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Time to end the divide Landmark review of racism in the Jewish community calls for: • End to racial profiling

at communal events • Synagogues to create ‘welcoming committees’ • Word ‘Shvartzer’ to be understood as a racial slur • Sephardi, Mizrahi and Yemenite songs in Ashkenazi synagogues • Schools to increase focus on colonialism and black history • ...and Facebook group Jewish Britain is named and shamed

Commission chair Stephen Bush authored the Board of Deputies report

FULL REPORT & EXPERT ANALYSIS ON PAGES 6, 7 & 26

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

News / Uyghur genocide / Gove talks / Envoy interview

MPs to vote on China

by Michael Daventry mike@jewishnews.co.uk @MichaelDaventry

MPs will have the opportunity today to decide whether they believe crimes against China’s Uyghur minority constitute a genocide.

If the House of Commons vote passes, it will be the second time that parliamentarians have recognised the ongoing atrocities as genocide.

A similar vote was held in 2016 in connection to acts by the terror group Daesh against Yazidis and Christians in northern Iraq and Syria. But this would be the first time another country’s government is sanctioned in this way.

More than one million Uyghur Muslims are being detained by Chinese authorities in so-called “re-education centres” in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, campaigners say.

There are many reports

of forced labour, compulsory sterilisation and the repression of their faith in the camps.

A demonstration is planned outside parliament in Westminster this afternoon as the backbench debate takes place.

Nus Ghani, the Conservative MP who has long campaigned on the Uyghur issue, urged her colleagues to vote in support of the all-party motion.

Writing in this week’s Jewish News, she said: “This will also be a chance for Parliament to let the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] know what it thinks of its attempts to silence the House through sanctions and intimidation.”

Campaigners hope at least two-thirds of the 650 MPs in the Commons will back the motion, driven by strong support from opposition parties.

Ministers are expected to abstain and declare the vote is non-binding on govern-

Protesters outsude the Chinese Embassy in London

ment policy. Some have also expressed concern that it will damage Britain’s relations with China.

Beijing has already imposed sanctions on several MPs, including Ghani, for their criticism of China’s human rights record.

Britain’s Jewish community has campaigned for several months on the Uyghur issue. Last week, World Jewish Relief launched an emergency appeal to assist

the thousands of refugees who had escaped persecution in China and are now living in Turkey. Up to 11,000 Uyghurs, most in Istanbul, do not have work permits and are in need of food packages and healthcare.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis urged Jewish people in Britain to give generously because it would provide practical help to an Uyghur community that it is possible to reach.

GOVE VISITS ISRAEL FOR TRAVEL TALKS Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met the British minister in charge of the UK’s pandemic response, Michael Gove, in his Jerusalem office on Tuesday, amid plans to establish a “green” travel corridor between the countries with mutual recognition of vaccinations following the successful immunisation drives in both nations.

Netanyahu and Gove discussed “the option of increasing cooperation in the research, development and manufacturing of vaccines against the coronavirus and future viruses”, according to a statement.

The statement, from Netanyahu’s office, quoted Gove as hailing Israel’s “big success” in the vaccination of its population and saying Britain wanted to learn from Israel’s experience in reopening the economy. Additionally, Netanyahu and Gove agreed to promote the upgrading of the countries’ free trade agreement, it said.

Gove also met Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and other senior Health Ministry officials, Hebrew media reported.

They discussed the travel corridor plan and additional cooperation on the pandemic response.

Michael Gove, left, meets with Benjamin Netanyahu

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Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom accused BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis of “patronising the Palestinians” in a frosty interview in which she also declined to support a two-state solution for Israel.

Tzipi Hotovely’s first broadcast interview in the role came as Michael Gove is in Israel for talks focused on the pandemic. The British cabinet office minister, she said, held “strong discussions” with Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Israel’s health and foreign ministers.

Maitlis questioned Hotovely on the vaccine roll-out among Palestinians – and suggested there was a moral and economic burden on Israel to do more.

The ambassador replied that the Palestinians had “asked to run their own programme of vaccination... according to all international agreements their health authorities should take care of the Palestinian population”.

Tzipi Hotovely and Emily Maitlis on Newnight

She then challenged Maitlis directly, saying: “Would you impose getting vaccines to the leaders of the Palestinians? You are patronising the Palestinians.”

Maitlis also challenged the ambassador on whether she supported a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians – but she refused on two occasions to confirm she did.

“I am in favour of peace,” said Hotovely.

GULF AIR IN ISRAEL Digging in at UN

Bahrain’s state-owned airline is launching direct flights to Tel Aviv in June, another marker in the country’s ongoing normalisation of ties with Israel.

Globes, an Israeli business daily, first reported this week that Gulf Air flights would start on 3 June. The airline signed a codesharing agreement with El Al, Israel’s national carrier in December.

Israel signed historic normalisation agreements with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other neighbouring Arab countries last year.

El Al has been flying to Dubai since August and Etihad, the UAE carrier, has been flying to Israel since February.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations joined a number of Arab counterparts in planting an olive tree at the United Arab Emirates Embassy this week as part of the growing normalisation of ties between Israel and the Arab world.

“Warmer relations will help get us to a cooler planet,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the United States, said at Tuesday’s ceremony. “Normalisation is already accelerating climate cooperation between the UAE and Israel. ” Israel’s ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said he had raised regional environmental cooperation with the Biden administration.

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Court ruling / Labour relations / ICC query / News

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by Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk @lmharpin

Jeremy Corbyn has failed in his attempt to overturn a High Court judge’s ruling after being sued for defamation by campaigner Richard Millett.

In a judgment handed

down on Tuesday, Lord Justice Warby dismissed the former Labour leader’s argument that his words spoken about the pro-Israel campaigner Millett “conveyed a statement of opinion” and instead ruled they were defamatory.

The libel case, which can

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by Millett and relates to an appearance made by Corbyn on the BBC’s TheAndrew Marr Show in September 2018, in which he was asked about the then notorious “English irony” speech he had made in 2013.

He said Corbyn defamed him by accusing him of being “disruptive and abusive” at a 2013 meeting featuring a Palestinian speaker.

Procedurally, lawyers for Corbyn can now serve a defence if they wish to argue that facts in the case were true.

Corbyn had mounted an appeal against preliminary findings made by Justice Saini.

Three appeal judges considered arguments at a Court of Appeal hearing in London last month.

UK AND ISRAELI LABOUR MEET TO RESTORE LINKS Labour’s general secretary David Evans has met with his Israeli counterpart Eran Harmoni in the latest move to restore relations between the two parties.

It was the first meeting of the two sister parties for more than four years. Labour Friends of Israel chair Steve McCabe MP also joined. The Israeli Labor Party decided to suspend relations in response to the direction of the party under Jeremy Corbyn in March 2018.

Evans said: “I was delighted to meet with Eran Harmoni. I expressed my personal sorrow for the grief and pain that the failure of the Labour Party to tackle antisemitism has brought to Jewish communities here in the UK and within Israel.

“It will take time to rebuild trust, but I am delighted we have taken our first steps to rebuild this vital sister party relationship.”

Senior members of Israeli and British Labour

Harmoni said: “Both parties share common values and can join forces in the battle against racism, antisemitism and prejudices.

“It was heart-warming to hear the sincere apologies spoken by... David Evans, and to witness the unprecedented practical steps the British Labour Party has taken since Keir Starmer’s election.”

Minister questioned over ICC Labour’s shadow Middle East minister has questioned Boris Johnson’s criticism of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) after the Prime Minister claimed it had mounted a “prejudicial attack” against Israel.

Addressing Middle East

Minister James Cleverly in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Wayne David MP cited the ICC’s recent confirmation of an investigation into alleged war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.

“Does the minister believe

the court is independent or not?” he asked.

Cleverly replied: “We absolutely respect the independence of the ICC. We do expect it to comply with its own mandate... the UK will remain a strong supporter of the ICC.”

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

News / Board elections / Welsh support

Deputy banned for anti-Muslim tweet is in group backing presidential hopeful

By Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk @lmharpin

A group backing the campaign of Board of Deputies presidential candidate Jonathan Neumann includes recent contributions from a former deputy suspended by the Board for six years for sharing antiMuslim posts.

Leaked emails show that Roslyn Pine has contributed to the online BoD-caucus group in recent weeks despite being removed from the Board in 2018 for sharing social media posts including one tweet describing Muslims as a the “vilest of animals”.

One post made on 18 March on the subscriber-only Google group lambasted the incumbent President Marie van der Zyl after the Board released a statement expressing solidarity with the traveller community and claiming a “shared history”.

Pine’s post included the claim: “The idea that traveller communities share a commonality with us is absurd.”

A further post by the suspended Finchley United Synagogue representative attacked as “pompous” a deputy who raised concern about a book that presidential challenger Neumann had previously written about the “Jewish left”.

In June 2018 it merged that Pine had shared tweets describing Muslims as “the vilest of animals” as well as calling Arabs “so evil”.

Subsequent comments made by

her reportedly included the claim she “detests the creed of Islam” and that “killing us and destroying Israel is an Islamic fundamental”.

Pine was subsequently found to have brought the Board into disrepute and suspended for six years from the organisation.

Jewish News has been sent evidence suggesting that Pine was sent an email under the subject “new members” from the BoD caucus group on 18 January this year.

A message sent “on behalf of Jonathan Neumann” alerted the “many new members” joining the group of the existence of a separate WhatsApp group for use as well. At the bottom of the email was the wording: “You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ‘BoD caucus’ group”.

It urged those wishing to remove themselves from the group to do so by sending an email. Further emails seen by Jewish News confirm that the group has been used to discuss voting positions among supporters as well as to comment on statements released by the Board.

One senior communal figure suggested that the Board caucus group bore similarities to that of Labour’s hard-left Momentum organisation – although they added that it differed in that its appeal was “ for those on the right of our community”.

Pine’s post to the group on 18 March was in response to an email posted by Gary Mond, who is himself seeking election next month as a vice-president at the Board, who

shared an article detailing its statement about the traveller community.

Mond, the Jewish National Fund deputy, wrote: “Are there any views on this?” Pine responded by writing: “Yes. Once Marie has completed her reign of terror she wants to move on to bigger things in the wider political world so she is displaying her woke credentials, at no cost to herself.

The idea that traveller communities share a commonality with us is absurd.”

Asked to comment on the interaction with Pine, Mond told Jewish News: “I condemn without reservation anti-Muslim hatred. I do not, and never have, to the best of my knowledge shared a platform with racists. I hope that is clear.”

In her second post, made on 29 March, Pine responded to a complaint circulated within the group

by Jonathan Metliss, the deputy for Central Synagogue.

Metliss expressed anger about a message that appeared on the caucus group in by another deputy which raised concerns about a book written by challenger Neumann in 2018 entitled To Heal the World? How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel.

Metliss posted of the deputy who had criticised Neumann: “What a thoroughly nasty piece of work.” He then urged the Board caucus group to “scroll down” and read the message sent in by the deputy, which prompted a flurry of responses.

Pine urged the group to resist issuing a complaint against the

Candidate Jonathan Neumann and (right) Roslyn Pine, who was banned for six years

deputy who sent the message suggesting that this would “mean that we cannot do the same when we have much more potent emails we wish to send in reverse!”

She added: “Much better to attack the substance... or lack of it... in his pompous missive! Roslyn.”

Responding, Robert Festenstein, the deputy for Prestwich Hebrew Congregation, wrote: “I agree, makes sense.”

Neither Metliss nor Festenstein – who are key supporters of Neumann’s campaign – responded to Jewish News when asked about Pine’s involvement with the group.

Further emails show how the online Google group is used to plan tactics among those backing Neumann’s attempt to topple Van der Zyl. Discussions are held in advance of Sunday Board meetings on what way the group should vote.

The Board’s current leaders are also criticised for campaigns around climate change, with the deputy Anthony Bolchover stressing one of the principles of the caucus that “the Board should not involve itself in matters that do not directly impact the Jewish community or Israel”.

Another principle involves a zerotolerance approach to antisemitism.

One communal figure suggested that the leaked emails show the caucus was “ready to turn a blind eye to racism within its own ranks”.

Another suggested that Pine’s involvement contrasted with one of the ten pledges made by the Board with regard to tackling antisemitism, which included the demand that Labour members do not share platforms with those disciplined for racism.

Neumann has twice been approached for comment by Jewish News, last Thursday and again on Monday, about the existence of the emails by Pine with the Board caucus group backing his challenge.

When asked about her involvement with the group Pine initially denied any contact with Board members since her suspension. When alerted to the existence of the emails she said:”I have indeed been in touch with a deputy as recently as today.”

...As dates announced for WELSH BACKING FOR IHRA Board’s election debates The candidates to lead the Board of Deputies over the next three years will go headto-head at what looks set to be a fiery hustings next month.

Supporters of incumbent Marie van der Zyl and challenger Jonathan Neumann have locked horns over recent days and are likely to be the only candidates for the top job.

However, other candidates have until Friday afternoon to receive the requisite 20 nominations to be added to the ballot paper.

The session on 4 May, during which the candidates will be quizzed on a range of national and international issues by fellow deputies and the wider community, will be media partnered by Jewish News and chaired by editor Richard Ferrer.

Another hustings will be held on 27 April for vicepresident, where there are expected to be at least four candidates for three roles, and treasurer. It will be chaired by Jewish News’ Jenni Frazer.

Board of Deputies interim chief executive Michael Wegier said: “These hustings represent an opportunity for the community to hear the candidates answer crucial questions about how they would tackle the issues facing Jews in the UK and beyond.

This is democracy in action.

I urge everyone to watch and participate in these debates.”

Both hustings will be live-streamed on the Jewish News’ Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Leading representatives of the four main Welsh political parties have expressed support for the full International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and opposition to boycotts that uniquely stigmatise Israel.

They were speaking on Monday night at the Jewish community’s Senedd (parliament) hustings, hosted by the Board of Deputies and the South Wales Jewish Representative Council.

Vaughan Gething, minister for health and social services and Labour candidate for Cardiff South and Penarth, said at the online event: “When the Welsh government adopted the full IHRA working definition of antisemitism, that should have been a clear signal to all of us.”

Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies said: “Many of the boycotts are promoted just because the state of Israel exists and that’s reprehensible.”

The parliamentary hustings on Monday

Liz Saville Roberts, leader of Plaid Cymru and MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd –whose party had previously adopted the IHRA definition with home affairs select committee caveats – told the hustings: “My recommendation [in the recent Plaid Cymru Antisemitism Review] is that we should adopt the full definition without the caveats.”

www.jewishnews.co.uk

22 April 2021 Jewish News

5

Battle for City Hall / News

Khan and Bailey clash at JN mayoral hustings Sadiq Khan clashed with Tory London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey during this week’s Jewish News-backed hustings for the community, writes Lee Harpin.

The two candidates were joined by the Green Party challenger Sian Berry and the Liberal Democrat hopeful Luisa Porritt for a lively Jewish community hustings event on Monday, during which discussion topics included rising antisemitism and the capital’s housing crisis.

In one feisty exchange, Khan heaped praise on the way “London’s Jewish community came to my defence during one of the most divisive campaigns London has seen in 2016, when I was attacked by Trump and the extreme right”.

Making direct reference to Bailey, he added: “The way the Tory candidate for mayor retweeted an Islamophobic tweet that called me, and I quote the ‘mad Mullah of Londistan’”.

Responding, Bailey said: “When

Mayoral candidates at the hustings event for the Jewish community

I retweeted that, what I retweeted was (in reference to the) failed bus contract. I wasn’t party to what other people wrote on it.”

Bailey attempted to blame Khan for issues including housing shortages and a rise in crime, but earlier, all four candidates had given their backing to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Berry proved particularly pow-

erful in her defence of the definition, despite opposition to IHRA among many in the Green Party.

She said: “The point is to use the examples and the definition to determine things. We had problems in the past in Camden with the far right trying to hire public buildings so we had this guidance.

It has proved really successful with making sure when to draw the line.

And when something is simply

about free speech.

Khan recalled how he had challenged former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over Labour’s failure to adopt IHRA. “I stood up to the party I belonged to and said you’re wrong.”

Earlier, the Lib Dem candidate said her own party had taken the lead over rapper Wiley’s antisemitic tweets. She said: “My whole party joined in standing up online and boycotting social media platforms until they took action, which is something I personally advocated for.

She praised the “amazing work” done by the Community Security Trust to protect buildings.

Bailey repeated his demand for the central London Al Quds Day march to be banned and repeated his opposition to Israel Apartheid Week on university campuses.

The event was supported by the Jewish Leadership Council, the Board of Deputies and the London Jewish Forum and was hosted by Adrian Cohen.

...AS MANIFESTO IS ANNOUNCED A Jewish manifesto aimed at guiding election candidates on key concerns for the community has been published ahead of next month’s vote for the capital’s mayor and London Assembly.

The document, published by the London Jewish Forum (LJF), Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council, highlights #TenCommitments that candidates are being asked to support.

These include the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, ensuring faith and culturally sensitive provision of public services and opposition to boycotts of Israel.

Also among the policy asks are concerns about transport routes affecting the community in the capital, including a new plea for bus routes linking Golders Green to Stamford Hill and the retention of certain routes.

LJF co-chairs Adrian Cohen and Andrew Gilbert said: “The last year has been incredibly tough for Londoners, including our Jewish community.

“This manifesto will give our elected officials a guide to addressing the needs of London’s community as we come out of this pandemic.

“We very much look forward to working with the next mayor, their team and the London Assembly to support the Jewish community.”

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

News / Racial inclusivity

Bias and bigotry, but this could be a ‘turning point’ The Board of Deputies’ commission into racial inclusivity in the UK’s Jewish community has issued recommendations that leaders say could act as a “turning point”, writes Adam Decker.

Published today and led by Jewish journalist Stephen Bush, who identifies as mixed race, the commission’s report examines the experience of Jews of Ethiopian, African, Caribbean, Indian, Sephardi, Mizrahi or Yemenite heritage, as well as mixed-ethnic Jews and Britons from other ethnic minorities who have converted to Judaism.

Witnesses told of walking into a kosher deli only to be told that the halal shop was next door, or of “traumatising” efforts by a Jew of colour to fly to Israel, but by far the biggest area of concern was that of security checks on doors.

One witness recalled being told that they were not Jewish by a synagogue’s non-Jewish guard.

Another said they were told to join a different queue at a kosher wine event despite their name being on the list. Several said they were simply refused entry.

“I’d been invited to a barmitzvah, but I wasn’t let in by the security guard,” recalled one.

“He asked me questions about Judaism, about names, people... Even though I answered all the questions, he said: ‘We can’t let you in, you were hesitating.’

“I left and started walking down the road, and the father of the barmitzvah boy had to leave the service, to chase me down the street and bring me into shul.”

The commission, launched and managed by the Board of Deputies, originated in a wave of anger as part of the global Black Lives Matter movement. It stemmed from the death in the US last year of unarmed black man George Floyd while being detained by white police officers.

Former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was this week convicted of Floyd’s murder.

Bush said his recommendations were

encourage members of under-represented ethnic groups in the Jewish community to put themselves forward for communal roles, to do so soon, and to nominate someone to make sure this happens.

Teachers and editors in Jewish media were urged to increase content from and about under-represented Jews and depict Jews in all their visual variety.

One young Mizrahi witness said that, when it came to children’s literature, the only time they saw people who looked like them was Pharoah and the Egyptians.

Schools could do more, and not just on the curriculum, Bush reported. “For members of the community whose families have arrived in the UK… their stories and history are all too often an afterthought in Jewish Studies lessons,” he said.

“As a result, children from these communities are often treated as exotic oddities. Some feel that when religious commandI’m not neurotic! ments and customs are discussed in Jewish schools, the Ashkenazi approach/framing is often taught as the default or only way.”

Stephen Bush wrote the report into communal racism, the impact of Schools have said they are which we reported on, inset, following the murder of George Floyd working on it: JFS Year 7s learn ❝ ❝ last designed to improve communal inclusivity so conducted about African history and Year 8s about the transatlantic slave trade, that “people of all backgrounds who have felt month, will give marginalised, left out or turned off from Jewish more precise and said its headteacher. Yet last year, up-to-date figures, life” can return and engage. hundreds of former JFS pupils In one of his more striking pronouncements, there are thought wrote an open letter calling on the ❝ ❝ school to do more. he said the long-used and often derogatory to be little more Black Jews tell Jewish News of bitter communal exper Other recommendations are Yiddish term shvartzer (a black person) should be than 1,000 black iences as more than 30 contact the inclusivity inquiry in first week seen as a ‘racial slur’ and ‘explicitly racist’, with its British Jews, out provision of training and teaching of Britain’s 280,000use by English speakers reported as such. resources, reviewing Jewish texts, and handling complaints of racism as per the He also said racial profiling by security strong Jewish population.

