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Livingstone jumps Tributes to before he’s pushed Philip Roth Labour lets Britain’s most inept historian bow out on his own terms See pages 2, 3, 16 & 18

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER 24 May 2018

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10 Sivan 5778

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Issue No.1055

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@JewishNewsUK

The world mourns iconic novelist P13

ISRAEL’S 70th ANNIVERSARY 52-page souvenir magazine with this week’s newspaper

…AND PLEASE GOD BY THEM! How our community went mad for Harry and Meghan See page 10

‘We’re on a path to self-destruction’ Top rabbi’s abuse warning after Kaddish for Gaza dead One of Britain’s leading rabbis this week warned that the Jewish community is on a path to “self-destruction”, following a torrent of abuse aimed at a group that recited Kaddish for Gaza’s dead, writes Adam Decker.

Widespread revulsion greeted news that 50 mainly young British Jews had held a public show of mourning in Westminster, despite knowing that 52 of the 64 victims were Hamas terrorists.

Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner (pictured) said: “Something very disturbing is happening in our community that has the potential for self-harm and damage. In fact, it is already doing damage. It is the abuse that people from all sides – left and right – are getting.”

In recent days, messages of abuse aimed at those who attended the Kaddish have included “You’re

a traitor, I wish the same fate the other traitors of our nation received on you,” “You are a mentally unstable Jew,” “I wish you would commit suicide” and “You are like a racist”. The names and photos of protesters have also been posted online, some incorrectly, leading those identified to receive hate mail.

“People like this have broken the rules of decency that our community has to keep to,” said JannerKlausner. “The longer we have this situation in Israel and the more divisive people feel it is, the more careful we have to be.” The leader of Reform Judaism added: “We have spent so long focusing on other people attacking us, we have internalised that and are now turning it on each other.

“I am concerned that when one Jew wishes another dead, we are over the boundaries of decency and we are now into violent, harassing, bullying

behaviour that we, as a community, have to come back from, because it’s a path to self-destruction.”

She said young Jews were “disengaging, revolted by what’s happening, they don’t want anything to do with it,” adding: “I see it happening. We are losing Jews from loving Judaism.”

In recent weeks abuse has been directed at others, including the Board of Deputies for issuing what some felt was a one-sided statement on Gaza, and towards Sir Mick Davis, who wrote in Israeli Continued on page 4

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

News / Livingstone quits Labour NEWS IN BRIEF

ISRAELI DONOR IS TORY TREASURER The man slated to become the Conservative Party’s new treasurer is an Israeli-born art collector. According to reports, Ehud (Udi) Sheleg, who is the director of Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street, is set to take the helm of the ruling party’s finances after giving the Tories £550,000 before last year’s general election. The Times reported that while former Jewish Leadership Council chairman Sir Mick Davis is acting as both chief executive and treasurer, the role of the latter will be split between the two men.

Sheleg, 62, made his first registered donation in January last year, giving the rest in May, a month before the general election.

UK GAZA ABSTENTION WAS A ‘DISGRACE’ UK allies are allowed to be their own judge and jury after breaking international law, Labour has said as it criticised the government’s response to Palestinian deaths.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said it was “a disgrace” that the UK Government abstained on a UN Human Rights Council vote that launched an investigation into the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians during protests at the Gaza border. The resolution, to which a further 13 countries abstained on, condemned the “disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian civilians”.

DUTCH TV ACCUSED OF NETTA RACISM A Dutch comedian who parodied Israel’s winning Eurovision song has been accused of employing antiSemitic lyrics against a background of Gaza. Jewish and pro-Israel groups in the Netherlands reacted to the parody of Netta Barzilai’s song ‘Toy’ this week, after lyrics in the skit appeared to suggest that the opening of a new US Embassy in Jerusalem was a money-spinner. Nicknamed ‘the chicken song’ because it at times features Barzilai clucking, the Dutch version changes to “with your ka-ching and your ping-a-ping, with your dollars and cents and your funds, with your ka-ching”.

ISRAEL IS FIRST TO USE F-35 FIGHTER JETS The world’s most advanced fighter jet has seen its first combat action at the hands of Israeli pilots, an IDF chief said. The single-seat F-35, estimated to cost around $100 million (£750,000), is believed to have been involved in missions over Syria, although Major General Amikam Norkin, addressing foreign air force heads in Israel, refused to give details.

“We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have attacked twice on two fronts,” he said.

End of Ken ‘won’t be end of anti-Semitism’ Jewish community and religious leaders this week joined MPs in welcoming news of Ken Livingstone’s resignation from the Labour Party, before a second disciplinary hearing was to begin.

The former London mayor was due to face another panel for repeating his accusation that Adolf Hitler “was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”.

He was widely expected to have been expelled.

Speaking on LBC Radio, Labour MP Luciana Berger welcomed the news of his resignation, but said: “It should have happened two years ago.

In the intervening period, he’s managed to cause an incredible amount of hurt, upset and offence.”

Days earlier, shadow attorney-general Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who led an investigation into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, appeared to back fellow Labour frontbenchers Emily Thornberry and Nia Griffith in calling for Livingstone to go.

Livingstone denied he was guilty of anti-Semitism or that he had brought the party into disrepute, but Berger disagreed. She said: “Every time he

Our call for Ken to go

has gone on TV or radio he has had this obsession with talking about Hitler and the Jews, and caused a huge amount of upset, not just to the Jewish community but to the wider community.”

The MP for Liverpool Wavertree said: “It needed to happen, but it’s certainly not the end of what needs to happen in the Labour Party around issues of anti-Semitism. There are a number of outstanding cases we’re still waiting for.”

She added that Livingstone’s resignation was “one thing that I welcome but in and of itself it’s by no

means enough”.

Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, whose late father was a Labour MP, simply tweeted “Phew,” while Lord (Alan) Sugar, a former Labour donor, tweeted: “Ken Livingstone jumps before he is pushed. Good riddance. Let’s hope @ jeremycorbyn does the same soon.”

In a joint statement, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies said Livingstone’s resignation “makes it clear he wanted to avoid going through a disciplinary process” and “does not detract from the need for the Labour Party to take the concrete action to counter antiSemitism”.

They added that his exit “does not solve any of the party’s issues… it simply avoids a potentially messy disciplinary process”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a political bedfellow of Livingstone’s, said he was “sad” to hear that he had resigned, but acknowledged that it was “the right thing to do”.

However, a statement from the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) was more forthright, saying: “Livingstone was guilty of bringing the

Labour Party into disrepute and was given a slap on the wrist. He should have been expelled. This does not prove the Labour Party is willing to take serious action against antiSemitism in its ranks.”

In agreement was Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, who tweeted that Livingstone’s exit was welcome, but said “he should have been expelled”. He added: “We must now make it clear he will never be welcome to return. His vocal cheerleaders and supporters should follow him out the door.”

Meanwhile, LBC Radio obtained a copy of the transcript from Livingstone’s original hearing in front of Labour’s National Constitutional Committee (NCC) two years ago, in which Livingstone revealed that senior figures in Corbyn’s office, including strategist Seamus Milne, would tell Livingstone what to say in front of the TV cameras and would even send out tweets in his name.

JLM national secretary Peter Mason tweeted: “If LBC have the transcript of the Livingstone NCC hearing, then there will likely be much, much more still to come.”

ATZMON TO FACE LIBEL TRIAL

by Jenni Frazer @JenniFrazer @JewishNewsUK

A libel case brought by the chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Gideon Falter, against the Israeli-born jazz musician Gilad Atzmon, will now go ahead after a High Court judge ruled against Atzmon in much of his defence argument.

Atzmon, who describes himself as a musician and “writer on Jewish identity politics”, runs a blog on which he regularly posts material which frequently relates to anti-Zionism or anti-Semitism.

Last July, Atzmon posted an attack on Falter on his site in an article entitled Antisemitism is merely a business plan. This was accompanied by a reproduction of the CAA’ s logo with the words ‘Business Plan’ written on the logo.

Among other things, Atzmon said Falter dishonestly fabricated anti-Semitic incidents – and that he had deliberately exaggerated the prevalence of such incidents, with the motivation of obtaining money for the CAA and his own income.

On Tuesday, in front of Justice Nicklin, barristers for Falter and Atzmon argued about the meaning of Atzmon’s allegations in his article. His defence largely rests on declaring that the words complained of did not have the meaning which Falter claimed — and were thus not libellous.

Part of the hearing focused on another aspect of Atzmon’s defence — an embedded link in his article to an interview Falter gave to Sky News. In the inter-

Gilad Atzmon wrote about Gideon Falter

view, Falter spoke of differences of opinion with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS_ about the level of anti-Jewish hate crime in Britain, and the CPS’ apparent reluctance to bring cases.

Atzmon wrote: “Falter and the CAA obviously fabricate anti-Semitic incidents. Falter interprets condemnation of Israel and Jewish politics as ‘hate crimes’. It seems the CPS doesn’t buy Falter’s duplicitous claims.”

Appearing for Atzmon, who was on tour in Los Angeles, barrister Adam Wolanski argued: “Do [these words] allege that Falter has manufactured incidents which never occurred at all? Or do they mean, as we say, that he massaged the figures?”

Wolanski said Falter was “so wedded to his cause” that he was prepared to “put a spin” on the issues. “At

the heart of this, Mr Falter’s beef is with the CPS for not prosecuting more cases”, and for this reason, he said, it was important the contents of the Sky News interview were included in evidence to show context.

But Justice Nicklin said there were two direct references in the article to allege Falter personally profited from anti-Semitism and he picked out three verbs used in Atzmon’s article – “manufacture, invent, fabricate”.

Speaking for Falter, barrister William Bennett said: “There is no obscurity, no irony here” – both arguments advanced by Wolanski — “it is an anti-Semitic rant, which... accuses Falter and the CAA of having a business plan”. Atzmon, he said, accused Falter of “inventing anti-Semitism to serve their own ends”.

Giving his ruling, Judge Nicklin said he found the meaning of Atzmon’s article to suggest Falter “dishonestly fabricated” and “deliberately exaggerated the prevalence of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents”. By doing so, it suggested “the claimant [Falter] risks increasing anti-Semitism” and that his “motivation” was “to obtain funds (including from British taxpayers) to support the activities of CAA and to provide his own income”.

He agreed with Falter’s contention that the article suggested “the funds obtained by this fabrication and misrepresentation were consequently obtained by the claimant’s fraud”, and that Atzmon was alleging “the claimant is guilty of hypocrisy; he publicly campaigns against anti-Semitism, but is content with its continued prevalence (even resorting to manufacture of incidents) because his income and that of CAA depends upon it”.

The case continues.

24 May 2018 Jewish News

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Livingstone quits Labour / News

Livingstone’s demise was of his own making WES STREETING LABOUR MP, ILFORD NORTH

John Mann MP accuses Ken Livingstone after the former mayor said Hitler supported Zionism

Ken Livingstone’s exit from the Labour Party is welcome, but he should have been expelled.

We must now make it clear that he will never be welcome to return.

For his long political career to have ended in this way is, in many respects, tragic. He should have been remembered for his towering achievements as London’s Mayor: the London Overground, Crossrail, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Police Safer Neighourhood Teams to name just a few. But I won’t be shedding any tears, for this is a tragedy of his own making.

For reasons that only Mr Livingstone knows, his foot-in-mouth syndrome has caused enormous reputational damage to himself and to the Labour Party.

We saw signs of this during his last stint as London Mayor when he compared a Jewish journalist at Evening Standard with a Nazi concentration camp guard, showing no real remorse or contrition when the offence was pointed out.

His latest obsession with Hitler and his retelling of the history of the Holocaust was inexplicable and inexcusable. He caused gratuitous

offence to many Jewish people in my constituency, across London and across the UK, without care or contrition.

The expulsion of Livingstone would have sent a powerful message that Labour is taking anti-Semitism seriously and will not tolerate those who abuse the memory of the Holocaust to offend Britain’s Jewish community.

Instead, Labour’s abysmal failure to deal with Mr Livingstone means he has been allowed to leave on his own terms – escaping disciplinary action and the bar to future membership that would have likely followed. We will now be judged on how other cases, including lower profile cases, are handled.

The reaction to his resignation tells its own story. From the Labour MP Chris Williamson who said he “remains a towering figure of the Labour movement” to those who’ve taken to social media to claim that Mr Livingstone has been hounded out for being an anti-Zionist, it is clear we have some way to go to rid the Labour Party of anti-Semitism and apologism for anti-Semitism.

Actions will speak louder than words. About this the Jewish community has been clear. Many of us have got this message and are resolute in our determination to support the Jewish Labour Movement to make the Labour Party one Jewish people can be proud to support again. To say that we have some way to go is an understatement.

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

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Anger at Kaddish for Gaza London Jews who recited Kaddish for protesters killed in Gaza last week have defended their public prayer in Parliament Square – despite knowing at the time that most of the dead were Hamas members.

Amid accusations and anger from within the community, a rabbi and a youth trip coordinator were among the mainly-young group to stand by their decision to say the Jewish prayer traditionally recited in memory of the dead.

Nina Morris-Evans, an Oxford undergraduate due to lead RSY-Netzer tours to Israel this summer, said: “We all agreed that – as Jews – we could not condone this loss of life, and that we rejected the Israeli government’s justification of the killings.”

Atotalof62protesterswerekilledonMonday, 14 May, bringing the total shot by IDF snipers to more than 100 in recent weeks, which has led the international community to demand an independent investigation.

Jewish groups in the UK were among those to criticise Israel’s actions, with some protesting outside Downing Street and others meeting in Parliament Square to say Kaddish. But hours before the latter were due to meet, a senior Hamas figure revealed on TV that 50 of the 62 dead were Hamas members.

This week, however, Morris-Evans said: “I do not accept that the IDF acted in selfdefence. Firing live ammunition at these unarmed protesters was not justifiable.”

Jews recited Kaddish in London’s Parliament Square for protesters killed in Gaza

She added: “By Jewishly mourning the lives lost, we were not condoning terrorism, Hamas or violence of any form. Rather, we were facing up to the ugly reality of what the occupation results in time and time again.

