Jewish Small Communities Network

FURRIERS, GLAZIERS, DOCTORS AND OTHERS: A HISTORY OF THE PRESTON JEWISH COMMUNITY
~ author John Cowell

John Cowell has mined the Jewish Chronicle online archives, local and national newspapers, local directories, birth, death and marriage records, and some of the surviving archives of the Preston Hebrew Congregation, all of them after the 1930s. Many of the early Jewish residents, and regular visitors, were dentists, one of whom was in the town for over thirty years. There were also, in the 19^th century, opticians, pedlars and hawkers (some of them spectacularly boastful about their wares), clothiers, and jewellers. From 1881 onwards a larger trickle of Jewish settlers arrived, many of them in the drapery and tailoring trades, but also a bicycle dealer, a glazier, and eventually, from the late 1920s, a set of doctors who made this rather an unusual small community. Further increase in numbers came in the 1930s and Second World War with the arrival of refugees from Continental Europe and from British cities, but after the War numbers declined, and with them the range of activities that could be undertaken, not to mention opportunities for work and marriage, and the availability of kosher food. The synagogue closed, and people moved away, as improved access to universities and the professions made movement in the pursuit of good jobs easy.

There is a full bibliography, appendices give a breakdown of where people came from, and where they went on to, their occupations in Preston, and the population in the 1911 census. The set of short biographies of members of the community is an outstanding feature of the book, filling out details of members of the Goodman and Goldberg families, the Lewises and Schwalbes, as well as others less well known The author has deliberately set out to be inclusive, particularly of Jewish people who were not members of the Congregation, as well as of those who were. The book is more than 220 pages long, with illustrations and some tables.

Available in paperback at £9.99 + £1 post and packing,
or as a CD, at £5.25 + £1 post and packing
from the author John Cowell
email: jcowellnix AT yahoo.com

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]

This year’s memorial service was completed with a choir’s performance of a song written by an inmate of Treblinka.

For a video of the choir’s performance alone click here

A preview of Rabbi Katanka’s singing. He will be visiting Southport in February.

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks:
“Friends, last Thursday – six days ago – the Archbishop of Canterbury and I led a mission of the leaders of all the faiths in Britain, leaders of the Muslim community, the Hindus, the Sikhs, the Buddhists, the Jains, the Zoroastrians and the Baha’i, and together we travelled and spent a day in Auschwitz.  There we wept together, and there we prayed together, knowing what happens when we fail to honour the humanity of those not like us.”

Download an audio MP3 of the Chief Rabbi’s presentation

Download a written PDF of the Chief Rabbi’s presentation

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.

link: http://www.tephilharmonic.org.uk/

We think you’ll enjoy this recital of the daily Mincha repetition by Cantor Avishai Shmuel Levin, who serves as a Chazzan for the Jewish community of Munich.

The Israeli Ambassador, HE Ron Prosor, came to Southport, on Sunday 13th July, to address the Jewish Small Communities meeting.
click the thumbnails to enlarge