1253

Full coverage of Putin’s war

FREE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 10 March 2022

• 7 Adar Sheni 5782 • Issue No.1253 •

‘ JEWISH CHILDREN ARRIVE IN THE UK ON A KINDERTRANSPORT IN 1938

@JewishNewsUK

• Jewish charities co-ordinate efforts P2-3 • President Zelensky’s Commons speech P5 • The Jewish exodus from Ukraine P6 • Margaret Hodge on UK’s response P10 • Jewish Russians taking a stand P13 • Editorial comment and letters P22-23

This is our chance to take the young generation of a great people, to mitigate to some extent the terrible suffering of their parents and friends November 1938: Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare tells Parliament no limit will be placed on the number of children from Nazi Europe let into Britain

’

A UKRAINIAN FATHER WAVES GOODBYE TO HIS CHILDREN AT LVIV TRAIN STATION THIS WEEK

Outrage at UK response to refugee crisis, see p2 & 3

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Charities raise more than The Jewish community continued to rally to raise funds this week for Ukrainians impacted by Russia’s invasion, with ORT UK announcing a partnership with World Jewish Relief (WJR), writes Jeremy Last.

On Tuesday, ORT broke with protocol by urging its donors to support WJR’s Ukraine Crisis Appeal rather than give directly to ORT. Yesterday, WJR said its campaign has so far raised more than £3 million.

With Jews and non-Jews across Ukraine continuing to suffer from the bombardment by Russian forces, ORT decided that teaming up with

WJR would be the most effective way of helping its Ukrainian community.

ORT has a strong presence in Ukraine, where it has been operating for 25 years. It provides education to 8,000 students, staff and families in Ukraine via its schools and training centres.

Currently, all ORT’s schools and training centres in Ukraine are closed.

Dan Rickman, CEO of ORT UK, said: “Given the extreme situation, our current priority is to ensure that the emergency needs of our Ukrainian community are being served. It is for this reason that we have made the decision to partner

with World Jewish Relief, in support of its Ukraine Crisis Appeal.”

WJR is proactively working with its 29 partners in Ukraine and is responding to emergency humanitarian needs within and beyond Jewish communities.

The WJR campaign has already had a strong impact across Ukraine.

The charity said it has been providing cash transfers, food and medical equipment to residents, continuing home care and providing psychological support and assisting its partners to evacuate vulnerable people where it is safe to do so.

It has also sent specialists from its humanitarian and refugee teams to Poland and Moldova to support its partners in expanding their capacity to assist refugees fleeing Ukraine.

In Krakow, WJR is assisting the Jewish Community Centre, helping it to support incoming Ukrainian refugees with safe spaces for women and children, an information hub and accommodation. And in Kyiv, WJR is supporting organisations procuring and hand-delivering food and hot meals to Ukrainians hampered by blockades around the city.

Rickman added: “We know how

unusual it is for a charity to ask its donors to consider donating to another charity, but these are unusual times.

“None of us know how long this situation will continue, but as soon as we are able to, ORT will focus on rebuilding our Jewish schools in Ukraine. In the meantime, we’ll also continue to fundraise for ORT’s educational projects around the globe and in the UK. “ORT UK fully believe that by uniting with the agency best placed to deliver and provide aid, we can ensure that our ORT ben-

‘WE TOOK IN KINDER BUT TURN AWAY UKRAINIANS’

Boris Johnson wants checks

Boris Johnson has ruled out dispensing with checks on Ukrainian refugees attempting to flee to the UK from their war-ravaged country, telling MPs this would “expose this country to unnecessary security risks”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey told the prime minister in the Commons yesterday that “in the months before World War II, the UK took in more than 60,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution.”

Davey also noted that thousands of Ugandans expelled by former leader Idi Amin, Tamils escaping civil war, Bosnians and Syrians had been welcomed into the UK, but the Home Office was now “turning away hundreds of Ukranian refugees escaping Putin because they did not have the right paperwork”.

The Lib Dem leader then added: “Can you, prime minister, not see this flies in the face of this country’s proud tradition of providing sanctuary?”

Responding, Johnson insisted that what Davey had said about the UK was “completely wrong”, adding that “no one has been turned away”.

He pointed to the refugees from Afghanistan, the applications to settle in the UK from Hong Kong Chinese and the thousands of Syrians who had arrived here.

Johnson then added: “It is important to have checks, let me make this clear.

“People need to understand, there are some people who would like to dispense with checks altogether... simply to wave people thorough.

“I have got to say I do think that is irresponsible and I do not think that is the approach we should be taking.

“We must in no doubt… we know how unscrupulous Vladimir Putin can be.

“It would not be right to expose this country to unnecessary security risks.”

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

n £3m for refugees eficiaries will receive the help they urgently require.”

WJR’s CEO Paul Anticoni thanked ORT for its support. “The coming together of so many of our communal agencies to champion our appeal is immense and in this unique moment, ORT UK’s assistance is truly wonderful. I cannot thank its trustees, staff and supporters enough to be with us at such a traumatic time.

Synagogues across the country came together to collect and pack supplies to be sent to Ukrainians in Ukraine, Poland and other countries.

At Pinner Synagogue, mem-

bers packaged up bags of goods for humanitarian aid charity Goods for Good,to be sent by lorry to Ukraine.

And Barnet United Synagogue said it raised £4,000 for humanitarian aid.

It has also collected £2,000 in supplies to be sent directly to refugees of the ongoing crisis. The goods will be distributed by Polish and Romanian organisations to the borders with Ukraine to those who escaped across.

Barnet United’s Rabbi Dr Samuel Landau said he was “overwhelmed by the generosity of people”.

He said: “We must do as much as we can to help people when they are

in distress and need: it is part of our Jewish values. Barnet Synagogue is praying hard for the wellbeing and safety of everyone in Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, a charity launched by two Jewish teachers in London filled a lorry with supplies to Poland to be distributed to Ukrainian refugees close to the border.

The goods, including clothing, bedding and hygiene items, was due to be handled by Chabad in Warsaw with the vehicle set to leave on Monday. It was organised by Give. Help. Share, set up in 2020 by Borehamwood teachers Amanda Barbanel and Jac-

Ukrainian families flee west, away from the fighting

queline Harris. Barbanel said: “Seeing children evacuated on trains feels all too familiar. It’s heartbreaking and we felt compelled to do something.”

An organisation representing a group of Holocaust survivors and their families made a substantial donation to help Ukrainians in need.

The ’45 Aid Society, founded by Sir Ben Helfgott, said it had donated £10,732 to WJR’s Ukraine appeal.

WJR, then known as the Central British Fund, was instrumental in bringing over the group of survivors, known as The Boys. The 732 is symbolic as it represents the number of

Boys that WJR helped to bring to the UK after liberation.

A ’45 Aid Society statement read: “The Boys continue to be grateful to WJR for helping them to heal and start new lives and now feel it is their time to give financial support to help WJR in their vital work in the Ukraine.”

Angela Cohen, chairman of the ’45 Aid Society, said: “We have given a donation to [WJR’s] Ukraine Crisis Appeal, as our Boys remember only too well what it felt like being a refugee, losing members of your family and having to flee because of war with nowhere to go.”

POLAND - 1,300,000 HUNGARY - 200,000 SLOVAKIA - 150,000 MOLDOVA - 90,000 ROMANIA - 85,000 OTHER EU COUNTRIES - 230,000 UK - 957

UKRAINIAN REFUGEE ARRIVALS TO DATE

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Ukrainian Holocaust survivor, 90, reunited with Israeli family This was the moment a Ukrainian Holocaust survivor was united with her only living relatives in Israel last Thursday, writes Michael Daventry.

The 90-year-old, identified just by her first name Raisa at her family’s request, had been living alone in Odessa since her son died two years ago.

She was brought to Israel by United Hatzalah following an appeal from her three granddaughters, who all now live in Israel. One of them said: “What happened here was a miracle.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Raisa was flown out of the region last week after making it across Ukraine’s south-western border with Moldova.

She was taken to the frontier in an ambulance arranged by Rabbi Hillel Cohen, the United Hatzalah director in Ukraine.

From there, she was taken to a shelter in the Moldovan capital, Chișinău, before being transferred to the airport in the nearby Romanian city of Iași.

There were 160 refugees on board the flight, which was organised by the volunteer emergency medical first response organisation, with passengers including Israeli citizens and those planning to migrate under the Law of Return.

Raisa’s reunion with her family took place on Thursday.

“When the plane arrived in Israel, there were a lot of tears,” said Dov Maisel, Hatzalah’s vice president of operations.

“I’ve seen my fair share of disaster zones and I don’t get emotional easily, but seeing Raisa reunited with her granddaughters brought me to tears as well.”

Raisa with her three granddaughters

‘You’ve reached safety,’ Israeli PM tells orphans

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Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett and other cabinet ministers were at Ben Gurion Airport to greet a group of 90 Jewish orphans who fled Ukraine.

El Al, Israel’s largest airline, said the flight was part of a special operation to rescue some 300 Jews from the fighting.

The airline said Ukrainianspeaking staff were on board the flight to assist passengers.

Some of the orphans have family members who are still in fighting areas, it added.

Bennett, who was accompanied by immigration mgot on the plainister Pnina Tamano-Shata, got on the plane to welcome the children, introducing himself to one boy by saying: “I am Naftali, prime minister of Israel. Would you like to come into Israel?”

Speaking to media as the children disembarked, he said: “We are now seeing children immigrating to Israel. It is the most moving thing there is.”

He later tweeted that he had told the children: “You are safe now, you have reached safe shores.”

Above: Orphans from Ukraine arrive in Israel.

Left: Prime minister Naftali Bennett with a child at the airport

The children fled the city of Zhytomyr and, with the help of local Chabad groups, last week crossed the border to Romania and then stayed in the city of Cluj-Napoca, the Walla news site reported.

From there, they flew to Israel. Chabad, a Chasidic organisation that works to maintain Jewish life around the world, has branches in

both Ukraine and Romania.

Roni Shabtai, Israel’s consul in Romania, told Walla last week that the children, the eldest of whom was around 12 and the youngest just two, walked 400 meters through the snow in belowfreezing temperatures in order to cross the border.

Around 200 other Ukrainian refugees have also arrived in Israel on planes from Moldova, Romania and Poland.

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

‘Our fight for survival is like Britain’s against the Nazis’ Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky compared his country’s fight for survival to Britain’s fight against the Nazis in a live address to MPs and peers in the Commons, writes Lee Harpin.

As his country continued to battle the Russian invasion, Zelensky, who is Jewish, said via a video link: “We do not want to lose what is ours, our country, Ukraine, just the same way you once didn’t want to lose your country when Nazis started to fight your country.”

Echoing the spirit and words of wartime leader Winston Churchill, he added: “We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, the fields, the shores and in the streets.”

Zelensky said his people have shown a “heroic” effort against Russian forces. “Shelling didn’t break us,” he told the packed chamber.

During his five-minute address, Zelensky asked Boris Johnson to “increase the pressure of sanctions”

Zelensky: ‘Shelling didn’t break us’

MPs and peers give President Volodymyr Zelensky a standing ovation

on Russia and for the UK and to recognise Russia as a terrorist state.

Zelensky said sanctions were welcome but were not enough and called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

The decision by the International Criminal Court to investigate Russia for war crimes gave them hope that there would be consequences, he

added. More than 50 children have died in the war; these are “lives of children that could have lived”.

The speech was broadcast on specially installed screens in the chamber shortly after 5pm on Tuesday. MPs and peers gave Zelensky a standing ovation before he spoke.

MPs followed a live translation

through headphones, while members of the Lords watched from the public gallery. Ukranian ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko was in the Commons to watch the address.

Following Zelensky’s speech, Boris Johnson said: “Never before has the Commons listened to such an address.” He added that Zelensky was “standing firm for democracy and freedom”.

Johnson also praised ordinary Ukrainians who were standing firm against a brutal assault.

He said the UK and allies were determined to “press on” to supply

weapons, impose sanctions and add pressure on Russia. The UK would employ every method possible until Putin has failed in this venture and Ukraine is free “once more”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer responded saying: “He’s reminded us that our freedom and our democracy are invaluable.

“He’s prompted the world into action, where too often we’ve let Putin have his way. He’s inspired the Ukrainian people to resist and frustrate the Russian war machine.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey suggested Zelensky deserved an honorary knighthood. Johnson appeared to nod in agreement.

The speech was broadcast an hour after the UK government confirmed it is to phase out Russian oil and oil imports by the end of 2022. This transition period will give the market, businesses and supply chains more than enough time to replace Russian imports – which make up eight percent of UK demand, it said.

Nuclear deal ‘will boost Iran’ Boris Johnson has been warned that agreeing to a new nuclear deal with Iran risks “emboldening” the country.

Former communities secretary Robert Jenrick spoke out after negotiators in Vienna were close to agreeing a deal following the collapse of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Some in the UK and US fear this agreement will be weaker than its predecessor; the new deal is opposed by Israel.

Alan Mendoza, chief executive of right-wing think tank

the Henry Jackson Society, said support for the deal would be “an extraordinary U-turn by the British government”, which “just a year ago pledged sanctions relief would be conditional on Iran ceasing to sponsor terrorism”.

Following lengthy negotiations, a new deal is expected to be announced under which US sanctions would be lifted in return for Tehran returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear nonproliferation deal.

On Saturday the deal –

which is being discussed by French, German and British representatives, with America also present – came under attack from Russia, which demanded written guarantees that Ukraine-related sanctions, which have mounted this week, would not prevent it from continued trading with Tehran.

Negotiators for the Iranian regime have attempted to gain assurances that Israeli intelligence will not be used for inspectors to gain access to suspicious sites in the future.

ISRAEL-RUSSIA TALK NOT ENOUGH TO HALT WAR JN ANALYSIS It was a shock to learn Israel’s Orthodox prime minister had broken Shabbat rules last weekend, writes Michael Daventry. Naftali Bennett did so, his rabbis advised, because human life was at risk: he was flying to Moscow to talk peace with Vladimir Putin.

His trip marked the moment Israel broke from its strategy of staying out of the war triggered by Russia’s

invasion of Ukraine. Until the weekend, Israeli language on the conflict had been more muted than other countries.

And it has not followed the west in imposing sanctions of unprecedented scale on Russia.

One factor is that a substantial part of Israel is Russian-speaking: as much as a fifth. Over the past 75 years 1.3 million people born in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries have immigrated. A whole political

party, finance minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, was originally founded for Russian speakers. And there’s Iran, Israel’s big adversary in the region, which has long operated from Syria — a Russian ally.

All we know about Bennett’s meeting is that it lasted three hours and he has made several phone calls to Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky since. He will be respected for his effort but it is far from enough to stop the fighting.

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Humanity amid the horror Hundreds of Ukrainian Jews are waiting out the war in Moldova’s shuls and community centres A mother cradles her child. An old man clutches a large plastic bag into which he has crammed all the belongings he could fit, writes Jacob Judah. The children who are old enough to understand what is happening are silent, those who are not are tugging gently at their grandmothers’ coats. This is one scene of the Jewish exodus from Ukraine.

The cramped corridors and dirty stairwells of the few synagogues and community centres owned by the Jewish community in Ukraine’s neighbour, Moldova, have been quiet this week – but they are not empty. Women are sitting stunned as they process for the first time the idea that they have become refugees. Teenagers are texting their fathers and brothers for news.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, more than two million people have become refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many have ended up in Moldova, Europe’s poorest country, which borders Ukraine to the south.

Ukrainian refugees enjoy a meal at the Agudath Israel synagogue in Chisinau, Moldova

Among those leaving Ukraine are thousands of Jews, and many have sought the help of the Jewish community in Moldova. Local Jews say they have seen thousands of Ukrainian Jews pass through, seeking help, shelter and advice as they plan their next moves.