“On seder night, we dip our fingers in wine while reciting the 10 plagues to commemorate the Egyptian deaths that resulted from the Exodus. As diaspora Jews… we all have a right and a responsibility to confront the reality of the devastation caused this week, and to come together to promote freedom

and dignity for all.

“By saying Kaddish, we were showing that our Judaism acknowledges the humanity we share with others; that its roots lie in justice and equality.”

The Zionist Federation was among those fiercely criticising the event. Charman Paul Charney said he was “shocked and appalled”, adding: “Within the Zionist umbrella there is a wide spectrum of view-points. But those views must be expressed in a constructive and nuanced manner.”

TOP RABBI’S ABUSE FEARS Continued from page 1 newspaper Ha’aretz that he did not think live-fire was the IDF’s only option.

Janner Klausner, whose daughter was incorrectly accused of being at the kaddish for Gaza on Wednesday, said: “People will stop being brave. We need to reel back from loose, cruel behaviour, not just towards the left but across the spectrum.

What is happening is so self-destructive I am actually really frightened.”

She called on other Jewish communal and religious leaders to help set the tone for debate and call out those who repeatedly over-step the mark by posting abusive messages and “cause hurt in an unfettered, irresponsible way that does not befit the Jewish community”.

She said: “Judaism teaches that one of the most serious things is to humiliate someone in public, which is as though you have shed blood.

“We need rabbis and Jewish leaders to turn round and say ‘no more, this is not happening in our community.’ If people repeatedly abuse others online and cannot self-censor, we need the community to come together to spell it out to them. It’s OK to disagree, but do not use abusive, disgraceful, disgusting language to do so.”  Editorial comment page 16

I’m proud to have led Kaddish RABBI LEAH JORDAN LIBERAL JUDAISM’S STUDENT CHAPLAIN

On 16 May, more than 50 of us – British Jews with a variety of political beliefs – gathered in Parliament Square to mourn the deaths of the Palestinians killed by the Israeli army.

We came together, united in our grief for the deaths of so many and in our anger at the Jewish establishment’s failure to condemn the occupation and siege of Gaza that caused such violence.

As Jews, we decided to express this grief and anger in the most Jewish way possible. We recited poems and read texts inspired by our tradition. We sang the Hebrew songs of freedom, peace and justice, with which we grew up. We read out loud the names of those who were killed;

and we finished by reciting Kaddish, the beautiful prayer remembering those who have died, which concludes with a plea for universal peace.

I attended as a rabbi and led us in that Kaddish prayer – and am proud to have done so.

I call on other leaders in our community to stand with us. Our tradition teaches that justice must underlie true peace. There will never be peace in Israel, which so many of us love, unless there is an end to the injustice of the occupation and the siege on Gaza. As the prophet Isaiah tells us, the ultimate aspiration is that we will be “repairers of the breach, restorer of streets to dwell in”.

The young Jews leading on this are from the bosom of our community, from our synagogues, schools and youth movements. They ask us: will we stand for freedom and dignity for all, for a world built, as the Psalmist teaches, on chesed, on love? Anyone who rejects occupation and loves freedom and dignity for all is welcome to join us.

Falling for Hamas propaganda GIDEON FALTER

CHAIRMAN OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANTISEMITISM

There is a sickness in our community. Last week, a group of Jews standing in Parliament Square saying Kaddish, the Jewish memorial, for a group of terrorists. To fully appreciate how sickening this was, it is important to know three things.

First, Hamas itself says that of the 62 who died, at least 50 were its own terrorists. Some of the others are believed to be from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Second, the Hamas charter openly calls for the genocide of all Jews, not ‘merely’ a Holocaust of Israeli Jews, but of all Jews.

Third, any Jew hearing the Kaddish will immediately be transported to times that they have heard it recited by heartbroken relatives at gravesides. It is a prayer steeped in sadness.

Those who desecrated the Kaddish by reciting it for dead terrorists sicken me. They knowingly read out the names of the dead terrorists and then said Kaddish for them. Those terrorists wanted all Jews dead, and they were attempting to break through the border fence into Israel to achieve that solitary goal: the killing of Jews.

I cannot fathom the twisted loathing that might motivate a Jew to and smugly revel in saying Kaddish for those who died seeking to kill other Jews for being Jews. Gideon is writing in a personal capacity

24 May 2018 Jewish News

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Pickles appointed / News briefs / News

‘Dear chum’ a Lord

JEWISH ANGER ON PEER NOMINATION

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “After nearly 40 years of public service and as a true champion of Holocaust education and remembrance, we could not be more thrilled for our dear chum.

“We know Sir Eric will continue to passionately champion our cause and on behalf of the Holocaust survivors who so admire him and all of us at the Holocaust Educational Trust, we wish him a hearty mazeltov.”

Chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Olivia Marks-Woldman congratulated Sir Eric, commending him for having “worked tirelessly to ensure that the lessons from the Holocaust and other genocides are taught and learned across the UK and continues to campaign passionately against Holocaust denial and antiSemitism”.

Jewish groups have branded Jeremy Corbyn’s nomination of Martha Osamor to become a peer as “a two-fingered salute” to the community.

The Nigerian-born British civil rights campaigner, has shown public support of Labour members Martha Osamor who were suspended over anti-Semitism, including signing a letter protesting against Ken Livingstone’s suspension over claims that Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Gideon Falter said: “Mr Corbyn has sent an unmistakable signal to those in the Jewish community who still harboured some hope that he might change”. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell praised her experience.

The government’s envoy for post-Holocaust issues Eric Pickles has been appointed to the House of Lords.

Sir Eric (pictured), who was widely touted for the Lords after stepping down as an MP before the last election, is among a list of figures from the main parties who will take their places in the upper chamber.

The charismatic politician also served as parliamentary chair of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), helping to increase the organisation’s impact.

CFI honorary president Lord Polak CBE and CFI executive director James Gurd said: “With four remarkable decades of public service, Sir Eric’s peerage is not only fully deserved but he will also make an enormous contribution to the House of Lords.

“CFI looks forward to working with him and Sir Eric continuing his long-record of supporting the UK’s Jewish community and the state of Israel.”

SIR MICK’S EMPATHY WARNING One of British Jewry’s most senior and respected figures has warned Jews in Israel and beyond not to lose empathy with civilians killed while protesting near the Gaza border last Monday.

Sir Mick Davis, a former chair of the Jewish Leadership Council who also chaired then Prime Minister David Cameron’s Holocaust Memorial Commission, made the comments in an opinion piece published in Haaretz

last week.

In it, he accused Israel and others of showing “sheer complacency” in letting the situation in Gaza get so desperate, asking: “What of empathy for the innocents among the dead?

Has that become a taboo?”

Questioning whether live fire was the IDFs only option, he reminded readers about a recent video showing “a young Israeli sniper... celebrating as he shoots an unarmed protester”.

MAY’S DAY AT MAIDENHEAD SHUL

Theresa May formally opened a 50 yard walk-way through Jewish history at Maidenhead Synagogue: a stretch of paving that has carved into it the different stages of Jewish history on successive stones.

NEWS IN BRIEF

EXHIBITION ON ‘DEGENERATE’ ART The UK’s national Holocaust archive is to host a new exhibition on the Nazis’ campaign against “degenerate” art and the artistic response from London. Beginning on 13 June, Defending ‘Degenerate’ German Art is being held at the Wiener Library, exactly 80 years since the original exhibition – at the New Burlington Galleries in London – was held in response to the Third Reich’s attack on modern art. The exhibition features a number of the original pieces, including works by Emil Nolde and Max Slevogt.

CULTURAL GROUPS WIN TOP AWARDS Two groups with Jewish links have won top prizes at the European Cultural Foundation awards. Borderland, which connects modern Poland with its lost Jewish community, and Forensic Architecture, founded by British-Israeli architect Eyal Weizman, shared the Princess Margriet Award for Culture, which celebrates courageous citizens using culture as a force for change.

Forensic Architecture draws on architectural knowledge and new technology to reconstruct sites of conflict and injustice.

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

News / Anti-hate campaign/ Free speech / News briefs

Muslims tackle Jew hate Prominent British Muslims have published an open letter in a full-page advert in two UK newspapers urging other Muslims to call out antiSemitism when they see it.

In the adverts – which appeared in last Thursday’s Telegraph and Friday’s Metro – the group, which includes senior police officers, human rights activists and interfaith champions, warn that the prosperity of British Muslims “cannot be ensured while Jewish communities feel under threat”.

Writing at the start of Ramadan, and after the deadliest week in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict since 2014, the signatories say: “The time has come to speak out. For far too long, anti-Semitism has gone unchecked.”

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters and founder of Muslims Against AntiSemitism (MAAS), was among those signing the letter, which carried the headline: “We have one word for Jews. Shalom.”

Another signatory was Ayesha Hazarika, a broadcaster

The advert in the Telegraph

and political commentator who formerly advised Labour leaders. Her latest book – Punch and Judy Politics: An Insider’s Guide to Prime Minister’s Questions – which she

co-wrote with Tom Hamilton, was published last week.

The group wrote: “To our Jewish sisters and brothers, we say the struggle against one of history’s oldest and most virulent hatreds is not your fight alone but ours collectively.”

The ad acknowledged race hate was found in all faiths and cultures, including Islam, and said: “We must be ever vigilant against those who cynically use international issues to vilify Jews or promote antiSemitic tropes.”

The Community Security

Trust has, over recent years, repeatedly shown how violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East can affect levels of anti-Semitism in the UK, with clashes referred to as “trigger points”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews thanked the signatories, saying it was an “incredible solidarity – a full page ad

by Muslim sisters & brothers in today’s Telegraph.

The Board added: “Thank you. Together we will defeat the twin evils of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate.”

‘NO FREE SPEECH CRISIS IN UNIVERSITY’, SAY MPs A committee of MPs and peers has concluded that there is no “free speech crisis” in universities, as has been suggested in the media, but Israel’s supporters in the UK say this “fails to appreciate” concerns regarding Israel.

It follows a debate late last week after publication of the Joint (House of Lords/House of Commons) Committee on Human Rights report, presented

to the new Universities Minister Sam Gyimah.

The committee had sought to understand whether government policy was coherent given that universities are legally compelled to secure freedom of speech, while the Prevent Duty Guidance says they should not provide platforms for extremist views.

The panel – which included Lord

(Harry) Woolf, a former Chancellor of the Open University of Israel – referred to disruption at University College London and King’s College London in 2016, where anti-Israeli protestors disrupted events organised by the Friends of Israel societies. Likewise, there was disruption at pro-Palestinian events held at the London School of Economics (LSE) in March 2017 and

the School of Oriental and African Studies in November 2017.

UK Lawyers for Israel argued proIsrael events were disrupted “on many occasions”, with the knock-on effect being that “the cost, time, administrative burden and need to protect people from hostile protests leaves students who run such societies... put off from hosting events”.

NEWS IN BRIEF

‘ISRAELI BEATLES’ HEAD FOR LONDON Members of a rock band known as the ‘Israeli Beatles’ are coming to London next month to perform in a fundraiser for the Meir Panim charity, which helps to feed Israelis in poverty. The group, Kaveret, also known as Poogy after their rock opera Sipurei Poogy, were given the ‘Beatles’ nickname in the 1970s, represented Israel in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and retired in 2013. Two original members – Danny Sanderson and Gidi Gov – will be at the London event on 11 June.  Tickets: mannauk.org

POLAND SEEKS NAZI WAR CRIME PAPERS Poland has asked Germany to return archival documents regarding war crimes and saving Jews. The parliamentary team for estimating the amount of compensation due to Poland from Germany wants to recover historical documents regarding the period of the Nazi occupation, which were transferred there between 1961 and 1999 by the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes and the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland.

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24 May 2018 Jewish News

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

News / Women’s award / Coroner guide / News briefs

VERBER APPOINTED TO US COMMUNICATIONS POST Outgoing senior vice-president at the Board of Deputies Richard Verber has been appointed communications director at the United Synagogue. Verber, a long-standing member of Golders Green United Synagogue, joins from the communications team at World Jewish Relief, where he has worked for six years covering the Jewish community’s response to natural and man-made disasters. A US spokesman noted Verber’s professional and lay roles “built on outstanding communication skills and an excellent knowledge of the community”, adding: “He will be a great addition to the senior team.”

DELAY IN VISA RENEWAL KEEPS ABRAMOVICH OUT Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich missed watching his side win the FA Cup last weekend because he is still awaiting the renewal of his UK visa. The Financial Times reported on Sunday that Abramovich, who bought Chelsea in June 2003, is currently without a visa for the UK and had not been able to enter the country since the end of last month, when his last one expired.

John Mann, a Moscow-based spokesman for the 51-year-old Jewish billionaire businessman, investor and politician, declined to comment on the report, telling the news agency Press Association Sport the question of Abramovich’s status was a private matter.

Sam Cam honours Nicola Samantha Cameron presented Jewish businesswoman Nicola Mendelsohn with the Women of Distinction Award at a Jewish Care fundraising lunch.The wife of the former prime minister David Cameron was guest of honour at the charity’s 27th Women of Distinction lunch. The event raised £75,000 to support Jewish Care’s Sidney Corob House, a registered care home for Jewish adults who have mental health needs.

Interviewed by news presenter Samantha Simmonds, Cameron told the 200 guests at the gathering about her life in the world spotlight and how she was now fulfilling a life-long ambition to run her own fashion company.

Mendelsohn, 46, is an advertising executive who rose to national prominence in 2013 when she was appointed Facebook’s vice-president for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Presenting the award, Cameron said: “You are a truly amazing, inspirational woman who is still so young, so glamorous and have achieved so much.

“It gives me great pleasure to present this award to you for leaving an indelible mark on both your profession and the community.”

Mendelsohn, whose husband is the co-president of Norwood, said she was “humbled,” adding: “I’m so grateful and honoured to be recognised today. This beautiful award will have pride of place in our home”.

