CTJC magazine
Chanukah
Kislev 5781 December 2020
CTJC Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation Magazine number 130
Contents From the Chair ......................................................................................... 3 Community news ..................................................................................... 4 From the Editor........................................................................................ 4 Communal information ........................................................................... 6 Friends in gardening ................................................................................ 7 After the War ........................................................................................... 8 Love in the Blitz ....................................................................................... 9 A Life Ahead ........................................................................................... 12 The mystery of the Aleph ...................................................................... 13 The Life of Sarah .................................................................................... 14 Rabbi Lord Sacks and Rabbi Jacobs ....................................................... 16 Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks .................................................................... 22 Talmud Siyyumim to finish off a section in style ................................... 24 Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: the darker side? ................................... 25 Chanukah 1942 ...................................................................................... 29 Three Chanukah songs........................................................................... 31 Little Ruby Riding-Hood ......................................................................... 33 Gingerbread Chanukah gelt ................................................................... 34 Chanukah paintings ............................................................................... 36 כולנו אוהבים את חג חנוכה....................................................................... 40 Festival calendar 5781, 2020-21 ............................................................ 44 Subscriptions and donations 2020/2021 ............................................... 46 Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor, nor of the Committee of the CTJC Front cover: Menorah by Rosie Leigh, aged 6 Back cover: Menorah by Shaina Leigh, aged 13 Page 2
From the Chair Jo Landy Welcome to the CTJC magazine. As I write we are in the middle of another lockdown. When this reaches you all, I hope that life will be a little less restricted and that our more vulnerable members will be looking forward to the imminent prospect of vaccination. We have all been through a tortuous year. There have been many deaths, not only Covid-related. Later in this issue there are articles about the late Lord Sacks. Suffice to say he will be much missed by all of us. A huge thanks to all who helped organise the Yamin Noraim. We managed not only safe, socially distanced, smoothly run services inside, but also enjoyed a great, newly renovated, outside space. This meant that those who felt worried by being in a building could attend outside. A thank you to Miriam Fauks, who used this outside space to run a very small Covid-aware children’s service. Rising Covid numbers among returning University students caused concerns about increased risk within the minyan. As a result, we organised services for non-student congregants which were separate from those held by the students. From Succot our abbreviated services started at 9.45am. Student services follow later. There is a covered space in the garden for those who wish to daven outside. Reuven continued the online booking system for places at minyanim. With limited numbers we have still managed to get a minyan. Hopefully, this will resume when we are able to hold services again. Because Shabbat now comes in so early, our weekly zoom meetings have been moved to 8.00pm on Saturday evening. It’s a great way to stay in touch with everyone. There has been some movement on plans to rebuild 3 Thompson’s Lane. A planning application has now been submitted to the council. Meanwhile, the newly created Management Committee has not only contended with existing issues at 3 Thompson’s Lane, but has helped with the added burdens of running a building and events during Covid19. Page 3
Lastly, Julian and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Chanukah.
Community news Congratulations
מזל טוב
Xanthe Langley and Alex Craig on the birth of Rafael Benjamin, and to grandmother Jane LiddellKing. Rafael was Born on 28th October, 10 Heshvan, brother to Sofia Eva and Isabella Hannah Professor Stefan Reif, founder and former Director of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, has been awarded an OBE for services to scholarship Please do get in touch with the Editor if you have news you would like to share
From the Editor Jane Liddell-King Dear All A huge thank you to all those who have made this magazine possible. Chanukah could not be more welcome. I am lucky to be living near several Jewish families with whom latkes can be shared over garden fences and doorsteps, and where we can see each other’s Menorot. It is wonderful to have witnessed the community holding together in tough times. We have shared our grief at the loss of the unforgettable Jonathan Sacks and, thanks to Reuven, those of us too vulnerable to attend services have continued to come together via Zoom. I am particularly lucky to have been blessed with a new grandson. And now we have news of vaccines which will allow us to meet more freely and enjoy kiddushim once more. Page 4
I was fortunate indeed to have met Jonathan Sacks here in Cambridge on several occasions. The first time he had come to debate the tension between faith and science with the late Peter Lipton, Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science. To my astonishment, he recalled the piece I had written for the JC the previous week, recording the Sephardi bat Mitzvah of Rosa Abulafia at Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue. I told him how much I was looking forward to writing about the approaching debate. He was that characteristic mixture of graciousness and thoughtfulness. On the second occasion he addressed an audience at Lucy Cavendish College. I asked him what he felt about having missed the funeral of Rabbi Hugo Gryn. He expressed sincere regret, acknowledging what a huge mistake he had made. He was candour itself. I then asked him about the role of women in traditional Judaism. While our daughters can aspire to be prime minister, they cannot be rabbis. And why is the illusion that they need know only a handful of prayers, be unable to leyn at sight, not have the Talmud and Mishna and Gemara at their fingertips, while their minds may be rich with medical or legal knowledge be seen as good? He answered swiftly: “My daughter”, he said, “has her eye on my job”. Audience laughter precluded further discussion. But it is a discussion rumbling like distant thunder. And who can doubt the gifts of his daughter, Gila? As she gave the hesped at her father’s funeral, we witnessed her courage and her high intelligence, weaving his reading of Parashat Vayera with his fatherly capacity to give space to each of his children in demonstration of devoted love. And what of Elaine, his wife? Again, I was lucky enough to meet her. For a few years, Jewish Book Week encouraged children to write by holding a poetry competition. I sent work by local Jewish children and, unsurprisingly, several won prizes. It fell to Elaine to present these at her home in St John’s Wood. She could not have been more welcoming. And now, it is of her in her grief that we think. And who can fail to hope that women, such as her, will soon play a fuller role in the Orthodox Synagogue? Chanukah sameach to you all. Page 5
Communal information Who does what Chair Treasurer Secretary CTJC community rabbi Magazine Kiddushim Board of Deputies Gabbai and synagogue Building and ManCom
Jo Landy Ben Blaukopf Barry Landy Rabbi Reuven Leigh Jane Liddell-King Jonathan Harris Robert Marks Yoav Git Tim Goldrein
Services in the Synagogue Services are restarting. Please see www.ctjc.org.uk for the latest updates.
Kiddushim Regrettably it is not possible to have kiddushim in the current situation.
Leyning If you would like to learn to leyn, take a service, or read a haftarah, please contact Yoav or Ben.
Learning, Talmud Shiur Led by Professor Stefan Reif, the group is studying Masechet Yoma. The shiur is currently held weekly over Zoom, meeting on Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm UK time. For more information email chevra@ctjc.org.uk.
Kosher meat and groceries Derby Stores (26 Derby St, Newnham, 354391) stock prepacked Kosher groceries and meat, and will buy to order. They get fresh from London midday Thursday, and stay open till 8pm. Sainsbury's in Coldham's Lane also stocks a range of Kosher Goods including frozen chicken legs. Ocado has some Kosher foods in its delivery list.