Katerina Starchenko, 70, sat in the corner of a study room of one of the capital Chisinau’s four

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Katerina Starchenko and granddaughter Milena

main synagogues – the Sinagoga Sticlarilor, or Far fewer than 5,000 attend synagogue on a Glassmakers’ Synagogue, which was erected in regular basis.

Most Ukrainians who arrive in Moldova are the 19th century and is now run by the ChabadLubavitch Chasidic movement. It took two days unlikely to stay. It is estimated that some 40,000 for her to reach Moldova from her home in the have already left for neighbouring Romania, from where they will have begun to disperse industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine.

“It was frightening,” she said. “The road across Europe.

Natalia Bilokonenko, 52, had been sheltering wasn’t easy and we were constantly having to stop at checkpoints on the route where there in an underground car park from Russian missile attacks on Kyiv when she decided she had to were men with guns. It made me very nervous.”

Starchenko was driven by her 33-year-old get her seven-year-old daughter out.

“I thought we could stay,” she said, “but the son, along with his wife and daughter. Ukraine has banned men of fighting age (18-60) from fighting in the districts around Kyiv started to leaving the country, so he left them at the Moldovan border and turned around. “He has gone back to fight,” she said.

Like many Ukrainians, she wasn’t prepared for war. It seemed ridiculous to think Russia would decide to invade Ukraine, she said.

“I am 70 years old already,” she said, “but my children and grandchildren are young. They don’t deserve this.”

Nearby is a backpack and a Ukrainian refugees in the Agudath Israel Synagogue trolley decorated with sunflowers into which she has packed a few clothes and get much worse and I got frightened. I got a mesmementoes. She is going to pay 150 euros each sage at 2am saying there was going to be a group for her daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and of people leaving that morning, so I decided to herself to get by car to Italy, where she has a take my daughter and go.”

They boarded a bus organised by the city’s daughter.“I don’t think I will be going home Jewish community and the Israeli government anytime soon,” she said.

Moldova, not a member of Nato nor of and set out for Moldova. When she arrived, the European Union, is the most fragile of she was told the Poland-registered bus was not Ukraine’s western neighbors, with an under- going to be allowed to enter Moldova, and that equipped healthcare system that was battered she would have to find her own way to Chisinau. by the Covid-19 pandemic. But since the fighting She got in contact with Chabad in Moldova, who started in Ukraine, Moldovan society has mobi- told her they would help her pay for a car if she could find one. lised to support the influx of Ukrainians.

Bilokonenko’s son and ex-husband are “Thousands have come through here,” said Lea Gotsel, 23, the wife of one of the Sinagoga fighting. As she spoke, her phone kept buzzing.

Sticlarilor rabbis, as she stood surrounded by “I am in constant contact with him,” she said refugees eating an afternoon meal of couscous about her son. “I am a doctor, and usually as a doctor you learn to control your emotions, but and leftover Passover matzah.

The city’s synagogues are run by various I am so worried about him. He says he is safe,” Orthodox groups who often do not have full- she said as her eyes began to redden.

She is going to take her daughter to Italy, time rabbis; the organisations send in rabbis from the US and Israel, who often stay for sev- where she has a friend with whom she can stay.

“I want to say one thing about Ukraine,” she eral years at a time, serving the community of anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000, depending on said. “The Ukrainian nation is very strong in how one counts people with Jewish heritage. spirit and we will fight to the end.”

7

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Russians still welcome at third biggest sports event Russian athletes will be allowed to take part in this summer’s Maccabiah Games, even after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) banned the Russian and Belarussian teams from the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Just minutes after the IPC decision was announced, a Maccabiah source confirmed to Jewish News that both Russian and Ukrainian delegations are still expected to attend the Maccabiah Games, due to take place in Israel from 12 to 26 July.

The Maccabiah stressed that it is not a political movement and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will not have any

impact. “For now, we have no intention of any banning,” the source said.

The Maccabiah is believed to be the third-biggest international sporting event in the world, with more than 10,000 athletes participating in 2017, the most recent edition.

In 2017, Russia finished joint seventh alongside Great Britain in the medal table with one gold, two silver and 11 bronze medals.

The Russians have been booted out of numerous international sporting competitions following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Last Monday, UEFA and FIFA

banned Russia from taking part in any international football competitions, including the World Cup qualifying playoff. Other sporting bodies that have banned Russia include World Rugby, the International Tennis Federation and Formula 1.

The IPC had originally announced that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete under a neutral flag, but the statement released last Wednesday was met by criticism and the threat of a boycott, leading to a complete U-turn.

IPC president Andrew Parsons said: “In taking our decision, we were looking at the long-term health and

Corbyn is heckled at anti-Nato talk Jeremy Corbyn’s speech at a Stop The War rally was greeted with cries of “Shame on you” by a protester who held aloft a Ukrainian flag before being ushered out of the room by stewards.

The former Labour leader appeared unperturbed by threats of expulsion from the party, ignoring Sir Keir Starmer’s call for members to distance themselves from the group’s anti-Nato stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As he ended his speech the claps and cheers from Corbyn’s mainly elderly supporters were

interrupted by a shout of “Where is your protest outside the Russian embassy?.. Shame on you…

How dare you!” and “Where is your support for the people of Ukraine?”

Before Corbyn’s speech, Stop The War Coalition convener Lindsey German spoke of the “the war in Ukraine” but suggested Boris Johnson is “waging war against us at home”. He also said of the situation in Ukraine: “The idea that Nato is a defensive alliance simply does not bear any reality when you look at the facts about Nato.”

British athletes at the opening ceremony of the 2017 Maccabiah Games

survival of the Paralympic Movement.

We are fiercely proud of the principles and values that have made [it] what it is today. However, what is clear is that

the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games.”

UK’S JEWISH ENVOY FLEES UKRAINE Britain’s ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons (pictured) has been evacuated from the country. Born in London’s east end to Jewish parents, Simmons’ family is from Poland on her father’s side and her mother’s side is both Lithuanian and Ukrainian.

Foreign secretary Liz Truss confirmed the decision had been made to take Simmons out of Ukraine on Monday. Giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee,

Truss said all UK diplomatic missions in the country have now closed. She confirmed to the committee: “Our ambassador has left Ukraine because of the serious security situation.”

Days before fighting in Ukraine intensified, Simmons had relocated from Kyiv to Lviv, where the threat was considered less severe. As war broke out last month she posted: “A wholly unprovoked attack on a peaceful country is unfolding. Horrified.”

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Mill Hill family battle to bring Shoah survivor relative to UK

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

A 90-year-old Holocaust survivor who fled Ukraine with her disabled daughter was left stranded in a refugee centre while her distraught family struggled to overcome Home Office visa complications to bring them to the UK. Kateryna Razumenko and her 62-year-old daughter Larysa arrived at a Jewish community centre near the Polish capital Warsaw last Friday, after fleeing heavy shelling near the home in Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv.

But relatives in Mill Hill East, north London, were left distraught this week as an attempt to secure the visas to bring them to safety in the UK remained in limbo owing to lengthy delays at the hands of the Home Office.

Yesterday, after immigration officials responded to mounting anger over the case, the Jewish family was hopeful the nightmare ordeal for the two refugees might be resolved.

Determined to bring both his grandmotherin-law and his mother-in-law back to London, Zac Newman travelled to the Polish town of Otwock, where the pair were stranded for the past week at the Srodborowianka Jewish centre.

Since war in Ukraine broke out, the centre has been used to house hundreds of refugees

fleeing the fighting across the border.

Newman told Jewish News: “I knew I had to fly out to Poland and try to help get my family over to the UK where they can be safe.

“What went through my mind was that a member of my own family who was now 90 had been forced to run away from the Nazis when she was 10 or 11. Now, here she is having to run away from the Russians at this stage of her life.

It’s a terrible situation.”

Newman explained how his elderly grandmother-in-law had never left Ukraine before and therefore had no need to own a passport.

Born in Kharkiv in 1931, Razumenko had earlier survived the “Holodomor” – the manmade famine that struck Ukraine in the 1930s as a result of Stalin’s forced collectivisation policy – as well as the Nazi invasion, the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Newman’s mother-in-law, meanwhile, is registered disabled. “They are still stressed and worried,” he said of the pair’s ordeal. “Larysa is supposed to be on anti-anxiety medication, which they don’t make in Poland. Kateryna is very frail and has dementia.

“My mother-in-law is so shell-shocked. She keeps saying, ‘Oh my God, Oh my God’, often cries and sometimes just stares into space. A couple of times she’s said: ‘My home, My home.’

She’s really struggling without her medication.

“There should be special arrangements for vulnerable people. They can’t relax. They’re on edge. My wife and I want them home with us.”

The pair had decided they had no choice but to flee their home in Kharkiv when the Russian bombing got worse. They left for the train station carrying only a few essentials, and their much loved 15-year-old pet cat, Solomon.

Making enquiries about brining them to the UK, he was told the first appointment he could have in Warsaw to process an application for visas would not be until Friday. This meant at least another week living in a crowded refugee centre.

Boris Johnson and his government had been criticised, including by Conservative MPs, over the limitations of the UK’s family visa scheme in response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. The Home Office had said the scheme has now been expanded to include more Ukrainians following the backlash – allowing those fleeing the conflict to join family members settled in the UK. Newman, who runs a tuition firm in the UK, told Jewish News he was furious with the way the Home Office was handling applications by Ukrainian refugees attempted to gain visas to travel here, especially when compared to how he saw other European nations, such as Germany, handle visa applications from refugees in the same centre as his family.

Rabbi ‘overwealmed’ by hosts A rabbi organising host families for people fleeing the war in Ukraine has been “overwhelmed” by the numbers wanting to help, writes Jenni Frazer.

Jonathan Romain (pictured, inset), whose mother fled Germany on the Kindertransport, has been contacted by more than 600 people – “from Kent to Aberdeen” – offering rooms for refugees coming to the UK. He told Jewish News: “We think most of the stays will be temporary, because the expectation is that a large percentage will want to return to Ukraine. But people will come here in a traumatised state, and it will be so much better for them to stay with a family, given some tender loving care and shown basic stuff like where a surgery or nursery is.”

He added: “I have four grown-up sons and they have left home. So I had space and I was looking for a way to offer room to refugees. There wasn’t a way to do it – but the response to this initiative has been absolutely wonderful. Almost everyone who has written has some sort of back

story, they were related to Kinder, or they spoke Ukrainian, or their family came from Ukraine many years ago.

So many want to help.”

The rabbi, who is contacting the government with the offers he has received, said those wanting to help are a mix of people whose ancestors had to flee during the Second World War, and others who have no previous experience of refugees but are “just appalled for humanitarian reasons”.

He said the scheme was open to everybody, adding: “This is both for Jewish and nonJewish refugees, we’re not distinguishing – anyone in need is someone in need.”

Romain, who is based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and intends to host himself, said people want to provide practical help as well as donating money. He said: “So

Hugs and tears at emotional reunions with relatives at the railway station in Przemysl, Poland

many people have responded and I have been overwhelmed by the numbers, but also the comments because people are so appalled by what’s going on and feel so impotent and want to help.”

• Anyone interested in getting involved to help can email Rabbi Romain at rabbi@maidshul.org

Zac Newman with Kateryna Razumenko

“It is heartbreaking,” he said. “I tried on Monday, even though we didn’t have an appointment, to make a visa application at the place you need to go to. But it was chaos there. People were waving paperwork around, pleading for help.

The process to get a visa is shocking.

Yesterday, Newman was contacted by the Home Office’s immigration team, who asked his in-laws to come immediately for an appointment to get their documents approved. They were told their application could be speeded through in the next 24 hours.

But Newman said he was taking nothing for granted and that his family was still “in limbo”.

TEACHERS’ CHARITY SENDS SUPPLIES TO POLAND FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES A charity set up by two Jewish teachers in London has filled a lorry with supplies to Poland to be distributed to Ukrainian refugees close to the border.

It was organised by Give. Help.Share, the charity launched in 2020 by Borehamwood teachers Amanda Barbanel and Jacqueline Harris. The goods, including warm clothing, bedding and hygiene items will be handled

by Chabad in Warsaw with the vehicle due to leave this week.

Barbanel said: “Seeing children evacuated on trains feels all too familiar. It’s just heartbreaking and we felt compelled to Amanda Abarbanel do something.” and Jacqueline Last week, they said they were still Harris of Give. taking clothing and bedding, but were in Help. Share. most need of toiletries, baby items (not food) and medical supplies The collection point is at Safestore Unit 2116/2117, Britannic House, Stirling Way, Borehamwood WD6 2BT. You can drop supplies off on Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.

To donate visit: www.gofundme.com/supportgivehelpshare

Jewish ex-MP is given peerage and made refugees minister Former MP for Watford Richard Harrington has been appointed minister for refugees, Downing Street has confirmed, writes Lee Harpin.

The Jewish former Conservative Friends of Israel chair, who stood down as a MP at the 2019 general election, will also be made a life peer.

His appointment is an attempt by the prime minister to deal with the refugee crisis after a succession of Tory MPs condemned the Home Office for failing Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Harrington, 63, previously had experience as a minister for Syrian refugees. His appointment is jointly in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office.

It came as Jewish charities joined Save the Children, the Refugee Council and other organisations in criticising the government’s “chaotic, heartless and unkind” polices over Ukrainian refugees.

Born into a Jewish working class family in Leeds, Harrington first became Watford’s MP in 2010 and went on to serve as a government minister.

But in March 2019, he resigned from the government to vote for Oliver Letwin’s amendment after warning about the risks of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. He lost the Conservative whip as a result of his Brexit warning.

Harrington had previously served as a treas-

urer of the Conservative Party from 2008 until his election two years later.

Before serving as a minister, he served as a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, and before that, in the Home Office.

In a statement, No 10 said: “The prime minister would like to thank Victoria Atkins MP for her work as minister for Afghan resettlement. She remains as a minister of state in the Ministry of Justice.”

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9

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Jewish fighters holding the front line By day, Gennadiy Raskin is deputy head of the Institute of Court Expertise, writes Natalie Gryvnyak in Kyiv. By night, for the past two weeks, he has been a volunteer fighter with Ukraine’s Territorial Defense units. A practicing Jew from Odessa, he says: “I signed up from day one.”

Raskin is one of hundreds of Jewish Ukrainians now fighting for their country’s freedom on the frontline against the Russian invasion and say their Judaism is no barrier to them taking up arms to defend their country.

Josef Zissels, who heads the Association of Jewish Public Organisations and Communities of Ukraine, has estimated that up to one percent of all Ukrainian fighters are Jewish, although

Gennadiy Raskin, above and inset

official statistics are not available to verify this. “There are many who are fighting now from the Jewish communities,” he says.

“Jews have always responded and defended the country in which they live. Jews will unite and help in any way they can.”

Raskin, who has been helping Odessa’s elderly Jewish population by delivering supplies, spoke to Jewish News this week to describe his new reality. “I patrol the city’s streets looking for saboteurs and the marks of air strikes. This is my military front.”

He said that while he had been trying to follow all religious practices and observances throughout the fighting, it was especially hard at night.

“I try to stick to it, but there is an exception in wartime,” he says. “Even the Torah says that if a Jew is forced to survive, he can do everything.

For example, eating non-kosher food if there is no kosher food. In my case, even though I could observe everything, it’s hard to keep Shabbat because payroll happens at night, after the wartime curfew.”

WHAT SEEMS FIXED CHANGES QUICKLY

BY BRENDAN MCGEEVER

Asher and his son David Cherkasskiy

About what many Ukrainians call their “southern capital”, Raskin said: “As we say in Odessa: we have one nationality, Ukrainian Odessian. We are trying to protect the city, to strengthen it ... and we will succeed.”