Awards co-chair Danielle Lipton said Cameron and Mendelsohn were “two successful women who are role models to so many at a time when celebrating women and their achievements seems to be more important”.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Samatha Cameron with Nicola Mendelsohn at Jewish Care’s Women of Distinction lunch

NEW GUIDANCE FOR CORONERS The Chief Coroner has issued new guidance on the release of bodies for burial after the High Court last month held coroners “cannot lawfully exclude religious reasons for seeking expedition of decisions”.

The move comes after the Mary Hassell “cab-rank rule” policy of Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for Inner North London, was deemed “unlawful”.

Lawyers involved with the legal challenge said the new guidance says proper respect should be given to representations based on religious belief, including considering whether a particular case should be “treated as a matter of urgency…for religious…reasons”.

Hassell had warned of the “significant negative impact of prioritisation of one sector of the community over others”, saying: “Queue

jumping places those who are pushed back further in the queue at a material disadvantage.”

The new guidance states “some faith groups, particularly Jewish and Muslim, have religious and cultural wishes about treatment of a body and burial following a death… Coroners should pay appropriate respect to those wishes”.

Asher Gratt, who spearheaded the judicial review proceedings for the Adath Yisroel Burial Society, said: “We are very grateful to the chief coroner for issuing this new guidance in light of the High Court’s decision.

“Other coroners already treat faith communities with dignity. We hope that Ms Hassell will now follow suit.”

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies said: “Jewish families will welcome the Chief Coroner’s new guidance, which instructs coroners to give due regard to religious needs in deciding in which order to process cases.”

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The next Board of Deputies’ president Marie van der Zyl (pictured) has announced her divisional heads for the next three years.

Senior vice-president Sheila Gewolb, who polled highest in the vice presidential elections, will chair the International Division, which has been chaired for the last three years by outgoing senior vice-president Richard Verber.

Vice-president Edwin Shuker will chair the Communities and Education Division, which now includes the interfaith activities of the Board,

taking over from Gewolb.

The Board’s other vice-president, Amanda Bowman, will chair the Defence Division, which is perhaps the most visible and reactive of the three. Both Van der Zyl and Jonathan Arkush, outgoing president, both chaired the Defence Division.

Treasurer Stuart MacDonald, who was re-elected unopposed, will chair the Finance and Organisation Division.

The new honorary officers will take up their new positions on 1 June.

24 May 2018 Jewish News

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

News / The Royal Wedding

Hip, hip, Harry (and Meg!) There were right royal celebrations in Jewish schools and synagogues, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle finally tied the knot at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on Saturday, writes Francine Wolfisz.

In the run-up to the big day, Sinai Jewish Primary School, in Kenton, was awash with red, white and blue, as youngsters enjoyed a special tea party.

Headteacher Juliette Lipshaw said: “Promoting and embedding British values is at the heart of our school’s work. The children made

Mini Meg and Harry at Moriah School

flags, jelly and sandwiches. We wish Harry and Meghan a hearty mazeltov – congratulations!”

Clore Shalom in Shenley, Yavneh Primary, Borehamwood and Wohl Ilford Jewsh Primary, Barkingside, also enjoyed royal-themed tea parties, while Simon Marks Jewish Primary School, Stoke Newington, hosted a British monarchy quiz followed by a special lunch.

Meanwhile, Reception pupils at Moriah Jewish Day School, in Pinner, got into the mood with a picnic in the park, featuring a mock wedding, cupcakes and dancing.

Headteacher Ruth Gafson said: “The children had a brilliant royal wedding in the sunshine.”

Synagogues also joined the spirit of celebration. Borehamwood and Elstree United was decked out for the occasion with Union Jacks and Harry and Meghan bunting, and served up a Kiddush featuring cucumber sandwiches, scones and jam and Pimms.

Co-organiser Rochelle Miller said: “We all felt suitably patriotic and happy that we were able to tie in our community events with the wider event happening in the UK.” Radlett United Synagogue similarly tucked into a royal-themed Kiddush and raised a l’chaim to the royal couple in the shul garden.

Mosaic Jewish Community in Harrow included a special prayer for the wedding during the Shabbat service, while West London Synagogue hosted a Shavuot night of learning, with

Picnic celebrations at Sinai Jewish Primary School, which was decked out with Union Jacks

sessions looking at relationships and royalty.

In wishing the newlyweds mazeltov on their nuptials, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis took to BBC Radio 4’s Thought For The Day. He said: “As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle begin their journey together, the three crowns of royalty, public service and timeless tradition are unavoidably upon them. But as all young couples must strive to do, they have begun to forge their own path in life together.

“Mindful of the wonderful impact they have made as individuals through their passionate commitment to outstanding causes, they have shown what a formidable force for good they can be as a married couple.”

Adding her thoughts, Rabbi Laura JannerKlausner, senior rabbi to Reform Judaism, said: “I wish the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex mazeltov. They symbolise all that is good in modern, diverse Britain; committed to good causes and improving the lives of others. May

they have many years of happiness.”

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Liberal Judaism’s director of strategy and partnerships, added: “We wish the Royal couple many congratulations on their very special simcha. It was a wonderful ceremony, topped off with a radical sermon that would do every Liberal Jew proud.”

Clore Shalom pupils give a royal thumbs up

WHAT WAS SO JEWISH ABOUT

The Royal wedding?

The best friend: Jewish style guru Jessica Mulroney is Meghan’s closest confidante and credited with her transformation from television actress to a polished princess. Jessica is descended from the Romanian-Jewish founders of Browns shoes, a family empire worth £50 million, and is married to Ben Mulroney, son of the former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

That adorable smile:

Hear O’ Royals:

With their cheeky, gap-toothed smiles, Jessica and Ben’s seven-year-old twin sons, John (pictured left) and Brian, served as the adorable page boys who carried the train of Meghan’s dress down the aisle. Their sister, Ivy, four, was a bridesmaid.

Bishop Michael Curry, the first black presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, quoted from the Shema during his lively sermon. He told the newlywed couple: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.”

The shadchan: Meghan has another close Jewish friend, fashion designer Misha Nonoo, who is said to have acted as a matchmaker when she introduced her to Harry two years ago.

Misha was born in Bahrain to an Iraqi father and English mother and is now based in New York, where she has her own clothing line.

Solomon’s wise words: Princess Diana’s sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, selected a passage from the Song of Solomon (Shir HaShirim) to read during the ceremony. She said: “My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.’”

24 May 2018 Jewish News

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Buckingham Palace reception / Survivor honoured / News

Jewish charities celebrate Charles’ 70th at the palace Representatives of Jewish charities shared “Once the gates were closed, I was able to in Prince Charles’s 70th birthday celebra- join the crowds inside the garden of the palace tions at Buckingham Palace this week. and hear the newly-wedded Prince Harry give The heir to the throne invited people from a speech about his father. each charity of which he is a Patron, including “I was then asked to stand as a guard of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), honour for Prince Charles and the Duchess of World Jewish Relief (WJR) and the Jewish Cornwall to walk through to return from the Museum in Camden.

Royal Tea Tent back up to the palace.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, “Youth United did an amazing job of now known as the Duke and Duchess of getting all of the youth groups together Sussex, attended in their first official public at the event and let us show Prince Charles engagement since their we really apprewedding. ciate what he does JLGB volunteer for us.” leader Toni Levene, HMDT chief execuwho helped form the tive Olivia Marksguard of honour as the Woldman said surRoyal Family entered vivors were “hugely the garden party, said: appreciative of the “It was an absolute Royal Family’s recoghonour and privilege nition of the importo represent JLGB… tance” of marking the Standing on the steps Holocaust, adding: of Buckingham Palace “This was a wonwith the Royal Family JLGB’s Toni Levene, pictured wearing derful opportunity to really was a once in a a red sash, behind the Royal couple celebrate with him.” lifetime opportunity WJR was repreand something I will never forget.” sented by staff, trustees and Harry Heber, Youth leader Ellie Palmer said: “My expe- who came to the UK on the Kindertransport, rience at the event was inspiring and one I as well as by Debbie Cantor, who runs the will never forget. charity’s archives.

“The number of guests who have changed Chief executive Paul Anticoni said His the minds and lives of young people like Royal Highness’ “vision of flourishing myself was amazing. I was very proud to be Jewish communities, notably in Krakow, has representing JLGB and it will be a lifelong created fresh, vibrant Jewish life in Eastern memory.”

Europe and for that we owe him a huge debt JLGB youth leader Harry Finestone, who of gratitude”. has been part of the organisation for nearly Jewish Museum chief executive 10 years, said: “My role at the event was to Abigail Morris said she had wished Harry and collect guests’ tickets at the front gate of Meghan mazeltov following their wedding.

Buckingham Palace.

“They seemed genuinely delighted and “I stood on the inside of the gate of the thanked me very warmly,” she said. palace and spoke to every single one of the “It was great to see them carrying out their 6,500 people who attended the event. first royal engagement.”

JLGB youth leaders at Buckingham Palace

1962

2018

Ben honoured with sculpture Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott will follow in the footsteps of the Queen and Joan Collins next week in being the subject of a sculpture by Frances Segelman.

The 87-year-old – who went on to compete in weightlifting at the Olympics within a few years of liberation and has dedicated himself to passing on the lessons of the Shoah – will be immortalised in clay during a live event on 7 June.

The sculpture will be sent for bronzing and it is hoped the artwork donated by Segelman will then be presented to a leading museum.

Helfgott is the honorary president of Yad Vashem UK Foundation, which is organising the event, and was a member of David Cameron’s Holocaust commission.

Simon Bentley, chair of Yad Vashem UK, said: “It is a great privilege for us to be holding an event to honour our honorary president – an inspiration for us all.”

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

News / Eric Moonman memorial

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Politicians, family members and friends this week paid tribute to former Essex MP Eric Moonman, who died last December.

Speaking during a Parliamentary reception, Eric’s wife Gillian movingly recounted how his “powerful personality transformed the outlooks of so many under his influence”.

She said: “Eric was a passionate, opinionated and supportive man who always said what he meant and never said what he didn’t mean.

“He was a polymath, excelling in whatever venture he turned his hand to. He cared deeply for mental health, the decline of the newspaper industry, children in care and the plight of Soviet Jewry.

His was a life of great energy, enthusiasm and optimism.”

The former Labour and

SDP politician served twice as Board of Deputies senior vice president and chaired the Zionist Federation between 1975 and 1980. He also served on the board of the BritishIsrael Public Affairs Committee in 1986, and in recent years was known as an expert on security and counterterrorism issues.

Louise Ellman MP praised Eric as a “terrific man” who “affected people for the good in so many different areas of life.”

She recalled: “Over the years as an MP, Eric was such a wonderful friend. He supported me through difficult times whenever I needed advice.”

The Labour MP added that Moonman was one of the few MPs who did something positive for Israel in Parliament, primarily through the

Eric Moonman with wife Gillian

Lobby Day for Israel, which he organised alongside Christian Friends of Israel.

Other tributes came from Lord Hoyle, who praised Eric as a “wonderful person who always gave 150 percent”.

Dr Lionel Kopelowitz, former Board president, added that Moonman was “totally reliable in every

possible way” and a “very great Jew and a very great Zionist.”

Alan Aziz, who organised the event on behalf of the family, said: “Eric was a mentor to me and helped me formulate my methods of how to navigate this very complicated world we live in.”

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Philip Roth: 1933-2018 / Special Report

Author who defined the Jewish frame of mind Jewish News pays tribute to American literary icon Philip Roth, whose novels explored themes of identity

T

he world of arts and literature this week paid its respects to prolific Jewish American author Philip Roth, after the writer died surrounded by friends and family, aged 85.

The author of classics such as Portnoy’s Complaint, American Pastoral, and The Human Stain, Roth used his books to explore aspects of his identity, including his Jewish heritage, sometimes angering Jewish readers with his ironic outlook.

His impact on American literature began in the 1960s, when he joined fellow Jews Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud in shaking attitudes and preconceptions.

Emeritus Professor Eric Homberger at the University of East Anglia said Roth “delighted in every nuance and absurdity of Jewish life in America, but his defiantly secular sensibility was without piety or reverence”.

Roth, who suffered from chronic back problems, lived in Fulham and worked from Kensington in the 1960s. Years later, he returned to marry English actress Claire Bloom in 1990, subsequently separating four years later, after Roth returned to the US. He won countless prizes and accolades throughout his distinguished career, including a Pulitzer for American Pastoral, but never the Nobel Prize for Literature. He continued publishing until his late 70s, keeping himself fit, often working standing up. He once said he walked half a mile for every page he wrote.

His first collection of short stories, Goodbye Columbus, published in 1959, told the story of middle-class Jewish Americans caught between modernity and tradition, wrestling with themes such as assimilation and being different. It won him a National Book Award but he was accused of anti-Semitism and labelled a “self-hating Jew”.

He stirred Jewish ire again in 1969 for Portnoy’s Complaint, his friend and editor Aaron Ascher recalling that “the attacks were horrible and disheartening, especially from the Jews”, adding: “It made him angry and defensive, so he closed up, but maybe it did him good. The setback of great success changed and improved him as a writer. Without it, he’d have been different.”

Speaking about his upbringing in a Jewish neighbourhood in New Jersey, he said: “I never saw a skullcap, a beard, sidelocks – ever – because the mission was to live here, not there. There was no there. If you asked your grandmother where she came from, she’d say, ‘don’t worry about it, I forgot already.’ To the Jews,

this was Zion.”

His 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, imagines an alternative history in which Franklin D. Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by the pro-Nazi demagogue Charles Lindbergh. In 2016, the book was much discussed as a prescient look at the populist tides that would sweep Donald Trump into the Oval Office over the more conventional Democrat.

In addition to winning nearly every literary award for writers in English, Roth was also embraced by the Jewish community over his long career. Three of his books were honoured with the American Jewish Book Award, and in 1998 he won the Jewish Book Council’s Lifetime Literary Achievement Award.

He was for decades considered a front runner for the Nobel Prize in literature; it is one of the rare honours he wasn’t able to claim.

In 2014, the writer whose works were once denounced as profane and even self-hating was honoured by one of American Jewry’s sacred citadels when the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), Conservative Judaism’s flagship educational institution, awarded Roth an honorary doctorate at its commencement ceremony.

Roth often demurred when it was suggested that he should be defined as an American Jewish writer.