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Hospital visiting Contact Sarah Schechter (329172), Tirzah Bleehen (354320) for coordination if you wish to volunteer to help, or need to organise some visits. Rabbi Reuven Leigh (354603), Barry Landy (570417), and others are prepared to attend hospitals to read prayers. Due to personal privacy concerns the hospital no longer informs us when Jewish patients are admitted. If you wish to be visited, please let one of the above know when you are about to enter hospital.
Chevra Kadisha The Cambridge Jewish Residents' Association (CJRA) Chevra Kadisha, which follows orthodox rites, is available to members of the CTJC. Contact Brendel Lang, secretary (353301), Robert Marks, treasurer (07791 788 584), or Barry Landy (570417).
Religious events For services, bar mitzvahs, weddings, brit milah etc, contact Rabbi Reuven Leigh (354603) or Barry Landy (570417). For up to date community information please visit the CTJC web site: www.ctjc.org.uk.
Friends in gardening We hold regular Monday afternoon Zoom meetings, usually on the first and third Mondays of the month. We explore and admire each other’s gardens, and whether they are big or small, there is always something new to see. We follow this with a virtual tea and chat. New members are always welcome. For further information contact Carole Gold. Phone 01954 212 703, or email carole.gold@btinternet.com Page 7
After the War From Auschwitz to Ableside by Tom Palmer Lauren Allin Those who know the story of the Windemere Boys remember the horrors of the Holocaust and how children who survived were transported to the English Lake District in order that they could rebuild their lives. In this version of the story Tom Palmer simply but effectively shows his young readers how, by giving time, attention, and care, strangers can help in the healing of others. He also explores the bonds of friendship that can develop as the result of hardship and tragedy. The experiences of Yossi, Mordecai, and Leo in the Ghetto and Concentration camps are described in a manner that conveys the horrors they witnessed but does not frighten his readers. These horrors are balanced by the kindness and caring shown by the residents of the Lake District, none of whom had any previous connection with the children they were looking after. The resilience of these young boys is a story worth telling and the effect of kindness by strangers is a lesson worth learning by all. Tom Palmer achieves both of these in “After the War�.
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Love in the Blitz The greatest lost love letters of the Second World War by Eileen Alexander Simon Goldhill The best book recommendations come from friends who are passionate about what they have read. I first heard about Eileen Alexander from my chum, Oswyn Murray, an elegant, cosmopolitan, and now retired classics professor at Oxford. Over a glass of wine, he told me how he had been contacted by a complete stranger, who had come across his name in a collection of letters (it is always helpful to have a rare name like Oswyn, he reflected). Oswyn was described as dressed like a Red Indian and rushing about with blood-thirsty glee at a house-party: did he remember meeting a Miss Alexander in 1944, when he was a small child? This chance email has led now to the full publication of the letters, and it is a quite remarkable collection, called Love in the Blitz. Eileen Alexander was a Jewish girl, born to a wealthy family in Egypt, who came over to England in the thirties, and, in 1939, took a brilliant first at Cambridge in English. The story starts in Cambridge where she meets Gershon Ellenbogen from an orthodox Liverpool Jewish family, and, in the aftermath of a car-crash, they fall in love (they might have met at the Cambridge Jewish Society where they were both members). The book consists of the letters Eileen wrote to Gershon, as they are Page 9
separated first by brief parental disapproval and then by the circumstances of the war, as he is sent around Britain to be trained as a radio officer for the British intelligence, and then posted to Egypt for three years and more. She writes every couple of days and he replies, though his letters are lost. In her extraordinary prose, we get one of the most vivid pictures of the war I have ever read, not through military endeavours, nor through the Holocaust or other major arenas of suffering and despair, but through the eyes of a well-to-do Jewish girl with an active social life, an old-fashioned family, and a half-hearted career working for various branches of the civil service, where she met Oswyn Murray’s father. In her letters all sorts of familiar names burst into life. She was very close with Aubrey (Abba) Eban, whose books were so often given as Bar Mitzvah presents to my generation, and whose career as a diplomat became so well-known. Her portrait of him is repeatedly hilarious. She is friends with the Waley-Cohens, with Lord and Lady Nathan, the Daiches family from Edinburgh, Norman Bentwich (such an important Anglo-Jewish figure in the Mandate!), Horace Samuel, whose family firm became Decca Gramophone. And many others. Which is to say that she was from the very highest level of assimilated Jewish grandees in British society. Her mother was from the Mosseri clan, so you can add Egyptian royalty. She was also a special friend of Muriel Bradbrook, the mistress of Girton (who also taught my aunt, who was another Jewish woman who read English at Girton, just after the war) so we have the elite end of Cambridge life too. In every case, she writes with penetrating and often highly sniffy humour, sending her boyfriend snapshots of her life, from clothes to morals. It is the least stuffy book imaginable. Eileen was razor-sharp, except perhaps about herself. She was deeply and committedly in love, and we trace the love story through its more careful beginnings (is it too forward to call her boyfriend “darling”?), through her insistence that she would only have a full relationship with him when they are married, to their wedding and the birth of their daughter, which is when the letters stop as they manage finally to live together. When we meet her, she is just down from university and she writes with the thrilling insouciance and self-regard of a very smart student who is in love for the first time and wants to impress her Page 10
reader. She can be a bit of a pain, but as she matures so too does her reflectiveness. Three strands were particularly revelatory for me. First, she describes the extraordinary tensions within a family under the pressures of the blitz. She lived at home with her parents until she was married at 26. The day-to-day stresses and boredoms clash against the genuine terror of certain awful nights of bombing and the constant thump of the antiaircraft guns on the top of Primrose Hill. We rarely see in literature what the long-term effects of the war were on personal relations in this mundane way: the spirit of the blitz was cantankerous, bitter, and tense as well as supportive and stiff-upper-lip. I wonder if Covid will produce anything so telling? I suspect not, thanks to social media and the collapse of the very idea of long, literate letter writing. Second, she describes what it was like to live through the war’s changing sense of social life in terms of being young and in love. There is a fascinating contrast with some of her friends who form all sorts of often disastrous sexual liaisons, and her own mix of passion and sense of moral fervour, and her discussions of how she expects and hopes that her boyfriend abroad will behave. Again, we are used to stories of wild romance in war. How interesting it is to see a different side so articulately and often painfully expressed: neither she nor her mother seem to have had any education in even basic anatomy. Her horror, at age 25, at seeing her first cut-away bra is a wonderful scene of youthful moral confusion. Third, it is hilarious to see the chaos of the wartime ministries in action. The everyday tales of confusion and hierarchy in her places of work are anatomised with flair and a surprisingly riveting cast of sharply observed characters. What keeps the book going, however, is not only the sheer intensity of her love (it’s a really romantic book) but the sheer joy of her prose. She uses capital letters galore, and underlinings, to give it spice and emphasis, and her mix of misery at Gershon’s absence, delight or dismay at her friends’ adventures, anger at the world and her parents, murderous rage towards and then pride in her brothers, hilarity at the people the war leads her to meet, and brilliant observational humour is a heady brew. Here, chosen almost at random, is her account of meeting an old friend who was trying to get her support for Cambridge communists: “She cited Eric Hobsbawm as a Pearl among Cambridge Page 11
Communists, darling. I had to admit that I could hardly judge of him as I’d never seen him except on the other side of a Mouth-Organ but that, even with that dreary instrument between us, he had always Radiated such Intense Loathing of me that I could hardly be expected to Burst into Flower at the sound of his name”. After all the pious recollections of Hobsbawm last year, I found this such a nice moment of deflation. As was the scene at Abba Eban’s wedding, when she recalls how she dealt with her own raised eyebrows at being asked by a cousin whether the bridegroom was a virgin. So let me pass on the recommendation. Eileen Alexander, in Love in the Blitz, emerges as an intensely vivid character who gives a remarkable picture of a Jewish life between Cambridge and London in the war years.
