CTJC Bulletin Rosh Hashana 2012

CTJC Bulletin Rosh Hashana 2012

Bumper New Year Issue, including: Women – know your place A perspective on paperwork Poems, recipes, and much more…

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Welcome to the CTJC Rosh Hashana Bulletin Bulletin Number 105.

Rosh Hashana is upon us. In the Pesach bulletin we were looking forward to some sunshine after a soggy and cold winter, but alas, the summer has been a bit of a damp squib. Hopefully we’ll enjoy an Indian Summer – “proper Yomtov weather” as my Grandpa would have said.

Congratulations to Ros Landy, who takes up the position of Chair of CTJC, and to the other new and returning members of the committee. If you would like to get involved with any aspect of running CTJC, please contact Ros by emailing chair@ctjc.org.uk Chanukah is just around the corner, so if you would like to submit material for our Chanukah issue, please email bulletin@ctjc.org.uk You can read the bulletin online in full colour at http://issuu.com/ctjc/docs/roshhashana_2012 Wishing you a Shana Tova, from all at the Bulletin.

Small print…

Views expressed in the bulletin are the views of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or of the committee of the CTJC.

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In this issue…

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Welcome to the CTJC Rosh Hashana Bulletin In this issue…

Community news and communal information Chairman’s message Women – know your place! – By Rabbi Reuven Leigh Changes, transitions and wellbeing – By Bev Gold The quest for Huntingdon’s Synagogue Part 2 – By Mark Harris 17 A Perspective on paperwork – By Rochel Leigh 20 My birthday is not my birthday – By Ben Blaukopf 25 CTJC Subscriptions and donations 25 Where there’s a will…

27 Rosh Hashana message from the President of the Board of Deputies 29 CST Rosh Hashana update 30 The Shofar – By Jonathan Goldman 31 Make a date! – By Helen Goldrein 33 Festivals word search Back cover Religious calendar

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Community news Mazeltov To Lauren and Jonathan Allin, whose daughter Victoria graduated with First class honours from Keele University.

To Gertrude Landy on her third great great grandchild.

Welcome To Elisheva and Yisroel Malkiel, new student Chaplains.

Refuah Shlemah To Barry Landy, who is recovering from an operation.

To Jonathan Goldman.

Farewell To Graeme and Miryam Alexander, who are moving to London in October.

To Yohai and Milkah Carmel.

To Simon and Sarah Mandel, outgoing student Chaplains.

Communal Information Shul services Friday evening In term: In vacations:

Winter, Ma’ariv at 6pm Summer, Minchah and Ma’ariv at 7:30pm Winter, Minchah and Ma’ariv just before Shabbat June-August, Minchah and Ma’ariv at 7:30pm September, Minchah and Ma’ariv just before Shabbat

Shabbat morning 9:30am Sunday morning 8:00am (most weeks) You can also consult our online calendar at www.ctjc.org.uk/calendar Learning Rabbi Reuven Leigh holds a Talmud Shiur at Chabad House, 37A Castle Street, Cambridge CB3 0AH, every Monday at 8pm. Parking is available in the Shire Hall car park. For more details email rl324@cam.ac.uk A Talmud Shiur led by Prof. Stefan Reif is held on a convenient evening in those weeks when Prof. Reif is in Cambridge. For more information email chevra@ctjc.org.uk

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Mikvah The Cambridge Mikvah is now open. To book an appointment please call Mrs. Rochel Leigh on 07825 126724 at least 48 hours in advance. For more information about the Mikvah please call Rochel or email at rochel@cuchabad.org.

Hospital Visiting Contact Sarah Schechter, Tirzah Bleehen or Barry Landy if you need to organise visits, or would like to volunteer to help.

Rabbi Reuven Leigh (354603) and Barry Landy can attend hospitals to read prayers.

Due to concerns for personal privacy the hospital no longer informs us when Jewish patients are admitted, so if you or someone you know would like to be visited, please contact us.

Chevra Kadisha Contact Barry Landy, Brendel Lang or Trevor Marcuson in the first instance.

Bar Mitzvahs, Weddings, Brit Milah and other religious services Contact Rabbi Reuven Leigh or Barry Landy to organise.

Children’s activities For information about Cambridge Hebrew School, the After School Club, or Ganeinu Child Care Service, contact Rochel Leigh at rochel@cuchabad.org CTJC email list CTJC has an email list. To join and receive regular updates about services, events, Shabbat times etc, please email Barry Landy at bl10@cam.ac.uk or Jonathan Allin at jonathan.allin@nokia.com CTJC Officers Rabbi Committee 2012/2013 Chairman Treasurer Secretary Synagogue officer Education officer Welfare officer Bulletin/website officer Board of Deputies

Reuven Leigh Rosalind Landy Jonathan Allin Barry Landy Barry Landy Sarah Shechter Helen Goldrein

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Chairman’s message We are a peace-loving small community living in momentous times. Arab nations all around are in turmoil with no great success in achieving democracy. The world is in a financial chaos and there is recession. The list of miseries is long.

Judaism however, focuses more on the individual and on what that person can do in the world sense. It is our duty to improve ourselves and also to try to fulfil the Mitzva of Tikkun Olam, a bettering of the world. This can be as simple as helping someone or giving charity. The ideas are to do good and not to harm.

In particular at this season we consider the past year and think about how we may improve our actions. In the Asseret Y’mei T’shuva, the ten days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we are in a state of repentance. This is the time of judgement from on high. We hope that our prayers will be answered for good.

I wish you all a good year of health and happiness. And may there be peace everywhere and hope for everyone in the world.

Shana Tova, Rosalind Landy Chairman

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Women – know your place!

By Rabbi Reuven Leigh The brief interval between aliyot during Shabbat morning services are often a good opportunity to have a short chat with my neighbour before returning to the expected decorum during the leyning (a stand out feature of our shul). A few months ago, however, I was plunged into a state of confusion during one such break when we had the pleasure to experience the naming of a baby girl.

The child was born in proximity to Shavuot and was named Rut, which was not surprising, yet she was only blessed to one day get married and live a life of good deeds. Due to her gender she was not blessed to excel in the learning of the Torah. Truth be told, I shouldn’t have been shocked, I am well aware of the textual variation used for girls in some communities (not in Chabad by the way,) yet I felt that this was a thoroughly non-Cambridge custom and perspective.

The Cambridge Jewish community is renowned for its non-imposing and easy going manner, however, in this regard I would like to advocate a strict approach to ensuring that young girls in our community are suitably blessed for a life of Torah scholarship.

It may be worth having a look at the evolution of attitudes to female Torah study so we can come to a healthy conclusion, starting from the halachik works of the Middle Ages which, for better or worse, remain the strongest influence on our religious lives today.

