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The sanctioned oligarchs frozen out of Jewish life How the UK’s crackdown on Russian money will impact our commual good causes P4-5

FREE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR 17 March 2022

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14 Adar Sheni 5782

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Issue No.1254

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@JewishNewsUK

Homes for 1,000!

Images above: Communal groups including Gift and Project ImpACT rallied this week to send food and first aid supplies to Ukraine

by Jenni Frazer @Jennifrazer

Hundreds of British Jews are opening their homes to Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war in their country, with many registering with World Jewish Relief and Refugees At Home – two of the main charities named by the government to help refugees.

On Monday, when the government launched its “Homes for Ukraine” scheme, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis was among the first to urge the community to back the initiative.

On social media, Mirvis wrote:

“Many Jews are alive today because people were prepared to open their borders and their homes to their ancestors, when they were fleeing for their lives. Many more did not survive, because not enough did. I urge all who are able to give this scheme their full support.”

Almost 1,000 British Jews have already registered with World Jewish Relief, the successor organisation to the Central British Fund for German Jewry, whose historic role in saving Jews on the Kindertransport in 1939 has been cited by many of those hoping to save Ukrainian refugees.

Paul Anticoni, WJR’s chief executive, said: “The response we have seen to the Homes for Ukraine scheme is a testament to the Jewish community's determination to assist Ukrainians facing trauma and displacement. Our community’s connections to Ukraine and shared heritage and values drive this incredible response. We urge anyone who is able to offer a room to register their interest.”

Continued on page 6

Jewish community opens its doors to Ukrainian refugees as more than 100,000 register nationwide See pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 20

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

UKRAINE CRISIS APPEAL

DONATE NOW www.worldjewishrelief.org/ukrainecrisis 020 8736 1250

www.jewishnews.co.uk

17 March 2022 Jewish News

Russia’s unjustified war on Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis across eastern Europe.

World Jewish Relief is responding on behalf of the UK Jewish community in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries.

Through our 29 partners in Ukraine, and now partners in Poland and Moldova, we are responding to immediate needs for those who remain in Ukraine, and those who have been forced to flee, from the Jewish community and beyond.

We are providing: » » » » »

Emergency cash transfers Medical support and Home care assistance Evacuations Food packages Psychological support

In Poland and Moldova, we supporting families who have fled the conflict. We are providing: » » » »

Emergency accommodation Food packages Water PPE

The people of Ukraine need your support. Their homeland is being attacked, their cities bombed. We have worked with some of Ukraine’s most vulnerable people for more than 30 years, and they have never needed our help more than they do now.

Head to www.worldjewishrelief.org/ukrainecrisis to donate now.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Crackdown on Russian cash

by Lee Harpin lee@jewishnews.co.uk @lmharpin

The UK has imposed new sanctions on 370 Russian and Belarusian individuals with alleged links to Vladimir Putin, including billionaires who have made significant donations to Jewish communal organisations.

The Foreign Office said the new list included “Russian oligarchs and their family members, Putin’s political allies and propagandists”.

It also said the additions to the UK government’s sanction list included the Russian president’s “key political allies, regime spokespeople and Kremlin-backed disinformation agencies”.

Among the names on the new list were Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan – co-founders of the Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG), and all connected to the Alfa Group Consortium.

Fridman was a founder of Alfa Bank, the largest non-state controlled bank in Russia, Aven the head of the same bank until March 2022, and Khan was one of the original founders of Alfa Group Consortium.

GPG has supported at least 10 major communal organisations in recent years, boosting areas including Holocaust education, youth volunteering and Jewish education as well as many smaller ones, including Jewish News.

Mikhail Fridman, co-founder of the Genesis Philanthropy Group, speaking at the annual Genesis Prize ceremony in Jerusalem

The GPG accounts state that the grants are “intended to strengthen the Jewish community and therefore enhance its contributions to society in the UK and elsewhere”.

