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.
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]
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
Ivan Urgant is not just a hansom Jewish boy, he is also presenter of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and one of today’s most popular Russian TV personalities.
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.
Esther Ofarim sings Veotach in Hamburg 1998
Esther Ofarim has had a long and distinguished solo career after splitting from her husband Abi. She continues to perform primarily in Israel and Germany. In the English speaking countries she seems to have fallen somewhat out of sight. But thanks to Youtube we can enjoy some of her many recorded performances.
Sarah Aroeste started attending music school at age 12. Sarah spent the next 10 years (including her 4 years at Yale University) training as a classical singer. During that time she won several competitions and sang in various international venues, most notably Tanglewood Music Festival and the Israel Vocal Arts Institute. While singing in Israel in 1997, Sarah met Nico Castel, the world-renowned diction coach of the Metropolitan Opera, and one of the world’s leading experts on Ladino, a form of Castillian Spanish and the language of Sarah’s Sephardic family. Sarah started studying Ladino music and culture with Castel, and upon her return to America she began incorporating Ladino into her concerts. In time, Sarah realized that very few people in America were familiar with Ladino and Sephardic music, so she founded her own music production company, Aroeste Music LLC, to expose this geography of music and make it more accessible to a new and wider audience. Combining the various influences that have shaped her, Sarah has created a musical style that mixes traditional Mediterranean Sephardic music with contemporary sensibilities such as rock, funk, jazz and blues. In 2001 Aroeste launched the Sarah Aroeste Band, the world’s first (and as yet only) Ladino Rock band.
“News & Views from the Jews”
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.
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.