1358 - 14th March 2024

Shabbat for Israel

Eighty communities mark an emotional weekend p10

Friendship redefined

Josh Glancy on the social cost of conflict p27

The twilight zone

Holocaust survivors condemn film director’s Oscars speech that linked Gaza and Auschwitz as ‘morally indefensible’

The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation this week penned a furious open letter to Jonathan Glazer, director of the film The Zone of Interest, telling him he “should be ashamed” for “using Auschwitz to criticise Israel” during his acceptance speech at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, writes Jenni Frazer.

In a message on the organisation’s website, the foundation’s chairman David Schaecter, a Czech Jew who was imprisoned in Auschwitz aged just 11, where he survived for three years followed by a year in Buchenwald, told Glazer: “I watched in anguish on Sunday night when I heard you use the platform of the Oscars to equate Hamas’s maniacal brutality against innocent Israelis with Israel’s di cult but necessary self-defence in the face of Hamas’s ongoing barbarity.”

Describing the filmmaker’s comments as “factually inaccurate and morally indefensible”, Schaecter, 94, told Glazer: “The ‘occupation’ of which you speak has nothing to do with the Holocaust.

“The Jewish people’s existence and right to live in the land of Israel predates the Holocaust by hundreds of years.”

Schaecter concluded his blistering letter by saying: “Worse is that you chose to use the Holocaust to validate your personal opinion. You made a Holocaust movie and won an Oscar. And you are Jewish.

“Good for you. But it is disgraceful for

you to presume to speak for the six million Jews, including one and a half million children, who were murdered solely because of their Jewish identity.

“And it is disgraceful for you to presume to speak for those of us who personally saw the world stand silent as our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were murdered.

“We actually had nowhere to go — no possible place of refuge. No country would accept us even though world leaders knew full well that thousands of Jews were being murdered every day. There was no Jewish nation to which we could flee.”

Schaechter, who tried to return to Prague after liberation, moved first to Ireland and then to Northern Ireland and Scotland, finally leaving for the United States in 1949.

Dr Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust, said that while

Continued on page 3

BLAST FROM THE HEART

MAYOR: JEWISH PRESENCE AT RAMADAN SIGNIFIES HOPE

Sadiq Khan has described the attendance of Jewish and other faith leaders at the switching on of the Ramadan lights in central London as a sign of hope amid rising hate in the capital, writes Justin Cohen.

The mayor of London switched on the display of 30,000 lights in the West End in front of a crowd of hundreds ahead of the start of the Muslim holy

month. The spectacle – supported by the Aziz Foundation – shows sunset and sunrise to represent the times between which Muslims can break their fast during the month.

At a reception attended by Board of Deputies vice-presidents Edwin Shuker and Amanda Bowman and Nisa-Nashim founder Laura Marks, Khan said: “The lights will be a beacon

for those who want to bring people together and believe there’s far more that unites us than divides us. There are forces in this city, the country and the globe who want to try to find differences and divide us.

“It could be within the Muslim community, it could be Muslim and Christian, it could be Muslim versus Jewish people. We must not allow

them to divide us. Our diversity makes us stronger – not weaker.”

He added: “Every year one of the proudest things I do is turn on the wonderful menorah lights to celebrate Chanukah. From now onwards there will be Muslims and non-Muslims coming into London to celebrate the Ramadan lights. What a wonderful legacy that is.”

Vanessa Feltz (right) and Dame Maureen Lipman were among hundreds of people to sound shofars and whistles this week in a call for the freeing of Israeli hostages. Full story, page 10

Sadiq Khan at the celebration

David Schaecter and Jonathan Glazer

AT WAR

Tensions rise over Israelis’ ‘distrust’ of Bibi

Tensions between Benjamin Netanyahu and the United States reached new heights this week following an intelligence report about the extent of the Israeli public’s lack of trust in its prime minister’s ability to rule, writes Jotam Confino in Israel.

The US intelligence director’s 2024 worldwide threats report stated that “distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”

The report came after President Joe Biden told MSNBC that Netanyahu “is hurting Israel more than helping Israel, by making the rest of the world, as contrary to what Israel

stands for.” Netanyahu also send a riposte at Biden directly, telling Politico that he didn’t know “exactly what the president meant”.

“But if he meant by that that I’m pursuing private policies against the majority, the wish of the majority of Israelis, and that this is hurting the interests of Israel, then he’s wrong on both counts,” Netanyahu said.

“Number one, these are not my private policies, only. They’re policies supported by the overwhelming majority of the Israelis,” he added.

“They support the action that we’re taking to destroy the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas. They say that once we destroy the Hamas, the last thing we should do is put in Gaza, in charge of Gaza, the Palestinian Authority that educates its children towards terrorism and pays

for terrorism. And they also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state.”

A senior Israeli o cial later pushed back against the growing criticism from the US, issuing a statement to the media, saying: “Those who elect the prime minister of Israel are the citizens of Israel and no one else.

“Israel is not a protectorate of the US but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government. We expect our friends to act to overthrow the terror regime of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel.”

Biden and Netanyahu have been at odds several times since 7 October, with the president growing frustrated with Netanyahu about the number of Palestinians killed and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and Israel’s insistence of launching a military operation in Rafah.

Biden went as far as saying that the city of Rafah, in the south of Gaza,

CAMERON URGES ISRAEL TO ISSUE UN AID VISAS

Israel needs to issue more visas to UN workers to ensure aid can be distributed within Gaza, foreign secretary Lord Cameron has said.

Speaking in parliament, the Tory Cabinet minister described the sharing of humanitarian assistance within the besieged enclave as “one of the trickiest pieces of the jigsaw”.

Cameron also urged Israel to open one of its ports to allow emergency supplies arriving by sea to get through to the war-torn territory.

The war triggered by Hamas’ 7 October massacre in southern Israel has reportedly killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and driven some 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. The UN says a quarter of the population is starving.

Responding to a question at Westminster on aid to Gaza, the Conservative frontbencher said: “We have been collaborating with Jordan on humanitarian airdrops and are now working with partners to operationalise a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.

“However, this cannot substitute delivery by land, which remains the best way to get aid in at the scale needed.

“Israel must open more land routes, including in the north, for longer and with fewer screening requirements.”

He added: “I have been clear. We need an immediate humanitarian pause to increase aid into Gaza and get the hostages out. Israel must remove restrictions on aid and restore electricity, water and telecommunications.”

would be a “red line” for Washington. Netanyahu, on his part, said that his “red line” was not allowing Hamas to re-establish itself in Gaza.

“We’ll go there [Rafah]. We’re not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn’t happen again. Never happens again.”

As ceasefire negotiations ocially continued this week, expectations diminished significantly owing to Hamas’ refusal to compromise, demanding a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Qatar decided to increase its pressure on Hamas to soften its stance, threatening to deport its leadership from Doha, according to the Wall Street Journal

Qatari diplomat Majed Al Ansari told CNN that Netanyahu is among the figures who holds “the keys to securing a deal”, saying that the prime minister and others should come to the table because “every day that goes by is a risk to the life of the hostages” as well as a “a risk to the life of civilians in Gaza”.

A ship with 200 tonnes of food departed for Gaza on Tuesday from Cyprus as the International system continues to push for more humanitarian aid to the enclave.

Meanwhile, Israel continued to launch large-scale attacks against Hamas in Gaza, reportedly killing the terrorist organisation’s number four in command, Marwan Issa, who had survived several assassination attempts in the past.

MP has Labour whip restored after inquiry

Labour has restored the whip to the MP Andy McDonald following an investigation into a speech given at a pro-Palestine demo in which he sparked anger after using the phrase “between the river and the sea”, writes Lee Harpin.

Confirming the decision on Wednesday, Labour said the party’s chief whip concluded McDonald “had not engaged in conduct that was against the party’s rulebook but reminded him of the importance of elected representatives being mindful, not only of what they say in public, but how their words may be interpreted, especially in reference to controversial or emotive issues.”

Middlesborough MP McDonald had appeared as a speaker at the 28 October demo in central London, defying a call by leader Keir Starmer for MPs to stay away from protests over fears of extremism.

At the event, communal leaders had attempted to convince politicians that the chant “From the river to the sea” represented a call

for the destruction of Israel and was therefore antisemitic.

McDonald, who has a long history of attending pro-Palestine events, later claimed his speech had been a “heartfelt plea for an end to killings in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.” He told the march the would not be peace until “all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty.”

Confirming the whip had been restored, a  Labour spokesperson said: “The Chief Whip has today restored the Labour whip. This follows a full investigation by the Labour Party into complaints received about public remarks he made in October 2023. The investigation concluded he had not engaged in conduct that was against the party’s rulebook but reminded him of the importance of elected representatives being mindful, not only of what they say in public, but how their words may be interpreted, especially in reference to or emotive issues.”

Israeli soliders in the West Bank this week

Blast from IDF attack in Lebanon

Protesters outside the Knesset urge the government to prioritise hostages

David Cameron with Benjamin Netanyahu

MP claims it’s ‘scandalous’ UK still not aiding UNRWA

The UK government must resume its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and it is “scandalous” the organisation is still suspended from distributing aid in Gaza, MP Alex Sobel has claimed, writes Lee Harpin.

The Labour MP for Leeds North West, whose parents moved to the UK from Israel in 1971, described what is happening in Gaza as “a starvation-level event” and added the British public “do not want to be responsible for starvation in Gaza”.

He said: “It is scandalous that the UK Government’s position is still for a suspension of funds, despite the interim report and without evidence of wrongdoing being provided by Israel in the first place. ”

Responding foreign o ce minister Andrew Mitchell told the Commons: “We are awaiting the report of the UN O ce of Internal Oversight Services and the interim report from Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister.

when we have seen those, we very much hope we will have

“The view we take is that when we have seen those, we very much hope we will have the reassurance to recommence funding. That is also the position of the US, Germany, Australia, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.”

Speaking during Tuesday’s Foreign O ce questions debate on the humanitarian situation, Sobel noted that “Canada reviewed the interim report of the UN O ce of Internal Oversight Services and has resumed funding.

“Sweden has received bilateral assurances on the same actions that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development O ce is supposedly looking for from UNRWA and has resumed funding.”

Sobel said the current airdrops from the United States, with help from this country “do not direct aid like land-based aid”.

He added: “The only organisation big enough to fully distribute aid in order to avoid starvation is UNRWA.”

Former French foreign minister Catherine

Police de-arrest Iranian anti-Hamas protester

An exiled Iranian who staged a counterprotest at a pro-Palestinian rally in London was arrested after he held aloft a sign reading “Hamas is terrorist organisation”.

Niyak Ghorbani waved the sign in the middle of last Saturday’s rally before protesters turned on him leading to a confrontation.

Police said he was arrested for assault before being de-arrested after o cers reviewed footage.

Videos on social media showed exiled Ghorbani being wrestled to the ground by five police o cers and handcu ed.

A Met spokesperson said: “A video has been posted on X alleging o cers arrested a man for having an anti-Hamas placard. This isn’t accurate. He was arrested after an altercation was ongoing, and o cers intervened to prevent a breach of the peace. He was arrested for assault.

“O cers then fully reviewed footage provided of the incident, and he was later dearrested. The arrest was not made in relation to the placard.”

Ghorbani, 37, said he would make a formal

complaint after the incident and that he was not given back his sign.

He said: “[Police] told me that it is a danger for [my] life and for the people when they see maybe attack [me]. I told the police they attacked me and I want to complain and they say go to police station near your home.”

The Iranian’s placard was part of a wider counter-protest at the London rally.

Colonna was in Israel this week to seek evidence from the government on its claims that at least 12 UNRWA sta had been involved in the 7 October attack that killed 1,200 Israelis.

The claims led many western countries to suspend funding.

Colonna is due to present her interim report in late March and a final report a month later.

Israel has promised to share with her intelligence on Hamas tunnels in and around UNRWA facilities, terrorist attacks by UNRWA employees, and the use of UNRWA sites to launch rockets at Israel.

GLAZER HAS ‘BETRAYED HIS OWN FILM’

Continued from page 1

The Zone of Interest was “one of the best films ever made about the Holocaust… in contrast, the acceptance speech by Jonathan Glazer for the film’s Oscar win was trite, superficial and apologetic. As with so many attempts to compare the Holocaust to present-day events, it misled where it sought to enlighten. He has been accused of betraying Holocaust victims and survivors; rather, I think he has betrayed his own film.”

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum said in a statement that Nazism “represented a singular evil that resulted in the murder of six million Jews and the persecution and deaths of millions of others for racial and political reasons. Comparing contemporary situations to Nazism is not only o ensive to its victims, but it is also inaccurate and misrepresents both Holocaust history and the present. The Holocaust should be remembered, studied, and understood so that we can learn its lessons; it should not be exploited for opportunistic purposes.”

• Josh Glancy, page 27

AID SHIP DEPARTS FOR GAZA WITH 200 TONNES OF FOOD

A ship with 200 tonnes of food has departed for Gaza from Cyprus as part of the opening of a maritime corridor for humanitarian to the enclave.

The 200 tonnes of food includes rice, flour, legumes, canned veggies and proteins and is funded by the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus.

José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, said: “Our goal is to establish a maritime highway of boats and barges stocked with millions of meals continuously headed towards Gaza.”

The shipment follows Washington’s announcement that it will build a pier o Gaza in the coming months to allow more aid in to the enclave.

The UK is among the countries taking part in aid via sea.

Israel has welcomed the delivery of aid through sea but insists it be in charge of security.

COGAT (the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) said on Monday that 169 packages of humanitarian aid were airdropped over northern Gaza by the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, France, Belgium, and the USA and that 149 aid trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza.

However, the United Nations and other NGOs in Gaza have complained for

months that the amount of aid reaching the enclave is not nearly enough for the two million Palestinians facing hunger.

Israel has repeatedly said that it does not put any restrictions on the amount of aid reaching Gaza, but that Hamas is complicating the delivery by hijacking trucks and preventing some of them from reaching their destination in northern Gaza.

Labour’s Alex Sobel (inset) warns colleagues of starvation in Gaza

The Iranian’s banner and police on scene

The World Central Kitchen ship leaves Cyprus this week

A scene from Glazer’s Oscar winner

Magazine staff quit over essay by British–Israeli

An essay by a British-born Israeli writer and translator of Hebrew and Arabic has caused uproar in the New York online literary magazine Guernica, with 15 members of the volunteer staff resigning, writes Jenni Frazer.

Joanna Chen’s article, ‘From the edges of a broken world’, her second for the magazine, traces her responses to the Hamas attacks, as a long-time peace activist, who refused to serve in the Israeli army.

She writes about her friendships with Palestinians in Israel, and her volunteer work with Road to Recovery, an organisation that helps to transport Palestinians to Israeli hospitals for medical treatment. But after 7 October, she wrote: “My volunteer work with Road to Recovery came to a full stop. How could I continue after Hamas had massacred and kidnapped so many civilians, including Road to Recovery members, such as Vivian Silver, a longtime Canadian peace activist? And I admit, I was afraid for my own life.”

Among those who resigned over Chen’s essay were the Guernica’s former co-publisher, Madhuri Sastry, who wrote on social media

that the essay “attempts to soften the violence of colonialism and genocide” and called for a cultural boycott of Israeli institutions.

A statement on the Guernica website says: “From the edges of a broken world” — Guernica regrets having published this piece, and has retracted it. A more fulsome explanation will follow”.

In an email to the New York

tion that the editorial staff was not on board.”

Times, Chen said her critics had misunderstood “the meaning of my essay, which is about holding on to empathy when there is no human decency in sight”. She also said that she had worked on the essay with the magazine’s editor-in-chief and publisher, Jina Moore Ngarambe.

Chen said: “I was offered the distinct impression [that] my essay was appreciated. I was given no indica-

‘Extremism’ given an update by Gove

Michael Gove has insisted an “updated, more focused” extremism definition designed to tackle the ever-evolving threat to the UK will help deny a platform “to those setting out to subvert democracy and deny other people’s fundamental rights”, writes Lee Harpin.

Written in the aftermath of the 7 October Hamas terror attacks in Israel, the communities secretary said: “The new definition provides a stricter characterisation that government can use to make sure that extremist organisations and individuals are not being legitimised or given a platform through their interactions with government.”