Maimonides (1135-1204) writes in his laws of Torah study (1:13): “A woman who has studied Torah has a reward, but it is not like the reward of a man. For she was not commanded, and the reward of anyone who does a thing concerning which he is not commanded is not like the reward of him who is commanded and has done it, but is less than it. Yet even though she has a reward, the Sages commanded that a man not teach his daughter Torah, for the mind of the majority of women is not adapted to be taught, rather they turn the words of the Torah into words of nonsense according to the poorness of their mind.”

An initial analysis of this ruling wold suggest that Maimonides sides entirely with the view of Rabbi Eliezer in his dispute with Ben Azzai in the Mishna (Sotah 3:4) that there is no obligation to teach one’s daughters Torah.

However, a closer look at the wording would indicate that the ruling is based on certain circumstances, primarily that the ‘mind of the majority of women is not adapted to be taught.’ Now, one could argue that such an argument is

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quite circular, for if you don’t educate the women they will undoubtedly appear unsuited to learning. Nevertheless, this seemingly firm ruling was not intended to eternally forbid the teaching of Torah to women, but rather to rule that as long as they are not suited for learning they shouldn’t be taught.

The eminent Ashkenazi Rabbi, Moshe Isserlis (1520-1572), popularly known as the ‘Rema,’ expanded the horizons of female Torah study. In his gloss on the Shulchan Aruch, he writes (Yoreh Deah 246:6): “A woman is obligated to learn the laws that are relevant to women, and a woman is not obligated to teach her son Torah, however, if she helps her son or her husband to be engaged with Torah study she shares the reward with them.”

Admittedly, this ruling still places limits on the scope of female learning, yet it is an important stage in the process of emancipating women from their perceived inability to study Torah and allowing them to participate in the scholarly aspects of Jewish life.

It is important to note, that throughout Jewish history there have been examples of learned women who were fluent in all areas of Jewish scholarship and contributed to the halachik decision making. There was a woman who gave shiurim in a yeshivah in Baghdad, there are responsa that were written in the names of the authors’ mothers and wives and there were women who edited their husband’s works. These women were the exception to the rule but they tell us that there was never a sense that women should not excel in learning, it would seem that there was just never much of an impetus to ensure that it happened.

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In the early 20th century the impetus arrived to provide women with a Torah education. Due to alarming rates of assimilation in Eastern Europe the first Jewish girl’s schools were established by Sarah Schenirer (1883-1935) in Poland with the support of the leading Rabbinic figures of the time. Within a short period the concept of such schools became mainstream and whereas there are some communities that still stick to a rigid application of the Rema’s ruling and only teach girls laws that are relevant to them and forbid the study of Talmud, nevertheless, it is now universally accepted by all strands of Jewish thought that women should be taught Torah, and there is no Jewish community that doesn’t have some form of Jewish studies curriculum for girls.

My views are very much shaped by the thought of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson (1902-1994), who over the course of his leadership was a strong advocate of female Torah study. He felt that women’s Torah study should not be confined to a limited set of texts and subjects, and urged a method of study for women that should parallel that of men (see talk of Shabbat Emor 1990.)

Many people complain about the inequality that is built into Jewish practice, yet in the sphere that ‘is equal to everything else’ there has developed over time a gender indifference, and we should ensure that this positive development is not taken for granted by harbouring the same ambitions for our daughters as our sons.

I therefore think it is important that we bless our baby girls with the blessing of success in their future Torah study.

Changes, transitions & wellbeing

By Bev Gold

Congratulations to all new students. It is a fantastic achievement that you are here. Hopefully, your time at Cambridge will be happy and successful.

It is, of course, a time of huge challenges that are not simply academic.

Negotiating your way through change is not always easy and it is important to know that help is available, should you need it.

Making the transition from teenager to fully-fledged adult, responsible for your own decisions, relationships, finances and general wellbeing can sometimes be very tricky. Loss of the familiar and the weight of expectation can all add to this.

New situations can be testing for any of us. The latest statistics from Mind, the Mental Health Charity, tells us that one in four of us will have a period in our lives when we have to deal with our own mental health issues.

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It is really important that we recognise that challenges to our mental health are often a reasonable response to living in an uncertain world with huge strains and stresses to contend with.

Being able to name a problem or issue is the first step towards recovery. It is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength to seek help. Many of us, as these statistics tell us, need professional support from time to time to get us back on track and in touch with what we need to manage our lives successfully.

Whether we have occasional anxiety and stress or deep-seated mental health issues, there is support available.

My own clinical work as a psychotherapist in Cambridge supports the general view that “the Talking Therapies” are often all that is required to restore full psychological health.

Stephen Fry, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ruby Wax, J.K. Rowling, Angelina Jolie and MP Charles Walker are a few individuals at the top of their game, who have broken the silent taboo around their own mental illness and are nevertheless highly successful in their chosen fields.

The university has a good, free counselling service that students can easily access on-line to make appointments, and some colleges have their own college counsellors. Students would have to check that out on college websites.

Rabbi Reuven Leigh and his wife, Rochel are available for general support and both are very approachable. I would also advise students to register with local GPs during term time.

I will also be setting up a Mental Health and Wellbeing Support Group in the autumn, so email me if you would like to join or think I could be of any other help (I have extensive experience in the university sector working with staff and students).

Below is a list of useful websites if you get into difficulty • Moodgym • Livinglifetothefull • Studentsagainstdepression • Allaboutdepression.com • Linkline- this is especially for Cambridge students • Cambridge Samaritans • Saneline • Lifeline • Addenbrookes Hospital provides 24 hour cover in emergencies.

Do take your Wellbeing seriously, and don’t suffer distress in isolation.

Bev Gold bevgoldpsychotherapyservices@gmail.com:

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A Quest for Huntingdon’s Synagogue (Part 2) Mark Harris advances his search for the medieval shul

During my interview with fellow lawyer and CTJC member Jonathan Djanogly MP for a newspaper article last summer, we discussed briefly the synagogue of the Jewish community in medieval Huntingdon. The pleasant Cambridgeshire market town on the River Great Ouse falls within the Justice Minister’s parliamentary constituency.

Jonathan had remarked: “I would like to know where the shul stood, so that we can put up a plaque.” Inspired by the implicit challenge, I began my researches to locate the 12th /13th century house of worship. In last Pesach’s “CTJC Bulletin”, I reported on my initial investigations (they can be read online at www.ctjc.org.uk): (1) One outcome was my belief that the area of Huntingdon’s roughly oval-shaped medieval “Jewry” had been broadly identified; and that the synagogue (or scola) had likely stood somewhere in the vicinity of an alleyway named St Clement’s Passage (formerly known as Mutton Alley), running directly off the High Street and largely alongside St Mary’s churchyard.