Responding to the implementation of sanctions on the trio, senior communal figures warned against making “knee-jerk reactions”. One communal source said there was “no doubt UK Jewry had benefited from

Roman holiday? VIP stay for Abramovich in Israel Roman Abramovich was seen in the VIP lounge at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport this week before catching a flight onwards to Istanbul.

The billionaire owner of Chelsea FC, who was subjected to sanctions by the UK government last week, was spotted in the lounge at the Israeli airport on Monday.

A photograph obtained by Reuters showed him sitting in the VIP lounge with a face mask pulled down over his chin.

Reports suggested that the plane used by the oligarch flew into Ben Gurion late on Sunday from Moscow.

The flight-tracking website Radarbox said the aircraft, which has the tail number LX-RAY, then took off on Monday for Istanbul.

Israel has imposed restrictions on private jets flying into the country since Russia invaded Ukraine – leaving such planes unable to remain on the ground for more than 24 hours.

With concerns growing over reports that Russian oligarchs were hiding assets in Israel, foreign minister Yair Lapid issued a statement saying: “Israel will not be a route to bypass sanctions imposed

Roman Abramovich at Ben Gurion Airport this week

on Russia by the United States and other Western countries.”

On Monday, BBC’s Panorama broadcast claims Abramovich was suspected of belonging to an organised crime group that had cheated the Russian government out of £2 billion. The claims in the programme revolved around deals to buy oil companies at a lower rate than Abramovich should have been allowed to two

years after Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, following the resignation of Boris Yeltsin the previous year. However, the Chelsea owner’s lawyers said there was no basis for alleging he had made his fortune through criminality.

On Tuesday, Abramovich’s jet landed in Moscow after a brief stopover in Istanbul. The oligarch, who also holds Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, has denied having close ties to Putin.

generous donations from philanthropists now being looked into over alleged links to Putin”.

Another source said: “We have to be careful we are not doing the work of our

...AS PORTUGAL LOOKS INTO HIS CITIZENSHIP Employees of Portugal’s passport and identity service are facing disciplinary proceedings over an inquiry into how Roman Abramovich was granted citizenship, writes Michael Daventry.

The Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN) probe began in January over claims by activists that the oligarch had used a law designed for Inquisition descendants to gain a foothold in the EU. Rabbi Daniel Litvak, who issued a document to help Abramovich’s application, was arrested last week.

Portugal had been offering naturalisation to descendants of Sephardi Jews expelled in the 15th century, but has since suspended the process. Questions have been raised over the decision for Abramovich because few Russians have a Sephardi background and his surname is of Ashkenazi origin.

In addition to Russian and Portuguese passports, Abramovich holds Israeli citizenship.

The IRN would not confirm how many of its officials were facing a disciplinary process.

Portuguese prosecutors began an investigation in January to examine whether corruption, forged documents and money laundering had

A rabbi was held over the application

become involved in the process.

Reports said Litvak, of the Jewish community in Porto, was preparing to depart for Israel when he was detained. His community was one of two Jewish groups in Portugal – the other is based in Lisbon – that had the authority to vet applications.

The law represented an attempt to atone for the Inquisition in the 15th century that forced tens of thousands of Jews to emigrate, hide their Jewish identity or denounce it.

Litvak denied Abramovich’s application had been assessed any differently from that of other applicants.

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

will hit communal causes enemies by adding too much significance to the impact of this money on our communal organisations.” They added: “For some charities this money was a real lifeline. The question now is how do they plug funding gaps moving forwards.”

Fridman and Ayen were both sanctioned by the European Union at the end of February for their ties to Putin, a move they described as “groundless and unfair”.

At the time, the pair released a joint announcement saying they would “contest the spurious and unfounded basis for the imposition of these sanctions – vigorously and through all means available to them”.

Other names on the new UK list include Putin’s prime minister. Mikhail Mishustin, defence minister Sergei Shoigu and former president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

The Russian president’s chief spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova were also named.