“I did not want to, did not intend to, and was not able to speak for American Jews; I surely did not deny, and no one questioned the fact, that I spoke to them, and I hope to others as well,” Roth wrote in his essay, Writing About Jews.

Roth was also criticised by some as a misogynist, owing to his frequent portrayals of women as sex objects (the protagonist’s romantic partners in Portnoy’s Complaint, for example, all have derisive nicknames) and allegations about his behaviour in his personal relationships with women.

Nevertheless, appreciation abounded for Roth’s contributions to the Jewish world, including his championing of writers from Eastern Europe.

“If the western world views itself through the lens of the modern Jewish experience, it is in large measure due to the novels, novellas and short stories of Philip Roth,” wrote David Roskies, a JTS Jewish literature professor, in a note to the class of 2014.

He added that Roth “has done more than anyone to further the literary exploration of the Holocaust, in his own writings, and by promoting great works and writers throughout the world”.

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

World News / Limmud FSU in Manhattan NEWS IN BRIEF

SCHOOL ‘SHOOTER’ POSTED NAZI SYMBOL The suspect in a school shooting at a Texas high school that left at least 10 people dead had posted a photo of a symbol associated with Nazism on social media. At least 10 people were killed and 10 wounded at a shooting at Santa Fe High School, outside Houston, last Friday. The suspect was reportedly identified as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, a 17-year-old student, by a law enforcement official. The country’s Reform movement called on Congress to enact gun reform in a statement addressing the shooting. [JTA]

APOLOGY FOR CALLS TO JEWS TO CONVERT A senior American politician has apologised in Israel for statements she made in 2015 in which she called on Jews to convert to Christianity to help bring the End of Days. Michele Bachmann, a former congresswoman who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, said Christians need “to be faithful in the Kingdom and to help bring in as many as we can, even among the Jews”. She apologised during a joint Jewish-Christian Bible study in the Knesset. [JTA]

Russian Jews celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary in New York The younger among New York’s Russian-speaking Jewish community enjoyed new surroundings for the annual learning festival Limmud FSU, convening at the prestigious Columbia University in the centre of Manhattan.

More than 400 young adults came from far and wide to hear from business, thought and religious leaders, as well as others, with a special session by world-renowned lawyer Professor Alan Dershowitz, addressing the Israel boycott campaign.

Participants also heard from prominent Jewish world figures, such as Matthew Bronfman, chair of Limmud FSU’s International Steering Committee, and Rabbi Marc Schneier in a packed conference programme that included dozens of lectures, sessions, panels and performances.

Among these were a panel with the businessman and philanthropist Leonard Blavatnik, a session by the outspoken transgender activist and

Russian-Jewish New Yorkers attend Limmud FSU at Columbia University

former Chasidic rabbi Abby Stein about her life journey, and Howard Rosenman, who told his story as an Oscar-winning gay Jewish producer.

Other speakers at the event included Ukrainian TV presenter Boris Burda, Lithuanian writer Rūta Vanagaitė, New York-based Russian

fashion designer, Leonid Gurevich, and Grisha Yakubovich, who served in the Israel Defence Forces for 30 years, ending his career as head of the Civil Coordination Department of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

“We’re extremely happy to be

here for the first time ever in the Columbia University, on the 70th anniversary of Israel, to celebrate with hundreds, despite the helpless BDS efforts to boycott the Jewish state,” said Limmud FSU co-founder Chaim Chesler.

Supporters of the event included Genesis Philanthropy Group, Claims Conference, IDB Bank, Tom Blumberg and Covenant Foundation, the latter providing a grant.

Limmud FSU co-founder Sandy Cahn thanked the Covenant foundation for its grant.

She said: “We have begun to create an enhanced network of young leaders educated in Jewish history, heritage, and culture, who have the connections, skills and tools to shape the future of the Russian-speaking Jewish community in the United States.”

Organisers also thanked volunteers, including Noam Shumakh-Khaimov, Alina Bitel, Roman Sidler, Estee Bardanashvili and Nina Faynberg.

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15

Embassy move / News briefs / World News WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

Your weekly digest of stories from the international press UNITED STATES

A Jewish lawyer in New York has been shamed by the internet after a video of him being racist towards Spanish staff in a city café went viral. Aaron Schlossberg embarked on an unexplained and bigoted tirade last Wednesday after growing angry that Spaniards were speaking Spanish. It all went downhill from there.

ARGENTINA

A teacher in a Catholic school has been caught on camera telling pupils that Hitler ‘did good things’. Denise Yanet Evequoz told the children ‘Jews had the money but did not help Germany improve’ and that they ‘took advantage of the people who needed money,’ adding: ‘This generated a certain hatred towards Jews.’

PANAMA

Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has said the Jewish community of the Central American state of Panama is ‘one of the most important’ after a visit by Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela. Israel’s international development agency MASHAV is building a new centre of excellence for agriculture in the country.

TUNISIA

Jews and Muslims put on a display of interfaith at El Ghriba Synagogue this week, as an annual pilgrimage saw thousands of Orthodox Jews flock to the island of Djerba. A Jewish resident said: ‘Here, there is no difference between Jews and Muslims. We are good neighbours, we visit each other and they offer us food.’

Paraguay third state to relocate embassy Paraguay has opened its new embassy in Jerusalem, following in the footsteps of the United States and Guatemala which moved last week.

President Horacio Cartes dedicated the building on Monday, making Paraguay the third country to transfer its diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Romania, the Czech Republic and Honduras have said they are also considering doing the same.

US president Donald Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem in December was welcomed by the Israeli government, but infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their future capital. Moving day: Horacio Cartes and Benjamin Netanyahu The US embassy move added fuel Elsewhere, the US embassy move has also brought to the weekly Palestinian protests in Gaza demanding the right of return to Israel and the lifting of a decade- others to rally in support of Israel.

In this week’s ceremony, the entrance to Jerusalem old naval blockade.

The protests culminated last Monday, when Israel was lined with the flags of Paraguay, and Israel’s prime killed nearly 60 Palestinians in prolonged clashes minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who attended the along the border. The heavy death toll triggered a event with his wife Sara, said he was there to “salute” diplomatic backlash, with Turkey expelling Israel’s a great friend.

The opening of the embassy was “a great day for ambassador and consul general and several European countries summoning the Israeli ambassadors to Israel, a great day for Paraguay, a great day for our friendship,” Netanyahu added. their foreign ministries for questioning.

NEWS IN BRIEF

ISRAELI ARMY SIGNS FIRST BLIND RECRUIT Israel’s army has welcomed its first blind officer. Hila Meudah, 24, has been posted to the Military Advocate General as a legal adviser to the Israel Air Force. The army paid for her studies at Bar Ilan University to be a lawyer after she agreed to serve for several years as an officer following her graduation. Meudah was born prematurely with very little eyesight that she lost completely as a child. She was exempt from military duty but insisted on serving anyway.

ARSON ATTACK HITS BRAZIL SYNAGOGUE Vandals set fire to a synagogue in southern Brazil last week after painting threats to the Jewish community on its walls. A quantity of flammable fuel was dumped under the main entrance door of the Israelite Society of Pelotas and set alight, causing minor damage. The criminals responsible also wrote pro-Palestinian messages on the wall as well as threats to the Jewish community, which the graffiti said should “wait” for a forthcoming “international Intifada”.

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

Editorial comment and letters ISSUE NO.

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

1055

Ken’s end is brings relief more than joy

Whisper it quietly, but on some things Ken Livingstone was right. His campaigning for LGBT rights in the 1970s, for instance, while provoking angry comments from Londoners at the time, proved him on the right side of history, and should be applauded.

Perhaps it went to his head, because it was his cynical, selective and wholly misplaced history lesson on live radio two years ago that so offended Jews up and down the land, regardless of their political stripe.

The MPs who waved goodbye to the former London mayor this week made two points, both of which we agree with. The first is that Ken should have been expelled two years ago. The second is that this is not the end of it. Labour has to do more. It has to cleanse itself not just of the people who hold such views but of the views themselves.

The goodwill has gone, such that Ken’s exit this week was more a moment of pain-relief than of joy. Labour is the ideological home of the progressive, but for Jews that home no longer feels safe. It is the job of the Labour leadership to make it such once again. Ken’s exit is a start.

The tone of our debate When the leader of progressive Judaism in the UK warns that the way we disagree with each other risks ripping apart the Jewish community, you listen. That was exactly the caution from Senior Reform Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner this week. Intra-communal tensions have been high – when are they not in the Jewish community? That we differ isn’t bad.

Yes, the judgement of those that took part in the Kaddish for Gaza must be seriously and severely questioned. What a foolish thing to do after Hamas confirmed most of the victims were its terrorists, intent on murder.

Janner-Klausner’s point is that the way we’re treating those we disagree with is now so odious as to be turning people away from the community, away from Judaism, likely lost forever.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send us your comments PO Box 815, London HA8 4SX | letters@thejngroup.com

PEACEFUL? NOT THESE PROTESTERS as “children”, but it is not You reported Emily reasonable to expect Israeli Thornberry’s call for Israel troops to check their birth to stop the “vicious and certificates before taking avoidable slaughter of measures to prevent them peaceful protesters” on from carrying out the above the Gaza border and her “peaceful” activities. condemnation of the NetWhat would happen if anyahu government for its large numbers breached the “brutal, lethal and utterly border fence and reached unjustified actions”. nearby Israeli villages can Is she unaware these easily be imagined, but I “unarmed” protesters doubt Ms Thornberry would throw rocks (not pebbles) and Molotov cocktails at Last week’s clashes on the Gaza border decry the resulting massacre in such strong terms.

Israeli troops, fly kites In all probability, it would be described as and balloons with incendiary devices over the “justified” by frustration at the lack of progress border to burn the fields of Israeli farmers and in ending the “illegal occupation”. fire guns and set bombs along the border?

Martin D Stern Some protesters may well be under 18 Salford and could therefore be described technically

Sketches & kvetches

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES DAYS TO GO...

...for the government to stop Hezbollah terror flags flying in London at the Al Quds Day parade on 10 June

THIS WEEKEND'S SHABBAT TIMES...

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Printed in England: West Ferry Printers Limited Published by: The Jewish News & Media Group. www.thejngroup. com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form of advertising without prior permission in writing from the editor. Registered as a newspaper by Royal Mail. The Jewish News reserves the right to make any alterations necessary to conform to the style and standards of The Jewish News and does not guarantee the insertion of any particular advertisement on a specified date or at all – although every effort will be made to meet the wishes of the advertisers. Further it does not accept liability for any loss or damage caused by an error or inaccuracy Member of in the publication of an advertisement. Signatures of both parties involved are sometimes required in the case of some announcements. An order for an advertisement shall amount to an acceptance of the above conditions. Hotels, Audit Bureau products and restaurants which are not supervised are marked with an [N]. The Jewish News reserves the right to edit of Circulations letters for size and content without prior consent. Submission of letters is no guarantee of publication.

There are at least two valid reasons to adjust the human bones in the Jerusalem exhibition.

Using genuine human remains is disrespectful to the dead who should be buried in peace. The

museum should also use reconstructions, not real bodies, because at present it seems Cohanim would not able be to attend the museum building.

Joseph Feld NW11

QUESTIONS FOR DINA BRAWER

17 Shabbat comes in Friday night 8.46pm

THIS IS DISRESPECTFUL TO THE DEAD

‘Being Jewish is a bit like being The Evening Standard – you’re always late, you know everyone’s business and people stare at you on the Tube.’

If in Dina Brawer we now have an Orthodox female rabbi, where can she make up a minyan, say kaddish and answer questions from men on issues such as women obtaining a get?

Given a person is Jewish only from the matriarchal line, there is no reason a person should not be Jewish from his or her father. I note this “rabbah”

obtains smicha in America and intends to live there.

I see little value in a couple of years’ study and a two-hour exam against a wise woman who has the opportunity to learn from her husband over a long period in which she gains experience dealing with practical matters.

Noach Bright Stamford Hill

17

24 May 2018 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Editorial comment and letters

Facts on Gaza that were not reported We have grown sadly accustomed to biased and irresponsible reporting in the media of matters concerning Israel, especially from the likes of the BBC. But I never expected to raise the same accusation against Jewish News.

In reporting on the killings at the Gaza border on 14 May, you quoted Theresa May calling for an “independent investigation” and that the MP

Labour’s Emily Thornberry

Alistair Burt had claimed the “large volume of fire is extremely concerning”.

What you failed to report was that both these speakers stressed during their remarks that Israel has a right to defend its borders.

It is in the context of Israel’s rights to defend its borders that their comments must be considered.

This contrasts sharply with the vile comments made by Jeremy Corbyn (who you seem to have such pleasure in quoting every week in your paper) and in particular Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry.

Neither made any mention of Israel’s right to defend itself but rather unilaterally condemned the country in the harshest of terms.

Daniel Shear By email

LET THEM SAY THEIR KADDISH INSIDE GAZA Would those people who gathered in Parliament Square to say Kaddish for Hamas terrorists rather be saying kaddish for dead Israelis?

Gaza’s ‘peaceful protesters’ were armed with knives, machetes and explosives as well as being equipped with Google maps on how to reach communities in Israel. Their intention was slaughter. Those saying kaddish for terrorists killed by the IDF defending Israeli citizens wilfully ignore this salient fact. I suggest their parents book them oneway tickets to Gaza so they can say Kaddish in person. I doubt whether they would have use of a return ticket.

Ruth Leveson Temple Fortune

TRUMP’S IRAN COURAGE to attack Israel, back Congratulations to many other terroristDonald Trump, who supporting and had the courage to destabilising forces, withdraw from one and continue to reof the worst and fine its nuclear promost destabilising gramme for eventual deals in history. The weapons. Hopefully Iran-Obama nuke Iran will now be pact was the biggest No deal: Donald Trump defunded and real cause of instability change forced on the regime. in the Middle East, allowing Iran Harold Miller to fund up, make war in Yemen, By email open five massive bases in Syria

Tune into this Friday’s Jewish Views podcast!