The definition itself reads: “Extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2. undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3. intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).”

It will be used by government departments and officials “alongside a set of engagement principles, to ensure they are not inadvertently providing a platform, funding

or legitimacy to groups or individuals who attempt to advance extremist ideologies that negate our fundamental rights and freedoms and overturn the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy.”

But the definition is not statutory and has no effect on the existing criminal law – it applies to the operations of Government itself.

Gove said: “The United Kingdom is a success story – a multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy. It is stronger because of its diversity.

“But our democracy and our values of inclusivity and tolerance are under challenge from extremists. In order to protect our democratic values, it is important both to reinforce what we have in common and to be clear and precise in identifying the dangers posed by extremism.”

The new definition is narrower and more precise than the 2011 Prevent definition, which did not provide the detail we now need to assess and identify extremism, the government said.

It draws on work by Dame Sara Khan and Sir Mark Rowley’s 2021 ‘Operating with Impunity Report’ and addresses recommendations from the 2023 Independent Review of Prevent.

Her essay begins with her early life in Leeds, reporting that when she was 16, her parents moved the family to Israel following her brother’s death in a road accident. The essay is interspersed with poems that Chen has translated from both Hebrew and Arabic, and describes her many trips picking up Palestinians at a checkpoint and taking them to the Sheba Medical Centre in Tel Aviv.

She writes: “At 6:32 on the morning of October 7, sirens filled the air, and rockets began falling close to my village… The thuds were sickening. Muddled reports from the border with Gaza were streaming through social media. As the day wore on, my dread increased. There were many dead and injured; hospitals were running short of blood.

“The next day, my husband and I donated blood at a hospital in Jerusalem, waiting in line for six hours along with hundreds of other people.”

Chen also records that she “spent my time volunteering with an Israeli family from Kfar Aza, bordering the Gaza Strip. Their daughter, son-inlaw, and nephew had been murdered. Their house had been torched, and they were evacuated to my village.”

She reports on a conversation with a Palestinian “fixer” with whom she worked at Newsweek magazine, and says: “I felt inexplicably ashamed, as if she were pointing a finger at me. I also felt stupid — this was war, and whether I liked it or not, Nuha and I were standing at opposite ends of the very bridge I hoped to cross. I had been naive; this conflict was bigger than the both of us.”

ALLEGED NEO-NAZI TRIAL

An alleged neo-Nazi said he was “upset” he did not get to “finish the job” of killing a solicitor in a terror plot, a court has heard.

Cavan Medlock is alleged to have arrived at the law firm Duncan Lewis in Harrow, northwest London, on 7 September 2020 armed with a combat knife and handcuffs, while carrying large Confederate and Nazi flags.

The 31-year-old threatened a receptionist with the knife before threatening to kill solicitor Toufique Hossain and abusing two other members of staff because of their racial or religious background, the court heard.

Medlock, of Harrow, denies charges of making a threat to kill Hossain and the preparation of terrorist acts.

Sheroy Zaq, who was working as a solicitor in Duncan Lewis’s public law and immigration departments at the time of the incident, told Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday that the racial abuse from Medlock was “relentless”.

Zaq said that, when asked by staff why he was at the law office, Medlock replied: “I’m here to kill Toufique Hossain.”

Prosecutor Timothy Cray KC asked Zaq: “Did he say anything else about the killing?”

The solicitor replied: “He just said he was upset with himself that he didn’t get to finish the job.” Zaq added that the incident was “not

something you expect to see in the reception of a law firm”.

The court heard that Medlock was restrained by the law firm’s staff after he advanced on a receptionist while holding a knife and demanding to see Hossain.

Zaq said: “I grabbed Mr Medlock by the shoulders and forced him into the corner and did my best to keep him there.”

Giving evidence at the trial, Hossain said: “For me, what was pretty horrifying about it, was that he [Medlock] was stone-cold, very unemotional –looking at me with a real deep hatred.”

Also giving evidence, Efrat Idelson, who was a trainee solicitor at Duncan Lewis in 2020, said: “He started screaming at us that we are bringing illegal immigrants to the UK.

“He said that we bring black people – he also said Jews.” Cray asked the solicitor: “When he mentioned ‘Jews’ what did you say to him?”

Idelson said: “I told him: ‘I am Jewish. Do you have any problem with this?’”

“What was his reply?” Cray asked. “He said: ‘Yes, Hitler did not finish the work with you,’” Idelson said.

She added: “I was a little bit afraid of him. He was very violent, aggressive and his comments were very racist and antisemitic. I didn’t feel comfortable to say the least.”

The trial continues.

Joanna Chen says she worked on her essay with the editor-in-chief

Cavan Medlock

Why

Why

News / Kisharon Langdon / JWA appeal / Work Avenue

New appeal nets £2.2m

Newly-formed charitable entity

Kisharon Langdon has raised more than £2.2 million through 5,414 donors in its latest fundraising drive.

It was the first matched fundraiser since the merger of the learning disabilities and autism organisations Kisharon and Langdon and sought to address the critical funding shortfall in adult social care support.

The organisation said persistent underfunding, exacerbated by global events, had placed “immense pressure” on bodies like Kisharon Langdon to secure essential services for the people they support. The latest campaign, named On Top of the World, underscored the charity’s dedication to empowering individuals to lead fulfilling lives rooted in Jewish values.

Kisharon Langdon chief executive Richard Franklin said: “We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to our fundraising e orts. The extent of support and

A charity supporting women a ected by domestic abuse and sexual violence is launching a 36-hour matched fundraising campaign this weekend.

The Charity Extra fundraiser for Jewish Women’s Aid’s (JWA) runs from 17-18 March and hopes to raise £1.5 million.

Deputy chief executive o cer and director of client services, Karen Lewis said: “Women a ected by abuse and violence are facing increasingly complex challenges.”

depth of feeling for Kisharon Langdon is so moving, across every part of our wonderful and generous community – how empowered sta , people with disabilities and autism alike were to raise such extraordinary donations for a cause they hold so dear.”

Franklin added: “This is a significant boost for everyone involved as

we tackle the remaining challenges of securing the outstanding balance of our £4 million funding gap, along with addressing indirect consequences of ongoing world events on the charity. However, if ever there was proof positive that united we stand and we are indeed better as one community, this is it”.

Donations can still be made via the website at kisharonlangdon.org.uk

Employment charity Work Avenue raised more than £1 million in 36 hours to support its work transforming the lives of members of the community who are out of work, struggling with their career or experiencing issues with their business.

Its Charity Extra campaign was backed by an incredible 2,583 donors and far exceeded an initial target of £750,000. Donations ranged from £5 to £30,000 as the whole community came together in a show of support.

The money will be used so Work

She added: “Increased living costs, delays in family court processes, rising fears of antisemitism, and events in Israel triggering past traumas have worsened already intolerable situations.

“Demands for our services show no sign of abating in 2024. Already this year, we have responded to a 24 percent increase in new referrals.”

Sam Cli ord, former executive director of Finchley Reform shul, takes up the role of chief executive o cer next month.

Work Avenue celebrates

Avenue can continue to provide information, advice, guidance, courses and one-to-one support – helping more than 3,500 people each year find jobs, change careers and start thriving businesses.

A blast of love

Hundreds of people from “Sussex to Jerusalem” gathered on Sunday to blow shofars and whistles in a call to free Israeli hostages, writes Adam Decker.

One group met at St John’s Wood Synagogue in London – led by TV presenter Vanessa Feltz and actress Dame Maureen Lipman. It was said to be the world’s largest ram horn trumpet chorus. They were there to show solidarity with the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza. The chorus lasted for 1.55 minutes, marking the 155 days they will have been in captivity.

Marcel Knobil, who organised the chorus, said the shofars and whistles were blown from “Sussex to Jerusalem and from New York to the beaches of Thailand”.

He said: “The shofar is such a significant icon. It’s said to symbolise a number of things, some equate it with a sound of crying mothers and how appropriate that is to the event, especially being held on Mother’s Day. It’s also said to represent hope and we are all bursting with hope for the release of the hostages.

“Many of us equate its wailing sound as a wake-up call. Waking us to address ourselves internally and stirring us to mend our way.”

Knobil added that he has spent time with families of hostages and said they are in “total shock”. He said: “They are living in an unreal world. To see this terror and torment to be lifted from all these family members would be just a dream for me and the world Jewish

community.” Feltz said they were all there to trumpet “this humanitarian urgent message –bring them home now”.

She said: “Today, our hearts are joined to the hearts and the souls of the mothers of the hostages, just imagine being there, it’s just unbearable to think about it even one day. Imagine it, the mothers of the hostages who’ve been deprived their precious children now for 155 days.

“As we celebrate Mother’s Day with our beloved children, our beloved grandchildren, these mothers are in agonising torment.”

Dame Maureen said: “I’m a mother, I’m an actor, I’m an aunt, I’m a grandmother, and since 7 October I’m a hostage like every other Jew in the world. A hostage who shares that pain, that fear, that someone is coming, that

Vanessa Feltz and Dame Maureen Lipman at St John’s Wood Synagogue on Sunday

childhood fear made real. I want to urge you to write this on your doorposts and tell your children we have to fight back.”

She called for people to “fight back professionally” against “the opposition”, who she described as “campus twits” and “marching fools, who don’t know which river or which sea they’re talking about”.

Dame Maureen became emotional as she said “right will prevail” if the hostages were released, adding: “Except how many of those

girls, how many of those grandmothers, are ever going to face the beauty of life again?”

Conservative MP Mike Freer, for Finchley & Golders Green, who is stepping down from Parliament at the upcoming election, spoke before the chorus and said “as a non-Jew, to the Jewish community, you have friends, you are not alone”. He added: “When we see mob rule on the streets of London, remember there are friends in Parliament that are seeking to curtail the hysteria that we see.”

Eighty communities nationwide hold special Shabbat for Israel

Communities all over the UK showed their emotional investment in Israel last weekend by celebrating Shabbat for Israel, an initiative of the O ce of the Chief Rabbi in partnership with the United Synagogue, writes Jenni Frazer.

The O ce of the Chief Rabbi said the project “was an incredible success, genuinely surpassing all of our expectations”.

A spokesman added: “Tens of thousands of people took part in events around the country where they were moved, educated and inspired in new ways.”

As part of the initiative, several London communities welcomed “a delegation of hostage family members from Israel, the spokesman said, adding that “the feedback both from them and the shuls has been amazing. They will return with a clear message, that their family is our family, and we will hold each and every one of them in our hearts until they are safely returned home.”

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said: “We were so gratified by the response to Shabbat for Israel, which reflects the desire of so many people across our communities to express their solidarity with the people of Israel in such challenging times.

‘The feedback that we have already received suggests that the experiences of this Shabbat will remain with many people for the rest of their lives.”

Not every one of the 80 communities believed to have taken part

confined their events to Shabbat. Many communities, from Manchester to Cardi , invited other special speakers and educators, all of whom had extraordinary experiences to share and messages to convey. Others held special tefillot, community-wide meals and uplifting Havdalah events.

Among the latter was Cockfosters and North Southgate Synagogue, which marked Shabbat for

Israel with acapella group Kippa Live, attracting more than 100 people.

The Israeli group led a Havdalah service and performed many familiar Israeli and Jewish melodies.

Members of Kippa Live had been on army service in Gaza and one member of the band spoke about his experiences. Cockfosters members also heard from a former Lon-

doner now living in the southern city of Sderot, giving the latest news about what was happening on the ground in the Gaza border towns..

musical blend of both thoughtful and joyful songs, bringing an atmosphere of Jewish unity and connection to Israel.”

Members of the hostage families were similarly struck by the events they attended.

Gili Roman, brother-in-law of hostage Carmel Gat, visiting Ealing Synagogue, said: “This initiative of Shabbat for Israel has been very powerful and moving.”

Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, visited Hendon. He said: “I want to really thank you from the bottom of my heart. It is not trivial what you did for us. It always reminds me that we are not alone.”

Orit Meir, mother of hostage Almog, visited Borehamwood and said: “You have such a warm and embracing community.

Cockfosters Rabbi Meir Shindler said: “The event was both reflective and uplifting. Kippa Live brought a fantastic feel-good

me a lot and I really

“I felt a lot of love. You moved me a lot and I really appreciate it. I’m waiting for the moment when I come to visit with my son.”

Bushey United Synagogue shared its Shabbat with Yaakov and Or Bohbot, family of hostage Elkana Ben Ruchama. The community also welcomed for Friday night, guest speaker Bracha ‘Beatie’ Deutsch, a Charedi runner, who spoke to 170 people about becoming Israel’s national marathon champion.

EIGHTEEN GRADUATE FROM LEADERSHIP COURSE

A fourth cohort has graduated from a 15-month senior community leadership course, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The 2023-24 group of the Dangoor Senior Leadership Programme (DSLP) celebrated their graduation at Nightingale Hammerson’s Wohl Campus in Finchley on Sunday.

The DSLP, run by Lead, the leadership development division of the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) is the Jewish community’s flagship programme for senior lay and professional leaders. This is the second of Lead’s post-pandemic major leadership programmes to wrap up in the past month following the conclusion of the Adam Science Programme for emerging leaders at the end of February.

The programme began life in 2014 as Gamechangers, before the Dangoor Education Foundation took up sponsorship for the second cohort in 2017.

This was the fourth group, with participants from Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow as well as London providing crossregional, as well as cross-denominational representation. There are now a total of 66 alumni since the inception of the programme ten years ago. Led by DSLP co-directors Larry Shulman

and Michelle Janes, participants had undertaken a 15 month programme of in-person and online development sessions which included collaboration with Windsor Leadership, hearing from inspiring speakers inside and outside the community such as Dame Ruth May, chief nursing o cer for England, and reflecting on their personal leadership and the challenges that they face in their roles.

Becky Teiger, outgoing community director of Leeds Sinai Synagogue and incoming deputy chief executive o cer of the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board, said: “The DSLP has been transformative on a personal and professional level. It has given me a sense of self, a network of people, and a shared vocabulary for being a Jewish leader.”

Sam Cli ord, currently executive director of Finchley Reform Synagogue and shortly

to become chief executive o cer of Jewish Women’s Aid, said: “This was a truly transformational experience that has enhanced me personally, professionally and communally. It gave us permission to invest in ourselves and powerful gifts of time and space to spend on ourselves and our leadership.”

Joshua Marks, trustee at AJR and the Jewish Youth Fund, as well as sitting on the audit and risk committee at the JLC said: “The DSLP has been a natural stepping stone on my personal leadership journey. The programme has made me a better lay leader and helped me to drive agendas I really care about.”

The graduates were presented with awards and certificates from David Dangoor who addressed the group, followed by a powerful speech from DSLP alumna and chief executive o cer of the UK Supreme Court Vicky Fox, who said: “Looking back, this genuinely was the best leadership training I ever had. I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.”

The JLC/Lead also marked the occasion by presenting their first Fellowship Award to Jo Grose, chief executive of the United Synagogue who was also a member of the 2017-18 DSLP group.

A Shabbat table set in solidarity with the Israeli hostages. Inset: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis the

moved

Ruchama. The com-

speaker Bracha ‘Beatie’

Mazeltov! Graduates of the 2023-24 Dangoor Senior Leadership Programme

The Later... The Better...

Gaza protests have cost taxpayer £32m

The cost of policing Gaza-related protests in London has passed £32 million, with another Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) march in central London last weekend – the fifth of the year so far.

The Met said policing the protests since 7 October had required 35,464 o cer shifts and more than 5,200 o cer rest days to be cancelled at a cost of £32.3 million.

Commander Karen Findlay, who oversaw Saturday’s policing, said people committing criminal o ences during protests would be dealt with “decisively and swiftly”.

In a statement, she added: “We

are clearly operating in a context where we understand our Jewish and Muslim communities continue to be highly concerned about antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crime and their own sense of safety in London.

“We recognise the very real anxiety and fear of individuals who are worried about perceived or actual threats they are subject to.

“Our role remains to police impartially, being robust in tackling hate crime and extremism, and ensuring protest is managed within the law.

“We have to police the law as it is, not as others would wish it to be.”

Itai Galmudy, organiser of a

counter-protest to the pro-Palestine marches in London said such demonstrations meant “Jews can’t go out in the street”.

