CTJC magazine
Pesach
Nisan 5780 April 2019
CTJC Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation Magazine number 128
Contents Letter from the Chair ............................................................................... 3 Letter from the Editor.............................................................................. 5 Community news ..................................................................................... 6 Communal information ........................................................................... 6 The first 6 months.................................................................................... 8 Fellowship at Harvard .............................................................................. 9 Welcoming the Chaplains ...................................................................... 10 Visit to Norway ...................................................................................... 11 Finding Inspiration ................................................................................. 14 Leopoldstadt .......................................................................................... 16 Marie van der Zyl visits Thompson’s Lane ............................................. 17 KLBD display at Thompson’s Lane ......................................................... 18 Pesach message ..................................................................................... 20 JewQ ...................................................................................................... 22 Duke of Cambridge matza cake ............................................................. 23 Festival calendar 5780, 2020 ................................................................. 25 Views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor, nor of the Committee of the CTJC Cover: Seder plate by Nina Hoadley, aged 9 Page 2
Letter from the Chair Jo Landy As I write this there is a much uncertainty about COVID-19. There has been much discussion concerning who should go to or stay away from Shul and what, if anything, we should serve for Kiddush. At the moment we are keeping the situation under review, advising people to follow government advice. We have and will be letting you know developments via email. On a lighter note spring appeared to come earlier than usual with daffodils starting to bloom in February rather than in April. But instead of heralding Pesach, for me, they have heralded the problem of what to write as Chair of CTJC for the Pesach magazine. Rooting around trying to find something novel to add to this I came across an article on Passover Etiquette. I thought that it might make some of you smile. It should be added that the author is an International Protocol Expert and the article is a guide to the uninitiated. Tips include: 1. Scheduling an ‘overnight’ babysitter for Seder because ‘a traditional Seder can last several hours’. 2. Dressing elegantly and modestly in conservative silhouettes and subdued colours. 3. Having something to eat before arriving at the Seder. She suggests a bit of chicken breast or a protein bar and warns that ‘it may be a while before dining actually begins’. Eating something beforehand will enable enjoyment of the tradition without ‘impatience and hunger cravings.’ 4. The advice that many of the foods served at Seder are deeply symbolic. There is a list which includes ….. CHALLA. This makes the author’s comment to ‘keep an open mind’ somewhat prescient.1
1
Huffpost
Page 3
On a more serious note, Pesach is a holiday full of both stresses and pleasures. I think that many of us manage to insert more stress than needs be. One of my earlier recollections is of one Rabbi (whose name I have long forgotten) attempting to impress the notion that Pesach cleaning is quite specific. It does not equate with rigorous springcleaning everywhere irrespective of whether chametz has been near. Another major stress is shopping. Timing is everything. My personal yearly Pesach resolutions in respect of a large Kosher shop in Golders Green are: 1) To find a time when there is enough space in Kosher Kingdom to manoeuvre a shopping trolley. And 2) to remain polite, take lots of deep breaths, and avoid trolley rage. Of course, deliver-toCambridge or the on-line options are so much easier and risk-free. Other more positive news from the Community. Congratulations to Laila on her Torah Competition ‘JewQ’ success. More about that from her in this magazine. As I write, planning permission still has not been sought for the new Jewish Student Centre. However, there has been some progress in creating a new management structure for both the existing and potential future building. In January a meeting was held to try to resolve the problem of running 3 Thompson’s Lane in a way that meets the demands of Twenty-First century standards. In short, how to help Cambridge University Jewish Society negotiate and abide by the plethora of Health & Safety and Food Standards Regulations that are now in force. A Management Committee is now handling these complex issues, comprising two students and a resident from both CTJC and CJRA. Tim Goldrein’s knowledge of Health & Safety and practical skills made him the obvious choice for CTJC’s representative. I hope that the new system will be a marked improvement on the old.
Page 4
A big thank you to all those who have contributed articles, pictures and their time to bring about this magazine. Lastly Julian and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy and kosher Pesach.