(2) I also gave an account of another continuing aspect of my search, which is hoping to trace (in case it reveals clues to location) the current whereabouts of Hebrew books/manuscripts said to have been bought by the scholarly Monk Gregory (for the nearby Ramsey Abbey’s famous library) at an auction held at the synagogue after it had been forcibly closed by edict in the late 1280s, and before it was burned down by a mob (prior to the expulsion of the Jews from England by Edward I in 1290).

This second article relates only to the aspect referred to in (1) above.

I had been advised that there are no relevant and extant contemporary charts of medieval Huntingdon in the town’s library and archives. So far, I have not discovered any such graphic documents. The earliest plan of the town that I have located is by the renowned map-maker John Speed, and dates back to

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1610. Although of course it does not identify the erstwhile synagogue site, the map is helpful in a few respects. First, it annotates explicitly, and thereby confirms, “Mutton Alley” as the previous name of the narrow walkway signposted today as St Clement’s Passage.

One source had noted that “Mutton” was a derogatory back reference to the mutton diet of its earlier Jewish residents (“mutton eaters”), who had refused to eat pork. I considered this a possibly significant clue; and a fairly recent residential block fronting the alleyway is called “Muttongate” (echoes of the “Jew Gate” entrance to some European Jewish enclaves?). But it was suggested to me that Mutton Alley might have been “named for a local man”.

If such was the case, the eponymous designation would need to have related to someone who had lived before 1610. The only person with the surname “Mutton” that I could find (on a genealogical search) as being associated with Huntingdon was Stephen Mutton. But he had been around later in the 18th century.

Speed’s drawing of the town indicates the constricted extent of Huntingdon’s built-up area, even in the early 17th century; most of the marked buildings and houses (as well as St Mary’s Church) range along or close to the long High Street. Jewish presence in such medieval market towns has been found generally and perhaps necessarily, for trade purposes, to have been very near to the commercial hub. Huntingdon was one of 26 centres in 13th century England where, pursuant to the “Ordinances of the Jewry” of 1194, the Jewish community had a royal archa; in effect, a chest or repository for the preservation of deeds, financial arrangements, possessions and debts (so that the monarch would know of all business transacted by Jews).

To return to the “Mutton Alley” provenance, when Dowager Queen Eleanor (mother of Edward I) exiled the Cambridge Jewish community to Huntingdon in 1275, Josceus (sometimes rendered as Josce or Joceus) son and heir of Samuelotus (or Saulot), from a wealthy and notable Jewish family, was appointed one of the customary four (two Christian, two Jewish) chirographers (or keepers of the deeds etc) of the Huntingdon and Cambridge archae. The chirographers responded to any requests from the Exchequer in Westminster. The 36 documents found in these archae, and reported to the Exchequer in 1292-3, included 32 relating to loans by Jews to Christians 20 or more years earlier (an indication of the medieval town’s declining economy).

Josce was probably the only member of the transferred Cambridge community to be permitted (by order of 4 February 1277 to the Sheriff of Cambridge) “to dwell with his household” close to the town (in the village of Chesterton) after the removal, so that he could “ply his merchandise there” and supervise (“repair”) his properties in Bridge Street (in the parish of Holy Sepulchre) and elsewhere in Cambridge. In his “History of St John’s [College]” Thomas Baker

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refers to a stone house, which once stood at the corner of earlier St John’s Lane and was sometimes called “The Jew’s House” but more often “Bede’s House”, as “having formerly belonged to one Joceus, a Jew”. Josce appears to have been a trader in at least the staples of corn and wool; his name stands first (against the value of such commodities) in the “Expulsion” return to the Exchequer of the Cambridge/Huntingdon archae.

Intriguingly, I then discovered that the family name of Josce and his father was “Motun”, sometimes rendered as “Mutun”. In consequence, the suggestion that “Mutton Alley” was possibly “named for a local man” may be supported in the form of a scion of the medieval “Motun/Mutun” dynasty, whose Jewish faith could have given rise also to the “mutton eaters” notion of name origin.

It might even be a likelihood that Josce resided in a house on or near “Mutton Alley” and close to the synagogue. Though it may be necessary to bear in mind that “12 Jurors declared at Huntingdon that no Jews held houses, tenements, or rents in Huntingdon in fee or for a term of years before the Expulsion but that they (rented them) from year to year while they lived there”.

I am endeavouring to trace any properties in Huntingdon to which Josce or any other Jew had a connection, whether as a resident or otherwise. I am in the process of investigating Hundred Rolls, Pipe Rolls, Plea Rolls, Close Rolls, Charter Rolls, Fine Rolls, Patent Rolls and other contemporary records that may give a clue in that regard. I did manage to trace a rare book, “Hebrew Deeds [Shetaroth] of English Jews before 1290” (edited by M D Davies and published in 1888); and, with permission, to peruse it in the Old Library at Christ’s College Cambridge.

This copy had never been opened, and was specially prepared for me by the college’s librarian.

The work contains all accessible documents (as at that Victorian time) from the British Museum, Public Record Office and the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, Huntingdon does not feature amongst the towns covered. Another work, “A Second Domesday Book” by Sandra Raban, deals with a comprehensive landholding survey in 1279 and 1280 commissioned by Edward I. Whilst the surviving original returns of that survey include much of Huntingdonshire, there is apparently nothing available relating to the town of Huntingdon.

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I have been advised by experts in these matters that, in seeking to locate a medieval town’s “Jewry”, a researcher should look to identify the main or most prosperous market street in the town and its nearby back streets. But also that it would be unusual to find a scola actually fronting the principal roadway; more likely, it would be sited at the rear of a building on or close to such a thoroughfare, and maybe off an inner courtyard. The old Mutton Alley and its immediate neighbourhood appear to have satisfied the proximity point.

In 1610, at the other end of Mutton Alley from the “High Street”, there seem to have existed fields and what is marked on Speed’s map as the Augustinian Priory of St Mary, then probably no more than a ruin (the area is now Priory Road Cemetery).

Today, a short and straight walk from St Clement’s Passage to the largely residential area, but including a municipal car park, beyond (and which would appear to have been open land in medieval times) takes you to quite a small and rectangularshaped public garden, surrounded by houses, that is now named Victoria Square (designated a Conservation Area in 1991). In the “Huntingdon” section of the “Cambridgeshire Extensive Urban Survey: Draft Report 04/05/2004”, there is the following sentence: “A curious possibility is the presence of a Jewish cemetery.

Huntingdon had a sizeable Jewish community in the 12th and 13th centuries and tradition has it that a synagogue and cemetery existed in this community around Victoria Square; the street name of Temple Close is an apparent reminder of this.”