The pro-Palestine demonstrations had created “no-go zones for Jewish people” in the capital and “ballooned into anti-Israeli hate marches”.

Galmudy said he organised Saturday afternoon’s counter-protest with a “collective of people that share the same frustrations” with the proPalestine marchers.

He said he was “very concerned” counter-protesters might encounter violence, adding it would “probably reflect” in the number of people

attending the demonstration in Victoria, central London: “People are afraid and not everybody’s willing to take the risk. We know those (proPalestine) protests are not as peaceful as some people tell us they are.

But he added: “We will just not accept that Jews can’t go out in the

street because somebody wants to protest. Those marches have ballooned into anti-Israeli hate marches and we think it’s enough.

“We don’t want to live in fear and we will not accept it. We want to exercise our democratic right to stand up and tell them that it’s not OK.”

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has rejected claims by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA), that six Jewish journalists have left the union because of intimidation and an antiIsrael bias, writes Jenni Frazer.

The CAA says it knows of “at least six Jewish members who have handed in their NUJ cards since 7 October”.

One woman, named only as Rebecca, said she had tried to speak to the NUJ about her concerns and what help was being given to journalists in Israel but had not received a reply for two months.

Another woman, named by the CAA as Lucy, complained the union had “ostracised Jewish journalists” and criticised the body for lack of

concern for journalists inside Israel under rocket attack.

In a statement, the NUJ described the CAA quotes as “selective” and said it took resignations seriously. It did not dispute the resignations.

“In the cases referenced,” the union said, “the most senior o cers of the union intervened to address the concerns being raised in a comprehensive fashion.”

It said it had been “consistent and robust in its denunciation of the atrocities carried out by Hamas on 7 October, and in our call for the release of all hostages.

“We have also condemned the targeting of women and appalling sexual violence that it is clear took place during those attacks, and the rise in antisemitic attacks that has happened in its aftermath”.

Tory peer Baroness Jacqueline

Foster has apologised to University Challenge contestant Melika Gorgianeh for antisemitism claims that led to the student facing death threats.

Foster made unfounded allegations after an episode of the BBC show last November which showed Gorgianeh with team members from Christ Church College, Oxford.

The former MEP accused Gorgianeh on X of wearing the colours of the Palestinian flag and called for the student to be expelled and arrested.

The 76-year-old also described the octopus soft toy used as a mascot by the team, as one of the most “disgusting antisemitic symbols”.

Gorgianeh said the politician’s claims “had a profound and deeply damaging impact”

on her life, and had led to her receiving death threats which impacted her mental health.

It comes as the University and College Union (UCU) called on secretary of state for innovation and technology Michelle Donelan to resign after she apologised for suggesting Professor Kate Sang, an academic at Heriot-Watt University, supported Hamas.

In a social media post, Baroness Foster said she had

Jewish journalists quit PEER’S QUIZ SHOW APOLOGY

sent a letter of apology to Gorgianeh last December and agreed to pay her “substantial damages and costs”.

The peer added: “I accept that these allegations were completely false and unfounded. I made a grave mistake in making those posts and I should not have done so.

At the time, the BBC said it “utterly condemned” the abuse that was posted and shared about the contestant.

A statement added: “The mascot is one of many chosen by the team during the course of the series and is one of their favourite animals. The jacket worn was navy blue, orange, pink and green. It has no connection to any flag.”

The Oxford team was knocked out of the competition this week.

Flags of different colours at the latest pro-Palestine demo in London

The Oxford team on the

NO-GO ZONES FOR JEWS ‘UTTER FICTION’

Suggestions of no-go zones in London for Jews are “a total and utter fiction”, Shomrim president Rabbi Herschel Gluck has said, writes Lee Harpin.

He was responding to claims by Home O ce independent adviser on extremism Robin Simcox, , who suggested London should “no longer be permitted to be turned into a no-go zone for Jews every weekend” as a result of pro-Palestinian marches.

Rabbi Gluck said he was “very disturbed” by the claim. “It’s like saying the Earth is flat,” he said. “It has nothing to do with reality. [It] is a total and utter fiction.”

There was criticism of Simcox’s intervention in a Daily Telegraph front-page op-ed from Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, who said: “I don’t agree with [Simcox]. It is definitely

intimidating for many Jews, although I do not think that that is the intention of most people who are on these marches because they really care about justice for Palestinians as opposed to dislike or hatred of Jews.”

However, Janner-Klausner called on the government to enforce the law to stop “extreme statements and incitement to racial hatred”.

Liberal Judaism head Rabbi Charley Baginsky also said: “Without question there are many within our communities who feel unsafe coming into London during these protests. The timing of them, often coinciding with our Shabbat services starting or ending, is also very problematic.

“This combined with a record number of antisemitic attacks and hate incidents, and the virulent online abuse many are experiencing means

this is a di cult time to be a British Jew. However, it is equally important to recognise that Jewish life in the UK is thriving. .”

Meanwhile Dame Sara Khan, who is carrying out a review of UK democracy for secretary of state for levelling up Michael Gove, said there had been a “disproportionate” focus on the policing of protests.

She agreed that “some Jews believe parts of central London where protests are being held feel frightening and intimidatory”, but added: “What I don’t think is helpful is using language such as ‘no-go’ areas.

“Equally, there is a real sense of censorship and fear among some Palestinian communities and those who support the rights of Palestinian people ... a real fear of censorship on all sides which must be resisted.”

Education minister addresses campus antisemitism forum

An organisation to help empower the young to express their Jewish identity and relationship with Israel through education has held its inaugural preuniversity preparation event at JW3.

The I-gnite event welcomed 120 Year 12 and 13 students from 35 schools to hear CST chief executive Mark Gardner, Campaign Against Anti-Semitism chief executive Gideon Falter and minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education Robert Halfon share advice and anecdotes.

Attendees were able to take part in panel discussions about what campus antisemitism looks like and what communal organisations can provide to support Jewish journeys on campus.

Halfon said: “I’m doing everything I can in my role to support Jewish students to ensure that universities know

we will not stand for what has gone on. If I have to ring every vice-chancellor in the country, I will do so.”

Gardner explained how antisemitism can manifest itself on campus and how a great deal of support exists for Jewish students.

Explaining that CST has student

security groups at 37 campuses, he said: “Campus is the one place where Jews are opposed as Jews.

“Whatever Jewish student you want to be, you have so much more resource at your disposal than any other group of students on campus. And it’s all because we care.

“We just want you to go, have a great time on campus and be strong and resilient and say what’s on your mind and be there for each other.”

Falter spoke about how students at university could take action on their own behalf. He said: “If people have a problem with Jews, it’s their problem not your problem.

“You’re not supposed to have to go through university fighting people o . It’s our job collectively to stand behind you as Jewish students.”

HISTORIC BALFOUR PORTRAIT DEFACED

A pro-Palestinian activist has slashed and sprayed paint on a picture of the British politician who cleared the way for the foundation of modern Israel.

Footage shared on X showed a woman defacing the 1914 painting of Lord Arthur Balfour at Trinity College Cambridge.

Lord Balfour was behind the Balfour Declaration, the 1917 document which pledged the formation of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

The post by activist group Palestine Action said: “Balfour’s declaration began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by promising the land away — which the British never had the right to do.”

The defacing was intended to symbolise the bloodshed of the

Palestinian people since the declaration in 1917, the group said.

Trinity College said it regretted the incident, while deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said he was “appalled by the moronic act”.

Marchers at one of the London pro-Palestine protests

Education haven

Gateways, providing innovative education for students who have dropped out of school, is marking [pun intended] its first decade, writes Jenni Frazer

At the end of a quiet and unassuming culde-sac in Hendon sits a quiet, but revolutionary, Jewish social enterprise. It’s safe to say Gateways, an alternative kind of education facility for young people who have struggled to find their place in mainstream schools, is both unassuming and revolutionary — and that’s just the way the 10-year-old charity likes it.

Inside the one-storey building, whose other half is occupied by the children’s charity Norwood, all is calm and peaceful, as befits Gateways’ low-key approach. Dominating the entry area, with its break-out spaces for students to relax or eat, is a truly envy-making state-of-theart teaching kitchen, run by food writer Judi Rose, daughter of the legendary Evelyn.

Around the corner is a wonderfully kittedout gym, complete with top-of-the-range equipment and an inviting punchbag. Down the corridor is a line of individual classrooms, each — on JN’s visit — holding one or two students, as they get the tailored attention they need.

That word, ”tailored” is apt, since Gateways founder Laurence Field says the idea is to offer a “bespoke” solution for each student.

Gateways began life at the London Jewish Cultural Centre, then at Ivy House in Golders Green. Field, who trained to be a teacher, said part of his LJCC role was to work with schools. “I found a pattern with all the schools — that there was always a cohort of young people who were on the roll, but not attending. I was told such students were struggling, had different issues and challenges, and that the school could not address these problems properly.”

Field found this was a common theme with every school: “It became evident to me there was a gap here.” Ivy House had a film-making studio, so Field wrote a proposal and secured seed money from the Jewish Youth Fund to launch a 10-week film-making evening course. He was warned his prospective film students were unlikely to conform to a structure of attendance or participation, but they did, with great enthusiasm.

“As we worked with the young people, it became clear they didn’t just want to come on a course, they wanted accreditation,” he says. He expanded his basic model, recruited staff and offered day-time courses to 15- and 16-yearolds, realising "it wasn’t just vocational courses needed, but also basic maths and English”.

Once LJCC merged with JW3, Field and team moved to the Finchley Road community centre, giving Gateways, launched formally in January 2014 in co-ordination with Hasmonean Boys and Girls schools, Menorah Grammar and the Boys’ Clubhouse charity, more space and flexibility. King Charles, visiting JW3 only months into his reign, met Gateways students from the hair and beauty course — bright, confident and determined young women a world away from their problems in mainstream schools.

In 2016, Gateways’ team received a massive grant of £400,000 from a trust, enabling them to do much more about meeting the demand which had been building as more schools heard about their work. “Our focus is young people

struggling with social, emotional and mentalhealth challenges”, says Field, noting that most of the students often drop out of mainstream education not because of learning disabilities but because sometimes the pressure of a full-on school environment is too much for them.

Every student must be referred – as head teacher Sasha Sharpe notes: “It has to be a professional referral — a school, a therapist, a psychiatrist, CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, the NHS services that assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties) — basically anyone other than the parent.”

Nevertheless, she and Field say almost every week there is a desperate phone call from a parent who does not know how to persuade a child back into education.

Field says: “When we get the calls, the parents are at crisis point. The young person, here, will find himself or herself in a safe space where they can learn. It’s not a question of them having been dragged kicking and screaming here. They want to be here.

"For the first time, they’ve found themselves in a space where they’re not judged but are encouraged and celebrated. They can function and get their qualifications”.

There aren’t just teachers at Gateways, but a whole “pastoral welfare department” with therapists and psychologists. And every staff member has to be “personable and engaging” in their ability to deal with students.

While Gateways originally worked only with 15-16 year-olds, now there are two groups of students, broadly 14-18 year-olds and 18-25 year-olds. Some are working towards GCSE or A-levels, others, such as some strictly Orthodox students who have never mastered secular subjects, are tackling basic English and maths.

Still others are studying vocational subjects such as photography or IT, and getting qualifications as they do so. The kitchen provides singularly tailored teaching to tell students how to cook and shop for themselves, introducing them to store-cupboard ingredients and

“When they come to us,” says Field, “their confidence is at rock bottom. In previous settings, they’ve been failures. Here and for the first time they feel they can achieve, interact with peers and make friendships, get qualifications”.

Now the success of Gateways within the Jewish school structure in London has led to interest from elsewhere, with talks under way in Manchester on a possible branch in the north.

encouraging imaginative meals. There’s money management, too, and a life skills programme.

In just 10 short years, Gateways has shown it is more than possible to make the improbable happen.

Study time in Gateways' 'unassuming and revolutionary' space; top, a work-out in the gym

Strike threat to shut school for eight days

Parents have declared their unwavering support for the headteacher of Essex’s only Jewish secondary school, King Solomon High in Ilford, after 38 staff voted to strike for eight days from next week, writes Michelle Rosenberg

Officials say the proposed action by members of the NEU (National Education Union) is likely to force the entire school, led by Michele Phillips, to close.

According to the school, the NEU is demanding the head and school governors guarantee that sta being monitored to improve their teaching will not progress to more formal procedures.

The NEU is also demanding lesson observations of teachers are capped to three times a year. These demands are in addition to 15 others sent to the school which have been agreed.

In all, 50 staff at the school are NEU members, so although not all voted to strike, others may refuse to cross the picket line.

King Solomon High School was given a ‘requires improvement’ assessment in November 2021.

Headteacher Phillips, plus

governors and a new senior team, have put in place an improvement plan to secure the school’s future.

One parent said: “Our children have already had to endure numerous lesson cancellations due to illness and shortages of teachers. This strike is totally unacceptable in such a crucial stage of their education.”

Another said: “Our children deserve the best. If there are teachers not teaching to a high enough standard, and cannot develop their skills to reach the needed standard ... why would we want them to remain teaching our children?”

In a statement seen by Jewish News, the school said the NEU was demanding the headteacher “ignore established Redbridge policy”.

The statement added that “the school needs to improve, and this means that teaching needs to improve” and “we need to improve in order to maintain a Jewish school in Redbridge, for current and future generations.

“Leaders holding staff to account is a standard part of running any successful organisation.

“There are no words to really describe how damaging, detrimental and

Hendon rabbinic couple selected to lead Kinloss

Leaders of Finchley United Synagogue (Kinloss) have chosen Rabbi Dr Yoni Birnbaum and Rebbetzen Elisheva Birnbaum from Toras Chaim in Hendon to lead their community, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Rabbi Birnbaum replaces Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, who unexpectedly left his nine-year role in May 2023 while on sabbatical.

A graduate of the Gateshead and Ponovezh Yeshivot, Birnbaum grew up in Kingsbury and received his semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

He completed advanced rabbinical training with the Ner L’Elef Institute in Jerusalem before joining the Hadley Wood Synagogue and community in April 2010.

A graduate of the Susi Bradfield Leadership Programme, Rebbetzen Elisheva Birnbaum grew up in Golders Green and combines communal duties with professional work as a paediatric occupational therapist in private practice.

The couple have six children and took up rabbinical positions leading 100 families at Toras Chaim, the former New Hendon Beis Hamedrash, in 2020.

Rabbi Birnbaum is also a law graduate, and holds a masters and a PhD in Jewish Studies from University College London.

Community members are invited to meet the new couple over Shabbat 5 and 6 April, after which they will vote.

In line with United Synagogue by-laws, the Birnbaums need at least 75 percent of the votes to move the appointment forward.

If the vote is successful, the Birnbaums are due to take up their posts in September.

upsetting this will be for students and families, especially those taking GCSEs and A-levels later this year.

“The senior leadership team and governors still hope to avoid this action, but we fear that despite planned talks with independent mediators, strike action will likely take place.”

The proposed strike days are 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 March and 4, 9 and 10 April.

This will be the fourth strike by the NEU in Redbridge since 2019.

A further meeting between the school and the NEU mediated by Acas (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) was scheduled for yesterday in a final attempt to prevent the action going ahead.

Jewish News has approached the NEU for comment.

The Labour Party has enjoyed its best year for individual donations, new figures confirm, including £4.5m from communal businessman Gary Lubner, writes Lee Harpin.

Electoral Commission records show Labour received a total of £13.7m from individuals and companies last year.

charitable and progressive causes.

Labour Party chair

Former Autoglass boss Lubner, a long-time supporter of the Israel charity UJIA, is revealed to have given the party £4,527,500 over the past year in donations.

The 65-year-old, who stepped down as CEO of Autoglass owner Belron last March, has praised Starmer for tackling antisemitism in Labour while criticising Tory policy on Brexit and immigration.

Lubner has said he wishes to give away “the vast majority” of his wealth to

Annelise Dodds confirmed the party had achieved its “best fundraising year ever”.

The previous best was in 2005, the year Tony Blair won a third term, when £10.8m was raised.

Labour’s overall fundraising total for 2023 was £31m, including £5.9m in union donations.

