TLSE Hakol November/December 2022

T L S E

Hakol Hakolhe iberal ynagogue lstree

Our beautiful Tree Of Life o ers an opportunity to commemorate a joyous Life Cycle Event See page 17 for details

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Liberal Judaism’s Online Page 2 Interactive Photography Archive

Editor’s Word Page 3

Report from the Chair Page 4

A Momentous Day Page 5 45 Years Ago

Female Jewish Scientists Page 6/7

From the Archives Page 8

The Day I nearly Met Page 9 the Queen

Actual Personal Ads Page 10 from Israeli Newspaper

Rabbi Tanya Page 11

Lunch Club Page 12

The Walk Page 13 Care Team Page 14 Who Does What at TLSE Page 15

Education Hub Page 16 Tree of Life Page 17

Sukkot Page 18

General Information Page 19 Answers

Lunch Club Flyer Page 20

LIBERAL JUDAISM’S ONLINE INTERACTIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

In response to this flyer from Liberal Judaism, as TLSE Archivist I plan to submit several photos representing the history of TLSE over the past fifty three years to form part of an online interactive archive on the LJ website for everyone to look through.

EDITOR’S WORD – NOVEMBER 2022

am a founder member and as Building Chairman

I lead the team of members who voluntarily spent over three years converting a vandalised grade 2 listed building into our synagogue. I have also served as Chairman, President, Chair of the Functions and Fund Raising, and Editor. After creating and archiving fifty years of Hakol into numerous binders I found myself nominated as Archivist. I also served as Treasurer & Vice Chairmen of the ULPS (now Liberal Judaism) for ten years. My wife, Sheila, served as Membership Secretary, Synagogue Secretary, Chairman and President for the synagogue during the shul’s first thirty years.

Terry Benson

As one of the newly elected trustees who are committed to revitalise TLSE, I offered to take on the editorship of Hakol after more than a year’s gap. I previously edited Hakol for several years in the 1990s and thoroughly enjoyed the task. Consequently, I am pleased to announce the resumption of Hakol as a bi-monthly magazine.

Whilst the weekly email will continue to highlight imminent services and activities Hakol will be able to provide;-

• A vehicle for members to express their views and suggestions

Reports & photos of recent activities & events

Provide updates from trustees meetings

Profiles of members and trustees

Highlights from Hakol Archives

Anglo Jewish history

Famous Jews both past & present

Jewish trivia and jokes

Youth & KT news

From the Rabbi

From the Chair

Care Team News

Education Hub

Who Does What at TLSE

Articles from members that may inspire, amuse or provoke discussion.

Etcetera

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that details printed in Hakol are correct no responsibility can be accepted for information misprinted or incorrectly given to the editor. Please let the Editor know of any errors or corrections. The Editor reserves the right to edit material submitted for publication.

REPORT FROM THE CHAIR Leigh Renak

Iwould like to introduce myself to you all, having been elected Chairman of the TLSE Trustees at the recent Trustees meeting.

Lisa and I have been members of TLSE for some 30+ years. I have previously served as Treasurer of the synagogue for a number of years, and Lisa is part of the Lunch Club group providing a monthly luncheon get together for the elder members of TLSE. Our eldest son Daniel is usually seen playing the organ at HHD and other occasions, Adam assists Mike Beral with the Tech for our weekly services, and Rachel has often been seen playing flute at our services.

Many of you will already be aware that the TLSE AGM resulted in an almost completely new Trustee board, and we have met twice since then. At the first meeting I was elected Chairman of the Trustees. Our immediate challenges are to deal with the aftermath of a somewhat traumatic recent couple of months that has culminated in the resignation of Rabbi Tanya and the subsequent substantial change to the Trustee board of TLSE. My immediate challenge is therefore to steady the ship and plan to take this community forward.

As those of you who attended the AGM may remember, we also have an immediate challenge of preparing for audit the annual accounts of TLSE to December 2021 and then to file them with the Charity Commission. This in itself is proving to be no small task! As the saying goes, every cloud has a

silver lining, and the immediate result of recent events has been (for the first time in memory) 16 TLSE members standing as Trustees at the AGM, and we had to vote to select 12. We now have a almost completely new board, and everyone of the Trustees has an important role to play for the future of TLSE.