By contrast, British Asian Jews make up Macpherson principles, which call for an investeams on the doors of Jewish buildings or events had to end immediately. The Commu- around one percent of the total, while Britain’s tigation if behaviour is perceived as racist by the nity Security Trust (CST) strenuously denied mixed-ethnic Jews – the fastest growing group – complainant.

Bush said he had set out to advise on “tangible, that its guards use racial profiling, saying its number 4,200 people.

Non-white/Ashkenazi Jews are “a minority real-world improvements that can be made, checks are based on behaviour, not colour.

Although data from the National Census, within a minority”, Bush said, noting that some off-the-shelf things that people can do”, at the last Census 90 percent of British Jews adding: “I think that is where the [public] mood has moved to in the period when we’ve been self-identified as ‘white’.

On the fraught issue of terminology, he doing this report.”

Elsewhere, the Facebook group Jewish Britain reported misgivings about terms such as ‘black British Jews’ and ‘British Jews of colour’ but did was named and shamed after being cited by sevnot suggest anything to replace them. Instead, eral witnesses as the source of “racist language”.

Bush describes an arena of “anti-Muslim sentihis advice was “to ask”.

In part, he said this was because in most ment” and racially charged comments in relation areas “there was little consensus among our to Black Lives Matter”, which the commission witnesses”, which he acknowledged as “the found “deeply disturbing”.

Asked about his ruling on the word shvartzer, biggest surprise” of the process. One example he cited was whether Sephardi and Mizrahi Bush said: “For some people in our community, that is just their word for black that they are using Jews should be included in the scope.

Although Bush described some common in their own language [Yiddish] in a perfectly themes and experiences across all witnesses, respectful way, in the same way that some might namely on security, he said that within each use the word ‘Yid’ to describe each other.”

Likewise, he said, others use the word “in a way minority “there was no issue on which there was anything resembling unanimity”, making that is deliberately provocative and insulting”, adding: “Our witnesses aren’t stupid. They’re prescriptions difficult.

There was a misconception that Jews of correctly picking up on a difference in context.” colour were left-wing, with testimony evidencing this as a falsehood. One example mentioned in WATCH: JNTV report on findings the report was Israel advocacy: some felt that LISTEN: JN Podcast panel debate communal leaders needed to criticise more, others felt that they should criticise less.

Go to jewishnews.co.uk Bush recommended that organisations Stephen Bush (right column, fourth down) holds a panel discussion while compiling his findings F

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Woody Allen on the upside of social distancing and remembering his barmitzvah portion

THE VOICE O F OUR COMM UNITY

18 June 2020

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26 Sivan 5780

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Issue No.1163

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@JewishNewsUK

THE COMMUNITY THINKS WHITE PEOPLE CAN BE ONLY JEWS

Exclusive interview on pages 22-23

I WAS TOLD I WASN’T COULDN’T BE IN SHULJEWISH SO – IT’S BRUTAL

Jessica Morgan

Jodeci Joseph

SOME BLACK JEWS DON’T SOCIALISE WITH FELLOW JEWS BECAUS E OF RACISM

Madeline R Young

I OFTEN FEEL INVISIB LE AND ABANDONED BY JEWISH LEADERS Nadine Batchelor-Hu

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Full story and analys is on pages 4,5,6,1 6 &18

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Racial inclusivity / News

‘I’M HALF-NIGERIAN’

‘I’M SEPHARDI’

Rosy Akalawu-Ellman, 17, from Manchester

Elliot Jebreel, 33, who lives in London

A pupil at King David High School, who is currently leading an international campaign to combat sexual harassment on public transport, Rosy Akalawu-Ellman is a granddaughter of the former Labour MP Louise Ellman and a chip off the old block when it comes to social justice.

She told Jewish News: “I’m half-Nigerian, and on this long journey trying to work out what words to use [to describe nonwhite/Ashkenazi Jews]. For now, I’m saying ‘brown Jews’ because it feels quite soft and nice.

“I went to a Jewish primary school and grew up in the Jewish community. I don’t think the community has an issue with black or brown people, I think it’s just uncomfortable with otherness, with gentiles.

It’s a culture thing, rather than a colour thing.

“For non-Jews, it’s more of a shock when they find out I’m Jewish.

They have this Ashkenazi-centric perception of what it is to be a Jew.

“Don’t ask me where I’m from.

I’m from here, from Manchester.

And don’t ask me “where I’m really from”. Again, I’m from here...

“Also, don’t grill Jewish converts.

It makes them feel very uncomfortable and sleighted.

Conversion is a really intense process, so they’ve been grilled enough! They’ve been asked enough questions to even get there.

“In the sessions we had, when we shared our experiences over Zoom, there were so many moments where I felt: ‘That’s me, that happened to me.’

“It’s only when you share that you realise how common they are.

“When it comes to racism, nothing shocks me now. Try being black and walking into an ultraOrthodox shop ahead of Pesach.

“Things disappoint me or dishearten me, but nothing shocks me.

If you’re shocked by some of the things in this report you’re probably not aware of the kind of world we’re living in.”

“I’m Sephardi. My parents moved here in 1979 from Iran and my family stretches back many generations, even pre-dating Ashkenazi Judaism.

“I grew up with a specific set of traditions, history and culture – in my home life. In the Jewish community, I found a completely different set of traditions, a different type of Judaism, so my experience was of having to reconcile the two.

“There are challenges. Inclusion doesn’t come as standard. There are barriers you need to overcome just because you’re not Ashkenazi and don’t fit the standard mould as to what the Jewish community in the UK perceives itself to be.

“I feel like a minority within a minority. At Jewish school, kids would call me a terrorist.

“Growing up, you see what ‘should be’ in a standard Friday night meal – challot, roast chicken, chicken soup, roast potatoes – and not having that at home. It’s part of popular culture, what many British Jews are proud of, but the portrayal of Jews in the UK

is very different to my experience of being Jewish in the UK. “If you look at the numbers [of Sephardi, Mizrahi and Yemenite synagogues] then I think there is a lack of representation at the Board of Deputies. I don’t think that’s anyone’s fault.

“Most of these synagogues are small and independent. They just get on with life, do their own thing, and don’t actually see a benefit.

“I’m constantly stopped at synagogues and airports. It’s a pet peeve, but I’m now used to it. I see a lot of people just walk in. I know they’re new to the synagogue, maybe they’re visiting, but they look how a Jew ‘should’ look. It’s a simple thing and just makes me and others who experience it feel less welcome.

“My brother was doing some synagogue security training once.

Someone asked: ‘Who are the kind of people we should look out for?’

They pointed to him. And it’s not even true! White nationalists are a threat – they don’t tend to look like me.”

The president of the Board of Deputies has described the testimony of Black Jews in Britain as “distressing” and said they had experienced “far too many instances of marginalisation and discrimination”.

Marie van der Zyl, whose organisation commissioned the major review into racial inclusivity in the British community, added that there was “still clearly much work to be done” before Britain’s Jewish community could be called an entirely “anti-racist environment”.

Following the publication of the commission’s report, it has become clear that one area of difficulty is the experience of non-white/Ashkenazi Jews “on the door” of venues, particularly relating to security checks. The commission has called on security organisations to “desist” from racial profiling immediately.

The Community Security Trust (CST), the charity charged with defending the Jewish community, said it “actively discourages racial profiling in our training and work, because it is wrong on an operational, moral and legal basis”.

Reacting to the report, published this week, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said: “The exclusion of even a single person because of the colour of their skin is a collective failure for which we must all take responsibility.”

He added: “Where good practice exists, let us celebrate it and where failings are identified, let us be earnest and persistent, leaving

no stone unturned in our efforts to resolve them.”

Eleven months after the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd stoked the Black Lives Matter movement, the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) said this was “still at a pivotal moment in our understanding of and commitment to tackling racism”.

The charity added that the recommendations of the commission were both “positive and achievable”.

United Synagogue president Michael Goldstein said his organisation had “committed to learn how we can be more inclusive by listening to our members of colour and carefully reading the recommendations”.

Reform Judaism’s Rabbi Jackie Tabick said the review was “much needed” while Liberal Judaism’s Rabbi Charley Baginsky worried that such basics needed to be spelled out in the first place.

“The fact that some seem to be so selfevident and yet need stating… troubles me greatly,” she said.

Senior Masorti Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg said he hoped that the report would be “a defining moment”, and Senior Sephardi Rabbi Joseph Dweck said it gave “a framework… to help ensure that our communities fully embrace Jews from all backgrounds, ethnicities and orientations”.  Editorial comment, page 26

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Jewish News meets... Shaheen Chishti

Golders Green link to Urdu sites on Israel and Shoah Lee Harpin meets a British Indian building bridges between Muslims and Jews One of the world’s most influential Islamic mystics has revealed that he was inspired by an uncle who lived in Golders Green to publish the first Urdu website to detail the horrors of the Holocaust and to inform about and celebrate the state of Israel.

Shaheen Chishti, who was born in Ajmer, in the Indian state of Rajasthan, is respected by millions on the subcontinent as a direct descendant of the revered Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

Now, in a project directed at 600 million Urdu-speaking Muslims in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere, Chishti

is aiming through his website to alter opinion about both the Holocaust and about Israel among those who follow his thinking.

“I was inspired by my uncle, my father’s brother, who lived a lot of his life in Golders Green,” he tells Jewish News. “He lived his life alongside Jewish people, from 1951 up until 1985.

“I learned a lot from him about the Jewish faith. What he emphasised to me was that belief in God, the central tree for both Muslims and for Jews, is this same belief. The Jewish people were persecuted for thousands of years for this belief in one God.” Chishti, who moved to London at the age of 15, completing a

Shaheen Chishti: ‘My uncle lived alongside Jewish people’

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degree before training as an accountant, speaks with great enthusiasm about his Urdu website projects on the Shoah and on Israel.

Technology, he says, means that the sites will be accessible to 240 million Bangladeshi Muslims, 180 million Indian Muslims, 210 million people in Indonesia and, of course, further huge numbers in countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia.

“I want to make all of the 600 million and more Urdu people in the world aware of what actually happened in the Holocaust,” he says of the site, holocaustinurdu.com, which is also in English. On its home page it has images of Jewish prisoners in the Nazi death camps along with an image of the gas chambers themselves.

“The Holocaust was the most barbaric act carried out by mankind ever but there is nothing out there for these people in terms of Holocaust history. I thought this was a good opportunity to explain to them what really did happen to the Jewish community in Europe. Why they were persecuted, and the very, very stupid arguments around the Aryan race.

“I wanted to highlight the true extent of the atrocities. I also wanted to bring the Jewish people closer to the Muslim faith.”

Chishti says that because of his lineage, his audience trusts what he says. A founder of the Jewish Islamic International Peace Society, he says he also plans to finance and stage an exhibition on the Holocaust from a Muslim perspective in order to continue the process of “bringing our people together”.

“When we pray as Muslims five times a day we bless the family of Abraham, which includes the Jewish people. So in a lifetime a Muslim person blesses the Jewish people thousands of times.”

Chishti accepts that Muslim “hardliners” have criticised the content of his second website, welcometoisraelurdu.com, and called him a ‘Zionist’. Its home page attempts to calm the doubters, with images that show the significance of Jerusalem to all faiths.

“They have this phenomenon in their heads that Israel is there to take over all of the Middle East,” he says. “I have told them that is just nonsense. Its people has suffered for 2,000 years at the hands of the Europeans, not at the hands of Muslims.

“We should be welcoming them. Let us agree a viable twostate solution with a secure Palestine. And if the Palestinians break from the economic vows, punish them, so they will learn.”

He is convinced there is a shift in thinking across much of the Muslim world, particularly around acceptance of Israel. “My view is that we need to think of Israel in the long term. In Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere, we need to think about building partnerships, with the opportunities for business and for education.”

In June, Chishti’s novel The Granddaughter Project, is being launched, which follows four women whose stories are connected by experiences of oppression at the hands of men.

Chishti says the novel is based on a series of fictionalised letters from different points in history, encompassing the Holocaust, apartheid South Africa and contemporary east Africa. “We need to listen to these stories, and learn the lessons,” he says.

“We are all believers in the same God. Let’s listen and sort it out.”

www.jewishnews.co.uk

22 April 2021 Jewish News

9

Canvey Island / Cemetery vandalised / Fundraising effort / News

Shul plan sparks ‘lies’ criticism

Leaders of the Canvey Island Jewish community have been criticised by locals after submitting plans for a small synagogue to be built in a garden, writes Lee Harpin.

Rabbis for the growing community say it is needed because older and disabled people and parents with young children currently have to make a long walk to the existing synagogue on Meppel Avenue.

But residents express concern about traffic, parking and noise, and the operating hours of the synagogue.

Rabbi Paneth, who submitted the plans, has told locals the synagogue will be used only on Shabbat and festivals, meaning there will be no issue with vehicles.

With the capacity of the new premises limited, the rabbi has also stressed that noise levels will also be kept at a minimum.

It is claimed only eight properties have been notified of the plan to build the synagogue in the garden of a house on Furtherwick Road. But two petitions have been set up with more than 600 signatures, and more than 100 people have objected on the Castle Point Council website.

While the majority of comments raise legitimate concerns, several stray into problematic claims about the community.

More than 500 Charedi Jews have moved to the area since 2016, with many leaving Stamford Hill owing to the high cost of housing.

The Paneth family issued a statement saying “very little” car use and no problem with noise was expected.

It added: “Although we have received many positive comments, clearly there

are concerns among some neighbours and residents, some of whom we have already engaged. Much of this is based on misinformation and fear of the unknown.

“We plan to address these concerns and work with our neighbours and the council in a constructive manner.”

One Facebook post says: “If more people just sit back and do nothing the Jewish community will get what they want.”

Other posts say: “They have done nothing but lie since they moved in”, and “We were a lovely sleepy seaside community and suddenly we are ruled by a group of people who do not respect our connection with our amazing Canvey Island.”

Another poster complained: “We have lost our country.”

A still from a BBC film about Canvey Island’s Charedi Jews

Gravestones in Belfast smashed Vandals knocked down and smashed at least 10 gravestones in the Jewish section of a cemetery in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The incident, which police are investigating as a hate crime, occurred at the City Cemetery of Belfast.

According to the BBC, the Jewish section has graves dating from the 1870s, occupying a walled-off section of the cemetery, which is maintained by Belfast City Council.

Steven Corr, a Sinn Féin politician, visited the graveyard on Friday to help to clean up the damage, writing on social media: “These attacks on the headstones of dead people need to stop.”

The Community Security Trust said it was liaising with local people and with police after the gravestones were desecrated.

In 2016, 13 headstones were damaged in a similar attack on the Jewish section of the same graveyard.

In Denmark yesterday, police arrested someone suspected of being involved in an antisemitic incident earlier this month at the Aalborg Jewish cemetery, in the country’s north. The suspect allegedly used red paint, baby dolls and antisemitic flyers to create a display that described the Jewish holiday of Passover as a celebration by Jews of the death of Egyptian children.

The incident in Aalborg closely followed a similar action in Norkoping, Sweden, and is believed to have been perpetrated by the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement.

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NOA GIRLS RAISES £1M

Naomi Lerner keeps track of the growing total

A charity supporting adolescent girls in the Orthodox community has raised more than £1.5million from some 8,700 individuals in a community matched-funding campaign.

Noa Girls reached the original target of £1m at the 12-hour point, achieving the aim of being able to cater for the 58 girls on its waiting list. An additional ‘bonus round’ of money will go to providing further support.

Chief executive Naomi Lerer said: “While the funds are lifechanging for Noa and the girls we can now support, equally transformative was the outpouring of support from the community and the message of solidarity and encouragement this gives.”

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

News / Israel trips / Tribe tour / Meal fundraiser

Israel tour cancelled again

by Jack Mendel jack@jewishnews.co.uk @mendelpol

Israel tour programmes for 16-year-olds have been cancelled for the second year running due to the pandemic.

The announcement was made on Monday

by UJIA after “every route has been exhausted” to make it go ahead.

Last year, more than 1,200 Jewish teenagers across 11 youth movement were left disappointed after Covid-19 prevented monthlong trips to Israel from taking place.

Ordinarily, tour groups for year 11s costs around £3,250.

The cancellation comes despite Israel and the UK having run successful vaccination programmes, which have driven down case numbers in both countries.

Israel’s health ministry announced that travellers would be allowed to come to Israel by mid-May if they could prove that they had been vaccinated. The vast majority of 16-yearolds would not have received a vaccine by July when tour takes place.

UJIA chief executive Mandie Winston said: “Every route has been exhausted not just once, but multiple times. We have a responsibility to the community to make a decision, and, very reluctantly, we have decided this is the only safe and responsible course of action.

“It is inconceivable that teenagers under 18 years of age who wish to participate will all have been vaccinated by July. Uncertainty over insurance and Covid-19 protocols means that, with heavy hearts, we can’t run Israel tours this summer.”

She added: “We know how disappointing it is for teenagers not to be able to take part in an Israel tour this summer, and we’re grateful to them and their families for their patience while we did everything we could to try to make it possible.”

Irit Barash, the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s delegation to the UK and Western Europe, said: “The connections between Israel and the UK Jewish community are an inspiration and Israel tour plays such a crucial part in strengthening those ties.

“It is sad we can’t go ahead with tours this summer, but it is important that we continue to work together to provide Jewish teenagers with formative experiences of engagement with Israel.”

While tour has been cancelled, for the second consecutive year UJIA is running a £140,000 Summer Engagement fund to ensure Israel education takes place.

It has also said there will be significant investment in Israel trips for 2022, including bursaries and more places on Birthright, Onward Israel and opportunities for funding gap-year programmes.

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Gatherings like this at the Kotel will not be seen this summer

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The United Synagogue’s youth division is promising “the most ambitious ever” summer programme for teens across the UK after the cancellation of Israel tour.

16-year-olds will get the chance to travel the length and breadth of Britain, seeing its natural sites, historic towns and cities to learn about their Jewish history.

Participants in the Great British Tribe Tour 2021, launched by the United Synagogue’s youth wing, will be whisked off to locations across England, Scotland and Wales, including Loch Lomond and Edinburgh north of the border, Llandudno in Wales, and Oxford, Bath and Cornwall in England.

The trip, which runs from 7 to 21 July, was launched when it became clear that the Covid-19 pandemic would prevent the month-long Israel tour scheme, which has been attended by more

than 1,000 young people in pre-coronavirus times, from going ahead.

Anna Coleman, Tribe’s global events manager, said: “We are so excited to be launching The Great British Tribe Tour 2021.

“This is the most ambitious summer programme we’ve ever launched: visiting 20 towns and cities across three countries over 14 days as we travel from Scotland to Lands’ End, taking in some fascinating places of Jewish history.

“With surfing, sightseeing and a high tea fit for the Queen, there really is something for everyone.”

The trip costs £1,499 for United Synagogue members and £1,599 for non-members. The United Synagogue Chesed bursary fund is also available to those needing financial assistance.  Find out more at tribeuk.com/uktour

KOSHER HOSPITAL MEAL CAMPAIGN A charity providing free kosher meals to Jewish hospital patients has launched an appeal for public donations amid increasing demand.

Bedside Kosher will run a crowdfunding campaign on 5 and 6 May, called the Lifeline Campaign, to encourage donations.

Jewish hospital patients who keep a kosher diet often do not have access to a wide range of options, says the charity, which is why it provides the free food to

patients. However, this costs around £650,000 a year – and, with rising demand, the charity’s bosses expect this figure to increase further.

Ari Feferkorn, the charity’s chairman, said: “It is my intention to continue to campaign, lobby the government and engage with NHS Trusts until all Jewish patients throughout the UK can receive the kind of fresh, healthy diet they need to maximise their chance of recov-

ering from illness and injury.” He continued: I appreciate it is an ambitious goal, but it is one that is important, and we are already well on the way to achieving it.

“Until then, we need the help and support of the wider community, so we can continue to take orders and keep delivering to those who require our services.”

The money donated will go towards sponsoring meals and training NHS staff.

22 April 2021 Jewish News

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£10k target / Abuse allegations / News

Juliet walks her way towards funding cure

by Joshua Salisbury josh@jewishnews.co.uk @josh_salisbury

A woman who depends on fulltime oxygen treatment to keep her alive is walking 100 metres a day in her living room to raise money for research and awareness of the rare condition.

