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Kirel repeats stereotypes, says Poland

Poland has invited Israeli Eurovision star Noa Kirel to visit after her “painful” remarks about the country and the Nazi genocide, writes Jotam Confino.

Kirel told KAN public broadcaster that Poland awarding Israel 12 points in the Eurovision Song Contest was a “victory” since almost the “entire Kirel family was murdered in the Holocaust”.

Kirel, whose family members were killed in Auschwitz, visited the death camp in 2019.

Her comment was met with outrage in Poland, which considers itself one of the worst victims of Nazi Germany.

Polish deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński accused Kirel of repeating

“bad stereotypes and false statements” about Poland’s role in the war.

Jabłoński then invited Kirel on a tour to Poland “to understand why she thinks about our homeland in this way and to explain why [her comments] are painful to us.”

Kirel, he argued, would be able to “see with her own eyes the places where Nazi Germany committed cruel crimes against Poles and Jews in our country”.

“The fact that many people in Israel consider Poland to be a co-perpetrator of German crimes – not their victim –is often the result not so much of bad will as lack of knowledge and incomplete education,” Jabłoński added.

Israel and Poland have engaged in heated debates about the Holocaust over the years, with senior Israeli officials blaming the country for taking part in spreading antisemitism.

In 2019, the then Israeli foreign minister Yisrael Katz caused a diplomatic spat with Poland when he said that “Poles collaborated with the Nazis, definitely. As [former prime minister] Yitzhak Shamir said, they suckle antisemitism with their mother’s milk.”

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, fired back at Katz at the time, calling his comment “nothing short of racism”.

Ancient Bible sells for £31m £27M HOSPITAL FUND

A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible became the most expensive book ever sold when it drew a price of $38.1 million (£30.6m), at Sotheby’s auction house last Wednesday.

The buyer of the item, known as the Codex Sassoon, was revealed to be the American fundraising group on behalf of ANU — Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.

The museum said lawyer Alfred Moses, a former US ambassador to

Romania and his family provided the funds for the purchase of the manuscript, which is the world’s oldest

nearly complete copy of the Hebrew Bible. It was handwritten in Syria or the land of Israel roughly 1,100 years ago on 792 pages of sheepskin. It includes all 24 books of the Bible and is missing only about eight pages. The seller, Swiss financier and collector Jacqui Safra, had owned it since 1989. He said: “It was my mission, realising the historic significance of Codex Sassoon, to see that it resides in a place with global access.”

Beilinson Hospital in Israel has received a donation of £27million earmarked for integrative cancer research, writes Jotam Confino.

The donation, the largest in the county’s history, came from philanthropists Dr Susan and Dr Henry Samueli, who donated £20m to establish the Samueli Integrative Cancer Pioneering Institute, as well as £7m from the Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest healthcare provider caring for

five million patients.

Dr Susan and Dr Henry Samueli, California-based co-founder of Broadcom and chairman of the Board, were attracted to Beilinson Hospital’s “inclusive approach toward wholeperson cancer care and world-class clinical services, research and innovation focused on the full-patient journey, incorporated with the globallevel comprehensive databases of Clalit Health Services.”

Will any survivors be here to see memorial?

The Holocaust Memorial Bill that would allow a national Shoah monument and learning centre in Victoria Tower Gardens next to Parliament seems to be in a perpetual holding pattern.

Eight years after then Prime Minister David Cameron first committed the government to it, we are still looping in a Gatwick-style figure-of-eight, hoping not to run out of fuel while awaiting permission to land.

First there were the bureaucratic challenges. Planning permission was needed from Westminster, but after residents’ objections, environmental surveys, traffic warnings and other such sirens were sounded, ministers took over.

Then there were the legal challenges.

Apparently, any construction on the site trespassed on an arcane and forgotten 123-year-old law that needed a Bill to override it.

That Bill is still working its way through the system.

This week, the Bill was finally “classified”, meaning that it is now known to be a “hybrid”, meaning that those who believe they will be affected by it can now put their views forward to parliament. Another figure-of-eight.

Michael Gove, the latest minister given responsibility for pushing this through, says the Conservative government remains “absolutely committed” to doing so.

That’s fine, but for Holocaust survivors such as Manfred Goldberg, who have championed this project for many years, their worry now is that they will not live long enough to see it come to fruition.

Since it was first announced in 2015, this newspaper has supported what we think is a much-needed reminder of the world’s worst genocide right next to parliament.

After eight-plus years of to-ing and fro-ing, we are still talking about it.

Surely it’s time to get on with it.

THIS WEEKS SHAVUOT AND SHABBAT TIMES...

El Al was correct to halt Saturday evening flights

I refer to your report ‘El Al halts Saturday night flights from London to enforce Shabbat’.

I was saddened to read some of the responses, including: “Taliban government. Soon men and women won’t be able to sit together. I will never fly El Al again.”

To equate keeping the mitzvah of Shabbat, which has passed the test of time, to such draconian measures is surely unfair and insulting at the very least.

Understandably, there are those who

might feel inconvenienced, but El Al is a national airline and is worthy of our support whenever possible.

It is good to remind ourselves of the words of a secular Zionist, Asher Ginsberg (known by his pen name, Achad Ha’am), who wisely stated: “It is not so much that the Jews have kept the Shabbat, but that the Shabbat has KEPT the Jews”.

In this vein may El Al airlines continue to thrive.

I write regarding the article ‘El Al halts Saturday night flights from London to enforce Shabbat’, (Jewish News, 11 May).

El Al is Israel’s national airline and Israel is the only Jewish state in the world, so surely it could be deemed right for El Al to facilitate observant passengers flying from London to Tel Aviv without breaking Shabbat. Ensuring that flights on a Saturday night are compatible with Orthodox travellers is not religious extremism.

Eli Rozenberg, El Al’s new Orthodox Jewish owner, is within his rights to have a flight schedule in place during the UK summer which is in accordance with his beliefs and will delight many of his customers.

Many regular and other travellers will be only too pleased that El Al is respecting those who fly to Israel on a Saturday night using this route, while being able to fully keep Shabbat.

BOARD BOOSTS US ALL HERTSMERE WIN

Reluctantly, I could not let the latest letter from your correspondent Mr Grossman go unanswered. Let me restate my position.

I’m but a delegate from my synagogue to the Board and my comments are mine alone. Mr Grossman caused me to rethink and conclude that now I consider the Board of Deputies to be a worthwhile organisation.

I’m well aware of previous distinguished and highly-regarded presidents, but have good reason to believe that in Marie van der Zyl we do have

effective leadership. She represents the Board at all levels from the Coronation service to a shiva in Israel.

Maybe Mr Grossman would like to consider bringing his talents to the Board and, thus, be able to observe how it functions.