Supermarket tycoon Lord Sainsbury of Turville donated £3,070,000, and daughter Francesca Perrin became Labour’s highest-donating woman, giving £1,060,000.

The Conservatives’ fundraising outpaced Labour’s by about £17m, with a total of £48m.

The Liberal Democrats amassed £8.4m and Reform UK £255,000 from a total of six donations.

Rabbi Dr Yoni Birnbaum and family

Gary Lubner

Staff at King Solomon High School in Ilford voted to strike

MP’s abuser admits guilt but avoids jail

A man who called the o ce of Finchley and Golders Green MP Mike Freer and said “I’m coming for you” has been spared jail, writes Lee Harpin James Phillips, 46, admitted making the abusive call on 31 January, the same day Freer announced he would stand down at the next general election over unconnected safety fears he said were linked to his support for Israel.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how two calls made by Phillips were “heavy breathing” while a third involved the defendant telling Freer’s o ce: “Make sure to tell the police I’m coming for you.” He then told the o ce assistant: “Not just Mike Freer but you as well.”

It emerged that the same person had been calling and emailing with abusive messages for approximately three or four years.

Phillips was also sentenced for assaulting a police o cer.

After he was arrested and taken into custody, he attempted to punch a police o cer who was trying to bring him out of a cell for an interview.

District Judge Neeta Minhas made a 14-month community order, with 25 rehabilitation activity days, and imposed a restraining order banning Phillips from contacting Freer directly or indirectly for two years.

Freer said his decision to stand down at the next general election had followed a series of death threats and an arson attack on his Golders Green o ce and was also linked to his support for Israel.

The defendant will also have to pay the police o cer he tried to punch £200 in compensation.

At the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Paul Harwood, 42, admitted torching a shed at the o ce in Ballards Lane, north Finchley, north London, but denied the incident was politically motivated.

Jewish Care head of communications and PR Judith Flacks has been named as the new chair of trustees of HIAS+JCORE.

She succeeds Adam Rose, who is standing down from HIAS+JCORE’s board having served as a trustee since 2013 and as chair since 2016. Flacks takes over on 19 March.

Under Rose’s guidance, JCORE joined forces with the international refugee protection agency HIAS last March, securing the organisation’s place as the leading UK Jewish voice on race and asylum and expanding its capacity and impact.

Flacks was previously head of communications and campaigns at the Jewish Leadership Council and has also worked at the Union of Jewish Students, where she is now a trustee. She has served on the boards of Jewish Women’s Aid and the women’s interfaith charity, Nisa-Nashim. She said: “At a time where social cohesion, racial equality and advocating for displaced people are needed most, I’m delighted to be the incoming chair

of HIAS+JCORE. I look forward to working with the exceptional and dynamic sta team and board of trustees as the organisation moves into its next phase, ensuring we are the Jewish voice at the forefront of these issues.”

HIAS+JCORE executive director David Mason said: “HIAS+JCORE is at an exciting moment of growth, building from the steady and critical work of Adam Rose. Judith comes with a passion for issues of racial equality and supporting displaced people as well as a knowledge of organisational change and strategic direction.”

It’s not every day you see an 86-year-old running a marathon with his grandchildren. But for Reuven Stein, running has been an integral part of his family for decades, and age isn’t going to stop him.

Stein has competed in the Jerusalem Win-

An East London council has refused to answer a freedom of information (FOI) request asking how many Palestinian flags it has removed from lamp posts and other public property in the borough because to do so could endanger the safety of individuals.

The streets of Tower Hamlets have made headlines because so many lamp posts and walls there have had Palestinian flags put on them in response to the 7 October terror attack and Israel’s response in Gaza.

Jewish residents in the borough, which has

ner’s Marathon along with his grandchildren, all of whom have been or are still doing reserve duty in the IDF following 7 October.

“Sabba Reuven” as his grandchildren call him, ran his first marathon at the Sea of Galilee in Israel in 1973, and has completed dozens of marathons throughout the Holy Land ever since.

A back injury in the mid 1980s put a stop to Stein’s “addiction” to running, as he calls is, but he eventually recovered and made sure to pass on the tradition.

His granddaughter Yarden said: “I remember having the best conversations with Sabba Reuven when we were running. The whole time he would be talking and I could barely breathe. It makes me forget about everything. It’s very special to run and bond like that. Even now he was very competitive but it’s very healthy to have something you care about and want to win.”

Stein was among six other people over the age of 80 competing in the Jerusalem Winner’s Marathon this year.

one of the largest Muslim populations in the country, have been among those to raise concerns about the impact of the flags appearing on many streets.

The UK Lawyers for Israel organisation has claimed the council is guilty of “multiple criminal o ences” for failing to remove the flags, stickers and posters.

In a partial response, the council confirmed there had been more than 350 reports, complaints or queries of flags and related paraphernalia on posts and other property.

MP Freer’s office after an arson attack

New role: Judith Flacks

Reuven and Yarden. Courtesy: Stein family

News / Aish UK fundraiser / Museum role

Aish fundraiser for youth programmes

One of the leading Jewish educational charities in the UK is launching a fundraising campaign to support its programming for young British Jews, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Aish UK has been providing Jewish connection to thousands of young Jews every year for more than 30 years. The organisation operates eight full- time branches and provides educational opportunities at more than 18 schools, 15 universities and six young professional hubs around the country.

Speaking to Jewish News, Aish UK chief executive Rabbi Naftali Schi said: “The vast majority of what we do is bringing young Jews together to share life values, their life journey and to provide safe, inviting and warm places for Jews to interact on campus. Being a human being is all about human connection. It’s all about looking people in the eye.”

Aish UK sits on the Jewish Futures platform of eight ‘family’ organisations, (including GIFT, JRoots, Ta’amim and FJR, the Forum for Jewish Leadership), of which Schi says: “There’s something for everybody wherever they are on their journey and we don’t want

to impose any values up on them. It’s about giving young people in particular the opportunity to make an informed choice about their journey. The destination might not be that important, but be on the journey, be part of the story.”

Following the terror attacks of 7 October, Rabbi

Schi , says there’s been “an enormous spike in what we’re doing” and that Jewish students on campus “feel a sense of alienation, are confused and feel targeted. We are at a cross roads that the young people face a choice and if we do not provide vibrant Jewish alternatives connected with Israel, connected with being Jewish, they’re just going to drift away.

Aish UK’s chief executive says the fact there are some organs of Anglo Jewry that feel the most important thing to message over the last decade is antisemitism is “an irresponsible, pedagogical catastrophe. If your kids come home and pick up a paper and the first 20 pages are about how they hate us, why would they be attracted to being part of this? I want to say very clearly: we have to fight antisemitism, we’ve got to stand proud.”

A Holocaust educational centre in Yorkshire is seeking a paid writer and translator to join its expanding artistic residency programme, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Holocaust Centre North’s (HCN) Memorial Gestures residency was launched in 2022 to give leading and emerging artists the opportunity to create new artwork inspired by its archives and in response to its themes and collections around Holocaust remembrance and history.

The centre is now seeking a writer and translator to join its four current artists as part of this unique project.

They are invited to respond to and translate through creative and artistic practices the centre’s memories, artefacts and accounts, which cover themes of discrimination, displacement, trauma, migration, loss, memory and hope .

The two further residencies are paid, one for a writerin-residence working in any form (such as poetry, prose, drama) and one for a trans-

lator-in-residence working across any two or more languages, with a preference for languages represented in its archives, of significance in the global context of the Holocaust or of relevance to contemporary life in northern England.

The translator-in-residence is dedicated to the memory of Ernest Hecht, British publisher, producer, and philanthropist Ernest Hecht, described by The Bookseller as “one of a number of émigrés who changed the face of British publishing after the Second World War”. Born in 1929 in Czechoslovakia, Hecht arrived in Britain in 1939 as a child on the Kindertransport.

The residencies at HCN will be primarily remote but will also o er the writer and translator opportunities to spend time in the centre’s archive, where they can access original material relating to the lives of Shoah survivors before and after their experiences of persecution.

• A unique museum, p20

An Aish UK group celebrates havdallah in Hungary

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Special Report / Holocaust Centre North

Warning from history on a Yorkshire campus

by Michelle Rosenberg michelle@jewishnews.co.uk

Against a backdrop of growing university antisemitism, arriving in west Yorkshire to see the Holocaust Centre North located front and centre on campus is a welcome breath of fresh air.

Based at the University of Huddersfield, the museum and archive, just five years old, tells the history of the Holocaust through local stories from the north of England.

The collection is based on a living archive dating from the 1880s, complete, as it proudly tells visitors, with ‘cocktail shakers to correspondence, telegrams to travel documents, photographs to filmed testimonies’, all of it providing stories of survivors and refugees who made new lives in the area.

The building sits at the heart of the campus courtyard. There are no students protesting outside it. There are no flags being waved, no chanting, no jeering, no intimidation, no visible security.

There are simply students going about their business, with a Shoah education centre an accepted backdrop to everyday life at a multi-cultural university.

Jewish News travelled to Yorkshire to meet director Dr Alessandro Bucci, an Italian originally from Puglia; archivist Hari Jonkers, head of collections Tracy Craggs, and chair of the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association (HSFA) Jenny Kagan.

For a centre that focuses on the stories of refugees and has 150 family collections, it seems only fitting that each person here has a personal story to tell, a unique history that has brought them here, today, from around the world to west Yorkshire.

Bucci, who previously worked at Manchester’s Imperial War Museum, has been with the centre for just over four years. He estimates there are around 187 Jews in the borough of Kirklees, which includes the market town of Huddersfield.

There are 30 Jewish students on campus but, as Bucci points out, “the Jewish Society doesn’t just include Jewish students. There are a lot of allies, people who care about antisemitism. They have managed to reach out to other parts of the student population”.

Bucci says the Holocaust Centre is “not ignored” by students on campus, but instead “there is a lot of interest and curiosity”.

He notes: “We have connections with most schools within the university and have worked with departments including law, history, textiles, business, photography, English, fashion and education“.

On average, he says, about 2,500 students visit the centre every year and the museum is on track to reach 3,000 this year.

Holocaust Centre North was born in Leeds, when a group of survivors came together in the spirit of mutual support and friendship to create a safe space to talk about what happened to them.

Bucci says that “each of these people knew others that they brought together. It

became the Holocaust Survivor’s Friendship Association, (HSFA) which is still the legal name of our charity.”

With increasing interest in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, including those in Rwanda and Bosnia, the group started to receive invitations from schools to give firsthand testimony.

This global dimension, says Bucci, was “one of the reasons why they wanted to share their stories with schools. They developed educational aims and these became bigger and bigger, engaging more people. They wanted to tell their story and the story of the people who made new lives in the north of England.”

The resulting exhibition, created in 2017, is in great part thanks to the involvement of the late Lilian Black, former chair of HSFA and the daughter of Eugene Black, a BergenBelsen survivor, who is featured in the display. Lilian died on 29 October 2020 after contracting coronavirus.

“He was her inspiration,” says Bucci. “The world needed and still needs to know. Lilian was the engine and through her connections from her home in Leeds and across West Yorkshire, a space was offered to us. The Heritage Lottery Fund offered support for the accompanying learning centre.”

It opened in October 2018, but was virtually shut down during the pandemic, after which the team essentially “started from scratch, where we re-introduced ourselves to the world as Holocaust Centre North.

The university really wanted us to be here and offered us the space and the flexibility to carry on with our programming. They are very generous”.

HSFA and Holocaust Centre North chair Kagan is an internationally-renowned artist working with her own family history. The daughter of Holocaust survivors who made new lives in West Yorkshire, Kagan says: “It’s important to keep finding new ways of telling these stories to new audiences. We have so much to learn from the experiences of those who survived the Holocaust.”

Since October 2023, the centre has focused on connecting, contacting and offering something for Jewish communities across Yorkshire, a drive resulting in the first (Liberal) Shabbat service Huddersfield has seen in more than 60 years.

Team members do a great deal of community engagement, speak in shuls, write for publications, engage with survivor families, work with contemporary artists and recently launched a Sunday opening programme.

They believe their work feeds into “a very

Head of collections Craggs says: “The survivors launched Holocaust Centre North as their legacy, because of their belief in the importance of Holocaust education. They, and their families, have entrusted their precious collections to us as part of that belief, safe in the knowledge that we share their vision.

“Those collections are accessed on a daily basis by researchers, creative practitioners and our own learning team, and it has been a privilege to be part of that development. It is extremely important for us to continue to share their stories, their photographs and documents with new audiences. Our work will carry on in their name.”

Archivist Jonkers, 38, is from Snowdonia in north Wales. She tells Jewish News : “My mum’s dad left Prague the day before the Nazis came. He sailed down the Danube to Jerusalem before joining the Free Czechoslovak Army in 1942.

“My great grandma refused to leave Prague and while in her 70s ended up in Theresienstadt – but survived.”

The family returned to Prague after the war but with the arrival of the Russians decided it was time to go. In the late 1940s they came to the UK and settled in London.

big national and international debate about where organisations about Jewish history and culture should be.

“Should they be where Jewish communities are, or where they are not?”

Jewish News is shown carefully-selected items from the archive’s Bradford Jewish Refugee Hostel collection, donated by Gail Simon, the grandchild of refugees who escaped from Berlin in 1939. They came to Bradford and became managers of a hostel for boys.

Jonkers says: “What I found so lovely about Gail is she’s been carrying the stories with her for so long. Her grandparents ran the hostel and her mum was there as a girl. There are all these institutional records of the hostel and for her she felt such a weight lifted that these things had found a home with a local connection and a real sense of place. It’s less about the items and more about the people.”

Gathering the team for a photograph in the learning room, she says: “We are dynamic. We look at Holocaust history from the perspective of survivors and those who made a new life in the north of England.

“The stories of displacement, migration, loss, persecution, discrimination, death are stories that are highly relevant today.”

Poignant memories evoked by part of Holocaust Centre North’s collection of luggage carried by Jewish refugees; right, excerpt from a letter in the Bradford Jewish Refugee Hostel collection

ART AND ART BOOK SALE

15 to 29 March

To support the Ben Uri Research Unit recording the Jewish, Refugee, and Immigrant contribution to British visual arts since 1900 Following the generosity of many supporters in response to our request for art works to sell, instead of cash, which is desperately needed elsewhere, Ben Uri is proud to present our first Art and Art Book Sale

Adler, Auerbach, Blow, Bomberg, Brisson, Aboriginal artist Faith Butler, Chagall, Crofton, Denvers, Dodo, Freedman, Gertler, Grunberg, Herman, Klinghoffer, Levy, Mendoza, Moore, Piperger, Rose, Rubin, Sandler, Stern, Tumarkin, Winner, Wolmark, Woodrow, Wright

All on display at the gallery at 108 Boundary Road, St. John’s Wood.

Please visit and support our work. Everything is priced to sell – from inexpensive decorative works to serious collector’s wish lists. 100% of sums generated goes to fund and fulfil the charity’s everincreasing academic, public engagement and digital programming.

Visit the Gallery in Boundary Road, off Abbey Road, St. Johns Wood, NW8 0RH

Grand opening

Friday 15th

Open weekends 12-5pm, Tuesday to Friday 10am – 5.30pm

Do

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese has come under fire after her comments on International Women’s Day that female Israeli soldiers would be “haunted forever”, writes Jotam Confino

The envoy, who has been barred from Israel after her repeated inflammatory remarks, said her thoughts were with the “women and young girls of Gaza”.

She added: “May they find the ‘second of safety’ they desperately need. My thoughts also go to the Israeli women, especially the soldiers: what have you done, what have you become. Dears, when you realise it, you will be haunted forever.”

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy replied to Albanese’s comment, saying: “Our women soldiers are fighting to rescue their sisters who are being

raped in the Hamas terror dungeons. Their consciences are clean.”

The UN envoy was criticised on social media for her post on X/ Twitter as well as her failure to mention the 19 female hostages held in

Gaza, some of whom have been sexually assaulted.

Albanese was also condemned for claiming that “the victims of the 7 October massacre were not murdered because of their Jew-

ishness, but in response to Israeli oppression.”

The French Foreign Ministry rebuked Albanese, calling 7 October the “largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century. Disputing it is a mistake. Seeming to justify it, by including the name of the United Nations, is a shame. These comments are all the more scandalous since the fight against antisemitism and all forms of racism are at the heart of the founding of the UN.”