I had speculated originally that the local thoroughfares now known as “Temple Close” (which runs equally closely and parallel to St Clement’s Passage) and, indeed, the nearby “Temple Place” might be modern remembrances of a nearby ancient synagogue. But I was advised that these street names “are more likely to refer to property formerly owned [in the area] by the Knights Templar”. However, the 2004 Draft Report seems to back the “reminder” view. And I would be inclined to aver (regarding the “tradition” mentioned in the Draft) that it is unlikely that a scola would have been located in what is

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now Victoria Square. This area was open land/fields during the medieval era, and some way from the town’s commercial centre. It occurs to me that the “tradition” could have arisen from a contemporary idea that a small building (which had likely existed) on the Jewish burial ground (if such the present garden square had constituted in medieval times) was a synagogue, when in fact its purpose would be rather as a room for funeral rites (the community’s actual scola in the town maybe not being so obvious to passing eyes).

Nonetheless, I can accept that the land now occupied by Victoria Square could have constituted, potentially, a medieval Jewish graveyard. I have been advised that, generally, such a cemetery (though definitely not the associated “Jewry” itself) might have been instituted on otherwise waste or rough land outside a town, in an area perhaps prone to river flooding. But such grounds could not have existed before 1177. Prior to that year, Jewish burials in towns outside London were prohibited by law (bodies were required to be transported to the capital for interment at the bet ‘olam outside Cripplegate). In that year, Henry II gave Jewish communities in other cities in England licence to have a burial ground.

Interestingly, the area of the Augustinian Priory of St Mary (which existed from 1108 to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538), which was not very far from the site of the present Victoria Square, is likely to have contained a graveyard. Though nothing remains of the Priory, stone coffins have been found in its former location (the last one in 1915). As mentioned earlier, the locale now contains the Priory Road cemetery. One might reasonably speculate that consideration could have been given by medieval Huntingdon’s ruling authority to the establishment of a Jewish cemetery in that geographical situation The “Victoria County History: A History of the County of Huntingdon”, Vol. 2 (1932) refers to “… Clement’s Passage, a modern name for what was once Mutton Alley, where stood one of two town pumps, the other being on market hill.”

This could be important information if the water-pump (or any predecessor water source) which was sited at Mutton Alley goes back, in one form or another, to the medieval epoch. If so, it might be indicative of a natural spring in the specific location; and if it exists or rather existed in the Middle-Ages, it might hint at the possibility of an actively observant Jewish community in the vicinity taking advantage of the water source for the purposes of a mikveh (ritual bath). It would be very difficult to find any official documentary evidence from medieval times to corroborate this proposition, because (as Marcus Roberts, director of Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail, has written) “the Christian authorities did not seem to understand their significance”. (An early Ordinance Survey map of Huntingdon (O.S. 1:10,560 – Epoch 1, 1890) appears

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to show an object on market hill similar to that in the road opposite the High Street entrance to St Clement’s Passage, and which could represent a water pump.)

The “Jews’ Court” medieval synagogue site in Lincoln had a natural spring in the basement of the building; apparently, it used to overflow into the street. It is said that this must leave open the possibility that a mikveh had existed at an earlier time. Interestingly, Lincoln’s so-called second scola (which is said to have been a private 13th century synagogue) was located at the junction of Grantham Street with the High Street. A Mr C Johnson discovered it in the late 1970s. He believed that the scola was associated with the High Street part of the property, because the “high status domestic quarters were always on the most important side in the 12th and 13th centuries”.

The Great Ouse flows not much more than a hefty stone’s throw from the High Street entrance to St Clement’s Passage (“Mutton Alley”). In direct line with the High Street a medieval stone bridge crosses the river in the shadow of the hillock or mound on which had once stood the dominating Norman keep; potentially, it was a place of refuge for Jews. As in medieval Huntingdon, a “Jewry” would usually be protectively near, though not adjacent, to a royal castle; rather it would be close to the trade centre. However, the stone bridge was built in 1332. Huntingdon’s Jews had to pay an extortionate “Jew Tax” to cross “a wooden bridge” on foot or horseback. That bridge (which spanned the river “a few yards east” of its successor) was thus also conveniently near to “Mutton Alley”.

(Apart from the bridge toll, there were various other forms of anti-Semitic “scapegoat” discrimination, harassment and persecution, especially when the town was in economic decline: the “Chronicle of Melrose” cites the “death of the boy Herbert at Huntingdon” in connection with the notorious “blood libel”; and documents at the National Archives in London indicate that, from 1272, Huntingdon’s Jews were compelled to pay a special tax of three shillings a year.)

There is no plausible suggestion that the scola existed otherwise than in the area of St Clement’s Passage. Indeed, and as alluded to in my earlier article, Philip Nowlands (author of “Lament for the East: The Story of the Jews and anti-Semitism in East Anglia”) wrote: “[The synagogue in Huntingdon] may have been situated not far from the [town] bridge … in an area which is today known as St Clement’s Passage …”

The quest continues.

The following considerations are noteworthy pointers to medieval Huntingdon’s synagogue having been located in the area of what is now St Clement’s Passage:

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(1) St Clement’s Passage’s former name “Mutton Alley” could be indicative of a Jewish presence, “mutton (eaters)” being a derogatory back reference to the Jews and their dietary laws; or perhaps it derives from the Huntingdonassociated “Motun/Mutun” Jewish family name;

(2) John Speed’s Huntingdon map of 1610 confirms St Clement’s Passage was formerly named “Mutton Alley”; (3) A modern residential building fronting St Clement’s Passage is named “Muttongate” (reminiscent of the “Jew Gate”); 4) The names of nearby streets, “Temple Close” (which runs parallel to St Clement’s Passage) and “Temple Place” (an extension of “Temple Close”) could well be modern reminders of a medieval synagogue in the vicinity, viz. off St Clement’s Passage; (5) St Clement’s Passage is immediately off the High Street, the market town’s principal commercial thoroughfare; (6) The High Street entrance to St Clement’s Passage is almost in direct line to the wooden bridge over the River Great Ouse, which Jews had to pay a tax to cross; (7) The earlier existence of one of the town’s two water pumps at St Clement’s Passage may suggest an underground natural spring there, which could have supported a nearby medieval mikveh; and (8) The area of St Clement’s Passage is protectively close to but not right up against the hill on which the town’s one-time castle stood.

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A Perspective on paperwork Musings from Ganeinu Childcare Service by Rochel Leigh Settling down in a university town I imagined that my focus would be the over 18’s not the under-fives. However, almost within the first year of settling in Cambridge I was asked ‘is there any childcare that serves kosher lunches?’ I would hear ‘why do the nurseries here focus on Christmas for 6 weeks, I’m not religious, but I don’t want my 2 year old bringing home Christmas cards.’

And finally ‘Could you open a nursery?’

The requests became so consistent, from a range of families, affiliations and levels of observance, that in response I opened a home based childcare service in the heart of Cambridge focusing on the needs of Jewish families. Since I have been home-schooling my own children, they have also benefited from the company and vibrancy of a busy house. As my last Ofsted report reads; ‘the child-minder's own children are very much part of the provision and contribute positively to the warm, family atmosphere.