And maybe, just maybe, this would enable him to at least moderate his opinions.

By the way, the Board supports both Milah UK and, through its Parliamentary group, the work of Shechita UK.

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You rightly report on the sensational local election results for Hertsmere Borough Council, where the Conservatives were overthrown after 24 years in control of the authority.

While your correspondent mentions the outcome in Borehamwood, his report paid insufficient attention to the part played by the Lib Dems in Bushey – with its large Jewish population – where they won nine of the 11 seats being contested.

Just four years ago, the Lib Dems were unrepresented on Hertsmere Council. Now they hold the balance of power. They celebrated some truly historic victories in Bushey and will now form a key part of the new partnership administration running the borough.

for Bushey North

THE JACOB FOUNDATION

Jewish News is owned by The Jacob Foundation, a registered UK charity promoting cohesion and common ground across the UK Jewish community and between British Jews and wider society. Jewish News promotes these aims by delivering dependable and balanced news reporting and analysis and celebrating the achievements of its vibrant and varied readership. Through the Jacob Foundation, Jewish News acts as a reliable and independent advocate for British Jews and a crucial communication vehicle for other communal charities.

BRUMMER’S CLAIM WRONG

Alex Brummer’s claim that “Israeli democracy has been closing for years as the nation’s political right has cemented the levers of power and sought to redefine the country through measures like the Nation State Law” is false and disingenuous.

The protests are about the left’s realisation that its hold on power through its disproportionate influence on the judiciary, academia and the press is under real threat for the first time in a long time.

Democracy was eroded when Justice Aharon Barak’s power grab in the 1990s sought to turn the judiciary into a tool for societal change leftwards, instead of an independent arbiter of the law, as in all advanced democracies.

Real democracy in this case means

removing decision-making from a tiny group of unelected unaccountable self-perpetuating officials, the justices, to the elected representatives accountable to the public who voted for them, the MKs, while retaining the normative checks and balances.

The Nation State Law of 2018, a consequence of the concerted efforts of some to dilute Israel’s Jewish character, sought to re-emphasise, not redefine, Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, something Mr Brummer views with distaste.

Mr Brummer doesn’t seem to have a problem with most of the 57 Muslim states being defined as Islamic, so what’s his problem with the sole Jewish state being defined as Jewish?

GAZA INTEGRAL TO ISRAEL

Alex Brummer claims that only by ending the “occupation” of the “West Bank and Gaza” can Israel be democratic, prioritising “Arab interests” to Jewish ones.

Despite every last Jew, living and dead, having been removed from Gaza for peace by Israel in 2005, and it now being run by a terrorist entity, Brummer calls Gaza “occupied”. Arab rejection of any Jewish self-determination in what they regard as Islamic land continues to this day.

The day after Israel’s declara-

IN DEFENCE OF INDOOR BONFIRES FOR CHILDREN

The Chareidi-bashing section of last week’s Jewish News focused on a seemlingly wreckless Lag B’Omer bonfire in a Golders Green synagogue.

In reality this was a vastly scaled down affair from what was planned, taking place in a large auditorium, so the danger was minimal.

The opportunity was not missed to report the presence of the brother of a rabbi who is heavily featured in your journal

ECLIPSE OF MEMORIAL

because of alleged misconduct.

Most readers will probably have little connection to Lag B’Omer. They will, however, certainly relate to 5 November.

I do hope your reporters will be available to capture the many seriously unsafe firework and bonfire parties which take place every year, when fire engine sirens are a familiar sound.

As Jenni Frazer points out in her article about the proposed Holocaust Memorial Centre, there are fears that no survivors will live to see it open nor, in fact, that it is the best way to commemorate the suffering of our people during the Nazi era (Jewish News, 18 May).

The Imperial War Museum has a permanent exhibition, but this is on the South Bank of the Thames; the Holocaust Centre in Nottingham is not nearby for visitors to London.

I have followed the prospect of a Holocaust Memorial Centre since 2014 when the Victoria & Albert Museum in Kensington hosted the designs from six architects to decide the best but, since that time, the venue, on Parliament College Green, has been deemed unsuitable.

tion of Independence in May 1948, six Arab armies invaded Israel in a war of extermination, in defiance of international law.

In 1967, Israel liberated the land, again following its defeat of the invading Arab armies and its status remains what it always was… under de jure Israeli sovereignty.

Israel needs to apply International law and Israeli law to the “West Bank” to formally regularise its status as an integral part of Israel.

Funding a chair in Holocaust studies (as suggested by sir Andrew Burns) would be an excellent idea but even this will not prolong the precious years of our survivors.

I have read in the press recently that Liverpool Street Station is being modernised. The memorial there to the Kindertransport in the foreground of the station stands to remind us, and all the visitors from home and abroad, of the trauma of the Holocaust.

I do hope it remains in place so that we do not forget, nor indeed, the many visitors who use that station.

‘It means that never again shall all flesh be cut oft by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth... but the cost of repairs will be added to our water bills’

Mealy-mouthed reaction to the Guardian cartoon

The Guardian takes great pride in its independence and moral clarity and devotes much space to alleged wrongdoing of ministers, the City of London and the rest of the media.

Its editor, Katharine Viner, in the paper’s regular call for support from its readership, hails its exposures of “the misdeeds of Cabinet ministers and City grandees”.

Having worked for 26 years at the paper as an economics correspondent, Washington bureau chief, foreign editor, financial editor and associate editor, I have enormous a ection for the publication and my former colleagues. But, like much of the Jewish community, I was appalled by Martin Rowson’s viciously antisemitic cartoon marking the departure of Richard Sharp as the BBC’s chairman of governors.

The depiction of Sharp could easily have come directly from the notorious Nazi propaganda sheet Der Stürmer. The image of a squidlike creature dates back to the 19th century

Jew-hater, Coin Harvey. His cartoon of an octopus stretched across the globe with Rothschild at the centre, ‘The English Octopus: It Feeds on Nothing but Gold’, has inspired many imitators. Most famously, it was embraced by Rolling Stone magazine at the height of the financial crisis when Sharp’s former employer, Goldman Sachs, was described as a bloodsucking vampire squid. It is hard to think a cartoonist as well educated as Rowson could have been unaware of such antecedents.

What is most o ensive about this incident is the flaccid response of The Guardian, its editor and its sta . Yes, the editor is involved in a dialogue with Board of Deputies president

Marie van der Zyl and it is reported the future of the cartoonist could be in the balance. But it is not just the cartoonist at fault. The paper appears to have an editorial sta inured to the idea that it is fine to be critical of Jews and successful business people. Such attitudes allowed an o ensive image to slip through normal editorial and monitoring processes.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Just a week earlier, The Guardian’s sister paper, The Observer, which is partly produced by the same body of sta , printed a deeply o ensive letter from MP Diane Abbott suggesting antisemitism was a lesser form of racism. It failed to recognise the toxic nature of what was written and didn’t even see it as a news story even though it became a national issue and an embarrassment for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

The Rowson cartoon was so o ensive to Britain’s Jewish community it was deserving of a full mea culpa and might even have provoked resignations. All it produced was a mealymouthed account of the events surrounding publication from The Guardian’s readers’ editor marking the publication’s own homework.