Two days after Hamas’ massacre, the UN rapporteur issued a statement, saying: “Today’s violence must be put in context. Almost six decades of hostile military rule over an entire civilian population (incomprehensibly ignored by too many official statements & media outlets) are in themselves an aggression, and the recipe for more insecurity for all.”

‘You will be haunted’ remarks spark fury Israel’s

More than one thousand people demonstrated on Sunday at a ceremony to mark the opening of the Netherlands’ first Holocaust museum, citing the presence of the Israeli president, writes Shira Li Bartov.

The demonstrators against Israel’s war in Gaza gathered outside Amsterdam’s historic Portuguese Synagogue.

They came from the Dutch Palestinian community, Socialists International and Erev Rav, a local Jewish anti-Zionist group.

All had been activated after news broke last week that President Isaac Herzog would attend the opening of the National Holocaust Museum, two decades in the making.

An alliance of more than 200 Dutch mosques petitioned King

Willem-Alexander not to attend as planned, and the Rights Forum, a Dutch Palestinian rights group, called Herzog’s attendance and meeting with the king a “slap in the face for Palestinians who are watching helplessly as Israel murders their loved ones and destroys their country”.

Willem-Alexander did attend the ceremony on Sunday. Neither he or Herzog directly addressed the protests, which have for months accompanied prominent Israelis in their appearances around the world.

Both Herzog and the anti-Zionist protesters invoked the phrase “never again is now”. Herzog was referring to a global surge in antisemitism since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, while protesters used the phrase to

imply that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is akin to the Holocaust.

Activists from rights group Amnesty International put up ‘detour’ signs directing Herzog to the International Court of Justice, which is considering a genocide charge brought against Israel.

Joana Cavaco, an Erev Rav activist, said during a rally before the ceremony:“How is it possible that such a sacred space is being used to normalise genocide today?”

The Jewish Cultural Quarter, which operates the new museum, said in was “bitter” to open the National Holocaust Museum during the war. It said that it supports “a just and secure resolution for all those directly involved” in the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel has unveiled its new entry for the Eurovision after its previous song was rejected because of the lyrics.

The new song, Hurricane, will be performed by Eden Golan during the contest in Malmo, Sweden, in May.

An American government delegation tasked with monitoring religious freedom around the world cut a visit to Saudi Arabia short after local officials demanded a prominent rabbi on the trip remove his kippah.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, co-chair of the Commission on International Religious Freedom, was told to remove his kippah while in public, the commission said in a statement on Monday.

Cooper, an Orthodox rabbi and the director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Centre advocacy group, “politely” refused the request with the backing of US embassy staff, the statement said. Saudi officials then escorted the government delegation from the premises of Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh. The delegation decided to end its visit to Saudi Arabia prematurely following the incident.

The group arrived in Saudi Arabia on 3 March and was invited to visit Diriyah, the original home of the Saudi royal family, two days later. Cooper was told to remove his kippah “any time he was to be in public”, the commission said.

Eden Golan

Her original track, October Rain, caused controversy as the lyrics were thought to reference the Hamas attacks of 7 October. On Sunday, Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 revealed the new song, by Keren Peles, Avi Ohayon and Stav Beger.

Eurovision describes itself as non-political and has previously blocked addresses which it fears could politicise the event.

In 2022, Russia was banned from competing in the song contest after its invasion of Ukraine.

The country’s national broadcasters subsequently suspended their memberships of the EBU in protest, preventing them from taking part in future contests.

Last year, Israel was represented by Noa Kirel who sang Unicorn, which was placed third.

UN envoy Francesca Albanese made the comments on X/Twitter

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send us your comments

PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

While recently interviewing Lord Ricketts in reference to a House Of Lords debate on the Middle East conflict, the BBC’s Nick Robinson said: “What the Israelis refer to as terrorists.” It’s as if Hamas doesn’t exist and 7 October never happened.

There is never criticism of the Palestinians who support and voted for one of the most vile terrorist groups the world has ever seen and, hence, brought the current situation on themselves The interview also implied that the Israelis had brought this war on themselves.

I will put in a complaint. However, the oxygen of publicity that you can bring might get the BBC to change its appalling, biased reporting.

Warren Hoskins, By email

A SKY FULL OF JARS

I was impressed with the Israel embassy spokesperson interviewed by Kay Burley on Sky News on 7 March. Her views were cogent and well considered. She described the situation in Gaza and how Israel is doing its best to mitigate the crisis to safeguard civilians. Her explanations were sound. Unfortunately, Ms Burley seemed interested only in sensationalising the issue. She continually butted in and didn’t allow the representative to finish what she was saying. It was infuriating.

Ms Burley has few niceties. Inquisitorial dialogue does no one any good. Alas, her manner is abrupt and shocking. TV guests should not be lambasted. Undoubtedly Israel needs to improve its PR.

Allowing the media to put its own slant on misinformed Israeli affairs is provocative and prejudicial. Why would anyone put themselves up to be pilloried in this way by Ms Burley?

Mr S Weinberg, By email

DON’T REINVENT WHEEL

Rabbi Kath Vardi and Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, the new chairs of the Reform Assembly of Rabbis and Cantors, wrote championing how progressive rabbis are evolving Jewish customs in line with people’s modern desires.

My question is why do they base these customs on outdated laws? We are now in 2024, so it’s about time we made a whole new set of customs built for the current world with its ever-evolving genders etc, which have no connection to the old Judaism of thousands of years ago.

Ann Cohen, Golders Green

Get tough on those who sabotage our democracy

Rabbi David Mason (7 March) is concerned about extreme rhetoric on both left and right, which “stokes fear and hatred”... undermining peace, equality and cohesion. There is always tension between wanting to preserve peace and the need to expose uncomfortable truths, the first often mired in denial, the second risking confrontation wrongly interpreted as fuelled by hatred.

For years, the citizens of southern Israel refused to grapple with the lethal ideology festering on the other side of the fence, projecting their own world view on to people with diametrically-opposed values.

Thus 7 October provided a rude awakening. We are compelled to highlight and tackle the ideology lurking behind it.

Edna Spinka, Hendon

Your columnist Rabbi David Mason calls Suella Braverman and Douglas Murray “extremists” for their courageous warnings of what is happening to the tolerant Britain we know, articulating what we see before our own eyes. Yet, former Muslim fundamentalist Ed Husain writes in The Sunday Times we must get tough on those who oppose our values, particularly the ideological activists of the fascist Muslim Brotherhood, which uses London as its political capital.

He calls out Islamists for the intimidation of Parliament and the disruption of its processes by fear of mob violence, citing how Mike Freer has resigned over fear of his life. When the rule of law is allowed to be challenged in this way, we are on a rapid route to totalitarianism.

Colin Rossiter, WC2A

PRINCESS WHOSE LIKE WE’LL NEVER SEE AGAIN

The death of Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galdina Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg, known as the Princess Ira, has been widely reported. She was known as a socialite with a tempestuous past, but it is not commonly reported that the princess had a half-Jewish mother, Clara, who came from a family with both Jewish and Catholic forebears.

Ira’s maternal grandfather, Edoardo Agnelli, had a Jewish mother himself, and the Agnelli family owned the Fiat company, the Italian newspaper La Stampa and the Juventus Football Club. Her father came from a German noble family with Austro-Hungarian connections. It was found necessary to send Ira to a convent school in England when her mother was in trouble with her own marriage.

In 1955, aged 15, she came to the attention of the public when her marriage took place with Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenberg at the insistence of her family, under the eyes of European royalty and aristocracy, in spite of the fact the prince was twice her age. The marriage was not successful.

Ira’s exotic beauty enabled her to appear in several films and to grace the pages of fashion magazines. Her eldest son died of diabetes in a Bangkok jail, where he was being held for visa infringement, and her youngest son has represented Mexico at the Olympic Games at skiing. She was fascinating and sociable, and it is unlikely we shall see another like this particular Jewish princess.

Doreen Berger, Stanmore

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TORIES’ SOP TO MUSLIMS

I have nothing against a memorial for fallen Muslim soldiers who fought for this country, but why has it taken so many years for this to be announced – and why at the start of the chancellor’s Budget speech? It can only be thought of as a sop to millions of Muslim voters who have deserted the Conservative Party.

Sidney Sands, N12

A WELCOME IN THE

NORTH

I enjoyed Michelle Rosenberg’s online feature about her visit to the Holocaust Centre North in Yorkshire. It was fascinating to learn about a facility I was unaware of and heartwarming to hear from its staff and their determination to preserve the memories of those who suffered under the Nazis.

Emma Colbringer, By email

‘Put on this kippah instead, Tarquin. We won’t bother with Harrow... we’ll send you to JFS’

At an incidental meeting with a Jewish colleague, now retired, I was taken back by his vehemence. As a frequent visitor to Israel, both as a reporter and friend of the country, he was disparaging about the way Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Hamas was being conducted.

Israel had been ensnared into a trap set by Hamas with the unforgiveable atrocities of 7 October. He understood after the horrors of the Shoah that the words ‘never again’ were ringing in the ears of the leaders of Israel and its citizens, creating a great unity of purpose in avenging evil, securing the freedom of hostages and freeing Israel and the world of a terrorist organisation.

But the conduct of Israel’s campaign was unleashing something far worse. It had destroyed Israel’s credence as a democratic state; given Israeli extremists in West Bank settlements licence to go on a rampage and

made life less safe for Jews in Britain, the United States and around the world. It would take ‘100 years’ for the damage to be repaired.

Personally, I wanted no truck with any of this narrative. Israel as a sovereign state has su ered the most egregious surprise attack of modern times. It was one many times more proportionally deadly than the 9/11 assault on New York, which led to the reshaping of the whole Middle East map.

Israel had no choice but to seek to eradicate the danger to its existence. As for the impacts on western Jewry: Israel is its permanent sanctuary and marches and hate speech – with robust leadership and political support – can and should be resisted. But it is the diaspora’s responsibility, not that of Jerusalem.

In spite of the hammering Israel is taking in the court of world opinion, its work as tech champion and trading partner of the UK is returning to a kind of normality. At the House of Lords this week, Lord (Ian) Austin, the UK’s trade envoy to Israel, hosted a reception for leading-edge Israeli climate change pioneers.

The packed meeting for Climate First attracted back to London from Tel Aviv the

UK’s ambassador Simon Walters, who underlined the need to keep UK co-operation on science and tech on track; this in spite of some unhelpful diplomatic coolness from his boss Lord (David) Cameron. Among those attending the event were Shell’s top climate transition o cial in the UK, representatives of the London Stock Exchange and others from the good and the great.

A full schedule of sessions with leading UK energy groups, including power group Centrica, was scheduled with the aim of promoting Israel tech. Among the more innovative and proven technology is a ‘drone’ monitoring system which can evaluate the performance of 300 windfarm pylons in a day, revolutionising current practice.

Stripping back the elements of my conversation with my colleague and about the damage being done to Israel’s standing, it occurred to me that one needs to understand better the source of his narrative.

Broadly speaking, UK media has been good at explaining Israel’s case taking on the antisemitism distortions in the public debate. Even those papers considered to be over-

sympathetic to Gaza and Hamas have strong, moral counter-vailing voices.

As an admirer of much of what the BBC does, I cannot but think that its Gaza coverage has been beyond the pale: the use of uncensored images, picked up from Al Jazeera and other Arabic TV stations, the failure to interrogate Palestinian voices on allegations of genocide which meet none of the legal criteria, the hostility to Israeli spokespeople and the sheer dishonesty of some of the coverage – all this is galling and reeks of double standards.

Many BBC reporters clearly feel passionately about the humanitarian damage. Who couldn’t be sympathetic amid pictures of malnutrition among children in Rafah? That is enough to weigh on the mind of even the most unwavering Israel supporters. Nevertheless, badgering questioning on the Today show on Radio 4 and on Newsnight and repetitive images of battle-scarred Gaza streets and wideeyed belief in the words of the enclave’s health ministry and UN agencies are hugely corrosive.

Against such a hostile background, we can be thankful the wheels of UK-Israel commerce are beginning to turn again.

Unlike Jonathan Glazer I see two sides to this

JOSH GLANCY

There’s a famous line from an old Thomas Wyatt poem that’s been intruding on my thoughts of late. “They flee from me that, sometime did me seek,” Wyatt wrote. In this poem, the Tudor courtier and casanova is describing the schism that develops between former lovers, in his case quite possibly the future queen Anne Boleyn. But the words have been haunting me in the very different context of Israel’s war in Gaza.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the uneasy silences we now live with daily as British Jews. The unsettling sense that people have begun to perceive us di erently. That conversations are happening behind our backs about our continued support for Israel, in all its di erent degrees. That we are being judged not just for what we do in life, but for who we are. That as well as being regular people who buy food in supermarkets and watch football on weekends, we are also bad people who support genocide

I have this unsettling sense that people, even people who love me, people whom I love, now view me as lost in a vortex of misguided ethnic allegiance. That people who used to respect me now view me as morally adrift, even worthy of contempt. And in my darkest, most doubtful moments, when I’m wrestling my synapses to sleep, sometimes I fear they might be right. Maybe we are the bad guys. Maybe I’m too blinded by loyalty to truly see it. Maybe.

I go to bed each night with unspoken thoughts pinballing around my brain, agitated by my own silences. Should I have

❝

THE WEIGHT OF NOT COMING OUT AGAINST ISRAEL MUST HAVE BEEN GNAWING AWAY AT HIM

said something to a colleague who retweeted a call for the world to unite against Zionists? Should my friend have confronted a business associate who interrupted an (unrelated) meeting to tell him that they now feel awkward around Jews, because of their support for Israel? More often we choose silence. This issue, more than any other, is so freighted with moral fervour it can dissolve friendships in an instant, as though they’ve been dipped in acid.

What is it then, that people aren’t saying to me? What should I be saying to them, those genocide-calling friends of mine who have never spoken up for Syria or Sudan, for Uyghurs or Rohingyas? When did they suddenly become experts in international law? Why this issue, this war? Why always us? They flee from me, that sometime did me seek.

Some of this is no doubt neurotic, paranoid even, but what Jew doesn’t have a tendency to both? I feel this psychic pressure each day when I am out in the world. What do they think of us? Do they judge my silence? Of course they do. They must. The tension of feeling like a bad person, stuck on the wrong side of history, drains you, it gnaws at you, daring you to speak out, to cross the aisle.

I’ve been thinking about this tension a lot in the context of Jonathan Glazer, the director of Oscar-winning movie The Zone of Interest , which is about the family life of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Höss.

Upon winning the award for best international film, Glazer used his acceptance speech on Sunday night to, as he styled it, “refute” the use of his Jewishness and the legacy of the Holocaust being “hijacked” to justify the Israeli occupation, and the conflicts that it has spawned, including the current one.

To be honest, I found Glazer’s language and reasoning rather garbled. I take his point that the legacy of the Holocaust does

not and should not give Israel a free pass. But I also think it’s reductive and simplistic to claim that the current war is simply a product of the occupation, when it is undeniably being fought in response to a vast and unjustifiable crime.

In a way though, I’m less interested in debating the rights and wrongs of Glazer’s muddled cri de coeur, as I’m not sure Oscars acceptance speeches lend themselves to nuance or complexity or film directors are best placed to provide careful analysis of just war theory.

I’m more interested in Glazer’s motivations for making the speech. Sincere, authentic feeling is I’m sure one of them. But the tension and weight of not coming out against Israel must have been gnawing away at him too. I work at a centrist newspaper and have mostly politically moderate friends. Imagine working in the arts, where almost everyone around you is fiercely condemning Israel daily, where your friends begin to demand – subtly and not so subtly – that you say something.

How tempting it must be. Just a few words of condemnation. What a small price to pay for admittance into the ranks of the righteous. What a relief it must be to have picked a side, to feel once more the adulation and acceptance of your peers and colleagues. To have broken the silence. I envy Glazer in a way, much as I envy those who never falter or concede an inch in their support for Israel.

And yet I will not follow Glazer, because I cannot share his apparent certainty. I still see two sides to this. I still support my people’s right to defend themselves, even if I sometimes baulk at the manner of that defence. And if this makes me repellent to some, then that is the price I will pay.