Juliet Coffer, who lives in Hampshire, was diagnosed in 2004 with sarcoidosis; it occurs where lumps called granulomas develop at different sites in the body – and if enough develop around an organ, it can stop it working properly. It has affected Coffer’s lungs.

“I don’t know how long I have left to live,” she said. “I was told 15 months ago that 50 percent of people, like me, who reach the point where they can’t be treated actively anymore don’t survive more than two years.

“My lung capacity is progressively declining. My lungs are only 20 percent efficient at taking in oxygen from the air.”

aims to reach £10,000 by the end of the month. She is ahead of target, having walked 2,550 metres already.

“If I keep up at this rate, I’ll finish six days ahead of schedule,” Coffer says. “I’m determined to do it.”

All the money raised will go towards SarcoidosisUK, a charity that researches into a cure for the condition and supports sufferers and will be match-funded by the British Lung Foundation.

Coffer, who is originally Juliet Coffer: 100 metres a day from Bushey and works as Coffer is walking a 100 a computer trainer and web metres a day in her house, or administrator, says she hopes the equivalent of 3,000 metres that research will eventually in just 30 days, as April is Sar- provide a breakthrough cure.

“No one should be told, coidosis Awareness Month.

“I worked out that I don’t ‘you’ve got a 50 percent chance normally walk more than 100 of surviving the next few metres a day at home because years,’” she said. “I don’t want my oxygen drops off as soon as anyone else to have to tell their I stand up, which makes it loved ones that’s what’s happening to them.” really difficult,” she said.

Having originally set out  To sponsor Juliet visit: to raise just £300, she has so www.justgiving.com/ far raised nearly £8,000 and fundraising/julietcoffer

Head’s grief over misogyny “Shame spawns shame, and I wonder The headteacher of a Jewish school how it is that violations unthinkin Barnet has likened allegations able when I left school 35 years ago about sexual abuse in schools are now commonplace, and why, posted on a victim support webdespite decades of legislation and site to discovering “the black progressive initiatives, things are hole of toxic masculinity”. getting worse not better.”

In a column for the Times He added that all schools must Educational Supplement, Patrick now face questions around how to Moriarty, head of the Jewish Combetter support victims, improve community Secondary School (JCoSS), Patrick Moriarty munication around consent, manage lamented an escalation in the national debate surrounding sexual abuse in young people’s relationship with social media, schools, which has been largely ignited by anon- drugs and harming, and prevent the harming of ymous posts on the website Everyone’s Invited. girls “without demonising boys”.

Rabbi David Meyer, executive director of Since the website was set up last June, more than 14,000 testimonies of misogyny, harass- Partnerships for Jewish Schools, said the allegament, abuse and assault have been submitted tions were “very troubling and reflect a worrying by anonymous victims, some as young as degradation in the values of our society”, and age nine and some involving Jewish schools, said the organisation was working with school leaders, the police and other organisations, including JCoSS. Moriarty wrote: “The phenomenon has although he called for a cautious approach.

He said: “None of us are immune and we brought some of the darkest days I have known as headteacher, and not only because my must all be cognisant of the importance of posischool is one of those named in some of tive relationships, however these stories reflect incidents over an extended period of time.” the testimonies.

COVID DELAYS INSPECTIONS The Board of Deputies’ body responsible for standards in Jewish education at maintained schools has announced no inspections will be carried out in the summer term.

Pikuach inspections had previously been delayed until the start of the summer term owing to the pandemic but were extended further owing to the latest lockdown. It said these are likely to return in autumn 2021.

Ofsted and the Department for Education

have confirmed that no schools will be penalised if they have now gone past the five-year period for which inspections much be held.

Writing to schools, director of Pikuach, Jeffrey Leader, said: “We are aware this has been an incredibly challenging time for school leaders, teachers, staff, parents and pupils. I want to take the opportunity to thank you for all your work to support the education of the community’s young people.”

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

13

Trial anniversary / Special Report

Revealed: Eichmann captors could have snatched Mengele Israel’s prime minister did not allow Nazi doctor to be brought ‘as he did not want the fledgling country to become a dumping ground for war criminals’, writes Jenni Frazer The Mossad cell that dramatically captured Adolf Eichmann, architect of the Final Solution, also located the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in Argentina – but Israel’s Prime Minister, David Ben- Gurion, refused to permit Mossad to bring Mengele back to Israel with Eichmann.

The revelation, together with other eyebrow-raising stories, was made in a remarkable panel discussion held on Sunday under the aegis of The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and 3GNY, a group of grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and victims, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem.

The event was punctuated with powerful film clips from the trial.

It was no accident that three of the participants – James Libson, Tamar HausnerRaveh and Eli Rosenbaum – are lawyers, since the 1961 trial is generally held to be a legal landmark. It was subject to many questions at the time because Eichmann’s crimes had not taken place on Israeli soil and the authority of the court was frequently challenged.

But the famous opening speech of Israel’s attorney-general, Gideon Hausner, in which he told the court that he did not stand alone, but stood with “six million accusers, but they cannot rise to their feet,” sent a shuddering echo down the years.

And his daughter, Tamar Hausner-Raveh, recalled not just her father’s speech, but the long trail of survivors who arrived at her parents’ home to discuss the possibility of giving testimony against Eichmann.

She spoke of the attempt by her father, who had only been appointed attorneygeneral two weeks before Ben-Gurion announced Eichmann’s capture in May 1960, to persuade some witnesses to take the stand.

Among the most famous was the writer Yehiel De-Nur, known under his pseudonym of Ka-Tzetnik 135633, who spectacularly collapsed in the witness box while giving testimony. (Ka-Tzetnik is from the Yiddish for “concentration camper”, while the number is that given to De-Nur by the Nazis).

Eli Rosenbaum, a leading lawyer in America’s Department of Justice, was, for 40 years, director of the Department’s Office of Special Investigations, or OSI, responsible for identifying, denaturalising and deporting Nazi war criminals.

He spoke of the influence of the Eichmann trial on his own investigations, not least in the meticulous collating and saving of trial documents. More than 50,000 pages of OSI transcripts have now been donated for research, he said.

The Eichmann trial itself took place in a Jerusalem building known as Beit Ha’am, and lasted from 11 April 1961 to 14 August.

Evil: Adolf Eichmann, left, and Joseph Mengele – but only one was brought to Israel for trial

The building became an arts and cultural centre but now, according to HausnerRaveh, it is being renovated and will be re-opened as a memorial to the trial.

Libson, who moderated the event – with panellists Avner Avraham, an ex-Mossad agent who now lectures on the Eichmann capture, and Shula Bahat, director of Anu (formerly the Diaspora Museum) in America – was one of the lawyers who acted for academic Deborah Lipstadt in the libel action brought against her by Holocaust denier David Irving. More recently, he has represented the Jewish Labour Movement, particularly regarding testimony submitted to the Equality and Human Rights Commission about Labour antisemitism.

All the panellists agreed that one of the major triggers of the Eichmann trial was that survivors began to talk about their experiences. But, as Libson expressed it, as Eichmann, and the Holocaust, “begins to move from contemporary experience to that of historical experience”, it was more important than ever to learn lessons from the trial and its conduct.

Ben-Gurion, it emerged, had refused to allow the Mossad to bring Mengele to Israel “because he did not want the then 12-yearold country to become a dumping ground for war criminals”.

The importance of Eichmann was its uniqueness and singularity, the panellists agreed.

One person most shocked by the news of Eichmann’s capture was Israel’s renowned foreign minister, Abba Eban, who was minister of education at the time of the kidnap and trial. He had been attending a conference in Buenos Aires and Eichmann was in fact returned to Israel on Eban’s flight – completely unknown to the politician.

And Rosenbaum spoke of revelations in newly released CIA records, which showed that the US intelligence network “didn’t figure out what the Israelis were up to.

No one was more amazed than the legendary CIA director, Allen Dulles… a CIA agent was dispatched to speak to an Israeli embassy opposite number [in Washington] to get the details of how it was done”.

He also recalled that Israeli cabinet members had proposed to Ben-Gurion that the Mossad cell responsible for finding and capturing Eichmann, then living under the assumed name of Ricardo Clement in Buenos Aires, should be given some sort of reward. “And Ben-Gurion said: ‘The reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself.’”

Eichmann, aged 56, was sentenced to death in December 1961 and hanged in June 1962 in Ramle prison. His remains were cremated and scattered out to sea, beyond Israel’s territorial waters.

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

News / Land purchase / MDA vehicle / Sunday demo NEWS IN BRIEF

COMPLAINT LODGED ON ISRAEL COMMENT A complaint has been lodged to the BBC after actor David Tennant read out a comment on a popular comedy show, saying Israel “ignores the Arab population” when it comes to vaccinations. He read out the remarks on Have I Got a Bit More News For You on 9 April. Israel offers a jab to all citizens, running campaigns to encourage vaccination take-up for minorities. Tennant said: “Israel has populated [sic] 61 percent of its population, which is pretty much everyone if you ignore the Arab population, which they do.”

NEW TRUSTEES JOIN KISHARON BOARD

Vote by Israeli JNF

by Michael Daventry Mike@jewishnews.co.uk

Hundreds of people have urged Jewish National Fund board members in Israel to reject proposals that would overturn its self-imposed ban on buying West Bank land widely viewed as Palestinian.

The board will vote today on the plan to allocate 38 million shekels (£8.3 million) for the purchase of land beyond the 1949 armistice line, or Green Line, that separated Israel from its neighbours.

An open letter signed by left-wing Jewish groups says the plan would see funds “poured into the purchasing of Palestinian land in the West Bank for the purpose of expanding settlementsand deepening the occupation”.

It adds: “If passed, this resolution will be disastrous for Palestinian human rights and livelihoods, will expand the settlements and prevent progress towards peace.”

The Israeli JNF’s plans were endorsed by management last week, but

Kisharon has welcomed five new members to its board of trustees.

Corrin Kaye, Victoria Hart and Claire Lemer join the main board, with Deborah Stone and Alan An ambulance bearing Prince William’s name is set to Moss joining the school board of come into service in Israel later this month, after final trustees. Joe Coogan, meanwhile, checks on the vehicle were completed in the UK. is stepping down after almost It was dedicated in honour of the Duke of Cambridge six years. Chief executive Richard in remembrance of his trip to Israel in June 2018, the first Franklin said: “We are delighted official visit to the country by a senior royal. that new trustees of such high Magen David Adom (MDA) UK chief executive Daniel calibre reached out to Kisharon Burger said it would be “very special to see an ambuand want to be part of the future lance bearing the name of His Royal Highness the Duke for this incredible organisation.” of Cambridge on the16:04 streets of Israel saving lives”. The HALF PAGE ADVERT JAN 2020:Layout 1 09/01/2020 Page 1

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‘Wills’ ambulance Israel-bound ambulance is due to be shipped to Israel on Thursday and will be stationed in the northern city of Nazareth.

Lord Reading, who witnessed the final checks, said: “Seeing the ambulance... was a perfect illustration of the wonderful work MDA does around the world.”

His grandfather – the only Jew to become a marquess – was Lord chief justice from 1913 to 1921 and was a leading influence on the government’s Balfour Declaration. “The ambulance is a fitting tribute to a historic event that none of us will ever forget,” he said.

EMBASSY PROTEST SET FOR SUNDAY Protesters will gather in London this weekend to support the outraged Jewish community of France, where a court ruled the killer of a Jewish schoolteacher cannot stand trial because of the effects of cannabis, writes Michael Daventry.

The country’s highest court ruled last week that Kobili Traore was not criminally responsible for the death of Sarah Halimi, 65, because he had succumbed to a “delirious fit” after smoking the drug.

Halimi died four years ago after Traore attacked her in her Paris flat while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and pushed her out of the window of her Paris flat onto the street below.

He has been held at a psychiatric hospital since his arrest shortly after Halimi died in 2017.

Last Wednesday the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld rulings by lower courts that her killer could not stand trial because he had been too intoxicated to be responsible for the murder.

It rejected arguments by lawyers representing Halimi’s family that Traore had previously demonstrated antisemitic attitudes.

French president Emmanuel Macron this week called for a change in the law.

Protests against the ruling organised by Crif, the French Jewish community group, will take place on Sunday in several French cities including Paris and Marseille.

A parallel rally organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism will be held outside the French Embassy in London at 1pm.

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News / CRP points / £2m donation / Cemetery crash

Online school points

by Jack Mendel jack@jewishnews.co.uk @Mendelpol

Attending online synagogue services can now count towards points needed to go to Jewish schools.

The change was announced by the United Synagogue (US) and the Office of the Chief Rabbi, who have updated rules for its Certificate of Religious Practice (CRP) process.

Applicants for a Jewish nursery, primary or secondary must complete activities to gain points to obtain a CRP. Owing to the fact syna-

Updated rules have been introduced for the CRP process

gogues were closed last year, physical attendance was not included as a way of gaining points for 2020.

It has been added as

communities begin to open up once more, but guidance states Covid-19 may still limit the “opportunity to attend in a Covid-safe context”, so

additional methods of pointscoring have been included.

Online service attendance at events such as Kabbalat Shabbat will contribute to getting a CRP, as will going to Jewish educational events, voluntary communal, charitable or welfare activities.

The US head of schools strategy, Tamar Berman, said: “We recognise with government Covid restrictions still in place, it may not be possible to collect all your points from shul attendance alone, so alternative options have been offered to ensure all applicants can collect the CRP points.”

Peer donates £2m in memory of mother A peer has donated £2million to a Cambridge University college in memory of his late mother Paula, who was a Hungarian Auschwitz survivor.

Lord John Browne, the former CEO of BP, has donated the sum to the university’s Murray Edwards College, its largest single donation

in my life, and when I made my money, I said: ‘I’m going to make sure I give some away to a cause that she believed in, something that meant a lot to her,’” Lord Browne told Jewish News.

“She always believed in women being themselves, not just appendages to men they

since 2008. The money will go towards creating the Paula Browne House, allowing the women-only college to increase both its accommodation and teaching capacity significantly, particularly benefiting those from under-represented backgrounds.

“She was a great influence

Police are appealing for information and witnesses after a car crashed into a Jewish cemetery in Bushey near Watford, damaging nine gravestones.

At around 1am on Wednesday a red Renault Clio left the carriageway and came to a stop in the Bushey Old Jewish Cemetery, in Little Bushey Lane. It is believed that damage was caused to approximately nine gravestones and slabs within the cemetery.

The driver of the vehicle, an 18-year-old man, suffered slight injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment. Herts police said an investigation into the collision is ongoing.

Safer Neighbourhood Inspector, Rachael Robertson, said: “While this collision occurred in the early hours, I would appeal to anyone living in the area to contact us if they witnessed this incident, or events leading up to it. Did you see a red Renault Clio in the area before the incident took place?

“Seeing the significant damage to the gravestones will be of concern to the Jewish community, and cause distress to those who are directly affected by the damage.”

The extraordinary scene in Bushey

E YOUR OW N

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OS HO

were married to, and she was always very keen on people getting on in life.”

Scholarships are already awarded at the college under Paula’s name, typically to women from Eastern European countries who would not otherwise have the opportunity to study at the university.

CAR CRASHES INTO BUSHEY CEMETERY

DA K I L C E I O U D S , T H I N N K I D I F F E R E N T, T H INK H T

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

COV I D- 19

M e e t i n g u p a g a i n?

S t i ck to 6 .

Stick to groups of up to six people or two households and keep a safe distance. Because the more people you meet, the more likely you are to get infected.

Let’s take this next step safely.

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

News / Village losses / Kosher eco-hotel / Scheme praised

Norwood consultation

by Josh Salisbury josh@jewishnews.co.uk @josh_salisbury

The future of Norwood’s Ravenswood Village hangs in the balance owing to “increasing operating losses”.

The site, which was set up in 1953, supports 96 adults with learning disabilities or autism and represents a “dated model of care” no longer being commissioned by local councils, said the charity.

It has opened a consultation into the future of the rural Berkshire site, citing a diminishing number of residents and running costs of £13million a year.

Norwood had originally planned to redevelop the site, which needs “substantial capital investment”, but planning permission was refused last May. “We know any decision made about the future of Ravenswood will be of critical importance, not only to the families we support but to the whole community,” said Neville Kahn, chair of Norwood’s trustee board.

“This is why it is so important we hear the views, priorities and suggestions of all those involved with the Village before determining the future direction of any services we provide.”

The charity’s CEO, Dr Beverley

The charity’s Ravenswood Village has suffered ‘increasing losses’

Jacobson, said: “Recent decades have seen extensive changes in the way in which people with learning disabilities and/or autism are

supported to live a fulfilling life.”

The consultation is expected to take three months, with a decision due to be made in the autumn.

Europe’s first kosher eco-hotel lauch

Sadeh Farm Hotel in Kent

Europe’s first kosher ‘eco-hotel’ is due to launch in Kent next month.

Set in seven acres of countryside, Sadeh Farm Hotel is a not-forprofit hotel housed in a 17th century manor house.

The social enterprise, run by the Sadeh charity, aims to educate Jewish people about the environment and all profits go to the charity.

Five family suites at the allinclusive kosher eco-hotel are set to open from 30 May. It will be under the auspices of KLBD, the kashrut department of the London Beth Din. “Our new all-inclusive kosher eco-hotel is the first of its kind in Europe and we aim to provide guests with delicious and healthy kosher food while being as environmentally

sustainable as possible,” said the hotel’s director, Naomi Verber.

“We know demand will outstrip supply this summer as families look to book a holiday in the UK and we’re thrilled to be able to offer the community a fun and completely different experience without the need to travel far.”

The hotel can sleep 25 guests.

PRAISE FOR THE DUKE’S AWARD A former youth worker who once accompanied a group of working-class East End teenagers to Buckingham Palace to meet the Duke of Edinburgh has praised his award programme for “changing lives”.

Joan Salter, a Polish Jew awarded an MBE for Holocaust education in 2018, who now lives in north London, said the Prince was “charming and not at all snobby” when he spent time with her group of six girls from Tower Hamlets.

Salter, 81, was summoned to the palace with her group of 16 and 17-year-olds in the early 1970s, following a week-long expedition to Wales to achieve the award’s highest certification, the Gold Award.

She told the PA news agency: “He was a very, very handsome man. He was so, so friendly, he really took care of the girls and he really, genuinely appreciated what they had done.

“Tower Hamlets at the time was a very poor area, and a lot of them had never even got a bus out of Tower Hamlets, so part of youth service was broadening their horizons and the Duke of Edinburgh Award was fantastic for that.”

The programme was launched in the UK in 1956 and has resulted in millions of children taking part in after-school activities and residential weekends away.

Salter added: “Obviously he didn’t organise the scheme on his own, but without him facilitating it, a lot of people’s lives wouldn’t be what they are today.”

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Anti-racism role / Asteroid finds / World News NEWS IN BRIEF

‘ISRAEL WILL MAKE MORE AGREEMENTS’

Aseel’s out of this world

American Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he expects more normalisation agreements for Israel in the next year. Blinken spoke in Washington DC at the Israeli Embassy’s virtual celebration of Yom Haatzmaut.

He was joined virtually by Israel’s US ambassador, Gilad Erdan.

“The United States welcomes and supports the recent normalisation agreements,” Blinken said, referring to the Abraham Accords brokered last autumn by the Trump administration between Israel and four Arab states.

LIBYAN SYNAGOGUE TO BE CONVERTED An abandoned and ancient synagogue in Libya is being turned into an Islamic religious centre without permission, the World organisation of the Jews of Libya said. David Gerbi, a Libya-born Italian Jew and member of the organisation, which promotes the interests of people belonging to the Libyan Jewish Diaspora, wrote about the Sla Dar Bishi in Tripoli last week in a report published by Moked, a Jewish publication in Italy.

Aseel Nama found two asteroids

recruit a three-member crew,” NASA has named two asteroids she said. “I explained to them after an Israeli woman who that I didn’t manage to found them during a monthrecruit partners and evenlong space search. tually they were convinced Aseel Nama, a BA and allowed me to take part. student in biomedical That’s how I became the only engineering at Technion one-member team and Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, took part An asteroid similar to Aseel’s the only Israeli among 116 teams around the world.” in the International AstroNama is taking part in research at Pronomical Search Collaboration citizen science programme, affiliated with the US fessor Dan Adam’s lab in the Technion, where she learned image segmentation. She space agency.