Contrast the reaction of sta to Rowson’s

cartoon with that of the paper’s internal debates over gender issues. The paper’s lack of tolerance for those disagreeing with its position on what defines a woman provoked the departure of two of the country’s most distinguished female columnists, Hadley Freeman and Suzanne Moore.

The Guardian might have considered launching an independent probe into its fraught relationship with the Jewish community. It is often forgotten that the paper’s inspiring editor, the great CP Scott, was a promoter of the Zionist cause, which led to the creation of the state of Israel. In modern times, that history often has seemed betrayed.

Blood libel-stained cartoons of the late Ariel Sharon and contentious one-sided reporting from the Middle East have been a feature of the paper’s modern history. Israel is far from perfect. Its politics are divisive, the settlements a disgrace, treatment of the Palestinian minority unsympathetic and its behaviour in the territories that of an oppressor.

None of that justifies The Guardian’s insouciance towards racism aimed at Jews and knee-jerk hostility to anything Israel.

THE DEPICTION OF RICHARD SHARP COULD EASILY HAVE COME DIRECTLY FROM DER STÜRMER

ALEX BRUMMER

CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

My Hapless steps to fairer, funnier view of Jewish life

My sitcom Hapless series two launched on Prime last Monday. It again stars Tim Downie as an overly truthseeking obsessive journalist for a fictitious paper, The Jewish Enquirer.

Early in the post-production process, I asked two non-Jewish TV critics if they thought it matched up to the first series. Both said they’d give it five stars. That gave me huge confidence

while our creatives promote a specific kind of Jewishness. Taking the most obvious example, we are now represented in the media by one person: David Baddiel. He is given free rein to speak about antisemitism on behalf of all of us.

To say I disagree with Baddiel is an understatement. His book, Jews Don’t Count, left me icy cold. Of course there is antisemitism on the far left. But he has not asked why. We all know why: antisemitism online increases dramatically when there is trouble between Israel and the Palestinians. Who can blame people that for the past 40 years sees Israel as the aggressor in an uneven battle? Who can blame them for a

DAVID BADDIEL FALLS HEADLONG INTO TROPES. WHERE ARE THE COUNTER VIEWS?

racist. How can there be such a thing as a Jewish face? Let’s look at Paul Rudd, voted the sexiest man alive. Gal Gadot? Or at those who convert to Judaism. Do they have Jewish faces? Do Sephardim look like Ashkenazim?

Baddiel says he doesn’t see Israelis as very Jewish. They’re “too macho, too ripped and aggressive and confident”. If this isn’t antisem-

before killing them. He’s right. But the Nazis identified Jews by their genetic line. Baddiel is using the same basic principles. Get far enough away from being Jewish by marriage to nonJews and you’re not Jewish. Nothing whatsoever to do with the religion of Judaism. Baddiel is entitled to his views, but where are the counter views in the mainstream

I’m keeping my promise to Philip. Please join me

In 2013, I was presented with a challenge by a Holocaust survivor - to join him in his life’s mission.

I was in Warsaw, representing the UK at an international event to combat contemporary forms of antisemitism. I accompanied a friend, Jardena, to visit the memorial for the Warsaw Ghetto. She wanted to pay respects to her relatives who had been murdered there.

We were approached by Philip Bialowitz, a jeweller from New York. I took this photograph as he engaged us in conversation, asking why we were visiting the memorial.

Philip then told us his remarkable and tragic story. Aged just 17, he and his brother were part of the uprising at the Sobibor extermination camp, which overcame the Nazi guards and helped 300 prisoners to escape. On the night of the uprising, their leader stood on a table and demanded that, should they escape, they dedicate their life to giving witness to the atrocities.

It suddenly dawned on me that here was

Philip still carrying out his mission, some 70 years later. That crystallising moment still brings a tear to my eye as I sit in Kraków writing this. I’m here at the end of a trip with a wonderful group of sta and fellow trustees of The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. This charity is dedicated to memorialising the victims of genocide and sharing what we learn, to help societies avoid such atrocities.

This week, we visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and also the town of Tarnów, where, in June 1940, the first mass transportation of Polish political prisoners was dispatched to the death camp. Many Jews would follow.

For me, the most harrowing part was our visit to the forest of Zbylitowska Góra, which appeared peaceful and idyllic, filled with vibrant birdsong. We were escorted to where around 10,000 men, women and children were murdered and left unidentified in mass graves. The horror was all the more poignant with accompanying friends who fear that their lost relatives may be among the victims here.

I struggle to get my head around how ordinary police and soldiers murder groups including children. In my role as hate crime

adviser to the UK police, I have trained police around the world. I have regularly utilised the history of Battalion 101, a notorious group of German police volunteers. Many of these murderers later admitted that they were not acting under duress, as we may have anticipated, but were willing volunteers.

Most shocking to modern o cers is how their photographs, taken before the murders, appear so similar to their teams with similar backgrounds until they freely killed defenceless citizens in support of fascist ideologies.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 is ‘the fragility of freedom’. There are always early indicators of potential genocide. It is the duty of leaders to recognise and counter these signs, knowing that, without strong moral leadership, societies can quickly escalate through the ‘ten stages’ of genocide.

This morning, I was sent an account of a troubled UK teenager, who thought his life was unfair and sought a gun so he could emulate the neo-Nazi mass murderers he idolised.

Sadly, Philip Bialowitz died in 2016 aged 90. The world remains a fractious place, where freedoms are, indeed, fragile. We must all play

our part. We owe it to Philip and the six million who died in the Holocaust to redouble our e orts to eradicate hate.

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1 CAR RALLY DRIVES MESSAGE HOME

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Chana, the leading Jewish fertility organisation. To mark the occasion, 80 men travelled from across the globe, including Panama City, Miami, Jerusalem, New York, Canada, South Africa, Mexico and England to take part in Annual Chana Car Rally in Tuscany. Participants drove a magnificent route through breath-taking scenery that included wine country, historical sites, natural beauty and of course the most famous stretch of the historic Mille Miglia race. Off road, participants enjoyed a change in gear, with fine dining and wine tasting.

2 KISHARON BAKES CHEESECAKE

To celebrate the festival of Shavuot, Kisharon client Ora baked a cheesecake with her support worker Bertha. A crowdfunding campaign for the community’s leading learning disabilities charity raised more than £570,000 in just 37 hours.