Jonathan Glazer makes his controversial Oscars speech. Below: A scene from his acclaimed film The Zone Of Interest

There were no doubt a lot of lunches last Thursday. Lots of toasts to International Women’s Day, and countless speeches incorporating the 2024 theme – Inspire Inclusion – while over dessert and fruit, diners could reflect on the roles women play in society.

Motherhood is one of those roles, if not the most important, and it requires a commitment that comes without a contract or a signature. There is no manual for the role as we rely solely on instinct – which for most mothers and particularly the Jewish kind translates into 24/7 concern juxtaposed with worry, depending on where our children are in the world.

As mothers we are most at ease when our children are asleep in their beds and when they are away we often gaze into their bedrooms, but it is about more than just tidying the mess they left behind. The room

Fholds the essence of a child’s life –their interests, hobbies, character and personality.

A mother can still hear the laughter and remembers where her daughter was sitting when she cried. Now imagine the anguish of the Israeli mothers whose children have been taken hostage in Gaza.

Last week I saw the Daily Mail’s story about the mothers of hostages Naama Levy, Liri Albag, Meirav Agam, Daniela Gilboa and Karina Ariev. Ashen faces frozen in sorrow, the mothers were pictured clutching photos or a cuddly toy to plead for the safe return of their adored daughters.

There are clothes in the wardrobe. Shoes by the bed. The strands of hair on brushes are a torturous reminder of stroking their children’s heads. The empty bedrooms echo with the absence of joy replaced by the haunting uncertainty of their fate.

The pain of losing a child transcends all else. To know that one only has to look in the eyes of Mariano Janin, who lives with the loss of his 15-year-old daughter Mia.

When Mia took her own life in 2021 because of online bullying, entering her

bedroom became unbearable for her mother Marissa, who saw the space as a wretched void and a constant reminder of her obliterated role as the parent of a beautiful daughter.

That Marissa died four months later from an aneurysm and leukaemia leaves Mariano trapped in a labyrinth of anguish. After his fight for justice for his daughter, he is now calling for a new law to make cyberbullying a criminal offence.

Accepting the loss of a child defeats most parents. Falling with shock at the first hurdle they never regain their footing in the world without their child. This thought must haunt the Israeli mothers of the hostages.

Mothers sit at the table and are the heart of International Women’s Day, which, if it has any value beyond mere celebration, it is about a call to action. While organisations champion the cause touting slogans of inclusivity, the plight of Israeli women has gone unnoticed.

UN Women had to be shamed and forced to acknowledge the unspeakable atrocities perpetrated on Israeli women 7 October. And now those women, and the daughters of those women, as well as their sons, husbands and

fathers, are being treated as mere pawns in political negotiations with a terrorist organisation who can’t or won’t reveal their location or whether they are even alive.

The theme ‘Inspire Inclusion’ holds profound implications. It beckons us to acknowledge and address the mistreatment of women everywhere. Yet, for Israeli women, inclusion remains elusive. They languish in captivity, their whereabouts and well-being shrouded in uncertainty.

True celebration of International Women’s Day extends beyond casual lunches with wine. It demands a commitment to tangible change, ensuring a safer, fairer future for all women on both sides of this awful conflict. The agony of Israeli mothers and, of course, the su ering of women and girls in Gaza serve as a poignant reminder of this.

As women embrace inclusion, they find empowerment and belonging. Here’s to forging a world where every woman, regardless of nationality or circumstance, can thrive.

The promise of a brighter future lies not just in rhetoric but in concrete actions that lift up and protect women everywhere.

Female captives in Gaza need action not rhetoric Proud of our contribution to defeating Third Reich

or Jews, being alert is a nearpermanent imperative. In times of uncertainty and instability, our antennae quiver a touch more urgently. This year is encumbered with the potential for both destruction and reconstruction on scales not seen in generations.

In addition, it happens to be the 80th anniversary of the final full year of the Second World War and the beginning of the end of Nazism. For decades, the story of Jews between 1939 and 1945 was dominated by the destruction wrought by the Shoah.

However, more recently, the obvious response to the genocide has come to the fore: that we Jews served in the Allied forces in numbers that were far out of proportion to our global population at the time.

On D-Day, for example, some of the first boots on the beaches were those of X Troop personnel: elite-trained Jewish refugees dispersed throughout the Op Overlord forces as commandos, interpreters and intelligencers.

War has many definitions; most famously,

for the Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz, it was “a mere continuation of policy with other means”. The military historian Sir John Keegan described it as “collective killing for a purpose”. For the Royal Engineer turned psychologist Norman Dixon, its essence was “the delivery of energy and the communication of information”.

Whatever war may mean long-term, its destructive short-term is clear. In such circumstances, resentment flourishes, conspiracies abound and blame is sought. Where does that blame almost always fall? You don’t have to be any great scholar of Jewish history to answer that.

Britain is not at war in any conventional sense. But we could be described as on a war footing because of the challenges we face.

The list is endless including economic transition, small conflicts spilling over, climate change, rapid technological advance, geopolitical shifts and hybrid threats. It is no surprise, then, to see antisemitism at a 40-year high following the 7 October attacks in Israel and their e ect rippling through the Middle East and well beyond.

The discordant echoes with the 1940s are all too painful. Demobbed Jews who helped to defeat the Third Reich returned to Britain to find the residue of our coun-

try’s own fascist movement still on the streets – and with AJEX and the 43 Group took to washing it away.

Hatred of Jews was buoyed further by antisemites exploiting the confrontation between Jewish militants and British troops in the Yishuv. Those who would have celebrated, a defeat of our servicemen

and women by Hitler, were suddenly terribly concerned about their safety in end-of-mandate Palestine.

Whether the world is enraged about the specific violence of the Middle East or impassioned by the general failures of a multipolar globe, there is always a loud and influential cohort trying to make it all about Jews. From the death of Jesus to medieval plagues; from the Napoleonic Wars to 9/11. At worst, this ends in persecution. At best, the pursed-lip, waggily-fingered, dinner party antisemites of our suburbs emerge to explain how Jews need to learn the lessons of our own history. Without realising that we already have: simply, a secure Israel and the stamping down of the roots of antisemitism whenever and wherever they appear.

Today, you can turn left or right down the rabbit holes of antisemitism that riddle society and end up mired in the same calumnies, including the slander that Jews not only start wars but then also leave the fighting to others. Jewish service in HM Armed Forces stands in the sternest defiance of this most spiteful of accusations. In this year of change, AJEX looks forward to you joining us as we commemorate and remember the contribution of our miniscule but magnificent community to Britain.

The grave of a soldier who died on D-Day

1TRAINEE TEACHERS AT LSJS ENJOY SEMINAR IN BRIGHTON

London School of Jewish Studies trainee teachers attended a leadership training seminar at Brighton and Hove Jewish Community Centre. They enjoyed an escape room challenge, meals at Novellino and a chance to network. The trip included sessions with head of community engagement at BNJC and LSJS Sacks Fellow Rabbi Matt Marks, Mitzvah Day chief executive officer Stuart Diamond and Shoresh Primary School executive head teacher Liz Brown.

2STUDENT RABBIS ATTEND PARIS SHABBATON

Leo Baeck College student rabbis Dr Rachel Berkson, Emily Carp, Andrea Kulikovsky, Shulamit Morris-Evans, Dr Jennifer Verson and Yael Tischler attended a Shabbaton in Paris at the Communauté Juive Libérale, accompanied by LBC dean and director of Jewish Studies Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh, who delivered a sermon in French at the erev Shabbat service. Students at the CJL-based rabbinical school ERP (École Rabbinique de Paris) joined the group for an Oneg Shabbat and an afternoon on Shabbat for an in-depth discussion on leading French and British Jewish philosophers.

3DISCOVER JEWISH LONDON EXHIBIT AT MUSEUM

Jewish Museum London has opened a new exhibition about itself at Swiss Cottage Library with a private launch for guests including donors, patrons, members and stakeholders. Attendees included councillor Richard Cotton, who said how proud Camden was to be associated with the museum, while chair Nick Viner outlined the museum’s future plans and acting director Sue Shave celebrated the current achievements of the Jewish Museum without walls. The exhibition is open 10.30am-4pm Monday to Saturday.

4CAMP SIMCHA LAUNCH FOR DEDICATED DADS’ NETWORK

Camp Simcha is building a dedicated support network for dads of seriously ill children it helps, giving them opportunities to support each other in relaxed, fun environments. First off was a go-karting evening at Team Sport in Manchester’s Trafford Park, and, in London, crazy golf at Puttshack, Watford. Camp Simcha father Lee Fernandez, whose son Otto has Alagille Syndrome which causes liver disease and affects his heart, joined the go-karting get-together, and said: “We want dads to know they are not alone and that it’s okay – in fact important – to take a break and focus on themselves.”

5AISH TREATS PUPILS TO LASER QUEST AND LAKE DISTRICT

More than 50 Year 11 students from schools across Manchester joined Aish for a special Shabbaton in the Lake District. En route the group enjoyed a laser quest before arriving at a beautiful house in Cumbria for the weekend. Shabbat was brought in as the snow started falling and students sang and danced before a delicious Friday night dinner. Student leaders from Aish Manchester’s existing leadership programme, who work throughout the year coming up with ideas and events for their peers, spoke to the group. A group of year 12 students also joined the Shabbaton as ambassadors from the Aish Poland trip, offering an insight into their own Jewish journeys with Aish.

ICA helps to heal

The Israel Centre of Addiction hosted a prestigious charity event for the third time in London to raise support for the growing needs in Israeli society after the tragic events of 7 October

Around 350 guests helped raise more than £1.2 million for the Israel Centre of Addiction. ICA has dedicated its efforts to responding to the complex challenges of the current war, which has resulted in anxiety and suffering in Israeli society.

Among the many guests of honour was Moran Stela Yanai and Aviva Seigel, Israelis abducted by Hamas on 7 October and held captive in Gaza for more than 50 days.

Moran, who attended the Nova Festival and Aviva, who was abducted from Kfar Gaza with her husband Keith who is still being held hostage, shared their moving and powerful testimonies with the audience.

In the second part of the evening ICA spokesperson Tal Heinrich, who was MC for the evening, invited outstanding supporters and defenders of Israel’s cause, each distinguished in the respective field, to participate in a panel discussion. They included IDF Reserve Brigadier General Dedi Simchi, who lost his son Guy on 7 October, IDF Reserve Brigadier General Amir Aviv the founder of IDSF (Israeli Defence and Security Forum).

Mark Regev a senior advisor for Foreign Affairs in the Israeli Prime Minister’s office and former Israel’s ambassador to the UK and renowned British author and journalist, Douglas Murray, a stauanch supporter of Israel, who sees the Jewish state as an important beacon of the western democratic values, also took centre stage.

The evening was hosted by Elena Gabay from Future Directions Foundation and was a memorable and unique experience for all.

Among other various guest speakers were Dr. Ariel Kor and Prof. Shauli Lev Ran (ICA’s co-founders).

The event was produced by Tzemach Productions, catered by Tony Page and took place at the Nobu Hotel.

Charity gala / Scene & Be Scene

Photos: Picherski Photography

Inside A look

Orthodox rabbi who questions the Torah Jewish DJ night

Francine Wolfisz

speaks to this year’s winner of the Wingate Prize for Literature

There are two things Elizabeth McCracken’s mother would have hated were she still alive – that her author daughter fictionalise her as a character in one of her novels and that she be included in any memoirs.

But a year after Natalie Jacobson McCracken died aged 73 in 2018, the writer found herself itching to pick up a pen and ensure her mother – who “had more joie de vivre than anybody I know” didn’t simply “evanesce”.

McCracken set about finding an ingenious solution: she wrote a novel, not a memoir, starring her mother as herself, not as a fictitious character. The resulting firecracker of a story, The Hero of This Book, is told with wry observation, empathy and an abundance of love for her eccentric Jewish mother. The novel has also just been unveiled as this year’s winner of the prestigious Wingate Prize for Literature.

the years before he died in 2013, he was a hefty 25 stone and grew a long white beard, prompting McCracken to liken her father to a “Santa” figure in her book.

“He and my mother were very funny next to each other,” smiles McCracken. “They were true opposites in most ways. Their wedding photos are hilarious. They were married by a rabbi at the historic Hotel Fort Des Moines in 1959, and it was hard for the photographer to take pictures where both of their heads were in the frame.”

Hotel Fort Des Moines in 1959,

of their heads were in the frame.” a stutter, “never finished his PhD

want. In the event, the Anglican priest was all for it, but getting a rabbi in England to do it was quite a complicated thing. We found one in the end.”

McCracken has previously explored the Jewish side of her family in her 2001 work, Niagara Falls All Over Again, and is no stranger to writing about personal subjects. In 2008, the mother of two wrote An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, a poignant memoir of her third pregnancy, which went full-term and tragically ended in a stillbirth.

And yet, for The Hero of This Book, she experienced inner turmoil and questioned whether it was an act of love or betrayal to pour the life of her mother, an intensely private woman, onto the pages of her latest

McCracken as narrator and meanders between London, Texas and Iowa, was ultimately an act of love.

“One of the reasons I wrote the book was to keep my mother closer to me,” she says. “As I was writing, it seemed like such a big deal, wondering about family members who would be upset with me, as well as what my mother would have wanted. But I concluded my mother would just love a book about herself, because she really did – not in a self-important way – love being the centre of attention. She really loved it. She liked to make toasts. She liked to perform.

“There are some things in the book that she would not be happy about, such as how my parents were hoarders and the state of their house. But there are other things I didn’t put

Speaking from her home in Texas, McCracken is keen to tell me more about Natalie, a woman who “really loved being like nobody else”.

Boston-born McCracken, 57, who teaches fiction at the University of Texas at Austin, smiles as she recalls the best qualities about her mother. “One of the things it says in the book, and it is very true, was that she liked anything that made her a statistical anomaly. She was a Jewish girl from small-town Iowa, she was a twin, she had cerebral palsy and lived with it for many years, which for my mother’s age bracket is quite unusual. She had her PhD in theatre and was very proud of that and adored being an eccentric. She was also stubborn and optimistic and cheerful, and just an enormous amount of fun.”

In essence, her mother was someone who “really loved being alive”, embracing life and overcoming the physical disability she endured, including having to use walking aids.

Diminutive in stature, Natalie stood in stark contrast to McCracken’s late father, Samuel, a well-regarded professor at Boston University, who was 6ft 3in. In

paedic memory that many described him as “Google before

Samuel, who was shy and had a stutter, “never finished his PhD and never wrote his dissertation,” but he had an encyclopaedic memory that many envied him for. One colleague described him as “Google before Google”.

work. She came to the conclusion that this “novel, not a memoir”, which features a fictionalised miniversion of

But in and I tried, especially because my mother had a disability, not to invade her bodily privacy in any way. I was also careful not to imagine what she felt or thought. That seemed very important.”

on their marriage, she sees it the defining facts of my life is that I had a very

But they were very well-suited to each other

When the author thinks back on their marriage, she sees it as one that was full of nothing but happiness. “I think one of the defining facts of my life is that I had a very small mother and a very large father, and I just think of their physicality next to each other. But they were very well-suited to each other and never tired of talking.”

nevertheless Judaism remained important to her family and especially her grandwhenever they visited. She tells me as an proud”

Natalie was raised Jewish, Samuel as a Presbyterian, while McCracken was brought up with a “secular, humanist philosophy”. In her book, she admits that her mother passed little of her Jewish knowledge onto her, but nevertheless Judaism remained important to her family and especially her grandmother, with whom she went to Temple whenever they visited. She tells me as an aside that Natalie was “very, very proud” that her great-grandfather was the first Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Des Moines.

McCracken recalls with fondness own wedding to English author and took place in an Anglican Church. “My mother was quite insistent she laughs. “It surprised me only

McCracken recalls with fondness and humour what happened at her own wedding to English author and playwright Edward Carey, which took place in an Anglican Church.

“My mother was quite insistent that we were married by a rabbi,” she laughs. “It surprised me only because she was really laid back about everything and was like, whatever you want is what I

whatever you want is what I

I ask McCracken what Natalie might say to not just being the centre of a book, but one which is now also a prestigious award-winning novel. “I would say she would have made plans to deliver the acceptance speech,” the author laughs. “But mostly, I like to think my mother would feel that I had done a good job.”