A Life Ahead Ros Landy No Italian trips are possible during Covid 19 restrictions, but one can watch an Italian film. Netflix is showing at atmospheric movie, “A Life Ahead”, starring Sophia Loren, as Madame Rosa, an Auschwitz survivor, and Ibrahima Gueye in the part of Momo, a Senegalese street urchin. The Madame Rosa’s household also includes a Romanian boy, abandoned by his mother. The result is a trio of people with deep-seated problems. The film tracks the progress of each character with the passage of time. We hear Italian, the Puglian dialect, Romanian, and a bit of Hebrew all subtitled. The psychology of loss, desertion, and unconditional love is explored until the gentle final scenes. The acting of both Loren and Gueye is superb; the scenery portrayed and the landscapes remembered are beautiful; the music is first rate. This is a film not to be missed.
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The mystery of the Aleph Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the search for infinity by Amir D Aczel Jonathan Allin
2ℵ0 = ℵ { = תℵ , ℵ , ...}
This review is a hopefully more 1 digestible spin-off from the rather lengthy and tortuous review of David 0 1 Deutch’s “The beginning of infinity” in the Rosh HaShanah magazine. In writing the latter I regularly referred to “The mystery of the Aleph”, and so thought it worth discussing. Amir Aczel was an American-Israeli mathematician. Born in Haifa in 1950, he died in Nîmes, France, in 2015. Aczel’s style is straightforward and approachable. He provides an insight into Kabbalah and its history, and the importance of numbers and of the Ein Sof in Kabbalah. The relationship that’s developed between Kabbalah and Georg Cantor’s work on infinity makes the book especially interesting. There’s a good balance between biography and mathematics: as well as a (not too deep) mathematical insight, the book provides an interesting history of our understanding of numbers and of infinity, from Pythagoras, Rabbi Akiva, Isaac the blind, and other Kabbalists, through Augustine, Kepler, Galileo, Reimann, and Cantor, and then Cantor’s successors such as Zermelo, Gödel, and Paul Cohen. Aczel argues that Cantor had strong Jewish traditions. Although Cantor was a committed and practicing Lutheran, he chose ℵ for infinity explicitly because of his Jewish roots. Aczel quotes Adon Olam, “beli reshit, beli tachlit”, with which Cantor would have been familiar. Cantor came to the conclusion that there was an Absolute because of the impossibility of a set that contains everything. Aczel seems comfortable that Gödel and Cantor both came to believe in the Divine: Cantor explicitly believed in a God who can understand the infinite of the continuum, whilst Gödel, having proved that no system can
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completely prove its truths, required higher and higher systems, and the highest system is God. The two equations above summarise Cantor’s work: the first is his attempt to prove a relationship between the countable infinity and the infinity of the continuum, and the second is the idea that there’s an infinite set (a countably infinite set?) of infinities, with each infinity enormously larger than the previous.
The Life of Sarah Thoughts on the passing of Rabbi Lord Sacks Rabbi Reuven Leigh The oft-asked question, as to why the portion of the Torah which immediately informs us of the passing of Sarah the matriarch is called “The Life of Sarah”, took on extra meaning this week with the news of the passing of Rabbi Lord Sacks. In a spontaneous Photograph by Jane Liddel-King outpouring of genuine grief and loss, people from the widest possible spectrum of society, from royalty and world leaders to rabbis and laymen, went beyond the usual platitudes and niceties these events usually elicit, and unguardedly displayed their sadness and shock. Yet for all the grief and sadness, the dominant feature of the obituaries and reflections in the wake of his passing has been a deepening awareness and appreciation of “The Life of Jonathan Sacks”. It is worth remembering that the life-trajectory of one of the most outstanding leaders of Jewish thought and values of our time was set in Page 14
motion when he was an undergraduate student in Cambridge. He would often recount his trip to America in 1968 where he met with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, who challenged him to become more responsible for Jewish student life in Cambridge and to make a difference. Initially, the young Jonathan Sacks demurred and tried to deflect the Rebbe’s demands, opening his defence with a polite “in the situation in which I find myself …” Immediately, the Rebbe interrupted him and explained, “nobody finds themselves in a situation; you put yourself in a situation. And if you put yourself in that situation, you can put yourself in another situation.” This proved to be the clincher and Rabbi Sacks’ orientation towards Jewish learning and responsibility and away from academic philosophy was set in motion. One of Rabbi Sacks’ earliest projects in the 1970s was a translation and adaptation of the Hebrew and Yiddish essays of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the weekly Parshah. These were ultimately published as Torah Studies and can be found online at www.chabad.org/110248. The essay Rabbi Sacks chose for this week’s Parshah focuses on its first verse (Genesis 23:1): “And the life of Sarah was 100 years and 20 years and 7 years: These were the years of the life of Sarah.” The Midrash wonders why the verse doesn’t simply say 127 years. Why the need to separate the numbers and repeat the word “years”? Furthermore, why does the verse need to conclude and tell us seemingly again, that “these were the years of the life of Sarah”. You can read the full essay here at www.chabad.org/110321. I would like to point out a section of the essay that I believe can serve as a reflection on Rabbi Sacks himself. In the midst of discussing the Midrash’s explanation of how the sequence of the verse serves to indicate the perfection and constancy of Sarah’s life, the essay considers what might be considered the perfected life: “When a man finds himself in an environment detrimental to his standards, there are three ways in which he can preserve his integrity: (i) He can strengthen himself inwardly not to be influenced by his surroundings. But this is an incomplete victory, for if he were to relax his self-control he would capitulate, thus implying a lowering of status. (ii) He can separate himself from those around him. But again his Page 15
victory is only because he has removed himself from temptation: He has not met it head-on, and is as prone as ever to be lowered. (iii) Lastly, he can set out to influence his environment and raise it to his own level. This is a complete triumph over one’s surroundings. The dangers have not only been avoided, they have been removed entirely.” Rabbi Sacks was very much an example of someone who took this third path. He was able to venture into surroundings that most other people shy away from, and whilst there he would confidently convey the beauty of Judaism. He was a great Jewish thinker, not in spite of being educated at Cambridge, but rather because he embraced the perceived challenges posed by secular thought, and ultimately becoming a genuine voice for the integrity of Judaism. It is an example we should all try to emulate. The Rebbe concludes the essay with an explanation of the enduring influence of Sarah, such that even after her passing the “Life of Sarah” continues, and Rabbi Sacks somewhat presciently closes with these words: “The perfect life does not end in death, it sanctifies all that comes after it” May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.
