1294 - 22nd December 2022

A tale of two Chanukahs...

LAST YEAR

The same busload of children was targeted by antisemitic yobs on Oxford Street in 2021 – an attack that sickened the nation but did not lead to arrests

The group of Jewish youngsters who su ered horrific antisemitic abuse on a Chanukah bus ride in Oxford Street last year took the same journey again last night in a symbolic act of pride and defiance, writes Adam Decker.

Wednesday evening’s event was organised by Jewish News to send a message that British Jews “will not be cowed by hatred and intolerance”.

In October this year, the Metropolitan Police said they had dropped an investiga-

tion into the November 2021 bus attack after failing to identify the gang who were filmed hurling antisemitic abuse and even shoes at the bus by those onboard.

Chabad Rabbi Shneor Glitzenstein, who

The Jewish News Chanukah bus takes proud youngsters to a poignant chanukiah lighting on Oxford Street to mark the fourth night of the festival

Mayor is ‘well aware of Jewish trauma’ over unpunished hate

Sadiq Khan has said he is “well aware of the trauma felt by the community” when hate crime incidents such as the now infamous Palestine car convoy fail to result in criminal prosecutions, writes Lee Harpin.

But the mayor of London claims significant changes introduced by new Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley would now mean putting victims first, investigating crime thoroughly and “getting the basics of policing right”.

Khan spoke to Jewish News as he and deputy mayor Sophie Linden joined assistant Met commissioner Louisa Rolfe for a patrol with the Safer Neighbourhoods team in Golders Green.

The mayor said: “I want to just reassure the Jewish community in this part of London that we understand the fear that can be spread when there’s hate crime.

“And I’m well aware of the trauma felt by the community when there were aggressive, intimidating people, driving cars up and down the high road with provocative flags.

“People were scared to leave their homes, I’m well aware of that.

“And I’m aware there are places of worship and schools that require CCTV and security for the simple reason that Jewish people are worshipping there, or that Jewish children are going to school.”

Assistant commissioner Louisa Rolfe was asked specifically about the failure of the CPS to prosecute anyone involved in the May 2021 Palestine convoy, which saw groups of men drive cars through Jewish areas of north London shouting direct threats.

She would not comment on claims the failure

JVL’s Wimborne-Idrissi is booted out of Labour

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, one of the founders of the Jewish Voice For Labour group, has been expelled from Keir Starmer’s party.

The pro-Jeremy Corbyn activist was kicked out following her suspension in September over her involvement at an event organised by the proscribed Resist group, led by disgraced former MP Chris Williamson.

Resist was one of four far-left organisations banned by Labour in July 2021 for downplaying and denying antisemitism claims in the party. One party source described the JVL co-founder’s involvement with the meeting as a “straight rule break.”

Wimborne-Idrissi confirmed she had been expelled for “demonstrating support” for Resist, claimed to be the victim of a “hostile

campaign” by the Labour leadership, and said she would appeal the decision to expel her.

Wimborne-Idrissi’s expulsion will come as welcome news for most Jewish Labour supporters and communal organisations. The Jewish Labour Movement, along with the Board of Deputies, have been among the JVL co-founder’s fiercest critics.

Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Wimborne-Idrissi repeatedly denied the existence of an antisemitism problem in the party.

In October she apologised “unreservedly” in the High Court to journalist John Ware after accepting she made “defamatory” remarks about his politics.

Wimborne-Idrissi and JVL now face a hefty legal bill.

OUSTED

A Haringey councillor at the centre of antisemitism claims has been expelled from the Labour Party, Labour sources confirmed Joy Wallace, elected in Fortis Green ward in May, was ousted over tweets from the @JoyWall79169497 account, including one alleging a rabbi was “paid and rewarded handsomely” for criticising Jeremy Corbyn on BBC Radio 4.

Wallace was suspended

by Labour in June after the tweets were first exposed.

Another tweet said Conservative MP Priti Patel “does not consider her parents refugees/migrants or in fact that her ENTIRE family are ethnic people… because she has straight hair and nose. Her skin might be vitiligo or a strong sunbed?!”

Wallace’s expulsion came at the same time as a similar sanction against Jewish

Voice For Labour co-founder Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi.

The Labour leader of Haringey Council had previously warned local party councillors she “will not tolerate antisemitism”, amid concerns over a few elected representatives.

Council leader Peray Ahmet also warned Labour councillors they will be expected to resign if they don’t declare damaging conduct from their pasts.

to secure convictions was a result of the slow response to the incident by police, who failed to gain the necessary evidence.

But Rolfe told Jewish News: “It’s really important to us that we address the community’s concerns.

“Of course, when people report in crime, it is

important that we gather evidence. I don’t know enough about these cases, but I know they are of huge concern to the community.

“For us, our new commissioner is really clear, his mission is renewing policing by consent. There will be more trust, less crime and higher standards of policing.

“We are working really hard to ensure that we are visible in communities and that we build those relationships.”

The assistant commissioner added that in relation to policing matters “sometimes a community’s concerns were unfounded” but she also admitted “sometimes they are really well founded.”

She said, “the closer we are to a community the more that we will understand what we can do to reassure and get it right.”

Mayor Khan also referenced his meeting last week with communal leaders at which, as part of a lengthy agenda, he discussed concerns over the failure to root out antisemitic hate crime over recent years. “Whether it’s at university campuses, whether it’s online, whether it’s on the streets of Golders Green, we’ve got to make sure we root this out,” Khan stressed.

“I’m afraid you can see a direct link with tensions in the Middle East and an increase in antisemitism.”

Sadiq Khan, centre, with Cllr Anne Clarke, left, assistant commissioner Louisa Rolfe, centre left, deputy mayor Sophie Linden, and Barnet Council leader Barry Rawlings

This winter is going to be tough. But for families in Ukraine, it’s going to be tougher.

Report: Schools must educate about the evil of antisemitism

Secondary schools should be required to educate pupils about contemporary antisemitism in addition to Holocaust studies, a major new report has recommended, writes Lee Harpin.

Lord Mann of Holbeck Moor, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, makes his recommendations amid growing concern about the alarming spread of antiJewish hatred among young people.

The report warns of a surge in Jew-hatred promoted by neo-Nazi groups and others on social media platforms.

Lord Mann’s study suggests if the scale of the issue among young people is not tackled “then we are storing up potentially serious problems for the future as well as for the present”.

The new report, published on Monday, states: “Only limited progress on learning about antisemitism in schools since 2006 has been made and this report is not the first time that this matter has been raised within government.

“The Antisemitism Policy Trust highlighted concerns from the APPG inquiries about the suitability of training materials about the matter and how to have di cult conversations in the classroom. Jewish representative bodies also believe some teacher unions are found wanting in their willingness to address the issue.”

Lord Mann adds: “This year, Jewish girls and boys have been abused and threatened on public transport, at school and on the street because they are identified as being Jewish.

“Government, parliament and society need to consider whether this is acceptable in our country, and if not, what additional action is needed to stand up to the oldest hatred of all.”

The comprehensive report also suggests a

renewed and concerted e ort is also required across all UK universities and colleges to make Jewish students safe and feel safe on campus. The report outlines a series of new recommendations to help to achieve this.

It notes: “Among students and academics, the growth in antisemitism has largely occurred under the guise of anti-Zionism or criticism of the Israeli government. The atmosphere can become particularly toxic when conflict in the Middle East arises.”

The report also looks into claims media organisations, including the BBC, have been failing in their responsibility to report issues, particularly around Israel, fairly.

It concludes: “As an independent observer, this o ce felt it necessary to request a meeting with the director-general of the BBC in January 2022 to discuss the BBC’s coverage of antisemitic incidents such as the Texas synagogue hostage-taking during the same month and the abuse aimed at Jewish passengers on a bus in central London during the Chanukah festival the previous November.

“Jewish representative bodies have also made complaints on several occasions about remarks made on BBC Arabic Service which they believe have ‘crossed a line’.”

More optimistically, Lord Mann says: “Following the meeting with the director-general, this o ce is hopeful there will be far less grounds for complaint directed towards the BBC in the future. ”

The peer’s report says the implementation of the Online Safety Act, once through parliament, should be used to make online platforms fully accountable for knowingly failing to block all forms of race hate.

Social media companies should for example be forced to identify to the police or to the libelled individuals the users who promote hate crime anonymously.

The report argues that the recent purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk with his championing of ‘free speech absolutism’ adds to the urgency for UK and European governments to act.

As one of the 10 main recommendations in the report, Anti-Jewish Hatred: Tackling Antisemitism in the UK 2022 – Renewing the Commitment, it is suggested the UK and Scottish governments should establish why so few prosecutions of antisemitic hate crime apparently take place and should work with the prosecuting authorities to address the issue.

The gap between the increased number of reported antisemitic hate incidents and the number of resulting prosecutions is believed to be huge, and Jewish representative organisations have made it clear that this is one of their biggest concerns because it contributes to a failure to deter o enders.

The UK’s oldest synagogue has submitted planning applications for the first religious boundary – or eruv – in central London.

Historic Bevis Marks Synagogue near Aldgate said the eruv would help make the area around the synagogue more hospitable for religious Jews wishing to come to the area to live, visit, study, or access medical care.

An eruv is a Jewish religious boundary, typically marked by wire, within which Orthodox Jews can carry out certain otherwise-restricted

activities on Shabbat, such as carrying or pushing.

Rabbis say it allows Orthodox Jews in wheelchairs to go to synagogue.

“Establishing an eruv in the City greatly broadens the possibilities for observant Jews to enjoy the rich experience of Bevis Marks and the City of London over a Shabbat,” said Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi for the S&P Sephardi Community.

“It signals a warm welcome for singles and young families to live in the area. It is a wonderful development.”

Geographically the eruv will include elements of Islington, Hackney, Southwark, and Tower Hamlets, and the River Thames. After years of scoping work, planning applications have now been submitted to three local authorities.

Organisers hope that there will be less push-back because the intended eruv route will largely utilise preexisting structures in what is a heavily built-up area, for instance by relying wherever possible on pre-existing walls and lamp posts.

The community relies on CST volunteers at public gatherings like Chanukah In The Square

Lord Mann outside the BBC

IT WAS ALL LIGHT ON THE SECOND NIGHT!

Hundreds of people braced the cold and rain to celebrate Chanukah in Trafalgar Square on Monday night.

Attending the event, the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said London had “been through a lot”, with Covid and now with an economic crisis, but praised the “selflessness of Jewish keyworkers, volunteers, synagogues, and community organisations”. He said: “It was truly an honour to join members of London’s Jewish communities tonight in Trafalgar Square as we lit the menorah in celebration of Chanukah.”

Senior Masorti Rabbi Jona-

than Wittenberg lit the chanukiah and led attendees in prayer, and Jewish community leaders including Jewish Leadership Council chair Keith Black, Board of Deputies president Marie van der Zyl, London Jewish Forum’s Adrian Cohen and joint JLC chief executive Claudia Mendoza made speeches.

The giant chanukiah will remain lit up at the central London landmark until 26 December, with one more of its lights being kindled every day. Numbers were down on 2019, the last Chanukah in the Square before the pandemic, when observers estimated that

4,500 people attended. The event was organised by Chabad-Lubavitch, the Jewish Leadership Council and the London Jewish Forum.