• We speak to the national secretary of the Jewish Labour Movement, Peter Mason, about Ken Livingstone quitting the party • Newly-elected President of the Board of Deputies, Marie Van Der Zyl, on her plans.

• Faith Matters’ Fiyaz Mughal on why he was one of the Muslim signatories to a HOW TO LISTEN... letter, published PODCAST: Fridays iTUNES ‘The Jewish Views’ in newspapers, condemning antiWEB RADIO: Sundays at 10pm on Wandsworth Radio semitism.

ONLINE: jewishnews.co.uk

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

Opinion

For Ken it’s more ‘Me a martyr’ than mea culpa RICHARD FERRER EDITOR, JEWISH NEWS

I

n the end it was more “Me a martyr” than mea culpa.

On Monday, Ken Livingstone resigned from the Labour Party before a second disciplinary hearing into his “Hitler supported Zionism” take on 20th century history.

The straw that broke this stubborn camel’s back – when no dry stalk seemed up to the task – came last week when Shami Chakrabarti, who led the party’s toothless 2016 investigation into antiSemitism, added her voice to the clamour calling for him to go.

After years of antagonising Jews (comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi guard, claiming Jews vote Tory because they’re “richer” and rolling out the City Hall red carpet to the world’s worst antiSemites), it was his pièce de résistance – insisting the man who murdered six million Jews supported a Jewish home-

land – that finally put pay to an almost 50-year political career.

Labour’s top brass will have been horrified by last month’s local election loss in top target Barnet (with its large Jewish population) and decided with a heavy heart that their old ideological ally had become too toxic to tolerate.

Not-so cuddly Ken, hunkered down in his bunker like someone we dare not mention, knew the game was up. But quitting, of course, would never have been his choice. This, after all, is a man who quadruples down on a bad hand rather than admit defeat. A man who applies salt to a wound instead of a plaster. A man who squandered 16 opportunities to apologise during one infamous radio interview last year.

As a parting gift, Labour let him sneak out the back door with honour, rather than be booted out the front with expulsion.

Jeremy Corbyn called it “the right thing to do”, but if he truly cared about anti-Semitism in the party he would have refused the resignation and let the disci-

flyexpert@aol.com

❝

QUITTING THE PARTY, OF COURSE, WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN KEN’S DECISION

plinary hearing play out in public. That would have been the right thing to do.

Livingstone still maintains Hitler “supported” Jews. Old Adolf himself couldn’t convince him otherwise. No doubt he thinks the Chief Rabbi is a huge Hamas fan too.

He also swears blind he’s never witnessed anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and has a smashing relationship with Jewish people. “I’ll let you know when I finally find a Jew who has attacked me for what I said,” he told the media yesterday.

He’s even used this newspaper to defend his warped views. He was on TV more times

than the Trivago advert when Labour first suspended him, doing his best Neville Chamberlain, waving a piece of paper with an article by a Jewish News blogger who asserted his innocence.

If you start telling bloggers they can’t write that fish ride bicycles we might as well all move to North Korea so, yes, we published that piece – along with dozens of others fiercely taking the opposite view.

Livingstone has been media obsessed long enough to know the difference between a blog and a newspaper’s editorial comment.

Wilfully confusing the two exposed his mode of manipulation.

For the Jewish community, his exit brings more relief than joy. The party he leaves behind, led by a man with a default blindness to its fears, remains as cold and an unfriendly place to anyone who claims to be a victim of Jew hate or has a good word to say about the Middle East’s only functioning democracy.

Livingstone is just the tip. Now Labour must deal with the rest of the iceberg.

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19

Opinion

A certain type of stupid says Kaddish for Hamas JENNI FRAZER

I

swore I wouldn’t do it. I promised myself: it’s a really bad idea, it’s a surefire path to aggravation.

But it seems there is no end to the litany of self-righteous “expertise” on the whole dreadful, bloody, Gaza mess, from the self-appointed “guardians” of the aching Jewish heart to the young and stupid – yes, no other word for it – stupid idiots who said Kaddish for the Gaza dead last week.

Nobody has a monopoly on the “correct” response and it surely ought not to need saying, but evidently does for the intellectually tone-deaf, that feeling appalled by what happened on the Gaza border does not put one in the mad, bad and angry anti-Israel camp.

And now that we learn that the majority of those killed were Hamas members, and that they were certainly intent, if they could, on breaching the border and attacking Jews on the Israeli

side, do we all feel better?

Well, some may. Including perhaps the triumphalist celebrants at the ceremony for the new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Since timing is everything, the proximity of the two events left a sour taste: balloons in Jerusalem, bullets in Gaza.

I spent a lot of time in Gaza as a reporter and it is a hellhole unimaginable in its squalor by the armchair ranters, keyboard warriors and megaphone mavens who have been so keen to give us the benefit of their opinions.

And yes, it is true ordinary Gazans are held hostage and intimidated by Hamas.

And it is just as true that there is a Hamas government in the Gaza Strip because ordinary Gazans voted for it; just as true as that there remains a Likud government in Israel because no one was prepared to vote in a credible alternative.

Too many commentators in the past days appear to have found the Holy Grail when it comes to Gaza. Most of them have never been there, know almost nothing

about its conditions, but are very keen on dispensing advice as to what should be done – and that goes across the political spectrum. “Fake news” and assumptions are rife, and everyone knows better than the next Jew what the answers are.

Well, I am sick of it. From the conclusions drawn about the choices facing 19-year-old IDF recruits who have to make split-second, sickening decisions whose consequences they will have to live with all their lives, to the wilful blindness that ignores the misery and desperation felt by many young Palestinians — or the smug superiority and virtue-signalling that led to the Kaddish outside Parlia-

❝

ment, it’s all loathsome.

Supposedly we are a sophisticated community when it comes to Israel, but in fact we seem to be Neanderthal, replaying clichéd dug-in positions in a sort of grim puppetry of the real thing.

We’re only stages away from the school playground, name-calling a speciality, each convinced of his or her brand of moral rectitude.

For what it’s worth, the most sensible advice right now about Gaza is to read, and learn, and ask questions. And then, just shut up. Because every bit of commentary just makes things worse.

Every bit.

THERE SEEMS NO END TO THE LITANY OF SELF-RIGHTEOUS ‘EXPERTISE’ ON THE WHOLE DREADFUL, BLOODY GAZA MESS

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

Opinion

Selective outrage about Gaza, inertia elsewhere REBECCA TINSLEY CHAIR, WAGING PEACE

E

vents in Israel tend to mobilise otherwise dormant keyboard warriors. In recent days, social media has heaved with indignation at the plight of Palestinian protesters. Yet the same critics of the State of Israel are strangely silent about the slaughter of far greater numbers of people in places like Sudan. Could it be that the Darfuris are the wrong type of Muslim? Or, like European Jewry in the 1930s, is the Sudanese cause simply less fashionable than the Palestinian one?

When I give talks about our work with Sudanese refugees, someone invariably asks what I’m doing about “all the dead Palestinian children”. The fact that a far higher proportion of children have been killed by the Khartoum regime is an inconvenient detail. And when I post a blog about the brave democracy campaigners (Muslims, by the way) who have fled the brutal Sudanese security services, it arouses no interest from those now claiming

that Gaza is the worst place in earth.

Darfuris, and the Christians in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, self-identify as African, whereas the Khartoum regime wants to ignore centuries of intermingling, thereby reframing the country as Muslim and Arab.

Hence the systematic ethnic cleansing, which continues to this day in a media vacuum.

Human Rights Watch has for years reported on the bombardments of black African villages which leave adjacent Arab ones untouched. Amnesty has compiled hundreds of testimonies from Darfuri women gang-raped by Sudanese soldiers. When I was in Darfur in 2004, I interviewed women who had been branded as if they were slaves; by impregnating them, the soldiers said they would dilute their African blood.

In 2004, the USA determined that genocide was occurring in Darfur, and President Bashir was subsequently inducted for genocide by the International Criminal Court.

Sudan experts estimate at least 400,000 civilians have been killed since 2003. This represents a significant proportion of the six million people in Darfur. Moreover,

❝

WHERE WAS THE SOCIALIST WORKER RENT-A-MOB WHEN POL POT WAS HERE?

almost three million, or half the population, remain in refugee camps in next-door Chad, or in squalid displaced-persons camps, vulnerable to attack by the regime’s militia proxies. Add to this the two million black Africans whom the UN estimates were killed by the regime in what was the southern third of Sudan until 2005.

Evidently it is not mass casualties per se that offend the selective public conscience.

When Pol Pot was killing an estimated 24 percent of Cambodians, where was the Socialist Worker rent-a-mob who routinely protest about the Palestinians? Or when the Hutu regime killed two thirds of Rwandan Tutsis? Indonesia claims the dubious

distinction of murdering the highest proportion of its own people (33 percent), in East Timor, but this catastrophe proved just as unfashionable as the current horrors being perpetrated upon the Rohingya people of Myanmar/Burma.

This is not to argue that the human rights of Palestinians do not matter.

However, for the people of the DR Congo (five million killed since 1994) or Ethiopia (four million) or Bosnia, it must be bewildering, if not galling, that their misery does not attract the same revulsion as the suffering of Palestinians does.

It is significant that every moment of the conflict at the Gaza border is broadcast, whereas the Khartoum regime shrewdly sealed off Darfur and the Nuba Mountains at the beginning of its campaign of killing.

Perhaps Sudan’s rulers knew enough about the Holocaust, and the years of denial and disbelief while it was happening, to understand that our selective outrage requires video footage.

Whatever the truth, the suffering of the Sudanese continues in relative silence.

Rush to criticise Israel fell into Hamas’ hands LUKE AKEHURST

DIRECTOR, WE BELIEVE IN ISRAEL

I

understand why many people, including good friends of Israel, publicly condemned what they thought had happened in Gaza.

They took at face value the media coverage without realising that, in large part, the broadcast media was regurgitating the Hamas line that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had indiscriminately shot unarmed civilians.

My job as director of We Believe in Israel requires me to wait and be more sure of the facts before commenting and also means that, being part of the team at the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), I have access to the facts and the smartest analysis in the business.

I have visited the Gaza border half a dozen times as part of the delegations of local councillors that I take to Israel.

During these visits, I have both met the civilian communities living with the threat of Hamas rocket attacks and terror tunnels, and been briefed by IDF soldiers there,

including snipers.

I therefore have some knowledge of the IDF’s terms of engagement, which made me sceptical they would shoot anyone who did not present a threat.

The whole point of deploying snipers is that their fire is precisely targeted and the opposite of indiscriminate.

We now know, from an interview with Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil, that 50 of the 60 dead were Hamas members.

Islamic Jihad claim a further three.

Another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, gave a televised interview the day before the bloodshed saying Hamas was “deceiving the public” when it used

the phrase ““peaceful resistance”, as it was “bolstered by a military force and by security agencies”.

Details emerged of 10 groups that tried to blow holes in the border fence with improvised explosive devices, of another group of eight terrorists who were in a gun and grenade battle with Israeli commandos.

Gazan Facebook pages urged participants in the protests to “Bring a knife, dagger, or handgun”. Al-Bardawil described last Monday not as a protest or even a riot but a “battle”.

The clashes could have led to mass casualties if the border had been breached and terrorists had reached the kibbutzim I’ve visited in recent years, one of which is just 400 metres beyond the border.

❝

WE KNOW 50 OF THE 60 DEAD WERE HAMAS MEMBERS AND THREE WERE ISLAMIC JIHAD

This wasn’t the indiscriminate massacre of civilians presented to the world last Monday. This was a case of highly trained IDF soldiers, with very clear rules of engagement, with use of live fire as the very last resort, stopping terrorists from using the chaos and confusion of a huge demonstration and smaller outbreaks of rioting as cover to infiltrate Israel with the intention of killing civilians.

All the deaths that happened are tragic, whether the minority who may have been civilians or the majority who it now appears were Hamas or Islamic Jihad combatants.

I want those young Gazans to be the doctors, engineers and teachers Gaza needs in a free and democratic Palestinian state living at peace alongside Israel, not to be dead terrorists.

But the rush to demonise Israel and assume the worst intentions and actions without waiting to find out what really happened, or to feel any empathy about the extreme dilemmas Israel’s terrorist foes place on its leaders and military, provides Hamas with exactly the propaganda win they dreamed of when they carefully planned this operation.

24 May 2018 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

21

Community / Scene & Be Seen

1 GIFTING ON SHAVUOT

More than 1,000 students from 15 schools and synagogues across London, Manchester and Jerusalem donated flowers to those less fortunate and in hospitals and care homes in honour of Shavuot. Pictured is GIFT director Michelle Barnett and Rebbetzin Freda Kaplan from Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, together with mothers and daughters’ batmitzvah groups from the past five years in a special farewell to the Rebbezin flower arranging evening for charity GIFT.

And be seen

All smiles for Shavuot!

2 CHEESY CELEBRATION

There were cheesecakes aplenty at Jewish Blind & Disabled’s seven buildings, as volunteers baked the treats to help residents celebrate Shavuot (pictured are some volunteers handing out cake at Milne Court). Pupils from Kantor King Solomon High School also donated flowers and wrote cards, while several of the homes hosted events including cheesecake, tea and talks.

Email us at community@thejngroup.com

3 A FLORAL MITZVAH

Kantor King Solomon High School celebrated Shavuot by making bouquets of flowers and cards to give to the residents at Vi & John Rubens House in Gants Hill.

The students read the Hebrew saying Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah – one mitzvah performed leads to another – and also made edible Mount Sinais in a group activity.

Children at an Emunah day centre in Akko enjoyed learning about Shavuot. UK director Deborah Nathan said: “Emunah is a leading provider of educational and welfare services in Israel, caring for 12,000 children and families.”

2

Photo by Blake Ezra

4 EMUNAH TEACHES

1

3

4

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Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

24 May 2018

Scene & Be Seen / Community Email your story to community@thejngroup.com

5 WIESEL’S LEGACY

5

Elisha Wiesel, son of the late nobel lureate and Shoah survivor Elie, spoke about his father’s life and legacy at the Centre for Jewish Life.

He was interviewed by Justin Cohen, news editor of Jewish News.