Rabbi Lord Sacks and Rabbi Jacobs A dialogue in Heaven Simon Eder Words have poured forth this week in memory of the late Rabbi Lord Sacks, who passed away last Shabbat. They have come from all sections of the Jewish world and far beyond too. None of course can fill the void which his loss brings. His eloquence through his writing, his newspaper columns and books, his broadcasting be it on the airwaves or on television, touched the lives of religious and secular alike. His much needed prophetic voice, so prolific during the pandemic which pointed us to the portal of change that it must yield, sadly did not make it to Page 16
the other side. And yet, as perhaps the first Rabbi of the digital age (his mastery of the Ted Talk format, his utilisation of the podcast, or his construction of a documentary for Radio 4 were equal to his mastery of the pulpit in shul), his legacy will be preserved online and his ideas will continue to inspire for generations. We had a few things in common. Rabbi Sacks grew up round the corner from where we live in Finchley. He attended the St Mary’s primary school at the bottom of our road from where he no doubt developed a love of Christmas Carols during the festive season - a passion that I share. Some 30 years apart, we both studied at the same college in Cambridge, Gonville and Caius. At a critical juncture in his life, at the end of his first year at university, he visited the United States to meet the greatest Rabbis of the time. This included a life-changing encounter with the Lubavitcher Rebbe whose encouraging words and outward looking focus played such an important role in his own Rabbinate. At a slightly earlier stage of my life, shortly before university, I too journeyed to America where I attended on Gimmel Tammuz, the commemorations to mark the yahrzeit of the Rebbe, both at his grave site and 770 Eastern Parkway, davening mincha in the study where Rabbi Sacks would have met with him. The Rebbe’s teachings have ever since also been an important influence in my life. Apparently we were both notoriously bad at returning library books. Shortly before lockdown I received a call from the librarian at LSJS to remind me that I had some overdue books. I apologised profusely to which he assured me that I should not worry as my outstanding books were nothing compared to the next person on his list. I enquired as to who that was. “Rabbi Sacks” came the reply. Rabbi Sacks has also had an important influence on my own Jewish journey. His Faith in the Future accompanied me to my Cambridge interview, where I managed to pepper some answers, dropping in literary or philosophical references that he had used in some of his articles in that book, a ploy that has unashamedly continued until today. Perhaps in a similar vein it has not only been his writings that have continued to have so much impact but also following his bibliographies and footnotes (not nearly as diligently as I might have liked) that have guided me on a tour through perhaps the greatest Page 17
treasures that both the Western philosophical tradition and past Jewish luminaries have had to offer. On a visit back from yeshiva during my gap year, I gate-crashed a gathering of Rabbis at LSJS on hearing that Rabbi Sacks would be in attendance in order to get him to sign copies of Politics of Hope that I could take back with me. Each year, from when I was seventeen, my Dad and I would attend Selichot. It became something of an annual pilgrimage to listen to Rabbi Sacks’ eminent pre-selichot address, which set the tone so perfectly for the upcoming Yamim Noraim and, of course, to hear the melodies of the Shabbaton Choir which he so enjoyed. When we set up our Jewish community in Dubai, he heard indirectly of its establishment, and on seeing some secret footage taken from our first Yom Kippur service, sent us his blessings. Most of his books occupy a shelf at home where many of Rabbi Jacobs’ books sit too. His Covenant and Conversation pieces for well over a decade have punctuated my week. Whilst I visit his books fairly frequently it is his translated Singer’s siddur (a pocket version), a gift on the occasion of my Grandmother’s passing from my Bar Mitzvah teacher, that I use more than any other. He was ultimately a storyteller, whose erudition and ability to translate complex jargon into digestible and practical takeaways was perhaps paralleled only by Rabbi Jacobs. His writing, as with his oratory, would modulate between the exploration of profound ideas, followed with relevant and pithy anecdotes to emphasise his argument. My favourite joke that I heard him share and first referenced in his Politics of Hope tells a totally hypothetical story about two great Jews, Theodor Herzl, architect of Jewish national rebirth, and Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis: There was a time when both men lived in the same neighbourhood of Vienna. Luckily, they never met. Had they met the following conversation might have ensued. Theodor Herzl would have told Freud of his aspirations for a Jewish state and would have added his famous saying: “If you will it, it is no dream”. Sigmund Freud would have replied “Tell me, Herr Herzl, how long have you been having this dream?” He would have invited Herzl to his consulting room, laid him down on his couch, tracked down his idealism to a disturbed childhood and cured Herzl of his dreams. Had they met there would have been no Jewish state1. In some ways this amusing tale is emblematic of Rabbi Page 18
Sacks. He too continued to dream, despite the many obstacles that lay in his path, not least the two battles with cancer that he fought and successfully overcame. His shiurim would invite thought experiments that took his audience well outside their comfort zones, enabling a dialogue between generations and between disciplines in ways that only he could achieve. He refused to accept the world as it is and challenged us all to pursue a partnership with the Almighty in perfecting it. Indeed, much of his exegetical imagination was focused on plumbing the depths of Torah to highlight this very theme. His daughter, Gila Sacks, in her eulogy for her Father, also spoke on this subject, joking that he would enjoy challenging a member of the family to solve the issue of global antisemitism during the time that it took for the kettle to boil in the kitchen. Of course he differed on significant issues with Rabbi Louis Jacobs. I remember speaking with Rabbi Jacobs about his frustration with Rabbi Sacks’ refusal to engage. It certainly seems sad that whilst Rabbi Sacks shared public platforms or engaged through his own writing with some of the greatest thinkers of our age (George Steiner, Richard Dawkins, Rowan Williams, Michael Sandel, Yuval Noah Harari, Steven Pinker, Jordan Peterson), he dismissed the opportunity to dialogue with Rabbi Jacobs. Perhaps the two greatest Rabbis that Anglo-Jewry has ever seen lived round the corner from each other in St John’s Wood and yet, for reasons of petty political expediency, remained worlds apart. However there are perhaps two areas where Rabbi Jacobs exerted his influence. The first remained the very hallmark of Rabbi Jacobs’ entire career, neatly summed up in his opening paragraph of We Have Reason To Believe: “A true Jewish Apologetic, eschewing obscurantism, religious schizophrenia, and intellectual dishonesty, will be based on the conviction that all truth, ‘the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He’, is one, and that a synthesis is possible between the permanent values and truth of tradition and the best thought of the day”2. For Rabbi Sacks too, synthesis was paramount: between faith and reason, universalism and particularism, science and religion, liberty and morality, freedom and responsibility, religion and modernity. Rabbi Sacks’ work charted a path between these often seemingly conflicting Page 19
