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.
‘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
The Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, addressed the Jewish Small Communities meeting in Blackpool on 8 February at the Blackpool Hebrew Congregation.
His complete speech is available in 4 segments.
Please click this link to view the complete speech [link]
Remarkable drawings in a ‘new’ form by the veteran artist Hannah Frank have been discovered just before her centenary exhibition opens on her 100th birthday – 23 August.
Visitors to the ‘Hannah Frank, A Glasgow Artist 100th Birthday Exhibition’ now have a chance to see this significant new discovery of 17 Hannah Frank original works in a medium that we do not normally associate with this artist. Fiona Frank, the artist’s niece and champion, made the find during a last minute rummage in a suitcase held in the loft of the care home where Hannah Frank now lives.
“We’ve discovered many of Hannah’s artworks in this suitcase over the last five years. I’d noticed some pieces of sugar paper there but assumed they were packing materials. Then something made me take a closer look. To my amazement I found, inside each piece of folded sugar paper, 17 coloured drawings of various figures done in pastel. We think she did them during life classes at the Glasgow School of Art where my Aunt studied for many years.”
Here she used vibrant colour - bright red, an electric blue - and they are less linear and more three dimensional than her distinctive ‘trademark’ black and white works, yet there is still a haunting melancholy about these figures which is associated with those works.
Artist Ann Marie Foster, who has run Hannah Frank art workshops, said: “What a find! Hannah captures an essence with such economy of line. They are evidence of her drawing skill and technical facility and demonstrate the draftsman/womanship underpinning the black and white line drawings.”
Fiona added: “These drawings are a remarkable, integral part of the history of Hannah Frank’s journey as an artist. We urge people to come along to the exhibition, to celebrate the wonderful art Hannah produced over a 75 year career and to appreciate the vibrancy and vitality in these newly discovered life drawings.”
WOMAN’S HOUR - Tuesday 19th August
An interview with Hannah Frank, previously heard on Radio Scotland, will be featured.
If you’ve missed it try the BBC iPlayer
UPDATE: Sadly we have to report that Hannah Frank passed away peacefully, aged 100, on 18 December 2008. Thanks to the efforts of her niece, Fiona, her work is now widely known and exhibited and has forever left her footprints in the sand.
Having problems getting someone to lead your Shabbat or Yom Tov services? Tephilharmonic could help.
Arising from discussions at the 1st European Cantors’ Convention organised by the JMI in 2006, a nucleus of practitioners and enthusiasts have set up Tephilharmonic with the aim of preserving and developing traditional synagogue music in UK orthodox communities.
Tephilharmonic hopes to achieve this by:
Encouraging and enabling synagogue services led by knowledgeable Chazanim who will make traditional Shul music accessible and enjoyable
Providing support and musical resources for Chazanim and choirs
Training lay Chazanim in traditional Nusach and encouraging the participation of younger Shul-goers.
Forming a network of people who are interested in cantorial music (chazanut) and who will actively support it in their communities
Educating and involving community members to appreciate traditional synagogue music
Tephilharmonic was formed by:
Cantors Moshe Haschel, Avromi Freilich, and Gedalya Alexander, and
Jonathan Weissbart and Hirsh Cashdan.
Principal patron of Tephilharmonic is the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks.
1948
The State of Israel is founded
Israel declares independence as British leave Palestine
1956
The Sinai campaign
Secret ploy to thwart Egyptian blockade backfires
1967
The Six-Day War
Israel’s boundaries dramatically extended after thwarting surprise strike by Arab states
1973
Yom Kippur War (October)
Egypt in surprise attack over Suez on Yom Kippur
1977 - 1979
Egyptian-Israeli peace
Agreement over Sinai signals end to 30 years of war
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, US President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979
1982
Lebanon invasion
Israel targets southern Lebanon to stop rockets and incursion
1987
First Intifada
PLO declares holy war on Israel
Thousands of Arabs emerge from the Nusseirat refugee camp during the Palestinian uprising in 1987
1993
Oslo agreement
PLO eyes political benefits of two-state solution
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat sign the 1993 peace agreement with the encouragement of US President Bill Clinton
2000
Second Intifada
PLO fails to grab chance for peace and cynically maneuvers for another political war.
Peace talks fail and trigger fresh bloodshed
2005
Gaza withdrawal
Security wall goes up as Israel pulls out of Gaza
2006
Lebanon war
Ambush and hostage taking of Israeli soldiers sparks new conflict with Hezbollah
Weak Olmert government ultimately has to withdraw troops
2008
Israel now
Continues to be the only Democratic nation in the region, a prosperous technology leader, has perhaps lost some of the idealism of 1948, still on a knife-edge, but with many years yet to become a mature nation state
I just came across this web site (via Lisa Goldman) and thought I’d share it with you…
Nextbook is a non-profit organization which commissions books on Jewish themes, sponsors public lectures, readings, and performances in cities around the country, and publishes an online magazine. The website, Nextbook.org, contains information on all of these projects and also maintains an annotated list of recommended books.
They also have a music social event coming up this weekend…
Saturday 29th September: Klezmer Dance led by Sue Cooper with band Manchester Klezmer, which will take place on at the Gregson Arts and Community Centre, Moorgate, Lancaster, starting 7.45. Tickets £8 in advance, £10 on the door
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 
‘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.
Arising from discussions at the 1st European Cantors’ Convention organised by the JMI in 2006, a nucleus of practitioners and enthusiasts have set up Tephilharmonic with the aim of preserving and developing traditional synagogue music in UK orthodox communities.