Letter from the Editor Jane Liddell-King Dear All, Firstly, a huge thank you both to contributors and technical experts without whom this magazine would not have appeared. Fire, flood, locusts, and now a deadly virus leave me with much to say but with too few words immediately in mind. And so, here is Louis Jacobs, contemplating Pesach in “The Book of Jewish Belief”, he observes: “The details of the Seder and the reading of the Haggadah are wellknown. What should be noted is the astonishing way in which great concepts are expressed, not by spectacular staging (after all, one could have had a huge dramatic presentation of the Exodus) but by small things such as the eating of the bitter herbs, the telling of the simple stories, the drinking of the four cups of wine, the opening of the door to show that we are unafraid. The truth is that little things can make the deepest impression because the big things are so external, so noisy, and so obvious that they remain surface experiences.” At a time when many of us will know those about to go into isolation perhaps for months, this reminder of the great difference made by the least gesture, the briefest exchange of words, cannot be more timely. Above all, as we relive the Exodus, revisit our Jewish identity, let us show that we are unafraid while acknowledging the needs of those who surely are. פסח שמח
Page 5
Community news מזל טוב
Congratulations
To Sarah and Arieh Schechter on their newest grandchild, Elijah. Mazel Tov also to Debs and Eyal. To Lauren and Jonathan Allin on their second grandchild, Theodore Levi. Mazel Tov also to Victoria and David
Please do get in touch with the Editor if you have news you would like to share
Communal information Who does what Chair Treasurer Secretary CTJC community rabbi Magazine CUJS liaison Kiddushim Board of Deputies Gabbai and synagogue Building
Jo Landy Ben Blaukopf Barry Landy Rabbi Reuven Leigh Jane Liddell-King Jo Landy Jonathan Harris Robert Marks Yoav Git Tim Goldrein
Services in the Synagogue Friday evening
Shabbat morning Sunday morning
Page 6
In Term: Winter Ma'ariv 6:00pm Summer Minchah and Ma'ariv 7:30pm In Vacation: Check the website, www.ctjc.org.uk 9:30am in the Synagogue 8:30am in the Synagogue (most weeks)
Leyning If you would like to learn to leyn, take a service, or read a haftarah, please contact Yoav or Ben.
Learning, Talmud Shiur Usually 8.00 pm at 23 Parsonage Street, led by Prof. Stefan Reif. The group is currently studying Masechet Betza. The shiur is held on a convenient evening in those weeks when Prof Reif is in Cambridge. For more information email chevra@ctjc.org.uk.
Kiddushim Kiddushim really help to make Shabbat morning special. If you would like to sponsor a kiddush, please email kiddushim@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.
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).
Page 7
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.
The first 6 months Elazar and Alissa Symon Our first six months as Chaplains in Cambridge have been mindblowing. The main thing is the human quality. Our students are not only intelligent: they are critical, curious, and they push us to our limits with their creative ideas and fantastic questions. All that is accompanied with a feeling of communal warmth, sympathy and support. For that we want to thank all of you.
Page 8
Fellowship at Harvard Rabbi Reuven Leigh I am sure that many of you can relate to how there comes a time when you need a break or a change of scenery from a familiar setting. After sixteen years here in Cambridge I had definitely reached that point. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly adore living in Cambridge and have absolutely no regrets, and most definitely want to continue living, learning, teaching and praying in Cambridge into the future, but I needed a chance to freshen up. So, it was my good fortune that I was awarded a short fellowship in Harvard for the fall semester, and whereas there are plenty of similarities between our Cambridge and theirs, I certainly got the break I was looking for. I found a nice small apartment just a stone’s throw away from Harvard Yard and the extraordinary library facilities. The extensive opening hours and comfortable working spaces, not to mention the huge Judaica division at the Widener Library puts our Cambridge to shame. It becomes immediately clear how these facilities are operated for the benefit of the students and researchers, making the job of research so much easier. The main focus of my research during the semester was on a set of unpublished sermons of Rabbi Avraham Chein (1877-1957). Rabbi Chein served in rabbinic positions in Russia, Poland and France before arriving in Israel in 1935, where he emerged as a highly regarded thinker especially amongst the political and literary elites. He was extremely well versed in contemporary literature and philosophy and was a talented writer who garnered praise from figures such as Sholom Aleichem and Ahad Ha’am. His writings display a strong opposition to warfare and capital punishment and an all-round scepticism about the nation state. Notwithstanding the political nature of his articles he maintains an intense piety and spiritually rich tone throughout, resulting in an unusual example of Jewish theo-political writing. Rabbi Chein’s archive is housed in the National Library in Jerusalem and contains a large amount of unpublished material which I hope to examine further. For now, my time at Harvard enabled me to analyse Page 9
and prepare for future publication ten sermons which will hopefully become part of a larger volume of Rabbi Chein’s writings. Throughout my stay I took advantage of the relative proximity to New York and managed to regularly spend Shabbos at Lubavitch HQ in Brooklyn and catch up with old friends. I also scouted out other communities where my friends serve as rabbis in the greater Boston area such as Brighton, Waltham and Sudbury, where being a fly on the wall was extremely insightful. All in all, I think I have returned with renewed energy and motivation as intended and am looking forward to the next sixteen years. I hope the feeling is mutual.