Nama, who grew up in the Arab town of said this skill helped her locate the asteroids.

Deir al-Asad and now resides in Haifa, said “I received photos and videos from NASA she was the only one-member team allowed and I needed to find new asteroids in them,” to register for the event. “I wanted to par- she said. Nama called her “team” ANI (Aseel ticipate in this campaign, which is sort of Nama Israel), and the asteroids she discova competition, but NASA insisted I have to ered will be known as ANI1801 and ANI2001.

BIDEN URGED ON ANTISEMITISM CZAR More than 20 senators from across the American political spectrum have urged President Biden to appoint an antisemitism monitor.

A letter sent this week by senators Jacky Rosen and James Lankford said: “Tragically, 76 years after the end of the Holocaust, antisemitism remains a serious and growing danger for Jews in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and elsewhere in the world.”

The letter noted that a law passed before US President Donald Trump left office elevates the position of antisemitism monitor to ambassador level, lending it more prestige and clout within the State Department. Trump left the position unfilled for two years until 2019.

The new designation also means that any nominee requires Senate confirmation.

The task force brings together senators who otherwise would have little to do

SAVE THE DATE

with one another in an increasingly polarised Senate. Among the signatories are Tom Cotton, the conservative Republican from Arkansas, and Raphael Warnock, the freshman liberal from Georgia.

Speculation in the organised Jewish community has been rife as to who will get the job. Some applicants have made their interest public, although the Biden administration has not given any serious indication of any leading candidate.

NEWS IN BRIEF

ABBAS TO ADDRESS J STREET CONFERENCE Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will deliver a prerecorded address to J Street’s annual conference, a signal of the determination among progressives to place the Palestinian issue at the forefront of US policy. Abbas will thank US President Joe Biden for resuming assistance to the Palestinians cut off by Donald Trump, according to The Times of Israel, which first reported Abbas’ plans, as well as criticise what he will say are Israeli obstructions to peace, including settlement expansion.

DUTCH FOOTIE FANS SEND ‘JEWS TO GAS’ Supporters of Dutch football team Vitesse chanted “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas” at a fan rally before a scheduled match against Ajax, an Amsterdam-based team known for its history of Jewish fans. Police began examining footage from the action last Wednesday night, which occurred in Arnhem, where Vitesse is based. The two clubs played on Sunday, and Ajax won 2-1. Pascal van Wijk, Vitesse team director, condemned the chants.

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World News / Zoom shidduch / News briefs NEWS IN BRIEF

MORE AUSCHWITZ BOARD MEMBERS GO Two more members have quit the board of Poland’s AuschwitzBirkenau museum in protest after the government appointed a right-wing politician to serve on it.

Following the resignation of Jewish philosopher Stanislaw Krajewski last Wednesday, historians Marek Lasota and Krystyna Oleksy announced the following day would do the same.

The culture ministry appointed Beata Szydlo, a former prime minister and top member of the country’s rightwing Law and Justice ruling party, to the board last week.

LIBYA SYNAGOGUE TO BE CONVERTED An abandoned and ancient synagogue in Tripoli is being turned into an Islamic religious centre without permission, the World organisation of the Jews of Libya said. David Gerbi, a Libya-born Italian Jew and member of the organisation, which promotes the interests of people belonging to the Libyan Jewish diaspora, wrote about the Sla Dar Bishi last week in Moked, a Jewish publication in Italy. “The plan clearly is to take advantage of the chaos and our absence,” he wrote.

Author offered dates after his mum says: ‘He’s single!’

AMNESTY CHIEF’S ISRAEL MURDER CLAIM

A writer has received date invitations after his mother announced “he’s single” to an online conference with a synagogue about his new book.

The cheeky interjection came when Menachem Kaiser, whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, was promoting his critically acclaimed new book, Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure.

The 35-year-old Canadian was discussing his work with a Zoom call of more than 100 people from Rinat Yisrael, a synagogue in New Jersey, last week.

Posting a comment on the call, Kaiser’s mother, Judy, wrote: “I don’t have a question, but I do have the answer to the question that many of you may be wondering about: Yes – he’s single!”

Judy Kaiser, left, and son Menachem (holding The Jewish writer, who lives in the guitar). Right: her comment on Zoom Brooklyn, New York, said the comment was slipped in by his mother amid a someone to date is often a question of netHowever, he said he has not yet had number of questions about his book. works.” He added he “wasn’t at all upset” the time to “look into anything” while “The moderator either did not see it or with Judy’s matchmaking, adding that it working on the release of his book. pretended not to see it… I pretended not was “embarrassing, but in a cute way”.

Plunder is a non-fiction account of to see it,” Kaiser told the PA news agency.

Kaiser said the moderator has since Kaiser’s quest to reclaim his family’s “My mother has been attending many told him that some people got in touch apartment building in the town of Sosof my Zoom talks and is keen on me inquiring about dates, and he has received nowiec in southern Poland – a story finding someone, so she took the opportu- more since a tweet he shared about the that led him to revelations about Nazi nity. In the Orthodox community, finding experience went viral. treasure.

SPIELBERG TO TELL JEWISH DIVERSITY

NEWS IN BRIEF

Amnesty International has sought to distance itself from a tweet by its new secretary-general suggesting that Israel murdered the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Agnès Callamard made the remarks when sharing a 2013 New York Times i­nterview with Israel’s then-president Shimon Peres. “NYT Interview of Shimon Perres [sic] where he admits that Yasser Arafat was murdered,” she wrote, adding the hashtag #Israel. Amnesty International said: “The tweet was written in haste and is incorrect.”

Steven Spielberg has launched a film foundation called Jewish Story Partners to fund documentaries that “tell stories about a diverse spectrum of Jewish experiences, histories, and cultures”. It is funded by the Righteous Persons Foundation, which Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw founded after Spielberg’s experience making Schindler’s List. Two Jewish philanthropies – the Maimonides Fund and the Jim Joseph Foundation – also contributed funds.

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23

Jewish News meets... Adrian Jacob

Chelsea’s forward thinker Danny Caro meets the executive manager of London’s top women’s football team

Chelsea FC Women coached children on a tour of Israel prior to the 2019 season

leaves anything to chance. My job is to facilitate everything she wants to do to allow the players to perform to the best of their abilities and ensure everyone is happy.”

Having studied at Manchester Grammar School, Jacob obtained a degree in French and Russian at Leeds University. He says his languages have helped him with the cosmopolitan team featuring 11 nationalities.

Now, when the women’s team needs something, Jacob deals with Roman Abramovich’s intermediaries, including chairman Bruce Buck, CEO Guy Laurence and director Marina Granovskaia. And, although he has yet to use his Russian, he has nothing but admiration and praise for the efforts of the owner.

“Mr Abramovich has a good team around him,” says Jacob. “They give us everything we want, within reason. Our budget has grown incrementally as investors don’t see us as being a cheaper way of being involved in the product.”

This view was supported by Sky Sports securing rights to show the Super League for the next three years in a deal believed to be worth £8million a season, an agreement Hayes described as a “watershed moment” for women’s football.

Jacob said: “The women’s game is now in a very different place from where it was eight years ago. Everything changed with the introduction of the Super League and the progress of Manchester City women. Chelsea have grown with the buy-in from all our rivals. We’ve steered it from the top.

Chelsea are very good at doing what we do, but not boasting about it.”

Jacob maintains there is a healthy rivalry between the top teams in the women’s game, but it is far from the cut-throat atmosphere of the Premier League. “It’s not just been about Chelsea,” said Jacob.

“It’s also about helping to develop the women’s game.

Manchester City have been an

amazing ally. They are very much aligned as to where women’s football needs to go and wants to be, to put certain things in place and how best to go about it.”

He says: “We’re doing as much as we can and hope that others will follow. We’re hoping

it inspires a new generation and can get young girls thinking ‘I can do this for a living’.”

A recent 2-0 win over Aston Villa helped Chelsea regain top spot in the Super League.

But Jacob believes they are also leading the way in an important area off the pitch.

Having played for South Manchester Sports Club in his youth, Jacobs maintains close ties with his community and the grassroots game.

He went on to speak of his pride at the work Chelsea are doing in the bid to eradicate racism and antisemitism from football.

“Over the years, Chelsea never had the best reputation, but today they are saying ‘this is what can be done’. Mr Abramovich doesn’t seek publicity. But for him, it’s about a community and using the club as a vehicle to spread the message, which has come from the top that antisemitism is unacceptable. Everyone at the club has bought into the project.”

Jacob recalled the time when Chelsea “opened the doors to all employees” to go on the March of the Living walk in Poland. “It was incredible to see Holocaust survivors talk to members of the Chelsea Women’s team, people who may have glossed over it in history lessons at school,” he says. “The experience opened people’s eyes.”

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When Adrian Jacob first walked into Chelsea Football Club eight years ago, he didn’t know what was about to hit him.

For much of his life, Jacob, 43, has been immersed in finance. Having moved from Manchester to London 21 years ago, he admits he has “never really left the financial world”.

But, shrewdly, he found a way to marry two of his biggest passions.

It was a chance meeting with a female client that introduced him to Chelsea FC Women.

“I worked in foreign exchange and built up the company,” said Jacob, who sold Currency UK five months ago, while retaining an interest.

Unbeknown to him at the time, Emma Hayes was manager of Chelsea Women. She chased Jacob to sponsor some of her players, but he declined, insisting he was “only interested in assisting” Hayes. Things progressed at speed after he indicated he was “really struck by what the club were doing”.

Hayes invited Jacob as a guest at the women’s Champions League final at Stamford Bridge between Lyon and Wolfsburg in 2013, and he described the occasion as a “real eye-opener”. Initially, his involvement at Chelsea began in a part-time capacity, and he was advised his role would be limited to “only four FA meetings a year”. But he became so immersed in the club’s culture and has played a major part in moving the team forward.

A Manchester United supporter from childhood, Jacob assumed the role of executive manager, and said: “I’m very hands-on and do things very differently to the previous regime.

When I joined, there were only two full-time employees, both working 90-hour weeks.

Chelsea Women had around 80 players on its books, all part-time with other jobs. The team used to play at Staines FC in front of 100 people and a dog. It has grown incredibly.”

Two years later, Chelsea FC Women won the Super League for the first time and the Women’s FA Cup at Wembley Stadium. The silverware has continued to flow on the domestic front, although the Champions League has eluded them so far.

Jacob, who lives in Bushey with his wife and two daughters, who are in primary Jewish education, has played no small part in the success story on and off the pitch. He said: “I know I’m very lucky to be where I am, but we’ve worked incredibly hard to grow it.

“I arrived as a buffer between the women’s team and the club, but have tried to help it grow, so Emma and the team can concentrate on the football.

I get involved in different aspects, from marketing, budgets, legals, recruitment, dealing with agents, transfers and strategies. A lot of it is about being there when Emma needs [help].

A problem-solving job, if you like.”

Asked what makes the working relationship a success, he pauses before breaking into laughter and says: “Emma’s an absolute whirlwind and an amazing strategist who never

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Israel News / Yom Ha’atzmaut

Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90

Torchbearers light up Israel

Israeli children at a kindergarten in Moshav Yashresh hold a giant Israeli flag on Israel 73rd Independence Day

Fourteen people were selected to light the symbolic torches at this year’s main Israel Independence Day ceremony.

The event, in which the 12 torches symbolise the 12 tribes of Israel, traditionally marks the transition between Israel’s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and Independence Day marking the country’s founding in 1948.

Among those honoured as torchbearers were Ofri Butbul, an 18-year-old Israeli who saved the life of an elderly man she got to know as a volunteer with a non-profit organisation, as well as Yaish Giat, a 102-year-old Yemenite Torah scholar.

Giat said: “When I raised the torch I wished that our nation loves one another, that people will respect one another for the benefit of the Land of Israel.”

With more than 60 percent of the population vaccinated and society opening up once more, this year’s celebration marked a return to some degree of normality, as Israelis headed to parks for traditional barbecues.

Many Israelis took to local parks and beaches for barbecues, which was not allowed on the previous Yom Ha’atzmaut due to coronavirus restrictions. Numerous public events were also held, such as an International Bible Contest and presentation of the Israel Prize, which was given to eight recipients.

A flyover was performed by the Israeli Air Force over dozens of towns and cities, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Haifa, while landmarks such as Tel Aviv’s municipality building were also lit up in blue and white to mark the occasion.

The Jewish head of pharmaceuticals company Pfizer, Albert Bourla, was also honoured on the day in the wake of an agreement struck between the company and Israel to purchase vast quantities of the vaccine in return for vaccination data.

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

25

Ghetto heroes / Art exhibit / Shoah museum / Diaspora News

Remembering the women of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Holocaust educators in Warsaw this week launched an online campaign to commemorate the city’s famous Ghetto Uprising of 1943, with a particular emphasis on the stories of Jewish female fighters.

People around the world are posting pictures of themselves holding the paper daffodil that has become the symbol of the largest uprising led by Jews during the Second World War and the first significant urban revolt against German occupation.

The uprising began on 19 April 1943, when German troops moved into the Warsaw Ghetto to deport its remaining 75,000 inhabitants. It lasted until May, when Nazi soldiers finally defeated the resistance, killing 35,000 Jews in the process and leaving the ghetto in ruins. In total around 300,000 ghetto Jews were killed.

Every year, volunteers pass out paper daffodils – the symbol of the campaign to residents – on the streets of Warsaw, but owing to the pan-

Women from all backgrounds took part in the uprising

demic, supporters have this year been taking selfies with the daffodils and publishing them on social media under the hashtag #WarsawGhetto Uprising.

This year also celebrates the part played by women, including teenagers and mothers, who helped fight the German troops. They played

NOTABLE JEWISH WOMEN OF THE RESISTANCE Rachel Zylberberg

Gave reports on the scale of the extermination of Jews in Lithuania, including the mass murder in Ponary; recruited for armed resistance.

Frumka Płotnicka

Organised self-defence units; established contacts with the Polish underground; smuggled weapons into the ghetto.

Seconded to Bedzin ghetto in 1942 to organise resistance.

Rachela Auerbach

Worked with underground newspapers; wrote about living conditions in the ghetto; wrote about – and researched – the Warsaw Ghetto as one of the few Jewish survivors.

Mira Fuchrer

Member of the Jewish Combat Organisation; partner of the leader of the uprising, Mordeichai Anielewicz, whom she died alongside.

Vladka Meed

Smuggled in weapons; used ID of daughter of a trusted Polish collaborator to escape; delivered money, clothes and information to the ghetto from the forest, where she hid.

several key roles, including weapons supply, communications, and direct combat.

Among the more famous were Niuta ‘Wanda’ Tejtelbaum, known for her bunches and for saying: “I am a Jew and a communist; my place is among the most active fighters against fascism, in the struggle for the honour of my

people, for the independence of Poland, and for the freedom of humanity.”

Images of the women fighting are very rare, but the SS commander who oversaw the liquidation of the ghetto was so impressed by the bravery of three Jewish women forced from a bunker with a weapons cache by SS troops that he included an image of them in his official report.

It shows Bluma Wyszogrodzka, who was shot, and Małka Zdrojewicz and Rachela Wyszogrodzka, who were deported to Majdanek, where the latter was killed.

This week, a representative for POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, said: “Many women from all kinds of backgrounds played key roles. All demonstrated great strength and courage in the face of unthinkable circumstances.

“There are so many stories that come to light every year, even now, 78 years later, and they are all really fascinating.”

WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

Your weekly digest of stories from the international press HUNGARY

The mayor of a small village in north-east Hungary has tried to stop Chasidic Jews from making an annual pilgrimage to mark the yahrzeit of Yeshayah Steiner, a prominent local rabbi, who died in 1925.

More than 20,000 people have made the pilgrimage in previous years. Residents fear it will spread coronavirus.

GREECE

A series of Greek Jewish history lectures organised by the Jewish community of Athens has begun on Zoom.

The first lecture last Sunday featured guest speaker Anastasia Loudarou talking about the ancient Jewish history of Athens and other Greek cities. Other talks will focus on the ancient Romaniote Jews.

FRANCE

An Algerian Deliveroo driver who refused to transport orders of kosher food to Jewish customers has been deported. The 19-year-old man was found to be living in France illegally and was sent packing by a Strasbourg court after a restaurant owner filed an antisemitic discrimination complaint with the police.

UNITED STATES

Five leaders of the extreme Jewish sect Lev Tahor have been charged with child exploitation and kidnapping in New York. Investigators found that Jewish girls as young as 12 were being ‘married’ to Jewish male members, who even kidnapped a 14-year-old in the US to return her to her ‘husband’ in Mexico.

Altman art on display for first time in 50 years St Petersburg this week began hosting the first large exhibition of Soviet avant-garde artist Nathan Altman’s paintings in half a century.

Famed for his 1914 portrait of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, known to many from visits to its permanent exhibition at the Russian Museum, Altman pushed boundaries and embraced his Jewish heritage throughout his work during the 20th century.

Born in modern day Ukraine in 1889 to a Jewish family of merchants, he studied in Odessa before moving to Paris where he met fellow Jewish artist Marc Chagall.

He later moved to St Petersburg (or Petrograd, as it was then called), where he worked as a stage designer while painting in the Cubist style.

In Moscow, he exhibited at the Jewish Society for the Furthering of the Arts and worked on stage designs for the Habimah Theatre and the Jewish State Theatre. In 1923, a volume of his Jewish graphic art was published in Berlin. He returned to Paris for six years in the 1930s.

The St Petersburg Gallery - KGallery – has been collecting Altman’s art from private collections, the Russian Museum, the Peterhof State Museum-

Reserve, the Museum of the History of St Petersburg, and the Museum of Theatre and Musical Art. It has had some unexpected success, even managing to arrange the display of Altman’s sculpture titled Selfportrait (Portrait of a Young Jew) from 1916, which rarely leaves the secure confines of the Russian Museum.

The exhibition, which runs until 13 June, will display works from his two Parisian periods as well as projects for the revolutionary design of Russia’s most famous city.

Anna Akhmatova by Nathan Altman

PORTO SHOAH MUSEUM OPENS A new Holocaust museum in the Portuguese city of Oporto has opened its doors, marking the first such initiative in the Iberian Peninsula.

Welcoming the first 500 guests, 25 at a time, museum staff say they hope the institution will serve to educate tourists and locals alike in the historic city where Jewish refugees from Belgium, France, and Luxembourg fled in 1940-41.

Anti-Defamation League director Jonathan Greenblatt said the new museum would “add to the respect and admiration many have for the Jewish people and impart the lessons that all must heed”.

Funding for the museum was largely met by a Portuguese Sephardic family from South-East Asia, who had also suffered in a Japanese concentration camp during the war.

Museum staff said they hope to portray the lives of Jews before the Nazi conquest of Europe, focusing specifically on the lives of Oporto Jewish refugees.

The building includes a model Auschwitz bunker, study centre, cinema, corridors displaying a complete narrative, conference room, and photographs and screens presenting footage of the Nazis perpetrating genocide.

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Editorial comment and letters ISSUE NO.

1207

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

A defining moment?

“One of the great beauties of the Jewish people is that we have lived in all parts of the world and absorbed the elements of culture and perspective from our international experiences. We are a repository of humanity’s diversity and we must embrace that about ourselves.”

These are the words of Senior Sephardi Rabbi Joseph Dweck, who this week hit the nail on the head. Amid all this talk of “mixed race” etc, we can forget that we are a “mixed people”, of all shades, from black to white and everything in between.

Talk of race has been a focus ever since unarmed black man George Floyd died after a white US policeman knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes while Mr Floyd cried out that he could not breathe. That policeman was convicted on all counts on Tuesday evening.

In the upswell and anger last summer, Black Jews flagged that the Jewish community, alas, was not whiter than white on this issue (if you’ll pardon the pun) and needed to take a good look at itself.

Cue a Board of Deputies commission on racial inequality in the synagogues, schools, community centres and Jewish life that we know. It was a huge self-audit, led by Stephen Bush, the highly-respected Jewish journalist who identifies as mixed race. His report is now in.

There are some huge positives to take from it, not least the fact it was launched in the first place and that people came forward, which confirms this was an issue that needed tackling. The Jewish community also looked honestly at itself. Bush, not a man with much spare time on his hands, should be applauded for taking up the baton.

Jewish News reported extensively on this issue last year, knowing that the experience of non-white Ashkenazi Jews in the UK had to be understood if there was ever to be any kind of momentum for change.