3 KEREM SCHOOL MATHS CHALLENGE

Back in November, Y5 & Y6 (and even some children in Y4) Kerem students took part in a primary maths challenge. 58,000 pupils took part nationally with the top 3,700 (6%) invited to take part in a bonus round. Kerem school had four pupils qualify, with one pupil achieving a bronze award and two a silver award, placing them among the country’s best.

4 ONE-UPMANSHIP FOR CHAI GOLFERS

More than 100 golfers attended the eighth biennial Golf Fore Chai golf day at Hartsbourne Country Club. Hosted by committee members Jo Fogel, Carolyn Joels, Suzanne Richmond and Serena Smaje, the event raised over £72,000 for Chai’s Children, Teenage and Family Service. Jo said: “I am completely overwhelmed that in these very difficult times we managed to smash our target.”

5 HILLEL MACCABI’S GOLDEN SUCCESS

Wolfson Hillel Primary School’s years 3 and 4 took part in the Maccabi Football tournament. 15 years after the school last won the competition, they brought home the top prize They had to work as a team to beat the best teams and through determination and belief they did so.

6

WOMEN LEARN IN MEMORY OF DEES

More than 250 women came together for an evening of learning in memory of Rebbetzen Lucy Dee and her daughters Maia and Rina z’l. The topic for the evening was ‘The power of words,’ as part of the national Clean Speech Project - a collaboration between Seed & GIFT. The event was organised by Bushey’s Rebbetzen Jacqueline Feldman, Chair of RRUS, Rabbi Daniel Fine & Mirele Mordecai from Seed, and Rebbetzen Lisa Levene from Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, where the event took place. Sarah Callman, Rabbi Dee’s sister, said: “We know Lucy would have been thrilled to know you are learning in their names. The legacy for Lucy, Maia and Rina is to try and focus on the positives that can be drawn from such a terrible tragedy.”

Norwood carnival

More than 1,500 people attended Norwood’s second Carnival at The Grange Academy, Bushey. The charity for people with learning disabilities and autism brought together the people it supports, sta and volunteers for the summer fun day, specially designed

to be inclusive of people with a range of needs and abilities, in an accessible surrounding, with a range of sensory activities and stalls with a sensory element.

With Jewish News as media partner, the event raised £22,500.

Bat-Dor Ojalvo is the director of one of the year’s most important films – In the Name of the Father – screened in the BBC’s prestigious Storyville slot last week. It is the deeply disturbing account of a Breslov Chasidic community, set up in the northern Israeli town of Yavniel. The man who encouraged people to move to Yavniel, Rabbi Eliezer Schick, died in 2015 aged 74.

But as the film shows, the rabbi, working from Brooklyn, presided over a massively corrupt culture of sexual abuse of young girls and boys, of illegal underage marriages, and of physical and emotional violence.

It took Ojalvo and her team seven years of relentless, dedicated research to make the film. The rabbi was universally known as Mohorosh, and witnesses in the film tell Ojalvo’s camera: “He is not dead, how could he be dead? He is a tzaddik [righteous person].”

But besides Mohorosh’s followers, Ojalvo has secured two key testimonies: from Moishi, the rabbi’s 44-year-old Brooklyn-based son, and from members of the Boloton family, some of whom left Yavniel and now lead secular lives.

Originally there were three films, shown on Israel’s Kan TV, but they were edited down to the Storyville 90-minute slot. And so I learn that Moishi, who is now mounting a legal action to claim a massive financial inheritance from his father, is not an only child, as the BBC programme suggests. He has, in fact, three sisters, whom Orthodox law does not recognise as claimants; and an older brother, who remains in Brooklyn, where he owns his parents’ building, and who has been described to Ojalvo as “not healthy, mentally” and thus not part of Moishi Schick’s legal initiative.

For Ojalvo, it was “very important to bring all sides to sit in front of the camera”, whether or not they remained devotees

A look

Life

of Mohorosh, or were ex-members of the Yavniel community.

To conduct many of the interviews, she wore modest, religious clothing, particularly because some of the conversations took part in the community’s synagogue. She slowly gained people’s trust – and because she spent so much time in Yavniel, she thinks that people became comfortable with her, asking after her children, and accepting that she is a secular Jew.

Some of the most remarkable footage in the film shows violent attacks against Moishi and against members of the commu-

nity perceived to have complained against the “party line” – the strict enforcement of underage marriages and the casting out of people such as women who wanted a divorce or a child who reported sexual abuse.

“You see interviews with about 12 people in the film, but in fact we spoke to around 50. Many said they wouldn’t appear on camera, but they gave us access to their computers and old tapes.

“We took that material to a special laboratory and it was worked on to show in our film. Some of the people who said they didn’t want to appear on screen nevertheless helped us

and are still helping. One man told me: ‘You are shouting from my throat.’”

Two central questions: was Mohorosh aware of the sustained level of abuse, and did Ojalvo believe Moishi?

To the first, she has no doubt. “He was totally aware of the sexual abuse. People would write faxes to him in New York and they would ask him anything and everything, from what did a scary dream mean, to whether it was permitted to keep cats.

“But many of these questions concerned sexual abuse, who was a victim, who was carrying it out, and exactly what was being done.” She is as certain as she can be that the rabbi knew what was taking place, but because of the stricture against being a moiser – one who informs or betrays, usually to the outside authorities – Rabbi Schick was able to clamp down on the complainants, often by throwing them out of Yavniel.

In one shocking instance, Ojalvo says, a nine-year-old boy said he had been raped by a neighbour. Mohorosh threw this child out of the community and his mother was forbidden to make contact with him – to which she agreed. What happened to the boy? “He became addicted to drugs and ended up living on charity. When it came to having his own children, he couldn’t be a father to them and ended up giving them away. So what we are seeing is generation after generation of shame and misery.”

As for Moishi, Ojalvo concedes that she was very sceptical at first – but then adds that he was too. Each was wary of the other, and at one point she made him sign an agreement promising not to sue people who spoke disparagingly of him on camera. “I was so scared at the beginning. I wasn’t sure what I would find.

“One man even said that Moishi had murdered someone. I told Moishi: ‘It’s not your movie, it’s mine.’ I was very clear and open with him. Everything was on the table.”

She concludes that he was “quite brave” and said things about himself that did not show him in the best light. Moishi’s bitterness is understandable: he says on camera that he

Last week the BBC aired a film that exposed the systematic abuse of children in the Breslov Chasidic community. Jenni Frazer spoke to its director

a er teaching Luxury weekend away in Windsor

himself was sexually abused in his father’s New York yeshiva, that his father knew and did nothing about it. (Moishi, his wife and children never lived in Yavniel, but the abuse appears to have been part of the culture of the community.)