6 BELARUS LIFE

❝

6

The Together Plan Charity, in partnership with Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue, as part of its cultural and heritage programme, held a Belarusian Cultural Evening complete with Belarusian vodka, herring and black bread. The event, which was attended by 90 people, was a revue of 120 years of Jewish life from pre-revolution through the Holocaust and communism, to modern-day Belarus, showing how The Together Plan is helping to revive Jewish life in the former Soviet Union. Pictured: Belarus-born Anna Parijskaia and her London-born daughter Sonia Richardson, jointly-reading a poem in Belarusian and English by Jewish Belarusian poet Zmitrok Biadula.

7

WE MET ALL KINDS OF INTERESTING PEOPLE; THE HIGHLIGHT WAS PRINCE CHARLES 9

8

7TORAH TRIBUTE Photo by John Rifkin

Chabad Lubavitch North East London & Essex, remembered their fellow colleague, Rabbi Moshe Muller, on his second Yarzheit, by holding a Hachnosas Sefer Torah. The last letters were written, in the family home, overseen by head shliach to Essex, Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin

MBE and Sofer Rabbi Arele Tiefenbrun. The completed Sefer Torah was carried out of the home by Mendel Muller, the eldest son of Rabbi Muller, with a crowd of 350 taking part in a 20-minute procession that ended at the recently opened new Chabad Lubavitch Centre in Gants Hill, Ilford.

8 SUPPORTER AWARDS

Straight from Hollywood, comedian Elon Gold provided the comedy at the StandWithUs UK gala dinner, which was attended by 450 guests. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was presented with the Beacon of Light Award, celebrating his vocal support for Israel and student leaders were also honoured for their pro-Israel work on campus.

9 QUIZZICAL PUPILS

Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School won the annual Interschool Supper Quiz. Hosted by last year’s winners, Sinai Jewish Primary School, the winners triumphed over teams made up of parents and teachers from more than 10 Jewish primary schools across London. Team captain Lynn Bowman said: “We are so proud to have won the quiz for Etz Chaim. We’re looking forward to all the other schools visiting our school next year when we play host, and are so excited to have the opportunity to fundraise for our own school in such a fun way.”

Your family announcements Selma Shrank & Laurence Citron were married at St John’s Wood United Synagogue

Josh Morris and 83-year-old Allan Lane celebrated their barmitzvahs at Radlett Reform

Photo by Sharna Kinsley Photography

Photo by contributor

Photo by contributor

Helen Tarlow celebrated her 80th birthday with her husband David, family and friends

Photo by Sovereign Photography

Noah Arram celebrated his barmitzvah at Mill Hill United Synagogue

Have you had a recent simcha?

Send your picture to picturedesk@thejngroup.com

24 May 2018 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

23

Community / Scene & Be Seen

Langdon hosts its dinner with a difference This year’s Langdon dinner attracted a record 554 people. Chairman Nigel Henry addressed the glittering event, saying: “We thought it would be refreshing not to hear long speeches from people like me, but have the opportunity to see, hear and meet the people you are supporting. So this dinner will be led by our members.” He then handed over to Ben Brahams, a Langdon member and toastmaster for the night. Even the appeal film was made by three members – Robert Bluestone, Elisa Leigh and Marc Butcher. Actor Warwick Davis spoke movingly of his experiences and how everyone should be allowed to maximise their potential. ‫בס''ד‬

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Scene & Be Seen / Community

ICRF is made to feel at home Guests descended on two London homes last week to support Israeli Cancer Research Fund. Elena Gabay and Mookie Orr hosted the fundraisers in partnership with JNF UK. Those in attendance heard from author Ronen Bergman, director of oncology at the Share Zedek Medical Centre Shani Paluch-Shimon and former Maccabi Tel Aviv goalkeeper Tamir Gilat, now chair of the ICRF. Guests were serenaded by Marina Maximilian and Israeli chef Nini Noff catered for one of the events, with London-based Miri Barak. The events were produced by Tzemach Productions.

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25

Community / Scene & Be Seen

Barak boosts children’s village

Photos by Justin Grainge

Ehud Barak was guest speaker at the Youth Aliyah Child Rescue 85th anniversary dinner, which raised over £420,000. More than 350 guests descended on the Dorchester Hotel to hear the former Israeli prime minister, in conversation with Ned Temko, discuss the need to pursue a two-state solution while ensuring security. Funds raised at the dinner – chaired by Tina Curtis and Lorraine Robinson – will help turn the library at the Aloney Yitzchak village in Israel into a multimedia hub for dance and performance. Barak and Ambassador Mark Regev paid tribute to the organisation’s work with vulnerable children since before the creation of the state.

26

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

Life Lifestyle / Business

IN THIS SECTION: Nosh 35 Active 38

Meet the Rich List’s inspiring new entry Young entrepreneur Joshua Stevens tells Sandy Rashty how he made it onto this year’s Sunday Times countdown

I

’m not motivated by how much money can be made,” says Joshua Stevens. “That’s just not me. I no longer consider what I do ‘work’ – it’s a lifestyle I am passionate about.”

Just 29-years-old, Stevens is a new entry on the Sunday Times Rich List. In fact, he is the highest new entry on the list of the nation’s wealthiest young entrepreneurs, coming in third overall.

Worth £30million, he has made his fortune importing and developing popular goods at a fraction of what they retail for in the UK. He has brought in gadgets from Asia and beauty products from Morocco, but Stevens says he has more to achieve. “I couldn’t stop now, I enjoy what I do way too much. I have no interest in selling out and then having nothing to do.”

I meet Stevens at his offices in the heart of Camden Town’s Stables Market. Dressed in a white T-shirt, jeans and trainers, he’s laid back. “We have a no-suit policy here,” he smiles.

But Stevens is not used to media interviews – or the attraction his new profile will bring. “It is still quite surreal now. I still sit here as a normal guy.

I sometimes have to sit back and think, I’m running a major business.”

As the sole shareholder and founder of the One Retail Group company – which sells more than 2,000 in-demand products a day to seven countries, including the UK, the US and mainland Europe – Stevens has seen profits rise in the last year on sales of

nearly £14m.

And with so many popular products to offer the market, the Hampstead-based businessman is often guided by his “gut”.

The former Haberdashers’ Aske’s schoolboy explains: “I will spend hours researching a market; I won’t just decide to develop something. I have always been able to look at something and work out a way I can fix it, whether it’s a price or quality issue or whether a design can change. I don’t get it right all the time, but I get it right 90 percent of the time. I have that gut instinct.”

Despite always dreaming of owning his own company, Stevens never considered going straight into a start-up after school: “My mum wouldn’t have let me,” he laughs. “I was a Habs boy, I had to go to university. It was a fallback, just in case.”

After reading business management and computer science at Warwick University, he went onto work as a trader in the City, which he “hated”.

He explains: “I just didn’t get any fulfilment from the job, I didn’t get any excitement from clicking buttons and watching money move.”

After two years, he joined a retail luggage company, which brought back his passion for business. He spent unsociable hours setting up his own company, after hearing about argan oil, a Moroccan plant-based product said to improve the condition of hair and skin.

He recalls: “Only large brands were selling it.

I thought, why can’t I start buying and selling it?”

Stevens contacted a local producer and bought 100 bottles of the oil, that he promoted on his website: “They took off much more quickly than I thought – it just grew from there.”

His side project income soon exceeded his salary, so Stevens quit his job and set up a workspace in his bedroom for six months, before moving to a one-person office in Finchley. On the drive to work, he taught himself conversational Mandarin in a bid to better communicate with suppliers for new products he would promote on

his website. Was he not exhausted?

“Now I have a rule: I don’t work on weekends.

Emails are off. I have done 50 years of work in the space of 15 years, so I need to give myself some chill time.”

He adds: “If I’m not making use of my mornings and evenings, I feel like I’m wasting time. While most of my friends will go home and stick the TV or FIFA on, I just don’t have an interest in that. For me, it’s getting on my laptop and Skype, getting on

Berber women with whom he works teach Joshua Stevens how to crush argan oil kernels

24 May 2018 Jewish News

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27

Business / Lifestyle the phone.

“I have always done that, ever since I was a kid. I still do that; I still work 18 hour days.”

It’s a drive and entrepreneurial flair he shared with his Vienna-born grandfather Freddie Weitzmann, a Holocaust survivor who came to the UK aged 14.

He explains: “My grandpa came over on the Kindertransport with nothing. He ended up being the first person to import cameras into the UK, from Japan. He had the importing and trading buzz. My mum says she sees a bit of him in me.”

And he has always had the business flair. Aged 13, Stevens remembers tapping into his parents’ fax machine at their Arkley home and buying a motor scooter he wanted, at a discount. Two weeks later, a stranger offered to buy it from him as he drove it around the local park. Stevens then used that money to buy more scooters – and a business model was born.

“It started as a passion when I was a kid, a hobby” he laughs. “I

The scooter Joshua bought aged 13, and sold after owning it for just two weeks

enjoyed the process so much, I had to repeat it.

“I was not playing football at lunchtimes, I was running my own importing business on the side.”

It was going well. By the time he was 16, Stevens built up a savings pot of around £7,000 – until a fraudster took his investment into music players, without delivering the products from Japan.

“I was naive,” he says. “I had so much success up to that point I didn’t think I was at risk. My mum was a state over it. We got the local MP involved, we got Interpol and the police involved. We just couldn’t track him down. I had to start again from scratch.

I had made the one mistake that I’ll never make again, that is [to] put all your eggs in one basket.”

And he has helped instil those values in young students he meets on mentor schemes, noting that despite popular perception, you do not have to launch an app to be successful today.

“I built an app once as a sideproject – it failed,” he says.

“I think it’s a very saturated and incredibly difficult market to get into. There are thousands of apps added to the App Store each day.

“I’m an old school entrepreneur, I like consumer products and the buzz that comes from developing an idea, improving a product, and then seeing it in someone’s hands.”

And unlike so many

Joshua inspecting the production line for his company’s Pro Breeze heater range in China last month

business leaders, Stevens is not panicking about Brexit, despite one-third of his business coming from Europe.

“Nobody knows how Brexit is going to impact us yet,” he shrugs. “I never panic about business. Whatever happens, we’ll make it work. If I was able to lose that money as a kid and build it up again, there’s nothing to stop us changing the way we work around it. I am not going to worry about it

until it happens.”

So what’s next?

“We have grown so far, we are just trying to manage what we have,” he says noting that the company will soon send product to Australia.

“We are still an online business.It has always been a dream of mine to walk into a shop floor and see my products on shelves.

We’ve got lots to do.”

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Jewish News 24 May 2018

Lifestyle / Nosh

PLATEExpectations

Kasha varnishkes

With

Denise Phillips

PREPARATION TIME 15 MINS

Kasha varnishkes is kasha buckwheat cooked with pasta bows. It originates from the Jews of eastern Europe, notably Russia and the Ukraine. It is still very popular in America, but many English Jews have never heard of it.

This is a very traditional recipe that is frequently served with pot roast on a Friday night and a similar version to the one my aunt in Brooklyn makes each week.

SERVES

6- 8 peo ple

COOKING TIME 15 MINS

250ml kasha/ buckwheat, coarse grind 1 egg beaten 1 teaspoon salt

METHOD 1 Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F /Gas mark 4.

2 In a heavy based frying pan, toast the kasha for 2 to 3 minutes until it

600ml vegetable or chicken stock

begins to turn golden and give off an aroma.

3 Immediately stir in the egg, salt and stock and mix well. Cover the saucepan, reduce the heat to simmer and cook the kasha until it absorbs all the stock, about 5 minutes.

4 Meanwhile cook the pasta in rapidly boiling salted water until al dente.

Drain and set aside.

5 Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and sauté the onions and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. ach side.

6 Add the pasta to the cooked kasha mixture. Transfer the contents to a greased ovenproof dish.

200g brown cap mushrooms- sliced

4 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 large onion – peeled and finely chopped 225g pasta bows

Garnish: Sprigs of parsley and chopped walnuts

7 Check and adjust seasoning. Drizzle over 2 tablespoons of oil over the top.

8 Bake for 10 minutes until the top is slightly brown and crunchy.

To serve the stylish way: Serve spoonfuls of kasha varnishkes and garnish with sprigs of parsley and walnuts.

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29

Orthodox Judaism

SEDRA

It’s Biblical

Nasso

BY RABBI ARIEL ABEL This week’s reading, Nasso, tells of two forms of Judaism, the functional and the organic. The first preaches the formulaic performance of mitzvot as the most valued output, and obeying when ordered to do something: metsuveh v’osseh. Organic values the whole process of living as a Jew, mindful of others while performing one’s own obligations, not waiting for orders to serve God and community: na’asshe venishma.

The word Nasso is a command term with two possible meanings; that when one “counts” the Levites, one also “lifts” them. Thus, Moses recognises both the function of the Levites in servicing the mishkan while valuing each Levite individually.

After the Levites took apart, carried and reassembled the mishkan, each was lifted and waved in the direction of the four words, to show we must see ourselves as part of the same natural world.

The rest of the reading tells of a jealous husband taking his wife to the Temple to undergo a ritual. Then comes the Nazirite who abstains from wine and growing dreadlocks. Finally, the princes of Israel bring contributions towards finishing what the Israelite commoner had already donated.

Moses asked each prince to wait in line and donate a prescribed sum, thus showing the superiority before God of willingness over prescribed performance.  Ariel Abel is rabbi of Liverpool’s Princes Road synagogue

Everything you wanted to know about your favourite Torah characters, and the ones you’ve never heard of...

BY RABBI ELI BIRNBAUM THIS WEEK:

JUDAH

“The sceptre of Kingship will never depart from Judah!” (Genesis 49:10).

These are Jacob’s departing words to his sons around his deathbed.

Judah, his fourth son through Leah, is singled out as the progenitor of the Davidic Dynasty. The obvious question is how were Judah’s credentials worthy of such an accolade?

What does Judaism see as the chief ingredient in the recipe for majesty?

The Torah’s portrayal of its key figures is refreshingly honest – their shortcomings are never swept under the carpet of convenience. Moral quandaries of the greats are spelled

❝

Having a domestic: Judah and Tamar out clearly. We are interested in humanising heroes, not deifying them.