polarities. However their approach to synthesis differed. For Rabbi Jacobs it was to what end can modernity shape our Judaism, for Sacks it was an emphasis on how the best of Judaism can help shape modernity. Nonetheless for both the quest for synthesis was perhaps the key to unlocking the framework for understanding both their works. The second area of significant similarity was in their attitude towards faith itself. They were both true defenders of faith in the face of a secular onslaught. Neither of course ever resorted to doctrinal oversimplification or facile biblical literalism3. For both, their faith was not about dogmatic certainty or doctrinal conformity, but built on argument, disputation, and, perhaps most importantly, the incorporation of doubt. They both resisted an appeal to relativism on the one hand and fundamentalism on the other. They both encouraged us to listen to the truths of others even where they conflicted with our own. Both urged the quest for truth, wherever it may be found. To quote Rabbi Sacks “not as in Socratic dialogues, by the refutation of falsehood but from the quite different process of letting our world be enlarged by the presence of others who think, act, and interpret reality in ways radically different from our own”4. Both Rabbi Jacobs and Rabbi Sacks saw Torah as a journey not a destination, appealing to their audience to write the next chapter. Both drew on Judaism’s rich tapestry, encouraging the notion of argument for the sake of Heaven. Rabbi Sacks publicly drew the line at any influence of biblical criticism and this is where he parted company with Rabbi Jacobs. And yet in numerous places throughout his work there are nods to the subtle influence that the finds of modern biblical scholarship had on his work (a subject which I look forward to discussing on a future occasion). There are plenty of questions that I had for Rabbi Sacks that I am sadly now unable to ask. I regret that at “Friends of Louis Jacobs” we were never able to arrange a platform in which to engage with him. It is also sad to think that whilst he gave perhaps some of the most important speeches ever, on the role of faith in society in the chamber of the House of Lords, graced plenty of Royal occasions with his presence, shared his counsel at Downing Street with several Prime Ministers, and Page 20
offered advice to business leaders and governments, he never made that much anticipated journey to Limmud. It is perhaps then ironic that now his thoughts will be discussed by all sections of the community in that setting as never before. There is a story a friend shared on good authority, that on a rare occasion Rabbi Jacobs received a call from Rabbi Sacks shortly before Rosh Hashana one year. He had called to seek forgiveness following a recent eruption of the Jacobs Affair. At the end of the conversation Rabbi Sacks supposedly exclaimed “Ultimately we will know in heaven whether the truth is as you or I have it”. Rabbi Jacobs, true to form, is then reputed to have replied “Rabbi Sacks, if the truth is as you have it, you will not find me in heaven”. In Dignity of Difference, discussing the very notion of truth, Rabbi Sacks says “Truth on the ground is multiple, partial. Fragments of it lie everywhere. Each person, culture, and language has part of it; none has it all. Truth on Earth is not, nor can it aspire to be, the whole truth. It is limited, not comprehensive; particular, not universal. When two propositions conflict it is not necessarily because one is true and the other false. It may be, and often is, that each represents a different perspective on reality, an alternative way of structuring order, no more and no less commensurable than a Shakespeare sonnet, a Michelangelo painting or a Schubert sonata. In Heaven there is truth; on Earth there are truths”5. Perhaps now in Heaven the two will indeed have the chance to enjoy a chevruta, dwelling on the ultimate truth only found there and the quest for which their lives on Earth were so dedicated. 1
Jonathan Sacks, The Politics of Hope, xi-xll Louis Jacobs, We Have Reason To Believe, p9 3 Melanie Phillips, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sacks-knewfaith-and-reason-can-live-together9wcsb5l3d?shareToken=044370c3f6afc91f6e27ac57c2751c81 4 Jonathan Sacks, Dignity of Difference, p23 5 Jonathan Sacks, Dignity of Difference, pp64-65 2
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Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 1948-2020 Barry and Rosalind Landy I first met Jonathan in shul. In the light of his career this does not seem odd, but in 1966 he was a young man starting his first year as an undergraduate at Cambridge, so meeting in shul was entirely natural. In the mid 60s we were one of the few Kosher homes in Cambridge that invited Jewish students on Shabbat and our custom then was to have a mass tea event on the first non Yomtov Shabbat of the first term. Usually 20 or 30 students would turn up. Of course I cannot now remember if Jonathan was among them but I am sure he would have come. Thereafter we had him in our house regularly for Shabbat lunch. Even then he was very good at holding an audience, and at our fairly large lunch table the other diners were often to be found listening to him very attentively. A much-repeated refrain (common to quite a surprisingly large number of students that I remember) was "I am doing no work and am bound to fail my exams". In common with most other students who made that claim, he did not fail, and in fact did very well. It is natural to draw the conclusion that while in fact he was a diligent worker he preferred to hide that fact from his contemporaries. Indeed one obituary referred to his spending time looking out at students playing croquet; that would certainly not have happened in the two winter Terms. Sometime in his three years as an undergraduate he met his future wife Elaine. The story of how that happened differs depending on who is telling the tale, but our version is that having seen this lovely blonde Jewish girl in shul, we naturally also invited her for lunch, and that is where she met Jonathan. At one time we discussed with Jonathan what he might do postCambridge and were struck by the many possibilities in his mind. At that stage in his life his preferred choice was to become a barrister, at
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which I am sure he would have excelled. Interestingly, becoming a Rabbi was nowhere on his list! When his three years as an undergraduate were up he offered us a treat of our choice. We suggested that he take us all punting, which would cost nothing except his time and savoir faire. Jonathan duly set up the day and hired the punt from his college. He took all five of us along the Backs, and this was an event enjoyed by the whole family, and I dare say by Jonathan as well. It is often the little things in life, fun moments and happiness together, that are remembered and tell a lot about the character of a person. For some two years after they married, Elaine and Jonathan lived in Cambridge (I think Jonathan was doing his MPhil), and we stayed in close contact. His future career is a matter of public record. Since leaving Cambridge Jonathan has returned many times and was always available when we needed help. He was a frequent visitor to the Jewish Society, for example at the 75th anniversary party, and he also visited the community, most recently to open the Cambridge Mikvah. We were also privileged to attend the dinner to celebrate his retirement, at which Prince Charles spoke so warmly of Jonathan’s achievements. We were always very relaxed in his company and it was always a pleasure to meet him. We, and the whole world, miss him already. Elaine and the family will feel the loss deeply. We celebrate the person we knew and are grateful that we had the opportunity to know him. יהיה זכרונו לברכה: may his memory be for a blessing.