Elsewhere, Orthodox Jewish fighter Asher Cherkasskiy, in the central-eastern town of Dnipro, says his Judaism is no obstacle to his participation. “Everyone is very calm about my traditions and practices. In wartime, many things fade into the background. A lot of Jews are fighting now.”

He serves alongside his oldest son, David, 20, who is more matter-of-fact.

“There is a need to defend the country and it is important,” he says.

Asher adds: “This is a struggle between light and darkness.”

territories. For many Jews, Ukraine was simply synonyAUTHOR, mous with antisemitism.

ANTISEMITISM & THE Yet today that association RUSSIAN REVOLUTION no longer holds. Ukraine is The Russian invasion has led by Volodymyr Zelensky, shown that a quiet yet extraor- who is Jewish. But streets are dinary transformation in named after the 20th century Ukrainian Jewish life has been Ukrainian army commander Simon Petliura; the face of under way.

A century ago, Ukraine another army commander, was the epicentre of anti- Bohdan Khmelnytsky, adorns semitism. This was the age the five-hryvnia banknote; the of the pogrom, the most vio- history of the OUN is too often lent chapter in pre-Holocaust occluded in official Ukrainian modern Jewish history. In the nationalism; and the far-right Civil War pogroms, more than retains a presence in Ukraine.

And yet Ukrainian Jewry 100,000 Jews were murdered, many by Ukrainian national- cleaves to the nation, more or ists. The Red Army brought less successfully. Statements against Vladimir Putin’s war the violence to a halt.

All the place names in the from mainstream Jewish news right now – Kyiv, Cher- organisations in Ukraine kasy, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, underline that attachment.

This shows the absurdity of Odessa and Uman – were sites of major acts of anti-Jewish Putin’s ‘de-Nazification’. Perviolence. This antisemitism haps it also tells us something was carried into the middle of about history: what seems fixed the last century, through the today can change tomorrow. violence of Stepan Bandera, Just as Ukraine has evolved the Organisation of Ukrainian for Jews, Putin’s rule in Russia Nationalists (OUN) and col- will become a thing of the past. laboration in the occupied Maybe sooner than we expect.

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

‘Pathetic’

Dame Margaret Hodge, whose parents were Jewish refugees, tells Lee Harpin the UK must be ‘more generous’ to Ukrainians Dame Margaret Hodge has recalled the ‘battle’ to allow Jews escaping from the German Nazis to enter this country as she called for the government to be far more generous in granting visas to refugees now escaping war-raged Ukraine.

Speaking to Jewish News, the Labour MP described it as “pathetic” that by Tuesday only 300 visas had been granted to Ukrainians attempting to escape Russian bombardment.

Hodge, the Jewish Labour Movement’s parliamentary chair who was born to Jewish refugee parents, said: “Women, kids, older people clambering over rivers and trying to escape the bombing – I think you have got to put an arm out and welcome them.

“So often with this government, it is saying it is going to do something, and then it doesn’t do it in practice. We are up from 50 visas granted to 300, but with the number of Ukraininans saying

they want to come here, it is still pathetic.”

The 78-year-old parliamentarian admitted that she could not help but recall the situation in the 1930s, as Jews attempted to escape persecution from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime with the same reluctance of the British government to “be generous now”.

She said: “We always do too little too late. To be honest, when the Jews were escaping from Germany we didn’t open our arms.

Before 1939, it wasn’t easy to get in. Even with the Kindertransport, it was a battle to let those kids in. We need to be more generous now.”

Hodge, who says she will always think of herself as an “immigrant”, is quick to clarify that her own parents, who had left Germany in the 1930s to move to Egypt, and had again left fearing persecution in Cairo in 1948 after the creation of the state of Israel, were not escaping actual war as the Ukrainian refugees are now.

But she adds: “If we hadn’t come here what would have happened?

We were turned down by America, Australia and Canada. The Brits were the first to eventually say yes to us. I still remember how proud my late father was when he received an MBE in 1978. That was a symbol to him that at last we were accepted into this country.

“We should do much more to help with the situation now. We are big enough, we are wealthy enough – we should be generous enough to understand.”

Hodge dismissed as “paranoia” the fears that the UK could become overwhelmed with those wishing to settle here from Ukraine.

She said this would not materialise “partly, I think, because we have now got a reputation for being a hostile environment for immigrants”.

But she added that most Ukranians would want to be where “friends and relatives are going to be” and would “want to be close to their country to go back if it ever becomes safe enough to return”.

The MP said the Home Office should now set out to be “as generous as we can be” and recognise that any Ukrainian leaving the country “at this point is escaping violence and conflict in their lives”.

She added: “There should not be a question mark around that, once you have obviously established someone’s identity.”

But Hodge refused to join those who have been attacking home secretary Priti Patel over the slow process for letting in refugees.

“Having talked to her yesterday, I think she is really trying,” she said. “I just don’t think she can deliver it.”

❝

Margaret Hodge is urging the government to give more visas to Ukrainians

WE ALWAYS DO TOO LITTLE TOO LATE. WHY ARE WE BEHIND ALL THE TIME?

A visibly fearful mother with her two young children awaits an evacuation train in the city of Zaporizhzhia, south-eastern Ukraine

The outspoken MP said that “after over a decade of cuts, they have really hollowed up the ability of the civil service to do anything”.

She continued: “They have destroyed the machinery of government they need to deliver policies. That goes for the Home Office, immigration authorities, the people who are sanctioning Russians. Why are we behind all of the time?”

Hodge also told how she was “appalled” that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had repeatedly resorted to claims that he was attempting a “de-Nazification” of Ukraine with his war and that he had attempted to suggest Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky , who is Jewish, was at the helm of a “Nazi” army.

“It’s cynical and sickening,” she said. “He is exploiting what must always be seen as one of the biggest human tragedies in the history of the world. Putin is exploiting that to justify a terrible war.”

Hodge, who heads the crossparty MPs group against corruption, has long called for the UK government to address the scourge of economic crime, and had warned in the Commons that the country was now “the jurisdiction of choice for a lot of dirty money”.

Back in 2018, writing for The Guardian, she called for a “ clamp

down on Russian use of Britain as a safe haven for illegal wealth”.

She added: “Britain has become the jurisdiction of choice for kleptocrats, crooks and money launderers – including Russians – because of our weak regulatory framework, shrouded in secrecy and very lightly policed.”

In the Commons last month, she greeted prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcement of sanctions against those oligarchs residing in this country with links to Putin’s regime by telling MPs the new sanctions regime against Russia is flawed. She reasoned: “Too many of the kleptocrats that have stolen from the Russian people and support Putin will escape the net.”

She now describes the government’s Economic Crime Bill, designed to tackle “dirty money” hidden in the UK after calls to clamp down on Russian oligarchs amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as “still not fit for purpose”.

On Monday evening MPs voted down by a majority of 74 a cross-party amendment proposed by Hodge, which would have required the minister to publish a report on the funding of enforcement agencies in connection with the reforms to “unexplained wealth orders”.

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Students fly out for refugee kids

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

A group of Jewish students have appealed for Lego, puzzles and manpower to help lift up the spirits of Ukrainian refugee children who have made it across the border into Poland.

The eight university students, led

by Rabbi Aharon Lemberger, a university chaplain from Scotland, have started volunteering and playing games with the children.

They also want any student who might not have money or equipment to spare, but do have time and energy, to join them.

The initiative is being coordinated by the University Jewish Chaplaincy.

Lemberger told Jewish News: “Tuesday was the first day we really worked with the children and the main response is: ‘Please come, this is amazing.’ The kids didn’t want us to go.

“As we were leaving a kid just came and hugged me, just because I was wearing the same blue shirt as all the amazing students who were with her all the time.”

Nadia Goldman, a student from Birmingham, said it was clear that the conflict had been especially tough on the children.

“These people had to get up and leave without anything. That’s why we’re here – to try to lift up their spirits, put a smile on their faces.”

Isaac Bencomo, who studies at the London School of Economics, said: “These kids are coming from a traumatic experience and it is very, very important to keep them entertained [and] distracted. So anything from Lego, to face paints to any kind of toys are essential to keep them busy and distracted from the situation.”

The delegation has set up an Instagram account under the handle @ujc. ukraine.delegation to help promote its work.

Jewish students, above right, led by Rabbi Aharon Lemberger play with Ukrainian refugee children in Poland

“We encourage students: if you have the time, if you have the will, to follow our Instagram, follow our posts and, if we have more delegations, please join,” Lemberger said.

Goldman added: “It’s really important for everyone to understand the trauma that’s going on here. Coming here has been an incredible experience. The children were thanking us

and the parents were so grateful that they could go off and make the calls they needed to make. If you’re able to get out here, I really, really encourage you to do so.”

YOUTHS TELL ISRAELIS OF LIFE UNDER FIRE MP praises charity push In 2019, a Ukrainian leadership academy youth delegation came to Israel to meet a group of their Jewish peers and learn from Jewish families near the Gaza border what it was like to live under incoming rocket fire, writes Stephen Oryszczuk.

This week, as the two groups met again via the Zoom online platform, it was the Ukrainians who were left to describe life in a war zone, with Russian soldiers shelling towns, destroying homes and shooting fleeing civilians.

The groups were brought together once again by the non-governmental organisation ISRAEL-is, with whom Jewish News partnered for the film Finding Abraham.

Addressing the group of around 50 young Israelis and Ukrainians, the renowned former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky said Moscow’s war was a serious mistake.

“For the next 1,000 years, Russia will have to deal with this,” said the Ukraineborn former head of the Jewish Agency,

A pro-Ukrainian protester in tears

adding that Moscow would struggle to “restore their self-respect as a place among the nations”.

To the young Ukrainians, he said: “At this moment, you are showing what it means when people rediscover their identity, when people feel themselves very deeply connected, passionate, to their history, to the people, to their land. We will pray for you and help you. If we think our governments don’t help enough, we’ll continue lobbying to make sure that support of your struggle – which is so impor-

tant for all of us – will be victorious.”

Israeli organiser Matan Dansker said the meeting was about sending messages to one another and determining ways to cooperate. “When we see what’s happening in your country, the first thing that we want to do is to listen,” he said.

Some Ukrainian participants, such as Anya Skakynova, joined the call from the safety of other European countries, but others, such as those from the battered city of Mykolaiv, joined from underground bomb shelters.

Speaking from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv after having been evacuated, Andrij Marushchak said participants from the Ukrainian Leadership Academy “represent all regions” of the besieged country.

ISRAEL-is co-founder Eyal Biram said: “You’re not alone in this fight. This is a fight for democracy. This is a fight for a free world and mostly this is a fight for young people who want to build a better future.”

Labour MP Christian Wakeford has praised the “vital” work being done by World Jewish Relief in raising funds for those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The charity has so far raised more than £3 million.

Speaking in the Commons last Wednesday, the Bury South MP said: “World Jewish Relief and many other community groups are raising vital funds for those in Ukraine and those who have already fled Ukraine, and I put on the record my thanks to them.

“As someone of Ukrainian heritage, this is an incredibly challenging time. My family over there are still there, but I know that they are safe; the region they live in has not yet been attacked.”

Wakeford also recalled how

he had attended a European Jewish Association delegation to Kyiv to visit Babyn Yar just five weeks ago.

He told MPs: “Yesterday a Russian bomb exploded at Babyn Yar, the largest mass grave from the holocaust, where 33,000 Jews were killed one by one in a two-day period and where 100,000 people were ultimately buried. Just five weeks later, the site where I lit a candle in remembrance has been attacked.

“Ukrainians I spoke to on the street had a growing feeling of anxiety, of not knowing what was coming, while we all expected the worst.

“That has now been realised and they have been attacked. They have been invaded, and it is right that the world supports them.”

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13

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

The Russians risking all by speaking out

Natalya Sindeyeva at an event for Tango with Putin

Harassment of independent Jewish journalists in Russia has been par for the course, hears Adam Decker, as Russia introduces a 15-year jail sentence for the spreading of ‘fake news’ A couple of years ago, arriving back at her Moscow flat after weeks away, serial protester and documentary film-maker Vera Krichevskaya found that she couldn’t log on to her Wi-Fi. She couldn’t even find it.

Apartments are tightly packed in the city, so dozens of connections were available, but hers wasn’t there.

“I reset my router, but still couldn’t find my network.” She called her broadband provider.

“No, it’s there,” she was told. “You renamed it last week. It’s the one called HeilHitler.”

Someone had hacked into her home broadband to do so. “It was made specially for me, because I’m openly Jewish.”

Antisemitic harassment of independent Jewish journalists such as Krichevskaya, 47, has been par for the course in Russia over recent years, and she is one of dozens of Russian Jews associated with criticism of Vladimir Putin.

None have been more iconic than opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015. Jewish Russian film-maker Zosya Rodkevich suffered antisemitic death threats just for filming Nemtsov.

Mikhail Fishman, former Moscow Times editor and another leading Jewish Russian journalist, has also been critical of the Kremlin. This weekend, he tried to leave Russia for Georgia with his family. Entry was denied with no explanation given.

Another Jewish Russian journalist, Anna Mongayt, described as “a star” by Krichevskaya, grew up in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. She received death threats in 2019 from a far-right group after she interviewed a lesbian couple.

Like Krichevskaya and Fishman, she worked at Dozhd TV (TV Rain), until it was finally forced offline last week.

In recent days, just as Ukrainian refugees have fled Russian bombs, 150 independent journalists have fled Russia itself. Krichevskaya got one of the last planes out.

The exodus follows “the death of inde-

pendent journalism in Russia” after the Russian parliament – often likened to a nodding dog – unanimously approved a law meting out 15-year jail sentences to those disseminating news about Russia’s armed forces that differs even slightly from the official Kremlin line.

It kills what little non-state news there was left and has led to the closure not just of Dozhd but of news website Znak and Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station. Two others have said they will no longer cover Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to protect their journalists from criminal prosecution.

The latest law is the coffin’s final nail. Last year, many independent Russian media outlets were overnight and without warning branded “foreign agents”. The list of those targeted is long: Meduza, PASMI, VTimes, The Insider, RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Open Media, MBK Media, even the BBC, to name but a few. Advertisers withdrew, landlords served eviction notices, and many were forced to close.

Krichevskaya describes state media journalists as “slaves and soldiers” who follow Putin around in a Kremlin plane, covering his foreign visits. Some, she even calls “TV killers, who provoked this war by brainwashing”. Among them is a Jewish pro-Kremlin, anti-Ukraine propagandist now on the EU’s sanctions list, whose Italian villa has just been seized and his You-

Tube channel shut down. “He spreads hatred,” says Krichevskaya. When sanctioned, he likened the EU’s behaviour to that of the Nazis.

I ask about her relationship with state journalists in Russia. “Today, I feel a concrete wall between us,” she says, although she has known many of them for years. “Before, they would do me favours, like provide me with archive footage. Now, I don’t think they would even talk to me in the street.”

Krichevskaya saw trouble brewing years ago and moved to London in 2014, just after Russia annexed Crimea. “It was clear then that it wouldn’t be a normal life, especially for my sons.

There was already brainwashing in schools.

I hated it.” When she left Russia again last week, it may have been for the last time.

“The skies were closed already. There were only a few ways out. I flew to Istanbul, then to Tel Aviv. I have family here and know the country well. So many are arriving here from Russia – I want to meet them, talk to them, support them.”

She describes herself as “proactively Jewish” and a “pessimist”, yet she has just directed Tango with Putin, a 90-minute documentary on Natalya Sindeyeva, the “insanely optimistic” founder of Dozhd, which aired on the BBC last week (its release had been planned for months).