The story of Judah’s encounter with his daughter-in-law Tamar is complicated and easily misunderstood. Tamar, accused of harlotry, faces death. Neither Judah nor the

THE CHOICE JUDAH MAKES TELLS US EVERYTHING WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NATURE OF A JUST KING

entire city gathered for the spectacle realises Judah himself was her accomplice. In desperation, Tamar dispatches a message to Judah telling him the staff, ring and cloak in her possession were given to her as collateral by the biological father of her extra-marital child.

Judah is suddenly faced with an alarming choice. As the city’s leader and judge, his word is law and it is to him his citizens look for guidance and instruction. Does he confess his sin, risk his reputation and lose every shred of power and authority he once wielded.

Or does he take the easy route, ignore her message and feign ignorance of the whole affair?

Today, with honesty and humility increasingly rare among world leaders, Judah’s choice tells us everything we need to know about the nature of a truly just king: “She is righteous; I am responsible!” (Genesis 38:26).

 Rabbi Eli Birnbaum is director of YP Education at Aish UK

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Progressive Judaism

The Bible Says What? Progressively Speaking What does the arrival of the UK’s first Orthodox female rabbi mean for the community?

‘It’s forbidden to speak to the dead’

BY RABBI DEBBIE YOUNG-SOMERS “Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead”.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 It was Shabbat morning in a foreign shul and a warden I knew vaguely asked me how my father (whom he’d never met) was. I hesitated, and he cut in with: “It’s in his head.”

We had days earlier been informed that dad would be returning to hospital for a second session of brain surgery. While I looked stunned by the warden’s remark, he explained: “I just see things.”

For the next hour he astounded me, and comforted me. I consciously didn’t ask him any questions or prompt him in what he was telling me. But as our time drew to an end, I did ask him, in light of the above verse, how permissible his visions were.

He said he had consulted local rabbis who had told him: “It is forbidden to speak to the dead”. His response? “But what if they keep speaking to me?”

This strange experience actually left me with a huge appreciation for the Torah’s rejection of these practices; eight months later when my dad finally died, it was comforting to remember the assurances I had received that ‘once they are on the other side, they are fine’.

But the temptation to jump on a plane to find the warden and try to make contact was also real. Jewish mourning rituals are there to allow us to process and feel our grief, and to continue living well beyond it.

In banning necromancy, we aren’t necessarily being told it is bunkum, but that we mustn’t allow ourselves to be drawn into a temptation to cling to those who are gone; our tasks are here and we must re-embrace life and the living.  Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers is Reform Judaism’s community

BY RABBI LEAH JORDAN Rabba Dina Brawer (pictured) becoming Britain’s first Orthodox female rabbi is an historic step for Anglo-Jewry. It was the culmination of a fantastic personal journey.

It has been welcomed in this newspaper and elsewhere by every one of my Progressive rabbinic colleagues and made everyone in Judaism, Progressive or Orthodox, think about the road ahead.

From my own experience as a Progressive female rabbi – married, like Rabba Brawer, to a male rabbi – I know the road to gender equality, for all of us, is complex and uneven.

The British Orthodox world has not always been respectful. Orthodox male colleagues have declined to sit on panels with me. As a Progressive Judaism student chaplain, I have led Jewish Society Shabbat dinners on university campuses, where the honour of leading Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) was instead given to my husband, who was there simply

to accompany me.

But I have seen the Orthodox world move on gender issues. And I know Rabba Brawer’s serious commitment to Torah and to service, in the model of the Chabad shlichut/ emissary-ship with which she grew up with in Italy, is, as she says, the mission she can fulfil in this conversation and at this moment.

We in the Progressive world, too, have gone through evolutions. Lily Montagu, our heroic and trailblazing founder, was never ordained a rabbi, although her spiritual leadership, knowledge and commitment should well have warranted it.

The first Progressive female rabbi was ordained in 1975. We are currently only in our second generation and therefore still pushing boundaries and re-making culture.

We are still learning every day – about the need for paternity and partner leave for raising children, or what the evolving role of the rebbetzin means in a feminist and queer world.

Such questions must be infinitely more difficult in Orthodoxy, which has still to address equality in minyan, in prayer and in Torah reading.

I believe in 50 years there will likely be two Orthodoxies – egalitarian, which can’t stand the cognitive dissonance of modern times, and where women are fully emancipated, and one that can’t or won’t evolve and will shut the door to equality.

In that brave context, mazeltov, morateinu, our teacher in Torah, Rabba Dinah Brawer.  Rabbi Leah Jordan is Liberal Judaism’s student chaplain

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Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

Ask our

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Our trusty team of advisers answer your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry.

This week: Alternatives to the iPhone, obtain a divorce and get, and phones for the hard of hearing...

MAXI ROSE TELECOMS SPECIALIST

RCUK Dear Maxi As my family is steadily growing, I’m looking for ways to curb my costs and am starting with technology. We have four smartphone users and I’ve taken a liking to the Xiaomi models I’ve seen advertised. Are they cheap “made in China” rubbish?

What is the warranty on them? What technical issues can I expect to experience? We typically use iPhones and I seem to find myself paying for up to three screen replacements each year. While this is not light on the pocket, I don’t know what to expect with the Xiaomi models that are new to the UK market, even though their cost is appealing.

Benji Dear Benji Believe it or not, Xiaomi might be the next Samsung.

Like Samsung, which is based out of South Korea,

REBEKAH GERSHUNY FAMILY LAWYER

FREEMANS SOLICITORS Dear Rebekah I’m in the process of getting divorced. Is it really necessary to obtain a ‘get’?

Deborah Dear Deborah It is important to consider applying for a get as soon as possible after you decide to divorce.

Even if you are civilly divorced, neither of you can remarry under the auspices of a religious authority until a Jewish divorce has been obtained also.

In Orthodox Jewish law, if a religiously married woman were to have a child from another Jewish man, that child would have a status of illegitimacy (he or she is known as a mamzer) which would preclude him or her (and his or her descendants) from marrying in Jewish law.

If a religiously married woman were to have a relationship with another man before receiving her get, she would not be able to marry that man subsequently, even after receiving her get.

A get can be obtained at any time after you have

Xiaomi is a growing smartphone company based out of China and is expanding into other consumer electronics too.

I bet you’ve taken a liking to the phones for their glossy hardware and user-friendly software, rather than actually hearing about the brand name that most of us can’t even pronounce properly (it is pronounced ‘Chiomi’).

With the Xiaomi range offering a slick and slim design at a far more competitive price that still offers many premium mobile features, such as wireless charging, a camera fit for a professional photographer and a curved screen on some models, these phones combine some of the best of Samsung and iPhone characteristics, while not compromising on quality.

They are reliable, budget-friendly smartphones with a more durable composition, and I’m pretty sure the Mi range is thinner than many other main branded smartphones on the market.

Some of my colleagues are iPhone users and they, too, go through three screen replacements a year.

With the cost of this mind, you could even buy a brand new Xiaomi device for the cost of an Apple LCD replacement, so these phones are definitely worth a shot.

separated and either husband or wife can apply to the Beth Din for it. No grounds for divorce are required to obtain one. Provided both husband and wife consent to the giving and receiving of a get, it can be completed before you have commenced civil divorce proceedings and within a year of the original marriage.

Difficulties can arise when either party refuses to co-operate in the get process and it is best to find out if this is going to be the case as soon as possible. There are steps that can be taken in the civil courts if this is the case.

If you would like further advice regarding obtaining a get, or more generally with regard to divorce or separation, please get in touch with me.

SUE CIPIN CHIEF EXECUTIVE

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION Dear Sue My mum lives alone and is housebound. She often doesn’t hear the phone and I panic when I can’t contact her. When she does answer, she can barely hear me – it’s hard to have a conversation.

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We’ll send someone to visit her at home to demonstrate amplified phones with loud ringers – she’ll be able to try them out and see which one she hears best with.

They’re much louder than ordinary phones, so she’s likely to notice a big difference between them and the phones she currently has at home.

If she decides to buy a phone, we’ll then help her to order one so that it gets delivered to her home address no more than a few days later.

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Ask Our Experts / Professional advice from our panel

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• Partner at Frederick George & Co

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• Extensive services for people affected by hearing loss/tinnitus.

RCUK 020 8815 4115 www.rcuk.biz maxi@rcuk.biz

BENJAMIN STEVENS ESTATE AGENTS 020 8950 7777 www.benjaminstevens.co.uk Steve@benjaminstevens.co.uk

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION 020 8446 0502 info@jewishdeaf.org.uk www.jewishdeaf.org.uk

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

JEWELLER

TRAVEL AGENT

CRIMINAL DEFENCE SOLICITOR

JONATHAN WILLIAMS Qualifications: • Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s.

• Expert in the manufacture and supply of diamond jewellery, wedding rings and general jewellery.

• Specialist in supply of diamonds to the public at trade prices.

DAVID SEGEL Qualifications: • Managing director of West End Travel, established in 1972.

• Leading UK El Al agent with branches in Swiss Cottage and Edgware.

• Specialist in Israel travel, cruises and kosher holidays.

• Leading business travel company, ranked in top 50 UK agents.

• Frequent travel broadcaster on radio and TV.

CARL WOOLF Qualifications: • 20+ years experience as a criminal defence solicitor and higher court advocate.

• Specialising in all aspects of criminal law including murder, drug offences, fraud and money laundering, offences of violence, sexual offences and all aspects of road traffic law.

• Visiting associate professor at Brunel University.

JEWELLERY CAVE LTD 020 8446 8538 www.jewellerycave.co.uk jonathan@jewellerycave.co.uk

WEST END TRAVEL 020 7644 1500 www.westendtravel.co.uk David.Segel@westendtravel.co.uk

NOBLE SOLICITORS 01582 544 370 carl.woolf@noblesolicitors.co.uk

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN Qualifications: Lawyer with more than 15 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration, eight years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company.

Keeps in close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for.

Member of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

•

STEPHEN MORRIS Qualifications: • Managing Director of Stephen Morris Shipping Ltd. • 45 years’ experience in shipping household and personal effects.

• Chosen mover for four royal families and three UK prime ministers.

• Offering proven quality specialist advice for moving anyone across the world or round the corner.

LOUISE LEACH Qualifications: • Professional choreographer qualified in dance, drama and Zumba (ZIN, ISTD & LAMDA), gaining an honours degree at Birmingham University.

• Former contestant on ITV’s Popstars, reaching bootcamp with Myleene Klass, Suzanne Shaw and Kym Marsh.

• Set up Dancing with Louise 10 years ago.

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY 0800 358 3587 www.kkl.org.uk wills@kkl.org.uk

STEPHEN MORRIS SHIPPING LTD 020 8832 2222 www.shipsms.co.uk stephen@shipsms.co.uk

DANCING WITH LOUISE 020 8203 5242 www.dancingwithlouise.co.uk louise@dancingwithlouise.co.uk

• •

24 May 2018 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

33

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

ACCOUNTANT

IT SPECIALIST

HEARING AID AUDIOLOGIST

MELVYN SOBELL Qualifications: • Chartered accountant FCA. • Accounting, taxation and business advisory services.

• Specialises in forensic accounting.

• CEDR accredited mediator.

• Expert witness advice for all financial matters.

EWA KOZLOWSKA MSHAA Qualifications: • Fully qualified, HCPC registered, Hearing Aid Audiologist.

• Specialist in hearing healthcare including tinnitus management and wax removal.

• Fully understands the impact of hearing loss and will work with you to find the best solution for your unique hearing needs and lifestyle.

IAN GREEN Qualifications: • Launched Man on a Bike IT consultancy 15 years ago to provide computer support for the home and small businesses.

• Clients range from legal firms in the City to families, small business owners and synagogues.

• More than 18 years’ experience.

SOBELL RHODES 020 8429 8800 www.sobellrhodes.co.uk m.sobell@sobellrhodes.co.uk

BLOOM HEARING SPECIALISTS 020 8869 9999 www.bloomhearing.co.uk pinner@bloomhearing.co.uk

MAN ON A BIKE 020 8731 6171 www.manonabike.co.uk mail@manonabike.co.uk

ALIYAH ADVISER

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

BUILDING CONTRACTOR

DOV NEWMARK Qualifications: • Director of UK Aliyah for Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organisation that helps facilitate aliyah from the UK. • Conducts monthly seminars and personal aliyah meetings in London.

• An expert in working together with clients to help plan a successful aliyah.

BAYLA PERRIN Qualifications: • Free professional service delivering immediate practical help with domestic administrative matters, assisting those alone and in crisis.

• Providing workable solutions for debt management, budgeting, bills, utilities, insurance, welfare & benefits, form filling, financial correspondence, bureaucracy and divorce procedures. Cross communal and throughout London.

HOWARD GOLD Qualifications: • Member of the Federation of Master Builders.

• Member of the Consumer Protection Association offering an underwritten insurance backed guarantee of 5 years on all projects.

• Providing a tailored end-to-end property service for residential property clients in north and north-west London. Focusing on a quality service.

NEFESH B’NEFESH 0800 075 7200 www.nbn.org.il dov@nbn.org.il

THE PAPERWEIGHT TRUST 020 8455 4996 www.paperweighttrust.com info@paperweighttrust.com

HPS 077 1005 7233 / 020 8457 1320 wwww.hpsuk.com howard@hpsuk.com

MEDIATOR

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

ANDREW MILLER QC Qualifications: • Mediator with more than 25 years of experience of using mediation to economically resolve commercial disputes.

• Queen’s Counsel (Barrister) with 25+ years legal experience of conducting commercial cases.

• Providing a cost-effective and time-efficient alternative to the court litigation process.

HAZEL KAYE Qualifications: • Able to draw on the charity’s 45+ years of experience in providing specialist accommodation designed to enable independence.

• Knowledge of the features and innovations that can empower people to undertake everyday tasks and awareness of relevant grants and benefits available.

• Understands the impact of a diagnosis of disability.