Now, since the screening of In the Name of the Father in Israel, the police, the attorneygeneral’s o ce, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Welfare have become involved in a belated but welcome inquiry into what went wrong in Yavniel. Some members of the Breslov commu-

nity have told Ojalvo that they are getting involved in workshops, and learning how to create a safe space for their children. She and her film team have given hours of testimony to the police.

But the illegal, underage marriages are still taking place, often at night where they cannot be tracked. That is an issue which Israeli authorities must deal with –and urgently.

❖ In The Name of The Father is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

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Julie Cohen absolutely loved her job as a teacher. “I adored teaching, the school, my colleagues, the kids,” she says. But the intense workload forced her to make the di cult decision to give it up last summer. She’s not alone. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) in schools in England have held three regional and five national strike days since February and many are choosing to leave the profession altogether.

Having kids stuck at home while their teachers are on strike is enough to make any parent sigh, but those responsible for educating our o spring are not protesting for nothing. Weak wages, work prep lasting well into the weekend and a woeful lack of support from the school system leave them with little choice.

Victoria Sterman, chief executive of Resource, the Jewish community’s go-to charity helping people into work, reveals that the organisation has “more teachers asking for help finding a new role than ever before, especially over the last year. The majority would like to leave teaching altogether, although some would still like a role within education.”

Julie first taught in her native Scotland and then at Yavneh Primary School. Part of the reason why she moved to London was to be near her grown-up children, but the lack of work–life balance as a teacher meant she was “too exhausted” to spend time with them.

“It just got to a point where I was longing for a 9 to 5 job, one without having to work evenings and weekends. My dad used to joke ‘what’s so bad about teaching, you’re out by 3, all these holidays’, but that’s not the reality of it. A teacher’s salary is fair if it’s for the hours you work in class. But it’s not just for that.

“It makes me sad that high-calibre teachers are leaving the profession daily due to the low wages. The increased cost of living on a teacher’s salary can make it untenable.”

Julie left her job in July 2022 and got in touch with Resource a couple of months later.

“It is the most incredible service. I spotted a job in education I liked the look of on the Resource job board and my mentor helped me with the application and interview – she was amazing. As was Victoria, the chief executive.

“I feel very lucky and blessed to have got a job I feel was meant for me. And all in a couple

of months!” The job Julie landed is employability programme leader at ORT UK. “It’s still in education, it’s still helping make a di erence but the workload is far more manageable.”

Barbara, a teacher for children with special needs, says that financial limitations were one of the reasons why seven years ago she abandoned her classroom career at The Village, a “wonderful family-like specialist school in Kingsbury”, in favour of private tutoring and home schooling. Her experience echoes that of Julie.

“What everyone forgets is it’s not just being present in the class, you have all the paperwork and procedures to keep up with and your day doesn’t end at 4pm – it comes home with you.

“I had to sacrifice time with my own family. After tax, household expenses and paying for my own kids’ schooling I wasn’t left with much. I couldn’t even a ord holidays abroad and boy did I need one.”

As a supply teacher, Barbara was responsible for a range of pupils aged from four to 19, many of whom had severe learning disabilities (SLD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).

“I had two teaching assistants helping me with daily medication. Some children would have seizures, some were tube-fed and this had to be closely monitored. At the end of the day the safety and wellbeing of those children lay on me as the teacher and this pressure was intense.”

She recalls: “The straw that broke the camel’s back was when a teenager with acute behavioural di culties got into a fight with another pupil and my e orts to intervene left me with three broken toes. Getting bruises was a weekly – sometimes daily – occurrence and while I know it comes with the territory, I thought next time I might not be so lucky and my kids need their mother.”

Barbara recently discovered Resource on the recommendation of a friend.

“My mentor Clare has been so kind and

patient. She’s helped me reflect on my past experiences and what I want to do going forward. I’ve also attended networking sessions and a CV workshop which was fantastic and extremely thorough.”

With the support of Resource, Barbara is now looking for a career which will allow her to use her vast skills and experience in special

education, perhaps in the charitable sector. She’s sorry to have left the classroom but says things will only improve if more funds are allocated. “If you put more money into education and bring more sta in then everyone will be happier.”

Are you affected by abuse?

Have you experienced any kind of relationship or sexual abuse? Or are you worried about a friend or family member? Jewish Women’s Aid can offer you free professional services and a confidential space to talk.

Naomi Frankel meets two women who have le the profession and received help from a workplace charity to find satisfying new careers

All the of the

In the wardrobe in my room at Fairmont Windsor Park is a smart beige leather box. “Pop your shoes in there and leave it outside your door to get them polished,” explained Josh, the charming young man who was giving me a room tour. Not that it’s such a big room, you understand, but there are lots of switches and gadgets, including one for the seriouslywant-at-home electric curtains. Back to the shoes, and polished footwear is just what you’ll want to wear to walk round this hotel, which is highly polished in every aspect, from the valet parking and seamless check-in to the décor, the gym, the spa, the rooms, the restaurants and the beautifully manicured grounds.

There’s a grand sense of arrival as you drive through the 40-acre estate, via a bridge over a shimmering lake with a fountain as the magnificent Jacobean building comes into view. It took four years to finish, at a reported cost of £200 million. It’s only been open just over a year, which accounts for the shiny newness of everything, but standards are so high I have a hunch it will remain that way. Three life-size bronze horse sculptures and a Rolls Royce buggy are just waiting to be Instagrammed, while a fleet of luxury cars sets the scene.

The 251 bedrooms are beautifully appointed in a neutral colour palette with a Damien Hirst-esque blossom design on one wall making its way onto the ceiling too. The luxury bathrooms have walk-in shower, huge tub, hidden toilet, lots of places to put your stu down and - oh joy - superb lighting and a magnifying mirror. The hotel has a strong focus on sustainability so the Le Labo bathroom products are firmly fixed in place rather than being in wasteful little miniatures.

This is by all accounts an elegant countryside resort hotel and wellness

plays a key role in its o ering. The spa occupies a vast labyrinthine space and has so many options you could stay a week and not try them all. As well as 18 treatment rooms there’s a cryotherapy chamber, a six-person hammam and a Face Bible aesthetics clinic. There’s a large indoor pool and outdoor hydrotherapy vitality pool which is heated all year round. I counted 20 spin bikes in a studio of their own, a reformer Pilates studio, a huge, fully-equipped gym and there’s even a hair salon and a Truefit & Hill barber shop.

An easy 45-minute drive from north London, this is a perfect place to escape for a night or two. I finished work early on Friday and was there in time for a cup of tea in the pretty pink-and-white bright spacious lounge before making use of my stunning bathroom to touch up my makeup before pre-dinner drinks in the 1215 bar (named after the year the Magna Carta was signed near here). Cocktails are a twist on the classics – such as a gin-based Cosmo with elderflower and lemon.

