Jewish Small Communities Network

Wishing you all well over Pesach

Rabbi Zevi Saunders

After many occasional visits to officiate at the Arnside Road Synagogue Rabbi Zev Saunders has not only agreed to run our Shabbat services but will also be available during the week to perform the very important pastoral duties which our community has lacked for so long.

He takes over from his younger brother Yossi who is leaving after over a year as our minister and chazzan. He ensured that we have always had someone to run our Shabbat service and we wish him every success in his new full time job based in London.

Rabbi Zev will be available to visit members of the community in hospital or in their own homes. He will be pleased to give any spiritual or religious guidance or just have a chat.

He will endeavour to make contact with as many members of our community as possible but if you particularly want a visit or a chat, ring Sue in the shul office to make an appointment. He is a very approachable young man and we wish him every success in his first post as communal Rabbi.

Keen footballer Rabbi Zev Saunders, centre, with brother Yossi, right

The Hannah Frank Art poetry competition is free to enter for children and young people aged 18 and under, and entry costs £3.00 per poem for adults – refundable against Hannah Frank prints or cards in the online shop. Entrants have to write a poem, in English or Scots, inspired by one of Hannah Frank’s black and white drawings.  The closing date is 31st March 2010. To go with the competition there’s a special offer on the two Hannah Frank books and the biographical DVD, ‘The Spark Divine’ – made by award-winning filmmaker Sarah Thomas in 2008 to celebrate the artist’s 100th birthday. The competition will be judged by Scottish poet David Kinloch.  The first prize in the adult category is £200, and the first prize in the 18 and under category is £100.   Full details including prizes in four 18 and under categories, and an online gallery of drawings to inspire you, can be found on the website http://www.hannahfrank.org.uk where you’ll find the competition rules and an entry form

Laurence Brass was elected Treasurer to the Board of Deputies of British Jews in May 2009. So when he visited Southport, to give the keynote speech at the AJEX presentation evening, I interviewed him for the Jewish Hour on BBC Radio Manchester.

The interview aired the following Monday, 30th Nov… and since then the air has turned blue in apoplexy with a stream of complaints about some of Laurence’s views. None directly to the BBC though. Phone calls to the Board of Deputies were followed by many column inches in the Jewish press and internet Blogs, both in the UK and Israel.

Below are links to several of the articles that were written about or in response to the row.

Jerusalem Post

Jewish Chronicle

Jewish Chronicle - community

Jews Sans Frontieres

Isi Leibler blog
(after my interview with him 14/12/09)
also
Britanniaradio Blogspot

JewPI [Jewish Press International]

photo: Board of Deputies honorary officers 2009 - Lawrence Brass fourth from left

“News & Views from the Jews”

You can hear me, Ed Horwich, interviewing most weeks on the long-running Jewish Hour radio programme.

Every Monday 7.00 - 8.00pm

BBC Radio Manchester 95.1 FM & DAB digital radio (BBC Manc)
BBC iPlayer: http://bbc.co.uk/manchester
Listen Live or click Listen Again and choose Jewish Citizen from the list
[available worldwide for 7 days from broadcast]

Lorna Kay of the Manchester branch of the Jewish Genealogy Society spoke to me about tracing your roots, reading a head stone, eastern european records, and much more. We caught up when she and her colleagues were on research visit to the Jewish Cemetery at Failsworth.

(A stone mason was also at work and you can hear his power tools in the background from time to time)
Listen to our chat by using the player below.
 

Early tour in Israel ,1973…

The audience sings “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem” as a jesture for legendary Leonard Cohen to come back to the stage…

Cohen’s first performance in Israel was in the middle of  the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

While on tour he performed for Israeli troops in the Sinai Desert, coming under fire.

On 24 September 2009 Leonard Cohen, now 75,  performed again in Israel for the first time in 30 years at Ramat Gan stadium near Tel Aviv.

‘REP Presents’ is the Jewish Representative Council’s newsletter for the Jewish Communities of Greater Manchester and Region, Blackpool, Lytham St Annes, Preston and Stoke on Trent.

Issue 20 August 2009 contains:
Outreach & Education
What Have MEPs Got to do with You and Me?
Caring for the Elderly
A Two Way Link
Events Diary
Zionism is the Pride of Joy
Where it’s tough for Jewish Students
Funding that’s just the Job
Training Our Leaders of the Future
Our Afternoon at the Palace

Click here to download a copy

In 2001, 114 actively practising Jews lived in Sunderland, but the number has since fallen. Sonia and Charles Slater are two of the remaining Jewish worshippers in the Sunderland area.

Charles, who was once the leader of Sunderland Council for almost two decades, talks about the congregation’s demise:

“Many of our congregation left to study in places like Manchester, London or Leeds and stayed there.

“It was probably the active all-round Jewish community that kept them there.”

In the 1960s, the Jewish community was large and thriving, but as Charles puts it: “The rest of us left here [in Sunderland] are simply dying.”

Synagogue closes

Since the Ryhope Road Synagogue closed in March 2006, there isn’t a place for the remaining Jews to worship, except in their own homes. Continue reading