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Talmud Siyyumim to finish off a section in style Ros Landy You know the old saying, that you wait for the city centre bus for half an hour and then suddenly two buses appear at once. It is the same with the celebrations that have been going on recently. Ben Blaukopf had his Siyyum in shul and the optional extra one at his garden for those who are self-isolating during Covid. Barry attended the outdoor Siyyum which was very good. Then we realised that we, in the Reif Talmud Shiur, had reached the end of a Masechta. So another Siyyum was done, with each person holding up his or her glass for a L’chayyim. The wonderful thing about the Reif Shiur is its international quality (thanks to Zoom). There is a time setting for Stefan and others in Israel, a time setting for one participant in Austria, and a further time setting for us in the UK. This time Ben joined in the Israel Siyyum. So the circle was squared. What have you been learning? I hear you ask. We have just finished Beitza which deals with a number of prohibited activities on Shabbat and Chag. The idea of Tchum Shabbat is explored and the areas of land ownership are discussed. What is fascinating are the explanations and Venn diagrams in the Steinsalz edition of the Talmud. This scholarly approach shows clearly where overlapping Eruvim can or cannot be used. It is a strangely captivating topic with differing opinions of the ancient Rabbis delineated. That they do not agree is fascinating and leads us to suppose that it was ever so‌namely the argumentative Jew. Clearly Gemara is good mental exercise.
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Beethoven's Ninth Symphony: the darker side? Jonathan Allin This article was inspired by a Radio 3 talk by Tom Service, “Beethoven's 9th symphony”, which can be found at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b08g4c36. I’ve also taken material from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Beethoven) and from Singing the Ode "To Joy" in Auschwitz: A Ten-Year-Old's Story (https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-1538767891/singing-the-odeto-joy-in-auschwitz-a-ten-year-old-s)
By Ludwig van Beethoven The website of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlinhttp://beethoven.staat sbibliothekberlin.de/de/sinfonien/9/1/2 7.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia. org/w/index.php?curid=289 0252
Ludwig van Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is one of the best known, if not the best known, classical symphony. It’s structured into the usual four movements, though the scherzo, the second movement, comes before the andante, the third movement. It’s also unusual because of its length: at over 70 minutes it’s easily the longest of his symphonies, and of course because of the chorale finale. The last movement wasn’t universally liked. Beethoven’s contemporary and friend, Louis Spore, declared the last movement monstrous. Fanny Mendelssohn also hated it. Anthony Burgess, the author of A Clockwork Orange) thought Ode to Joy was a poor melody, though interesting rhythmically. Page 25
Is the finale the most dangerous piece of music written? Ostensibly it’s an ode to hope, to the Elysium, to the brotherhood of man. But there is a darker side. We shouldn’t forget the first three movements. They too broke the mould, they too are dangerous. The first movement opens with the vastness of nothing, starting without a tune then quickly migrates into a tectonic, non-human melody. The finale starts with even more desolation than the first movement, undermining everything that the beautiful and tender third movement constructed, as well as the progressions of the first and second movement. It presages a new start, for which a simple orchestra is insufficient. Beethoven wrote the opening sentence: O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen, Und freudenvollere. Freude! Freude!
Oh friends, not these sounds! Let us instead strike up more pleasing and more joyful ones! Joy! Joy!
This is sung by the bass, encouraging the choir into song, to Friedrich Schiller’s words: Freude, schöner Götterfunken Tochter aus Elysium
Joy, beautiful spark of divinity, Daughter from Elysium
The end is a tyranny of joy, sung by a drunk tenor with an opening contra bass. It gives a vision of the cosmos beyond the stars, where the Godhead must live: Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Such' ihn über'm Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muß er wohnen.
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Do you bow down before Him, you millions? Do you sense your Creator, O world? Seek Him above the canopy of stars! He must dwell beyond the stars.
All men have become brothers and sisters, but it is this that exposes the danger. What is the Elysium? That all people become brothers, or that non-brothers should be exterminated? Beethoven’s Ode to Joy has been used, and abused, countless times. It was appropriated by the Third Reich and many other despotic regimes. How did it become such social kryptonite? For good, for evil, and everything in between. Paul Robeson stole the tune and put it to his own words, in English. It’s the EU national anthem, prompting Nigel Farage to say that he’ll be very glad to see the back of it. And of course Stanley Kubrick famously used a synthesised rendition in his film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, where Alex (the anti-hero) hears the music as he is shown film of Nazi death camps. Beethoven’s 9th was a favourite of Goebbels and Hitler. In April 1942 Wilhelm Furtwängler was persuaded (perhaps coerced) into conducting a performance in Berlin, with the Berlin Philharmonic, for Hitler's birthday. At the performance’s end, Goebbels came to the front of the stage to shake Furtwängler's hand. At least the final minutes of the performance were filmed and can be seen on YouTube. It was an intense and fast performance, and perhaps the bombastic nature of the 9th is a reflection of Hitler’s warmongering. In 1944 the choral component of the 9th was performed at AuschwitzBirkenau by a choir of Jewish children who had arrived from Theresienstadt, and conducted by a Jew, Imre. They performed a few hundred meters from the crematoria and the gas chambers, facing the railway ramp where Selection took place. The text was sung in Czech, not German. Otto Dov Kulka, in his short book Landscapes of the Metropolis of Death, asks why Imre taught his charges Ode to Joy. One possibility is that Imre (himself gassed on 8 March 1944) hoped that some of the children might survive, that some might start to rebuild civilisation, and that to do so they needed the noblest from European civilisation: Beethoven, Schiller and Dostoyevsky. Kulka suggests a second possibility: that it might also be "an act of extreme sarcasm, to the Page 27
outermost possible limit, of self-amusement, of a person in control of naive beings and implanting in them naive values, sublime and wonderful values, all the while knowing that there is no point or purpose and no meaning to those values". So, an expression of hope, or of ultimate sarcasm and scorn: a satanic gesture to mass murder. According to Tom Service, the grownups sang Ode to Joy in the latrines. As Estebán Buch said in his Beethoven's Ninth: A Political History, "from lowest to highest, motives of those who played it or listened to it ran the gamut". In 1989 in Berlin, 47 years after Furtwängler’s Berlin performance at Hitler’s birthday, Leonard Bernstein conducted the 9th, close to the rubble of the Berlin wall. He changed the words so that it became an ode to freedom. The two words are sufficiently similar in German: freiheit and freude. Can we come back from the brink? Can the 9th be performed meaningfully after Auschwitz? Thomas Mann thinks not: in his wartime novel Doctor Faustus, Adrian Leverkuhn demands that Beethoven's Ninth be reclaimed from the Nazis. Michael Tippet's 3rd symphony quotes the opening to the 9th’s fourth movement, but then goes into a soprano singing the blues. Tippet’s and Mann’s responses would have us reject Beethoven's Elysium. This we must not do. It’s a most requested and most popular piece, regularly sung by mass choirs. For all Nigel Farage's efforts, it's still the universal song. Bernstein is right: Beethoven’s Ninth is an ode to joy and an ode to freedom. We need Beethoven’s Ninth more than ever because it is so dangerous, because it compels us to confront tyranny and repression.