The 1215 restaurant is a white, light-filled room at which my husband and I were seated in a semi-circular booth looking out over the grounds. The tasting menu was spot on in terms of seasonality, taking us from a spring pea tart through roasted asparagus with tru e, sea bream with samphire and cham-

of the mansion house that once stood on this murals and crockery feature these beautiful flowers.

pagne and the tenderest of lamb with wild garlic. The new wave of tasting menus feature two desserts – perfect for someone like me who always wants more than one – and we had rhubarb egg custard and an indulgent dark chocolate and cherry ganache. The Orchid Tea Room is for ladies who tea. You read that right. The owners of the mansion house that once stood on this site used to collected orchids and the wall murals and crockery feature these beautiful flowers. If you don’t want the full-blown afternoon tea (although I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t!) this is also a place to enjoy co ee and cakes throughout the day.

Breakfast is bu et-style in the Moreish restaurant, which serves up European and Middle Eastern fusion dishes in the evenings. If you’re into gin, this restaurant is also home to Schroeder’s Botanicals Bar.

We were lucky enough to be there on a warm, sunny weekend and enjoyed a delicious Caesar salad and Padron peppers for lunch on the large terrace that stretches the entire width of the building. Lots of other people had the same idea and the place was buzzing with vitality, with young children playing on the lawn and the tinkle of music drifting outside from the pianist in The Orchid Room. An outdoor kitchen with pizza oven will be up and running in a few weeks and a walled garden is under construction, meaning that vegetables and fruit will be grown on-site. The hotel will also be harvesting honey from its own beehives.

The terrace overlooks the lawn where chuppahs take place if the weather is good enough. And if it isn’t, there are ample indoor spaces, including the enormous, pillar-free ballroom that can hold 500 people. It’s fast becoming a popular venue for weddings and all types of corporate events.

Just before we left I gave in to temptation and popped in to Mr Simms Olde Sweet

 Rooms at Fairmont Windsor Park start

www.fairmontwindsorpark.com

Business / Assistive technologies

START-UPS HELPING TO TRANSFORM LIVES

Arobotic standing wheelchair, a wearable smart gadget that can read text and software that can be controlled by eye movements are just a few of the Israeli inventions created to help people with disabilities.

Assistive technologies – products, devices or equipment that is used to maintain, increase or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with a disability – are much-needed.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that more than two billion people will need at least one assistive technology product by 2030. Coherent Market Insights forecasts that the global elderly and disabled assistive devices market will exceed $31bn (£25bn) by 2027.

Yet access still lags behind demand, with reports stating that only one in 10 people have access to the assistive technology they need and funding into the sector is declining. Thankfully Israel is on the case. The ‘start-up nation’ is home to around 100 assistive technology start-ups addressing vision, hearing, mobility, services, assisted living, communication and cognitive needs. They include AccessibleGO, UPnRIDE and OrCam (more on these later).

Online venture investing platform Our Crowd, which has a strong portfolio of Israeli assistive technologies, recently partnered with the WHO Foundation to launch a $200m Global Health Equity Fund that will focus on breakthrough technology solutions to improve healthcare around the world. The fund is also targeting disability technologies to improve the lives of people globally and specifically in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs).

Itsik Francis, a principal at OurCrowd, says: “Despite the decline, I believe the assistive technology sector will grow rapidly over the next few years, driven by advancements in AI [artificial intelligence], machine learning and natural language processing. These technologies are making it possible to create more sophisticated and personalised assistive devices and software.

“Additionally, the increasing availability of high-speed internet and mobile devices will make it easier for people to access assistive technology. Another important factor that will drive growth in the sector is the increasing awareness and acceptance of assistive technology as a mainstream solution for people with disabilities.”

Israel has positioned itself as a world leader in the sector. There are several reasons for this, notes Francis. “Israel has a strong culture of research and development, with many universities and research institutions working on cutting-edge technology in the field.

“Many of the engineers and technicians that work in assistive technology start-ups in Israel come from a military background. They have experience working with technology in a battlefield environment and have a deep understanding of the needs of people with dis-

abilities.” He adds: “Israel has a high proportion of people with disabilities in its population, creating a high demand for assistive technology products and services. This helps start-ups to develop and test their products with a large target market.

“The Israeli government provides financial and regulatory support for assistive technology start-ups, which helps them to grow and scale.” What’s more, with Israel’s concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world), the country is home to communities fostering the development of assistive technology solutions with the potential to be scaled into global businesses.

UPNRIDE

Founded: 2013 by Dr Amit Goffer

Location: Yokneam (near Haifa)

UPnRIDE aims to ‘cure the sitting disease’. It enables wheelchair users to become mobile while in a standing position. Used in practically any urban environment, even on slopes and uneven surfaces, both indoors and out, UPnRIDE has three differentiating factors: first, a unique mechanical design that maintains

says: “Disabled and elderly people with walking impairments are forced to sit and move around in a wheelchair, a situation that causes physical, physiological, and psychological deterioration (“sitting disease”), leading to poor health, reduced quality of life, low self-esteem, inability to fully integrate in society and very high medical expenses. This is a burden for them, their families and society and health insurers.”

Investment to date: $7m

What makes Israel a leader when it comes to assistive technologies?

Tamari says: “The size of Israel has never allowed the industry to compete with the big global players and therefore we always focus on technology innovation that makes a change. This reality applies to the disability tech sector.”

What are the greatest challenges within the sector?

“Although disability tech has a real impact on individuals and on society, it’s perceived by investors as an esoteric and not trendy sector,” explains Tamari. “Therefore it is harder to raise funds to create innovative solutions that will change the lives of many people. In addition, this industry is very conservative, which makes it harder to create collaboration between start-ups and the big players.”

Where do you see this area going over the next few years?

Tamari says: “Technology advancement affects everyone’s life and disabled people expect to see innovative solution for them as well.

Where are the big opportunities within this sector?

Tamari says: “Disabled people strive for technology solutions that will improve and change their life and the demand will grow as technology makes up a bigger part of everyone’s life. This goes together with the growing awareness of disability and the need for more accessibility and inclusion.

“Social and health equity becomes a global goal, led by the UN, and even health insurers take it into consideration when approving solutions for their clients.

“This will affect the disability tech sector by pushing for new and more advanced solutions that will allow the disabled to lead as normal a life as possible.”

the centre of gravity when transferring from sitting to standing – stability of the user, second, a unique auto-balancing mechanism the keeps the user vertical to earth despite slanted or uneven surface – extra stability for total safety, and third, many safety algorithms embedded in a proprietary computer to detect hazardous situations and to solve them. The technology of the UPnRIDE (mechanics and auto-balancing algorithms) is protected by global patents.