...as JN illuminates the Eye for the fifth night

Jewish News is teaming up with the Jewish Leadership Council to transform the London Eye into a giant chanukiah – and give you the chance to win a £600 private pod experience for 14 people on the iconic attraction.

The 400ft ferris wheel will be lit on the fifth night of Chanukah (22 December) for the second year running.

To win a luxury pod experience, simply send your most creative drawing of a chanukiah to events@ thejlc.org by Tuesday 27 December. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 4 January.

Jewish News editor Richard Ferrer said: “This will surely be one of the

most visible celebrations of Chanukah in the world and a wonderful expression of Britain’s place as a welcoming home to so many faiths and cultures.

“Huge thanks must go to the bosses of the London Eye and Jewish Leadership Council for bringing this vision to reality.”

Also returning is the traditional Trafalgar Square giant chanukiah, sponsored by the Mayor of London and Greater London Authority, from Sunday 18 until Monday 26 December.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m proud of the tradition we have in London of hosting a giant chanukiah in the heart of our city. It’s an

Maccabean silver coins found in Judean desert

Israeli researchers have unearthed a wooden box containing 15 silver coins, dating to the time of the Maccabean revolt, in the Judean desert.

The items, found earlier this year in a crack in the Muraba’at Cave in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve, were buried some 2,200 years ago.

The upper part of the box was full of packed

earth and small stones and underneath was a piece of purple woollen cloth covering the coins arranged with pieces of sheep’s wool.

According to Dr Eitan Klein, who studied the coins, it is likely that people hid their possessions in the desert until a particular danger was gone, such as those detailed in the Books of the Maccabees. Among the dangers for Jews at

the time was the plundering of the Jerusalem Temple treasures by Antiochus Epiphanes IV (‘The Wicked’), who reigned over the Seleucid Kingdom, including Judea.

Archaelogists have analysed the coin hoard and it will be exhibited to the public over Channukah in the Hasmonean Museum in Modi’in, in the context of Israel Heritage Week.

opportunity to celebrate this joyous festival with the Jewish community and to reflect on the message of hope Chanukah brings.”

Michelle Janes, co-chief executive of the JLC, said: “It is an important statement of our multicultural city that our chanukiah stands alongside the iconic Christmas tree at this time of the year. We are also thrilled to be continuing our partnership with the lastminute.com London Eye to light up the wheel once again. This is another symbol of our city sharing in the joy and lights of Chanukah.”

 For competition terms and conditions: www.thejlc.org/drawing

The coins were found in a wooden box

The London Eye lit up for Chanukah last year

The chanukiah shares Trafalgar Square with the Christmas tree from Norway

Mayor Sadiq Khan; and with Marie van der Zyl

MPs silent for 80 years since report of Shoah

MPs have observed a oneminute silence in the House of Commons to mark the 80th anniversary of the declaration on the persecution of the Jews.

The declaration is described by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust as the first public announcement by the British government on the Nazis’ attempt to murder Europe’s Jewish population.

The declaration took place on 17 December 1942. Reports from the time say that in response, MPs rose spontaneously and stood for a moment in silence. Marking the anniversary in the Commons chamber on Thursday were both prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, alongside other MPs including the entire shadow cabinet.

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told the House seven survivors of the Holocaust including Mala Tribich were present in the gallery to witness the unique and emotional ceremony, alongside representatives of Britain’s Jewish community and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. The names of all seven survivors were read out in the Commons later by Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House. The government’s independent adviser on antisemitism Lord Mann was also in attendance.

Sir Lindsay described the event as an “important moment” and a “tribute to all those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis”.

He said: “Before we start our business, I wish to invite the House to commemorate a tragic and sombre event. On December 17, 1942, 80 years ago on Saturday, the then foreign secre-

tary, Anthony Eden, read to the House a declaration issued by the wartime allies, condemning the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis in occupied Europe.

“The declaration followed a diplomatic note sent to the allied powers a week earlier by the Polish foreign minister in exile, the first official report that the Holocaust was under way.

“The evil acts described in the declaration were and remain difficult to comprehend.”

LFI DEMANDS IRAN ACTION

Labour Friends of Israel is urging the UK government to take tougher action on Iran following the execution of two pro-democracy activists.

The group’s chair Steve McCabe has written to foreign secretary James Cleverly urging the ministers to expel Iran’s chargé d’affaires in London and to downgrade diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic.

He also repeated calls for the UK to proscribe Tehran’s ideological army, and widen sanctions on the regime’s executioners and propagandists.

In his letter, McCabe condemns Tehran’s “brutal and violent effort to suppress the legiti-

mate protests” which began in September and in which nearly 500 people, including 68 children, have died at the hands of security forces.

He also condemns the “barbaric execution” of two protesters, Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekariin, and warns “many more” protesters are now in danger.

“As usual, the regime is deploying torture and hasty trials to judicially murder those who oppose it and intimidate other protesters,” McCabe suggests.

He welcomed steps already taken by Britain, the US and European Union against the regime, but urged tougher action.

‘Jewish elite’ plotter guilty

A telecoms engineer has been convicted of plotting to topple the government, which believed was dominated by a Jewish elite who took orders from Israel.

Conspiracy theorist Oliver Lewin (pictured) had denied a charge of preparing terrorist acts, but was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday after a trial, West Midlands Police said.

Prosecutors said the 38-year-old, of Coalville, Leicestershire, had plotted to “topple the government” by planning to attack major communications infrastructure, including a plan to damage a culvert beneath the M1 motorway.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Annabel Darlow KC told the court: “Mr Lewin believed the government was

Israel.”

Lewin will be sentenced on 20 January next year.

dominated by a Jewish elite who took orders from

Seven survivors witnessed the moving moment in the House of Commons

Chanukah bus lights up London

Continued from page 1 led last year’s bus trip, teamed up with Jewish News to book another double-decker to take the same route this year, even taking some of the same participants.

Jewish News editor Richard Ferrer said: “We were proud to arrange this special occasion for those who went through such an ordeal 12 months ago. We must not let a hateful minority obscure the fact that Britain is a safe and welcoming place for minorities.”

The Routemaster bus took the 40-strong group from Temple Fortune in north-west London to Oxford Street to light Chanukah candles. Some of those who experienced the abuse in November last year used the opportunity to reflect on what happened and explain why this journey sends an impor-

tant message.

Adrian Cohen, co-chair of the London Jewish Forum and Adam Hug, leader of Westminster Council, attended the event. Hug told Jewish News: “‘I was delighted to be able to welcome the Jewish community to celebrate Chanukah on Oxford Street this year to show solidarity from the people of Westminster after the awful events of last year.”

Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer said: “This is a terrific initiative after the events of last year, showcasing the diversity of the UK, its people of faith and none, living harmoniously alongside each other.”

Kosher doughnuts, crisps and water were generously supplied on the bus by Kosher Kingdom. Thanks also to Surrey Limo for providing the Routemaster bus.

Jenrick heaps praise on Margaret Hodge

Conservative minister Robert Jenrick has used a speech at the Board of Deputies’ parliamentary Chanukah reception to praise the “brilliant” work of Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge.

In a break from party political rivalries, the immigration minister told a packed audience in Westminster: “I wanted to take this opportunity, as sadly we’re in the long sunset of her time in the House of Commons, to say a special thank you and to pay tribute today to Margaret Hodge.

“It has been a privilege to work briefly along-

side Margaret, as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group [on British Jews], and to watch with admiration from afar for a lot longer the way that she has fought for the community and for the values that she and all of us believe in.

“That representation like Margaret’s in Westminster has a very long and proud pedigree. When some commentators noted that Rishi Sunak was the first minority prime minister I reminded them that of course, it was Benjamin Disraeli who was the first minority

prime minister. And I remember that when he was taunted by a member of parliament in the House of Commons for being Jewish, he answered, ‘Yes, I am a Jew.’ ”

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis had been due to attend to speak and light the chanukiah, which had been commissioned and paid for the by the late former speaker Michael Martin, but was unwell. Kinloss Synagogue Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence stood in, and spoke and lit the candles before attendees sang Maoz Tsur

We’re doing everything we can to help, but soaring inflation, energy, fuel and food prices are having a huge impact. Our electricity costs alone are up by 125%.

Your

Chanukah

Call 020 8922 2600 or donate at jewishcare.org/donate

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will help us continue to provide essential light, warmth and nourishment for our community.

Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence lights the chanukiah

The candles are lit on Oxford Street on Wednesday to mark the fourth night of Chanukah

by Jenni Frazer @JenniFrazer

King Charles reached out to the Jewish community last week, visiting the head offices of the Community Security Trust ahead of Chanukah before meeting scores of people young and old and even dancing with Holocaust survivors at London’s JW3 community centre.

From the moment he entered JW3, Charles made himself at home, waving and smiling to excited Rimon Primary School pupils making full use of the centre’s annual skating rink.

The king, received by Camden deputy lieutenant Roxane Zane and JW3 founder Dame Vivien Du eld, was escorted into the building by chief executive Raymond Simonson.

He reminded the King he already had a connection to the centre — the speech he gave as Prince of Wales, to mark the 250th anniversary of the Board of Deputies, is one of the key items buried in the JW3 time capsule in 2013, due to be dug up in 100 years’ time.

First stop was in the reception area where

a group of students from South Hampstead Girls’ School were packing toys and puzzles destined to be Christmas gifts for the children of asylum seekers who already receive food packages on a weekly basis, prepared and packed by a team of volunteers.

The King’s party, in fact, had arrived with bags of food to donate to the regular produce being sorted — heavy o erings of rice and tinned tuna, as well as numerous other nonperishable goods.

Then — after joking with the South Hampstead girls about what wrapping paper they used — King Charles was o on a whistlestop tour of JW3, clearly delighted at what he was shown.

Upstairs he was introduced to students mainly from the strictly-Orthodox community taking part in a hair and beauty BTEC pro-

gramme run by JW3’s Gateways, an education and vocational scheme that supports vulnerable young people at risk.

One of the students, Eliana Anna Green, told the King she thought the course was “an amazing opportunity”, as she was learning skills which she hoped to use in future employment.

Then it was o to the JW3 kitchen, in which volunteers and refugees prepare baked goods or hot food to go into the twice-weekly care packages.

One refugee, Sefinat, screamed with joy at the sight of the King, falling to her knees in front of him as if she could scarcely believe he was there. Charles smiled broadly, and then left the group to make their ginger cookies. As one volunteer explained: “It would have been gingerbread, but we ran out of cinnamon”.

Next was an emotional move into a reception tea for Holocaust survivors, many of whom the King had previously met when he gave them new year or birthday honours awards. The survivors did not know who the special guest they had been promised was going to be — one man guessed it would be Harry Kane.

Instead, they were obviously thrilled as the King made his way around the tea tables, talking to survivors and then to universal delight joining in an impromptu hora. He later told Raymond Simonson he thought the dancing was very like Scottish country dancing, with which he is very familiar.

Dame Vivien Du eld made a presentation to the King of a chanukiah designed by artist Michael Aram, with the inscription “one person’s candle provides the light to many”.

Raymond Simonson later said the visit had been “an extraordinary endorsement of the Jewish community and our place in British society. We wanted to show that we are about much more ‘joy’, and much less ‘oy’, to show the celebratory side of Jewish culture.

“We wanted to show our Jewish values. In a way, I can’t really put into words what this means. He saw the chanukiah up outside, he saw kids with kippot, that was the internal side of what we do, and then he saw what we do externally. People were absolutely thrilled. They come here every week — but they don’t get to see the King every week.”