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Chanukah 1942 Jane Liddell-King The first candle lighting of Chanukah 1942 should have taken place on 4th December. Instead of gathering in their homes to share latkes, the 606 members of the Jewish community of the Czech town of Pardubice were packing. Parents encouraged children and children were unusually quiet. On 9th December, the entire community was deported to the garrison town of Terezín, which had been turned into a concentration camp. The train stopped at Bohusivice and the passengers had to drag the permitted 50kg of luggage the last icy 3 kilometres. An 82 year old woman slipped and died. Of those 606 deportees, just 24 survived and returned to Pardubice. Why should we remember them? In 1942, the Nazi authority in charge of “the Jewish Question”, the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (the Central Office for Jewish Emigration), ordered the communities in Bohemia and Moravia to send all of their liturgical items to a newly established Jüdisches Zentralmuseum in Prague. This museum had been founded by members of the Prague Jewish community anxious to protect the belongings of those who had been deported to concentration camps. Some 1,800 scrolls joined the collection, including scrolls from Pardubice. In the 1950s, the remarkable director of the museum, Hana Volavkova, arranged for the scrolls to be housed in the dilapidated Michle Synagogue outside Prague. But Hana was forced to leave the museum and the scrolls became a source of ready cash for the country’s Soviet authorities. Consequently, in 1965, three British Jews concluded a deal and brought 1,564 deteriorating scrolls to the Westminster Synagogue in London. There, over the next 25 years, Sofer (scribe) David Brand painstakingly set about their restoration. All those that could be used have been distributed across the world, and number 689 came to Cambridge. Page 29
In December, 2005, Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue used this Torah scroll, on loan from the CJRA, for the first time. Professor Melissa Lane spoke unforgettably of its history. Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the community had settled in Pardubice and thrived. I was immediately inspired to visit the town. Photographer Marion Davies agreed to accompany me. Despite warnings that our search for survivors would prove fruitless, within hours of our landing, a crumpled address book belonging to an elderly woman in Prague yielded two names from Pardubice. Consequently, we met a handful of survivors who, over months, shared their unique stories with us. Among these was Eliška, who was 12 at the time of the 1942 deportation. She recalled her father, Erwin Weiss, staggering from the train at Auschwitz and saying “Look at those chimneys, flames are coming out of them. There are definitely some factories and no one is even bombing them”. Then he was ordered to join the queue for the gas chambers. Eliška and her mother were moved on to Birkenau, Bergen Belsen, and to a labour camp near Dessau where they caught typhoid. Then back to Terezín where they slowly recovered. Now her story and the stories of the other Jews from Pardubice attest to the remarkable second life of scroll number 689, hundreds of miles away in Cambridge.
Eliška Levinská at the Holocaust Monument, Pardubice © Marion Davies 2020 Page 30
In 2007, I stayed with Eliška who welcomed me as if I were a close relative. A guide at Terezín, she had passed on her story to her granddaughter, Terezia, who, in turn shares it with visitors to Terezín. At this moment, when we all resist sinking into a Covid kwetchfest, we might spare a thought to those few survivors. Eliška, who died aged 87, just 3 years ago, was never defeated. Out of 22 members of her family, only she and her mother survived. But there she was, without a community, but still lighting her candles. And as she said, “I never go out without my hiking boots and my swimsuit because you never know, you just never know.” For more on the Cambridge Czech scroll project see: • • •
memorialscrollstrust.org Marion Davies and Jane Liddell-King: Faces in the Void: Czech Survivors of the Holocaust; Shaun Tyas, 2012, ed Dana Veselská The Second Life of the Czech Torah Scrolls; Prague 2006
Three Chanukah songs Dr. Vanessa Paloma Elbaz, Research Associate, Faculty of Music These songs are in JudeoSpanish. The first two are traditional, from Turkey, and were collected by Israel Adelson. The third is newly composed by Flory Jagoda from Sarajevo, who now lives in Washington DC.
Veyehi Miketz Burmuelos con miel Paró los hazia Yosef se los komia Paró al caño Yosef al baño Paró al bet hahayyim Yosef a los Kidushin
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Hazeremos una merenda Como agora vo fazer Yaramanendro me aman
La otra kita l'harina De un sako hasta diez Yaramanendro me aman
La una kita l'azeite De une teneque hasta diez Yaramanendro me aman
Para hazer los burmuelos En los dias de Hannuka! Yaramanendro me aman
Hanuka linda stas aqui Ocho kandelas para mi
Una kandelika dos kandelikas tres kandelikas cuatro kandelikas cinco kandelikas sesh kandelikas sete kandelikas ocho kandelas para mi
Una kandelika dos kandelikas tres kandelikas cuatro kandelikas cinco kandelikas sesh kandelikas sete kandelikas ocho kandelas para mi Los biskochikos vo fazer con almendrikas y la miel
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Munchas fiestas vo fazer kon alegria y plazer Una kandelika dos kandelikas tres kandelikas cuatro kandelikas cinco kandelikas sesh kandelikas sete kandelikas ocho kandelas para mi
Little Ruby Riding-Hood by Laila Goldrein Little Ruby Riding-Hood was on her way through the forest. She was going to visit her grandma, for Chanukah. They were going to light the candles together and sing, and then they were going to have dinner together, with slightly overcooked chicken, and latkes, and gelt for afters. And finally, before Little Ruby’s parents got there, the two were going to play a thousand games of dreidel, eat doughnuts, and finally, just as the adults arrived, Little Ruby would go to bed. So Little Ruby was feeling quite happy. It would be a great night. She walked with a spring in her step, skipping through the woods (not very advisable, she had some milk in there, might have broken the bottle). Just as Little Ruby rounded a corner, a wolf leapt out. He growled at Little Ruby, looming over her ferociously. “Lil gal, what are you doing in these woods? See” he said, smiling and showing all his sharp, pointy, teeth, “there’s things in these forests that would love to… EAT YOU RIGHT UP!” Little Ruby gritted her teeth. “You know what! Fine. I’ll let you eat me, if you can beat me in a game of dreidel”. Little did the wolf know that…. He had no opposable thumbs, and couldn't spin the dreidel. When he realised this, the wolf began to cry. Rivers of water ran down his face, in streams that soaked his fur flat. Ruby patted his back and gave him some gelt. The wolf stopped snivelling and stared at the gold foil circle. Raising an eyebrow (yes wolves have eyebrows), the wolf picked it up and ate it. Immediately, his eyes went wide. “WOAH! What is this? I need more!” the wolf yelped. A small smile slowly slid over Ruby’s face. “It’s gelt, Chanukah gelt. I only have a little, though. If you come to the party, we will probably have more”. The wolf looked up. He’d never been asked to a party before. He gave Ruby a toothy grin, “I’ll go and get my mum’s and dad’s permission”, the wolf called over his shoulder as he ran off into the woods.