Welcoming the Chaplains A few members of the Cambridge Jewish community met in the small Hall of Fitzwilliam College on Sunday March 8 to welcome the Chaplains. While a huge tea greeted us, no students appeared but many delightful conversations took place.
Page 10
Visit to Norway Helen Goldrein I’ve long held the opinion that if you’re going to go on holiday in the winter, it might as well be a proper winter holiday. Not for me sunsoaked beaches and balmy evenings. I want snow, roaring log fires, and maybe a cup or two of something hot and reviving. So people who know me were not too surprised when we chose to take our family holiday in Tromsø, Northern Norway, last December. Located about 350km north of the Arctic Circle, Tromsø is plunged into the darkness of the polar night from around the end of November until mid-January. The sun did not rise above the horizon for the duration of our trip. It was only once we had arrived in town that we realised the implications of this for the timing of the start of Shabbat, lighting our Chanukah candles, and so on! Fortunately, despite being in the wilderness of the frozen north, we had good internet access, and naturally we weren’t the first people to come up against this problem. It seems there are two alternative solutions that are widely accepted. The first is to use the time from the nearest town where the sun does rise and set. The second, useful only to visitors, is to continue using the time from your place of origin. This of course does mean that multiple visitors from different cities might all light their Shabbat candles at different times. However, it wasn’t a problem for us as we had all travelled together from Cambridge. The polar darkness was not quite as dark as I had anticipated. The ambient light level varies from night, through ‘astronomical twilight’ (almost indistinguishable from night), and dimly-lit ‘nautical twilight’ to ‘civil twilight’, which is roughly as bright as an overcast day. Page 11
Since there was plenty of street lighting, and almost every building was festooned with decorative lights, it never felt unbearably dark. It was also not as cold as you might imagine. Some years ago we visited Northern Sweden in winter, where temperatures plunged to -22°C during our visit. In Tromsø by comparison, the temperature hovered around freezing point in town, getting slightly lower at night or when we ventured away from the built-up area. Thick coats and hats were essential but the climate was very manageable. There was plenty to do and see, with numerous galleries and museums and some wonderful contemporary architecture all within walking distance of the centre of town. We also took a fabulous trip out into the countryside where we saw reindeer, moose and eagles in their breathtakingly beautiful natural habitats. We visited a terrific exhibition called “Homo Religiosus” in the Perspektivet photography museum, which documented the wide variety of faiths currently represented in Tromsø, with the notable absence of Jews. There is at present no (active) Jewish population in Tromsø, though this was not always the case. On a corner of a public square in the centre of the town, just across from the Cathedral, is a memorial to the seventeen Jews of Tromsø who were deported to Auschwitz in 1942. Although there was never a shul in Tromsø, the community seems to have been active and committed, travelling to Trondheim (over 1000km away!) to celebrate Bar Mitzvahs and other occasions. The memorial lists only a few family names, and looking at the dates it is clear that in some cases multiple Page 12
generations of the same family - grandparents, parents and children were all wiped out. The youngest person named on the memorial was only 3 years old. We discovered that the memorial was erected in the late 1990s at the request of Kåre Kleivan, a Norwegian man who had grown up in Tromsø and had left to fight with the Allies against the Nazis. He and another resistance fighter, Markus Rotvold, had helped the Jewish Smith family in their flight from Tromsø across the border into Sweden and ultimately Finland. Although the family reached safety, the father Herman Smith returned to Tromsø after learning that his wife’s sister had died, leaving two young orphans. Shortly after reaching them, Herman was arrested by the Nazis and deported. When Kåre Kleivan was asked by family and friends on his 80th birthday what he would like as a gift, he asked for the memorial to the Jews of Tromsø to be erected. Both Kleivan and Rotvold have been recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. As the end of our trip coincided with the start of Chanukah, we decided to light our candles by the memorial, in tribute to those who had perished. Someone else had already lit a memorial candle there on the first night, and it became a very emotional experience to say the brachot (including shehecheyanu) and watch our candles burn down. It was an honour to use our Chanukah lights to illuminate this little corner of the polar darkness.
