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.”
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:
Tephilharmonic was formed by:
Principal patron of Tephilharmonic is the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks.
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
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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