Behaviour is good, with older children showing care and consideration for younger ones, for example, offering to share the trikes.’

Some people have shown amazement that an early year’s practitioner can run a ‘nursery’ from their house, not having seen this model abroad, where accreditation and early year’s education is typically found in the big government instituted nursery machines. The early year’s sector in the UK at the current time is complex. Unlike in many other European countries, it was not developed by government policy in pursuit of specific aims, but emerged in an ad hoc fashion in response to families requirements based on changing social and economic factors.

In 1961 the Playgroup movement was started by mothers getting together and organising childcare for their children. Mothers filled the gap that had suddenly arisen as a result of government policy to cut all early years provision in order to use every available space for schools, as the baby boomers born just after the war had reached school age, and school spaces were stretched beyond capacity. By 1966 the movement received a government grant to fund a full time national adviser, in this way the playgroup movement became part of a government childcare plan. Childminding developed in a similar fashion, now

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Ofsted regulated and food standards agency certified, childminders must hold paediatric first aid training, have a full file of policies and procedures, and hold public liability insurance, and be trained to deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Child-minders work on tighter child-adult ratios than nurseries, delivering more personalised and home like care to small groups of children.

One of the major developments in early year’s childcare has been gradual increase in paperwork. Back in 1966 the children who attended an early year’s setting did not have developmental journals, early year’s summaries, next steps planned for them, a host of observations and pictures taken as evidence and documented to prove to the authorities that the children were being well cared for and having Early Year’s Foundation Stage delivered to them. More recently however, legislation that oversees childcare in the U.K. is responding to the environment, and as a result the required documentation has grown and grown.

Legislation generally improves services for children and families, such as the Childcare Act 2006, which was a pioneering piece of legislation, and the first ever act to be specifically concerned with early years and childcare and early childhood services. However, once the requirement for documentation takes priority, it becomes the focus of early year’s practitioners concern rather than childcare, education and services to families.

It all began with Italian Reggio Emilia, who shortly after the Second World War pioneered the idea of record keeping and documentation in his early years setting. Reggio Emilia saw the role of documenting children’s daily experiences as a way of giving meaning and identity to all that the children do.

He thought that it is through the documentation that the teachers are able to gain insight into the thoughts of the children, determine further investigation for working on topics, create a history of the work and generate further interest.

However, the documentation that has grown in response to the ever evolving legislative process has become overwhelming, taking it far away from Reggio Emilia’s other basic principles such as ‘the Environment is the Third Teacher’ and ‘The Hundred Languages of Childhood’. Although high levels of documentation impresses parents, and shows evidence to inspectors, does it make our children happier, more developed and better equipped for school?

This government has radically reduced the need for paperwork in the early year’s sector, whilst keeping the welfare requirements at an all-time high, even introducing new welfare requirements and training. An independent review carried out by Dame Clare Tickell (Chief Executive of Action for Children) says that ‘while parents and early years professionals agree that the EYFS has had a positive impact on children’s outcomes and helped to raise standards, in its current form there is far too much time spent filling in forms and not

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enough interacting with children.’ She says the EYFS needs to be simplified and made even more accessible for parents.’ From September 2012 the number of early learning goals children are assessed against at age five will be reduced from 69 to 17!

As a provider of childcare, I personally view documentation as basic courtesy to parents. When entrusted with a parent’s most precious gift, their child, there are a host of issues at hand. The child has been carefully nurtured and raised with their particular attachment patterns, their communication styles, their preferences, cultural norms and behavioural expectations. A great deal of trust is needed to complete this process with joy.

Documentation seems to help with this process. It is a way of communicating with the parents, a way of saying: ‘thank you for entrusting . . . to our care, I want you to feel as connected to the process of development and joy that your child is experiencing here, so through a few pictures and observations, anecdotes and summaries, you can. The challenge is to not spend so much time documenting and showing evidence, that the happiness and spontaneity of the setting is reduced.

At Ganeinu Childcare Service, learning journals and paperwork aside, I’ve often had as many children on the waiting list as in the service itself, with parents contacting me from abroad to save their child a space when they arrive in Cambridge. There are often children place sharing different days, morning and afternoons, and siblings waiting to join. However, as a home based childcare service it is only catering to a fraction of the communities children and is entirely dependent on myself for its continuity. At the same time my own children’s home school education, has shifted to flexi-schooling with a Jewish school in London and Chabad’s Online School. Will Ganeinu Childcare Service be able to continue to run indefinitely? It seems like the right time for a nursery, an institution based on the same principles but not dependant on one person for its continual daily running.

The importance of our early years of life and the impact it has on our future is well established. So let us hope that the New Year brings new opportunity for expansion and growth, and many more children will be able to thrive in a warm, Kosher early years setting that holds as its core philosophy; ‘educate the child according to his ways and then he will not depart from it’, a quote from proverbs that sounds much like the Early Years Foundation Stage recommendation to ‘follow the child’s interest’.

Shana Tova!

P.S. This Terms wish list for Ganeinu childcare Services is ICT equipment. If you have any old laptops, CD players, voice recording devices or any other ICT surplus, please consider giving as a gift to Ganeinu’s early years setting.

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My Birthday is not my Birthday

By Ben Blaukopf As everyone knows, the Jewish calendar aligns with the solar calendar every 19 years. Only it doesn't. I was born on Yom Kippur 5735, which in that year fell on the 26th September. Fast forward to 5754, and Yom Kippur fell on the 25th September. So much for alignment - what is going on?

Let us start with some astronomy. The Moon orbits the Earth with a period of about 29-30 days, and the Earth spins on its axis once a day.

This has the effect that the relative positions of the Moon and the Sun in the sky change over time. Sometimes the Moon is close to the Sun, and sometimes it is far away. The time in the lunar cycle when they are closest is called conjunction, which we would call the dark moon or the molad amiti, and the time in the lunar cycle when they are farthest apart is opposition, or the full moon[1]. At the molad amiti, the Moon reflects virtually none of the Sun's light towards Earth, meaning that it is at its dimmest. As the Moon starts to move away from the Sun in the sky, it reflects light from just one edge, meaning it has the appearance of a crescent. With time the crescent grows both thicker, and brighter, and is typically visible with the naked eye around eighteen hours after the molad amiti. This is the new moon. Because the new moon is always close to the sun in the sky, it is not visible until dusk, in the West - and shortly after dusk, it will set, just as the Sun is setting. Since a Jewish day begins at sunset, the new moon will never be observed until the day after the molad amiti, and often not until two days after.