Page 13
Finding Inspiration Hertha Ayrton’s response to crisis Jane Liddell-King No doubt, you will have heard of Hertha Ayrton, born Sarah Phoebe Marks who, in 1902, became the first woman proposed as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Being married and therefore denied legal status, she was refused. Four years later she won the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society for original work in Physics. Memorable and inspirational, she has both Jewish and Cambridge connections. Sarah was born in April 1854 to Alice (née Moss) and Levi Marks, son of a Polish inn-keeper who had fled Tsarist persecution. Forced to trade door-to-door. Levi struggled to earn a living as a watch-maker and jeweller. When Hertha was 7, Levi died leaving her mother, then pregnant with her eighth child, to support the family from her needlework. Fortunately, an aunt, Marion Hartog stepped in and educated Sarah at her school in London where she made friends with the family of Karl Blind, Jewish-German émigrés. Karl’s daughter, Ottilie, renamed Sarah “Hertha” after the impressive heroine of a novel by feminist Swedish writer, Frederika Bremer. Ottilie also encouraged her to sit the Cambridge University Local Examinations, recently opened to women. She passed in 1874 and came up to Girton in 1876. Ottilie also awakened her lifelong commitment to women’s suffrage. Once at Girton, as well as focusing on her academic work, Sarah served in the College Fire Brigade. Interestingly, George Eliot drew on her for her character, Mira, in her 1876 novel, “Daniel Deronda”. While her remarkable career is perhaps well-known and interestingly documented by Pam Hirsch in the online Encyclopaedia of Jewish Women, what interests me today is how ever-resourceful woman rose to meet a particular crisis of the First World War. In 1915, at Ypres, the Germans first used chemical warfare: mustard gas blistering the skin and eating into the lungs. In 1901, her husband Professor Will Ayrton, was convalescing beside the sea at Margate. Typically, Hertha used the opportunity to study how sea waves formed sand ripples and sand bars. It was this knowledge which prompted her Page 14
to design a fan to repel the gas from the trenches. Weighing less than a pound, and made essentially of waterproof canvas supported by braces of cane down the middle, it could be folded and carried in the straps behind a soldier’s main pack. Initially, the War Office dismissed this invention. But, eventually, after bitter exchanges in the Press, 104,000 “Ayrton Fans” were issued to soldiers on the Western Front. Subsequently, in 1918, the US Army ordered a further 50,000. Inspiringly, before her death from septicaemia in 1923, Hertha devoted herself to the problem of clearing toxic miasma from mines and sewers, as well as continuing to work for female suffrage and to work actively for the International Federation of University Women. What a remarkable role model! And how appropriate that she is now commemorated in a tapestry by Yelena Popova at Storey’s Field Centre, Eddington.