Earlier, Charles visited the Community Security Trust where he was welcomed by chairman Gerald Ronson and deputy chairman, Sir Lloyd Dorfman, before meeting with many of the charity’s volunteers, sta and trustees.

Charles viewed a self-defence training session, visited CST’s 24/7 security control centre and was briefed on CST’s many activities, including support for the victims of antisemitism, expert online investigative research against terrorism, and sharing security advice with other faith and minority communities.

CST chief executive Mark Gardner said: “The King was warm, engaging and enjoyed meeting everyone at CST.

“The visit meant a lot to our volunteers, sta and trustees, and we thank the King for demonstrating his support for our work and the wider Jewish community.”

Charles during his visit to CST headquarters

King Charles during his joyous visit to the JW3 Jewish community centre in London

a group of students

Charles with gift chanukiah

Jewish primary given national ADHD award JLGB WINS QUEEN ELIZABETH II PRIZE

Parents and teachers are celebrating this week after a primary school in London became the first Jewish school in the UK to become a centre of excellence for pupils with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

North West London Jewish Day School near Willesden won the ADHD Friendly School award from the ADHD Foundation after it incorporated everyday tools “to redress the barriers” that children with ADHD face when it comes to academic study.

Those tools include tactile resources such as fidget toys to support children to regulate their attention and giving children “self-soothing strategies”, such as deepbreathing exercises and mindfulness sessions, which trained sta now deliver.

ADHD is a condition that can lead to restlessness and trouble concentrating. Symptoms include a short attention span, constant fidgeting, and acting without thinking.

Colin Foley, of the ADHD Foundation, said teachers had “gone above and beyond to make their lessons and their school environment enjoyable, supportive and safe spaces for their students with ADHD”, adding: “I’m delighted that they are the first Jewish school to achieve this award.”

The school has been giving children with ADHD “ample opportunity for movement and physical activity”, which is known to have significant benefits for children with barriers to learning, such as by helping to regulate and refocus attention.

Teachers have also incorporated the use of Take 10

sessions, which are timetabled into the school day and allow children extra time for exercise, as well as o ering additional 2:1 or 1:1 coaching sessions in a variety of sports including swimming.

North West’s inclusion lead Danielle Stone said it was about “making necessary adjustments as well as celebrating children’s individuality and strengths”.

The Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade has been given a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award.

The organisation, which helps to develop life skills and o ers experiences to help young Jews reach their potential, was one of 20 charities chosen for the one-o prize to mark the late Queen’s jubilee.

JLGB is the UK’s

oldest Jewish youth movement, founded in 1895 as the Jewish Lads’ Brigade by Col Albert EW Goldsmid to provide an interest for children of the poor immigrant families who were coming into England at that time. Its president is Lord Levy. A girls’ section was formed after the Second World War.

Jubilee award winners include the British

Youth Council, Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team, and LGBT Youth Scotland. Culture secretary Michelle Donelan said helping people to get the best start in life was a government priority.

“There is no more fitting way to celebrate these brilliant charities than a unique edition of the highest award for voluntary service,” she added.

Hatzola NW’s £1.6m

Hatzola Northwest, the emergency service serving the Jewish community in north-west London, has thanked more than 9,000 donors after it raised £1.6m for the next two years.

The charity, whose team of paramedics and first responders use their own ambulances, said its first o cial fundraising e ort had surpassed expectations.

The timing of the 36-hour campaign could not have been more apt, with

paramedics and 999 call handlers going out on strike. Nurses are also planning industrial action, with many describing the NHS as “on its knees”.

North West London Jewish Day School is celebrating

Hatzola celebrations its fundraising success

Mirvis and Welby pay tribute to late Barnet mayor Melvin Cohen

Tributes have flowed in from inside and far beyond the British Jewish community to mark the death of the two-times mayor of Barnet, Councillor Melvin Cohen, writes Jenni Frazer.

Condolences for the family of the late Mr Cohen, a solicitor by profession, came from as far and wide as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi, from broadcaster Emily Maitlis and from local councillors across the political spectrum.

Councillor Cohen notched up an unprecedented 40 years representing the residents of Golders Green on Barnet Council, for which he was honoured in May 2022. Twice mayor, the softly-spoken Mr Cohen raised thousands for his two designated charities during each term of office — Kisharon, the learning disabled charity for the Jewish community, and the Shooting Star children’s hospices.

Everyone had warm words for Mr Cohen. A spokesperson for Kisharon said: “Councillor Cohen truly served this community and was conscious of inclusivity. We wish the family sincere condolences on their loss. He was very aware of the importance of Kisharon and paid frequent visits to the school.

“Very often he joined in our activities. He was always available and helped us break down barriers, raising thousands for our work, and bringing people together.”

The chief executive, Richard Franklin, went to pay tribute at a hesped (eulogy) before the family accompanied Mr Cohen on his last journey, to be buried in Jerusalem alongside his parents, Alan and Sarah.

The other charity chosen by councillor Cohen in his second term of office was the Shooting Star children’s hospices. In a statement, the charity said: “Shooting Star Children’s Hospices would like to pay tribute to Mr Cohen for his support during his time as the Mayor of Barnet, raising thousands of pounds to support children living with life-limiting conditions, and their families. We would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Mr Cohen’s family”.

There were messages of condolence on Twitter from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and from the leader of the widows of the murdered Israeli Olympic athletes, Ankie Spitzer, as

well as Times journalist Sathnam Sanghera.

Councillor Cohen was first elected to represent Golders Green on Barnet Council in 1982.

He served as mayor first in 2003 and then in a rare second term in 2013.

For six years — from 2004 to 2010 — he was a cabinet member for planning for Barnet, and also served as chair of the constitution and general purposes committee.

Praise for councillor Cohen was led by Barnet’s current mayor, Alison Moore. She said she was “very saddened” to learn of his death.

“Melvin was a fantastic, dedicated servant to the residents of his ward, and to Barnet, twice representing the borough as mayor, which shows the esteem in which he was held,” she said.

The leader of Barnet’s Conservative group, councillor Daniel Thomas, who served alongside Mr Cohen for 16 years, said that he “had come to realise that every council needs a Melvin”, and spoke of his “quiet determina-

tion” in his work, as well as the good advice he brought to the table, born of his legal training.

But there were also tributes from the other side of the chamber, led by the Labour leader of Barnet, councillor Barry Rawlings. He said: “I am very saddened to hear about the passing of Cllr Cohen, whom I have known, admired and worked with for more than 24 years. Although we were in different political parties, I enjoyed working with Melvin, whose calm and reasonable demeanour, forensic mind, and wish to do his best for residents, was an example to us all.”

Councillor Cohen was a longtime resident of Barnet. Educated first at Wessex Gardens Primary School and then Hasmonean Grammar School, he read law at University College, London.

The former head of the Community Security Trust, Richard Benson, said: “When I was

CEO of CST he was always helpful and a good go-to man. I used to meet him regularly for a chat about Barnet community issues. When he was mayor, I invited him for lunch as a thank you for all his help”

He was a governor of Menorah Primary School, whose chairman, David Rosenthal, said: “Cllr Melvin Cohen z’l became a Barnet council governor of the Menorah Primary School in the early 80s and was a member of the governing body until his passing. He was always supportive of the school and its initiatives, and actively contributed in meetings with his advice and wisdom. In recent years, he became a proud grandparent of the school’s children and we know this was a special source of nachas for him”.

Mr Rosenthal was referring to councillor Cohen’s grandchildren, Motti, Sara, Chaya,

Dovi and Yisroel Moshe, whose father, Dean, is also a Conservative councillor in Barnet. Dean’s brother Justin is news editor and copublisher of Jewish News. Melvin Cohen is also mourned by his sister, Rebecca Sabin.

Speaking at the family’s shiva house before leaving for Israel, Justin Cohen said that they had received “countless” messages of condolence from people including MPs and national broadcasters. Most often, he said, the tributes to his late father had included the terms “gentle, at times quiet, dedicated to service and values driven. He was indeed a man of few words but when he spoke it was considered, and he meant it”.

Community leader: Mayor Cohen (centre) opening Copthall Fitness Centre in 2003

The Chief Rabbi and Archbishop of Canterbury

‘Goooool!’ and tears of joy

There was surely only one man happier than Lionel Messi at the World Cup Final: Andrés Cantor. From the booth the commentator watched a win for his country that gave him a chance to yell his signature “Goooool!” like never before.

After covering the competition since 1990 and calling losses for Argentina twice, Qatar 2022 gave the Jewish commentator the victory he has dreamt about – and after the bellow on Sunday he broke down in tears of joy.

Born in Buenos Aires, his mother is of Romanian Jewish descent, and his father’s family fled Nazi-occupied Poland. The family moved to California in the 1970s, where his mother had a psychology practice and his father was a teacher and doctor.

Cantor’s first English-language assignment was the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he called both men’s and women’s football for NBC.

Before the start of the World Cup, he took lessons to

prepare his voice as he was going to be calling two matches a day in Qatar.

English-speaking commentators are naturally more reserved, and Cantor was the first to introduce this type of drama to the airwaves. He has been honoured as sports personality of the year in the United States, and voiced himself in the Simpsons episode You Don’t have to Live like a Referee in 2014. His soccer shout has been used in adverts for Volkswagen and is even a downloadable ringtone. He was a guest on David Letterman’s The Late Show many times.

Another unique line of Cantor’s can be heard when a game reaches half-time or ends: “El árbitro dice que no hay tiempo ” (the referee says there is no time for more).

Sunday night’s thrilling penalty shoot-out only increased the fervour for Cantor, who held his breath for the final ball in preparation for the loudest “Goooool!” of his career.

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Stutthof secretary, 97, guilty in 10,500 deaths

A 97-year-old former secretary to an SS commander at the notorious Stutthof concentration camp has been found guilty of being an accessory to more than 10,500 murders during her time there, writes Joy Falk.

Irmgard Furchner, who largely refused to answer questions during her year-long trial, was 18 when she went to work at the camp near Gdansk in modern Poland. She has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence.

Prosecutors say Furchner, who was employed mainly as a typist, “aided and abetted” the Nazis in their systematic killing of inmates between June 1943 and April 1945. In a closing statement, she said she regretted being there when she was.

Around 65,000 people, including 28,000 Jews, died at Stutthof, many through starvation or typhus, with epidemics regularly sweeping the main camp and its 54 subcamps. Owing to the passage of time, analysts have sug-

gested Furchner’s is likely to be the last trial for crimes during the Holocaust. She is one of very few women charged in later years with Shoah-related crimes.

ESPORTS GAMES HEADS FOR

Tel Aviv will host the inaugural Abraham Accords digital gaming tournament next month, with more than £60,000 in prize money to be won.

Delegates from the US, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco as well as Israel will be heading for the two-day Esports competition.

Starting on 26 January, the digital video-gaming championship was announced by the US embassy in Israel, partnered by Israeli-Canadian philanthropist Sylvan Adams, the Israeli ministry of foreign a airs, global investment bank LionTree LLC and the Israeli Esports Association.

ISRAEL

Games co-chair Thomas R. Nides, the US ambassador to Israel, said: “This Esports tournament – the first of its kind – is one of many joint cultural activities being organised around the Accords, connecting with the region’s youth to make sure the Accords are sustainable.”