 The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken is published by Penguin, priced £9.99 (paperback)

The book is ‘a novel rather than a memoir’

Elizabeth McCracken says writing the book kept her mother closer to her

Who are we to question?

Raphael Zarum, whose new book takes the broiges to a new level, tells Jenni Frazer how it came about

As has often been remarked upon, we Jews love to argue. It can be over something trifling or something important: but a broiges is a broiges , right? Occasionally a broiges is something to be treasured, and I think that Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, dean of the London School of Jewish Studies, wishes more of us would indulge.

That, at any rate, is part of the message in Rabbi Zarum’s new and groundbreaking book, Questioning Belief, Torah and Tradition in An Age of Doubt, in which he elevates broiges to a whole new level. This is not a run-of-the-mill argument, but a passionate and forensic examination of the arguments that Jews have with Judaism. Why do we do this or that? Much of Jewish practice is illogical, explained away to children as “just because”.

But Jewish adults need better explanations. As Rabbi Zarum observes in his introduction to Questioning Belief, “there is a risk in mistaking the Jewish tradition for a vast supercomputer. Press a button and a specific, timeless answer to any question just pops out”.

Over the course of 12 fascinating chapters, Rabbi Zarum unpicks the most common questions about Jewish life in the wake of modern scientific discoveries and endeavours to provide intelligent answers. Was the Flood real, people ask, or the Exodus story? What has Judaism to say about slavery, or collective punishment? (Clue: we don’t approve of either.)

And in the five years it took him to write this book, Rabbi Zarum concludes that “in the end, my thinking moved me from a defence of Judaism to a re-evaluation of it for the modern age”. The question, he says, is “did the re-evaluation change Judaism, or change you?” He says that the reevaluation

changed him: as someone from a scientific background – his PhD is in physics – who would usually require detailed proofs, he gently pushes the reader to acknowledge that not everything in the Torah is meant to be taken literally.

Many of the stories in the Torah are, says Rabbi Zarum, morality tales to “teach human responsibility for the world”.

And “context is key: the rabbis say you mustn’t take the Torah literally. The line that the strictlyOrthodox rabbis say should not be taken literally is ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. So the question then is, what’s literal and what’s not literal”.

Who is this book aimed at? “I’ve tried to be what I call ‘middlebrow’. There’s ‘highbrow’, which is for academics, very intellectual, very hard to read, and everything justified on the highest level. There’s ‘lowbrow’, which is not fully grounded – it’s lovely stories but it’s not quite honest about the complexities of Torah. I’ve tried to steer a middle level – to admit the di culties in Torah, try to answer them, but make it relevant to people”. So Questioning Belief is as likely to throw in a glancing reference to the Beatles as it is to supreme exponents of Torah commentary.

His audience, he says, is “mainstream educated people, who want to live a meaningful Jewish life but can’t let go – correctly so – of their rational understanding of the way the world is. They want to believe, but find it di cult.

His principle, he says, was that “if God made the world, and God made the Torah, they can’t contradict. So I would look for an answer. And what I found were many halfway, or apologetic answers… so I looked for deeper answers”.

Rabbi Zarum is aware that still, in some communities, questions

are positively discouraged. But, he says, learning with the late Rabbi Sacks (whose daughter Gila provides a thoughtful foreword to the book) was like “a breath of fresh air” and that he and his contemporaries were encouraged to ask questions wherever they could.

Of his own upbringing, he says:

“My father was a Yemenite Jew and he knew the Bible by heart. He never looked over his shoulder at people from Gateshead or Stamford Hill. My cousins on my mother’s side were from Stamford Hill. We’d go to simchas, they’d be wearing black hats and coats and my father would be in a modern suit. They would talk to him and he’d be quoting Bible verses by heart - it was an equal conversation. So I grew up never thinking ‘they’re better’ – I just thought, ‘they’re di erent’.”

One of the most painful and frequently raised issues is that of God and the Holocaust: how it could have happened, why prayer did not

Rabbi Zarum: ‘People want to believe but find it difficult’

ible e ect. “Yes,” says

under the heading of

seem to have any discernible e ect. “Yes,” says Rabbi Zarum, pouncing on the point, “this comes under the heading of ‘arguing with God’ – God doesn’t want us just to accept things, he wants us to fight back.”

With some charm, he cites the story of a Chasid who approached his rabbi to say: “I don’t understand. How could God, who is perfect, create a world which has all these terrible things in it? And the rabbi says, it’s a good point. Do you think you could do better? The shocked pupil stammers, I could try. And the rabbi says, go! Make it better! Now, from a rational point of view, and my science training, that’s not an answer. But it is a way to live. That’s the Jewish answer: that God wants us to argue and rally against the immorality of humanity, and to make good.”

Even today, with the horrors of the Hamas attacks and the Israeli response, which has led to global condemnation, Rabbi Zarum still believes that Jewish ethics and values have an e ect on the world stage. “We are not the only ones, but we are part of the consciousness of the world. I am, in fact, more worried for the West than

for the Jewish people right now. We’ve got a covenant with God and we’ve been around for thousands of years. We’ve been through a lot of these things and we seem to have survived every time. I’m fairly confident of our survival. But I’m worried about the deep issues because we are too often the canary in the coal mine”.

Intriguingly, Rabbi Zarum cites Rav Kook (Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of British Mandate Palestine, and one of the founding fathers of religious Zionism), when he observes: “Doubters are more concerned with their doubts, than believers are with their beliefs. Rav Kook might say that the desire to study a work about questioning beliefs implies that you are eager to reflect on your relationship with God, and that this could lead to a renewed and heightened faith.”

I leave the London School of Jewish Studies imagining which prominent atheist would benefit from reading this book – and smiling at the thought.

 Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt is published by LSJS and Maggid Books, £22.99

Emily

Ditching bagels for turntables

Rachel Coussins gives Jewish News the inside schmear on London’s Jewish DJ night

Iknock on a red, sequin-covered door on Stoke Newington High Street but receive no answer. After five minutes, roughly the amount of time it takes to realise the door isn’t locked, I let myself in. I wander down the narrow staircase into a small, foggy basement room dimly lit by red LED lights. Sitting around are a handful of people from cooler walks of life than mine: DJs, band members and event organisers.

On the stage area, a jazz band are waiting for their sound check. Their instruments are propped up against them in a way that makes them look e ortlessly stylish. One of them looks up at me and sees my sensible collared blouse and sweater-vest combination.

“You must be the journalist.”

It isn’t often that I’m present at a DJ event where, within the first hour, I’ve spotted several people I went on summer camp with, and a distant cousin.

Seven Species is a Jewish DJ night, where Jewish performers are at the forefront and celebration of Jewish culture is ubiquitous. Run by YYY zine (@yyy.zine), an independent print publication and event platform operating in London and Tel Aviv, the night o ers the opportunity to put Jewish artists front and centre, while welcoming people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds into the space.

“We felt like the only options you have are to go to Jewish community events which are religious or political, and they’re not very –for lack of a better word – cool,” says Gaby Maestro, co-creator of YYY zine alongside her friend Anna Mimran.

She adds: “This is more about having fun, celebrating our identity.”

I understand what she means. As a Jewish twentysomething living in the heart of Hackney, I haven’t been able to connect with my community after the atrocities of 7 October in a way that resonates with me. Events instead often take the form of political protests, candle-lit vigils or synagogue services.

These displays of solidarity definitely have their place in the collective healing that

Jewish people are doing right now, but I have found myself craving a Jewish community event that isn’t focused on feeling serious, or sad or angry. I have spent so much time on those emotions already.

There is a sense among Jewish people that now is a time to prove our tribe will always come back from tragedy stronger – a concept with which, unfortunately, we are all too familiar. To me, there is no better way to do this than to thrive in my Judaism, fostering a sense of enjoyment and pride around my religion and culture. So when my friend sent details of the Seven Species event, I jumped at the opportunity.

Even the ticketing platform YYY used, Dice, is synonymous with a big night out for me. Everything about this event felt familiar to my experiences of London nightlife, but it came with a Jewish twist, and that really excited me.

After the sound checks had finished and the event doors finally opened (we were undeniably running on what my mum likes to call JMT – Jewish Mean Time), I really felt the night-out ‘buzz’ come to life.

Drinks were flowing, people were chatting, and all against the background of Jewish selectors on the decks. It felt somewhat surreal to be experiencing the type of night out I find myself having most weekends, but with an all-Jewish lineup.

I wasn’t the only person drawn in by an authentically Jewish night that felt trendier than others. “I came to this event because Jewish events with good graphic design and interesting content that I haven’t seen before are really exciting,” says Joe Hyman, who works for Limmud. “We love Donya [the event venue] and have been to other events here, so to see something interesting and Jewish happening in a place that we think is quite cool is really unifying and integrating.”

The night’s lineup also included live music, with Nadav Schneerson’s (@nadavschneerson) Middle Eastern Jazz quartet performing in between Jewish DJ sets from Saul Peleg (@letsaulmove), co-founder of Bubala records (@bubalarecords), and Zipporah (@miazipporah), a founding

member of Stamp the Wax (@stampthewax).

“I 100 percent think being Jewish has played a really big part in how I make music,” says Schneerson, the drummer and leader of the quartet. “My writing of music, my approach to music, and even the way I spiritually approach music has been influenced by some of the values in Judaism.”

At one point in his set, Schneerson announced that his next song was a niggun passed down to him by the 13th Rebbe of Lubavitch, that he had jazzified.

Honestly, I had never fathomed a niggun being a feature of a DJ night, never mind seen somebody make a religious song into a tune so smooth and sultry. The reinvigorated niggun embodied the meshing of progressive Judaism with London nightlife that I was experiencing, the presence of each element genuinely bettering the other.

Schneerson told me he was drawn to this event by a sense of community. “Over time, I’ve learned how much more important it is to be around other people like me. I’ve not grown up with a lot of that experience of being around other Jewish people. So this feels like a really great opportunity for me to be around more Jewish people and share my music.”

It would be remiss to say that this event felt completely free from political weight. Tensions have been high both within and towards the Jewish community, made even more worrisome by a recent 1,300 percent

The Seven Species event was a chance to foster enjoyment as well as pride

increase in antisemitic hate crimes in

increase in antisemitic hate crimes in the UK capital. I wasn’t entirely sure what sort of audience an event like this could attract. But there was a notable moment during the evening, with both Jews and non-Jews present, where I felt myself reach for my Magen David to take it out from under my journalist-outing sensible collared blouse. It’s something I hadn’t done in public for three months.

This is the environment the creators of YYY zine had hoped to facilitate. “It’s easy to feel isolated and it’s a really hard time to navigate,” says Maestro. “People feel misunderstood in a lot of spaces and it’s so nice to know that you’re going to a space where you can just be yourself.”

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LORD SUGAR HIRES GRANDSON TO LEAD AMSTRAD DIGITAL

Joe Baron had to pitch for investment from ‘Grandad’, who as well as trusting him with preserving the brand has taught him the importance of hard work

When it comes to career advice, not many have the luxury of being able to turn to one of the world’s most successful businessmen.

Something Joe Baron, Lord Sugar’s grandson – while admitting it has made life easier – does not take for granted.

Earlier this month it was announced that Joe, who turns 21 next month, will head up Amstrad Digital, a new digital marketing firm owned by Alan Sugar, after the business mogul, who fronts BBC One reality series The Apprentice, has bought back the rights to the name Amstrad, 17 years after selling it to Sky.

But the financial backing wasn’t guaranteed for Joe. He had to pitch for it through Lord Sugar’s Amvest investment arm.

Joe told Jewish News: “I wanted it done

completely by the book through Amvest – essentially doing the same thing as The Apprentice does but without the TV – first speaking to his advisers and then to him. I wanted to make sure it was all done properly and that the investment was for the right reasons.”

Joe will run Amstrad Digital alongside digital marketeer Tom D’Arcy. They worked together at Climb Online, the digital marketing agency launched by Apprentice winner Mark Wright with the investment of Sugar. It sold in 2022 for a reported £10m.

The fourth-oldest of Sugar’s seven grandchildren, Joe speaks to his “grandad” – as he affectionately calls him – most days and often turns to him for advice.

“After I did my diploma in business, I had two options; either go to university or start

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Haberdashery | Textiles | Trimmings

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The original business was opened in Manchester by David’s grandfather and father.

David’s daughter went in the business after university and now David is handing over the reins to his granddaughter Jamie and Grandson Daniel who are in the shop, with help from Grandson Samuel. Customers travel from near and far to go to the shop which is always being called "Aladdin's Cave".

There are thousands of metres of different dress fabrics and linings together with accessories such as cottons, buttons, braids etc etc. We are happy to send out swatches and post fabrics to customers, although we love to see you come into the shop to see the many colours and fabric types we have in stock.

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work, so I spoke to my grandad, who was obviously the best person to talk to, and we agreed that I would benefit more from going straight to work.

“It’s unbelievable to have him to look up to and as someone to ask for advice and now, as someone to partner.”

Joe added: “I think he agrees with me that university is great for particular careers, ones that maybe need a specialist qualification like a doctor or lawyer, but for where I was, I think getting experience was the most important thing for me.”

Joe attended St Edmund’s College in Hertfordshire before completing his diploma at West Hatch. In 2021, he landed an internship at Climb Online, working his way up to full-time project manager, where he worked closely with Tom D’Arcy.

“I owe a lot to Tom. He taught me so much about digital marketing.”

The duo own 25 percent each of Amstrad Digital, while Sugar owns 50 percent.

The businessman founded electronics company Amstrad in 1968, at the age of 21, selling audio and computer equipment before making the first range of Sky receivers and dishes. It was eventually sold for £125m to the broadcasting giant, which still uses the software but not the brand name.

Joe recently stayed with Sugar in Florida, where the business magnate spends a lot of time. “We chatted a lot about business. I really enjoy talking to him about it, though I’m not sure my grandma enjoyed it as much!” he joked. What advice did his grandfather give him for the new business? “Leverage the brand name, don’t work from home: ‘Go out there and do some business!’ and the more work we put in, the more we will get out.”

Joe lives at home in Chigwell with his mother Louise – one of Sugar’s three children –his sister and their two dogs.

He has inherited his grandfather’s love for flying. Sugar has held a pilot’s licence since 1975 and owns planes including a Cirrus SR20. “We always used to fly together,” said Joe. “I remember being really interested in watching him fly. I’ve been doing that with him for ages. We would put my car booster seat in the passenger seat so I was able to see properly.”

While Joe doesn’t have a flying license, he says maybe it is something he will consider when he is not so busy.

For now, he is following in his grandfather’s footsteps in other ways and is focused on Amstrad Digital and preserving the Amstrad name.“It’s an unbelievable opportunity. He [Lord Sugar] said himself that the brand itself

is worth a fortune – we have to use it to our advantage.

“We are planning to keep the same values. Amstrad was known for being the first company to make typically unaffordable technology available to everyone and we want to carry on that legacy and do the same for marketing services – make it affordable and offer toplevel marketing to all sizes of business.”

Joe believes there is a gap in the market for an agency that serves both smaller and larger brands. “A lot of agencies have very high minimum fees, which isn’t really an option for small businesses and doesn’t give them the chance to get any bigger, so as well as being able to deal with larger companies, smaller ambitious brands are also something we want to focus on.”

Digital media is set to reach 70 percent of global advertising spend by 2025. Asked where he sees the big opportunities, Joe cites TikTok. “It’s estimated that in mid-2025, TikTok will become the biggest platform for advertising. People are using it like Google, searching how to do things, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they [TikTok] bring out search ads that you would usually see in Google. The other big opportunity is around AI. There is still a lot to be uncovered about it and how it can be used in businesses to help them save their costs, so I think this is a big opportunity too.”

In the meantime, Joe, a member of Chabad Buckhurst Hill where he had his barmitzvah (his granddad is a member of Chigwell and Hainault) is committed to Amstrad Digital’s future. “It means a huge amount to me to be trusted with the brand that started it all for him [Lord Sugar] years ago. It’s motivated me even more to make a success of it and I have no doubt we will.”