Page 15
Leopoldstadt Julian Landy Any new play by Sir Tom Stoppard is a great event. Not that they are few in number, but that they are slower in forthcoming than formerly. Stoppard is 82. It must be doubtful that he will pen any further dramas for production. So for the purposes of this review I assume this is his swan-song. We all know of what he is capable: hilarious and complex intellectual jokes intertwined with complex scientific theories; a dramatic progression and flexible time-frames. Little is simple or straightforward in Stoppard plays. Until Leopoldstadt. Now we are given a simple and straightforward story (with some limited allusions to mathematical theory) the end of which the audience knows almost as soon as the play begins. Hence, with small exceptions, there is no real dramatic thrust. How could there be, when Stoppard is telling us about the Holocaust? Sir Tom can be properly called a National Treasure. He is, without question, the greatest British playwright of the last fifty years. Productions of his plays are put on all over the world and do not fail to charm. And yet. And yet, this is very different. It is the story of a prosperous assimilated Jewish family in Vienna from 1899 to 1955. And so the play is horribly predictable. The family seeks to see itself as Viennese first and of Jewish origin second. Some have married out, some converted to Catholicism. Gradually we get beyond the Anschluss and to war. Nothing is the same. And once a Jew, always a Jew. The play opens with a complex set and a stage crowded with people, multiple conversations and events. There are over twenty actors performing. There is a very funny Seder night where the family retires after the meal, not to doze but to dance! The acting throughout is excellent: even the several child actors are great. The whole production speaks of the highest quality, the music, the lighting and the sets. But by the end just three members of the extended family survive on an almost bare stage. One lives here in England, presumably Stoppard’s alter ego, one in New York and one back in Vienna, where the three meet for an unexpected reunion. It is Page 16
then that one of the rare dramatic moments is enacted: a scene of huge bathos. This is by no means anywhere near the best of Stoppard. In the past his plays have been wildly funny and mentally exhausting. It is however probably his most important play. His personal identification with and implied portrayal of the Shoah, his commitment to exposing on stage the utter brutality and banality of those years, is something to see. It is no easy ride. A hard watch, not for the faint-hearted. Moreover, the night we saw it felt a lot like a shul outing; Jews were perhaps a third of the audience. There is just so much to criticise in the paucity of drama in Leopoldstadt. In some quarters it will quite properly be panned. Perversely, I urge you to buy tickets and take all your friends and family. It is in many ways a masterpiece of understatement, a theatrical non-drama that conveys an essential and perennial message: “Never again.”
Marie van der Zyl visits Thompson’s Lane Robert Marks Marie van der Zyl, President of the Board of Deputies, visited Cambridge at the end of February. She came to Thompson’s Lane for Shabbat on the 29 February, and afterwards went on to Beth Shalom. She was also scheduled to speak to the students at their Friday night meal, but due to a last-minute change of plans by the students this couldn’t happen. Marie gave a talk during the kiddush describing the Board of Deputies’ work. A major thread of the Board’s activities include communicating with the Government on matters of concern to the UK’s Jewish communities. Amongst issues that have come up recently are new rules on organ donations, changes to the way deaths are recorded (the introduction of Medical Examiners to review deaths), and delays in coroners’ courts.
Page 17
The Board is heavily involved in education. It runs Pikuach, a government-accredited inspection service for Jewish schools, and has published a definitive resource for GCSE Judaism Religious Studies targeted at non-Jewish schools that are teaching the Judaism GCSE syllabus. More broadly the Board is heavily involved with interfaith work, building bridges with other faith communities in the UK. Anti-Semitism continues to be a problem, both from hard left and hard right political groups. We have had serious problems with the Labour Party, but the anti-Semitic violence we have seen recently around the world has originated from the right wing. Regarding the Labour Party, the Board published its “Ten Pledges” for Labour leadership candidates. These pledges represent the first steps any leader must take rebuild trust with the Britain’s Jews. All the candidates for the leadership have signed up, but two of the deputy leadership candidates have so far refused. The pledges can be read on the Board’s website (search for “board of deputies ten pledges” to find the website).