Individuals sanctioned on Tuesday will have their assets in the UK frozen, which means that no UK citizen or company can do business with them and they are banned from travelling to or from the UK. The Foreign Office said the oligarchs sanctioned on Tuesday have a combined total wealth of more than £100 billion. Foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those

Links: Oleg Deripaska with Vladimir Putin

Activists occupy Jewish Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s £50million house in London

closest to Putin – from major oligarchs, to his prime minister and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation.

“We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.

Working closely with our allies, we will keep increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off

funding for the Russian war machine.”

New laws to tackle “dirty money” in the UK were fast-tracked through parliament in an attempt to target Russian elites.

The Economic Crime Bill received Royal Assent in the early hours of Tuesday, in a late sitting of parliament. It will establish a

new register of overseas entities, requiring foreign owners of property in the UK to declare their true identity.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK has sanctioned more than 1,000 high-value individuals, entities, and subsidiaries from Russia and Belarus.

All of those named by the UK on Tuesday had already been placed under sanctions by the US, EU, Canada or Australia, which meant the UK could use new mirroring provisions of the act that received royal assent overnight.

‘Fearless’ Jewish student is killed by rocket in Kharkiv

by Natalie Gryvnyak in Ukraine

Hillel International says Sabaranskiy Serafim ‘died a hero’

A 29-year-old Hillel student in Ukraine, was killed this week defending his hometown of Kharkiv.

Volunteer fighter Serafim Sabaranskiy, who worked as a bar manager and loved nature and going for walks with his dog, was killed by a direct rocket hit at night on his unit’s headquarters.

Yulia Pototskaya, head of Kharkiv Hillel, recalled that Serafim, who died on Tuesday, wanted to protect the city he loved. “[He] first went to the territorial defence, and then he was taken to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Somehow he was sure that the war would begin.”

On 23 February, she said, he “bought all of the ammunition that was available back then in the shop”.

Serafim’s 21-year-old girlfriend, Maryna Kavun, did not believe that Russia would attack but he “had an incredibly strong instinct”, she recalls.

“I was very angry with him, thinking that the war cannot start, it would be absurd on the part of Russia. I didn’t even want to discuss it. And after eight hours, he wrote that Kharkiv was bombed.”

Kavun said that later she was glad he had the weapons he needed.

Pototskaya says Serafim blamed only Putin for the war. “He thought the Rus-

sians were being zombified. He was saying ‘What kind of nationalists are you talking about? I am a Jew and I exist here freely.’”

In a video filmed close to the place where he later died, Serafim had said: “What should we be afraid of, except of artillery? We all perfectly understand – let’s be honest – that we do not wage war against Russia, we wage war against Putin.

And his soldiers do not want to fight with us; likewise we do not want to fight with them. We just do not have a choice.

“Stories about us being Nazi… My grandmother is Jewish, I often fly to Israel. My friend, here he is, has a Jewish family too.

“We love our homeland. Get out of here with your guns and come back to drink vodka and eat [the traditional Ukrainian dish] salo.”

The north-eastern province of Kharkiv, which has been bombarded by the Russian artillery almost daily for the past three weeks, has paid a terrible price for Russia’s aggression. More than 15,200 civilians have been killed in the region, including 13 children.

Friends recall Serafim as a great organiser, a man who loved instrumental music and rock and roll. He lived outside Kharkiv and did not want to move to the city because he enjoyed the quiet life.

Yet he was also by nature a fighter.

Sabaranskiy Serafim bought ammunition

“He went to protect the city, because he could not help it,” a friend recalls.

“It was his duty; he could not sit back.”

Kavun recalls Serafim saying he was fighting for the right of every Ukrainian to live in their own country, and build their own world, the way they wanted it.

Hillel International tweeted: “We are sharing our love and our prayers with Serafim’s family and friends. He died a hero.”

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

‘My family wants to do a little bit of good to counteract all this evil’ Jenni Frazer speaks to Jewish families about to open their hearts and homes to Ukrainian refugees Joyce Walkden-Goodman is convinced of one thing: “There is evil walking the earth again. Welcoming refugees into our home might do a little bit of good to counteract this evil.”