Turkey arrests over ‘links with Mossad’

Turkey has arrested 44 people for what officials claim is involvement with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Those held appear to be largely Turkish citizens. The group includes several private detectives plus the director of a private detective firm, Ismail Yetimoglu. No Israelis were arrested.

According to Turkish media, the detainees have been accused of shadowing Palestinians and pro-Palestinian organisations in Turkey. Israel has not publicly addressed the issue.

The arrests come at a warm point in Turkish-Israeli relations. Mossad’s collaboration with MIT, the Turkish intelligence service, was described this year as essential in ending a plot by an Iranianbacked terror cell.

However, Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a Turkey scholar at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, told The Times of Israel: “[These arrests] is a very clear message to Israel that normalisation does not mean that you can act against Palestinians inside Turkish territory.”

HULA LAKE’S RARE FLAMINGO MOMENT

The flamingo migration season is almost over but about 200 birds are still “vacationing” in Hula Lake, north Israel, and will probably stay until the end of winter, a rare incident. This moment of love was photographed by KKL–JNF photographer Nir Asis.

Furchner received a two-year suspended sentence

Momentous - that was a year that was

So it’s (almost) farewell to 2022. It was another huge year for building relations with the Muslim world. The sight of the Chief Rabbi in the United Arab Emirates was hugely symbolic and a welcome dose of good news among the bad.

It was the year we grew. The total number of Jews in the UK was confirmed from census data as 271,327, an increase of about 6,000 since the last one ten years ago. We now officially make up the loudest 0.5 percent of the population.

It was the year we shouted at one another over whether Jewish community leaders should be pressing the government to move the UK embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, after the Board of Deputies went ahead and did exactly that.

We lost our beloved Queen. By and large, us Jews tend to be big fans of the royal family, so we shared in the nation’s grief when Elizabeth II passed away. King Charles III is a known friend of the Jewish community – long may he reign over us.

We lost several prime ministers, too, but the one we have going into 2023 seems to be saying all the right things about Israel and her enemies, giving us faith that despite the game of musical chairs, the government’s tune hasn’t changed.

It was the year we kept the UK’s only Jewish farm. Sadeh Farm in Kent has been operating for decades, in part as a kosher guesthouse, and had been due to close after its owners took it off the market, where they were asking for £1.5m.

It was the year the government tried to close a loophole allowing yeshivas to teach only a narrow religious curriculum by forcing them to register as schools. Around 1,000 strictly-Orthodox Jews protested by reprehensibly wearing a Holocaust-era yellow star.

It was the year we threw our door open physically and metaphorically for Jewish refugees from Ukraine. The country has a rich and long Jewish history, as Jews have for helping those fleeing war and persecution. After all, we know it well.

It was the year we got serious about screening those with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage for genetic diseases. The NHS changed its criteria from anyone with a past family problem to anyone with a Jewish grandparent, making tests far more accessible.

It was the year that the law finally caught up with men who refuse to grant their former wives a Jewish religious divorce (a get). Alan Alti Moher, who did just that, was jailed for controlling and coercive behaviour, which is now a crime.

Surely 2023 will be quiet by comparison. Surely?

Inquiry stands on own merits

I was shocked and upset to read last week’s story about the inquiry MPs and peers are planning to hold into the BBC’s coverage of antisemitism and Israel.

Members of the Jewish community have spoken to me, other peers and MPs about the BBC, expressing concerns about its coverage of the racist attack on Jewish children in Oxford Street or the broadcast of songs that condoned violence, for example.

A KING-SIZED CELEBRATION

What a joy to see pictures of our new king dancing and having fun at JW3. Charles’ visit, and his time earlier in the day at the Community Security Trust head office, are a welcome reminder – at the end of a year when antisemitism has again dominated the headlines in Jewish newspapers – that ours is a community confident and secure in its place in British life.

The King has gone out of his way over the years to support Jewish communities at home and abroad. We are lucky to have such a person to call our monarch. His mother would be proud.

Eva Edwards, By email

We have not “misled” anyone. Neither I nor anyone else has ever suggested that the inquiry is being conducted by a select committee. It is a panel made up of members of both houses and will be chaired impartially by the distinguished barrister and former government adviser Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE KC, with full judicial independence.

We will approach the project fairly and impartially and Jewish News was wrong to claim that all its members have criticised the BBC’s coverage already. In fact, the majority have not. I have defended the BBC and its funding in articles and in Parliament.

I praised John Ware’s brilliant Panorama documentary on antisemitism and Andrew

Neil’s interview on the BBC with Jeremy Corbyn during the last election. Given that I am a Jewish Chronicle columnist, I sought advice from the Parliamentary authorities before embarking on this project and was permitted by them to organise the inquiry due to my work in combating antisemitism.

It is our hope that this inquiry will help the BBC to uphold its core values of accuracy and impartiality.

All of this could have been explained had the Jewish News contacted us before publishing its story.

Whatever differences the Jewish News might have with other newspapers, it is also our hope that it and its readers will judge our inquiry on its work. Lord Austin of Dudley

WHERE’S THE FULL PICTURE?

Your columnist Jenni Frazer understands videos of the IDF doing wrong against Palestinians usually omit what happened before, but cannot ac ­

cept the same when it comes to left ­wing activists provoking the IDF in places where they should never have been.

Ann Cohen, Golders Green

WE DON’T NEED TO TAKE THIS

Does Jewish News really need to celebrate Robbie Williams’ marriage to a Jew? Is this your prescription for Jewish continuity? Oh well; at least Williams believes in matrilineal descent. Abbott Katz, Edgware

MISSING MEMORIAL

I was upset to read that a Kindertransport statue by the wonderful artist Frank Meisler has disappeared from outside a railway station in Poland (Jewish News, 15 December). I often walk past the late artist’s similar piece at Liverpool Street Station and stop at

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this fine work of art and reflect on what it symbolises. It is a tragedy that the monument outside Gdansk station – where Jewish children fled before the war – has been gone for so long. How can two months turn into four years? It does not give one much hope for its eventual return.

Simone Miler, Golders Green

THE JACOB FOUNDATION

Sedra: Mikeitz

A silent tribute – then action to stop hatred

MARGARET HODGE & LAURA MARKS

Sometimes things are best said without words. Repeatedly, speeches in the chamber of the House of Commons have been accused of lacking significance. Personal attacks and quick soundbites have all too frequently come to dominate the ‘war on words’ we hear on a weekly basis. But often, the power of silence is underestimated. And 80 years ago this week, MPs could respond only with silence.

In December 1942, following reports from the Polish resistance, the British government publicly accepted that the Holocaust was taking place in Nazi-occupied Europe. The facts had been reported in the press for months before that. However, there was something powerful about a formal recognition by the British government, alongside its wartime allies. The language of the declaration was chilling and uncompromising.

It reported that the Nazis were “now carrying into e ect Hitler’s oft-repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people”.

When the declaration was read in the House of Commons, the horror and the brutality that was being reported resulted in silence becoming the most powerful response.

In a remarkable display of unity, the House stood for an unplanned and unprecedented moment of silence. To stand in unity was a strong protest against what they had just heard.

Last week, MPs re-created this tribute with a minute of silence in the chamber of the House of Commons. They remembered the six million Jewish people who were murdered by the Nazis. Entirely innocent men, women, and children who were persecuted simply because they were Jewish.

For Margaret, this is also a moment to reflect on her personal losses. Both her parents lost many family members in the Holocaust. In November 1941, Margaret’s grandmother, Marianne, was taken from Vienna to a concentration camp in Lithuania. She never even made it into the camp. She was forced into a trough and shot outside the gates of the concentration camp. She was 56.

Margaret’s uncle was taken to Auschwitz in 1942. Her aunt received his number and confirmation that he had been gassed and killed there. In her last letter to her son, written nine days before she was murdered, she wrote twice: “Don’t forget me completely.”

And on a visit to Auschwitz, Margaret saw the suitcase her uncle had travelled with; his initials were engraved on it.

The minute’s silence in the House of Commons honoured those who survived the Holocaust, and seven survivors of the Holocaust attended in person from the public gallery. These are men and women who have given much of their lives to share their testimony and to encourage others to work for a world without genocide.

The moment of silence, led by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, was a powerful symbol that MPs are committed to playing their part in that.

Not every story from the Holocaust ends in tragedy. Margaret’s aunt survived the war in the Ardèche, in south-eastern France, protected by the humanity and brave support of impoverished local people, from the priest to the policeman to farmers. And many ordinary citizens stood up to persecution and death to fight the tide of hatred, by hiding Jewish neighbours and friends.

It is our firm hope that MPs left the chamber last Thursday reflecting on the ways they can work to build a world free from hate and prejudice. Holocaust Memorial Day acknowledges that the world has failed to prevent the genocides that have

taken place more recently. Since 1945, genocides have taken place in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. This reminds us that we are duty-bound to act today.

We live in a world where Uyghur Muslims are facing the loss of their identity, yet another example of entirely innocent men and women being incarcerated simply because of who they are. Women are subjected to forced sterilisations and abortions. Children are being forcibly separated from their families. Similarly, in Myanmar, Muslims are being forced to flee for their lives.

Sadly, antisemitism remains a scourge in our society in the United Kingdom. There have been far too many incidents in recent years in which British Jews have been made to feel unwelcome in their own country.

If the events of 80 years ago tell us anything, it is that not just MPs, but the whole country should know about the Holocaust and should act to prevent such horrors from taking place anywhere and at any time. Institutionalised discrimination starts with words. And the MPs’ moment of silence is a reminder of our collective responsibility to end these horrors.

The symbolism of last Thursday’s solemn gesture is powerful and profound but it must lead to action; action to learn from the horrors of the past, to build a safer world.

‘I think we’ll use my dreidel’

DAME

My tour of duty on the Israel teen trip from hell

JENNI FRAZER

Afriend was talking about sending her offspring on Israel Tour next summer, a sunny prospect to think about in the face of such determinedly gloomy weather here.

Just imagine, I thought to myself, Israel Tour, blue skies and glorious sunshine.

And just like that, as Carrie Bradshaw used to say in Sex and the City, I remembered that long ago I had been a madricha, or youth leader, on an Israel Tour group, which had the distinction of being one of the most disastrous events of all time.

Where to begin in this tale of woe? Well, to start with, not everyone on our group wanted to take part. Unlike today’s trips — and even at a challenging £4,000 plus, the tours are massively over-subscribed — my hapless group of teens was seething with resentment. At least one of the participants didn’t even know she was going to Israel until her mother drove her to the airport.

Others were leaving their boyfriends/ girlfriends/pets, or simply had di erent plans for the summer which did not involve an educational trip to Israel. So sulkiness was the order of the day for many.

Armed with that attitude, many of the group seemed to delight in doing the absolute opposite of what we leaders advised.

We — there were just four of us, two Israeli guys fresh out of the army and two British women — had been warned of the perils ahead. That included only having insurance for participants directly in our care.

And there were rumours, which may not have had any basis in fact, that the previous summer some American Jewish teens had returned home pregnant. Oy and double oy. So we were obliged to be the sex police as well.

Challenge number one: after a visit to the Cremisan Monastery near Jerusalem, how to get back to our bus waiting down below, without dropping purchases from the Cremisan winery on top of people who had descended earlier (it was a climb down

a rocky hill). Some few people succeeded in getting back to the bus with their bottles intact. “Please don’t drink yet”, we asked them, because we were due to get up very early the next morning to go to Masada.