Before 358 CE, when the Sanhedrin was disbanded by Constantius II, they would convene [2] on the 30th day of every month, and wait for witnesses to the new moon to show up. If the witnesses proved satisfactory, then the Sanhedrin would declare the new month, so Kislev 30th would be redefined as Tevet 1st. The appropriate sacrifice the Musaf - was offered in the temple to celebrate Rosh Chodesh. If no witnesses came, then the day was still treated as Rosh Chodesh [3], but with no special sacrifice. Kislev would be deemed to have 30 days [4], 20 Â

while the next day would become Tevet 1st and Rosh Chodesh, this time with the Musaf sacrifice. It didn’t matter at this stage whether or not there were witnesses because “if the new moon had not been seen, we do not sanctify it, because it has already been sanctified in heaven” (Sanhedrin 10b).

Today, in the absence of a Sanhedrin, we can no longer use observation, and must instead rely on calculation. Actually calculating the molad amiti would be a complex calculation, since the lunar cycle varies for many reasons [5], and so we rely on the average [6] period of a lunar month to calculate a nominal molad benoni instead. The lunar period of 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 chalakim [7] was measured by the Chaldeans, confirmed by Hipparchus, and is detailed in Rosh Hashana 25a.

The most important date as far as the calendar is concerned is Rosh Hashana. First, we calculate the time and date of the molad benoni of Tishri. We then treat that as the date of Rosh Hashana, subject to some postponement rules.

Molad Zaqen - If the molad benoni occurs after midday, then the molad amiti might be as late as 4am the following morning. In such circumstances, the old moon - the waning crescent - could, in the right conditions, be visible around dawn on the morning of Rosh Hashana.

This would be bad, because it would effectively bring the calendar into disrepute - it would be visual evidence of the inaccuracies of calculation.

Consequently, Rosh Hashana would be postponed by one day if the molad fell after midday.

Four Gates - If Rosh Hashana falls on Wednesday, Yom Kippur is on Friday; if it falls on Friday, Yom Kippur is on Sunday. Neither of these two cases are desirable, and it is also a problem if Rosh Hashana falls on Sunday, as then Hoshana Rabba is on Shabbat. That leaves four possible days for Rosh Hashana, known as the Four Gates. After applying the first rule about the molad timing, and two other dechiyot relating to leap years [8], we may find that we need to postpone Rosh Hashana a day to meet the Four Gates rule. The combination of rules may result in a postponement of two days.

With the rules for Rosh Hashana in mind, we can do a simple check, at least as far as my birthday is concerned. 5735 was not a leap year, but the previous year was, meaning Rosh Hashana will be postponed if: a) Molad Zaqen - The molad benoni is after 12pm 21

b) Dechiya II [8] - The molad benoni is after 9:30:43 on a Monday b) Four Gates - Rosh Hashana must be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday.

In 1974 the molad benoni of Tishri was on Monday September 16th, at 4:51pm, so according to rule a), Rosh Hashana fell on Tuesday September 17th. September 17th 1993 was therefore a Friday [9], and Rosh Hashana cannot fall on a Friday, so Gregorian and Hebrew calendars could not have matched. However, September 17th 2012 is a Monday. This does not mean that the calendars *will* line up, but it's possible. Let's check! The molad benoni in 2012 falls on Sunday September 16th at 1:57am, so according to rule b) Rosh Hashana must be on Monday September 17th. If Rosh Hashana matches across two years, Yom Kippur will also match, because it is always exactly nine days later.

Ergo, my Gregorian [10] birthday will be the same as my Hebrew birthday this year – Yom Kippur is the 26th September. As always, I will be sponsoring the kiddush.

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[1] The closest conjunctions are solar eclipses, while the maximum oppositions are lunar eclipses.

[2] If their calculations showed that the new moon could not possibly have been observed, they would not convene.

[3] In particular, 30th day of Ellul was treated as Rosh Hashana, because if witnesses came, it would retroactively become 1st Tishri.

[4] It seems to me that if there were several periods of bad weather around the new moon, and therefore de facto 30-day months, that Rosh Chodesh might get rather out of sync with the actual new moon.

However this would be self-correcting - the further out of sync the calendar, the more likely it would be in any one month that someone would observe the new moon on day 29, thereby triggering a 29-day month.

[5] The notes for one computer program that performs this calculation note that it ignores tectonic plate movements, the mass of the polar ice caps, and planetary satellites and rings, comets, asteroids, and minor planets but does take account of major planets.

[6] It is interesting to note that the times of the molad amiti and that of the molad benoni can vary significantly. In Tishri the molad amiti may be as much as sixteen hours after the molad benoni, or four hours before, owing primarily to variations in the speed at which the Earth moves in its elliptical orbit around the Sun. In addition, while Ptolemy's calculation was accurate for Ptolemy, the slowing of both the Earth and the Moon's orbits means that the lunar month is now about 0.4 seconds shorter than it used to be. Over the years this effect has accumulated to almost two hours difference such that the molad benoni is actually being calculated for Afghanistan, rather than Jerusalem - though it was quite possibly never intended to be a calculation for Jerusalem anyway.

[7] That is, 793/1080 hours.

[8] Dechiya I – if the molad benoni occurs just after 3:11:20am on Tuesday, then Rosh Hashana will be on Tuesday. The following year, the molad occurs just after noon on Saturday, meaning that Rosh Hashana is postponed till Monday. All well and good, but that means this year, if a non-leap year, needs to be 356 days long. There is simply no way to have such a long year – the only months of flexible length are cheshvan and kislev. If they both have 30 days, rather than 29, then the year length is 355 days. The solution is to postpone Rosh Hashana by two days to Thursday (Wednesday is always unacceptable). There is a 23

similar dechiya II which can cause a postponement if the molad benoni occurs after 9.30:43 on a Monday and the previous year was a leapyear.

[9] For the mathematically minded, this can be easily verified by using modulo-7 arithmetic. 365 % 7 is 1, and 366 % 7 is 2. We therefore skip forward 19 + 5 == 24 days of the week over 19 years (the extra five days come about because of the leap years in 76, 80, 84, 88, 92), and 24 % 7 is 3, so if 17th September is on Tuesday one year, then nineteen years later it will be on Friday. Similarly there are leap years in 96, 00, 04, 08, 12, so the same logic applies moving forward to 2012.

[10] I cheated. I started off talking about the Solar calendar, and switched to the Gregorian...

Some of the sources I found useful http://www.chayas.com/molad.html http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/astronomy%20and%20astrology.html http://individual.utoronto.ca/kalendis/lunar/index.htm#most http://individual.utoronto.ca/kalendis/hebrew/molad.htm http://www.franknelte.net/PDF_Files/MOLADS_AND_NEW_MOONS. pdf http://www.berachot.org/halacha/24_birkathachammah.html#1 24 Â

CTJC Subscriptions and Donations 2012/2013 Members are reminded that their subscriptions for the coming year are now due, together with the Board of Deputies levy (£25 which should be paid to each body of which you are a member), the levy to the Chief Rabbi's Office (£8 which should be paid by each male member), and any donations to the UJIA, the CTJC or the Cambridge Chaplaincy that you wish to make.