Walkden-Goodman and her husband, Robert, who are a retired couple living in Bury, north Manchester, are just two of the British Jews who have drawn on their family history – grandparents and great-grandparents who came from Ukraine and adjoining countries at the end of the 19th century – and their warmth and open-heartedness towards Ukrainian refugees.

The couple, members of Manchester’s flagship Reform synagogue, Jackson’s Row, live in a bungalow and are thus “perfectly placed” to take in someone who might be disabled.

“We have two daughters and four grandchildren and what we can offer is a nice, welcoming home,” Walkden-Goodman said.

Undaunted by the prospect of housing someone for six months, Walkden-Goodman is in it for the long haul, saying she fully expected

The Walkden-Goodman family is offering to host Ukrainian refugees in their Bury home

to host her refugee or refugees for up to three years. “If they are Jewish we can easily slot them into the Jewish community, and if not, there is a big Ukrainian community in Manchester.” She added that since her husband’s family came from Ukraine, there was a faint chance that they might end up housing distant relatives. “That would be amazing.”

In Finchley, Louise Doffman and her husband, Maurice, are preparing to open their home to Ukrainian refugees. The Doffmans, who are retired, are hoping that someone will enjoy the comforts of their spare room and garden. They have lived in Manchester and Leicester, previously, and while in Leicester hosted actors who were appearing at the Haymarket Theatre, but never for such a long period as is required for the Ukrainians.

But Mrs Doffman, a strong supporter of World Jewish Relief, and a member of Muswell Hill Synagogue, is up for the challenge. “We have food, heat, and we can accommodate someone – or even two adults.

“We think this is a good time for the Jewish community to stand up and be counted.”

Three of the community’s best-known rabbis – Rabbi Jonathan Romain in Maidenhead, Rabbi Mark Goldsmith in Edgware, and Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg in Finchley – are showing the way by offering space in their own homes to Ukrainian refugees.

Wittenberg, Senior Rabbi of the Masorti movement, is an old hand at this, having previously given a temporary home to people from Iran, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. Most of that was done through Refugees At Home, which has become renowned for the clarity of its “vetting” procedure to ensure that both host and refugee alike are as evenly matched as possible. This time he is working with World Jewish Relief.

Wittenberg said that so many people from his New North London Synagogue had expressed interest in helping Ukrainians that the congregation had set up a help desk.

“People are offering legal aid, help with languages and translations, all kinds of things. All of us want to do something. We see the fighting

A child stands in a hall in Lviv, which is being used to organise the transportation of families

in Ukraine and a lot of people [here] are feeling helpless.” Hosting a refugee, where possible, gave people a focus, he said.

He added that the Masorti movement across Europe had been working together “like one big family” to co-ordinate, as far as possible, the humanitarian process.

In Edgware, Goldsmith, Senior Rabbi at Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue, is also preparing, with his wife Nicola, to take in Ukrainian refugees.

He said: “We’ve registered with Refugees At Home and we are encouraging other people in our community to do the same. To date, we’ve had about 13 families who are interested in hosting.”

Potential Ukrainian guests had been “warned” they would be living with a rabbi, he said, “but we don’t care if the person is Jewish or not. I was particularly inspired by Rabbi

John Rayner, born Hans Sigismund Rahmer, who came to Britain on the Kindertransport in 1939. He was taken in by a non-Jewish family who encouraged him to retain his Judaism and he became one of the leading rabbis in this country.”

Sandra and John Kaufman, of Whitefield, north Manchester, are another couple who are members of the Reform movement who are hoping to welcome someone from Ukraine.

Mrs Kaufman said: “We are doing it because morally, it’s the right things to do. Given our history, we wouldn’t be here if our own families hadn’t been taken in by people in this country.”