Bush’s report adds vital extra layers, but its principal value was always going to lie in how it said we should change things. Some recommendations are helpful, others refreshing, in part for being simple. Don’t talk about ‘Jewish’ and ‘Black’ communities as if they are entirely distinct, Bush says, because they may overlap. This is a good point.

One of the biggest lessons we could all learn is that there is no such thing as “looking Jewish”. Jewish is as much white as it is black, as much Sephardi, Mizrahi and Yemenite as it is Ashkenazi. But there are 119 recommendations, over 111 pages, with much overlap and duplication.

For a report that we all hope will flick a communal light switch, there is a risk that readers will simply switch off. The fact the report doesn’t break down the numbers of witnesses who gave evidence between black Jews, Sephardi Jews and others – instead just speaking about 197 in total – detracts from the final product, regardless of how valuable it is.

Jewish News is proud to have forged new ground on this issue and commits to doing more. We start by echoing the main message in these pages today – a day that history will hopefully record as the day the words ‘Jewish’ and ‘looks’ finally got divorced.

THIS WEEKEND'S SHABBAT TIMES...

Shabbat comes in Friday night 7.56pm

Shabbat goes out Saturday night 9.04pm

Sedra: A chareiKedoshim

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send us your comments PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

Forced marriage a minor issue I would like to respond to a recent article on forced marriage in the Cherdi community by Eve Sacks. Personal observations and factors including extraordinary demographic growth make it clear that those leaving the Chasidic fold due to forced marriage do not represent a sizeable percentage.

Many Chasidic practices are carried across centuries, with couples of previous generations married this way, almost all of whom will wish to see their children do so, too.

There are individuals whose experiences are troubling. Perhaps this small percentage is too high. However, in labelling parts of Chasidic marriage a “harmful cultural practice”, could Ms Sacks provide insight into the 90 percent or so of intelligently loving parents who, as “victims”, will wish to watch their children go down

to the chuppah in this way?

Relative to more progressive forms of dating such as online dating, social media and couples living together for months or years, can she provide findings on any detrimental effects on the physical well-being and the mental health individuals experience in pursuing these methods?

In lambasting the Chasidic community’s methods, surely she will have weighed the alternatives in concluding one way is more harmful.

Surely Ms Sacks’ efforts should be focused on her immediate community before finding fault in a community about as culturally distant from her as Martians?

If I had to bet on whose great-grandchildren will still be reading the Haggadah in 2250, I know on which community I’d put my money.

Joe Gordon, By email

COVID HAS SHED LET’S WISH QUEEN LONG LIFE the last week, as the Queen mourned the passing LIGHT ON ISRAEL During of her husband, soulmate and father of her children, it I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article in last week’s edition headlined: “Israel has been light years ahead on vaccine rollout,” (Jewish News, 15 April).

Sadiq Khan is quoted telling Jewish News: “What Israel did with what is called vaccine hesitancy – they were light years ahead. We were speaking to them regularly on how you bust the myths.”

Such content was a welcome sight for my hitherto sore eyes that are more used to reading anti-Israel tropes trotted out by various people.

Government ministers and politicians of countless countries have for decades been in the dark ages regarding their attitude towards Israel.

It has sadly taken the devastating pandemic of the past 14 months, and Israel’s much-publicised pragmatic and organised response to the d ­ anger to life, for many finally to see the light.

J D Milaric By email

has been difficult not to reflect on the loss of my own spouse who, like Prince Philip, stood tall in his constant support of us all.

However, with the Royal couple having, over the years, spent innumerable happy times together, the loss is suddenly felt. This is where the shiva is so meaningful to the bereaved – when friends and family can help, honour and reflect on the loss of their dear one.

A female lecturer in Jewish topics who was not Jewish took a great interest in our faith and, when her son died, she sat shiva and found it deeply consoling. We can all wish the Queen a long life as is the Jewish custom.

Norma Neville, Hendon

TROUBLED BY KKL-JNF I wish to object to the resolution for KKL-JNF to purchase land in the West Bank for the ­purpose of expanding Jewish areas.

If this resolution is passed, I will no longer

donate monies to the organisation.

I have written to the Israeli Embassy on many occasions objecting to similar schemes without receiving a reply.

Basil H Mann, Isleworth

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Editorial comment and letters

Voting system CHINA’S THREAT Stephen Vishnick yearns for a stable government in Israel, but would not see this outcome by distorting the election system or creating coalitions of parties when the system has broken down because ideology has been supplanted by the constant formation of personalised parties where the leader is more important than the policies they espouse.

The only way to break this cycle is for voters to be presented with a set of policies with majority support. The difficulty is that when there are 10 Israeli voters in a room, there will probably be 20 opinions!

Alan Finlay, Hendon

How good it is to read on your front page that World Jewish Relief has launched a campaign for the Uyghur community in Turkey (Jewish News, 15 April 2021).

As a regular traveller to Turkey prior to the pandemic, I have seen first-hand the challenges this small group of people have faced in creating a life for themselves, while all the while fearful of the fates of loved ones left behind in north-west China.

Beijing has a lot to answer for, be it the Uyghurs, Hong Kong, its intimidation of Taiwan or, indeed, the cover-up that enabled the pandemic to cripple the world.

Abraham Felman, By email

My fond memory of the duke I was privileged to meet Prince Philip twice. On one occasion, I was introduced

by Henry Grunwald, then president of the Board of Deputies.

The subject of schools came up and I politely reminded the prince that he had attended the Open Day of Hasmonean Grammar School for Girls at the former Copthall Stadium, where we, the young pupils, danced the figure of eight in his honour. He said: “Would you be a sport

and dance it for me now!” I answered: “Your Highness, I really do not think it is fitting to do so!” which he accepted in good humour.

The prince’s easy-going and approachable manner enhanced and complemented the seriousness and dignity of the office of the Queen.

He will be fondly remembered by his subjects. May his soul rest in peace.

Flora Frank, Israel

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Opinion

Crook Madoff even stole from Holocaust charities ALEX BRUMMER

CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

W

hen my brother Daniel was asked to help make the minyan at Brighton’s Meadow View Jewish Cemetery recently, he knew nothing of the person being buried, other than that he was the brother of a local synagogue member. She had requested he be buried close by.

At the ground, among the small throng of mourners, Daniel spotted a tallish, gaunt figure, with a thin grey beard and flat hat who vaguely looked familiar. It was same person who, in 2014, had been photographed in Tunisia laying a wreath at the graveside of a terrorist involved in the brutal murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. This time around, the former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was paying his respects to the left-wing campaigning journalist Eric Gordon.

For people unfamiliar with north London’s local newspapers, Eric Gordon was a remarkable journalist and editor who bought the ailing

Camden Journal for £1 in 1982 and relaunched it as Camden New Journal. As he searched for funding to make a go of the paper, Gordon was offered assistance by Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council (GLC).

But his fiercely independent streak told him this was wrong and instead he managed to negotiate a £50,000 small business loan.

After he ran through this tranche of funding, he decided to accept a GLC loan after all. That £100,000 enabled the Gateshead Yeshivaeducated Marxist to make a go of things. The circulation he inherited was just 7,000 but, with some brilliant campaigning local journalism, he steered it to 50,000 and survival.

Gordon’s passing might have gone unnoticed but for Corbyn’s lingering presence at his lavoyah and a full-page obituary in The Times.

His was one of three very different Jewish lives

commemorated by the quixotic Times obit pages this month.

At the other end of the economic spectrum was that of the rogue financier Bernard (Bernie) Madoff. He was described as running the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, losing $60bn of investor funds. For almost two decades, Madoff would take hundreds of millions of new deposits from investors and use the fresh cash to pay out to earlier investors. When the clock stopped with the 2007-09 financial crisis, Madoff ’s scam was reported to the FBI and other authorities by his two sons.

He was an exemplar of the kind of winner takes all, corrupt capitalism deplored by leftwing journalists such as Gordon. Among those who lost their life savings with Madoff was a friend, Middle East academic Henry Seigman, who, as a result of the old rogue’s fraud, spent

❝

WHAT MOST DISTURBED ME WAS HOW HOLOCAUST CHARITIES WERE RANACKED

his salad days touring the world giving lectures to try to keep body and soul together.

What most disturbed me as a journalist was how Holocaust charities were ransacked, including that of Elie Wiesel, Nobel peace prize winner, chronicler of the Shoah horrors and author of Night. Wiesel suggested Madoff's most appropriate punishment would be to spend his prison days watching a video relay of his victims. The sheer willpower and determination to survive, at the core of Wiesel’s writing, was exemplified in a third Jewish life covered

by The Times; that of Moishe Nurtman, one of 732 child Holocaust survivors known as 'The Boys’, who was brought to Windermere in 1945.

I knew Moishe through my late Richmond Synagogue friend, Sam Freiman. It was at Sam’s lowest point, suffering with typhus while in a labour camp (before being shipped off to Buchenwald), that Moishe, with his indomitable spirit and encouragement, kept Sam alive.

The band of survivors becomes smaller each day and their testimony ever more important.

These are the truly great representatives of humanity who Madoff so dishonoured.

Like our revered patron, it's time to say farewell PAUL WEINSTEIN JEWISH CHOICE

J

ewish Choice, the highly-regarded Wembley-based elderly care home, is shortly to close its doors for the last time.

Its enviable legacy will be the extraordinary care the independent charity has delivered over the years and how the extraordinarily empathetic and expert team have consistently delivered that care with true compassion.

The recent messages of thanks from those relatives whose loved ones have now moved on to new care homes is clearly testament to that higher level of care.

The charity’s origins began in the Mile End Road some 274 years ago and in each of our identities as we developed our care – from Beth Holim to maternity care, from the elderly care of Edinburgh House to the present-day Jewish Choice – the consistency of that care has not wavered, and so the journey has been all the more remarkable.

When Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, laid the foundation stone to our building in December 1977, following the move from the East End, little did we know that, for close to five decades, hundreds of people would

choose to live with us. Neither did we know that the sustainability of our home would be so challenged and rocked to its very core by the financial impact of a pandemic this past year and that, so shortly after the Duke’s passing, we would be closing a chapter on our family too.

While the charity’s future is yet to be decided, in its long history, it has consistently responded to the communities’ needs and in the future it may well re-emerge as an entity that is as relevant in the future as it has been in the past.

So, for now, we have succumbed to the most heartbreaking of decisions that began with the returning of our beloved baby grand to the family from which it was donated, to the now rehousing of all our residents in

❝

IT'S OFTEN SAID THE CARE PROVIDED AT JEWISH CHOICE IS UNWAVERING AND UNMATCHED

the most suitable accommodation for their ongoing needs and aspirations.

Everyone’s journey is different and, over the years, we’ve had residents from all walks of life and having had all sorts of experiences.

From Bletchley girls to showgirls, from rabbis to teachers, from artists to scientists. Yet, it is a measure of the quality of the extraordinary care from the long-time employed team at Jewish Choice that all settled so well into our home, that they believed it to be their forever home.

Sadly, that is not to be and, as we’ve recently experienced, they and their relatives have not wanted to leave us.

In our service, our high regard in the sector and indeed with local authorities our opinion has regularly been sought. So it is all the more galling to have to call time on the dedication and dignity with which we’ve carried out our duty of care.

It’s often said that the care provided at Jewish Choice is both unwavering and unmatched. And that’s been very evident of late as alternative homes have been explored for our residents. We regularly heard: “How are we going to find somewhere that has the same family feel?”, “How are we going to find somewhere that pays such close attention to our parents' needs?” “How are we going to find somewhere with the same compassion?”

Jewish Choice had a family atmosphere

And so we can justifiably be proud of Jewish Choice. We take comfort from the care we’ve given to residents that is so woven into the lives of their relatives, that the plaudits we’re receiving from our last crop of relatives is extraordinary in its own right. And, like our late revered patron, Prince Philip, it’s not until the end we realise just how much we’ve been appreciated and how much we will be missed.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

22 April 2021 Jewish News

If not us, then who?

You’re blind. You’re in hospital, where you catch Covid and are moved to a Covid ward. You don’t know where you are or why, as no-one in the hospital can communicate with you - because you’re not only blind, you are also deaf.

For David, this was a very real and terrifying experience. The doctors were considering ventilating him and needed to explain that his chance of survival was just 50/50.

It was time for JDA to move mountains!

We fought hard for permission and found one brave sign language interpreter to go into the covid ward and sign on David’s hands, enabling the doctors to tell David what was happening to him.

Then we set up braille equipment at the hospital so that the doctors could send David messages from their phone and he could read them in braille and reply. Now David could communicate for himself, understand what was happening and express his wishes.

We’re pleased to say David has made a full recovery and is at home being helped by regular visits from JDA’s dedicated carers.

020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk

Clutched in his hand was a piece of paper with JDA’s phone written on it. Thankfully an observant nurse called us.

A message to you our supporters JDA’s life-saving work - keeping the most vulnerable members of our community safe, strong and stable - is intensive and very costly.

But if we’re not there to step in and fight, then no-one else will be.

Please keep helping us to do what only we can at this most critical time. We’ve never needed your support more than now.

Thank you and Happy Pesach from all of us in the JDA family!

Registered Charity No. 1105845 Company Limited by Guarantee 4983830

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Opinion

I lead a motion enabling UK to declare genocide NUS GHANI, MP CONSERVATIVE PARTY

I

’m one of five MPs sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), likely a result of my work exposing the gross human rights abuses and enslavement of the Uyghur in Xinjiang, supported strongly by this newspaper and its readers.

Over the last year I have campaigned to have the Genocide/Alton/Ghani Amendment added to the Trade Bill, which would enable the UK to consider and determine genocide and therefore ensure that we weren’t offering preferential trade agreements with countries committing genocide. And as a member of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, I launched an inquiry examining the horrific levels of Uyghur slave labour in UK supply chains.

The sanctions were a move not just to intimidate us as politicians but an attempt to stifle the free and open debate that is at the

heart of our parliamentary democracy. It has not worked. Instead, it has backfired and shown that the CCP fundamentally misunderstood how western democracies and MPs conduct themselves. Both the prime minister and foreign secretary have condemned the sanctions, and MPs from all parties in the UK and from countries all over the world got in touch to offer solidarity and start a global movement to speak of the horrors perpetrated against the Uyghurs and try to end this nightmare.

And it is a nightmare. Survivors, reporters and leaked CCP databases and speeches paint a harrowing picture: mass incarceration, systematic rape, mass sterilisation, separation of children from their families, desecration of Islamic holy sites and deliberate attempts to destroy Uyghur culture. We have seen satel-

lite imagery of ‘re-education camps’ being constructed, contracts posted online showing the purchasing of Uyghur forced labour and databases noting the birth rate has dropped by 84 percent as women are forcibly sterilised More than 50 years ago the UK signed up to the United Nations Genocide Convention.

It was the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly, designed to ensure that atrocities like the Holocaust could “never again” take place. So why have we not acted?

The UK position has always been that the government can only define an incident as a genocide if this has been determined in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The only way anything gets to the ICC is if the UN Security Council sends it there, and China and Russia have the power to veto anything the UN

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THIS WILL BE A CHANCE FOR PARLIAMENT TO LET CHINA KNOW WHAT IT THINKS OF INTIMIDATION

Security Council does. This has led to a frozen UN, completely unable to hold the CCP to account for its horrific actions in Xinjiang.

That’s why today I will lead a motion which will give our Parliament a chance to interrogate the evidence emerging from Xinjiang and declare it to be genocide should it see fit.

This will also be a chance for Parliament to let the CCP know what it thinks of its attempts to silence the House through sanctions and intimidation.

In the 75 years since the Nuremberg trials, the UK and the UN have never succeeded in recognising a genocide while it was ongoing.

We now have a chance to put that right and call the situation in Xinjiang what it is: a genocide.

And we will not be doing this alone. Instead, we will be standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies, and on the right side of history.

This is a chance for us to put Global Britain’s values firmly on the map, and live up to the international obligations to investigate and prevent an ongoing genocide.

Rest assured I will wear these sanctions as a badge of honour.

This is such an emotional time of year for my family MARSHA GLADSTONE YONI JESNER FOUNDATION

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very year, Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, is an emotional time for my family.

My beloved 19-year-old son, Yoni, was killed by a Hamas suicide bomber on 19 September 2002 in Tel Aviv. This year the day was especially powerful for me as my son’s memory was honoured at the annual Yom HaZikaron ceremony at the Latrun Memorial Site by Masa Israel Journey.

This organisation, founded by the Jewish Agency and Israeli government, provides study, volunteer and career opportunities in Israel for thousands of young Jews from around the world, a mission to which my beloved Yoni similarly devoted his life.

Yoni was an incredible human being, full of such promise and passion. He had the rare ability to befriend anyone and had the zaniest sense of humour. He was extremely caring and would always ensure no Shabbat afternoon would go by without him and his three siblings visiting their grandfather. He had an unshakable sense of what was right and fair and

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MY SON WAS SO BUSY WITH COMMUNITY WORK I OFTEN JOKED HE WASN’T HOME ENOUGH

would never shy away from speaking up for these values.

My son was a gifted student and so busy with community work I often jokingly protested he was not home enough. These activities embodied his deep commitment to the Jewish people and Israel. He was the force behind the rejuvenation and expansion of Glasgow Bnei Akiva, his religious Zionist youth group. He was responsible for sending the Jewish Youth delegation to the Scottish Parliament. He was a Jewish Studies teacher and ran youth services at his synagogue, where he also assisted the rabbi. Yoni even found the time to tutor other kids and to study at the Glasgow yeshiva. He was the youngest ever volunteer at the Glasgow Jewish burial society.

Through his hard work, Yoni was admitted to University College London to study medicine, but chose to first take a gap year in Israel to study at a yeshiva. He always possessed a deep connection to Israel and wanted to strengthen

this by living and studying there. Although he did not plan to stay at yeshiva for more than a year, he found the experience so spiritually nourishing he decided to postpone his university and commit to another year at yeshiva. At the start of his second year, when Yoni travelled to Tel Aviv to be with family for Succot, my son was tragically killed in a suicide bombing.

When Yoni died, we knew he would be buried in Israel, a place deeply meaningful to him and to our family. We could never have taken him away from the holiness of what Israel represented to him, so we never gave that decision a second thought.

When the question of organ donation came up, we had never thought about it, so my family consulted the late Rav Lichtenstein. He told us there is no greater mitzvah than saving a life, and we agreed. Since Yoni dreamed of saving lives as a doctor, we knew he would have wanted to donate his organs and save as many people as he could. Yoni’s

Yoni Jesner with his mother, Marsha

organs ended up saving three people; two Jewish men and a Palestinian girl. My family discovered that a seven-year-old Palestinian girl, Yasmin, had received one of Yoni’s kidneys after a reporter called our house and asked how we felt about it. We said: “Anything that can make something good come out of this senseless tragedy is a wonderful thing.”

Each year, Yom HaZikaron, which we marked last week, gives me and my family a chance to reflect on everything Yoni was, and to associate his life and death with Israel and what it means to us. The day gave us the valuable opportunity to come together, remember and honour the loved ones we have lost, and to cry if we are so moved. I truly believe that every time you cry, you heal.

22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Community / Scene & Be Seen

1 FREDDIE CELEBRATES

Legendary war-time Jewish resistance fighter Freddie Knoller celebrated his 100th birthday with family in the garden last weekend. Freddie was born in Vienna, Austria, and escaped the Nazis by fleeing to Belgium but was interned in a Belgian refugee camp until 1940. After attempting to leave, he was arrested on the French-Belgium border but escaped prison and obtained false ID papers as a Frenchman.

He fought with the French Resistance but was betrayed by a girlfriend and rearrested. Refusing to reveal information about the resistance, Freddie admitted to being Jewish and was sent to the Drancy Transit Camp near Paris.

He was deported to Auschwitz, where he survived owing to his friendship with a French doctor inmate. He was liberated from Bergen-Belsen.

And be seen!

The latest news, pictures and (virtual) social events from across the community Photo by Blake Ezra

Email us at community@jewishnews.co.uk

2 ISRAELI CHEER

Nearly 500 pupils at Hertsmere Jewish Primary School in Radlett enjoyed a day packed with activities in celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, last Thursday. Youngsters dressed in blue and white and took part in Israeli dancing, a mock army obstacle course, craft activities and biscuit decorating. They were also treated to an Israelistyle lunch of schwarma and Israeli salad. Deputy headteacher Lisa Wolf said: “Although socially distanced, it was a day filled with exciting activities to celebrate Israel’s 73rd birthday.”

3 A GOOD WALK

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4CONGRATS JOSH!