Rationale

Oren Tamari, CEO of UPnRIDE Robotics Ltd,

“Market studies show that the robotic and smart wheelchairs sector will grow very rapidly in the next few years (~15 percent/year) and it is the same with other advanced technologies.”

What are the big trends within this sector?

“Dr Amit Goffer started a revolution in the mobility of disabled people by introducing the ReWalk and, since then, it is clear to everyone in the field that standing is a must, even for wheelchair users,” affirms Tamari.

“We believe that standing for all wheelchair users will become a gold standard and the UPnRIDE will be leading this trend.”

ACCESIBLEGO

Founded: 2018, co-founded by Miriam Eljas, Jeff Schlanger and Galia Kut Location: headquartered in Jerusalem and mainly focused on the US

A travel platform for those with disabilities, the start-up offers travel tips, allows members to book accessible travel and provides a community in which members can share their experiences and reviews. Currently focused on the US market, the company’s vision is global.

Rationale

Born with a desire to provide a one-stop source to address the travel needs of people with disabilities, accessibleGO is a travel platform that offers bookings with game-changing accessibility data, reviews written by people with disabilities and a dynamic community offering accessibility information and support for likeminded individuals needing the same services.

Miriam Eljas, CEO and co-founder of accessibleGO says: “I was prompted to start this company with my co-founders because my mother had multiple sclerosis and, growing up in Silicon Valley California, I saw what she went through every time we wanted to go anywhere. My mum used a wheelchair and it really shaped

A host of Israeli companies are at the forefront of the assistive technology sector and aiming to revolutionise global healthcare, says Candice Krieger

Assistive technologies / Business

how I looked at the world. If we had just been able to find out in advance how accessible things really were prior to arriving, it would have been life-changing.”

Investment: just under $3m

What makes Israel a leader when it comes to disability tech?

“While Israel is known as the start-up nation, it is unique because you have start-up founders who not only have that drive to launch a company but they also want to improve the world and make a di erence,” explains Eljas. “So in Israel you have that dual combination of both drives and it’s extremely powerful.”

What are the greatest challenges within the sector?

Eljas says: “The biggest challenges are mainly mindsets and perceptions of this market by decision-makers. “

Where are the big opportunities within this sector?

“The disability market is a blue ocean. I think until recently the status quo was accepted when things weren’t accessible and people just managed with how things were,” Eljas says. “Traditional VCs [venture capital companies] previously were not interested in this market because they thought it wasn’t big enough.

“Now, slowly slowly, the mentality is changing in all industries. There is an awakening that not only is this is a huge market, but that accessibility needs must be met.”

Where do you see this area (disability technology) going over the next few years?

Eljas says: “Every time I look around, there are more start-ups in this space. It’s tremendously exciting because it means that the status quo is no longer accepted and change for the better is on the horizon.”

What are the big trends within this sector?

“Within the disability market space, I’ve seen a real rise in the assistive tech space specifically,” Eljas says. “This is the e ort to improve the day-to-day lives of people with disabilities and it’s truly amazing to watch it burgeoning.”

ORCAM

Founded: 2010 by professor Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram, who are also the co-founders of Mobileye Location: Headquartered in Jerusalem

OrCam uses cutting-edge AI technology to assist people who are blind or visually impaired, have reading di culties, or learning challenges.

low vision; and OrCam

Learn for people with reading and learning di erences, including dyslexia. The newly-added ‘Translation’ and ‘Dictionary’ features support learners throughout their studies. With the press of a button, OrCam Learn translates any English text into 15 languages. Moon Hall School in Reigate and Oldham College in Greater Manchester are early adopters of the OrCam Learn in the UK.

with their Reigate and Oldham College in Greater ManLearn

OrCam MyEye is a lightweight, wearable device, which instantly reads text from any surface out loud – from printed pages and digital screens – and recognises faces, identifies products and more.

OrCam Read is a hand-held device designed for people who find reading challenging, including those with mild to moderate low vision or reading fatigue. It instantly reads any printed or digital text.

Aimed at students, OrCam Learn reads out loud a full page, paragraph, or single word – of the student’s choosing –including from a book, digital screen or classroom handout and provides insightful data analytics and reporting.

Rationale

OrCam Technologies strives to empower humanity by creating life-changing ‘assistive companions’, powered by AI, for people who are blind or visually impaired, have reading di culties or learning challenges. The aim is to give users increased confidence, independence and enhance their quality of life.

What makes Israel a leader when it comes to disability tech?

Rafi Fischer director of public and media relations at OrCam Technologies, says: “Disability tech frequently requires integration of multiple domains – including hardware, software, natural language understanding/processing (NLU/NLP), algorithmic vision, AI and more –and very specific problem-solving.

The strong pool of talent nurtured by the Israel Defence Force’s elite technology units, Israel’s strong academic environment and the Israeli ‘can do’ nimble and entrepreneurial spirit has all contributed to propel the country to leadership in this domain.”

What are the sector’s greatest challenges?

“A key challenge is developing products that can seamlessly integrate into the daily lives of people dealing with disability,” says Fischer. “Specifically, for us, it required us to pack various technologies into an easy-to-use, smallform factor device.

expanding to cover human di erences more broadly, and converging with other domains, such as education.

“In OrCam, we leveraged our key technological assets to develop OrCam Learn, an integrative solution that addresses the needs of students with reading and learning di erences, and their parents, teachers and schools.

“This solution reads text from any surface – print or digital – and also allows students to practice their reading out loud and be assessed on their reading fluency and comprehension.

“Teachers and schools receive frequent assessments of each student, enabling them to more e ectively navigate the student’s academic journey.

“Learning di erences are

OrCam’s MyEye wearable device

very common – one in five students has them is OrCam Learn is to develop it into an increas-

very common – one in five students has them and, for 85 percent of this population, the challenge is reading-related. Our vision for OrCam Learn is to develop it into an increasingly sophisticated ‘learning companion’ for students.

“Another key trend is the growing role of artificial intelligence. As AI becomes more powerful, it further opens the field of disability-related problems that can be addressed with technology.”

OTHER ASSISTIVE TECH ISRAELI START-UPS

INCLUDE:

• accessiBe

• Tongo

• ReAbility

• Intendu

• MediTouch

“Another key challenge has been making the information and user experience of the device accessible online to a low-vision audience.”

OrCam has created globally awardwinning devices: OrCam MyEye and OrCam Read, for those with “Another key chaluser experience of the audience.”

What are the big trends within this sector?

What are the big trends within this sector?

the definition of disability tech morphing and The OrCam Learn helps people with reading and learning difficulties

Fischer says: “One key trend is that we see the definition of disability tech morphing and

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MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

Moshe took the book of our covenant (Sefer haBrit) with Hashem and read it to bnei Yisrael. They said in response: “Everything Hashem has said, we shall do and listen to (naaseh veNishmah)”

(Shemot 24:7).