But taking this community forward is not just a challenge for the Trustees alone. We need to engage You, the TLSE community, and have an open and transparent relationship with our membership. One means to achieve this is communication. Members should be aware that they can attend Trustee Meetings as observers and can request a copy of the minutes. We have the weekly newsletter, and Terry Benson has now revived Hakol. But these times require social media in its many forms, Website, Facebook etc. So one of my first challenges is to find, from within the community, a social media champion to overhaul all elements of our social media presence. I am looking for a volunteer to take on this challenge, ideally from our younger members, but in reality I’m open to all possibilities. Please contact me directly if you are interested in this key role.

I will be asking all of my fellow trustees to introduce themselves over the coming weeks in the weekly newsletter, routinely providing updates on their role and plans.

Finally, I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year and I look forward to the challenge of developing further our fabulous community.

A MOMENTOUS DAY 45 YEARS AGO

Terry Benson

Sunday 30th October 2022 marks exactly forty five years since Sunday 30th October 1967 when 40 members of the congregation turned up for the first organised work-in at our synagogue to clear up the terrible mess confronting us.

The vendors of the vandalised old St Nicholas C of E school, the Diocese of St Albans, had given us permission to start clearance work on the building before the final contracts were signed.

Despite the terrible mess, by 2pm there was an enormous improvement inside and outside of the soon to be synagogue. Many passers-by complimented the workers who had cleaned up the front of the building. To dispose of a vast pile of rubbish a bonfire was lit which burned throughout most of the day.

The Old School frontage in 1977

Note the Entrance Archway separating the main building from the Head Master’s House above and to the right. The archway was later filled in to become the new kitchen and to link the previously separate buildings

Has anyone read any Jewish themed or related books they would like to review for the magazine, either ction or non- ction? Are there any members interested in forming a Book Club, physical or virtual. If so please contact Hakoleditor@tlse.org.uk or 020

FEMALE JEWISH SCIENTISTS

Dame Vera Stephanie "Steve" Shirley CH, DBE, FREng, FBCS, is an information technology pioneer, feminist, businesswoman and philanthropist.

Steve Shirley was born in 1933 as Vera Buchthal to Arnold Buchthal, a Jewish judge in Dortmund who lost his post to the Nazi regime, and a Viennese mother. In July 1939 Steve Shirley arrived, at the age of five together with her nine-year-old sister Renate, in Britain as a Kindertransport child refugee.

Shirley attributes her early childhood trauma as being the driving force behind her ability to keep up with changes in her life and career

After attending a convent school, she moved to Oswestry, near the Welsh border, where she attended the local Girl’s High School. She decided not to go to university but sought employment in a mathematics/technical environment. At the age of 18, she became a British citizen and changed her name to Stephanie Brook.

In the 1950s she worked at the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill building elementary computers from scratch and writing code in machine language. She took evening classes for six years to obtain an honours degree in mathematics in 1956.

After marriage in 1959 to a physicist, Derek Shirley, she founded in 1962 the software company Freelance Programmers, (later F International) despite having no capital or business knowledge. Having experienced sexism in her workplace, "being fondled, being pushed against the wall", she wanted

Terry Benson

to escape the constraints of working as a woman in a predominantly male working environment and to create job opportunities for women with software skills and caring responsibilities and enabling them to work from home. At the time when a woman couldn’t open a bank account without her husband’s permission, this idea was truly revolutionary.

In 1978 I personally met with Steve Shirley in my office. I was then responsible for all computer operations and development for the P&O Group and Steve was marketing the services of F International to me. By the early 1980s a wider general interest in remote work via telecommunications support became evident and the business had developed country-wide coverage with more than 600 staff.

Although for the first decade the F International workforce communicated successfully on a daily basis, using the Post Office’s overnight

Dame Vera Stephanie "Steve" Shirley CH, DBE, FREng, FBCS

first class mail service, home working became increasingly accepted as telecommunications services became available. The F International story attracted extensive public and professional interest.

In 1991 Staff could take 44% ownership of the company by means of a workforce share scheme and in 1996 the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange. By the year 2000 the company that had begun as Freelance Programmers was valued at almost £2 billion, and due to Dame Stephanie’s co-ownership structure, had made millionaires of over 70 of its staff.