The Kaufmans’ families originated from Kyiv and Lithuania and, before retirement, the couple ran an English language school, so should have no difficulty with conversations with their guests.  Editorial comment, page 20

Hundreds of British Jews open their doors Continued from page 1 He added: “It is important to remember that the greatest scale of need is still in Ukraine itself, where people are internally displaced and living under attack. Our single most urgent need is for donations to our Ukraine Crisis Appeal so we can continue responding to humanitarian needs in Ukraine itself.”

Refugees At Home (RAH), originally begun by members of Wimbledon Reform Synagogue, is reporting similar high responses. Both RAH and WJR have vast experience in helping refugees from previous conflicts, such as the Syrian and Afghan wars. Under the government scheme, people who register as potential hosts will be given the name of an individual or family, whom they must host for a minimum of six months.

Those who register additionally with WJR are more likely to end up hosting someone Jewish, but everyone to whom Jewish

News spoke said they simply wanted to help – and did not care whether the refugees they took in were Jewish or not.

Last week, the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies brought together 22 key organisations connected to the Jewish community for discussions over a suitable response.

The groups focused on immediate refugee needs in and around Ukraine and upon arrival in the UK, campaigns and communications and mid- to long-term support for refugees in the UK, including housing and community sponsorship.

The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) is offering what it calls “unique support” to Holocaust survivors from Ukraine who finally find refuge in the UK. Its chief executive, Michael Newman, said: “In addition to the funds we disburse granted to us by the Claims Conference, following their negotiations with the German government, the AJR administers its own social

welfare assistance that can provide immediate relief.” It is not clear how many Ukrainians likely to be taken in by Britain might be Holocaust survivors.

Among those at the forefront of offering room in their homes is Maidenhead’s Rabbi Jonathan Romain, whose mother, Gabriele Hetrzberg, arrived in Britain as an 11-year-old refugee in 1939. Rabbi Romain said that since his adult children had left home, he and his wife had decided to offer space to Ukrainians.

He said: “We thought we would give a family not just refuge but the warmth of human kindness, because that makes all the difference.”

Since he announced his decision, more than 800 people from all over the UK contacted him to see how they could follow suit. Most have registered with Refugees At Home.  worldjewishrelief.org/news/1291-homes-for-ukraine

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PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Rinder from Poland: ‘History is repeating ’

Charity houses Shoah survivor from Ukraine A 90-year-old Holocaust survivor and her registered disabled daughter who fled the war in Ukraine have been given emergency accommodation in the UK from a leading Jewish charity, writes Lee Harpin.

Jewish Blind and Disabled (JBD) were alerted to the predicament of Kateryna Razumenko and her daughter Larysa 62, after reading a report in Jewish News which detailed their escape from Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv in north eastern Ukraine.

The pair had waited a week in a refugee centre in Poland before being given visas by the Home Office to come to the UK, where they have family in north London.

JBD’s chief executive Lisa Wimborne stepped in with an offer of help after reading how the two refugees would be living with granddaughter Katya and her husband Zac Newman in their twobedroom flat in Mill Hill East– along with their two children. The charity was able offer more suitable accommodation.

“The flat they are staying in is situated in one of our seven developments just down the road from Zac, Katya and their children,” revealed Wimborne.

It is the first time Razumenko, who was

Kateryna at Heathrow with daughter Larysa, granddaughter Katya and husband Zac

born in Kharkiv in 1931, has left Ukraine.

She had survived the Holodomor famine in 1932-33, the Nazi invasion and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Razumenko, who has dementia, and her daughter fled by train, carrying just a handbag each. Newman travelled to the town of Otwock in Poland to help them make the journey back to London, where they landed safely on Saturday.

“Whilst they are so thankful for the

housing and support, all Larysa and Kateryna really want is for this war to end and to go home,” said Wimborne. “Housing alone is not enough. Along with a roof over their head, this family need support with a range of health and wellbeing services.”

She said the charity has contacted the Association of Jewish Refugees and World Jewish Relief for specialist support services. The local Jewish community have also been in contact to offer support.