Above: Natalya Sindeyeva, Dozhd TV founder and, right, director Vera Krichevskaya

“Jews don’t have optimism at all,” says Krichevskaya, laughing. “It’s not in our DNA!” She’s joking, yet it is a Jewish trait to question, I suggest. “Of course! We’re the ones to get answers – what’s happening, why is it happening, what will happen next? That is in our DNA, because we survived so many tragedies.”

What are Russians being told about Ukraine? “I talked to my mother’s Jewish friend last night. He’s 80. He told me Ukrainian fascists are bombing [the Ukrainian city of ] Mariupol. ‘That’s why we [Russians] have to eliminate Ukrainian Nazis.’ That’s what Russian people know from state TV.” How does she see the war in Ukraine ending?

“I’ve lived in Ukraine. I know Ukrainians. It’s an historical mistake to start this war; it’s impossible to win. It’s a 40 million population, all united against this aggression, around the fight.

“We were all Soviet, all raised on Second World War mythology – books, films, lessons in school. We learned about resistance. Ukrainians identify as heroes who sacrificed their lives against the Nazis. This mythology drives them enormously. It’s going to be the same now. I don’t think this war can end. It’s a catastrophe.”

Her concerns are many, not least to support the dozens of good Jewish Russian journalists now facing a year’s wait to gain Israeli citizenship, something she thinks the authorities could expedite. As for herself? “I’m so busy, I have no time to process anything. I need two weeks of silence.”

Before that, what does she say to our Jewish readers, many of whom have connections with Israel? She pauses, then says: “We see how easily and how fast it might happen again – with us.

You understand what I mean?” I nod. Every Jew understands what she means. “Politicians don’t learn lessons at all.” She bites her lip. I thank her for her bravery and professionalism. Where she goes from here, neither of us knows. Tango with Putin is available to watch on BBC iPlayer

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

News / Fundraising campaign / Virtual camp / Israeli visit

CST raises £3.9m in weekend drive The Community Security Trust smashed its pre-campaign fundraising target last weekend, raising £3.9 million to fund services used to protect British Jews against antisemitism, writes Jeremy Last.

The We Protect Community Fundraising Campaign, held between 5-7 March, saw more than 4,600 people donate to the CST, which depends on charitable donations.

Dave Rich, CST’s head of policy, said: “We are extremely grateful to the thousands of people across the Jewish community who supported CST’s fundraiser this weekend.

Last year was the worst on record for antisemitism and since then we have seen a British jihadi take Jews hostage in a synagogue in Texas.

“We now face the prospect of further global instability this year and it is vital that CST is able to continue to do our work protecting our community.”

Regarding the timing of the event, the CST published a statement recognising the terrible situation in Ukraine and saying that in the end it had decided to go ahead with the campaign because its services are essential for the community.

“CST is appalled by the dreadful human cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and we

ONLINE DEATH CAMP GAME WITH GAS CHAMBERS IS REMOVED Roblox, a collaborative computer gaming platform for children as young as seven, has faced criticism over the years for failing properly to moderate its content – with antisemitism and racism rife.

Now the platform says it has removed a virtual Nazi concentration camp featuring gas chambers that users could operate.

The Daily Mail revealed the

existence of the concentration camp game, which included watchtowers, gas chambers and train tracks apparently representing the cattle cars that brought Jews to Nazi death camps to be murdered.

The game had gas chambers that users could operate by pressing a button labelled “execute” or enter so their avatar was killed by gassing.

Roblox released a state-

ment saying it had removed the concentration camp game and condemned extremism and antisemitism.

“We have zero tolerance for content or behaviours that promote or glorify extremism, including antisemitism,” the company said.

“We have removed the experiences... and banned the individuals who created them.”

HERZOG IN TURKEY

Isaac Herzog became the first Israeli president to visit Turkey in 14 years when he met Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday. The two leaders say they want to reset a relationship that has been rocked in the past decade by tensions over Hamas and Palestine.

The Community Security Trust’s campaign over the weekend raised more than expected

wish every success to those charities working in the region,” the statement read.

“Nobody knows what is yet to happen, either within Ukraine or beyond its borders.

After serious consideration, CST is proceeding with our Together We Protect campaign.

“This is because our own work is still very much needed. We have to deter our enemies and protect our community, at all times.”

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

News / Conspiracist jailed / Uyghur campaign

Neo-Nazi gets extended jail time A “dangerous loner” neoNazi coronavirus conspiracist who spread antisemitic hoax theories has been given an extended jail sentence of more than 12 years.

Matthew Henegan stirred up racial hatred on the

internet and in leaflets posted to residents of St Neots, Cambridgeshire, where he was living at the start of the Covid-19 crisis in March 2020.

Residents reported these “offensive and antisemitic” leaflets to the police.

Sentencing the 37-yearold, who refused to attend the hearing at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Nigel Lickley QC said: “You created racist material designed to be inflammatory, to cause upset and incite racial hatred of the Jewish faith.” He added: “In the context of the pandemic enveloping the world, you distributed material designed to incite hatred.”

Lickley said Henegan had undergone a mental health assessment after he shot himself with a gun, and was found to be “dangerous, cunning,

Jailed: Matthew Henegan

manipulative and devious”.

A pre-sentence report also found that he was a “loner, [a] potential threat to society and potentially a very dangerous man”. Henegen was sentenced

to eight years and one month in prison, with an extended licence period of four years, and made subject to a counterterrorism notification order for 30 years.

Julia Faure Walker, prosecuting, said Henegan had “terrorist motivations” and added: “On his own admission, he was doing this with a view to stir up extreme emotion in people.”

At his Old Bailey trial, the court heard how he repeatedly used a “grossly offensive” term for Jewish people and falsely claimed they controlled the news about coronavirus.

MPs urged over Uyghur support The Stop Uyghur Genocide group is asking people to lobby their MPs to support an amendment to the Health and Care Act that was passed last week in the House of Lords.

What is known as the Genocide Amendment was successfully tabled by Lord Alton and Baroness Kennedy, with the intention of preventing the NHS from buying equip-

ment from states where there is believed to be a credible risk of genocide.

The target of the amendment was China, which has provided most of the personal protective equipment (PPE) used in hospitals, clinics and care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The PPE procured is primarily made by the Uyghur slave labour.

When the Health and Care Bill comes to the Commons, the Stop Uyghur Genocide group hopes people will ask their MPs – particularly those who hold ministerial office in the government – to support the Genocide Amendment.

The campaign has already received backing from the British Medical Association.

UKRAINE CRISIS APPEAL

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GOVE: BDS MUST BE STOPPED Communities secretary Michael Gove has told MPs that one way of “tackling the evil of antisemitism” is to “stand against the boycott, divestment and sanctions [BDS] campaign”.

Speaking in the House of Commons this week, Gove had responded to a question from Labour MP Christian Wakeford, who asked him to commit to the continuation of funding for the Community Security Trust (CST) next year to protect Jewish schools and synagogues.

The cabinet minister responded, saying: “As the minister who, as secretary of state for education, initiated that scheme, I will do everything I can to make sure it continues.” He added: “One of the things we can all do in this House in order to tackle the evil of antisemitism is to stand against the [BDS] campaign. And that is why we are bringing forward legislation in order to outlaw BDS at a local government level.”

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

News / Complaints upheld / S&P concerns / Academy appointment/ Jewface debate

S&P shares future vision with members A detailed explanation of the latest plans for the S&P community was distributed to members this week after its Parnas Presidente (president), Professor Stuart Morganstein, admitted “people were disappointed” by a recent town hall meeting, writes Jenni Frazer.

Morganstein wrote: “As a Board, we should have been better prepared.” This was dismissed by former chair of Lauderdale Road Synagogue, Gerry Temple, as “an admission of failure”.

In a 2,000 word document sent to members of the community this week, the Board identifies for the first time the donor, Jonathan Kandel, who, with his wife, Miri Freud-Kandel, a lecturer in modern Judaism, has agreed to fund the Office of the Senior Rabbi, to the tune of half

a million pounds over five years. Kandel is a tax lawyer who is not thought to be a member of the S&P community, but Jewish News has been told that he has a long-standing family association with it. Jewish News understands that Kandel’s father, Robert, intends to run for a place on the Board of Elders of the community.

Writing to the community, the Board says that the Office of the Senior Rabbi is a role which dates back to 1664 and is the oldest rabbinic position in the UK. “The Board and Rabbi [Joseph] Dweck have a strong vision for the Senior Rabbi’s Office, and we are excited to formally launch the office in the coming weeks.”

It adds that “the enhancement of the Senior Rabbi’s Office (SRO) will be of great benefit to

the Kahal for educational, ambassadorial, and financial reasons”. But it does not make clear whether the initiative is dependent on Rabbi Dweck only, and what happens if he should decide to take up a rabbinical post elsewhere.

Rachel Fink, former head teacher of JFS, is conducting a strategic review into the workings of the S&P. So far she has interviewed around 25 members of the Kahal, including all Elders, chairs of synagogue and other key committees, the rabbis, and members of the professional team”. In response to rumours that Fink is to become the next chief executive of the S&P, the Board says it is “in the final stages of the recruitment process and we expect to be able to make an appointment shortly”.

S&P Senior Rabbi Joseph Dweck

Bercow found to be a ‘serial bully’

The panel upheld 21 out of 35 complaints against former Speaker John Bercow

Former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow is a “serial bully” whose behaviour “fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect from any member of parliament”, an independent inquiry has found, writes Lee Harpin.

In a verdict announced on Tuesday into the conduct of Bercow, the first Jewish Speaker, a panel upheld 21 out of 35 complaints made against him by former staff. By denying him future access to a Westminster pass, the panel effectively banned him from parliament.

The report – published after Bercow appealed against the initial report made on him

by Kathryn Stone, the Standards Commissioner – said: “The respondent’s conduct was so serious that, had he still been a member of parliament, we would have determined that he should be expelled by resolution of the house. As it is, we recommend that he should never be permitted a pass to the parliamentary estate.”

During his decade in the role, Bercow was at the centre of allegations around bullying – with claims he had sworn at officials and had thrown his mobile phone. Allegations were levelled against him by Lord Lisvane, the former clerk of the Commons, and private secretaries Kate

Emms and Angus Sinclair.

The sub-panel of the independent experts chaired by Sir Stephen Irwin found parliament’s bullying and harassment policy was “breached repeatedly and extensively by the most senior member of the House of Commons”. “In all, 21 separate allegations were proved and have been upheld. The house may feel that his conduct brought the high office of Speaker into disrepute,” it said. “This was behaviour which had no place in any workplace. Members of staff in the house should not be expected to have to tolerate it as part of everyday life.”

US TRUSTEE IS APPOINTED HEAD OF DOCTORS’ BOARD United Synagogue trustee Professor Andrew Eder has been appointed chair of trustees of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges The consultant in restorative dentistry at UCL Eastman Dental Institute and former pro-vice-provost at University College London described the appointment as “a real privilege”.

Eder added: “With the

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shifting political landscape there will undoubtedly be challenges ahead, but I am confident the Academy and its members are well-placed to continue to be the voice of doctors on all professional matters.” He will take up his post on 1 April.

The role of trustees was to ensure that the Academy “continues to be well run”, he said. The Academy of Medical

Royal Colleges is the coordinating body for the UK and Ireland’s 24 medical royal colleges and faculties. It ensures patients are safely and properly cared for by setting standards for the way doctors are trained and monitored throughout their careers.

The Board of Trustees comprises eight members drawn from medical and nonmedical fields.

Actor joins ‘Jewface’ debate Sir Ian McKellen has offered his thoughts on the debate about whether Jewish characters are best played by Jewish performers by asking: “Does that mean I can’t play straight parts?”

The Lords of the Rings star, who is gay and not Jewish, was asked by BBC presenter Amol Rajan for his thoughts on the ‘Jewface’ debate that spiralled as a result of the decision to cast Dame Helen Mirren as Israeli leader Golda Meir.

In the revealing BBC2 interview with the 82-year-old Shakespearean actor, Rajan asked whether the debate

Sir Ian McKellen: Opinion

meant that gay people should play gay characters.

McKellen – who played Jewish comic book character Magneto in the X-Men films – responded: “Well, there’s two

things… Is the argument that a gentile cannot play a Jew? And is the argument therefore that a Jew cannot play a gentile?

“And is the argument that a straight man cannot play a gay part? And if so, does that mean I can’t play straight parts and I’m not allowed to explore the fascinating subject of heterosexuality in Macbeth?

Surely not. We’re acting. We’re pretending.

“Are we capable of understanding what it is to be Jewish?

Are we going to convince a Jewish audience that we are Jewish? Perhaps we don’t need to, because we are just acting.”

10 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

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Court case / Alleged harassment / News

Man accused of violent attack ‘very unwell’ She said that when Grossman and Ginsberg had seen Thorpe staring at them as they closed the shutters on their shop, they had asked if he was looking for

by Jenni Frazer @JenniFrazer

A man accused of a vicious attack on two Jewish shop owners in Stamford Hill on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day has been sent to the psychiatric ward of a hospital instead of appearing at Wood Green Crown Court.

Malachi Thorpe, 18, allegedly assaulted Israel Grossman and Erwin Ginsberg as they closed their shop in Cadoxton Avenue, Stamford Hill, on 27 January.

Allegedly armed with a bottle, Thorpe was facing two charges of racially or religiously aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily

someone.He told them: “Yes, I am.”

Thorpe, of Tottenham, was remanded in custody ahead of a hearing at Wood Green Crown Court on 21 April.

Shomrim’s video footage shows a man punching the two men, knocking one to the ground

harm and one of possessing an offensive weapon, after the two men, described in court as “visibly Orthodox Jewish”, ended up in hospital being treated for a variety of injuries.

Shomrim had released video footage of the incident ,which went viral, and was

condemned by both Boris Johnson and Priti Patel.

Last Thursday, Thorpe was due to enter pleas at Wood Green Crown Court, but his defence lawyer, David Lyons, told the court that once he was in custody, his behaviour had spurred the prison authorities

to transfer him to a hospital’s wing for psychiatric assessment.

Lyons said: “It appears that the defendant is a very unwell man at the moment.”

Cathryn Evans, prosecuting, described the alleged attack as “unprovoked”.

‘SWASTIKA THREAT’ BY FORMER EMPLOYEE Police are due to speak to a man who was allegedly threatened by a former employee that he would “carve a swastika on your forehead with a knife”.

The alleged victim, understood to be in his 30s and a resident of Stamford Hill, told Shomrim, the neighbourhood watch

security organisation, about repeated harassment from his former employee, who was let go at the beginning of January.

According to a spokesman for Shomrim, the man was “too frightened” to go to police. Instead Shomrim registered a “third party hate crime” complaint with

the police, alleging “malicious communications” against the victim.

A police spokesman told Jewish News that since the complaint was lodged, enquiries were continuing and an appointment had been made to speak to the alleged victim to secure more details.

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

Special Report / Picture restoration

New vision of hell: War A London artist colourised and restored pictures of people in the ghetto A Wembley artist has had an unexpected “massive feedback” when he colourised and restored pictures of people in the wartime Warsaw Ghetto, and posted them on a Jewish genealogy website.

Richard Szerman was involved in researching his own family background when he began “repairing” grainy pictures from the Holocaust era. He was particularly interested in the story of his great-aunt, Bronislawa Emilia Szerman, who survived the war in Poland and died in 1968.

He came across the story of his “heroic” Catholic cousin, Jerzy Wojciech Gebski, who “smuggled guns into the ghetto and posed as a rubbish collector to take the rubbish out of the Warsaw ghetto.

Under the rubbish he smuggled children”.

Szerman said that Jerzy was a chemist, who “put his life and the rest of the family at risk trying to save the Jews and fight the Nazis”. He and his brother, Witold Gebski, fought side by side in the Ruczaj battalion in Poland.

While doing his research, Szerman came across a YouTube film of people in the Warsaw Ghetto.