Of course, several people ignored this, and accordingly several people were violently ill and had to forgo a climb up Masada by lying prone in the shadow of the bus.

Then there was the time that waiters in a hotel tried to flog cannabis to them.

My all-time favourite was when we went to visit Lohamei Hagetaot, the Ghetto Fighters’ kibbutz, which at the time — I don’t know if it is still the case — only served dairy food. No use for a hungry teen craving a burger. Two of them said they were o to the nearest town to remedy this, despite being told that they needed to stay on the kibbutz. I vividly remember running downhill after one of the would-be meat-eaters, banging on the doors of the bus he’d caught, while he made faces at me from inside.

We had, of course, to decide what to do about the runaways. One of the Israeli

leaders suggested we should threaten to send them home. We made it clear to one of the 16-year-olds that this was on the cards if he transgressed further. He gave us a long, considered, north-west London look and announced: “I shall get my solicitor.”

All of the foregoing is intended as a “be grateful your kid is going on Tour today” — because I am sure things are much better organised now.

At least, I hope so!

Jenni Frazer in her Israel tour days

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No such thing as equality before law in West Bank

VIVIAN WINEMAN FORMER PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DEPUTIES

Last month I returned from Israel where I had been on a study tour organised by Yachad, the proIsrael, pro-peace group. I have been on numerous study trips to Israel before, most of which were designed to explain the policies of the then current Israeli governments, and to give the attendees material to enable them to deal with criticism of Israel, whether arising on campus or in the media.

For reasons that will become clear, I want to mention just one of these trips. It was organised by the Board of Deputies at the end of 1995. Its timing was interesting as it was just after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. The Israeli government was trying to advance the peace process and the questioning from our group, in which I participated eagerly, was whether such a goal was desirable or even possible.

The Board of Deputies has a long reach and, as on other occasions, we were able

to meet the president – at that time Ezer Weitzman. Weitzman was not known for being particularly dovish or eloquent but his words left a great impression on me. He took a shine to our group and our meeting lasted a long time. He pointed out that since the foundation of the State which was then almost 50 years old, no government of Israel, however right wing, had ever laid claim to sovereignty over the West Bank or Gaza.

In a private chat with an Israeli ambassador, I was later advised that strictly speaking Israel’s position was while such a claim existed, Israel had never advanced it.

The Overton window has now shifted with the Nation State Law and subsequent proposed annexation of Area C, comprising more than 60 percent of the West Bank.

There is a desire in some quarters to grab as much land with as few Palestinians as possible. But Weitzman’s words resonated during this last trip, which took in much of the West Bank. We saw many aspects of the occupation; Hebron, East Jerusalem and the checkpoints.

The one which interested me most, however, was the court system. Broadly

speaking there are two systems of law in Area C, a version of Israeli civilian law, which applies to Jewish settlers in the area, and military law which applies to everyone else, and in particular to Palestinians. The protections given to defendants under Israeli civilian law – the extent of habeas corpus access to counsel, etc, are much more extensive than to those under Israeli military rule. Equality before the law is totally absent

We were able to visit a military court which tries criminal cases against Palestinians. Proceedings were in Hebrew which it appears the defendant, as a Palestinian, could not understand, but a translation was provided for him by his lawyer, a Palestinian Israeli who appeared capable.

This is significant as many Palestinians cannot a ord their own representation; the proceedings are carried on in a language they often do not understand and translations are sometimes patchy. Frequently what is at stake is their ownership of their property or their right to build on it, which is denied in 95 percent of cases. What was interesting, in the case we saw, was the charge against the defendant. It was trespass. He had trespassed

on land which he himself had owned until recently – it seems it was appropriated by the IDF for use as a firing range.

This raises many questions. What is the process by which the land was appropriated. Why his land? Did he have a right to contest the ruling? Was compensation o ered? How was it assessed? Did the defendant accept it? How permanent is the appropriation? If temporary, will the defendant get his land back or will it be passed on to settlers?

The IDF appropriates a lot of land in the West Bank. How much is appropriated in Israel inside the Green Line? Is any of it taken from Jews or just Palestinians? Should a man to be subject to criminal proceedings for stepping on land he used to own but has been appropriated from him?

There are some who believe that the entire land is ours by divine gift, but many people both inside and outside the community do not hold that view or that this entitles the state to appropriate it. Among them are many senior Israeli politicians, great rabbis and a previous director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Sadly this debate is going to run and run.

Be careful what you wish

trials

DAVID WOLCHOVER AUTHOR & BARRISTER

Five years ago, Counsel Magazine, the monthly journal of the English and Welsh Bar, published an analysis of why then prime minister Theresa May’s triggering of Article 50 to activate Brexit was legally invalid.

Unusually, the editors ran a poll of its barrister and judicial readers, well over 80 percent of whom agreed with the argument

The article inspired a crowd-funded action in the High Court against the government.

Though unsuccessful, it elicited a judgment by the court that, paradoxically, laid the clear foundation for proving that, in the circumstances, triggering Article 50 rather than being invalid was– far worse! – unlawful.

In a consequent further analysis published in the legal press, it was contended Mrs May had activated the process knowing she should not have done so and this constituted misconduct in public o ce, a common law indictable-only o ence carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

I applied for a summons at Westminster Magistrate’s Court and the deputy senior district judge for England and Wales reserved the application for a full oral hearing.

The Times and The Sunday Times covered the news. Supporters in their droves sent good wishes.

At last, it seemed, we Remainers might be in with a shout. Then reality dawned.

With all those Brexiteer meshuggeners roaming the country, I feared for my safety and that of my family.

Reluctantly I withdrew the summons, citing bad timing and stating that we Remainers would wait for co-accused Boris to become PM.

But the reality was that it just wasn’t worth it. I took heed of Aesop, the Ancient Greek writer of fables.

Not so the Israeli police and prosecutors, who have relentlessly pursued Benjamin

Netanyahu to indictment and trial for corruption.

I have argued in this newspaper – somewhat facetiously I admit, but with serious intent and wearing my defending barrister’s wig – that there are good reasons for considerable doubt about the cogency of all three of the cases against him.

Oddly enough, there is rather more troubling suspicion of fraud arising from a Texas company share-deal indirectly linked to the only case of the four investigated that has not led to any charges against him, the so-called “submarine case” or case 3000.

I do not know what has been driving the senior police investigators and prosecutors involved in these matters.

Is it the disinterested desire to right wrongs? To see justice done? To clean up public a airs? Netanyahu claims the prosecution is “politically motivated”.

Nonsense. It is much more basic than that.

Almost certainly it is engendered by the career-building aspirations of the investigators and prosecutors of the sort to which most professionals are prone. At 75, I’m beginning to get over it. But those Yiddisher police? Targeting the prime minister? Wow! That’ll put a feather in their caps.

Netanyahu was not in power for 12 years for nothing. As the most dominating and charismatic figure in Israeli politics, his support remains legendary.

It was always on the cards that Netanyahu, as a former centre-right liberal, would have to hitch up with the religious extremists to secure immunity from due process.

Princeton professor Daniel Kurtzer’s suggestion in Haaretz last month that Netanyahu could stop the trial by forming a unity government with Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz and others was pure wishful thinking.

And so coalition with the crazies has inevitably come to pass, with who knows what consequences for Israel, the Palestinians, the Middle East and Ukraine, among others.

Those police and prosecutors would have been wise to follow Aesop too: be careful what you wish for.

1 KEYNOTE MAUREEN

Dame Maureen Lipman was keynote speaker at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue (LJS) Multi-Faith Chanukah Celebration. Around 150 adults and children attended the event in person at the LJS, in St John’s Wood, with a similar number from all around the world watching live on YouTube. Pictured are Rabbi Igor Zinkov, Mehri Niknam, Smita Oza, Ashwin Mehta, Dame Maureen Lipman DBE, Revd Graham Buckle, Imam Mehmed Stublla, Imam Rexhep Qerkezi and Rabbi Alexandra Wright with the LJS menorah (photo by Steven Derby/Interfaith Matters).

2 WELL TRAVELLED

David Terret travelled 850 miles in two days to transport a Chanukiah from his old family shul in Newton Mearns, Glasgow, to Hammerson House in London for Wohl Campus residents to celebrate the festival of lights. Although closing after more than 70 years of serving its Scottish community and merging with Giffnock, Newton Mearns is bringing the miracle of Chanukah to a new home.

3 CHANUKAH LATKE

David and Srulik from Kisharon’s Day Opportunities and Supported Living made latkes for Chanukah at a workshop run by Rabbi Yossi Simon from Chabad.

4 FIRST NIGHTERS

More than 100 members of South Bucks Jewish Community (SBJC) joined Lord Rothschild to celebrate the first night of Chanukah in the grounds of his National Trust home, Waddesdon Manor. The chanukiah will be lit every night of the festival and be present during the whole Christmas light display at thew stately home.

5 CAMPUS CHORUS

People of all ages gathered for an inter-generational, multifaith, lamplighters Chanukah celebration at Jewish Care’s Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus in Golders Green. Pictured are Bernice Kritz, Jewish Care Wohl Court Retirement Living apartments tenant in the centre with her daughter; Jewish Care director of fundraising and community engagement Adam OverlanderKaye; Jewish Care staff and volunteers, and Jewish Care cultural and faith manager Ilana Greenblatt.

6 GIFT TIME

One of several festive initiatives organised by GIFT this year, a group of young professionals made up 400 Chanukah kits to distribute to recipient families across London and Manchester.

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LIFE Inside

MISSING

MORIARTY

critical debate, more secretaries of state than I can remember and the education system introduced new marking systems.” It has also included gender-neutral lavatories.

Every day on his way to school for the past 10 years Patrick Moriarty has said a prayer. He revealed this to staff in his farewell briefing this week, his last as head teacher at JCoSS.

Tackling bad drivers on his way to east Barnet each morning, he recited the prayer: “May this school be a place where God’s name is known, God’s love is shown and God’s life is grown,” while thinking about its staff, students, governors, trustees, parents, friends and neighbours.

“I don’t know if it works, but it helps,” he says, with conviction. “I think a school where prayers are said is unifying and in some weird, mysterious way it makes a difference. But a school can have religion without spirituality. At JCoSS the spirituality is deliberate and that’s what makes it special.”

Many would argue that JCoSS is special because of Patrick Moriarty. He has certainly been a unique presence in the community as the non-Jewish head of a Jewish school, who is also a Christian minister. From the moment he was ordained, JCoSS parents revelled in the reaction of others to the principal’s resume, but he has managed the dual role with aplomb and shown pupils the value of interfaith dialogue. That he wore his clerical robes to school during Interfaith Week was a bonus.

As for the parishioners at St Stephen and St Julian in St Albans, few church congregations know more about Judaism, owing to the sermons of their associate priest.

“I bang on about Judaism all the time,” says Patrick. “My mission in the pulpit is to try to get them to understand Judaism, but I can see that sometimes they’re thinking, ‘Hang on, we’re Christian’. Still, as long as I rock up on a Sunday and do the service, they don’t necessarily know or care what I do the rest of the time.”

What he has done the rest of the time almost defies belief. “I know everyone says it, but the social impact of the past 10 years has felt enormous,” says Patrick, who was deputy head at JCoSS when the school opened. “We’ve had Brexit, a pandemic, increasing mental health problems, [the anti-rape organisation] Everyone’s Invited, the gender

Patrick has been on the front line of that list, which also includes the rise of the phenomenon: “This is my reality and nobody else’s reality matters,” he jokes.