KLBD display at Thompson’s Lane Jane Liddell-King On Sunday, 1 March, some 50 people from across the Cambridge Jewish community met at 3 Thompson’s Lane to sample kosher food from a display presented by Sharon Feldman-Vazan, Retail Drink and Food Manager of KLBD. KLBD is the Kashrut Division of the London Beth Din and leading UK and European authority on Jewish Dietary Laws. Sponsored by the Chaplaincy Board in aid of Magen David Adom, the event had been impressively organised by Sarah Schechter. Valerie Berkson and Robert Marks oversaw the MDA stall in the entrance hall. Page 18
In an interesting talk, Sharon illustrated her role in widening the choice of kosher food and publicising the results to the community. She explained the meticulous process which ensures that kosher Marmite is kept separate from Bovril. Similarly, she clarified the difference between approved and certified foods. Where companies who certify their products as kosher must give a signed undertaking not to change ingredients or production processes without first informing the KLBD, those opting for approval make no such commitment. A Facebook group (currently boasting 8,500 members), Twitter, and the Isitkosher.uk App, offer up to date information on what’s new as well as on what is no longer kosher. Following the talk, the audience sampled food, with children relishing candied smoked salmon and chocolate truffles while students needing gluten free diets were clearly in food heaven. Reuven kept the gin flowing to give the occasion that special simcha flavour.
Page 19
Pesach message Marie Van Der Zyl, President Board of Deputies of British Jews Pesach is a poignant time of year for all of us. It is the moment when we reflect both on the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt and also celebrate their freedom from Pharoah. For many years. we have lived free and safe lives as Jews in the UK. However, the antisemitism crisis in Labour has given Pesach an extra level of significance. For the first time I can remember, anti-Jewish racism has been at the front and centre of British politics. Heading into a General Election last December, it is not overstating matters to say that many in our community were feeling real anxiety, and, in some cases, even fear, over our future. The Labour leadership election will be decided shortly before the start of Pesach. We are hoping that this moment will be a turning point for the party. This is the reason that, in January, we produced our Ten Pledges for Labour Leadership and Deputy Leadership candidates. The pledges identify the ten key points we believe Labour needs to sign up to in order to begin healing its relationship with the Jewish community. This relationship, once rock solid, has been all but destroyed. It will take leadership, commitment and, most importantly, action. We expect that those seeking to move the party forward will openly and unequivocally endorse these Ten Pledges in full, making it clear that if elected as leader, or deputy leader, they will commit themselves to their full implementation. We have been encouraged that all the leadership candidates have signed up to the pledges (although, disgracefully, deputy leadership candidates Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler refused to accept them). We are also hugely encouraged by the massive media coverage the pledges have received and the way they have compelled candidates to confront the antisemitism in their party. Of course, antisemitism is not just a problem for Labour. We engaged with all the major parties during the election campaign when Page 20
candidates made antisemitic statements or posts. We will continue to call out racism, wherever it comes from and whenever it happens, in a completely even-handed way. Those who know the Board of Deputies will understand we are not a single-issue organisation. We exist to ensure that the UK’s Jewish community can live freely, happily and continue to practise our traditions. We are working to ensure that the Jewish community’s interests are protected after Brexit, whether that is safeguarding UK-Israel trade, carrying over to UK law EU sanctions on groups like Hamas, or guaranteeing the same or better access to Kosher meat. We are passionate about protecting our religious freedoms, whether the right to circumcise our baby boys in accordance with our tradition or to ensure that employees are able to take time off for Jewish festivals and follow their Jewish traditions within the law. Through Pikuach, we supervise religious education in Jewish schools, and we travel the country with the Jewish Living Experience exhibition, educating non-Jewish children and adults about our way of life. We engage with Government ministers, MPs, local councillors, diplomats, faith leaders and with a huge variety of public bodies on behalf of the community we represent. This festival of freedom reminds us how our ancestors suffered. It is our aim to ensure that our generation of Jews continues to live safely and happily. Wishing you all a Chag Kasher ve-Sameach.