The subscription fees for 2012/2013, as agreed at the AGM, are: Full family

£180.00 Associate family

£120.00

Full single

£124.00 Associate single

£78.00

These fees may be varied to suit individual circumstances; the Treasurer will be pleased to be consulted confidentially. Visitors for whom membership is not appropriate are invited to make a donation.

The subscription may be paid by direct bank transfer to sort code 20-17-19 account 20199192, in which case please send an explanatory email to Jonathan Allin at jonathan@jonathanallin.com; or by sending a cheque, payable to CTJC, together with this slip, indicating how much is being paid in each category, to: Jonathan Allin, 19 The Coppice, Impington, Cambridge CB4 4PP A payment slip is included with this copy of the bulletin.

CTJC is a registered Charity, number 282849, and payment from Tax paid income can be made by means of Gift Aid, which will enable the CTJC to recover the Tax paid. A suitable declaration is available from the Secretary.

Where there’s a Will...

We all know we should make a will, but it’s one of those things that many of us never seem to get round to. In fact, it’s estimated that one in three people die without ever having made one. But failing to make a will can mean chaos and financial worry for your family after you’ve gone.

A will sets out who is to benefit from your property and possessions (your estate) after your death. Only by making a will are you able to decide: • how your assets are to be shared between family and friends - if you don't have a will, the law says who gets what • who will sort out your estate and carry out your wishes after your death - that is your executor • how to structure your will in order to pay as little Inheritance Tax as possible • which favourite charities should benefit from a legacy • who should look after any minor children Going down the DIY route and using a homemade will from a stationer is a recipe for disaster. Will making is a specialised job requiring training and expertise, with many pitfalls that only an expert eye can identify and avoid. Only an expert can ensure that your will is valid, beyond legal challenge and reflects your true intentions.

For more information, contact solicitor and UJIA Director of Legacies and Planned Giving, Harvey Bratt on 0207 424 6431 or harvey.bratt@ujia.org.

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September 2012/Tishrei 5773 Dear Friends I am delighted that, at the beginning of the New Year and the start of the new triennium, we have a new team of Honorary Officers all of whom are enthusiastic about their portfolios and have hit the ground running. I look forward to working with them during the next three years to face the challenges and opportunities confronting us.

One can also only be enormously heartened by the unprecedented interest that the community has shown in the Board during the election period. In addition to having a host of new synagogues and organisations represented on the Board, we had more Deputies standing for Divisional elections than ever before and we are privileged to have elected Deputies of an extremely high calibre to the Divisional Committees. All this is good for the Board and good for the community that it represents.

The Board’s mission is to promote the welfare and vitality of the community of which we have good reason to be proud. Our increasing dynamism over the last few decades has confounded the prophets of gloom. With record numbers of pupils at Jewish schools, with institutions such as Limmud, the Jewish Film Festival, Book Week and the Jewish Music Institute to name but a few, the community is an example to others in the Diaspora of how to integrate into one’s host community while retaining one’s own identity and vitality.

At the same time we face increasing challenges and the Board’s mission is also to lead the defence of the community on these. Living as we do in a pluralistic and tolerant democracy, our rights to carry out our religious practices should never be in doubt. In fact, however, in the last few years threats have emerged both in this country and in Europe against some of our practices; principally Shechita and Brit Milah. It would not be fair to attribute these to antisemitism, but nevertheless their effect could seriously jeopardise our way of life. The latest attack at the time of writing, of course, comes from Germany on Brit Milah. The Board is at the heart of a cross-continental initiative approaching German ambassadors and lobbying parliamentarians

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whilst trying to ensure that, here in the UK, the community speaks with one voice which is both cogent and rational. I am pleased to say our representations have been well received and we have been able to punch beyond our weight. At some future date we may need a grass roots campaign and here the Board will look to the community to play its part, whether in lobbying MPs or in engaging in the media debate generally.

Above all we have to face the continual attacks on Israel which are now coming from the media, the unions, academia and the churches - the latest being the decision of the Church of England Synod to endorse EAPPI, a grossly unbalanced programme taking people to the West Bank without showing them the Israeli side of the conflict. We must not fall into the trap, however, of branding all critics of Israel as anti-Semites. On the contrary, I see from conversations with senior churchmen that many of them regard themselves as firm friends albeit critical ones of both Jewry and of Israel. Often they are unaware of the unfortunate antisemitic overtones of the debate instigated.

Our task is therefore to confront the antisemites, expose them and ensure that Israel’s case is made effectively to the moderates. Again this is something which must be done in a calm and rational manner, and it falls to all of us to engage with our Christian neighbours to form relationships through which we can express our views. With the support of the community the Board will be ideally equipped to do this in the year ahead. How successful we will be one cannot say at this point but it will not be for want of trying.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year.

Warm wishes,

Vivian Wineman President The Board of Deputies of British Jews 6 Bloomsbury Square, London WC1A 2LP t: 020 7543 5400 f: 020 7543 0101 e: info@bod.org.uk www.bod.org.uk

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w:

CST: working together with Jewish communities

CST is the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security for Jewish communities throughout Britain; ensuring that we are all able to lead the Jewish life of our choice.

CST is also available - 24 hours a day - for those of us who are unfortunate enough to suffer, or witness, antisemitism.

CST is part and parcel of our communities, drawing upon a long and proud tradition of British Jewish self-defence. Security can only be done with the help, cooperation and participation of the members of our community, its leaders and institutions.

We need to share responsibility, together.

This means contacting your local CST and asking what role you can play with our local security teams. It means understanding why we do security and cooperating with our local teams. It means contacting CST if you happen to have information that you think may be of use to us, or to the Police.

Sharing responsibility also means trying to keep a healthy balance between keeping calm and being aware of the physical threats that unfortunately do exist.

Since last Rosh HaShana, three separate terrorist plots against British Jews have been revealed. One concerned Golders Green and Stamford Hill, two Jewish neighbourhoods in London; one concerned Broughton Park, a Jewish neighbourhood in Greater Manchester; and the other concerned two British synagogues. Then, we have the dreadful shootings at a Jewish school in Toulouse; and, from Iran, appalling state-sponsored

antisemitism and terrorism against both Jews and Israelis.

Our enemies do not distinguish one type of Jew from another; and they are targeting both large and small communities.

CST’s work is therefore sadly necessary, but we should be determined to keep a sense of perspective about the situation.

Today, our community is largely able to express its Jewishness in whatever way it wishes. That can be religious, cultural, political, charitable, sporting or whatever sort of Jewish life you do, or do not, wish to have. Our community is, on the whole, successful and well integrated into the rest of society. We have come a very long way indeed since the newly arrived immigrant generations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Antisemitism and the threat of terrorism most certainly do not define our lives as British Jews. At CST, we want to keep it that way. This is why we work so closely with synagogues from across our Jewish communities; and it is why Police and Government encourage our efforts.

