Jewish Small Communities Network

Many of us dread the endless Matzo and sweets of Pesach. So how can you manage to maintain a reasonable diet and keep Pesach kosher?

Breakfast: Pesach Muesli
Your favourite fresh and dried fruit
Pesach Yogurt
Crumbled matzo
Honey

Mix it all up and it will keep you going till lunchtime.

Lunch: Tuna Salad
Tinned Tuna
Your preferred salad ingredients
Mayonnaise and/or olive oil and lemon juice

Add a sheet of Matzo for carbohydrate and Bob’s your uncle. You’ll be happy till dinner time.

Dinner: Cottage Pie
Lean Mince
Onion
Aubergine
Level teaspoon tomato paste
Mashed potatoes
Veg or chicken stock

Lightly fry the onions till transparent. Add the mince and brown it. Cube finely the Aubergine add and continue frying for a little while. Add some stock and a little water. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 to 15 mins. Transfer to an over dish and cover with the mashed potatoes. Cook at 180 degrees till mash is golden brown.

Serve with steamed broccoli.

Fish & Chips
Plaice coated in Matzomeal is a classic dish. So what better time to serve it than at Pesach.

Snacks:
Don’t just grab a piece of Matzo, cover it liberally with butter, cream cheese and sliced strawberries.

Light meals:
I keep a bowl of potato salad on the go in the fridge.
You can add all manner of things for a quick bite.

Omelettes can include mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes. They are very filling.

So what’s my golden rule?…..
Boost the intensity of every flavour.
Restrict cakes and sweets to desert and treat times.
Focus on fresh fruit and veg, as well as fresh meat and fish.

The trick is to keep various alternatives handy, it’s just too easy to reach for a cake or a sweet when you’re feeling peckish.

Eggs are always a quick and easy way to fill in a slightly bigger hunger gap.

My standbys are Potato Salad, Cream Cheese, Sephardi Harosset (like a date jam), fresh Fruit, dried Apricots, and Yogurt.

Mixing these and similar things will keep you going for the eight days of Passover.

Southport’s Rabbi, Zeev Saunders, has wed Floridian Erica Korman.

The wedding took place at the synagogue of the groom’s father, Rabbi Arnold Saunders, Crumpsall in north Manchester.

The Southport congregation will miss their young rabbi, as he seeks a career in America. But they will welcome him back should the couple decide to return.

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.