“You just go with the flow,” says Patrick wryly. “I may have a position on things and my own questions, but if the reality is in

and the angst of 30 pupils needing encouragement to take on 200 members of staff at JCoSS who “equally need encouraging, cajoling and guiding about their future”.

He adds: “It’s a privilege and amazing, but as headteacher one has to have the ability to shift from one really important thing to another several times a day or several times an hour.”

During Covid the enormity of this task, albeit in an empty building, would make any educator think about their job.

that a communal leader “without personal Jewish baggage might have advantages in meeting the needs of a diverse Jewish community because it creates an imperative to listen, and to not assume to understand”.

Patrick has not only listened and learned, but immersed himself in the community by joining interfaith trips to Auschwitz and becoming a trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews.

“Everything good that has come my way in the past 10 years, Jewish or not, has come about because of JCoSS. I’ve got the Habs thing, the Oxbridge thing and the Church of England thing, but the reason all these other things happened is because of a comprehensive school set up by the children of refugee Jews from Nazi Europe. That’s the reality.”

The reality for the sad-faced staff and pupils at JCoSS is that they are saying goodbye to a head who knew them by more than their lanyards and didn’t mind donning a Superman T-shirt or red heels to dance in the annual Purim videos. He even wrote his own exit anthem, peppered with Hebrew:

As many rivers flow into one sea, Calm waters, rushing rapids fierce and free, Let us lend heart and soul

And blend our parts to make a whole, A source of life and hope and jubilee

Elu v’elu, elu v’elu Divrei elohim chaim

Our tent is open wide

To welcome, not divide Kol tzameh l’chu hamayim.

front of me and a child is wrestling with an aspect of their identity, if I can make things better for them, I will. We can’t accommodate everything, and sometimes we have to say no, but if we can, we should.”

Before JCoSS, Patrick, a former Haberdashers’ pupil, was head of sixth form at Habs’ Girls, where he loved teaching religious studies A-level. “What I loved was going into a room and introducing ideas to make students fizzle with excitement before leaving them with a million questions to think about. But that’s not the whole of what teaching is about. A teacher must be patient, consistent and calm, so everybody feels contained and safe. In that situation, pupils can take the risks they need to take in order to learn. I don’t think I was very good at that.”

According to his former Habs students this isn’t true, but he gave up lesson prep, marking

“Decision fatigue

new

to think about every day. The best analogy I can give is one someone gave to me about holding a brick. The issue is not how heavy the brick is, but how long you can hold it before getting muscle fatigue. There’s probably some wonderful Jewish tale that says that better.”

In one of the many speeches he delivered this week, holding back tears, Patrick conceded that he could have stayed at JCoSS another 10 years –“but on balance a job which eats you and feeds you at the same time should only be done for a limited time”.

He added: “Fresh eyes are needed and one must pass the job on,” hailing the forthcoming arrival of the new head, Dr Melanie Lee.

In a recent JN Leap of Faith column, Rabbi Deborah Blausten praised Patrick and noted

If there was a dry eye in the assembly hall after that song, there wasn’t when Patrick enacted his ritual at the school. Deeply affected by the funeral in September of Queen Elizabeth II, he got the idea from the ritual of the orb and sceptre and commissioned four canvases symbolising the role of headteacher.

“At the funeral those royal symbols were returned to the altar because a monarch’s power and authority is not their own. It comes from a different source. The canvases depicting leadership, character, Judaism and learning are a mini version of that because the ruach [spirit] of the school is bigger than any of us. I may be leaving, but the school, which – like all Jewish schools– punches above its weight and has incredible concentration on desire, achievement and passion, will continue without me. At JCoSS the show will go on.”

Director who put Madonna in movies Win theatre tickets!

A look

set in during the pandemic, as there were just too many

things

What sounds like a case for Sherlock Holmes is actually the way JCoSS staff and pupils are feeling as their popular head departs. Brigit Grant, a school parent, has been taking notes

For Purim videos, Patrick would don Superman top and heels (though not at the same time)

THE SEEKING OF

In 1985 millions of young women tied bows around their hair and wore crop tops because of one woman: Susan Seidelman. Though the look itself, which included net gloves, skirts over capri pants and studded boots, was worn by Madonna Louise Ciccone, it was director Susan Seidelman who had the vision to cast the relatively unknown performer in her film Desperately Seeking Susan .

“We started on the more traditional casting route, auditioning wonderful actresses such as Ellen Barkin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Melanie Gri th. But I wanted someone with a persona,” recalls Susan, who had seen Madonna’s video on MTV and knew that this woman, pre-Material Girl, had something about her. She was also living two streets away from the performer in New York and convinced the studio to give her a screen test.

Obviously, Madonna got the part, albeit with no experience. But just nine weeks into shooting, her second album, Like a Virgin, dropped and Susan’s film with Rosanna Arquette suddenly had a second star, who was on the cover of Rolling Stone

“It was good timing and luck. The movie and the album kind of melded together and played a part in why her career skyrocketed,” says Susan. “Madonna would have been iconic anyway, but the two di erent mediums coinciding helped.”

The film, about Roberta, a bored suburban housewife (Arquette) with amnesia who adopts the identity of grifter Susan (Madonna), also helped Aidan Quinn and John Turturro to launch their careers and is justifiably deemed a classic. The film was watched repeatedly by those who got Into the Groove or, like me, went in search of the jacquard cropped tuxedo Madonna wore. For Susan, though, who was won over by her name in the title, the devotion to her grungy but stylish romantic comedy with feminist ambitions is a mystery.

“It was shot in ’84, so I never believed it would be part of the conversation almost 40 years later,” says the director, who is genuinely surprised regardless of critical acclaim and box o ce success.

Having made only one film, Smithereens (the first American indie in competition at the Cannes Film Festival), Susan was only o ered films about cheerleaders, by Hollywood producers she didn’t trust. She was in e ect desperately seeking a project like Susan, which was an all-female production and written by rabbi’s daughter Leora Barish.

“When I was at NYU Film school in 1975-76 there were 35 students on the graduate programme and only five were women,” she recalls. “There were no female role models. Direc-

tors in my mind were macho guys in military boots stomping around set with a megaphone. And Spielberg, Coppola and George Lucas weren’t role models. They were guys in baseball caps with beards, so I didn’t see myself in them either. Eventually I decided to make the films I wanted to see.”

Rather than Tinseltown, the Big Apple worked best for Susan and also for Madonna, when she arrived in the 70s and lived in an abandoned synagogue in Queens. Susan, by contrast, grew up in Philadelphia and went to Beth Shalom, the only US synagogue designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

“It’s a very famous Conservative synagogue, but my parents, who weren’t religious, eventually joined a Reform temple. But I’ve always had a Jewish point of view or an outsider’s perspective. I certainly have empathy for outsiders and when I read books by Jewish authors or watch movies by Jewish directors, there’s a sensibility I can relate to.”

Susan and Madonna stayed in touch for a few years postDesperately Seeking and the megastar sent the director flowers when she made the sci-fi romance Making Mr. Right with John Malkovich. Susan also worked with Meryl Streep and Roseanne Barr on an adaptation of Fay Weldon’s Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and Cookie, a father-daughter mafia comedy by the late Nora Ephron, but her next big game changer was the pilot season of Sex and the City in 1998, for which she directed

such key episodes as… “The one with the baby shower? Do you remember that?” Who doesn’t? “And the episode when Carrie goes out on a date with the attractive Frenchman who leaves her money on the bedside table? That was also mine.”

As an SATC fan it’s tempting to keep grilling. After all, this is Samantha, Charlotte and Carrie we’re talking about, and Susan was responsible for casting Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Mr Big (Chris Noth).

“I liked the scripts and thought they were clever, but to me the magic lay with the idea of girls being able to go out for a martini and get silly on a Saturday night without feeling like losers if they didn’t have a date. But I never expected the cultural ramifications of the show,” adds Susan, who was hired by producer Darren Starr, a fan of Desperately Seeking. “I never thought the whole world would be drinking cosmos and eating cupcakes.”

While the SATC girls stayed at the Magnolia Bakery, Susan left the city for real and moved to rural New Jersey to breathe and write a book. As she sagely points out: “Culture changes over time and I had my finger on the pulse. I was the age of the characters I was putting on film.”

Susan became a septuagenarian on 11 December, but back in 2005, when she was only 53, she teamed up with her mother Florence to make Boynton Beach (Amazon Prime), a film in which veteran stars Brenda Vaccaro, Dyan Cannon and the late Sally Kellerman play senior citizens, several of whom are Jewish, finding love at a bereavement club.

“The idea came from my mother, who lives in a Florida community and noticed her friends, who were either widows, widowers or divorced at a later age, were back in the dating game. Only the rules had changed. It was like a di erent world.”

The film and TV industry is now a di erent world for Susan, who struggles to believe that being female in the business is now an asset.

“I never thought that would be the case,” she says. “My book – really a memoir – is about a woman director coming of age at a time when there weren’t any.”

Among her keepsakes from that time are the Desperately Seeking Susan clapperboard and the Egyptian earrings worn by Madonna (then Rosanna). Sadly, the jacket with animalprint lapels and pyramid motif sold for $3.2m (£2m) in 2014. I had to ask.

• Desperately Seeking Susan UK Blu-ray is presented in a limited edition box set with new extra features from www.amazon.co.uk

Brigit Grant meets the director who put Madonna in the movies and Carrie in the city

Susan Seidelman with a lifetime achievement award last year

Jewish Cultural Manager

£40,000 pro rata for 22.5 hours a week Closing date Mon 9 January

4 voluntary advisors Closing date Mon 6 February

We are recruiting to new roles to embed Jewish experience and expertise around antisemitism more fully into our team culture and into the governance of our education programmes and communications.

The Anne Frank Trust UK is an education charity that empowers young people aged 9 to 15 to challenge all forms of prejudice, inspired by the life and work of Anne Frank.

As our Jewish Cultural Manager, you will train and support our staff and trustees in awareness of Jewish life and culture, and help us connect with the Jewish community locally and nationally.

As a voluntary member of our board committees on education or communications, you will bring your professional experience of these areas together with experience of Jewish life and/or expertise around antisemitism.

Application details at www.annefrank.org.uk/ourvacancies

Travelling to Antwerp has not been easy these past couple of years.

Granted, the pandemic made it difficult to go anywhere at all, but as many of you will know, that direct, reliable flight from the heart of London to the heart of Antwerp was a service that fell away, possibly never to return.

Many travellers wanting to reach the City of Lights did so gamely via Amsterdam while others many took to the indirect, 3hr 20 minutes, Eurostar service from St Pancras.

Good news at last! Luxair will begin direct services from London City Airport (LCY) to Antwerp from 16 January 2023, four times a week -– rising to five from April.

Gilles Feith, Luxair CEO, says: “The opening of this new route from London City Airport to Antwerp is a new venture for Luxair and an opportunity, once again, to pursue new opportunities. This new service is part of the innovation process undertaken

by Luxair since the Covid-19 period. All our teams are working to constantly offer new services and products to our customers.”

With a first departure time of 6.40am, if you are planning to do business in Antwerp, you will be at your meeting by 10am.

The reinstatement of the connection is not only great news for business communities on either side of the channel, it also better connects families and friends, making planning for Purim, Passover or Rosh Hashanah in 2023 far easier.