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Ruby was about to say “see you later” but she realised something. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name?” she asked. He yelled that his name was Volf, and she made her way to her grandma’s house. As Ruby got to the party, she was wondering if Volf would show up. However just as she rang the doorbell, he came hurling out of the forest. “Hi Ruby!” he said happily. They went in, and a warm glow filled them. That night, gelt was devoured, dreidels were spun, the gingerbread house was absolutely ruined by Volf’s little brother, Wolfie, and everyone had a great time. And everyone lived happily ever after.
THE END
Gingerbread Chanukah gelt If the purpose of modern gelt is to remind us of a custom from a bygone age, why does it have to be made from chocolate? Hailing from Northern Europe and particularly popular in Scandinavia, gingerbread biscuits or gingersnaps are widely enjoyed. They are a favourite treat in the winter months as their rich spiciness is deliciously warming. This recipe makes 48 gingerbread Chanukah gelt biscuits.
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Ingredients 100g dairy-free margarine 100g golden caster sugar 100g golden syrup 70g treacle 400g plain flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1½ tsp ground ginger 1 tsp mixed spice
For the vegan royal icing: 150g icing sugar (powdered/confectioners sugar) ⅛ tsp xanthan gum (I eyeballed the measurement by taking half of a ¼ tsp) 25-30ml water
Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment or a silicon baking liner 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy 3. Add the syrup, treacle, flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and mixed spice. Turn the motor to a medium speed. The ingredients will initially come together to a crumbly consistency, so continue to mix until a soft dough forms - this might take a few minutes 4. Tip out the dough onto a floured surface and knead very briefly. Divide the dough into halves or thirds for easier rolling out 5. Roll out one piece of gingerbread dough to a thickness of 4mm. Use plain or fluted round cutters to cut out biscuits. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, leaving some room between the biscuits, as they will spread slightly as they bake 6. Repeat with the remaining dough. You will probably have to bake them in batches 7. Bake the gingerbread at 190°C for about 8 minutes, until they are just beginning to colour at the edges 8. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks. Once completely cold, decorate with icing
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To make the icing: 1. Mix the icing sugar and xanthan gum, then add most of the water and stir well to give a smooth icing. The consistency needs to be quite thick - it shouldn't 'collapse' or run away but if it's too thick it will be hard to pipe. Use your judgement to add just enough water to give the right thickness 2. Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a no. 2 writing tip 3. Decorate the gingerbread biscuits with numbers, currencies, Chanukah symbols etc. Allow to dry
Chanukah paintings By our community’s children
Roni Elbaz, aged 3
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Evi Partock, aged 7
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Clara Hassan, aged 7
Leon Elbaz, aged 7
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Yaara Partock, aged 11
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כולנו אוהבים את חג חנוכה Hadas Fuks We all have something that we most enjoy about Chanukah. Every year our thoughts change about Chanukah, there are so many lovely things about Chanukah. What do we like about Chanukah? Our family came up these answers: • • • •
The candles and the holiday The atmosphere Chanukah allows us to enjoy how it is The Jewish victory over materialism
We as a family like to play some games, here are some ideas for Chanukah.
תפזורת לחנוכה חנוכיה
לביבה
מעות חנוכה
אנטיוכוס
סופגניה
נרות
מתתיהו
מנורה
סביבון
מודעין
כד השמן
יהודה
נס
מכבים
חשמונאים
יוונים
גבורה
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Festival calendar 5781, 2020-21 No service times are given because of the current uncertainties
Chanukah 2020 First night
Thursday 10 December
Purim 2021 It is possible there will be Maariv followed by Megillah Reading Shacharit followed by Megillah Reading
Thursday 25 February Friday 26 February
Pesach 2021 Anyone who would like to attend a Seder, or who knows someone who would like to attend a Seder, is invited to consult Rabbi Leigh. Derby Stores (Cambridge 354391) and Just Kosher (https://www.justkosher.co.uk) will take Pesach orders. This year the first day of Pesach is a Sunday. A more detailed description of the complications will be circulated later. Clocks go forward Saturday night. Fast of the Firstborn Finish all Chametz by 9.41am Burning of Chametz by 10.56am Shabbat starts 6.08pm Eat Chametz challot by 9.41am Shabbat ends and Pesach begins 7.11pm Second Seder begins 8.10pm Second day ends 8.15pm Shabbat and festival starts 7.21pm
Thursday 25 March Friday 26 March
Saturday 27 March Sunday 28 March Monday 29 March Friday 2 April
Shabbat ends 8.24pm
Saturday 3 April
Festival ends 8.26pm
Sunday 4 April
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Shavuot 2021 Shavuot is in term time, so the services are organised by the students. Festival starts 9.48pm
Sunday 16 May Monday 17 May
Festival ends 9.05pm
Tuesday 18 May
Tisha B’Av 2021 Fast commences 9:11pm Shabbat ends 10.12pm Maariv and Eichah 10.30pm Shacharit at 8.00am. Expected to finish about 10.00am
Saturday July 17
Sunday July 18
Minchah 1.45pm or 6.00pm, to be decided on the day Fast ends at 9.40pm
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Subscriptions and donations 2020/2021 Members are reminded that their subscriptions for the coming year are now due, together with the Board of Deputies levy (£30 which should be paid to each body of which you are a member), the levy to the Chief Rabbi's Office (£8 which should be paid by each male member), and any donations to the UJIA, the CTJC, or the Cambridge Chaplaincy that you wish to make. Donations to the Community Rabbi Fund will be used to support our promise to contribute to our Rabbi's activities. The subscription fees for 2020/2021 are: Full family Full single
£208.00 £144.00
Associate family £140.00 Associate single £92.00
These fees may be varied to suit individual circumstances; the Treasurer will be pleased to be consulted confidentially. Visitors for whom membership is not appropriate are invited to make a donation. The subscription should preferably be paid by direct bank transfer to sort code 20-17-19 account 20199192: please send an explanatory email to the treasurer at treasurer@ctjc.org.uk; alternatively send a cheque, payable to CTJC, together with this form indicating how much is being paid in each category, to: Ben Blaukopf, 174 Gilbert Road, Cambridge CB4 3PB
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Name Address
Subscription Community Rabbi Fund donation
CTJC donation Board of Deputies Chief Rabbi's Office UJIA donation Chaplaincy donation Total CTJC is a registered Charity, number 282849, and payment from tax paid income can be made by means of Gift Aid, which will enable the CTJC to recover the tax paid. A suitable declaration is available from the Secretary at secretary@ctjc.org.uk.
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