“Each person was shown only for a second or so, but I started to freeze-frame the images and, gradually, I brought 20 people to life,” he explained.

“They are not perfect but almost certainly these

people did not survive and do not have graves.

We have to preserve what is left.”

He posted the images on Facebook’s Jewish Genealogy Portal and was overwhelmed by the fact he received 2,000 replies.

Now, Szerman, who is raising money for Cancer UK with his project, hopes that perhaps someone will recognise a family member among his restored colourised images.

 To donate visit: www.gofundme. com/f/U2CANSTOPCANCER

10 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

21

Picture restoration / Special Report

rsaw Ghetto in colour while he was researching his family, writes Jenni Frazer

Artist Richard Szerman, from Wembley, took old and rare film and freeze framed elements of it to turn it into an enlarged and repaired colour portrait. He has been trying to identify individuals and hopes that family members of those he has portrayed might be able to recognise them from his work

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Editorial comment and letters ISSUE NO.

1253

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

UK fails to honour Send us your comments Sir Nicky’s legacy Small things LET’S BE A LIGHT PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

As Putin’s demonic onslaught enters its third week, the spotlight is on the world’s response to the greatest refugee crisis since 1945.

Ukraine’s neighbours have endorsed an open-door humanitarian policy, with more than 1.2 million people fleeing to Poland, 200,000 to Hungary, 120,000 to Slovakia and Moldova, 80,000 to Romania and 160,000 to other EU states, including 2,500 to the Republic of Ireland. The UK, in contrast, has so far accepted 957 according to the prime minister, and made the process a bureaucratic ordeal.

Britain’s impressive stance on sanctions and the transfer of arms to brave Ukrainian soldiers stands in stark and shameful contrast to the treatment it is meting out to scared and exhausted women and children, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, fleeing the Russian invasion. We are so out of step with the rest of Western Europe that it is fast becoming a cause of national shame.

As Jewish News went to press, there were assurances that a new UK processing centre in Calais will open in days, but no indication that the government is even willing to consider visa-free refuge.

Back in 2015, Jewish News championed a Royal Mail stamp to honour Sir Nicholas Winton who, in 1939, rescued 669 mostly Jewish children fleeing another lawless European dictator. If this country wishes to honour Sir Nicholas’ memory, it simply must follow his example.

Jews spent two millennia as refugees, hounded from place to place. Our descendants arrived in Britain fleeing persecution.

Perhaps no other people on earth has such a bitter experience of what it means to be a stranger in a strange land. No wonder more than 100 members of the community, including Liberal, Masorti and Reform rabbis, felt compelled to sign an open letter to the prime minister this week, condemning the lack of progress.

As we contemplate how helpless we are in the face of such overwhelming tragedy, it is comforting and motivating to remember the positive impact even the smallest contribution can have on another life. So, please, support World Jewish Relief's Ukraine Crisis Appeal by visiting www.worldjewishrelief.org.

Our community should dig deep to give and give again to help the millions of innocent victims of Putin’s wicked and senseless war.

Our government may continue to fail them. We must not.

I feel so helpless in the face of such overwhelming tragedy in Ukraine.

Thank heavens for the small things we can all do to mitigate the suffering in a tiny way.

Initiatives such as the one led by Rabbi Jonathan Romain, who you report is involved in lining up Jewish homes for Ukrainians coming to the UK, gives me some consolation and makes me proud to be Jewish.

Emma Claffon, By email

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MINDSET FOR PEACE

A two-state settlement requires two states, of which one is/would be a Palestinian state; and a Palestinian state requires a territorial base that can probably only come from land for peace. If this land is not made available, no Palestinian negotiator would accept this deal.

How would those rejecting two states view a one-state settlement and what would be the political and legal relationship between Jews and Arabs?

“Trust me... it’s a start!”

*Care

Flora Frank, By email

JD Milaric, By email

Sedra: Vayikra

I go to Chai for the big

It is a pity Putin has not read the advice of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, heeded by many heads of state.

In his book Judaism’s Life-Changing Ideas, Rabbi Sacks makes the point that “the highest achievement... is self limitation: making space for something other and different from us” and says “‘great”’ people... don’t crush or inhibit or try to dominate”.

I agree with James Windsor’s comments in his letter (Jewish News, 3 March 2022). When it comes to Israel, “land for peace has never worked in the Middle East”, and I doubt it would do so in the future.

I believe there can be a two-state solution without giving up land. It could come about if political leaders really want it to. As Mr Windsor says, giving away land has usually heaped more opprobrium on to Israel for her troubles. Seeding land does not lead to peace – the right mindset does.

THIS WEEKEND'S SHABBAT TIMES...

Shabbat comes in Friday night 5.43pm

In this time of sheer horror, we in Israel must be a safe haven for any Ukrainian citizens.

We of all people must surely understand what a nightmare situation has been inflicted on a people who want nothing more than to live free in their own independent democratic country.

To be a ‘light unto the nations’, we must in times of need shine brightly.

Stephen Vishnick, Tel Aviv

*

Fraser Michaelson, By email

10 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Editorial comment and letters

JEWISH NEWS

BOARD RIGHT HYPOCRITES Israeli president Isaac Herzog has condemned the Board of Deputies for having the temerity – read ‘backbone’ – to tell Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich to sling his hook because of his anti-Arab, antiLGBT and anti-Progressive Jews views.

Perhaps he could take a leaf out of his father’s book. In 1984, President Chaim Herzog refused to meet Meir Kahane – as is customary for the head of state after a general election – because of the latter’s views, which are not dissimilar to Smotrich’s.

Would Isaac have condemned his father in the same way as he did the Board of Deputies? I think not.

Joe Millis, By email

I’d hoped we had seen the last of Jeremy Corbyn after his election debacle, but he is still interfering.

When Israel is embroiled in a war, the Stop the War Coalition is first in organising marches. With the Ukraine/Russia disaster, it can only come up with a small meeting.

Corbyn showed little empathy with Ukraine. Because of that, a man in the auditorium stood up waving a Ukrainian flag, shouting: “Why aren’t you protesting outside the Russian embassy?” There was no solidarity with President Zelensky.

It’s time Corbyn and his hypocritical cronies were consigned to the dustbin of history.

Robert Dulin, Bricket Wood

‘Torah Jews’ back Smotrich Hen Mazzig, who describes himself as a strong Zionist and a lover of Israel, doesn’t like Israelis, such as Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich, who were voted in by thousands of Israelis because they side with the Torah against Hen’s choice of lifestyle.

Contrary to his article, Judaism is monolithic, although there are those who have veered from the Torah. Everyone is entitled to make choices, but not to describe those who have made other choices as hateful demagogues.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner condemns him for the same reasons and claims that Jews here have rejected Smotrich outright. This is categorically false; Torah Jews embrace his values.

Ann Cohen, Golders Green

ONLINE EDITOR ADVICE PEACE?

Jewish News (Free Weekly Newspaper of the Year 2021/22) is looking for an ambitious, passionate and creative online editor to take its ever-growing brand to the next level.

As online editor you will be responsible for: • Maintaining the timeliness, impact and quality of jewishnews.co.uk • Managing the homepage, writing enticing must-click headlines and writing and editing web content.

• Editing and publishing our Daily Newsletter, delivered to 20,000 inboxes every afternoon.

• Responding to breaking news and developing stories in real time.

• Compiling picture galleries and video content and ensuring the weekly podcast, newspaper page turner and supplements are uploaded.

• Ensuring newspaper content is online and feeding online content • • • •

into the newspaper.

Managing an extensive list of Jewish News bloggers.

Tracking and analysing website traffic.

Promoting content on social media in an engaging way to drive web traffic.

Updating the site out-of-hours when necessary.

We’re looking for someone with at least three years editorial experience who can write crystal-clear news and feature copy to tight deadlines.

Experience in Photoshop and content management systems preferable.

Sounds like you? Then email your CV and a covering letter to the editor at richard@jewishnews.co.uk.

Closing date: Friday 11th March.

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

Opinion

In defence of one of the UK’s most disliked men ALEX BRUMMER

CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

B

ritons have an awkward relationship with wealth. They are quite happy to be the ‘enablers’ helping the rich to spend and secure their wealth. But they also resent fortunes and conspicuous consumption and are only too pleased to see the newly-rich humiliated.

The oil, property and football magnate Roman Abramovich is an example of this. When he arrived on these shores almost two decades ago and rescued Chelsea Football Club from the hands of debt-burdened tycoon Ken Bates, the mysterious, Jewish Russian oligarch – friend of the Kremlin – was greeted as a conquering hero.

As first Crimea and now the whole of Ukraine has been turned into a smouldering graveyard by Russian bombardment, Abramovich, because of his supposed connections to a demented Vladimir Putin, has become a surrogate target for Moscow’s ills.

The relish with which Labour’s Chris Bryant

chose to denigrate him in the Commons, using the protection of Parliamentary privilege, spoke more to the MP’s own shortcomings than those of Abramovich.

Yes, the origins of the Chelsea owner’s wealth accumulated in the chaos of Boris Yeltsin’s Wild East economy are controversial.

And like other oligarchs and leaders, including King Abdullah II of Jordan (recently exposed in the leak of papers from Credit Suisse) he has used a variety of devices to diversify and safely secure his wealth.

That is what the London ‘laundromat’, whereby expert legal and accounting enablers, set up structures of anonymised companies in far off places, is all about. But the idea that sanctioning the oligarchs – especially those such as Abramovich who have built parallel secretive lives outside of Russia – is going to silence cruise missiles showered on Ukraine is a fantasy.

As a multi-decade double season ticket holder at Chelsea Football Club it might be thought that I (in common with fans chanting his name at the Burnley Premier League game) have special reasons for not disparaging Abra-

❝

ABRAMOVICH HAS BEEN ATTACKED ON SOCIAL MEDIA BECAUSE HE IS JEWISH

movich. It is not every day that the owner of a top European football club overnight decides to swallow £1.5billion of debt to ensure the team has a future under a new proprietor.

Abramovich is not an easy figure to know or admire. Over the years I have encountered him several times. There is a curious sphinx-like quality among oligarchs that cannot be penetrated. When Britain removed his business visa from Britain and the Russian mogul migrated to Israel, his revenge was to cancel the imaginative £2bn redevelopment of Stamford Bridge after spending years settling a design.

His interest in Britain, not just in Chelsea but in stamping out antisemitism and remem-

brance of the Shoah, remained undimmed.

Visitors to the brilliant upgraded Holocaust galleries at the Imperial War Museum will see a plaque commemorating the Abramovich donation, which has been described as the biggest gift ever made to a British cultural institution.

Doubtless Mr Bryant and the politically correct brigade will want to see this expunged.

The murals created at Stamford Bridge to commemorate the lives of Jewish footballers, who perished in the Holocaust, will doubtless be regarded surplus to requirements.

Stamping out antisemitism at football grounds is work in progress. CFC at least have sought to confront it head on at matches, in the programmes and in a series of seminars. At one such gathering, we learned how Abramovich has been attacked on social media, not for his Putin connections, but because he is Jewish.

A combination of sprawling, possibly ill-acquired wealth, connections to Putin and personal ruthlessness and coolness does not make the former CFC owner a person to like.

Yet vilification for his Jewish background is unacceptable.

Our research reveals why Covid took so many Jews DR DANIEL STAETSKY

SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH POLICY RESEARCH

U

nder normal circumstances, quality of life rises all the time, and life expectancy, its best indicator, increases continuously.

But the pandemic put a stop to that, particularly in Britain. During the first year of the pandemic, Covid-19 caused a loss of about one to 1.5 years of life expectancy, effectively the equivalent of a decade’s worth of improvements, on a par with major wars and natural disasters.

For ethnic and religious minorities, the situation was even worse. And in 2020 at least, Jews were no exception.

The Board of Deputies recently reported that the UK Jewish death count from coronavirus stood at 1,000. When one thinks of the toll each of these deaths has taken on the friends and families left behind, it is almost too unbearable to fathom.

Yet, as statisticians, our task is to examine the numbers in the cold light of day and try to extract some lessons from them. The real issue is not how sombre or even precise these numbers are, but ultimately, what lessons can

be learned from them for the future.

So, what do 1,000 Jewish deaths from Covid-19, or a loss in life expectancy of more than one to 1.5 years, mean? Why did British Jews have one of the highest tolls from coronavirus deaths? Should the community behave differently in the next pandemic? Do Jews have to be extra careful?

Scientific investigations conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) and the Office for National Statistics demonstrate

the first peak (April 2020), the number of Jewish deaths was elevated by almost 300 percent, and during the second peak (January 2021), by 70 percent. This ‘Jewish disadvantage’ was similar to other minorities in Britain, specifically Muslims, Hindus and black people, even after adjusting for geographical, socioeconomic and health differences between these groups. But, intriguingly, while the Jewish disadvantage compared to non-Jews was particularly acute during the first peak,

❝

A JEWISH DISADVANTAGE WAS SEEN EARLY DURING THE PANDEMIC, BUT IT DISAPPEARED that Jewish mortality levels across the first 13 months of the pandemic were about 30 percent higher than normal.

They were also higher than mortality levels in Britain as a whole, which were elevated by 14 percent, and in London, home to the majority of British Jews, where they were elevated by 20 percent.

But these are averages over time; during

it disappeared completely during the second one.

Three lessons follow. First, this Jewish disadvantage is not destiny. It is modifiable.

The trajectory of Jewish mortality from coronavirus suggests that clearly: a Jewish disadvantage was seen early during the pandemic, but it disappeared later. It is not a permanent cultural, let alone genetic, feature.

Second, Jews and other ethnic minorities have something in common. Our research suggests that commonality is sociability – a greater tendency for minorities to spend time with each other socially and/or religiously.

This tendency, normally a great asset and source of support, is also conducive to greater rates of infection and, consequently, higher mortality. Unlike cancer and heart disease, Covid-19 is highly contagious and thrives in closely connected populations.

Third, high sociability may translate into greater rates of infection for other contagious conditions, such as influenza. If, indeed, Jews and other minorities are more sociable and more at risk as a result, they need to develop mitigating strategies to help them to control the spread of contagious conditions.

These are all critical insights for community leaders to internalise. They are based not on intuition, assumption or guesswork, but on painstaking research for which it is notoriously difficult to raise funds. But we now know what happened to British Jews during the pandemic, and why it happened. The 1,000 figure is dreadful, but research tells us how we can minimise it next time.

That’s the difference between serious research and no research – it is, quite literally, the difference between life and death.

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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Opinion

Give me a real kiddush and I’m a happy rabbi RABBI LAURA JANNER–KLAUSNER FORMER SENIOR RABBI TO REFORM JUDAISM

E

ven though I’m thrilled to return to the pulpit next month as the rabbi at Bromley Reform Synagogue, I do feel some foreboding. After a decade’s hiatus since my last congregational post at Alyth, and since stepping down as Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism last year, our physical and cyber worlds have been transformed. I want to make sure these developments are healthy, and not a hazard, for synagogues.

We may be inching, or leaping, to living in nebulous online spaces, which claim that everything we need in the real world is abundantly available in cyberspace. This turns my kishkes (guts). I don’t want our glorious in-person interactions to be superseded by synagogues and communal institutions migrating to virtual reality, or setting up permanent

offshoots on digital landscapes and abandoning existing ones.

It’s true that online resources have helped exponentially to bridge devastating pandemicinduced chasms facing our community. From livestreamed services, shivas and shiurim (classes) to WhatsApp support groups, innovative and socially-distanced measures have allowed us to stay connected. Joining distant family members and friends for services or socials strengthened our community’s vitality and openness during a time of crisis.

Particularly for physically limited, vulnerable or lonely members of our community, this has been a wonderful initiative and a true Kiddush Hashem, or sanctification of God’s name. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ simply won’t wash any more.

