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10 DECEMBER 2020/24 KISLEV 5781
@TheJewishWeekly 170
JEWS GLOBALLY TO CELEBRATE CHANUKAH
BY DAVID SAFFER
Jews around the world will light the first candle of the menorah tonight to mark the first night of Chanukah. Celebrations globally will be different compared to those in recent memory due to the coronavirus pandemic. The story of the “festival of lights” centres on the miracle of the oil and the stunning victory against all odds of the Maccabees over the mighty armies of Syrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes in the 2nd century B.C. The age-old story is just as relevant today as it comes at a time when Covid vaccines are starting to be rolled out in the battle against the deadly virus.
It is not an overstatement to praise the work of scientists bringing about vaccines as ‘miraculous’. Normally the process takes years
not months that is being witnessed. Here in the UK, residents at Jewish care homes and medical staff on the front line will be among the first to be inoculated in unprecedented times. Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl praised everyone that has made vaccination roll-outs possible and called on the Jewish community to support programmes. “There is much work to be done, but the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel is brightening,” she said. Just as Judah the Maccabee overcame all odds so too modern technology will ultimately succeed.
INSIDE THIS WEEK!
PRECHANUKAH SUPPLEMENT 10 DECEMBER 2020
PRE-CHANUKAH TO ADVERTISE CALL 020 3906
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NEWS 27
SUPPLEMENT
Jewish Care Chanukah Appeal brings light to the community Jewish Care brings light to Leslie Barnett
who receives Jewish Care’s Meals on
Wheels
Jewish Care has launched a Chanukah apour community. peal, to help fund the extra support for older Many people, like Leslie Barnett, 95, people in our community who are relying featured in the appeal, live on their own on the organisation even more heavily, and have hardly left their homes since lockdown since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The appeal focuses on the way the charity began and find cooking for themselves difficult, so are reliant on the hot three-course, is bringing light to many vulnerable people, kosher Meals on Wheels to eat well each especially through its Meals on Wheels day. service, which is a lifeline to many. Leslie has lived on his own since his Since March, the organisation’s chefs late wife, Angela, sadly passed away. He have been making more than double says, the “I’m not used to being stuck at home amount of meals for vulnerable older on my own. Especially not for this long. Usually people in the community. The meals I are go to the Jewish Care community centre at delivered by the dedicated volunteers, who least once every week to see my friends. with the delicious hot and frozen, kosher But I’m no spring chicken and my health meals, bring relief from social isolation isn’t and what it was. So, I have to shelter at home light to those who rely on the charity. to keep myself safe. However, the Meals on Wheels service “Angela and I always loved to dance, receives no government funding and and I’ve managed to keep up my dancing neither does the Jewish Care Direct ever Helpsince. But, of course being stuck at home line, which has received 40% calls since means I can’t do that. I found myself lockdown began. Many of those people staring who at the same four walls every day. I’ve never call the Helpline are then referred to the been much of a cook, though Angela used Jewish Care Social Work and Community to let me do the vegetables sometimes Support Team who provide more support. if she was going to be late back from work. This service relies solely on the generosity But of that was years ago, and most of the time, all
The appeal focuses on the way the charity is bringing light to many vulnerable people, especially through its Meals on Wheels service…
with the meals too. Daniel Carmel-Brown, Jewish Care’s Chief Executive says, “We have sent out more than 33,000 hot and frozen Kosher meals since the start of the pandemic and in the same period, our Jewish Care Direct Helpline has also received 40% more enquiries for assistance than we would normally expect. So, we know the need for the unique help we provide for the entire that is in my fridge are some empty Jewish boxes community in London and the South and a duster to clean it with.” East is growing all the time. The volunteer delivery drivers check in “But that help comes at a cost. Our Meals with clients and have a socially distanced on Wheels service and Jewish Care Direct chat. As well as delivering a nutritious meal, Helpline receives no government they also give older people living at home funding. We need to raise £5 million on top of the opportunity to see another person the and £16 million we already need to raise just to help alleviate social isolation. continue to provide care and support Leslie says, “Sadly, Angela and I were to the not 10,000 lives we touch. blessed with children, so I don’t have any “With almost all of our fundraising events family of my own nearby.” cancelled because of the coronavirus Jewish Care chefs have made 33,000 pandemic, we are depending more than meals since the start of the pandemic, ever on the generosity of supporters like which have been delivered by the amazing you. So please make a gift this Chanukah and Jewish Care volunteers to clients. Th help is Chacontinue to bring light into the lives nukah, there will of course be latkes of more sent people like Leslie.”
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