MR ALI NOORANI Qualifications: • MBBS BSc (Hons) MRCS FRCS (Trauma & Orth) • Substantive orthopaedic and trauma surgeon specialising in trauma and upper limb surgery • Multidisciplinary approach to treatment as not all patients require surgery • Uses LEAN methodology to streamline the patient journey

AMQC MEDIATION @ 2TG 020 7822 1260 www.2tg.co.uk amqc@2tg.co.uk

JEWISH BLIND & DISABLED 020 8371 6611 www.jbd.org hazel@jbd.org

HIGHGATE PRIVATE HOSPITAL 020 8003 0889 www.highgatehospital.co.uk enquiries@highgatehospital.co.uk

SENIOR EMPLOYMENT ADVISER

CAREER ADVISER

SHARON GLASSMAN Qualifications: Born and raised in Israel.

Worked in the private sector.

15 years experience with new olim while working for the government.

Vast knowledge of the Israeli business and labour market.

LESLEY TRENNER Qualifications: • Provides free professional one-to-one advice at Resource to help unemployed into work.

• Offers practical support, workshops and networking opportunities to maximise job prospects.

• Expert in change management and people development. International Coach Federation certified coach helping people with career development and midlife change including dilemmas around ageing parents.

THE JEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL 020 8371 5258 www.jewishagency.org sharong@jafi.org

RESOURCE THE JEWISH EMPLOYMENT ADVICE CENTRE 020 8346 4000 www.resource-centre.org office@resource-centre.org

• • • •

FAMILY SOLICITOR

•

NICKI BONES Qualifications: • Registered mental health nurse with more than 30 years’ experience in areas supporting people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

• Founding member of SweetTree Home Care Services.

• Proudly leads SweetTree team to the forefront of home care and specialist services delivery.

FREEMANS SOLICITORS 020 7935 3522 www.freemanssolicitors.net rg@freemanssolicitors.net

SWEETTREE HOME CARE SERVICES 020 7644 9554 www.sweettree.co.uk info@sweettree.co.uk

•

Got a question for a member of our team?

Email: editorial@thejngroup.com

HOW AM I GOING TO MANAGE? JUGGLING MY BOYS, WORK AND HOME THERE’S A GROWING MOUNTAIN OF OVERWHELMING PAPERWORK I’M EXHAUSTED AND I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

REBEKAH GERSHUNY Qualifications: Member of Resolution, Law Society Accredited and registered with the Family Mediation Council.

Collaborative family lawyer, with more than 20 years’ experience and founder of family mediation practice, Evolve Family Mediation.

Promotes a constructive and non-confrontational approach.

•

CONSULTANT UPPER LIMB SURGEON

We’ll take the weight off your shoulders When there’s nowhere else to turn, Paperweight can help you take control of your financial, legal and administrative affairs.

020 8455 4996

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Charity Registration No. 1146302

34

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 24 May 2018

EARLY YEARS KODESH TEACHER Required from September 2018

We are seeking to appoint a highly-motivated, enthusiastic and inspirational individual to join our Kodesh team. This is an exciting opportunity to join a Kodesh team that is a happy, hard-working and cohesive group which welcomes like-minded professionals.

The successful candidate will: • Have suitable experience and knowledge to inspire primary-aged children to love their Judaism.

• Be happy to liaise regularly with parents on their child’s progress.

• Be innovative, self-sufficient, organised and motivated.

• Be an organised and motivated individual, and member of the team, and share in the development of the Jewish ethos within the school.

• Support the use of modern technology in the classrooms To receive Headteacher, applications

an application pack, please contact Mrs Gross, at hayley.gross@morashajps.org.uk.

Completed should be emailed to this address too.

Closing date for applications: Monday 28th May 2018 Interviews commencing: Tuesday 29th May 2018 Salary according to experience and qualifications Sacks Morasha Jewish Primary School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check.

London Jewish Day School

North West London Jewish Day School is a warm, happy, highachieving Modern Orthodox Zionist primary school, always aiming for excellence whilst supporting everyone to reach their potential.

Early Years Practitioner for Nursery NVQ3 Full time Start September 2018

Key Stage 1 Teacher (Maternity Cover) Start September 2018

We are seeking to recruit enthusiastic, dynamic and caring staff who would enjoy working in a happy and high-achieving environment. If you work well with others and want to join our team, we want to hear from you!

Pupils are polite and respectful and have positive relationships with their teachers and each other. They are self-assured and appreciative of their school and education.

Ofsted, July 2017

Deadline for applications: st Friday 1 June 2018 To apply, please complete an application form which can be found on the school website www.nwljds.org.uk/vacancies NWLJDS is committed to safeguarding children; all appointments will be subject to satisfactory references and an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

North West London Jewish Day School Headteacher: Miss Judith Caplan BEd Hons NPQH Tel No: 0208 459 3378 www.nwljds.org.uk

24 May 2018 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

35

Win music tickets and a hamper / Fun, games and prizes

WIN VIP TICKETS TO A CONCERT AT KENWOOD! Jewish News and Heritage Live have teamed up to offer two lucky readers a pair of VIP tickets to a show of their choice at Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath, as well as a VIP hamper of their choosing, together worth £536.

This summer, the Heritage Live Concert Series comes to the stunning grounds of Kenwood House in north London.

Shows this year include Hacienda Classical, with special guests Orbital and Leftfield (DJ sets) on 15 June, Alfie Boe on 16 June, and The Bootleg Beatles with String and Brass Ensemble and Lightning Seeds co-headlining with special guest Kyle Falconer Band on 17 June.

Kris Kristofferson with special guests Rufus Wainwright, Ashley Campbell, Rose-Lynn Harlan (aka Jessie Buckley), and Josh Okeefe, compered by BBC Radio 2 DJ Bob Harris, will appear on 22 June, while the following day there will be a John Williams movie themes night with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra with special guest Alexis Ffrench. Finally, on 24 June, there will be a Last Night of The Kenwood Proms with Katherine Jenkins with special guests the Military Wives Choirs.  To book tickets, and for more information on the shows, visit: heritagelive.net

Hilarious Hebrew Hilarious Hebrew Word the Week Word ofofthe Week

TO BE IN WITH A CHANCE OF WINNING THIS WEEK’S COMPETITION, ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: Kenwood House is located in...?

A: Hampstead Heath B: Hyde Park

ENTER ONLINE:

C: Green Park

jewishnews.co.uk

Katherine Jenkins

Closing date 7 June 2018

Kris Kristofferson

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD

THE JewishNews CROSSWORD 1

2

7

3

4

5

6

8

120 YEARS OF ZIONISM ”ZIONISM IS AN INFINITE IDEAL”

The WZO and ZF run subsidised Ulpan (Hebrew language) classes across the UK. For more information, contact ulpanuk@wzo.org.il or call 020 8202 0202

9

10

12

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The Hebrew word for 'elephant' is… pil ‫פִּיל‬ *** From the book Hilarious Hebrew – the Fun and Fast Way to Learn the Language, available on Amazon and in book and gift shops around NW London. www.hilarioushebrew.com

ACROSS 1 Awkward, clumsy (5) 4 Purple flower (5) 7 Passing whim (3) 8 Fail to satisfy, disappoint (3,4) 9 Fodder store (4)

21

23

10 Instead (4) 13 Unhappiness (3) 15 Incite (4) 16 Midday (4) 19 Place where aquatic creatures are reared (7)

Last issue’s solutions ACROSS: 1 Cygnet 4 Rota 8 Oar 9 Rag week 10 Solve 11 Drake 13 Teach 15 Scrub 17 Neutral 19 Bad 20 Cent 21 Writhe DOWN: 1 Cross 2 Gorilla 3 Eerie 5 Ore 6 Ankle 7 Aged 12 Acrobat 13 Tonic 14 Herd 15 Solar 16 Budge 18 Urn

All puzzles © Puzzler Media Ltd - www.puzzler.com

See next issue for solution.

24/05

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

By Paul Solomons

The ELEPHANT is ill, he needs to take a PILL

18

21 Rainbow shape (3) 22 Caffe ___, milky coffee (5) 23 Senior (5) DOWN 1 Present (4) 2 Lining material (7) 3 Banana‑ coloured (6) 4 Unwilling (4) 5 Gambling card game (3) 6 Transmit (6) 11 Spotted feline (7) 12 Cloth for bags and coats (6) 14 Catalyst in some washing powders (6) 17 Gala (4) 18 Disfigure (4) 20 Be sedentary (3)

Terms and Conditions: Two winners will win a pair of VIP tickets to a show of their choice at Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath, as well a VIP hamper of their choosing, together worth £536.

Editor’s decision is final. Prize is as stated, is not transferable and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or exchanged in whole or in part for cash. By supplying your email address, you agree to receive marketing information from the JN Media Group or any of its affiliates and carefully selected third parties. The promotion excludes employees of Miroma and the promoter, their immediate families, their agents or anyone professionally connected to the relevant promotion. Proof of eligibility must be provided on request. Normal T&Cs apply and can be found at jewishnews.co.uk/ about-us/promotions-terms-and-conditions.

Closing date: 7 June 2018.

BUSINESS SERVICES DIRECTORY 36

Jewish News 24 May 2018

Business Services Directory

Clothing

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24 May 2018 Jewish News

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Business Services Directory FINANCE

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14:47

38

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Jewish News 24 May 2018

Active

How did you keep active this week?

Send details of what you’ve been up to and forthcoming events to: andrews@thejngroup.com

Reaching their goals FOOTBALL Cup final weekend brought to an end this season’s Maccabi GB Junior Football League.

With silverware and shields up for grabs across the various age groups, Hendon United was the most successful club on the day, seeing three of its sides coming away with trophies.

Pictured clockwise from top left: U7 League Shield winners NWLJ; U7 League Cup Hendon United Red; U8 League Shield – Hendon United Orange; U12 League Shield – Hendon United Green and U8 League

‘Best day’ for cup final mascot The Grove hosts UJIA Golf Day Chelsea fanatic Jacob Clement said he experienced “the best day of his life” on Saturday when he led the team out at the FA Cup final.

The 11-year-old from Borehamwood plays for Brady Maccabi Red and comes from a Chelsea-mad family – a lot of whom were at Wembley to see him walk out of the tunnel with captain Gary Cahill. He said: “Walking onto the pitch, I felt nervous but also excited. When lining

up on the pitch, Cahill introduced me to the FA as “Little Man”, I got two handshakes and it was the best day of my life!” Having been on the mascot waiting list since he was five-years-old, he met the full Chelsea team, as well as ex-Arsenal and England player Ray Parlour. He was joined at Wembley by his parents, sister, papa and grandma, while his other grandparents, who were in Israel found a local bar who specially showed the match for them.

CHARITY

Photo: Daily Mail

FA CUP

This year’s UJIA annual Golf Day saw 75 golfers raise £25,700 for the charity.

Held at The Grove, and sponsored by Whitepaper and Mizrachi Tefachot Bank Ltd, 19 teams battled it out on the 18-hole course, which was preceded by a buffet lunch and appeal made by Rafi Adelstone, who called on guests to support Israel and our UK community.

He said: “Our parents’ generation invested on our behalf and now it’s our turn. It doesn’t matter what amount you are able to give today, what matters most is giving something and being part of that collective effort.”

24 May 2018 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

39

Active

Schoolboys set for final climb CHARITY Four schoolboys are getting set to complete the third – and final – part of their Three Peaks Challenge when they climb Scafell Pike on Sunday. Having already conquered Snowdon and Ben Nevis, the culmination of a three-year project will see Yavneh College students Abe Yantin, Jonah Horne and Malakai Shaffer, together with Highgate School pupil Ben Goodkind, look to raise a further £5,000 – which will see them hit their target of £20,000. This year’s chosen charities are Parkinson’s UK

ACTIV8

STAY ACTIVE FOR THE NEXT WEEK...

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Kayaking at Brondesbury Park 27 May – 10.00am-12.00pm myus.theus.org.uk/events The City: A Walk of Jewish Firsts 27 May – 11.00am-1.00pm admin@jewishmuseum.org.uk Kids yoga 27 May – 4.00pm www.jw3.org.uk

and Group B Strep Support. The boys said: “Yet again our dads have spent a lot of time and money supporting us and we’re focussed on delivering the goods.”

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6th Edgware Brownies 28 May – 5.45pm-7.15pm office@edgwareu.com Ladies keep-fit club 29 May – 7.00pm nwes@newwestend.org.uk Classical Egyptian Belly Dancing 30 May – 7.10pm www.jw3.org.uk Women’s Pilates 31 May – 11.00am-11.45am admin@northwoodus.org

AND IF YOU’RE FEELING INACTIVE...

Woodside Park Shul walkers 28 May – 10.30am WoodsideWalkers@outlook.com

Tile painting workshops at S Hampstead 27 May – 1.30pm-6.30pm helen@helenbenigson.com

Camp Simcha peak perfomers

TREKKING

Thirteen adventurers trekked to the highest peaks of Yosemite National Park in California as they raised more than £45,000 for Camp Simcha. Climbing more than twice the height of the Empire State Building, the group comprised of Abigail Bergman; David Berke and Dr Shelley Jacobs; Deborah First; Reni Grunhut; Lez Issler; Simon Levine; Ari and Gila Scherer; Sharon and Yoni Schurder and Noch and Talia Spitzer. Noch, 30, said: “The atmosphere on the trek was very special and the scenery was spectacular. Everyone had different reasons for being there.”

Phil gets on bike for WJR Phil Moses cycled a gruelling 510km from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City as he raised more than £2,000 for World Jewish Relief. The 53-yearold from Stanmore, regards himself as “a self-professed cycling cynic”, preferring open-top cars as ‘easier, safer and faster’ and completed the feat having never cycled more than 15km in one go until six weeks before the challenge. Embarking on the two-week ride with his friend Stuart Pearl, the duo joined 16 others, on

a ride organised by Exodus Tours. Also raising funds for three other charities, though citing WJR for the work it does both in and beyond the Jewish community as a key factor in his decision to support them, he said his favourite part of the ride was cycling through remote villages in Vietnam: “Everyone, especially the kids, were so pleased to see us. Even happier than Alfie our dog was when I got home! It was a fabulous trip and I would definitely do it again.”

CYCLING

40 Jewish News

24 May 2018

www.jewishnews.co.uk

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