Last night, a group of European rabbis shared a beautiful, moving and impactful series of blessings on Zoom in solidarity with fellow communities in Ukraine, as well as in Russia and Belarus, where so many oppose military aggression. Technology can bring us together to amplify our prayers, especially that ‘the Maker

❝

ONLINE RESOURCES HAVE HELPED TO BRIDGE DEVASTATING PANDEMIC-INDUCED CHASMS

of peace may bring that peace upon us and upon all the world’.

I’m glad that companies and regulators are waking up to the extreme dangers the internet can enable when misused, especially for children. The Online Safety Bill would help us fight some of the worst of this, making social media companies responsible for stopping harmful and illegal activities. That way we can focus on the amazing things the internet can offer.

In one recent digital development, the first unashamedly Jewish NFTs – or Non-Fungible Tokens – were launched on the metaverse. For those of us still wrapping our heads around this craze, NFTs are unique, ownable items that only exist digitally. One new creator getting in on the action is The Kiddush Club, which creates one of a kind digital art pieces that they call mensches. Named after the Yiddish term

of endearment, these showcase a dazzling and commendably diverse variety of Jewish faces.

A mensch is a quirky and fun collector’s piece, but ranging from $180 (£140) to more than $3000 (£2,300), it’s unlikely they will be widespread any time soon. In any case, I definitely don’t want my spiritual needs to just be administered to an avatar that looks somewhat like me in an alternate reality that looks vaguely like the real world.

In my old-new role as a congregational rabbi, I will need to be more creative than last time around. I’ll need to welcome valuable digital facilities that difficult conditions have accelerated, but also avoid dangerous ones.

However glorious the gains of digital are, give me an in-person Kiddush and I’m a happy Jew. Nothing can ever replace a hug and a fishball.

EMERGENCY IN UKRAINE United Hatzalah of Israel’s emergency delegation is providing humanitarian aid, medical care and psychological support for Ukrainian displaced persons.

To support our emergency campaign visit: www.israelrescue.org/ukraineappeal or call 020 3823 4650 charity number: 1101329

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10 March 2022 Jewish News

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

Opinion

Israel treads a hard path and it must choose wisely DR GIL MURCIANO

CEO OF THE MITVIM INSTITUTE

F

oreign policy is the art of balancing national interests with moral variables, which express a state’s values and the identity it seeks to project. Israel’s position on the RussiaUkraine conflict is focused on the delicate balance between two seemingly contradictory considerations – its values-based affiliation with the Western camp and its realpolitik need for Russian goodwill. Adopting a clear stance by joining the global liberal camp in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine serves both of Israel’s considerations.

Israeli decisions in the face of this clear violation of another state’s sovereignty through military force has substantive implications for the way it will be viewed by the international community. The friction between the liberal camp and its illiberal challengers will shape the international arena for years to come. The

current conflict is a test of the West’s resolve to reaffirm its strong liberal credentials.

The current conflict finds Israel’s brand in the liberal world under continued erosion, the product of 12 years of Netanyahu governments’ policies and internal changes. The 2018 NationState Law that prioritises the state’s Jewish identity over its democratic one, the ongoing settlement enterprise and, above all, support for the Trump Administration and its illiberal allies, have undermined Israel’s position among its traditional, liberal allies in the US and Europe.

The crisis finds the liberal camp divided on Israel, pitting the traditional mainstream, i.e. the Biden Administration and European governments, which regard Israel as an important ally despite its drawbacks, against radicals, including parts of the progressive camp in the US and leading human rights organisations that cast doubts on the morality of Israel’s political model.

Under these circumstances, clearly siding with the liberal camp is an opportunity for Israel to reaffirm its alliance with its friends in this camp.

The need for an unambiguous stance also stems from Israel’s rise as a regional power with

global influence. Israel instinctively feels it does not have the luxury of values-based considerations; as a small state surrounded by enemies, it must focus on survival above all. It is a central axis in the Mediterranean Basin, a leading member of a regional coalition confronting the Iranian threat, and its home-made surveillance technology affects countries’ political reality.

Israel is a global-level actor. It now has the choice, and the obligation, to make a valuesbased decision. A clear Israeli stance is the rational choice for long-term thinking.

First, it is important to differentiate between long-term, values-based strategic alliances and

❝

THE VALUES WE CHOOSE TO PROJECT TO THE WORLD HAVE SUBSTANTIVE REPERCUSSIONS

ad hoc, interest-based relations. The welcome Israeli-Russian operational coordination in Syria is a temporary asset dependent on shifting short-term interests. Given the perceived US withdrawal from our region, it is incumbent upon Israel to ensure the sustainability of American assets for every scenario – continued US support of Mediterranean Basin partnerships, its military presence in Syria and its efforts to enhance the Abraham Accords.

Second, Israel must not be portrayed as the weak link in the liberal camp. We have seen Russian strategy applying pressure on hesitant actors, for example the Baltic states. Israeli ambivalence could invite such pressure.

The recent joint Russian-Syrian aerial patrols near Israel’s ceasefire line and the extensive sea and air drill Russia conducted along the Syrian coast are clear indications of such potential.

The values we choose to project to the world have substantive repercussions for the values that resonate with the Israeli public and the norms of our conduct. Israel’s stance in this crucial global test is an important domestic statement about our identity.

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Scene & Be Seen / Foundation event

Addiction charity launch

Photos by MART Photography-Tammy Shefler Kazhdan

The Israeli Centre on Addiction (ICA) hosted a charity event to mark the official launch of its foundation last weekend. The event, which was produced by Tzemach Productions and catered by Tony Page, took place at the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel and featured a star-studded line up of speakers, entertainers and performers.

World-renowned mentalist Lior Suchard, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen and Israeli singing and songwriting sensation Rami Kleinstein were among the key figures who showcased their talents and expertise.

The approximately 300 attendees were addressed by ICA co-founders Dr Ariel Kor and Dr Shauli Lev-Ran, who talked about the scale of addiction and the crucial work the association does to tackle it on a national scale.

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

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10 March 2022 Jewish News

LI FE

33

Inside A look

Shtisel at Purim Who, what & where Chicken Kyiv

‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in’ Brigit Grant has 10 Jewish reasons to keep watching The Godfather as it turns 50

With the mob masterpiece celebrating its 50th anniversary, the film’s director getting his own road – Francis Ford Coppola Street – and the movie being voted the nation’s favourite gangster movie of all time, it seems only right to note the Jewish contribution to The Godfather.

1

In 1969, Paramount confirmed its intentions to make a film out of Mario Puzo’s novel. The budget was $80,000 and in March 1970, the studio signed Albert S Ruddy as the producer. The Canadian Jewish former TV writer had impressed them with his interview and because he was known for bringing in his films under budget. His first hire as producer was for Wild Seed (1965) and he was given the job by Marlon Brando Sr, father of the late actor and Godfather star.

2

Before Francis Ford Coppola got the director gig, it was offered to others including Jewish directors the late Peter Bogdanovich and Otto Preminger.

All those offered the position declined.

3

Mafia don Vito Corleone’s eldest son Sonny is played by Jewish actor James Caan, who was originally considered for

Caan, lying down, with Brando and Coppola

the role of youngest son Michael. But director Coppola demanded the role be played by Al Pacino. Robert De Niro, who played the young Vito in Godfather Part II, was briefly considered for Sonny before actor Carmine Caridi was given the part, but the studio wanted Caan.

4

The final screenplay was finished on 29March 1971 and, at 163 pages long, it was 40 pages over what Paramount had asked for. Jewish screenwriter Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz) did uncredited work on the script.

short to play Michael and so Dustin Hoffman, Martin Sheen, and James Caan were asked to audition, before Burt Reynolds was offered the role. Marlon Brando threatened to quit, so Reynolds turned it down.

6

Everyone assumed the late Abe Vigoda was Italian when he played mobster traitor Salvatore Tessio in The Godfather, but Abraham Charles Vigoda was the son of Russian Jewish parents and the doomed Tessio was his first credited movie role.

7

Jewish actor John Marley plays a notable but small role as defiant movie mogul Jack Woltz, who awakens to find the severed head of his prized horse in his bed. Not a scene anyone forgets.

5

At the start of filming on 29 March, Michael Corleone had yet to John Marley as be cast. Paramount execuJack Woltz tives wanted a big name such as Warren Beatty or Robert Redford.

Jewish actor Ryan O’Neal was mooted owing Several of the film’s mafia characters to his success in Love Story, but Al Pacino was are based on Jewish mobsters, such as Coppola’s favourite for the role – he wanted an Morris ‘Moe’ Greene, who was inspired unknown actor who looked Italian-American.

by Bugsy Siegel. Like Greene in the film, Paramount executives felt Pacino was too Siegel, a hitman, launched Las Vegas, oper-

8

Al Pacino and Lee Strasberg

Morris ‘Moe’ Greene

ating the luxury casino the Flamingo. Siegel and Greene met similar fates, receiving bullets in their eyes. In Godfather Part II Actors’ Studio founder Lee Strasberg is Hyman Roth, a character drawn from Meyer Lansky, the dangerous gambling innovator. Legend has it that Lansky called Strasberg after the premiere and said: “You could have made me more sympathetic. After all, I am a grandfather.”

9

In 2006, Coppola contacted Steven Spielberg – whose studio DreamWorks had recently been bought out by Paramount – to ask about restoring The Godfather.

The result of this request is now in the cinema.

10

The Offer is an upcoming biographical-drama miniseries about the making of the landmark mafia film. Whiplash star Miles Teller plays Jewish producer Albert S Ruddy and Jewish actor Dan Fogler, best known as Jacob Kowalski in The Fantastic Beasts, is Francis Ford Coppola.

All three Godfather films have been meticulously restored under Coppola’s direction and will be available on 4K Ultra HD for the first time on 22 March at cinemas nationwide

Dan Fogler as Francis Ford Coppola

34

Jewish News 10 March 2022

JN LIFE

&

www.jewishnews.co.uk

WHO WHAT WHERE OSCARS

The Sound of Success

CODA is the first fim with a majority deaf cast nominated for an Oscar. There’s one surprising Jewish figure we have to thank for its star, Marlee Matlin – Henry Winkler.

Apparently, the two met when Winkler saw her, aged 13, perform in an amateur production. He told her: “Marlee, you can be whatever you want to be, just follow your heart and your dreams will come true.”

She has won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, was nominated for four Emmys, has had her name immortalised on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has been part of countless TV shows and films, so Winkler’s words of wisdom were sound. She lived with the Winklers while filming Children of a Lesser God. She and her husband were married by a rabbi and a priest and their two boys and two girls have been raised in an interfaith home with Jewish traditions.

Matlin was raised Jewish, attending Congregation Bene Shalom in Skokie, Illinois – a congregation started nearly 50 years ago by deaf Jews, which incorporates deaf and hearing culture. Matlin had her bat mitzvah there. “I had the benefit of a rabbi who could sign…

I learned how to speak Hebrew phonetically, and I signed and spoke,” she says.

ACTRESS

Famous Fundraiser

Jewish actress Mila Kunis was born in what is now Chernivtsi, Ukraine. She and her family fled the former Soviet Union in 1991 as a family of seven, arriving in the US with their suitcases and just $250. After watching the atrocities unfold in her homeland over the past two weeks, Mila and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, are using their huge platform to raise money for humanitarian aid efforts to Ukrainian refugees. “I have always considered myself an American, a proud American. I love everything that this country has done for me and my family, but today I’ve never been more proud to be a Ukrainian,” Kunis said in a video announcing their fundraiser on Instagram. “The events that have unfolded in the Ukraine are devastating.

There is no place in this world for this kind of unjust attack on humanity. Ashton and I have decided to match up to $3 million-worth of donations to Airbnb and Flexport, which are both helping with the relief effort.

We want to raise $30 million.”

Real Escapism

COMEDY

Are You Having a Laugh?

We could all do with a laugh right now, so JW3’s comedy festival next week comes at a really good time. From world-famous prankster Simon Brodkin’s stand-up show Troublemaker (sold out for March, but returning in May) and new female-written TV comedy pilots, to a live recording of the iconic podcast Are You Feeling Funny and the legendary Misogynist Film Club, join some of your favourite names in comedy for a week of riotous laughs.

Comedy Fest is at JW3, 13-20 March www.jw3.org.uk

STREAMING

FILM

Max’s Last Moment

Man to Man

The late Max Von Sydow gives a tender final performance in Echoes of the Past, a poignant and powerful drama inspired by one of modern Greek’s darkest moments – the Nazi massacre of Kalavryta on 13 December 1943. Directed by Nicholas Dimitropoulos, the film follows a highflying lawyer (Astrid Roos) who is representing the German government after Greece launches a multi-billion legal claim for war reparations. Her investigation brings her to the last survivor of the tragedy, Nikolaos Andreou (Von Sydow), and leads them both to the traumatic past. The film took the number one spot when it opened in Greece and won the Youth Audience Award at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Watch on Sky, Amazon or iTunes.

MOVIE

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Tim Jenkin, a real-life ANC activist who was branded a terrorist and imprisoned in Africa’s maximumsecurity Pretoria prison in the late 1970s during Apartheid.

Along with fellow freedom fighters Denis Goldberg (played by Ian Hart – God’s Own Country) and Stephen Lee (Daniel Webber – The Punisher, The Dirt), Tim made a complex and daring escape 18 months into his incarceration using a handcrafted wooden key.

Escape from Pretoria is available to watch for £4.99 on www.ukjewishfilm.org

The 2005 film Primo, Antony Sher’s translation of Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man from page to stage, has been released to stream by Digital Theatre. Levi’s work is an opus on the horrendous scale of the horrors of the Holocaust, viewed from his very singular perspective as a man who was not only subject to the nightmares of the concentration camps, but who ultimately survived Auschwitz. Sher’s interpretation of Levi’s testimony is a tour de force. The brutality of the Holocaust, so often spelled out in the scale of its slaughter, is reduced by Levi to the minutiae of individual humans, the unimaginable detail of their lives

and deaths in the hell of Auschwitz, and described with a harrowing eye for detail.

From the glimpses of passing stations and landscapes, momentarily seen through the gaps in his cattle truck’s walls, to recognising the provenance of different camp inmates from the numbers tattooed on their arms, it is the detailed horrific picture painted by Levi’s, and ultimately Sher’s, words that define this unique narrative. The stage is bare save for a solitary chair, set amid stark but carefully plotted lighting designs. A haunting cello accompaniment underlies Sher’s eloquent reverence as his spoken narrative transports the audience/viewer from Italy through Austria, Czechoslovakia and ultimately Poland, all of them under the malevolent control of the Third Reich. Levi died in April 1987 and Sher last December.

The recording of this drama is a tribute to them both – it is unmissable and worthy of five fishballs. Jonathan Baz View the film at www.digitaltheatre. com/watch/41413292. Read Jonathan’s reviews at www.jonathanbaz.com

Crossing Delancey

This Month in Jewish History

By Jewish News historian Derek Taylor

Plymouth Synagogue is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in regular use in the English-speaking world. It was built in the winter of 1761 and consecrated in March 1762. To prevent vandals abusing the building, no door was positioned at the front. If you walked past the white building today, you wouldn’t know it was a synagogue, but it was created by an extended Jewish family from Holland called Emden. If you want evidence of the existence of the Almighty, Plymouth was flattened by the Luftwaffe in 1941 and only two buildings in Catherine Street survived – the dispensary and the synagogue. You can still see the mikveh and there is a beautiful two-storey ark, decorated with gold leaf. There are only 34 Jews left in the community to keep the synagogue going, but the tiny congregation holds services on Shabbat and festivals.

www.jewishnews.co.uk

10 March 2022 Jewish News

35

JN LIFE

Last Push PuRim m Deborah Cicurel recalls her own heady festival days and offers last-minute costume suggestions

G

me. Once I insisted on dressing rowing up attending a Jewish school, up as a television, which he Purim was the highlight of the year. constructed from cardboard, Not because we could miss lessons complete with antenna (this was to boo Haman during the Megillah, the nineties) and the MTV logo. or because of the Hamantashen we’d stuff But perhaps the hardest down our throats, or because we only had a I made him work was when I half-day before heading home. begged him to let me be a headThe reason we looked forward to Purim was less woman holding her own to gawk at the other kids’ crazy costumes. The head. He spent all day making best ones stick in the mind more than that terrifying costume with 20 years later. The girl who dressed up as a hangers, cardboard and even giant bagel, complete with a red scarf to indicate blood a basket of bagels to hand where I was apparout to all her classmates.