Antwerp is unquestionably one of Belgium’s gems. A home of fashion, the art of Rubens and stunning architecture, such as

the Grand Place. And with a thriving Jewish quarter, you can stroll round Pelikaanstraat and Hovenierstraat, learning about the history, or simply enjoying one of the many kosher restaurants or perhaps a slice of cheesecake from a delicious bakery.

You’ll be flying from an award-winning airport, which this year scooped best airport gongs from the Daily Telegraph and Condé Nast; just a few weeks ago the consumer magazine Which? ranked it the quickest airport in the UK.

London City Airport has always put tremendous stock into providing the most reliable service. In 2023 it is ploughing

investment into ensuring that it continues to do so. It is spending £12m on upgrading the departures area. This will mean more places to eat and drink before your flight, more places to shop, upgrading the lavatories and, crucially, more places to sit. This project will be completed by the summer.

London City will be one of the first airports in the country to roll out new security scanners, which will mean you can keep your computers and liquids in your bag. One of the machines is on trial currently and, from April next year, all security lanes will be equipped with this cutting-edge technology.

Anne Doyere, London City Airport’s director of Aviation, says: “Reconnecting London to Europe’s regions has been a post-pandemic priority of ours, and we are delighted to be able to grow our partnership with Luxair by once again offering the only direct flight from the United Kingdom to Antwerp.”

Business / Buildots

n Israeli technology company that uses AI to solve challenges in the building industry has been named construction software of the year at the London Construction Awards, and innovation of the year at the Construction Computing Awards.

Buildots, founded by three graduates of the Israel Defense Forces, collects data using 360-degree cameras mounted on hard hats, and processes it using AI. This enables construction teams to make informed decisions based on accurate information, significantly improving resource efficiency, reducing costly errors and saving time.

The technology is being used across the UK, Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia.

The awards are a nice nod to the Israeli tech scene in general and signify a shift in the multi-trillion dollar, notoriously archaic and inefficient construction industry, which is increasingly adopting AI and other technologies. Buildots also won both categories in

which it was nominated at the recent Building Innovation Awards: Most Innovative New Software Product and Most Innovative OnSite Monitoring Tool.

Buildots co-founder and chief product officer Aviv Leibovici says: “These awards go

a long way in showing us the industry’s confidence in our technology and empower us to continue providing construction business leaders with better visibility and control of their projects.

“We are proud to have been recognised for our exceptional product and trusted to lead the way to better efficiency and visibility in the construction industry.”

Reports have indicated that construction has been slow to adopt technology compared with other industries, but Leibovici argues that “the main issue is that construction has seen less relevant technology offered to it compared to other industries”.

He adds: “When you combine that with low margins that make spending on sort-ofrelevant technologies impossible or illogical, the industry has had less technology implemented.”

How does the Buildots tech work?

A member of the project team walks the site with a 360-degree GoPro camera attached to their hard hat. The system captures a video as this person is going about their day, walking in and out of different areas. This video is then analysed, compared with the project’s design (BIM) and the programme, providing a dashboard system that shows progress versus plan, pace of work, delays, incomplete installation, deviations from design and more.

The idea came about in 2017, some 10 years after co-founders Roy Danon, Yakir Sudry and Leibovici met in the IDF’s elite Talpiot unit. Without prior experience in or knowledge of the construction industry, the three men spent six months researching projects to deepen understanding of the challenges that construction companies and contractors face.

Leibovici says: “There are many different challenges in construction, but from our point

of view it all starts from the difficulty in controlling processes due to lack of accurate information.

We help tackle a part of this challenge, and we believe technology is relevant to help with others as well, for example in the design phase.”

The Buildots tech was first deployed in the UK – even before Israel – and remains the company’s most developed market. UK customers include Wates, one of the UK’s largest privately-owned construction, development, and property services companies, and EcoWorld, an international firm developing a number of sustainable projects in London.

Globally, clients include Tidhar, Israel’s largest construction company, Build Group, a leading American contractor, and others across Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Buildots has an office in London, where Leibovici, who leads the company’s relationship with the British construction industry, lives.

He says the UK construction market is far more advanced than Israel’s. “This is true on all fronts – health and safety, sustainability, project team structure and focus, and more.”

In just over four years, the company has raised £88m; most recent investments were led by TLV Partners, Lightspeed Ventures, Viola Group and OG Tech, in addition to Tidhar group and other private investors who invested in earlier stages.

Does Leibovici see other opportunities for tech and construction going forward?

“Wow, many. I think this is just the beginning,” he says. “Construction is a manufacturing industry that has historically lacked the control tools that exist in other manufacturing environments. I expect technology to reach every part of construction over the next five to 10 years and transform the industry’s productivity.” ▶ www.buildots.com

With Candice Krieger candicekrieger@googlemail.com

From left: CPO Aviv Leibovici, CEO Roy Danon and CTO Yakir Sudry

Hard hat-mounted 360-degree cameras

Years of Jewish Child’s Day

Jewish Child’s Day is the UK’s leading grant giving Jewish charity.

We have been transforming lives of children in need around the world for 75 years. For the last seven decades, we have helped over 1.5 million children

Each year, over 20,000 Jewish children rely upon us to save them from deprivation, disadvantage, abuse and neglect. We are there to nurture them and offer them a better, brighter future. Wishing all our loyal supporters and friends Chanukah Sameach!

To find out how you can get involved or to donate, visit JCD.UK.COM

Looking to the future at 75

In its 75th year, Jewish Child’s Day is looking pretty good for its age and showing no signs of slowing down, as seen with the launch of its Heritage Grants Programme. Whilst we worry about our own children, JCD ensures that the future is not overlooked for more than 20,000 Jewish children. This year JCD has awarded more than £1m in grants to about 130 Jewish organisations, including those in the UK, Israel and other smaller communities around the world.

You might be surprised to learn that despite JCD’s enormous achievements, the grant-giving charity is actually driven by a team of only eight people, including Adele Busse, who works tirelessly as grants manager. With more than 16 years in the voluntary sector, Adele has a deep understanding of the problems children and young people face and with her wealth of experience, she’s able to identify where financial support is most needed, creating some wonderful opportunities.

“As the leading Jewish grant-giving charity for children up to the age of 18, we have a lot to live up to. Transforming the lives of children is always at the very forefront of our mind,” she says.

Adele has been integral in the launch of the Heritage Grants Programme, distributing special grants in honour of the organisation’s 75-year anniversary. Chaired by Joy Moss MBE, life president and former chair, working alongside committee members Karen Danker, Frankie Epstein and Richard Reinhold, they reviewed and assessed almost 100 Heritage Grant applications, which was a lengthy process.

Anthea Jackson, executive director says: “The entire process throughout the year was incredibly thorough and the applica-

tions part was just the tip of the iceberg. The Heritage committee met numerous times to discuss each application in great detail, and the shortlisted applicants had to prepare very specific presentations as well as being visited in person before the final decisions were made”.

The regular grant allocations take place three times per year and there is a dedicated group of committee members that

to UK sanctions halting funding, but JCD remains at their service and hopes to continue to support when the time comes.

Adele says: “There is a continual stream of requests for funding and grant applications have increased by over 50 percent in the last two years, so in order to keep things fair, organisations have to reapply each year.”

Anthea continues: “New applications have increased significantly since the

various projects in Ukraine and hydrotherapy sessions for abused, neglected and homeless children in Israel.

The Heritage Grant beneficiary stories are heartwarming, including that of Clore Shalom Primary School in Herts, which used its grant to facilitate a Sensory and Nurture building on the school’s grounds. This allowed those children requiring additional educational and emotional support to be taken to this area when unable to cope in the classroom. This valuable addition of sensory equipment can help children learn better as well as crucially manage their resilience and improve mental health and well-being in a safe environment.

In Israel, Rachashei Lev is a charity organisation that helps to improve the lives of children with cancer. JCD’s funding helped refurbish twenty suites at a children’s home and activity centre in Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital in Israel, meaning that families of cancer patients could stay close by in comfort. When JCD launched its website in January 2022, many of the projects’ success stories were highlighted, allowing more people to see both the impact and the incredible work that JCD does.

meets in March, June and November. This rigorous process involves checking due diligence, safeguarding, accounts and overall legitimacy.

Adele works closely with colleague Russell Brody, head of income generation, who often sees donors approach JCD with specific requests of where they would like their money allocated, whether it be a particular place or a specific organisation.

With much of the activity happening in Israel, Adele says: “We are in the process of appointing someone on the ground to facilitate the project reviews and visits to build a more direct relationship with our partner organisations.”

In addition, JCD has a long list of organisations here in the UK and in other countries that they hope to work with in the future, based on relationships held in Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary, Argentina, and other small Jewish communities around the world. As the situation currently stands in Russia, it’s difficult to support these organisations owing

pandemic, and we want to help these charities in every way we can. Whilst the bigger organisations do have fundraising teams, we support many smaller charities who don’t always have extensive resources to fundraise themselves.”

Supporting these grass roots charities that are making a huge difference to kids’ lives is key to the work of JCD. There are five categories that JCD considers when allocating grants: Equipment, Health, Therapy, Activity and Education.

Through its grants the charity is able to cover what are often seen as ‘additional extras’ such as art therapy, educational support and specialist equipment that may not be covered by local authority or government funding, and in fact these types of projects can make all the difference.

To highlight its 75th year, JCD ran a Matched Giving Campaign in June this year, which raised £200,000. This enabled the charity to support a number of organisations in urgent need of assistance, such as

JCD has been invited to celebrate its big birthday at Manchester’s Federation of Jewish Services (‘The Fed’). The first Jewish Child’s Day was held on the first Sunday of Chanukah in 1947 so it’s particularly poignant that the visit falls during this time. And of course, the whole team are going – eight days of Chanukah, eight incredible people driving JCD forward.

For more information about Jewish Child’s Day grants, please contact: Adele Busse, grants manager, at adele.busse@jcd.uk.com, 020 3307 6656

JCD chief executive Anthea Jackson

Adele Busse visiting Arugot organisation in Israel

Photo by Galia Verthime Sherf

REBBETZEN DINA GOLKER MAGEN AVOT UNITED SYNAGOGUE

know our language”, and rounds o his description by calling him “a slave”, knowing the Egyptian constitution disbars a slave from holding any state o ce.

Hope, excitement, and “at the end of the tunnel a glimmer of light” – Joseph is finally released from prison and catapulted to high o ce. This all paves the way for what seems to be a bright future for the ‘Hebrews’. If one hadn’t studied our sedra, Mikeitz, in greater depth, one might be forgiven for thinking the Israelites now have it made for them.

Joseph is chosen as Egyptian viceroy, an intelligent, strong and righteous man who remembers his family, his background, and holds his heritage high in esteem. What could go wrong?

The commentator Rashi (1040-1105, France) comments on the words used by the chief butler in verse 41:12 when he tells Pharaoh: “I know of a na’ar ivri, eved – a Hebrew lad, a slave – who can correctly interpret your dream.” Rashi, quoting the midrash, observes that the butler uses extremely disparaging language in recommending Yosef professionally to the king.

Na’ar denotes someone junior and unfit for high o ce. The butler further describes Joseph as “a Hebrew”, ie “he doesn’t even

Despite everything Joseph has done for the butler in prison, he remains despised in his eyes solely because of his Hebrew ethnic origin. The butler is willing to cut o his nose to spite his face by o ering his sovereign someone with such an unattractive CV!