Josh Dodds celebrated his barmitzvah on Saturday at Kingston Liberal Synagogue, of which he has been a member since he was five. Friends and family were able to join the service via online platform Zoom from the US, Canada, Australia and France.

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Photo by Claire Jonas Photography

More than 3,000 children from 19 schools and nurseries across the UK collectively walked the distance from the UK to Israel to raise money for Ohel Sarah, a charity that supports people with learning and physical disabiliities in Israel. Each child walked a mile, taking part in a nationwide sponsored walk. “We wanted to encourage children from all over the country to do something together on Israel’s birthday – to feel excited about Israel and to learn something about Ohel Sarah”, said charity CEO Debbie Cowen. All money raised will go towards buying playground equipment and specially adapted bikes for the children in Ohel Sarah’s boys’ school in Israel. Pictured are pupils at Independent Jewish Day School in Hendon.

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

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22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Book / Weekend

‘Being a mum is wonderful – however old you are’ Cari Rosen challenged why she was labelled a ‘geriatric’ mother aged 42 and set about writing her searingly honest memoir, discovers Alex Galbinski

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eafing through her pregnancy notes before her first antenatal appointment, Cari Rosen saw herself described as an “elderly primigravida” and baulked.

While she was cognisant, aged 42 and pregnant, that she was no spring chicken, the term felt especially unpleasant.

This, along with other comments and shouty tabloid headlines about older mothers got her thinking.

Why are older women criticised for having babies and older men aren’t?

Why do people assume women are “selfish workaholics” or “career-crazed power freaks”, who put off having children, she wondered. What can be done so that an older mum doesn’t feel like a “fossil”?

A former journalist and TV producer, Rosen had been documenting on social media some of her amusing parenting escapades with her daughter, who is now 12.

A comment by a friend made her consider publishing a book and, as luck would have it, she was then working for a literary agent one day a week. The agent was interested – and the recentlypublished result is her witty,

honest and searingly down-to-earth account of motherhood, The Secret Diary of a New Mum (Aged 43¼).

It is true Rosen had advanced in her career. She had achieved, she says, what she had wanted to do, interviewing the likes of Sting, Yoko Ono and the Goombay Dance Band, alongside maintaining an active social life.

But she hadn’t met the person with whom she wanted to have children until she was in her late 30s.

“I didn’t ever intend to be what is

charmingly called an 'older' mother, but it was circumstance and life…” Rosen admits. “At my first antenatal appointment, I was called a geriatric mother and an elderly primigravida, which is not great for the ego! It makes you Left: Cari Rosen and, above, her daughter. feel like some sort of antedilu- The pair are pictured together below vian relic where you are really now considered a “suitable topic for outside the norm. dinner-party discussion”; how her “I kept seeing tabloid story after neighbour in the hospital recovery tabloid story telling me I had been room is “ready to run a marathon selfish and career-crazed and that’s while I can barely make it back to bed”; why I’d put having a family on hold – and how, trying to breastfeed, her own but that just wasn’t the case for me.” “weeping is louder than the child’s”.

She started talking to others and As Rosen tells me: “The book is discovered many in her north London about being a new mother in a way neck of the woods were in the same anyone will identify with. My experiboat. “I found that nobody fitted the ence is exactly the same as a lot of reasons the tabloids were giving, and friends, apart from the cultural referI just thought it’s about time someences. Being a new mum is wonderful, body told it like it really is.” bewildering and exhausting however As Rosen writes, in Britain alone, old you are.” almost 30,000 women in their 40s are Having had a miscarriage before having babies every year – a figure that becoming a mother, she counts her has doubled in just a decade. She hears blessings, which is why she and her from an acquaintance that in Italy one husband did not try for another child. in every 20 babies is born to a mum “I feel very fortunate,” she explains. in her 40s and it is totally accepted.

“I always wanted to be a mum and Rosen questions why this is not the I did think it might not happen. I feel case here. very lucky that it did.”

She understands the risks of It is clear Rosen, who hails from women leaving it late to have a baby, Manchester, adores her daughter – but says her research revealed this but when it comes to motherhood, is not the case for most women and, she reassuringly tells it like it is. conversely, many younger women As a new mum, she writes that she have difficulty conceiving or do not spends “an inordinate amount of time feel in a position to have a child. trying to work out which way is up “People have said it’s ‘unnatural’ with the teeny, tiny nappies and how [to have a child as an older mother]. to change them without getting poo on I didn’t have fertility treatments so the bed”. what’s unnatural about conceiving She brings her daughter home and a much-wanted child naturally? “we are eyeing each other suspiciously “And then you hear, ‘it’s not fair on – she wondering whether I have a clue the child’. “Well, I tragically lost a what to do with her (no) and me trying friend very young who left very young to work out what on earth the various children. None of us know what card squeaks and snuffles are supposed life has for us, and all we can do is our to mean”. best to stay healthy and well.”

Slowly, but surely, she learns and Her quite serious observations gets through each challenging stage. about the sexism and judgemental New mothers reading her book will attitudes expressed in relation to feel she is there guiding them too – older mothers is punctuated in her whatever age they book by witty observations about the may be. parenting journey.  The Secret It is not just a good read for the Diary of a New older mother (who will nod knowingly Mum (Aged at the mentions of school grease43 ¼) by proof loo roll, Pogles’ Wood and even Cari Rosen is shillings); it will also resonate with younger and especially first-time ones. published by Duckworth She relates hilariously how, priced £8.99. for example, while pregnant, her Available breasts became “the size of waternow melons” and is dismayed they were

A look

Inside Brine old time: Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle arrives on Sky

Tech That: The UV sanitiser that keeps your phone germ-free!

The new Troubles: Belfast’s Jewish community proves as resilient as ever

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Weekend / Entertainment

IN THE PIPELINE

FILM

Midas Man The Queen’s Gambit actor Jacob Fortune-Lloyd will play Brian Epstein in the first feature film about the Jewish music impresario’s life.

Midas Man, which starts production later this year, charts Epstein’s dazzling, tumultuous and ultimately tragically short career, which saw him guide a series of acts to stratospheric fame, including The Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer and Cilla Black.

The Liverpudlian native opened his own theatre to promote and launch the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Cream and Pink Floyd, many of whom performed on the same bill.

Midas Man is directed by internationallyacclaimed director Jonas Akerlund and written by Jonathan Wakeham, based on a screen story by Jewish News journalist Brigit Grant.

Fortune-Lloyd recently dazzled audiences with his portrayal of chess prodigy-turned-journalist Townes in the Netflix hit series,

alongside Anya Taylor-Joy. The rising British actor also starred in the BBC’s adaptation of Wolf Hall, historical drama series Medici and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.

He said: “It’s a huge privilege to play Brian Epstein, a man who made such an important and lasting cultural impact, but who struggled to find a secure place in a world he helped to shape.

“He was a fascinating person with great talent, ambition and courage, and I’m so honoured to be given the opportunity to represent him.”

An American Pickle (12A)

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Solos

Hunters creator David Weil is set to see the launch of his new anthology series Solos on Amazon Prime Video next month.

The Amazon Original series features a star-studded cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren.

They will be joined by Orange Is The New Black actress Uzo Aduba and

Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens, alongside Nicole Beharie and Constance Wu. The seven-part series explores the strange, beautiful and heartbreaking truths of what it means to be human, as told through the eyes of each character from a different perspective and moment in time.

Solos is released from 21 May on Amazon Prime Video

GADGET OF THE MONTH:

CASETiFY UV Sanitizer Available from: www.casetify.com (RRP £100, with free postage worldwide)

PLUS POINTS:

 Uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria (including superbugs resistant to antibiotics), viruses and mould on objects placed inside the device without needing any liquid or chemicals. It is not proven whether the device also kills coronavirus.  Super quick to use – it takes only three minutes to clean a device, using a USB cable, although you can also activate a 15-minute intensive sanitisation.  No need to turn the phone over when cleaning as the UV reflects throughout the case and sterilises all sides of the item placed inside.

 It’s capacious, fitting larger handsets as well as other items such as headphones.  Offers wireless charging function (for suitable devices) at the same time.  Sleek design and available in a smaller travel size.

NIL POINTS:

 Can’t tell when cycle has finished without looking at the device.  Instructions could be more detailed and I had to refer to the FAQ section of the Casetify website.  High price point for this type of product.

BUY OR NOT BUY: ★★★★

“If you’re concerned enough about common household germs to want to buy a product to sanitise your phone and other items this is a wonderful and easy to use piece of kit. Do bear in mind, however, that there’s no research confirming it kills the coronavirus.”

Reviewed by: Alex Galbinski

@AlexG_journo

Seth Rogen finds himself having a brine old time in time-travelling comedy, An American Pickle, which arrives on Sky Cinema next week.

Directed by Brandon Trost and based on the 2013 short story, Sell Out, by Simon Rich, this tangy comedy revolves around Herschel Greenbaum (Rogen), a struggling labourer who immigrates to America in 1919 and dreams of building a better life for his family.

But, one day, while working in a factory, he falls into a huge vat of pickles and is preserved in brine for 100 years, until finally emerging, alive and now in present-day Brooklyn.

He must piece together a new life, as he finds himself in a time he doesn’t recognise and without any relatives alive except Ben, his computer programmer great-grandson.

An American Pickle is available from Friday, 30 April, on Sky Cinema and Now TV.

TALK

Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell Author John Preston is set to discuss his new book detailing the life of notorious business tycoon Robert Maxwell.

Preston, who has also penned A Very English Scandal and The Dig, will talk about Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell with fellow author Anne Sebba during the event next month, which is hosted by Wimbledon Synagogue.

In February 1991, Maxwell – the media mogul and former MP – made a triumphant entrance into Manhattan harbour aboard his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, to complete his purchase of the ailing New York Daily News.

Crowds lined the quayside to watch his arrival, taxi drivers stopped their cabs to shake his hand and children asked for his autograph.

But, just 10 months later, Maxwell disappeared from the same yacht off the Canary Islands, only to be found dead in the water soon after.

Maxwell was the embodiment of Britain’s post-war boom.

Born an Orthodox Jew, he had escaped the Nazi occupation of

Czechoslovakia, fought in the Second World War, and was decorated for his heroism with the Military Cross. He went on to become a Labour MP and an astonishingly successful businessman, owning a number of newspapers and publishing companies.

But on his death, his empire fell apart, as long-hidden debts and unscrupulous dealings came to light. Within a few days, Maxwell was being reviled as the embodiment of greed and corruption. No one had ever fallen so far and so quickly.

In this gripping book, Preston delivers the definitive account of Maxwell’s extraordinary rise and scandalous fall.

The talk will be streamed via Wimbledon Synagogue’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, 5 May, 7.30pm.

For more details, email jackie @wimshul.com Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston is published by Viking priced £18.99 (hardback) and available now.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Northern Ireland / Weekend

The Troubles we’ve seen

At the height of Northern Ireland’s religious violence – flaring again on Belfast’s streets – Jews found sanctuary in ‘the club’, a short walk from the synagogue, writes Olivia Fletcher

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THANKFULLY, THE FEW AREAS THAT ARE RIOTING ARE NOT NEAR THE SHUL The last straw for them was a large funeral for IRA member Bobby Storey, which drew lawmakers and disregarded social distancing guidelines, despite taking place at the height of the pandemic. But there is also an ethno-religious divide between the two sides: the Irish Republicans are largely Catholic, the loyalists largely Protestant.

Because local Jews avoided taking a side on the religious front, they have been – and still are – seen as neutral onlookers. In some cases, they were even involved in attempts at reconciliation between the two groups. But this doesn’t mean the Jewish community came out completely unscathed although, as 1970 dawned and Belfast was plunged into violence, the city’s Jewish community was thriving in a social sense.

Former member Keith Daly said growing up Jewish at the time felt “like the shtetl from Russia moved to Belfast … so when we grew up, it just felt like family”.

Many Northern Irish Jews were the descendants of Ashkenazim who had fled pogroms in

Photo by REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff

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his month, Northern Ireland’s capital has been plagued by familiar scenes: rioting, the grey shells of burned-out cars and injured police officers.

For many in this post-industrial city of 280,000, it has conjured memories of the Troubles, the three decades of sectarian violence that left thousands dead and pushed thousands of others to leave.

But, as it was throughout the worst of the Troubles, Belfast’s tiny Jewish community – which is down to about 30 households from a peak of 453 in 1977 – is not too concerned about the new conflict, which has boiled over owing to Brexit complications and other unresolved British-Irish tensions.

Michael Black, the community’s chairman, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last week that he hopes the violence will “peter out” soon.

“Thankfully, the few areas that are rioting are not near the shul or where the Jewish community live. We only feel threatened when there is a problem in the Middle East,” he said, referencing the anti-Israel sentiment that runs strong throughout Ireland.

Just like in the 1970s, the feuding protesters are broadly split into two groups: Irish Republicans, who want a united Ireland, and British loyalists, who want Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom. The loyalists, angered by part of the Brexit deal that has set up a trade barrier in the Irish Sea, have been the main instigators of the current protests. The trade wall has effectively left Northern Ireland using European Union market rules, leaving many infuriated loyalists feeling like the country is treated differently than the rest of the UK.

Police in riot gear as protests continue in Belfast earlier this month

Eastern Europe and, later, the Holocaust. Some decided to settle and build a community there instead of making the journey across the Atlantic.

Many have attributed the success of the community to the Belfast Jewish Institute (“the club”), which was a short walk from the synagogue on a leafy street in the northern part of the city. It offered its members tennis courts, a ballroom, card rooms, a drama society, a debating society, a kosher restaurant and more. It entertained esteemed guests, such as ceremonial lord mayors and chief rabbis.

While the city around it occasionally erupted into literal flames, or the sound of bombs blowing up could be heard nearby, the club acted as a sanctuary for the Belfast Jewish community.

For a provincial area that struggled to attract any tourism during the conflict, Belfast had everything going for its tight-knit Jewish community in the early ’70s: a synagogue that was full every week; a booming social life at the club; and amenities not found in other small communities in Great Britain, such as a kosher butcher who came to the doorsteps of Jewish families in the city’s northern part.

Staying out of the conflict allowed community members to relatively prosper financially, and they were held in high esteem throughout the Troubles for their important contributions to Belfast over time. For example, a Jewish family was instrumental in Northern Ireland’s booming linen industry, which cemented Belfast as an enviable industrial city in the 19th century. Later on, many Northern Irish Jews owned family-run businesses, and became doctors and other professionals.

If it seemed too good to be true, it was. Some 3,700 people died in the conflict, many of them uninvolved civilians, and eventually it hit the Jewish community.

On 8 February 1980, Leonard Kaitcer, a husband with two sons and a beloved member of Belfast’s Jewish community, was dragged from his home and kidnapped by gunmen. He was an antiques dealer who owned a shop in the city and his kidnappers had demanded a £1 million ransom for his release. When Kaitcer was unable to hand it over, he was shot dead.

While no paramilitary ever took responsibility for the murder, kidnapping was a tactic employed by many Irish Republican groups as part of a campaign to devastate the British state and its economy, and to fund its weaponry.

For many Jewish families, moments like these became the final impetus to leave Belfast.

Expatriate Gillian Rowe Price remembers being “whisked away” by her parents at short notice to Manchester, which has a far larger Jewish population. Other families followed suit.

In 1977, there were 453 households affiliated with the synagogue in north Belfast, Northern Ireland’s only Jewish house of worship. In 1983, there were 312. By 1990, the number had dropped to 221. Today there are just over 30.

As the community began to decline at a steeper rate – arguably in the early 1980s, when the Troubles were at their peak – the Belfast Jewish Record reported that “each departure is a grievous loss to the small community, one which we can ill afford”. “The cumulative effect is serious and will inevitably bring about much soul-searching,” it continued. “The whole future of this community is now in a state of flux and its condition must be continuously under review.”

Northern Ireland’s Jewish community is one “dying on its feet”, said Jerusalem-born Shoshana Appleton, wife of Belfast-born Jew Ronnie Appleton, who was chief prosecutor for Northern Ireland for 22 years. But, she adds: “A lot of people wouldn’t believe you, but it’s a lovely place.”

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Books / Desert Island Books With Zaki Cooper

In association with Listen to the podcast at jewishnews.co.uk

Interview:

Barbara Amiel

In the latest in our podcast series with Jewish people who are changing the world, Zaki Cooper talks to author and journalist Barbara Amiel about her life, career and books that inspire her, for a Jewish Book Week Gamechangers event

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was collapsing around me. I was losing arbara Amiel, aka Lady everything; my husband was losing Conrad Black, has recently everything. Dark days loomed. It’s like published her memoir, going down a mine pit or an elevator Friends and Enemies. She has shaft. The walls are smooth so you been a prominent journalist have to grab on to something. I can’t and columnist, notably for The cook, I can’t make anything. My Times, Daily Telegraph, Sunday friends were retreating. I was pretty Times and editor of The Toronto much alone. And so all I could do was Sun (she was the first woman to do pretty much what I’ve done all my life, edit a major daily paper in Canada).

Asked to describe herself she writes: Barbara Amiel which is write.

“She has many Chanel jackets, cannot How difficult was it to write? cook, owns large Hungarian Kuvasz dogs and is It was absolute hell. I started in 2004 then stopped married to Conrad Black.” because we had to go through court trials. Our money and homes were taken away. Then I went Your memoir is 600 pages. It’s a story of acute back to it in around 2014. I sat working on it for pain and intense passion. It’s personal, honest three years solid, possibly 15 hours a day, on and compelling. But why did you write it? codeine and carnation milk. Then it took me over.

I started thinking about it in 2004. My world

It came in at 1,250 pages. I did all the cutting.

Did you feel like a weight had been lifted when you sent the final manuscript?

I didn’t feel like that at all. We were still fighting. All I could think of is: it’s done and it’s awful! I didn’t know whether they would publish it.

Because of the interest there was on you, surely you thought publishers would take it?

We had left our position of power and importance in 2003. This was published in 2020. There was this long gap. I am a journalist. I know how fast a story dies. That was really my concern, that readers from two new generations wouldn’t know my name, or care, so the writing itself had to be as good as i could make it.

You end the book with a list of friends and enemies for seven pages. Why did you decide to conclude in such a fiery way?

I don’t think of it as fiery. I think of it as reasonably honest. There are a lot of people who’ve been very decent to me but had remained quiet and I wanted to thank them. You’ll see that the list of friends is longer than the list of enemies.

You talk about the emerging animosity towards Israel and recount a famous episode where you reported on the fact the thenFrench Ambassador called Israel “a shitty little country”. What are your memories of that?

The chapter is called “The bloody anti-Semitism” chapter because nobody wanted me to write it. I insisted it be written. It was a Spectator party and they asked us if they could use our house because my husband’s company owned The Spectator. They did the guest list.

I didn’t know the French Ambassador, but I was sitting at his table when this remark was made.

I wrote a column on it not naming him, just saying an ambassador from an EU country made this remark. The very fact he would make those remarks and the casual acceptance of them indicated to me the tolerance of antisemitism, polite dinner table antisemitism, and I was appalled. He outed himself in the press and then it became a cause célèbre. Everyone said I’d behaved very badly, [that] I should never have put in print what was said privately.

There’s also a chapter that begins with a passage from the Yom Kippur service. Have you been going to synagogue in recent years?

I belong to West London Synagogue, which is a beautiful synagogue. I have to be a Reform Jew. I’d much rather be conservative or Modern Orthodox. But since I can’t speak a word of Hebrew and had this rather absurd growing up, the best I can do is to find the best Reform synagogue. I can’t get through the High Holy Days without being in synagogue. At that time, it was

especially important as I was trying to get Conrad out of prison and the metaphor of the gates opening and closing seemed to resonate with the prison gates opening and closing.

You love books and have 30,000 in your home.

One you’ve selected is I Will Bear Witness by Victor Klemperer. Why do you like that book?

I don’t like it, I live it painfully and guiltily. I think every Jew and non-Jew should read it. This man wrote a diary on a day-to-day basis about the Holocaust, not knowing what would happen tomorrow. He was in Dresden. Each entry he thinks it can’t get worse and you know it’s going to. It goes from 1933 to 1945. He was married to a courageous Gentile, which saved his life because his deportation was delayed and finally scheduled for when Dresden was firebombed. The hell that descended saved him. His two volumes are next to my bed. It reminded me that every time things got bad for me how foolish, how little my difficulties were in the face of Klemperer’s nightmare.

Another Jewish-related book is The Pity of It All

by Amos Elon. Why did you choose this?