The girl dressed as a ently decapitated biblical Rachel, with four – and this was before fluffy toy sheep stuck the days of Google to a skateboard, or YouTube to give which followed her him step-by-step around all day. instructions.

The stern teacher I won’t say it we’d all been was the most comfortable rather afraid of, outfit to wear who shook off at school all all prejudices we had about day, but it definitely her when she competed with the turned up in a giant bagels and The stars of Shtisel and their Purim outfits when they were young full Ali G costume, sheep-carrying Rachel. even adding won’t do. You may have countless World Of course, it’s not just a drawn-on The costume from Squid Game Book Day or Halloween combos, in the Jewish schoolgoers who throw goatee and randomly shouting: “Booyakasha!” themselves into competing dressing-up drawer but to be seen twice for the best costume.

With everyone taking Purim so seriously, in the same Frozen dress is unthinkable A host of celebrities I couldn’t just turn up wearing a funny hat. for kids who are more likely to want have, in recent Therefore, every year, my dad had to embrace the Squid Game outfit from the TV show they shouldn’t have seen. years, shown his artistic side and create all manner of crazy outfits for their own Purim And if the festival slipped your prowess. There was the time Madonna dressed as Daenerys Targaryen, Thrones’’ Mother Game of Thrones of Dragons, wearing a costume from the set, no Madonna as Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen one Purim less. Another one of A more relaxed ‘outfit’ note is Bar Rafaeli mind and you have to wing it, the age-old trick donning a tiger of cutting two holes in a sheet for eyes gives you outfit, complete with matching Chanel bag. an instant ghost, just as a trawl through your Those who love and miss Shtisel will appreglitziest costume jewellery makes for an acceptciate the cast’s throwback Purim photos: Akiva able Queen Esther. A cardboard crown and (Michael Aloni) as the superhero he is all for us, cotton wool beard for Mordechai may be more little ladybird Shira Haas and handsome Zohar Game of Groans than Madonna’s Mother of Strauss as a native American chief with what Dragons, but who has access to a film wardrobe look like knitted payot but probably werent’. department? I should have hung on to the Even with a calendar, Purim has a tendency headless woman.

Bar Rafaeli dressed in a tiger costume to creep up on us and last year’s costumes just Similar to how my costume looked (this isn’t me)

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

JN LIFE

CHICKEN KYIV NIGHT

By Denise Phillips

This classic dish is being renamed to match the Ukrainian spelling of the capital city of Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion. Jewish News has teamed up with World Jewish Relief to get you to unleash your inner chef and make chicken Kyiv this Friday night and give a donation to help those affected by the crisis in Ukraine. This new recipe is also suitable for Passover as it uses ground almonds in the coating flavoured with a slight piquant mixture of cayenne and sweet paprika spices with a centre oozing with parsley and garlic non-dairy margarine. The secret of this recipe is to coat the chicken breast well so the parsley garlic ‘butter’ does not seep out during cooking. Keep the skin on the chicken breast as it helps to preserve the natural meat juices.

Sweet Paprika Chicken Kyiv (serves 4) Ingredients

100g ground almonds ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1 egg 2 boneless chicken breasts – about 350g in total with skin on 100g fine matzah meal

Parsley Garlic ‘Butter’ 3 garlic cloves – peeled and crushed 50g non-dairy margarine 30g fresh parsley – leaves and stalks 1 teaspoon lemon juice Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Preparation time 15 mins

Cooking time 30 mins

Directions

SU

WORLD JEWISH RELIEF is responding to the most urgent humanitarian needs in Ukraine, prioritising food, cash, medical, material and psychological support for the worst affected, whether fleeing their homes or unable to escape violence.

To donate, please visit www.worldjewishrelief.org/ ukrainecrisis

SH I P

D

T TER S

P UR I M

LA E L I VE R E

CRUSHCOEDGWARE@GMAIL.COM WWW.CRUSHCO.CO.UK

pushing into the meat by about two-thirds to create a pocket.

8. Take about a tablespoon of the parsley garlic ‘butter’ and place into each breast before sealing the pocket closed with your hands.

9. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/Gas mark 7.

10. Season the chicken breast all over with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

Lightly dust in the fine matzah meal, then in the egg and finally into the ground almond mixture until completely coated.

11. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cooked through and golden brown.

You can find more recipes by Denise at www.jewishcookery.com

D

1. Place all the parsley ‘butter’ ingredients in the food processor and combine well.

2. Remove and shape into a 2cm diameter sausage shape.

Wrap in baking parchment.

3. Freeze for a minimum of 30 minutes.

4. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.

5. Pour the ground almonds into a bowl. Add the spices and season well.

6. Beat the egg in a separate bowl.

7. Insert a sharp knife into the thickest part of the chicken breast,

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37

Pet corner / JN LIFE

HERE’S ROCCO With TV’s favourite legal eagle Robert Rinder as his owner, French Bulldog Rocco is ready to unleash...

People can be so rude. After extending a brunch invite to a young pup last week, I found myself seated beside three elderly women who, unbeknown to me, suffered from cynophobia. For those unversed in etymology, that’s an intense fear of dogs, although I would attribute their scathing looks and curled lips to mere dislike.

“I didn’t know we’d be dining with dogs,” barked one of the women, who had an uncanny resemblance to Cruella de Vil without the style. “We should get the bill,” said her companion in questionable footwear.

My guest – a black Tibetan Terrier – seemed oblivious to their sniping.

Being young (he turned one in December) and optimistic, unlike my jaded self, Albus (that’s his name) was focused on the food and the novelty of being in a restaurant. As a seasoned diner on a human food diet, I could only smile at the snacks his owner had brought to placate him. Good Boy Crunchy Chicken & Calcium Bones is a toddler treat and I declined his offer to share. I have standards and a public profile to maintain and prefer not to chew in public.

I was tempted to yelp when the women left, but I was glad the judge had spotted their doggy disdain.

No one eyeballs with contempt quite like a Rinder and I’m proud to be one of them.

I would, however, question his cinema taste, as he’s been going on about the Oscar noms, citing The Power of the Dog as his favourite. Starring his mate Benedict, it’s a moody movie, but no one was more moody than me after seeing it as there isn’t a single canine in the cast. So much for dog power.

Until next time, Love

Rocco Ruff Read

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HELP THEM

Romania, Poland, Hungary, Lativa, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy are making exceptions for pets being ferried to safety alongside their fleeing Ukrainian owners. There are many charities working to help families with pets fleeing from Ukraine. One, which is working to help those traversing the Siret border crossing, is animal protection association Casa lui Patrocle.

Located in Suceava, 40km from the Ukrainian border, the organisation has set up emergency places to welcome any pet that enters Romania.

Please consider donating via: casaluipatrocle.ro/en

Pet Perfection MARY POPPINS NEVER HAD TO COPE WITH ANIMALS, AS THE BANKS FAMILY DIDN’T HAVE A DOG. If they had, Lisa Baptiste would have been the ideal hire because she is The Perfect Pet Nanny.

“I grew up with dogs, hamsters and guinea pigs and my weekends were spent at the stables,” says Lisa, who looks after four-legged creatures and chickens when their owners go away.

With many becoming dog and cat parents during the 2020 lockdown, she’s never been busier. “Lots of people got cockapoos without realising the breeds’ mix makes these dogs much more than just cute and fluffy.

The cocker spaniel is a working breed raised for hunting, which makes it high energy , while the highly-intelligent poodle needs constant brain stimulation.” It is this kind of knowledge that has made her so popular and, although not a trainer, she will introduce corrective behaviour alongside company and love.

Over the past year, Lisa has noticed a change in the behaviour of some cats. “The return to work has not just been distressing for dogs, but for cats too, who had to adapt to having their owners home all day and are in some cases exhibiting signs of separation anxiety,” says Lisa. She offers bespoke premium services, such as company and care visits by the hour (perfect for puppies through to senior dogs), daily visits for cats and other small pets while their owners are away, and house sitting for holidays. She also offers pet parent coaching to help with scenarios including settling in a new pet to the family, understanding the demands and needs of your pet, animal communiation and general pet care advice. https://theperfectpetnanny.co.uk

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

Business / AI decison-making

candicekrieger@googlemail.com

With Candice Krieger

THE EXPERTS SIFTING THROUGH INFORMATION OVERLOAD The co-founder of a British company tells Candice Krieger how artificial intelligence can sort through data to help businesses make more informed commercial decisions

A

“With the emergence British scale-up that of the global pandemic, sifts through the widespread social ‘information overprotest over equality load’ to help busiand race and the nesses make climate emermore informed gency, these past and confident decisions has two years have raised $50 million (£38m), been unlike any bringing its total investment to other, as the volume more than $100m (£76m). and velocity of data Signal AI, co-founded by comavailable to businesses is munications expert David Benigson, ever-multiplying. uses artificial intelligence (AI) to sort “Signal AI’s mission through the exploding deluge of inforSignal AI’s David Benigson to aggregate the mation available, from the world’s news world’s information and transform decisionand social media, broadcasts, blogs making for business leaders has never been to regulatory data, and provides real-time more critical.” targeted insights for businesses –also known He adds: “We are now into the age of AI and as ‘decision augmentation’.

I think companies that haven’t already started “There are tectonic shifts taking place to fully embrace AI across the enterprise will under almost every societal pillar and the get left behind. Companies that are providing issues faced by decision makers continue AI tools to help understand the increasingly to intensify,” says Benigson, 33.

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Companies are providing AI tools to help business leaders understand swathes of data

complex world and increasing swathes of information are helping to shape tomorrow’s decisions. This kind of tech is no longer siloed in the IT department; it is in the hands of business leaders and having a huge impact across the whole business.”

Signal AI’s tech can pick up business risk issues months ahead of the risk hitting. The company’s data and insights are currently delivered to more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500. Clients include Google, Deloitte and the Bank of America, plus a G7 government, which uses Signal AI to understand drivers for vaccine hesitancy.

Not bad for a company that was founded in 2013 in a garage in north London by Benigson and his co-founder Dr Miguel Martinez, a data scientist. Fast forward eight years and Signal AI is a team of 200, serving more than 700 clients in three continents.

The latest funding was led by Highland Europe, previous backers of Matches Fashion, plus existing backers Redline, in addition to MMC and Hearst and Guardian Media Group.

The money will be used to push a hiring drive and invest in research and development as the volume and velocity of data available to businesses intensifies. According to Gartner, by 2030, decision augmentation is predicted to surpass all other types of AI initiatives to account for 44 percent of the global AI-derived business value.

“The opportunity is huge,” notes Benigson, who says keeping abreast of data became increasingly complex during the pandemic.

“We saw a surge in our own clients needing to undertake an increasingly complex field of vision in terms of the deluges of data they

needed to be across, for example the daily changing global government regulations that directly affected their business in reaction to the pandemic. We cover 200 markets in 100 languages so, for global companies, this really became an extremely valuable tool for strategic decision-making.”

Will decision augmentation become an integral part of business strategy? “We are seeing boards now structure leadership bonus pay relating to company reputation and [in December 2021] Woolworths in Australia announced it would swap out a metric measuring sales per square metre, and replace it with a new measure that effectively ties executive bonuses to corporate reputation.

“I think we are likely to see much more of this kind of strategy with reputation being tied to company performance and executive pay in the near future.

“Business leaders need to make decisions that are more about their reputational impact, rather than just the bottom line.”

Benigson studied English literature and American studies at the University of Manchester before completing a bachelor’s in law from the BPP College of Law. Prior to founding Signal, he worked as a representative for Jamie Oliver at One Young World in Zurich before working at the Jamie Oliver Foundation at London until 2012, which he says has hugely influenced his career.

A member of South Hampstead Synagogue, he is a Young Ambassador at Innovate UK, which is part of the Prince’s Trust International. In 2017, he was listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the European Media category. � www.signal-ai.com

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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39

Orthodox Judaism

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA In our thought-provoking new series, rabbis and rebbetzins relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today

BY RABBI ARIEL ABEL

LAWYER BASED IN LIVERPOOL

Sacrifice and survival This week’s reading, Vayikra, is coupled with Zachor; Vayikra starts off a section that is largely irrelevant to the modern reader, and Zachor is the existential imperative – the survival of our people.

As 2022/5782 is a leap year, the reading of Zachor prior to Purim (which occurs in Adar II), means that even as we read which animals are brought to the slaughter in the Tabernacle, we, the Israelites, are warned against attack and invasion by a desert tribe who were sworn to our demise. Both themes involve taking life: killing other beings, animal creatures of God’s own handiwork and design, apparently to serve Him and

forestalling inevitable catastrophe by mounting an attack on Amalek wherever the opportunity presents itself.

In the Haftorah, the prophetic piece read after Zachor on this Shabbat, King Saul is severely reprimanded by the prophet Samuel for taking the sheep of Amalek to sacrifice in Gilgal. In a harangue of the king, Samuel says: “Umeh kol hatzon?” (what is this bleating of sheep I hear?). Samuel then goes on to demolish the entire concept of sacrifices in terms of their relevance to pleasing God: “Has the Lord a desire of burnt offerings and peace offerings, as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a peace offering; to listen, than the fat of rams.”

If so, where does this leave the Torah’s institution of korbanot, the

sacrifices brought to atone for sins, as peace offerings and for life cycle events? This troubled Maimonides, Judaism’s greatest codifier of law and practice. He states korbanot was implemented in the Torah to wean off the Israelites from idolatry, a comment traceable to the Scripture reader The taking of animal life as a ritual was practised by Abraham at the altar where he places his son, Isaac.

Later, Moses is intimately concerned with the Israelites’ faith allegiance, emerging from Egypt, as they learned to trust the God of their ancestors to redeem them.

Moses feared that once they were a free people, Israel may elect to selfimmerse in the voodoo-like practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites.

Fertility rites came with the worship of devils, which also favoured rotting

King Saul is reprimanded for taking the sheep of Amalek to sacrifice

meat and worshipping fire and rain.

A rereading of Vayikra in the context of devil worshipping culture partly redeems its relevance. Vayikra speaks of purifying rather than putrefying; of washing and burning rather than attracting the flies of Beelzebub

to feast on rotten flesh.

Making sense of the Torah is to read for meaning and see the parallel in our own lives and times, both generally and in relation to Ukraine. The imperative to reflect Zachor means we must support the Ukrainian

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10 March 2022

Therapist & Clinical Manager at Noa Girls Noa Girls is a charity supporting adolescent girls in the Orthodox Jewish Community We are seeking a Therapist & Clinical Manager to join our busy and friendly team. The successful candidate will hold a varying case load of individual therapy as well as co-ordinate, supervise and manage a clinical caseload.

Postgraduate diploma/Masters’ degree in psychotherapy/psychology/counselling or social work and at least three years’ experience of client-facing work required.