As we see from verse 41:45, Pharaoh is impressed with Yosef and gives him an Egyptian name: Tzofnas Pa’ne’ach. He also marries him o to Osnas. Some commentators explain that Pharaoh is thereby communicating to Yosef that the only way he can protect him from the innate racial prejudice of the Egyptians, notwithstanding his lofty position as viceroy, is to assimilate him, and he must accordingly be wedded to Osnas, a high priest’s daughter, because nothing less would serve to protect Yosef from inevitable hostility due to his Hebraic roots.

Later, in verse 43:32, when Joseph’s brothers come down for the second time, he arranges a banquet for them, but we are told that he sat alone, and his brothers sat together by themselves, while his Egyptian servants were seated separately. We are then informed, incredibly, that not only could the brothers not sit with Joseph (as he was too noble to sit with Hebrew commoners), but

that even his Egyptian servants would not sit with him because “it is an abomination for Egyptians to eat bread with Hebrews” (Joseph’s Hebrew origin being known). How deeply ingrained this prejudice against the Hebrews must have been for him, even as viceroy, to have been forced to endure such disrespect.

Despite the hand of God plainly visible at every juncture, antisemitic undertones are present even during this brief period of Hebrew supremacy, anticipating the future era of slavery and the antisemitism to follow, both in our times and throughout history. It’s all the same, just clothed di erently. Ein kol chadash tachat ha-shemesh – there is nothing new under the sun.

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI DEBBIE YOUNG-SOMERS EDGWARE & HENDON REFORM SYNAGOGUE

This Christmas is likely to be a strange one for the royal family as they gather without their matriarch. Not only will Queen Elizabeth be missing, but the family may be wrestling with the fallout from Harry and Meghan’s documentary and their absence from the family table.

Christmas will be an awkward time, or if they all enjoy ribbing one another about their woes before getting on with the seasonal festivities.

I wonder if there was ever an awkward family meal after Jacob joined his sons in Egypt and was reunited with Joseph, who for so many years had been presumed dead – because 10 of his sons had told him so!

There are so many dysfunctional relationships in Genesis, it can feel comforting when our own family lives aren’t as picture perfect as we might wish them to be.

There will, apparently however, also be additions to this year’s royal gathering with Prince Andrew reported to be joining with Sarah Ferguson.

Having married in 1986, separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996, they have over the past few years been appearing together increasingly frequently.

Add to this the scandals that have swirled around Andrew himself, and one wonders if

Plenty of seder tables have seen their share of family broigus and tension, so perhaps Jacob and sons avoided the high-tension family celebrations the rest of us, and presumably the royals, endure from time to time.

But there must have been reasons for the Biblical family to gather. Did Jacob know the truth of the brothers’ deception? Did he confront his sons or try to get the truth from Joseph? Or was he so delighted that Joseph was back, he didn’t want to upset things by digging too deep into the dirt?

Regardless of what they

had already put their family through, there does seem to be remorse among the brothers. Perhaps this allowed for forgiveness on Jacob’s part.

Whatever it was that transpired (and we will probably know the detail of what goes on at the royal Christmas celebrations this year as much as we do about the Biblical reunion) they found a way to be together again as a family.

This is a time for gathering, for joy and light in the darkness. Many have to find ways to deal with di cult family members, or find forgiveness after painful periods.

But it would appear this is the story of families throughout human history, so there’s hope that we too can find the festive!

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If you would like advice or to sell direct, do get in touch. Selling direct eliminates the high commissions involved with auction houses. In fact, we encourage sellers to obtain an auction estimate before contacting us, to be certain of receiving the best possible price.

Payment is immediate, by cash or Bank Transfer and we collect free of charge. We are here to help.

Please call Sue for a free valuation on: Freephone 0800 840 2035. Mob: 07956 268 290. email: antiquesbuyers8@gmail.com. Visit our website for more details: www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk

A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider how Biblical figures might act when faced with 21st-century issues

Broigus in the family – did Jacob have it worse than Charles?

Brothers at odds – William and Harry plus their wives

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

Ask our

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry. This week: The right to work from home, being asked to be an executor and helping a grandma speak with her grandchildren

DONNA OBSTFELD HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYMENT LAW DOHR

Dear Donna

My staff are telling me they have the right to work from home. Do they?

Philip

Dear Philip

The short answer here is “no”. At the moment, employees with more than six months service have the right to request to work from home (WFH), but you don’t have to grant it. In the future, all employees will have the right to request flexible working from day one, which could include working from home.

However, the key word ‘request’. You have to follow a proper process to determine whether or not it will work for your business

and there are a set number of reasons you may turn down the flexible working/WFH request, but you need to give it proper consideration.

If someone is requesting to WFH you need to understand if there are specific reasons for it, perhaps childcare, the cost of travel to work or bullying in the o ce. They don’t have to tell you, but good, open and honest communication is essential if you are going to make WFH work in your business. Turning down an o er may lead to disgruntled sta and can result in losing your top talent, so you really need to give the request some serious consideration.

If their proposal doesn’t work for you, discuss what might work. Would it be hybrid working? Would it be working specific days in the o ce? What would they do at home? Can the job even be done from home?

As an employer, you have the right to say no; but is there a benefit to your business from saying yes and agreeing how.

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE

Dear Carolyn

I have been asked to be an executor under a friend’s will and am a little concerned about what that entails.

John

Dear John

Firstly, you should take this as a compliment – your friend will only have asked

you if he/she sees you as someone they can trust. But you are right – it assumes that you have the expertise or can accept the responsibility of ensuring that the instructions and wishes in your friend’s will are carried out.

The role is undoubtedly onerous and must be taken seriously. It covers various duties, from organising the funeral and stone setting, making sure valuables are safe and informing asset holders of the death so that you can value the estate.

As executor, you will need to apply for the Grant of Probate in order to be able to collect in and realise the assets in the estate and deal with and finalise any debts and liabilities,

including any taxes due, before being able to satisfy any gifts and legacies and then distributing the residue in accordance with the will. In doing so, you will need to ensure that any assets not specifically bequeathed are sold for the best achievable price. You will need to be in touch with beneficiaries and should keep careful records and accounts – you will appreciate there is a legal process to be followed with a responsibility to the beneficiaries to act in accordance with proper procedure.

No mean feat, but one KKL has been doing successfully for more than 70 years! If you would like to discuss this in more detail, do feel free to get in touch.

SUE CIPIN CHIEF EXECUTIVE JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION

Dear Sue

My mum’s hearing has worsened, and it’s creating a barrier between my children and her.

My kids have always loved chatting to my mum but they have stopped trying because it’s too difficult and she struggles to understand what they’re saying.

How can I ensure that my kids have a relationship with my mum again – and

help her participate and enjoy all the family gatherings over the holidays?

Jennifer

Dear Jennifer

Children’s voices can be indistinct for someone with a hearing loss, so here are some key communication tips that will help your family stay close and connected:

• Remember to attract your mum’s attention before you start talking to her, so she can be ‘ready’ to listen.

• It’s crucial to face her too, so she can lipread and get clues from facial expressions.

• Tell your mum what subject you’re talking about from the start. Then she’ll be able to process what is being

said more easily.

• Slow down a little bit.

• Ensure your mum’s hearing aids are well maintained. If they’re from the NHS, one of our trained volunteers can visit her at home to clean them, change the tubing and provide new batteries.

• She could also try out other simple-to-use listening devices to make the sound of little voices a lot clearer. She’s very welcome to make an appointment to try some at JDA’s Technology & Information Centre, or we can arrange for her to do so at home if it’s di cult for her to get here.

For more advice, please do call my colleague Gabrielle Renée at JDA on 020 8446 0214.

Got a question for a member of our team?

Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

Got a question for a member of

PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SPECIALIST

VACANT PROPERTY SECURITY

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.

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

GLOBAL GUARDIANS MANAGEMENT 020 3818 9100 www.global-guardians.co.uk info@global-guardians.co.uk

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Qualifications:

JEWELLER

• Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s.

• Expert in the manufacture and supply of diamond jewellery, wedding rings and general jewellery.

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

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

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration. Last 14 years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company.

• In close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for.

• Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY 020 8732 6101 www.kkl.org.uk enquiries@kkl.org.uk

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

STEPHEN MORRIS

Qualifications:

• Managing Director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd.

• 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects.

• Chosen mover for four royal families and three UK prime ministers.

• Offering proven quality specialist advice for moving anyone across the world or round the corner.

STEPHEN MORRIS SHIPPING LTD 020 8832 2222 www.shipsms.co.uk stephen@shipsms.co.uk

ADAM LOVATT

Qualifications:

COMMERCIAL LAWYER

• Lawyer with more than 11 years of experience working in the legal sector. Specialist in corporate, commercial, media, sport and start-ups.

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

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

LOVATT LEGAL LIMITED 07753 802 804 adam@lovattlegal.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

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.

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION 020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk mail@jdeaf.org.uk

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

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.

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

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

• Lenders,

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS 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.

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

HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYMENT LAW

DONNA OBSTFELD

Qualifications:

• FCIPD Chartered HR Professional

• 25 years in HR and Business Management.

• Mediator, Business Coach, Trainer, Author and Speaker

• Supporting businesses and charities with the hiring, managing, inspiring and firing of their staff

DOHR LTD 020 8088 8958 www.dohr.co.uk donna@dohr.co.uk

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.

NEFESH B’NEFESH 0800 075 7200 www.nbn.org.il dov@nbn.org.il

DIVORCE & FAMILY SOLICITOR

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.

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

ADAM SHELLEY

Qualifications:

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

ACCOUNTANT

• 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.

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

IT SPECIALIST

LISA WIMBORNE

Qualifications:

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

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.

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

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.

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

INSURANCE CONSULTANCY

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.

RISK RESOLUTIONS 020 3411 4050 www.risk-resolutions.com ashley.prager@risk-resolutions.com

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

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.

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

Email: sales@jewishnews.co.uk

ALIYAH ADVISER

Peal of a bell (5)

Think logically (6)

For all to hear (5)

Part of a gun (7)

Animal’s den (4)

Sweet-singing bird (11)

Style of sloping script (7)

Spanish treasure ship (7)

Laundry chore (7)

Rush-hour short cut (3,3)

East ___, Norfolk’s region (6)

Connected to the internet (6)

Number symbol (5)

The listed words related to The Last of the Summer Wine 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.

Fun, games and prizes

SUGURU

ACROSS: 1

8 Rowan, 9 Insurer, 10 Glow, 11 Stripped, 14 Plated, 15 Before, 17 Glovebox, 18 Hart, 21 Decibel, 23 Least, 24 Entrepreneur.

DOWN: 1 Shrug, 2 New potato, 3 Aunt, 4 Dainty, 5 Inspired, 6 Ear, 7 Bridge, 12 Propagate, 13 Remember, 14 Pagoda, 16 Lollop, 19 Tutor, 20 Flee, 22 Con.

WESTLON HOUSING ASSOCIATION

We

Saturday December 24th open from 5.30pm

Sunday December 25th - lunch sittings at 12 and 2.30 pm, dinner from 5.30 pm

Saturday December 31st open from 5.30 pm - celebration party and banquet from 9 pm Monday January 2nd lunch from noon, dinner from 5.30 pm Welcome

Gifts - Vouchers and Caps