It’s extraordinarily well-written and very interesting. It’s a history of the Jews in Germany coming in, being accepted. There is a very important lesson apart from the intrinsic interest of the book. (it includes an ancestor of mine, Moses Mendelssohn, and his family). The Jews who were established in Germany, wealthy and assimilated as well as a cultivated intelligentsia, didn’t want these low-class central and eastern European Jews, coming in. They were ashamed of them with their payos, strings and guttural Yiddish. Here were two persecuted groups of people, one looking down on the other because they might unsettle the position they had scrambled up to.

I thought Amos Elon wrote that beautifully.

The Penguin Essays of George Orwell have particular resonance for you. Why? Orwell said economy in writing style is a hallmark of quality. His clear eye saw through every hypocrisy. The famous essay everyone should read now is Politics and the English language, in which he talks about how we debase words so they can cover up sloppy or dangerous thoughts. He would certainly have been appalled at the pretence of equity that justifies the cancel culture of today.

Barbara’s top reads

• I Will Bear Witness by Victor Klemperer • The Pity of It All by Amos Elon • The Penguin Essays of George Orwell • Resistance, Rebellion, and Death and The Plague by Albert Camus • Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov • The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

22 April 2021 Jewish News

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Orthodox Judaism

SEDRA

Torah For Today

Acharei Mot– Kedoshim

What does the Torah say about: Prince Philip

BY REBBETZIN LISA LEVENE Can there be such a thing as too much love? This week’s sedra, Acharei Mot–Kedoshim seeks to answer just that question.

Decades of studies show that fostering a close relationship with someone contributes to critical brain development, promotes independence and stimulates other positive outcomes.

Other research contradicts this: too much love might create overdependence, blur boundaries, be construed as suffocating and lead to issues of control and manipulation. Research and popular discourse offer contradictory opinions.

Queen’s famous song Too Much Love Will Kill You is challenged by the multiple articles arguing that there is no such thing as too much love. So what does the Torah say?

This week’s parsha opens with the death of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. After the inauguration of the Temple, God laid out specific

BY RABBI ARIEL ABEL

instructions about what sacrifices to bring, when and how.

However, Nadav and Avihu took it upon themselves to bring their own offering outside the parameters of what they were told. The consequences of their actions led to their untimely deaths.

There are many explanations as to why they died. One suggests that they went into the Temple when they were drunk; another is that they sought to be close to God and ascertain a higher level of spiritually, but by doing so they crossed the boundaries of what was ‘right’.

The result was death – meaning Queen’s 1995 hit was right!

Is there such a thing as too much love? The opening of this week’s parsha teaches us that yes, there can be such a thing – and, in fact, it might even kill you if not channelled in the appropriate way.

◆ Lisa Levene is Rebbetzin of Belmont United Synagogue

14th June 2016 Attention all Prospective

8 – 10 Shirehall Lane, London NW4 2PD Tel: 020 8202 7704 Fax: 020 8202 1605 Email: admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk Web: www.hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk Pre-Nursery, Nursery & Reception Head Teacher: Dr Alan Shaw, BA (Hons), MA, EdD.

Prince Philip was a gentleman I regret never having had the privilege of meeting, yet his impact reached many dozens of millions, including myself. Preparing for the Duke of Edinburgh Award at Bronze and Silver level remains part of my best school memories.

The Torah, as echoed in the Book of Samuel, holds in the highest esteem such an award scheme, in part to promote fitness, as a supreme value: “To teach the children of Judah Qesheth, behold it is written in the Book of the Yashar”.

Taken to refer to the Book of Genesis, Yashar contains the sterling example of fitness in our ancestor Abraham and his household, able to self-harness at will to perform rescue missions such as that which saved Lot’s life from marauding invaders.

Qesheth refers to an entire system of self-defence relying on physical and spiritual fitness, preserved by

Virtual Open Evening on

We are pleased to welcome Reception, Nursery & Pre-Nursery Parents to an Wednesday 18thProspective November 2020 from 8–9:30 pm There will be a Zoom presentation by the Headteacher followed by a virtual tour of the school. For security, please contact us with your details so that we may forward you the Zoom details closer to the time.

Open Morning

Attention all Prospective Pre-Nursery, on Tuesday 8 November 2016 from 9.30 – 11.00 am. admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk Nursery & Reception Parents 2021-2022 There will be a presentation by the Headteacher at 9.30 am and followed by a tour of the school.

Email

the Habbani Jews of Yemen into the 21st century.

Prince Philip had the most active schedule of all the royals. Hardworking, he won the respect of the people and set the highest example

14th June 2016 Parents

th

Applications for in September 2021 to Pre Nursery must Forentry security, please contact us with theNursery names of&attendees.

Email admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk

be received by Wednesday 9th December 2020. _________________________________________________________________ -------------------------Applications for entry in September 2017 to Pre Nursery & Nursery must be received by Applications for the Reception Class in September 2021 must be Friday 2nd December received by the School AND Barnet

by Tuesday 2016.

12th January 2021 for which you will need to complete two separate forms: Applications for Reception September 2017 in must be received by the School AND Barnet  The Common Application Form to be returned to the London on Sunday 15th January 2017.

Borough of Barnet (online)  OurThe Hasmonean Primary Supplementary Information (on our Admissions Policy and Application Forms are available fromForm the School or our website website) to be returned to the School www.hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk

Due to ‘lockdown ending’ and most of our school opening up, we are pleased to announce that we now have a few spaces available in our Pre Nursery, Nursery & Reception groups for September 2021-2022.

Applications entry in September 2021 Forms to any of the above A copy offor the Governors’ Admissions Policy and Application are available on request from the School Office or on the school website. Our Privacy Policy is also on our website. should be sent in as soon as possible as we will operate on a . first come, first served basis.

Please email admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk and request an application form which should be scanned back to us by return.

A copy of the Governors’ Admissions Policy and Application Forms are available on request from the School Office or on the school website. Our Privacy Policy is also on our website.

of personal devotion to industriousness; he emerged from a childhood beset by family troubles to meet hardwon greatness.

Once again, our ancestor Abraham comes to mind, who left a troubled past behind in Ur, and, according to the Midrash, travelled the distance of the entire fertile crescent before settling on the Canaanite land south of Tyre, Phoenicia, on account of the industriousness of its inhabitants.

Like Abraham, Prince Philip became the nation’s grandfather figure, without official royal appointment as consort to his wife.

Abraham was called ‘Father to the Nations’, while his wife alone carried the royal title ‘Sarah’ meaning ‘Princess’.

Thanks to HRH Prince Philip, Britain developed a great tradition of meritocracy. May his life’s work be an inspiration to maintain the same. ◆ Rabbi Ariel Abel CF, Liverpool

Attention all Prospective

8 – 10 Shirehall Lane, London NW4 2PD Tel: 020 8202 7704 Fax: 020 8202 1605 Email: admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk Web: www.hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk Pre-Nursery, Nursery & Reception Head Teacher: Dr Alan Shaw, BA (Hons), MA, EdD.

Parents

Virtual Open Evening on

We are pleased to welcome Reception, Nursery & Pre-Nursery Parents to an Wednesday 18thProspective November 2020 from 8–9:30 pm There will be a Zoom presentation by the Headteacher followed by a virtual tour of the school. For security, please contact us with your details so that we may forward you the Zoom details closer to the time.

Open Morning Required for September 2021

on Tuesday 8 November 2016 from 9.30 – 11.00 am. admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk FULL-TIME TEACHER OF LIMMUDEI KODESH Email

th

There will be a presentation by the Headteacher at 9.30 am and followed by a tour of the school.

Applications for in September 2021 to Pre Nursery must Forentry security, please contact us with theNursery names of&attendees.

Hasmonean a friendly, successful Orthodox Jewish be Primary received by is Wednesday 9 December 2020. _________________________________________________________________ Primary School in Hendon labelled by OFSTED as a “high attaining -------------------------Applications for entry in September 2017 to Pre Nursery & Nursery must be received by school in which their learning.”

Applications for the pupils Receptionenjoy Class in September 2021 must be Friday 2ndKodesh December receivedwhere by the School AND Barnet

by Tuesdayis2016.

12 January 2021 for We are a school Limmudei valued equally by which you will need to complete two separate forms: Applications for Reception September 2017 in must be received by the School AND school, pupils and parents and as Pikuach observed – it isBarnet a school  The Common Application Form to be returned to the London onenjoyment Sunday 15th January 2017. where pupils express their of Kodesh lessons.

Borough of Barnet (online)  OurThe Hasmonean Primary Supplementary Information Form (on our Admissions Policy and Application Forms are available from the School or our website So, if you are enthused by teaching and want to teach Torah website) to be returned to the School to children who are equally www.hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk enthused by learning, then we are A copy of the Governors’ Admissions Policyfor andyou.

Application Forms are available on request looking th

th

from the School Office or on the school website. Our Privacy Policy is also on our website.

.

We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic, inspiring LK teacher to join our friendly, supportive team. Our curriculum requires a teacher with a background in yeshivah/seminary.

Please apply by submitting a CV to admin@hasmonean-pri.barnet.sch.uk Closing date for applications, midday 05/05/2021 Interviews will be held Week beginning 10/5/2019 This post is subject to safer recruitment procedures.

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Jewish News 22 April 2021

Progressive Judaism

The Bible Says What?

Progressively Speaking

“We’ll buy the poor for silver!”

Why I won’t celebrate Lag B’Omer this year, or any other year

BY RABBI DEBBIE YOUNG-SOMERS The prophet Amos is known for railing against abuse of ritual and certain social injustices in the society in which he lived.

He scorned those who would say: “If only Shabbat would end […] we will buy the poor for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.”

What he meant is people would be desperate for Shabbat to end so they could get back to making money on the backs of the poor.

We saw queues and excitement over returning to high street stores.

But are we not also falling foul of Amos’ call – leaving the poor and needy to suffer so we can buy that cheap pair of sandals?

Over Pesach, many Jews added to their seder plate cotton threads and yellow raisins as part of a campaign from René Cassin to raise awareness of the Uyghur genocide.

“Cotton symbolises the oppression faced by Uyghurs, as currently 20 percent of all cotton produced

is manufactured by Uyghurs in forced labour. The sweet yellow raisins are a popular snack in Uyghur culture and symbolise the fact hope still exists for an end to this persecution,” says the charity.

It is shocking to think 20 percent of all cotton is produced and manufactured in what has been described in the UK as forced labour camps (and in China as re-education camps). These are not only the poor, but the enslaved and oppressed, with whom many in the Jewish community feel huge affinity in their suffering.

It is so easy to unthinkingly buy what we need (or want) or replace what our kids have outgrown. But our prophets knew thousands of years ago this was the opposite of what it meant to build a healthy society and live a good Jewish life.

◆ Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers serves Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue

BY RABBI DANNY RICH Liberal Jews often face a choice when considering an outdated or irrelevant Jewish tradition: scrap it or reinterpret it in accord with modernity.

Lag B’Omer, never mind the Omer period itself, is a stark example. The origins of this day – which falls this year on 29 April – are unknown, which is perhaps why, with its absence of liturgical and other rituals, many Jews of all denominations treat it as an ordinary workday.

An Omer is a measure of grain.

Leviticus 23:15-21 orders Israelite farmers to bring an omer to the Temple each day for seven weeks from the second day of Pesach. The 50th day was its climax with the offering of two loaves of bread: Shavuot.

In ancient times, this period was one of intensive arable harvesting, and, even today, farmers remain dependent on good weather and other factors to ensure a bounteous crop and income for their futures.

Harvesting is therefore a time of

anxiety when a family or community’s future may be weighed in the balance. This may be why the whole Omer period became one of semi-mourning, during which it was forbidden to marry, have one’s hair cut and indulge in joyous events.

The most common explanation proffered is that during the Omer period, in the second century BCE, thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s pupils died of plague. If it became the custom for a relatively long period of semi-mourning (49 days), it is quite understandably why its adherents might want a break in the middle.

Lag B’Omer, the day on which

the plague was allegedly lifted, is an obvious moment of celebration.

Thus, Lag B’Omer is today in Israel and among more mystical sects of Judaism a day to light bonfires, shoot bows and arrows and visit the cave of the mystic, Shimon Bar Yochai, a leading disciple of Rabbi Akiva. These are perhaps attempts to provide relief from anxiety and offer resistance to forces that might upset the harvest.

In Liberal Judaism, the Omer period is understood as a time of preparation for the transition of a recently enslaved wandering ‘mixed multitude’ (as marked by the Pesach Exodus from Egypt) into a Jewish people with a constitution (the Ten Commandments given at Shavuot).

If the Omer period is such a positive and transformative time for the children of Israel then, in truth, there is no reason for Liberal Jews to commemorate Lag B’Omer at all. ◆ Rabbi Danny Rich is a vice president of Liberal Judaism

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A big thank you For the past ten months, JDA has worked flat out to make sure all our most vulnerable clients have food, medication and everything they need to stay safe during COVID-19.

And not only are they all healthy and stable, they’ve been able to stay connected with their JDA friends, had regular visits from our support staff and even had their challahs delivered fresh each Friday morning!

And our efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Tobi, one of our professional interpreters just taught a 93 year old to Facetime!

Many of our Deaf clients have dementia, learning disabilities or frail mental health. JDA’s innovative support services have been featured on national TV - and Deaf charities all over the country have been learning from us how we’ve kept such high risk people free from Coronavirus, healthy, happy and out of hospitals and care homes.

...to JDA staff and volunteers

...and to you, our supporters

But this has only been possible because of our support workers who have been working unbelievably hard to look after those in our community who have no one else to get them through.

Running JDA’s emergency services during lockdown is costly. But they must continue and there is no question of cutting corners when lives are at stake.

And they’ve been aided by a team of volunteers who have spent their days keeping the spectre of loneliness and isolation away from our clients.

020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk

The JDA is a family made up of clients, an outstanding workforce, selfless volunteers and our incredibly valued supporters who provide the fuel to keep us running. Thank you so much for bringing us this far and please help us to keep providing the specialist services our community need.

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Ask Our Experts / Professional advice from our panel

Our Experts Got a question for a member of our team?

Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SPECIALIST

BREAST, GROIN & HERNIA SURGEON

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE JACOB BERNSTEIN Qualifications: • A member of the APCC, specialising in financial services compliance for: • Mortgage, protection and general insurance intermediaries; • Lenders, credit brokers, debt counsellors and debt managers; • Alternative Investment Fund managers; • E-Money, payment services, PISP, AISP and grant-making charities.

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD 020 7781 8019 www.richdale.co.uk jacob@richdale.co.uk

EMPLOYMENT LAW AND DATA PROTECTION

TREVOR GEE Qualifications: • Managing Director, consultant specialists in affordable family health insurance.

• Advising on maximising cover, lower premiums, pre-existing conditions.

• Excellent knowledge of health insurers, cover levels and hospital lists.

• LLB solicitors finals.

• Member of Chartered Insurance Institute.

SIMON MARSH Qualifications: • Consultant General Surgeon with specialist interest in dealing with both breast cancer and non-cancer breast conditions.

• Surgical Director of the Gilmore Groin and Hernia Clinic experienced in hernia surgery, including “non-mesh” hernia repair and Sportsman’s Hernia.

• Local anaesthetic surgery including lipomas, cysts and skin cancers.

EMMA GROSS Qualifications: • Specialist in claims of unfair dismissal, redundancy and discrimination.

• Negotiate out-of-court settlements and handle complex tribunal cases.

• HR services including drafting contracts and policies, advising on disciplinaries, grievances and providing staff training.

• Contributor to The Times, HR Magazine and other titles.

PATIENT HEALTH 020 3146 3444/5/6 www.patienthealth.co.uk trevor.gee@patienthealth.co.uk

108 HARLEY STREET 0207 563 1234 www.108harleystreet.co.uk info@108harleystreet.co.uk

SPENCER WEST LLP 020 7925 8080 www.spencer-west.com emma.gross@spencer-west.com

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

JEWELLER

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN Qualifications: Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration. Last 14 years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company.

In close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for.

Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

• •

JONATHAN WILLIAMS Qualifications: • Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s.

• Expert in the manufacture and supply of diamond jewellery, wedding rings and general jewellery.

• Specialist in supply of diamonds to the public at trade prices.

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY 0800 358 3587 www.kkl.org.uk enquiries@kkl.org.uk

JEWELLERY CAVE LTD 020 8446 8538 www.jewellerycave.co.uk jonathan@jewellerycave.co.uk

•

Got a question for a member of our team?

Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

TRAVEL AGENT

COMMERCIAL LAWYER ADAM LOVATT Qualifications: • Lawyer with more than 11 years of experience working in the legal sector.

Specialist in corporate, commercial, media, sport and start-ups.

• Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London.

• Non-Executive Director of various companies advising on all governance matters.

LOVATT LEGAL LIMITED 07753 802 804 adam@lovattlegal.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

DAVID SEGEL Qualifications: • Managing director of West End Travel, established in 1972.

• Leading UK El Al agent with branches in Swiss Cottage and Edgware.

• Specialist in Israel travel, cruises and kosher holidays.

• Leading business travel company, ranked in top 50 UK agents.

• Frequent travel broadcaster on radio and TV.

SUE CIPIN Qualifications: • 20 years+ hands-on experience, leading JDA in significant growth and development.

• Understanding of the impact of deafness on people, including children, at all stages.

• Extensive services for people affected by hearing loss/tinnitus.

• Technology room with expert advice on and facilities to try out the latest equipment.

Hearing aid advice, support and maintenance.

WEST END TRAVEL 020 7644 1500 www.westendtravel.co.uk David.Segel@westendtravel.co.uk

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION 020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk mail@jdeaf.org.uk

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

STEPHEN MORRIS Qualifications: • Managing Director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd. • 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects.

• Chosen mover for four royal families and three UK prime ministers.

• Offering proven quality specialist advice for moving anyone across the world or round the corner.

LOUISE LEACH Qualifications: • Professional choreographer qualified in dance, drama and Zumba (ZIN, ISTD & LAMDA), gaining an honours degree at Birmingham University.

• Former contestant on ITV’s Popstars, reaching bootcamp with Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Kym Marsh.

• Set up Dancing with Louise 19 years ago.

STEPHEN MORRIS SHIPPING LTD 020 8832 2222 www.shipsms.co.uk stephen@shipsms.co.uk

DANCING WITH LOUISE 020 3740 7900 www.dancingwithlouise.co.uk Info@dancingwithlouise.com

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Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

ACCOUNTANT

KITCHEN CONSULTANCY

DENTIST

ADAM SHELLEY Qualifications: • FCCA chartered certified accountant.

• Accounting, taxation and business advisory services.

• Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses.

• Specialises in charities; Personal tax returns.

• Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award.

SHANTI PANCHANI Qualifications: • Experienced designer with 25+ years’ experience in German and English kitchens.

• We provide a full-circle approach: from designing and supplying to installing your new kitchen including appliances and speciality worktops.

• Our suppliers are flexible in design, ensuring the customer remains the priority.

• We have been supplying kosher-friendly kitchens for over 15 years.

DR ADAM NEWMAN Qualifications: • Dentist at the Gingerbread House, a Bupa Platinum practice in Shenley, Radlett.

• Regional clinical lead for Bupa Dental Care UK. • Providing NHS and private dentistry, whitening, implants and cosmetic treatment.

• Bachelor of Dental Surgery and member of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons Glasgow; GDC registered 212542.

SOBELL RHODES LLP 020 8429 8800 www.sobellrhodes.co.uk a.shelley@sobellrhodes.co.uk

THE KITCHEN CONSULTANCY 07738 067 671 www.thekitchenconsultancy.com shanti@thekitchenconsultancy.com

GINGERBREAD HOUSE 01923 852 852 www.gingerbreadhealth.co.uk Adam.newman@gingerbreadhealth.co.uk

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS SPECIALIST

IT SPECIALIST

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

NAOMI FELTHAM Qualifications: • Leading currency transfer provider since 1996 with over 500 expert employees.

• Excellent exchange rates on your transfers to/from Israel.

• Offices worldwide, with local support in Israel, the UK, mainland Europe and the USA. • Free expert guidance from your dedicated account manager.

IAN GREEN Qualifications: • Launched Man on a Bike IT consultancy 15 years ago to provide computer support for the home and small businesses.

• Clients range from legal firms in the City to families, small business owners and synagogues.

• More than 18 years’ experience.

LISA WIMBORNE Qualifications: Able to draw on the charity’s 50 years of experience in enabling people with physical disabilities or impaired vision to live independently, including: • The provision of specialist accommodation with 24/7 on site support.