Steve Shirley retired in 1993 at the age of 60 and has since focused on her philanthropy.

Her late son Giles (1963–1998) was severely autistic and she became an early member of the National Autistic Society. She has instigated and funded research in this field, for example through the Autism Research Centre, and addresses conferences around the world (many remotely) and is in frequent contact with parents, carers and those with autism spectrum disorders. Her autistic son Giles died following an epileptic seizure at the age of 35.

She has donated more than £67 million of her personal wealth (from the internal sale to the company staff and later the flotation of FI Group) to charity through the Shirley Foundation.

In her 2012 memoirs Let IT Go, she writes "I do it because of my personal history; I need to justify the fact that my life was saved."

She was appointed OBE in 1980 for services to industry; appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2000 for services to information technology; and Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 2017 for services to the IT industry and philanthropy. NB The Order of Companions of Honour is limited to just 65 persons at any one time in the Commonwealth who have made a major contribution to arts, science, medicine or government over a significant period of time.

In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 .

In January 2014, the Science Council named Shirley as one of the "Top 100 practising scientists" in the UK.

Steve Shirley’s Kindertransport Identity Document

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Hebrew letters forming the new front cover of HAKOL in 1972 were created from a cut-out of the photo below of members at a sponsored walk in aid of our Building Fund publicised in the Harrow Observer in May 1972.

Can you recognise several early members?

THE DAY I NEARLY MET THE QUEEN Michael Shaw

In 1985 I became the head teacher of a very large junior school in Luton. My predecessor had introduced Italic handwriting to the school, a tradition that I continued and encouraged. Pupils also entered The Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Handwriting Competition held annually at The East of England Show in Peterborough. The work of our pupils was always displayed amongst the runners up but in 1991 that changed, one of the pupils gained third prize and he and his father were invited to receive the prize at the show. Adding to the importance was the information that Her Majesty The Queen was presenting the prizes during her visit to the show.

Knowing that I was a competent photographer the staff told me that I had to go and record the event. Tongue in cheek I phoned Buckingham Palace to request a pass to the V.I.P section, to my surprise both the school and myself were known to the person I dealt with and the next morning the required passes were couriered to the school.

I warned the father to leave no later than 07.30 on the day as traffic would be heavy going to the show. I arrived early and made my way to the enclosure for parents and guests. At the appropriate time the Queen, accompanied by the show’s organiser and minimal security, arrived to award the prizes. The third prize-winner was called and no one came forward, oh horror the boy was late.

The second and then first prizes were awarded and the Queen turned to make her way to the next event, at that moment my pupil, brother and father arrived.

Somehow the Queen as told and she immediately turned round went back to present the prize including speaking to him about his work and the book. This was not a representative but Her Majesty the Queen taking time to present a prize to a latecomer when she could so easily have carried on with her schedule.

I was able to have the photographs printed, enlarged and displayed for the next day. I kept the originals and after a search found them so am able to include two pictures the sun came out just as I photographed The Queen with the show’s organiser so she has her eyes closed. I could have reached out and touched her That is how close she was to others and me in that stand, a day I have never forgotten.

ACTUAL PERSONAL ADS FROM ISRAELI NEWSPAPERS

Divorced Jewish man seeks partner to attend shul with, light Shabbos candles, celebrate holidays, build sukkah together, attend brisses, barmitzvahs. Religion not important.

Sincere rabbinic student, 27. Enjoys Yom Kippur, Tisha B’av. Taanis Esther, Tzom Gedaliah, Asarah B’Teves, Shiva Asar B’Tammuz. Seeks companion for living life in the ‘fast’ lane.

Yeshiva bochur, Torah scholar, long beard, payos. Seeks same in woman.

Jewish businessman, 49, manufactures Sabbath candles, Chanukah candles, Havdallah candles, Yahrzeit candles. Seeks non-smoker

Jewish male, 34, very successful, smart, independent, self-made.

Looking for girl whose father will hire me.

Desperately seeking schmoozing!.

Retired senior citizen desires female companion 70+ for kvetching, kvelling, and krechtzing. Under 30 also OK.

Orthodox woman with get, seeks man who got get, or can get get. Get it? I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.