This seems a counterintuitive sequence; if we do not first listen, we cannot understand what we are doing, and surely there is no virtue in just doing things mindlessly. Is it not the di erence between us and angels, that we have the choice to choose Hashem and do His bidding?

Rabbi Chanina ben Dossa teaches us that our awe of Hashem is what precedes true wisdom.

He explains that for anyone whose actions are greater than their wisdom, their wisdom will endure, as it says (Exodus 24:7): “We will do, and then we will listen” (Pirkei Avot 3:9). Meaning, we first ‘did’/ acted because of our knowledge of Hashem rather than ‘doing’ based on our calculated logic. This, therefore, is true wisdom.

In his book Thinking Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman explores the driving forces in our decisionmaking. His research has proved the uncontrollable impact of our subconscious on our decision-making, even when we believe our decisions to be completely rational and logical. Our decision-making is inevitably based on things other than our logic, such as our biases, familiarity, inherent laziness, and so on.

Making a decision will always be subject to unconscious bias. Our decision to receive the Torah, if thoroughly analysed, would have been altered by factors we would not have chosen to take into account. For example, we would automatically calculate the cost–benefit analysis of receiving the Torah and weigh up other values alongside our value of wanting to serve Hashem.

Accepting the Torah and keeping our covenant with Hashem is not a logical or rational decision; it is hard work! However, despite this, the decision was not thoughtless.

Rabbi Chanina is saying that the reason our awe for Hashem precedes wisdom is that in order to have awe for Hashem, we must understand His greatness; we must know Hashem. If this knowledge guides us in our deci-

Accepting the Torah is not a rational decision, but not thoughtless either

sion-making, then our decisions will be wise and right.

We recognised the truth of Hashem, His word and His Torah. Our desire to emanate His values, and to live a life that is most meaningful spiritually, outweighed all other considerations. Entering the covenant with Hashem and accepting the Torah are decisions for which our knowledge/understanding of Hashem was the most paramount and overpowering factor. It could not be outweighed by other factors;

we became biased towards serving Hashem. This decision elevated us and widened our horizon of potential and meaning, on account of its illogical nature. Our decision was not based on what we heard or calculated regarding all material pros and cons, but based on our understanding of Hashem; this made all the di erence.

May we all be blessed this Shavuot to choose as naturally and inherently as at Sinai, to re-enter the brit between us and Hashem, and to keep His Torah with conviction.

Campaigns and Digital Manager

Job Title: Campaigns and Digital Manager at Labour Friends of Israel London Salary: £28,000-33,000 Full-time 12 month, fixed-term contract.

Candidates should have experience of running campaigns, digital communications, an interest in Israel and the Middle East, and a good knowledge of UK politics and the Labour party. They should also possess excellent written and oral communication skills, have excellent IT skills (including Excel, Word and Office) and the ability to multitask as part of a team. The successful candidates will also be comfortable dealing with both parliamentarians and members of the public.

The post is initially for one year with the possibility of renewal, we will consider suitable candidates who wish to work part-time and are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements at interview.

Closing date: Monday 12th June Interview s: w/c Monday 19th June To apply, please send a CV and covering letter outlining your suitability for this post, showing how you meet the criteria outlined above, to mail@lfi.org.uk

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

Sixty years ago, when I applied to enter the Leo Baeck College for rabbinic training, I don’t think I was asked outright, “Do you believe in God?” In all my years as a congregational rabbi I don’t think we ever asked prospective members about their belief either.

I do know that many established members declared that they didn’t believe in God, even those who regularly attended services. In his latest book, David Baddiel writes: “To be a Jew you don’t have to have much of a sense of God… what you need is a sense of ritual.”

What do we expect of a bar/bat mitzvah youth? Not that they make

a public declaration of faith in God, but that they can adequately read from the Torah. Does any synagogue make them recite “ani ma’amin b’emunah sheleyma… I believe with perfect faith”, going on to a rm all 13 statements in the list attributed to Maimonides that we find in the concluding hymn Yigdal?

How many congregants who are declared atheists refuse to sing Adon Olam, with its list of statements about God’s nature, especially if sung to a jolly Israeli popsong melody?

Of course, many who are atheists or agnostics find no sense in synagogue services, but I suspect that quite a few of them enjoy the

family seder, or are happy to come to shul for a family simcha. Baddiel is right: it is sense of ritual and, I would add, a sense of belonging to a community that is important. How many Jewish atheists have found comfort in the rituals of a Jewish funeral, or reciting Kaddish?

In my student rabbi days, we Liberal Jews were ‘updating’ our prayerbook by changing to modernised English translation.

I recall my revered teacher Rabbi Louis Jacobs jokingly saying: “We Orthodox don’t have that problem, we daven in Hebrew.” Yet he wrote books and taught Jewish theology. Ritual, community, studying Jewish texts, reading Jewish books, doing mitzvot: these are important. And God?

I would say that all who engage in Jewish activities are doubly blessed if they can do so with a

Those who do Jewish activities with a sincere belief are doubly blessed

sincere and deep belief in God, in a belief that they do so because this is God’s will. But a Jew who is sure that no God exists is still a Jew.

As a rabbi, I suppose I should say, please God they come to believe, and maybe I can help them on this path.

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10 Bend (5)

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14 Annoyingly insensitive (6)

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13 Off-balance, askew (8)

15 Peter ___, Pink Panther actor (7)

17 Person sent away from a war zone (7)

18 Lawn plant (5)

20 With the exclusion of (5)

21 Midday meal (5)

22 Pleased (4)

WORDSEARCH

The listed words related to food and dishes can all be found in the grid. Words may run either forwards or backwards, in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction, but always in a straight, unbroken line.

HILARIOUS HEBREW Word of the Week

Learning Hebrew can be fun and sometimes hilarious! Join one of the WZO's Ulpan classes near you and find out for yourself! The subsidised Ulpanim are based in North West and East London, Manchester, Brighton, Borehamwood and Bushy. Contact- ulpanuk@wzo.org.il or call 020 83715336

Fun, games and prizes

SUDOKU

Fill the grid with the numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3 block contains the numbers 1 to 9.

SUGURU

Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2, a three-cell block contains the digits 1, 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells, not even diagonally.

GOULASH

KEDGEREE

LENTILS

MISO

PULSES

STROGANOFF

Last issue’s solutions

SUSHI

VEGEBURGER

VEGETABLES

From the book Hilarious Hebrew- the Fun and Fast Way to Learn the Language, available on Amazon and in book and gift shops throughout London. www.hilarioushebrew.com

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

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