CST can, however, only be as strong as the communities we serve. We need you to play your part: by reporting suspicious and antisemitic activities to us; and by joining our local teams or helping to fund our work.

Thank you and Shana Tova.

Then call CST

London 020 8457 9 999

IN AN EMERGENCY Emergency 24hr pager 07659 101 668 ALWAYS DIAL 999 Manchester 0161 792 6666 Non-emergency number 101

Emergency 24hr number 0800 980 0668

www.thecst.org.uk

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Community Security Trust registered charity number: 1042391

The Shofar

By Jonathan Goldman Jews are commanded to hear it.

What is it, that they must hear?

It is the Sound of the Shofar, Which is blown on Rosh Hashanah each year.

What is a Shofar you ask me?

A Ram’s Horn blown by Man, In Shul on Rosh Hashanah, By a Ba’al Tekiah ~ a Pious Man. How many Sounds must we hear?

One Hundred, should be blown each day.

Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, Remind us for Repentance we must pray.

We stand up to hear the Shofar, We wait for the Notes patiently, We hope that the Sounds will be perfectly round, And not too painful on our ears.

A Hundred Notes are blown during the Service, They aren’t blown all at one time, Thirty, Ten, Ten, Ten and then Forty, But there is never an encore.

Copyright © Yisroel Yonatan Goldman [JGthepoet] - 2 October 2005

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Make a date!

A tasty holiday treat from Helen Goldrein.

Everyone knows to eat apple and honey on Rosh Hashana, but one of the less commonly eaten symbolic foods at this time of year is the date.

Mentioned in the Talmud (apparently), the first dates ripen in Israel in time for yomtov, and are eaten with gusto.

When I was younger, my Mum had a recipe for date cookies, and they were absolutely delicious. A few years ago, remembering this yummy treat from my youth, I asked her for the recipe. Tragedy! The notebook in which this, and many other favourite recipes had been recorded was lost! She had looked high and low, but it was nowhere to be found.

I set about re-creating the date cookies from scratch. I read endless date cookie recipes, compared them, tinkered with them, and baked batched of cookies to test and re-test the findings.

More baking powder?

Less sugar? I was getting close, but the perfect date cookie remained elusive.

And then, a miracle!

The recipe book reappeared! Date cookies, ginger cake, yum-yum bars, and a host of other delights were back on the menu. I immediately copied down the date cookie recipe, (creating a ‘remote backup’, as Tim put it), and now, I share it with you, to ensure its future.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. They are sweet but not overly so, cakey but crumbly, and perfect with a cuppa. The dates give an 31 Â

almost toffee-ish flavour that is unrivalled - an excellent alternative to the ubiquitous honey cake. Happy baking and happy new year!

Date cookies.

(Makes approx. 30 cookies) 9oz/250g sugar rolled chopped dates (the ones that come in a block, for baking) 9oz/250g self-raising flour 5½oz/150g margarine or butter 3½oz/100g brown sugar 1 egg 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda ½ tsp vanilla essence Preheat the oven to 325F/165C. Cream the fat and sugar till fluffy. Add the vanilla essence, bicarbonate of soda, and egg, and beat well. Add the flour and the dates little by little, alternating flour and dates, until a stiff paste is formed. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes so the mixture can firm up a little.

Break off small pieces, roll into balls, and flatten into biscuits. Place on a large baking sheet, leaving room for them to spread.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

Eat and enjoy!

Please join us for a communal lunch on the first day of Rosh Hashana.

17 September, 2:00pm The Synagogue, 3 Thompson's Lane.

For more information please contact Rabbi Leigh at rabbi@ctjc.org.uk 32

Festivals word search Can you find all the words below, hidden in the word search grid?

W T A C D R S G H Z E T R O G R H A T

A B

T R B R I H B A A R A E F P D E I N C T G A D M N O C W E R T S V P R A

H O U W K O L N I D R E I H S T U O Y

C S K V U E T L S D T B F G U S K M B

O H E G E P Y R A T O G S P R I K E L

S H O F A R D F I H O N E Y J M O G E

J A L F F A N D I G S F P O A C T R G

E N T S H A N E B O U R G N L B D E G O V E S R S W P A E Y H E D A T O P I M M K I E R I H A T K G S A N A S K T

Apple Challah Etrog Fast Forgiveness Four species Honey Kittel Kol Nidrei Lulav Machzor

Z N V S U B C T S S E S F P H T D T A

E A P P L E L P J M L A M P F O T E S

D A K A H K R N F M I F R Y S A X P E C I E S L A V L I H T Y M K H A I P U H F N T B O S L A F T P C C T O A C H Z O R R F L R V G C B P G A I R L S F C V U R V S G E J W B Y V N R A H J B E O D S N P S E P R L A S H L I C H W

New year Pomegranate Repentance Rosh Hashana Shana tova Shofar Simchat Torah Sukkot Sweet Tashlich Tzedakah Yom Kippur

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Religious Calendar EREV ROSH HASHANAH Festival commences Evening services

Sunday 16 September 6.56 pm 7.00 pm

ROSH HASHANAH 1st Day Morning service Afternoon and evening services Candles for second day are lit

Monday 17 September 9.30 am 7.00 pm 7.52 pm

ROSH HASHANAH 2nd Day Morning service Afternoon and evening services Festival ends

Tuesday 18 September 9.30 am 7.00 pm 7:53 pm

SHABBAT SHUVAH Morning service Shabbat ends

Saturday 22 September 9.30 am 7.42 pm

EREV YOM KIPPUR Fast commences Kol Nidrei

25 September 6.35 pm 7.00 pm

EREV SUCCOT Sunday 30 September Festival commences 6.23 pm Afternoon & evening services 6.15 pm SUCCOT 1st Day Monday 1 October Morning service 9.30 am Afternoon & evening services 6.15 pm Candles for second day are lit 7.18 pm

YOM KIPPUR Wednesday 26 September Morning service 9.30 am Reading of the Law 11.30 am Yizkor (approx) 12.00 pm Afternoon service 5.05 pm Neilah 6.25 pm Fast terminates 7.33 pm

SUCCOT 2nd Day Tuesday 2 October Morning service 9.30 am Afternoon & evening services 6.15 pm Festival ends 7.19 pm

HOSHANAH RABBAH Sunday 7 October Morning service 7.00 am Festival commences 6.07 pm Afternoon 7 evening services 6.00 pm SHEMINI ATZERET Monday 8 October Morning service (& Yizkor) 9.30 am Afternoon services 6.00 pm Evening service 7.02 pm Candles for 2nd day are lit 7.00 pm

SIMCHAT TORAH Tuesday 9 October Morning service 9.30 am Afternoon service 6.00 pm Festival ends 7.03 pm

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