Nice Jewish guy, 38, No skeletons. No baggage. No personality.

Female graduate student, studying kaballah, Zohar, exorcism of dybbuks, seeks mensch. No weirdos please.

80-year-old bubby, no assets, seeks handsome virile Jewish male, under 35. Object matrimony. I can dream can’t I?

Single Jewish woman, 29, into disco, mountain-climbing, skiing, track and field. Has slight limp.

Attractive Jewish woman, 35, college graduate, seeks successful Jewish Prince to get me out of my parent’s house.

Members were devastated at the announcement that Rabbi Tanya was leaving us after barely one year. With her welcoming personality she has been a blast of fresh air, enthusiasm and optimism. In this first issue of Hakol following her unfortunate departure we wish to thank her for her remarkable contribution to TLSE in such a short time and wish her well for the future and hope that our paths may cross in due course.

Regarding Rabbi Tanya’s Resignation

A clarification issued jointly on behalf of Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich and the Trustees of TLSE on 30th August 2022

A number of members of the TLSE community have expressed their concern that the detailed events leading to the resignation of Rabbi Tanya were not discussed at the AGM. The new Board of Trustees together with Rabbi Tanya have agreed to make a joint statement on this matter as follows:

Rabbi Tanya has unfortunately decided to leave her post as the TLSE Rabbi due to irreconcilable differences with some of the previous Trustees of TLSE. There is not and has never been any question of any impropriety on anyone’s part.

As a direct consequence of these recent events Rabbi Tanya will be taking up the role of temporary Rabbi for 12 months at Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue and, as many of you may already know, TLSE now has an almost entirely new board of Trustees working to rebuild the TLSE community and look to the future. Rabbi Tanya continues to work with the new board to achieve this aim.

Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich Leigh Renak (Chair of Trustees)

Do you have an article, letter or photos that you would like to share? Contact the editor on Hakoleditor@tlse.org.uk

LUNCH CLUB

fter a lot of souls searching a small group of us agreed to start Lunch Club once again.

The two year absence caused by the pandemic meant we had lost some of the previous confidence and know-how about catering for a large group of people. (How ever did Carol Hurst do it single handed for all those years?). In addition, we had lost a couple of the previous committee members due to health, or other commitments, so we made arrangements for the last Tuesday in March to get the ball rolling again. Worried that the resurgence of covid might put people off, our biggest problem turned out to be the speaker who, near the time of the event, felt the risks from covid at an indoor function were too great for her to take, so we were speakerless. Luckily, I have a small collection of Jewish themed CDs and I was able to cobble together a varied programme of music which provided the entertainment. Further meetings have taken place in subsequent months, with Michael Shaw entertaining us with a programme of ‘Lost Gershwin’, and Rabbi Tanya talking about her experiences ‘From Belarus to Borehamwood’ in May. In June we heard a talk From Brian Bloom about the Jewish contribution to the armed services, and in July we learnt about Neve Shalom-Arab/Israeli village. Due to a clash with Rosh Hashana, the September Lunch Club cannot take place, so we are looking forward to re-convening in October for another musical talk by Brian Nathan.

Numbers of attendees have varied between 18-39 mostly seniors, but younger members would not be turned away. We have put on a notional limit of 40 people as catering for this number a quite daunting. We have struggled with over catering, and the quirky behaviour of the oven, and are grateful to Stacey, our caretaker and head washer upper, for keeping us on the right lines. We are also grateful to John Barnard (now retiring), for providing us with several months of soup. We would welcome offers of help, occasionally, or regularly, to cook any of the three courses.

Do come and join us if you are free. It’s an enjoyable social afternoon, and don’t forget to let the office know if you plan to attend.

See the back cover for details of our next lunch club

Shaw

THE WALK

Nancy Shavick

Rabbi Tanya has asked me to lead a walk on Tuesday, 27th September, the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

We met at Shenley Park Tearooms at 10.30 for a walk of about 5 miles. Then for those who preferred we had lunch in the Tearooms after the walk. We enjoyed the day very much and hope some of you will join us on future walks.

TEAM TEAM

CARE TEAM MESSAGE:

MUZEL TOV TO:

Daniel & Hayley Renak on the birth of Rose Lottie Lisa & Leigh Renak on becoming grandparents Stacey Shurlin & Mark Saunders on their Engagement

Your Care Team at TLSE is happy to hear from members if they wish to have a little chat and to discuss ways in which we can try to help.