Salary - £38-50K FTE depending on experience & qualifications Hours - full or part-time considered. Minimum 20 hours per week For an application pack please email HR@noagirls.com CLOSING DATE: 9am on Monday 21st March

1 INT O5UR

ISRAEL NT S PARTICIPA UJIA A RECEIVES RY BURS A

Social Worker & Senior Social Worker Noa Girls is a charity supporting adolescent girls in the Orthodox Jewish Community We are seeking a full or part-time Social Worker and a Senior Social Worker (both minimum 20 hours per week) to work with and support girls and/or their families within Noa. The successful candidates will work with the Client Care Team to create individualised holistic care plans for Noa girls, as well as supporting them in leading independent and healthy lives.

Salary: Social Worker - £32-£37K FTE Senior Social Worker - £38-£50K FTE For an application pack please email HR@noagirls.com Closing date: 9am, Monday 21st March 2022

ISRAEL TOUR IS BACK Y R A S R U B D AN S N O I T A C I L P AP N E P O W O N E AR Israel Tour is back and applications are now open for teenagers in Year 11 and also those that missed out last summer, in Year 12.

Every year an average of 1-in-5 Israel Tour participants receives a bursary from UJIA. This year, as Tour returns for the first time since 2019, we have increased the number of bursaries available to ensure as many of our teenagers as possible can have this life-changing experience.

To find out more about Israel Tour and the UJIA Bursary Fund visit ujia.org/israeltour22 UJIA Israel Experience is organised by the Jewish Agency for Israel and supported by UJIA.

10 March 2022 Jewish News

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JDA – keeping older Deaf people active, supported … and flattered!

The bus driver said I was too young to have a bus pass.

When Arzo signed to me what he said, it made my week!

Please show you care by making a donation today.

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Ask our

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Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

NOW TAKING BOOKINGS FOR

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry.

This week: Advice on selling gold, tips on starting a new job working from home and admitting to hearing loss JONATHAN WILLIAMS JEWELLER

JEWELLERY CAVE

Dear Jonathan I have religiously checked the weekly gold rates that you supply every week in Jewish News and find them very informative. I think you have been in the Jewish News every week now for at least 10 years! I cannot believe the price of gold now and would like to know if it is a good time to sell, or do you think it will go much higher?

I have quite a few sovereigns and Krugerands which I would like to sell.

Sarah Dear Sarah Gold is always a safe haven in terrible times when wars are taking place.

ERIC SALAMON CAREER ADVISER

RESOURCE Dear Eric I start a new job next week as a PA to the partners of a law practice in the City.

They are going to continue working mainly from home, with only one or two days per week in the office and my induction will all be online. Do you have any tips on how best to manage this?

Danielle Dear Danielle Starting a new job online can

be quite daunting so you need to prepare ahead.

Even before your start date, try to get as much information as you can about the company, in particular an organisation chart showing who does what. Make a list of people with whom you need to build relationships other than the partners for whom you are working, such as the IT person, the finance person and other PAs. Make sure that during your induction you make an effort to “meet” with these people

The terrible Russian/ Ukraine conflict is causing gold to hit £1,530 per ounce as I write.

It’s never been this high and it is pushing up the price of platinum, palladium and silver.

History tells me that if a solution or a ceasefire can be sorted quickly, then prices will fall again so to answer your question, there has never been a better time to sell precious metals.

The price of diamonds has also rocketed this year, as the diamond polishers are still trying to catch up from the Covid lockdown and demand is very strong.

So if you have any diamonds you are deliberating over, then do bring them as well.

on or offline. You will need to be proactive to achieve this.

Try to arrange a day in the office as soon as possible so you can introduce yourself to as many people as possible and start networking within the organisation. Send an email to people introducing yourself and asking for a 10minute “meet”.

Make sure you know the technology you will be using – will it be Zoom or Teams or something else? – and practise using it before you start.

For the days you will work from home, prepare a structure to include breaks . Try to set up an “office” at home from which you can walk away at the end of the day.

At Resource, we run a workshop to help you settle in to your new job. Good luck!

EMMA GROSS CHARITY EXECUTIVE

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION Dear Sue I have finally admitted to myself that I have a hearing loss. I’m only in my early 40s. What advice could you give me please?

Jonathan Dear Jonathan Well done on admitting your hearing loss. You’ve taken a big step.

The next thing to do is ask your GP for a referral to an

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audiologist. You need to be assessed as to whether this is temporary, from an infection, or a wax build up for example.

Or is it that you have a noiserelated hearing loss, or the type that comes to most of us, with age?

The audiologist may suggest a hearing aid(s).

These, and/or other pieces of technology, can really help you. In our Technology and Information Centre at the JDA in North Finchley, we have a room full of equipment that you can try out for yourself and discuss with us.

We have numerous styles of amplified phones on display, and our friendly, professionally trained staff can advise you about the many apps available too.

If you are struggling to hear the TV or one-to-one conversations, we can show you some great equipment to make life easier.

We can also help you contact the publically-funded Access to Work scheme, where financial help can be given to working people with a hearing loss.

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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 Got a question for a member of our team?

PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SPECIALIST

Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY

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JEWELLERY CAVE LTD 020 8446 8538 www.jewellerycave.co.uk jonathan@jewellerycave.co.uk

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

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• Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London.

• Non-Executive Director of various companies advising on all governance matters.

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CHARITY EXECUTIVE

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Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

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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.

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•

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

Jewish Deaf Association

SPENCER WEST LLP 020 7925 8080 www.spencer-west.com emma.gross@spencer-west.com

STUART WOOLGAR Qualifications: • CEO of London’s largest guardian company with more than 20 years’ experience • Well-known and highly regarded British security industry expert • Specialists in securing and protecting empty commercial and residential properties • Clients include small private landlords to major national property companies and managing agents, as well as those in the public sector

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• Specialist in supply of diamonds to the public at trade prices.

Get the very best out of life

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.

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• 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.

JEWELLER

Struggling to hear the TV? Missing out on family phone chats?

Hearing just not what it used to be?

EMPLOYMENT LAW AND DATA PROTECTION

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• 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.

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DANCING WITH LOUISE 075 0621 7833 www.dancingwithlouise.co.uk Info@dancingwithlouise.com

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Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

ACCOUNTANT

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

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.

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.

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.

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

SOBELL RHODES LLP 020 8429 8800 www.sobellrhodes.co.uk a.shelley@sobellrhodes.co.uk

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611 www.jbd.org Lisa@jbd.org

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS SPECIALIST

IT SPECIALIST

LEE SHMUEL GOLDFARB Qualifications: • Hands-on service, with full and personalised support for international transfers.

• Get the most out of your currency exchange with regards to pension income, when purchasing your first house in Israel or benefitting from an inheritance from aboard.

• UK leader in financial exchange and partner to brands such as St James Place and Hargreaves Lansdown with industry-beating Trustpilot score.

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.

CURRENCIES DIRECT 0786 0595 890 / 0207 847 9400 www.currenciesdirect.com/jn lee.goldfarb@currenciesdirect.com

MAN ON A BIKE 020 8731 6171 www.manonabike.co.uk mail@manonabike.co.uk

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

If you would like to advertise your services here Email: sales@jewishnews.co.uk

London NHS Crisis UK Waiting lists hit 6 million (BBC – 13 January 2022) No one wants to be in this queue

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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.

LESLEY TRENNER 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,

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

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

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.

BENJAMIN ALBERT Qualifications: • Co-Founder and Technical Director of ADWConnect – a specialist in business telecommunications, serving customers worldwide.

• Independent consultant and supplier of Telephone & Internet services.

• Client satisfaction is at the heart of everything my team and I do, always striving to find the most cost-effective solutions.

LLOYD PLATT & COMPANY SOLICITORS 020 8343 2998 www.divorcesolicitors.com lloydplatt@divorcesolicitors.com

ADWCONNECT 0208 089 1111 www.adwconnect.com hello@adwconnect.com

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46

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Jewish News 10 March 2022

JDA – improving the learning environment for deaf pupils

.

Thank you for helping me hear better in class The panels make the class quieter so I can ! ell w y all re ing do I’m w No k. or w my on te concentra Please show you care by making a donation today.

020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk Registered Charity No. 1105845 Company Limited by Guarantee 4983830

47

10 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Fun, games and prizes

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD 1

2

3

4

5

8 9 10 13 17 18 19 20

6

7 8

9

10

11

14

15 16

17

18

19

20

ACROSS 1 Function in life (4)

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

Forced labour (7) Veneration (3) Not clued up (10) Mathematical chart (5,5) Placed (3) Frightened, worried (look) (7) Darts (6) Badger’s burrow (4)

3 Flexible (6)

CODEWORD 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 with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

I

B H U E

I

G K E

I

D E R

U S W R A N E D R L C G E O

I

I

N N R M G

I

3

M

E

11

L R H T U O

L E C C D O R L

F A B E

I

T T

I

P

R L N L N M K E

G T S K A L

I

R A T C

I

17

N

12

O N T A F U E P D C D L O I

DUCK EGRET EIDER FLAMINGO GOOSE

HERON MALLARD MOORHEN PELICAN PENGUIN

Last issue’s solutions

11

Crossword ACROSS: 1 Scrag 4 Agent 7 Rev 8 Iced bun 9 Cost 10 Acre 13 Yet 15 Avid 16 East 19 Unnamed 21 App 22 Linen 23 Needy DOWN: 1 Surf 2 Ravioli 3 Guilty 4 Apes 5 Ebb 6 Tinsel 11 Cascade 12 Casual 14 Tendon 17 Amen 18 Spry 20 Nan

1 9 2 5 6 4 7 3 8

8 3 5 9 7 2 4 6 1

2 7 4 8 9 3 6 1 5

1

20

22

21

16

7

4

15

1

2

15

25

21

3

1

23

21

9

14

16

21

21

19

21

7

18

18

15

PUFFIN STORK SWAN TEAL WIGEON

3

16

16

11

13

1 6

22

10

15

18

19

22

26

16

21

21

21

1

18

23

16

24

26

7

11

7

6

5 8 3 6 4 1 9 2 7

3 2 7 4 5 9 1 8 6

23

10

21

2

2 3

1

1

21

3

15

11

15

2 4 2

18 10

10

2

5

R

7 1

19

1 14

P

2

3

15

16

O

4

5

16 4

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

17

18

R

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

Suguru 6 1 9 7 2 5 8 4 3

8

6 7

3

16

23

18

25

21

4 3 1

7

21

15

10

11

O

19

1

3

3

1

19

11

3

1 2 3

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

Sudoku 7 4 6 3 1 8 2 5 9

21

21

B O

E A P A L B A T R O S S T ALBATROSS BITTERN COOT CORMORANT CRANE

5

21

O A E N E F E P M U W H C S S R U L N R E T T

18

11

18

14

H

21 15

7

E N A W S E A M A E S S R P

25

11

A P G D O S T O I

18

7 5 2 9 1 3 5 8 1 8 3 7

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.

The listed waterbirds 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.

4

1

SUGURU

WORDSEARCH N H S D S H A O E N A R C

4 5

2 4 8 9 7 8 5 6 2 9 6 4 9 4 3

DOWN 1 Ill-considered (4) 2 Discover (5) 4 Place down (3) 5 Panic button (5) 6 Stylish (6) 7 Sport played at Wimbledon (6) 11 Non-see-through (6) 12 Sir Thomas More’s ideal state (6) 14 Engine (5) 15 Milky Italian coffee (5) 16 Revise proofs (4) 18 Chop (wood) (3)

12 13

SUDOKU

9 5 1 2 8 6 3 7 4

4 6 8 1 3 7 5 9 2

2 5 4 3 1 2

1 3 1 5 4 5

4 2 4 2 3 2

All puzzles © Puzzler Media Ltd - www.puzzler.com

Wordsearch 3 1 5 1 5 1

2 4 2 4 2 3

1 3 1 3 1 4

3 1 3 1 3 4

2 4 5 2 5 2

1 3 1 4 3 1

2 5 2 5 2 4

4 1 4 1 3 1

3 5 3 2 4 2

M T E S P I L C E O G R S

S N G N I D N A L I L G P

E E P H A S E S B D N I H

A C S H O M G B H I G S E

S S P A C E O N X R N A R

T E Y M T U C A I I N Q E

R R T T S E W R A N U L T

Codeword O C I D I O L T A A A E E

N F B O Y N N L R T M W K

A K R L D U E T I I E P C

U X O H O F E R U T K R O

T Q D M L R I L E A E H R

B A Y O F D E W A S O N Y

S P E C A U O R I P E R M G R EQU I E U S POU S T T L J A P E A T A GR I Z Z O O Y GONG

I F A S T R E N E C A N L Y O E N

Y

D E W X E AWE R R MUC T I CHA S E BAN D M B E E L G V E L O

E D O E D O K C E R U ON C CH Y P

L J P B H I X EWC V F O 10/03 Q Z DR SGAMKN T Y U

48

Jewish News 10 March 2022

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Business Services Directory HOUSE CLEARANCE

ANTIQUES

Stirling of Kensal Green

Top prices paid Antique – Reproduction – Retro Furniture (any condition)

Epstein, Archie Shine, Hille, G Plan, etc.

Dining Suites, Lounges Suites, Bookcases, Desks, Cabinets, Mirrors, Lights, etc.

Established over 60 years.

Know who you are dealing with.

Dave & Eve House Clearance Friendly Family Company established for 30 years

House clearances

All quality furniture bought & sold.

Single items to complete homes

Best prices paid for complete house clearances including china, books, clothing etc. Also rubbish clearance service, lofts, sheds, garages etc

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07866 614 744 (ANYTIME) 0207 723 7415 (SHOP)

Please contact Gordon Stirling

closed Sunday & Monday STUART SHUSTER - e-mail - info@maryleboneantiques.co.uk

020 8960 5401 or 07825 224144

MAKE SURE YOU CONTACT US BEFORE SELLING

Email: gordonstirling65@gmail.com

CHARITY & WELFARE

We clear houses, flats, sheds, garages etc.

No job too big or too small!

Rubbish cleared as part of a full clearance.

We have a waste licence.

We buy items including furniture bric a brac.

For a free quote please phone Dave on 07913405315 any time.

HOME & MAINTENANCE

ARE YOU BEREAVED? Bereavement Counselling for adults and children individually. Support Groups available.

During the pandemic, we offer telephone and online counselling.

Contact Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service in confidence.

0208 951 3881 enquiries@jbcs.org.uk | www.jbcs.org.uk

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STONEMASON

A. ELFES LTD New memorials Additional inscriptions & renovations

Call 0207 205 4229 Email sales@andrewsofficefurniture.com www.andrewsofficefurniture.com

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

www.garygreenmemorials.co.uk

Gary Green ad 84 x 40mm JM Group v2.indd 1

18/03/2019 12:50:51

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ADVERTISE IN THE UK’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER FOR LESS THAN £24 A WEEK Email Sales today at sales@thejngroup.com

10 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

49

Business Services Directory LEGACY- LEAVE A GIFT IN YOUR MEMORY

JEWISH WAR VETERANS

Leave the legacy of independence to people like Joel.

YOUR LEGACY

PLease remember us in your wiLL.

& THEIR DEPENDANTS NEED

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eNABLeD

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visit www.Jbd.org or caLL 020 8371 6611

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10 Golders Green Road London NW11 8LL Opposite Cafe Nero

REOPENING SPECIAL OFFERS, Suits from £79.50 CRAZY PRICES! Overcoats from £79.50 SH

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50

Jewish News 10 March 2022

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A HOME FOR HOPE

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN

Tikva Emergency Appeal for Ukraine Over the last 14 days Tikva has evacuated hundreds of children and young families out of Odessa, and wherever possible out of Ukraine entirely, whilst still ensuring those left behind are safe and cared for too.

As the bombardment of Ukraine continues, please donate today at charityextra.com/tikvaemergencyappeal or call 020 8209 9100 This advert has been sponsored Registered Charity: 1151993 6360 Tikva Protect Our Children Advert (JN FP) v1.indd 1

Scan the QR code 08/03/2022 16:15