Joe Baron

Lord Sugar with Joe Baron (right, and inset at his barmitzvah) and Tom D’Arcy

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA

In our thought-provoking series, rabbis and educators relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today

BY REBBETZEN SHULI LISS HIGHGATE UNITED SYNAGOGUE

Expenses must be explained

Rabbi Abe Goldberg was distressed at the lack of generosity among his congregants, and he prayed that they should give more tzedakah (charity) to support the shul’s expenses – namely long-overdue renovations. On Shabbat, he told his congregation: “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we have enough money to pay for our new project. The bad news is that the money is still in your pockets.”

There are many worthy causes that we need to raise money for, and it is often up to the leader of the

community to raise those funds and oversee the projects.

Being in a position of power is a huge responsibility and a big test. What expenses are truly needed for ‘the cause’?

Money raised by the community should be used only for the purpose for which it was collected. And yet, money and power can corrupt people, leading them to try to justify expenses that are not needed.

“Veheyisem neki-im – you shall be clear before Hashem and before Israel” (Numbers 32:22). As Jews, we are warned of the importance of transparency and responsibility. Even if we keep to the letter of the law, we should be open and clear with others to ensure they know how we are spending communal funds.

We learn this from Moshe

in parashat Pekudei when he announces, in great detail, a list of every item produced for the Tabernacle and the materials used to create them. Why was it necessary for him to do this? Rabbi Sacks quotes a midrash that describes how the community viewed him: “People criticised Moses. They used to say to one another, ‘Look at that neck. Look at those legs. Moses is eating and drinking what belongs to us. All that he has belongs to us.’”

The other would reply: “A man who is in charge of the work of the sanctuary – what do you expect? That he should not get rich?” As soon as he heard this, Moses replied: “By your life, as soon as the sanctuary is complete, I will make a full reckoning with you” (Tanchuma, Buber, Pekudei, 4).

Either in response to this complaint or to prevent the people accusing him of misappropriating the money for himself, Moshe took the time to explain all his expenses.

It is not only leaders who need to consider these laws. Anyone in the working world could inadvertently waste resources or spend unnecessary company funds.

Mistakes can happen, but an awareness of our responsibility to remain ‘clean’ in the eyes of our

fellow workers can help us to be careful when spending. Every day, we have opportunities to be not only honest in our dealings but to be so squeaky clean that others are impressed with our integrity.

Especially now, when the world seems to be searching for what we are doing wrong, let us work together and show them how hard we work to make sure that we do things right – with honesty, integrity and generosity.

Transparency

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

A stimulating series where progressive rabbis consider how to navigate Judaism in the face of 21st-century issues

BY RABBI DEBBIE YOUNG-SOMERS EDGWARE AND HENDON REFORM SYNAGOGUE (EHRS)

Humanity has been telling stories for a very long time. Some of the earliest evidence can be found in the cave paintings of Lascaux and Chavaux in France, some of which date back 30,000 years.

As a Jewish community we have our own particular storytelling traditions, from ancient midrash to fictional stories of Chelm, or retelling the stories of Jewish ancestors who come from all parts of the world.

And of course we have a unique British Jewish story to tell too.

My own family arrived in England from Holland with names from the Iberian peninsula in the 1670s. Stories of my grandpa in his

early teens joining the crowds at Cable Street and throwing marbles down the road to prevent police horses from protecting Mosley’s Black Shirts are now part of the family story.

From sermons to shows, we are pretty adept at telling our stories. And with The Merchant of Venice 1936, starring Tracy-Ann Oberman, and the musical Cable Street both running in London at the moment, it seems that there are plenty of people who want to hear these tales of nostalgia and recent history.

The first thing I went to see at the theatre after lockdown was Leopoldstadt, a fascinating journey by Tom Stoppard through fictionalised Austrian Jewish history, exploring assimilation, Jewish rituals, antisemitism and of course the Shoah.

As characters re-enacted the debates of the day, discussions around the validity of the Zionist

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movement, or of rites such as circumcision, there was a creeping sense of discomfort that my Jewish friend and I were surrounded by a largely non-Jewish audience.

Could they understand the complexity of the debates playing out on stage, and how those conversations have shifted and changed through history? And we asked ourselves about the difference between debating these issues within the community versus defending oneself in debate with those outside.

In telling our stories to one another, communally, we thrive on debate and disagreement. We aren’t always so ready to engage in that debate with those who may want to undermine the continuation of our story.

Theatre and stories so often come with morals, teachings and messages we want to pass on. And

We’ve become adept:

we will continue to tell our stories in a variety of ways, both within and outside the community.

Ultimately, though, these stories give the listener a chance to step into the experience of another human,

whatever their tradition, and as long as people are still open-hearted in wanting to hear and immerse themselves in the stories of others, I hope we will keep sharing them, debating them and telling them.

Tracy-Ann Oberman in The Merchant of Venice 1936

Ask our

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry. This week: Finding a wheelchair-accessible flat, giving your executors access to online accounts and health insurance

LISA WIMBOURNE CHARITY EXECUTIVE JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED

Dear Lisa

I’ve recently had a spinal cord injury and can no longer walk. My wheelchair is not suitable for my current home. I am just about managing but there are some rooms that I can no longer access. I was thinking of applying to JBD but I have been told by friends that I could be waiting for years until you could offer me a wheelchairaccessible flat. Is that the case or could you help me sooner?

Bob, Kilburn

Dear Bob

I am sorry to hear about your recent injury.

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY

Dear Carolyn

I have hold a number of accounts digitally. I am concerned as to how my executors will access them when the times comes?

Cheryl

Dear Cheryl

You have raised an important issue and are right to highlight digital assets.

At KKL we advise clients to make a list of their assets and any debts and to consider either sharing it with their executors or at least telling them where the list is kept. Understandably, you may have concerns about confidentiality and safeguarding this sensitive information. You could leave it in a sealed envelope marked ‘to be opened after my death’, especially if your Will is deposited with a professional organisation. It is important to review and update the list regularly.

In this digital age people have an increasing number of online accounts, not just for banking and investments but also on sites such as eBay and Amazon or funds in a PayPal account.

Consider including pass-

We are here to support people in your situation.

It sounds as if your need for an accessible home is urgent. We allocate our homes based on need using a robust point scoring system. Our system takes into account accessibility issues with someone’s current accommodation as well as the necessity for our unique o ering. Assuming you meet our criteria, the length of time it will take before you are o ered a suitable property will depend on both the urgency of your need as well as how flexible you are with the location of a particular property within our seven developments.

We do have a long waiting list, but we do all we can to house people in urgent need as quickly as possible. Please don’t be put o by what your friends say, as it’s always worth applying for a JBD property.

Call us on 020 8371 6611 or visit jbd.org

word and account details in your list as long as you are satisfied with secure storage arrangements for the list and remember to update it.

When the inevitable happens, your executors need to be able to access all your assets and liabilities both hard copy and, more importantly, digital. Postal redirection helps with the former and this is something KKL always does. It helps to ‘capture’ any missing assets, though it won’t solve the digital tracking issue. This will need forward thinking on your part by putting digital access in place now for your executors to use only after your death.

For further advice, please call 020 8732 6121 or email enquiries@kkl.org.uk

TREVOR GEE

Dear Trevor I recently bought health insurance online, (buyer’s remorse here) and the insurance company are refusing to meet my wife’s claim. She is still in discomfort. Please can you help or advise us.

Malcolm

Dear Malcolm

I am sorry to hear about

your wife’s current condition and hope that she receives treatment quickly.

The issue about not getting free advice from an intermediary like ourselves is that the websites do not properly explain about the underwriting of private health policies and what each means. You see, there are di erent ways that the private health insurer assesses the risk to themselves, so they will accept a claim when it’s genuine.

What I mean by that is that with a new policy, the insurer will want to know that a condition was not pre-existing, even by a day.

However, depending on di erent circumstances, in many cases, the insurer will accept preexisting conditions.

But buying online it’s very di cult to give any correct

advice. So, I can’t advise you what went wrong here, as I do not know the underwriting on this policy and also the dates of your wife’s symptoms and date the policy started. My general advice is don’t wait to dig a well until you are thirsty! If I can help you argue the claim, I will happily do so, (there are no charges for our advice) so please do call.

Remember, your capital is at risk.

Exeter Insurance Health & Financial Fears research found that 20 percent felt it was important to buy health insurance when they were ill or following an illness.

With 74 percent of people surveyed saying they’re concerned about accessing NHS treatment. Patient Health Ltd, free advice, no charges, putting people first.

Ask our experts / Professional advice from our panel

Our Experts

Do you have a question for a member of our team? Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

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

ACCOUNTANT

ADAM SHELLEY

Qualifications:

• FCCA chartered certified accountant

• Accounting, taxation and business advisory services

• Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses

• Specialises in charities; personal tax returns

• Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award

SOBELL RHODES LLP 020 8429 8800

www.sobellrhodes.co.uk

a.shelley@sobellrhodes.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

LISA WIMBORNE

Qualifications:

Able to draw on the charity’s 50 years of experience in enabling people with physical disabilities or impaired vision to live independently, including:

• The provision of specialist accommodation with 24/7 on-site support

• Knowledge of the innovations that empower people and the benefits available

• Understanding of the impact of a disability diagnosis

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611

www.jbd.org

Lisa@jbd.org

CAREER ADVISER

LESLEY TRENNER

Qualifications:

• Provides free professional one-to-one advice at Resource to help unemployed into work

• Offers mock interviews and workshops to maximise job prospects

• Expert in corporate management holding director level marketing, commercial and general management roles

RESOURCE

020 8346 4000

www.resource-centre.org

office@resource-centre.org

PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SPECIALIST

TREVOR GEE

Qualifications:

• Managing director, consultant specialists in affordable family health insurance

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

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

• LLB solicitors finals

• Member of Chartered Insurance Institute

PATIENT HEALTH

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

ISRAEL PROPERTY

ILAN RUBINSTEIN

Qualifications:

& MORTGAGE BROKER

• UK born, licenced Israel estate agent in Israel since 2001

• Ilan assists in buying, financing & re-sale of new & existing property in Israel.

• Helps level the playing field opposite vendors, developers & even the bank

• Attentive to your needs, saving you time, hassle & money

I.L.A.N. ESTATES & INVESTMENTS “Bringing Jews Home” UK: 0203-807-0878 ISRAEL: +972-504-910-604 www.ilanrealestate.com nadlan@hotmail.com

JEWELLER

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Qualifications:

• Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s

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

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

JACOB BERNSTEIN

Qualifications:

• A member of the APCC, specialising in financial services compliance for:

• Mortgage, protection and general insurance intermediaries;

• Lenders, credit brokers, debt counsellors and debt managers;

• Alternative Investment Fund managers;

• E-Money, payment services, PISP, AISP and grant-making charities.

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD

020 7781 8019

www.richdale.co.uk

jacob@richdale.co.uk

FINANCIAL SERVICES

JOE OZER

Qualifications:

• Executive director for the United Kingdom at DCI (Intl) Ltd

• Worked in finance for more than 20 years

• Specialists in distribution and promotion of Israel Bonds

DEVELOPMENT COMPANY FOR ISRAEL

020 3936 2712

www.israelbondsintl.com

joe.ozer@israelbondsintl.com

GOAL ATTAINMENT SPECIALIST

DR BEN LEVY

Qualifications:

• Doctor of psychology with 15 years’ experience in education and corporate sectors

• Uses robust, evidence-based methods to help you achieve your goals, whatever they may be

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

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

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

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

• 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

• Works with clients individually to maximise success

MAKE IT HAPPEN

07779 619 597

www.makeit-happen.co.uk ben@makeit-happen.co.uk

SUE CIPIN OBE

Qualifications:

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

• 24 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

Fun, games and prizes

3 4 9 10 11 13 17 18 20 21 22 23 25 (5,6) animals (5) WORDSEARCH CROSSWORD

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD

11 Female rabbit (3)

12 Morally proper (7)

1

5 Puts

WORDSEARCH

brass bands can all be found in the forwards or backwards, in a horizontal, direction, but always in

13 Blue Shoes, Presley song (5)

14 Culinary pulveriser (6)

16 Plus (2,4)

19 Farmland units (5)

21 Make more secure (7)

23 Try to win the affection of (3)

24 Sudden thrust (5)

25 Take away (7)

26 Tending flocks (11)

DOWN

2 Dog’s restraining chain (5)

3 Appendix to a will (7)

4 Wax light with a wick (6)

6 Bishop’s area (7)

7 Signal to take action (4-2,4)

SUDOKU

9 Herb with a flavour similar to anise (8)

10 Sports judges (8)

12 Yield (6)

SUDOKU

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

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

11 Pain (in the head) (4)

14 Lamb chop, eg (6)

16 Parts of a play (4)

18 Naval vessels (8)

21 Locality (4)

CROSSWORD CODEWORD

20 Having natural creative skill (8)

22 Rode the waves on a board (6)

23 End-to-end distance (6) DOWN

2 Striking scene (7)

3 Sibling’s daughter (5)

5 ___ basket, wickerwork carrycot (5)

4 Confirmed by evidence, verified (13)

5 Rural administrative body (6,7)

10 Of clothes, reaching the middle of the leg (4-6)

15 Squash (7)

17 With vision (7)

18 Heavy uninteresting food (6)

20 Lottery (5)

9 7 2 6 2 3 8 1 4 4 5 5 2 3 7 3 9 4 7 8 3 4 9 6 5 2

6 Unyielding, stubborn (7)

7 Age (5)

13 Large breed of dog (7)

15 Zealous (7)

17 Northernmost of the Greek islands (5)

22 Practise for a feat of endurance (5)

19 Wood treatment (5)

SUGURU

SUGURU

Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2, a three-cell block contains the digits 1, 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells, not even diagonally.

Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2, a three-cell block contains the digits 1, 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells, not even diagonally.

The listed words to do with The AristoCats 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.

LL IE RY G

KLA N TST D

CP SF M KJS CE L G EESEA IN FD

IOI AR UM

BB POE RB U

PE CA AH R AIA

MA DHR SI

OR MP DT CN MR

EAEAA CI N

LL TO UL OU SEE

GM S ELS O

ZI GN UI ET DA

ATS DN AB H

ZO EBSS RSHB

SH IR EAP

AZ IN NS EO RA I

OM P ETE U

JT AC EI RA MO

ATE PM UR TE

COMPETE CORNET DURHAM ENSEMBLE EUPHONIUM PIT SCHOOL TREDEGAR

BERLIOZ EDGAR FORTUNE GEESE HORSE

In this finished crossword, every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters. N N

In this finished crossword, every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

4 5 3 3 5 314 2 5 4 3

Mildly 9 Theatre Pencil 15 Fewer Hills 22 Aquaria Hints 3 Umber Matriarchs 8 World-weary Contract 15 Flushed Link. EO CC O BRAUA K MN BO DH PF HSR Y AN EOAOE WU A GC RECK AT ID K RL IH YT IL JE A EOE PWE LN TMT EVSAS IH T GUO NI VL HGN CM SA RE KCAR CER IF T DI NSD EESS L T BJ AL APE NOR DWA RF HO WL S RS I GLO OH L AL TE RI AR OM A ME STXL C AURA ARC NEC K N SME AR O C HEAP NI CER U GLO OM G ST AR EVE QU IP AM JE RNU BRA VO RA LI EN RZ EA TE NT C EN EMY TE ET H Z D H B M E J U P A O F Q R T V G S Y X N K I C L W 4 6 3 8 2 9 5 7 1 8 9 1 5 3 7 2 4 6 2 7 5 1 4 6 8 3 9 1 5 9 4 6 3 7 8 2 3 8 6 7 1 2 9 5 4 7 2 4 9 8 5 1 6 3 6 1 8 2 7 4 3 9 5 5 4 2 3 9 8 6 1 7 9 3 7 6 5 1 4 2 8 1 3 5 214 4214 3 5 3 5 3 5 21 1421 3 4 2 3 5 421 4121 3 5 3 4154 1 1 2323 2 3 5414 5 2 1232 1 3 4514 3 1 2325 1 solutions TROMBONE TRUMPET TUBA YORKSHIRE

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

JAZZ KITTEN MADAME MANSION

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MARIE MOUSE PARIS TOULOUSE

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Sudoku Suguru

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

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

Wordsearch

25/01

Sudoku Suguru Wordsearch Codeword