During Covid, our role was mainly phone members requiring TLC and many of those on the receiving end were happy to hear from us and appreciated our calls.

The Bereavement session we held for members and Friends worked well and we hope to repeat this again in the future.

We do hope that now we can be more in touch with you and our motto CARING is SHARING is one we hope you will keep in mind if you need a little help! We have a wheelchair available for you to borrow if you need to, please just let us know. We strongly support the Lunch club at TLSE and co-ordinate with Tina and Jacqueline to help with transport.

We are currently trying to expand the numbers on the Care Team and appeal to families and anyone with a little spare time, to get in touch because making a difference to just one lonely or unwell member, is part of our ethos and makes us feel we have helped. Please think about joining our team, Barbara and Peter, Tina, Penny, Carole P, Estelle and myself.

Look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon Maureen Adams Estelle Leigh 07961 075657 07754 654297

GET WELL TO:

Rabbi Alan Mann

BURIAL

In cases of bereavement, please contact our Burial Officer, Joan Shopper on 01582 792959

WHO DOES WHAT AT TLSE

Showing the range of Voluntary Activities required to run TLSE.

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EDUCATION HUB

The Education Hub takes place every Sunday in term time from 10am-12:30pm for children from Y1 upwards. It is a great opportunity for students to learn about the Jewish festivals, Jewish values and Hebrew.

The mornings are filled with creative activities which include art, drama, discussion, games and our favourite cooking. Here are pictures of class Alef making apple and honey cakes. We hope to see many of you when The Hub pupils lead the service on December 10th at 11am.

For more details about the Hub email Jacqueline office@tlse.org.uk

Jacqueline Bernard

TREE OF LIFE

Terry Benson

Our beautiful Tree Of Life offers an opportunity for everyone to commemorate joyous life cycle events, such as birth of a child or grandchild, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, an engagement, wedding or anniversary, major birthday or other celebration.

The falling leaves represent the six million victims of the Holocaust and the section alongside the roots of the tree offers an opportunity to record an individual or family lost.

Leaves in either section are available at a minimum donation of £100 per leaf.

For further information please email Michael Rebak at mike.rebak@gmail.com

SUKKOT

Jacqueline Bernard

Children from the Hub building the Sukkah as well as learning about the Lulav and etrog. It was great fun hanging the leaves and fruit and seeing how many different types there were.

T L S E

Elstree High Street, Elstree, Hertfordshire WD6 3EY Phone: 020 8953 8889 Email: office@tlse.org.uk www.tlse.org.uk

Edited by Terry Benson

Would all those involved in arranging functions services or meetings please contact the office on 0208 953 8889 or office@tlse.org.uk so that they can be scheduled in the Synagogue diary. This ensures that any physical set-ups in the Synagogue are arranged and that meetings do not conflict.

If you need to talk to Jacqueline Bernard in the office, please note that she is mostly working from at home so it is better to email her at office@tlse.org.uk and she will respond.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure that details printed in Hakol are correct no responsibility can be accepted for information misprinted or incorrectly given to the editor. Please let the Editor know of any errors or corrections. The Editor reserves the right to edit material submitted for publication.

The deadline for submissions to the next edition of Hakol is Monday 5th December 2022 but submissions will be accepted at any time and early submission is appreciated.

www.brunswickpress.co.uk

hakoleditor@tlse.org.uk

LUNCH CLUB

Enjoy a great lunch! Make new friends! Be entertained!

Venue: The Synagogue Time: 1pm TLSE members: £5 Non -Members: £6

Tuesday 29 November

Tuesday 20 December

If you are coming, please contact Jacqueline by Thursday prior to Lunch

Email: office@tlse.org.uk Mobile: 07888 600801 Tel: 020 8953 8889

Kindly leave names and numbers of all attendees on the answerphone. Please advise of any dietary requirements

If you are coming, please contact Jacqueline by Thursday 20 October

Email: office@tlse.org.uk Mobile: 07888 600801 Tel: 020 8953 8889

Kindly leave names and numbers of all attendees on the answerphone.