Page 21
JewQ Laila Goldrein Recently, I took part in a competition called JewQ. JewQ is a competition for Jewish kids from all over the world. We studied from a special book called Living Jewish. We learned different parts of the book depending on our age group, and were tested on it thrice. If we got an average of over 70 points, we were entered into the national final, which were held in London. I got an average of over 70 and went with the Cambridge competitors to London. There were also kids from Bournemouth, Cardiff and even Dublin! All the competitors were given a JewQ t-shirt to wear. We were divided into 3 teams, called Aleph, Bet, and Gimmel. I was in Team Gimmel. There were three rounds. In the first round, each team was asked a question and they could confer for as long as they liked. Each correct answer was awarded five points. In the second round of the championship we were given a topic, and asked to write a list of what we had learned, in only a minute and a half. Each correct answer on the list gave 30 points. In the last round questions were asked to each year group and only people in that year were allowed to answer it. At the end of the third round all the points were added up to see who had won. Sadly, my group did not win, Team Aleph were the winner. Another Cambridge Hebrew School student, Nir, was on the winning team. However, I was still very happy as I received a trophy for getting the highest score in Cambridge Hebrew School. After the championship the competitors went to Clip 'n' Climb Chelsea for a special treat. We had pizza and chips and went climbing. I managed to scale the hardest wall halfway! I am looking forward to next year’s JewQ Championship.
Page 22
Duke of Cambridge matza cake Helen Goldrein A delicious no-bake chocolate matza cake inspired by Duke of Cambridge cake, a British teatime classic that’s fit for a Prince. Quick and easy, this vegan slice is perfect for Pesach. You may be wondering what Duke of Cambridge cake actually is. Prior to April 2011, it was most commonly known as chocolate biscuit cake, or chocolate tiffin. But on 29 April 2011, Prince William married Kate Middleton, and at his request this delicious cake was served at the royal wedding. And since they are now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, many enterprising local cafes here in Cambridge (and further afield) renamed their chocolate tiffin as Duke of Cambridge cake. This is kosher l’Pesach version
Ingredients • • • • • • •
100g matza (4 sheets) 75ml sweet red kiddush wine 150g dark chocolate 50g butter or margarine 1 tbsp honey (optional) 75g raisins or sultanas 75g walnut pieces
Topping •
100 g dark chocolate
Page 23
Instructions 1. Break the matza roughly into small (2-3cm) pieces and place in a shallow dish. Heat the kiddush wine (I did this in a jug in the microwave) then pour over the broken matza. Mix, then set aside 2. In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate and butter or margarine together and stir until well mixed and smooth. Add the honey and mix well 3. Add the soaked matza pieces, raisins, and walnuts to the bowl and mix thoroughly until everything is coated in the chocolate mixture 4. Tip into a 20cm square tin that has been lined with greaseproof paper. Use the back of a spoon or your fingers to spread the mixture into the sides and corners of the tin, and press down well. Place in the fridge while you make the topping 5. To make the topping, simply melt the chocolate and then spread it over the mixture in the tin as evenly as possible. Return the tin to the fridge for an hour or so until everything has set 6. Use a hot knife to cut the chocolate matza cake into squares. Enjoy!
Page 24
Festival calendar 5780, 2020 Pesach 2020 Due to the present situation, it’s unlikely there will services in shul Wednesday 8 April Thursday 9 April
Friday 10 April
Saturday 11 April Tuesday 14 April Wednesday 15 April Thursday 16 April
Fast of the Firstborn: Shacharit 7:00am Finish all chametz by 10:26am Burning of chametz by 11:46am Festival starts 7:31pm Minchah, maariv TBA Shacharit 9:30am Shabbat starts 7:35pm Minchah, maariv TBA Shabbat ends 8:39pm Festival starts 7:42pm Minchah, maariv TBA Shacharit 9:30am Minchah, maariv TBA Shacharit 9:30am Festival ends 8:49pm
Shavuot 2020 Shavuot is in University Term, so the services are organised by the students Thursday 28 May Friday 29 May
Saturday 30 May
Festival start 8:52pm Maariv 10:30pm Shacharit 9:30am Shabbat starts 8:55pm Kabbalat Shabbat 7:00pm Shacharit 9:30am Shabbat and Festival end 10:12pm
Tisha B'Av 2020 Wednesday 29 July Thursday 30 July
Fast commences 8:55pm Maariv and eichah 9:45pm Shacharit 8:00am Minchah 1:45pm or 6:00pm Fast ends at 9:40pm
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