• Knowledge of the innovations that empower people and the benefits available.

• Understanding of the impact of a disability diagnosis.

CURRENCIES DIRECT 07922 131 152 / 020 7847 9447 www.currenciesdirect.com/jn Naomi.feltham@currenciesdirect.com

MAN ON A BIKE 020 8731 6171 www.manonabike.co.uk mail@manonabike.co.uk

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611 www.jbd.org Lisa@jbd.org

ISRAELI ACCOUNTANT

INSURANCE CONSULTANCY

LEON HARRIS Qualifications: • Leon is an Israeli and UK accountant based in Ramat Gan, Israel.

• He is a Partner at Harris Horoviz Consulting & Tax Ltd. • The firm specializes in Israeli and international tax advice, accounting and tax reporting for investors, Olim and businesses.

• Leon’s motto is: Our numbers speak your language!

ASHLEY PRAGER Qualifications: • Professional insurance and reinsurance broker. Offering PI/D&O cover, marine and aviation, property owners, ATE insurance, home and contents, fine art, HNW. • Specialist in insurance and reinsurance disputes, utilising Insurance backed products. (Including non insurance business disputes).

• Ensuring clients do not pay more than required.

HARRIS HOROVIZ CONSULTING & TAX LTD +972-3-6123153 / + 972-54-6449398 leon@h2cat.com

RISK RESOLUTIONS 020 3411 4050 www.risk-resolutions.com ashley.prager@risk-resolutions.com

ALIYAH ADVISER

CAREER ADVISER

DOV NEWMARK Qualifications: • Director of UK Aliyah for Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organisation that helps facilitate aliyah from the UK. • Conducts monthly seminars and personal aliyah meetings in London.

• An expert in working together with clients to help plan a successful aliyah.

ERIC SALAMON Qualifications: • Provides free professional one-to-one advice at Resource to help unemployed into work.

• Offers mock interviews and workshops to maximise job prospects.

• Expert in corporate management holding director level marketing, commercial and general management roles.

NEFESH B’NEFESH 0800 075 7200 www.nbn.org.il dov@nbn.org.il

RESOURCE 020 8346 4000 www.resource-centre.org office@resource-centre.org

DIVORCE & FAMILY SOLICITOR

PALLIATIVE CARE MANAGER

VANESSA LLOYD PLATT Qualifications: • Qualification: 40 years experience as a matrimonial and divorce solicitor and mediator, specialising in all aspects of family matrimonial law, including: • Divorce, pre/post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements, domestic violence, children’s cases, grandparents’ rights to see grandchildren, pet disputes, family disputes.

• Frequent broadcaster on national and International radio and television.

LEON SMITH Qualifications: • Career spent in running one of the country’s largest care homes for older people (Nightingale Hammerson) • Extensive experience in political lobbying on matters relating to older people • Experience in housing matters related to older people and current board member of JLiving

LLOYD PLATT & COMPANY SOLICITORS 020 8343 2998 www.divorcesolicitors.com lloydplatt@divorcesolicitors.com

SWEETTREE HOME CARE SERVICES 020 7644 9522 www.sweettree.co.uk info@sweettree.co.uk

If you would like to advertise your services here email: sales@ jewishnews.co.uk

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7 French for ‘water’ (3) 8 Large fuel container (3,4) 9 Antlered deer (4)

ACROSS 1 Legal (5) 4 Melodic sound (5)

G E R P R

7

P V U H H A D W E A S E L

18

B L A N T E G O U F N U W I

F S L

T G S S T E A P D K

I

25

14

I

6

A T

13

25

I

Y

17

6

X S D D Q X W R K H COPPER DOGFISH DUSKY GREYREEF HAMMERHEAD

HOUND NURSE SAW SNAGGLETOOTH SPINNER

Last issue’s solutions Crossword ACROSS: 1 Schism 4 Area 8 Err 9 Owing to 10 Retry 11 Erupt 13 Excel 15 Shrug 17 Bluffer 19 Gum 20 When 21 Status DOWN: 1 Sheer 2 Heretic 3 Story 5 Rug 6 Adopt 7 Bile 12 Upright 13 Elbow 14 Life 15 Sprat 16 Games 18 Use

5 9 3 6 8 1 4 7 2

8 4 6 7 3 2 1 9 5

4

2

15

13

2

23

23

4

10

19

17

TIGER WEASEL WHALE WHITE

11

16

3

2

3

7

8 17

8

9

17

8

9

21

15

6 25

6 23

6

H U N

7

4

25

23

21

11

2

21

16

16

9

3 7 4 1 6 9 5 2 8

6 2 8 5 7 3 9 4 1

4 3 5 2 1 7 6 8 9

3

14 21 25

26

2 3

21

15

5

23

4 2 5

16 5

15

17

4

4

23

22

4

12

4

3

26

21

6

20

5

6

17

8

8

4

6

13

1 5 4

17 23

26

4

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1

2

3

14

15

16

H

4

5

6

17

18

19

N

7

8

9

20

21

22

U

10

11

12

13

23

24

25

26

Suguru 9 5 1 4 2 8 7 3 6

3

23

6

21

9

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

23

9

1

1 8 3 5 7 2 6 1 7 3 7 5 2 6

15

9

8 7

SUGURU

12

2

1

Sudoku 7 1 2 9 4 5 8 6 3

9 4 5

3 6 4 9 6 2 8

16

16

9

K A O V N C T Z C W M J R ANGEL BASKING BLUE CARPET CAT

16

15

S H C U A F E E R Y E R G T Q J

16

21

21

P H P Y G A R E P P O C B O R G H N C G M F

16

26

D E D N L M L E G N A A H I

21

15

17

T Y U E E M S S C N S S E

O

24

17

B L Y U O H Z N G N T A H E B K R O R E H

3

In this finished crossword, every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers 3, 6 and 9 with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

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

I

Russian emperor’s title (4) Garment’s sewn border (3) Per item (4) Seed spikes (of corn) (4) New beginning (7) Enclosure (3) Beneficiary of a cheque (5) Is brave, takes a risk (5)

CODEWORD

WORDSEARCH E L M E W D T

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

DOWN 1 Falsehoods (4) 2 Scathing (7) 3 Channel, gutter (6) 4 Distance measure (4) 5 Male teacher’s title (3) 6 Photo‑taking device (6) 11 Tool for removing ice from windscreens (7) 12 Make preparations (for) (4,2) 14 Way of doing something (6) 17 Incite (4) 18 Brings to a conclusion (4) 20 Purchase (3)

16 17

SUDOKU

2 6 9 8 5 4 3 1 7

1 8 7 3 9 6 2 5 4

1 3 1 5 1 3

2 4 2 4 2 4

5 1 3 1 3 1

All puzzles © Puzzler Media Ltd - www.puzzler.com

Wordsearch 3 2 4 2 4 2

1 5 3 1 3 5

2 4 2 5 2 1

1 3 4 2 3 2

4 2 1 5 1 4

1 5 3 2 3 5

3 2 4 1 4 1

1 5 3 2 3 2

3 2 1 4 5 1

V X S F K L T K N I R D S

K E T T L E G O S U G A R

E H E N N W M E P G V C N

M S W I B E G Z I A I G E

H U T M L A Y N Y U E P E

A L G R R S G A B A E T R

R T S E A E K C R J S A G

Codeword O F V P R I D O A H A Q N

U E A P O D N S E E U T B

B W Y E R O M E M R C V N

P U J P L I N I R B E T S

E S U F N I L Z M A R J X

M F I E Q K L C J L C U P

P A P R I K E A R COR D I A A C S N E E D B L I QU R P R E L F E N S L A X H Y C U A L I B I P N S O E AG L E

A T BOA L R E A T A E U R S V E L D R A U N B N U G E T

E A C B I D E U R C T O J O P BOM W OWE O AWA

H O R I Z O N B U D D Y

MG T S K E NWB P A Z H V R X Y Q J U O D I F L C22/04

44

Jewish News 22 April 2021

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Business Services Directory ANTIQUES 44

The Jewish News 22 September 2016

www.jewishnews.co.uk

BUSINESS SERVICES DIRECTORY

Top prices paid

Antique – Reproduction – Retro Furniture (any condition)

Carer

Clothing

WE BUY ANTIQUES Carer FURS WANTED Auxiliary Nurse VERY HIGH PRICES PAID. FREE HOME VISITS.

Epstein, Archie Shine, Hille, G Plan, etc.

Antiques

Dining Suites, Lounges Suites, Bookcases, Desks, Cabinets, Mirrors, Lights, etc.

Cash paid for Mink Available support Allto Antique Furniture Hille & Epstein jackets, coats, you in your home.

Diamond Jewellery, Gold, Silver,boleros, Paintings, stoles, Porcelain, also fox coats, etc.

Glass,Days/nights.

Bronzes, Ivories, Oriental & Judaica Antiques jackets etc.

Very reasonable rates.

Full house clearances organised.

Wardrobes cleared Call Please 0208 look 958 at 2939 our website for more details Call 01277 352 560 or 07495 026 168

House clearances Single items to complete homes MARYLEBONE ANTIQUES - 8 CHURCH STREET NW8 8ED

WE BUY ANTIQUES

07866 614 744 (ANYTIME)

www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk

VERY HIGH PRICES PAID. FREE HOME VISITS. All Antique Hille & Epstein 0207Furniture 723 7415 (SHOP) Diamond Jewellery, Gold, Silver, Paintings, Porcelain, closed Sunday & Monday Glass, Bronzes, Ivories, Oriental & Judaica Antiques etc.

Computer FOR APPOINTMENTS CALL SUE ON:

0800 840 2035 or 07956268290

STUART SHUSTER - e-mail - info@maryleboneantiques.co.uk

Man on aOPEN Bike8am will TOget 9pm 7 DAYS. you working fast! RD LONDON. PORTOBELLO

Full house clearances organised.

MAKE SURE CONTACT BEFORE SELLING Please look YOU at our websiteUS for more details www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk

Rapid Response IT support for your PC & Mac Networks, virus problems, broadband, wireless systems, new computers and everything else you may need.

CHARITY & WELFARE For small businesses & home users.

FOR APPOINTMENTS CALL SUE ON: 0800 840 2035 or 07956268290 OPEN 8am TO 9pm 7 DAYS.

Call Ian Green, Man on a Bike on

PORTOBELLO RD LONDON.

020 8731 6171 • www.manonabike.co.uk

ARE YOU BEREAVED?

Stirling of Kensal Green Established over 60 years.

Know who you are dealing with.

Top prices paid

All quality furniture bought & sold.

Antique – Reproduction – Retro Furniture (any condition)

Best prices paid for complete house clearEpstein, Archie Shine, Hille, G Plan, etc. ances Lounges includingSuites, china, Bookcases, books, Dining Suites, clothing etc. Also rubbish clearance Desks, Cabinets, Mirrors, Lights, etc. service, lofts, sheds, garages etc House clearances Single items to complete Please contact Gordonhomes Stirling

020 8960 5401 or 07825 224144 CHURCH STREET ANTIQUES ‐ 8 CHURCH STREET NW8 8ED

͔͚͛͜​͚ ͚͕͘ ͛͘​͘ (ANYTIME) Email: gordonstirling65@gmail.com 0207 723 7415 (SHOP) closed Sunday & Monday

STUART SHUSTER ‐ e‐mail ‐ stuart@churchstreetantiques.net

MAKE SURE YOU CONTACT US BEFORE SELLING

WESTLON HOUSING ASSOCIATION Sheltered Accommodation

Charity & Welfare Bereavement Counselling for adults and children individually. Support Groups available.

During the pandemic, we offer telephone and online counselling.

ARE YOU BEREAVED? Contact Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service in adults confidence.

Counselling for & children who are 0208Support 951 3881groups offered. experiencing loss. enquiries@jbcs.org.uk | www.jbcs.org.uk Call The Jewish Bereavement

Labels are forTURN, jars.

Refer yourself or aKNOW loved one by IF YOU DON’T WHICH WAY TO Not people. calling 020 8458 2223 orOUR visit HELPLINE. REMEMBER www.jamiuk.org

For confidential advice, information and support don’t forget Jewish Care Direct.

REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1003345

020 8922 2222

Counselling Service in confidence

jcdirect@jcare.org

020 & 8951 3881 • 07765 693 160 CHARITY WELFARE

jewishcare.org/helpline

HOUSE CLEARANCE

E: enquiries@jbcs.org.uk

We have an open waiting list in our friendly and comfortable warden assisted sheltered housing schemes in Ealing, East Finchley and Hendon. We provide 24-hour warden WESTLON HOUSING ASSOCIATION support, seven days a week; a residents’ lounge and kitchen, laundry, a sunny patio and garden.

Sheltered Accommodation For further details and forms, We have an open waiting list for ourapplication friendly and comfortable pleasesheltered contact Westlon Housing Association onpeople warden assisted housing schemes for Jewish in Ealing, East Finchley andjohnsilverman@btconnect.com Hendon. We provide 24-hour 020 8201 8484 or email: warden support, seven days a week; a residents’ lounge and kitchen, laundry, a sunny patio and garden.

PEST CONTROL For further details and application forms, please contact Westlon Housing Association on 020 8201 8484

Charity Reg No. 802559

PLUMBSAFE (UK) LTD “Better Safe Than Sorry”

Jami supports and represents people with mental illness across Fast & Efficient House the Jewish community.

For all your heating and plumbing requirements | boiler repairs and installation | complete central heating | | power flushing | complete bathroom installation service | | landlords certificates | project management | home purchase reports |

SAFE AND DISCREET PROFESSIONAL PEST CONTROL

Clearance

#jamithinkahead We are reliable, cover all neighbourhoods & suit all budgets.

Give support • Get support • Get involved

We also buy good quality furniture, old books & Judaica.

All NW-London postcodes covered

07860 881505 or 0800 610 12 12

020 8458 2223 | info@jamiuk.org www.jamiuk.org

Call: 078 060 79299 Reg Charity No. 1003345

Not shabbat

PLUMBSAFEUK.COM

We cover all aspects of pest control for residential and commercial properties.

Are you a Jewish woman experiencing domestic violence?

With abuse in your home, do you worry about your children?

Including mice treatment and mouse proofing with We are here to help1 year guarantee. with free support, advice and information and confidential counselling.

Kosher Refuge available for women and0203 children 405 in need.5000 Email: info@inoculand.co.uk Free Confidential National Helpline 0808 801 0500 Web www.inoculand.co.uk advice@jwa.org.uk • www.jwa.org.uk

HOME & MAINTENANCE

Home & Maintenance

L

K

PLUMBSAFE (UK) LTD

No further, your

LOCAL PLUMBERS

“Better Safe Than Sorry”

Hall & Randall Plumbers

CENTRAL HEATING, PLUMBING REPAIRS & ADVISORY SERVICE EMERGENCY REPAIRS, BLOCKED PIPES DRAINAGE GUTTERING, ROOFING, CENTRAL HEATING AND BOILERS 12 MONTHS GUARANTEE, 40 YEARS EXPERIENCE

For all your heating and plumbing requirements | boiler repairs and installation | complete central heating | | power flushing | complete bathroom installation service | | landlords certificates | project management | home purchase reports |

All NW-London postcodes covered

07860 881505 or 0800 610 12 12

020 8953 2094 office

Not shabbat

020 8207 3286 home 020 8386 8798 hallandrandallplumbers.com

PLUMBSAFEUK.COM

office@hallandrandall.com

Home & Maintenance

STONEMASON

PROFESSIONAL A. ELFES LTD PAINTING, DECORATING memorials & New PAPER HANGING Additional inscriptions Over & 20renovations years experience Friendly, reliable & Gants Hill service.

Edgware personal

The specialist masons in creating bespoke Granite and Marble Memorials for all Cemeteries.

Clayhall Showroom 14 Claybury Broadway Ilford. IG5 0LQ T: 0208 551 6866

Edgware Showroom 41 Manor Park Crescent Edgware. HA8 7LY T: 0208 381 1525

Email : info@garygreenmemorials.co.uk

STEPHEN: 07973 342 422 0207 754 4659 0207 754 4646

www.garygreenmemorials.co.uk

Gary Green ad 84 x 40mm JM Group v2.indd 1

12Very Beehive Lane 130rates High Street competitive Gants Hill, IG1 3RD Edgware, HA8 7EL Telephone Telephone

18/03/2019 12:50:51

srindsmc@hotmail.com

www.memorialgroup.co.uk

HI

LINE ROOFING

LONDON

& UPVC Fitters

58a Bowrons Avenue, Wembley HA0 4QP

+ " ) "# ,! " Head Office: 145 New Chelmsford CM2 0QT

Rochester House,

"London Road,

Tel: !

# 07773

/

01245 211 022 ● Fax: 01245 211 001 ● Direct: 102 386 07428 264 454 ! ) *" " - *'

www.hilineroofing.site123.me

Family run business

London 020 8485 8176

DRIVEWAYS PATIOS AUTOMOTIVE LANDSCAPING FENCING City and Guilds Electrician MOTOR VEHICLES All types of electrical work undertaken BRICKWORK PURCHASED JET WASHING Rewiring, extra sockets, BT points, Economy 7 CLASSIC OR CARS storage heaters, Shabbat time switches, security lighting, NEW ROOFS for vehicles overfinding, 10 CCTVportable appliance LED spotlights, fault tests, years old landlord testspreferably and house buyer’s surveys. ROOF REPAIRS withan low mileage For efficient reliable and friendly service.

UPVC FASCIAS Call Harvey Solomons on UPVC SOFFITS 020 8958 6495 / 07836 648 554 Contact: Anthony – 07850 590415

LOFT CONVERSIONS

!

! # ! " " #

GUTTERING REPOINTING IN THE ADVERTISE PAINTING UK’S BIGGEST PLASTERING NEWSPAPER JEWISH PEBBLE DASHING LESS THAN FOR ELECTRICS A WEEK £24.00 PLUMBING Call Marc today ALL BUILDING WORK on 020 7692 6943 WINDOWS & DOORS

Jewish

FREE ESTIMATES & ADVICE / ALL WORK FULLY GUARANTEED

22 April 2021 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

45

Business Services Directory SILVER

ANTIQUES

ANTIQUE JUDAICA & HEBRAICA Books, Manuscripts, Ephemera, Works of Art and Silver

ADVERTISE IN THE UK’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER FOR LESS THAN

HIGHEST PRICES PAID!

JCL Antiques Ltd. 07791 798492 joseph.landau@yahoo.co.uk

£24 A WEEK

CLEANING

Professional standard with elegant finishing.

End of tenancy, deep cleaning, post renovation cleaning services. We create a clean environment with our clean projects.

Email Sales today at sales@jewishnews.co.uk

Call us on 07907 017869 or email us via our website, www.cleanthecity.co.uk, to discuss your specific requirements – we are happy to provide a free quote.

OFFICE FURNITURE

LEGACY- LEAVE A GIFT IN YOUR MEMORY

JEWISH WAR VETERANS

Leave the legacy of independence to people like Joel.

& THEIR DEPENDANTS NEED

YOUR LEGACY

PLease remember us in your wiLL.

eNABLeD

Tel: 020 8202 2323 Web: www.ajex.org.uk Email: headoffice@ajex.org.uk

visit www.Jbd.org

Registered Charity

or caLL 020 8371 6611 No. 259480 18-361-JM Small legacy advert v1.qxp_Legacy 09/10/2018 10:27 Page 1

Registered Charity No: 1082148

Need to furnish your home or office?

London’s leading supplier of new and reconditioned furniture.

Free assembly and delivery next working day on most items – call now!

HELP US CONTINUE TO BE THERE FOR OUR COMMUNITY WITH A GIFT IN YOUR WILL. Call Alison on 020 8922 2833 for more information or email legacyteam@jcare.org Chancellors House, Brampton Lane, London, NW4 4AB Tel: 020 8903 8746 | Fax: 020 8795 2240 www.bfiwd.org | email: info@bfiwd.org

Charity Reg No. 802559

Call 0800 559 3917 Email sales@andrewsofficefurniture.com www.andrewsofficefurniture.com

HOUSE CLEARANCES legacy@cst.org.uk ► www.cst.org.uk ► 0208 457 3700 ►

Together

we protect our children’s future Please include CST in your will

Charity no. 1042391 and SC043612

COMPUTER Legacy advert 84x40.indd 1

16/04/2021 10:55

ADVERTISE IN THE UK’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER FOR LESS THAN

£24 A WEEK

Email Sales today at sales@jewishnews.co.uk

46

Jewish News 22 April 2021

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