TV judge Robert Rinder has said history is “repeating itself” as he reported from Poland’s border with Ukraine The barrister had travelled to the town of Przemysl to help the Robert Rinder on a live TV broadcast grandparents of Oksana Platero, his former professional partner on Strictly Come Dancing, cross the border safely.

He compared scenes at the railway station to his Jewish grandparents’ experience of fleeing to the UK during the Second World War. “People should know what happened in the past or we’re doomed to repeat it,” he warned, as he spoke to viewers of ITV’s Good Morning Britain show on Tuesday. “ I can tell GMB viewers and you that it is repeating itself. It’s hard to believe... that this is 2022. The trains arrive infrequently.

When they do it is women, it is children, it is babies in mothers’ arms. They arrive in wagons cheek to jowl, a sea of humanity with just very often one suitcase or the clothes on their back.”

He continued: “Once those trains arrive, in the rare moments they do. Just a few weeks ago, a calm, modern journey, much like going from London to Paris, it is a sea not just of devastation, but scenes… only our parents and grandparents really lived through.”

The 43-year-old also challenged the speed at which the UK government processing applicants fleeing Ukraine.

Rinder called for the government to “get on with it” and help people with complicated online application forms for refugees.

He revealed that Strictly star Platero’s family members had been able to leave Ukraine safely and were now in Poland.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

‘Thousands of Ukrainians w

By Jeremy Last

Golders Green Synagogue this week raised more than £10,000 for a Ukrainian Jewish community with which it was twinned under a United Synagogue scheme more than 30 years ago.

The synagogue is paired with the the steel town of Zaporizhzhia, which has been heavily bombarded by Russian forces since the start of the war in late February. It is the site of the nuclear power plant that was badly damaged in an attack earlier this month.

Around 9,000 Jews currently live in Zaporizhzhia, although its Rabbi Nochum Ehrentreu led the evacuation of 98 people last week, with 60 flying to Israel and the remainder moving to Germany.

The Golders Green drive was just one of dozens of fundraising and goods collection campaigns for under-fire and refugee Ukrainians that sprung up across the community this week. They included the packaging and delivery of tonnes of food and medicine for Jews in Lviv, Ukraine, organised by Jewish charity GIFT. And more than 200 teenage volunteers from Project ImpACT packed hundreds of

Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely lends a hand as GIFT prepared aid for Ukraine

boxes filled with an estimated £125,000 worth of essentials that were sent to refugees on the Ukrainian border.

Meanwhile, Magen David Adom (MDA) UK reported that MDA is sending a fleet of armoured ambulances to Ukraine.

The GIFT campaign was instigated after a supporter of the charity was contacted by the rabbi and rebbetzin of Lviv, in western Ukraine, asking for urgent help.

Early on Sunday morning, Londoner Shlomie Chontow spoke to Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Bald and his wife Sara, who told him that supermarket shelves in Lviv were empty and no food was available.

He immediately got in touch with GIFT’s founding director, Michelle Barnett, who passed the message on to her network of donors and volunteers. Within two hours thousands of pounds worth of food and essential items poured in.

And, later that day, Chontow flew to Poland with nine suitcases of food and medicine, to personally deliver the items. On arrival, he met up with a van driver who took the packages across the border to Lviv.

Following the success of the collection, GIFT arranged a 24-tonne truck to take the remainder of the provisions to Lviv.

They included goods collected at Edgware Synagogue and the Saatchi Synagogue, as well as two pallets of toys and games donated by The Happy Puzzle Company.

GIFT also collected warm clothing for the children of Tikva Orphanage in Odesa and other Ukrainian Jewish refugees; they were sent to Romania, to where the refugees have relocated.

The Project ImpACT collection was held on Sunday at Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, one of more than five United Synagogue communities that collected goods and money this week.

ImpACT teamed up with Goods for Good, an organisation that sends goods donated by businesses and individuals in the UK to vulnerable communities living around the world.

Goods for Good organised the lorry that was driven more than 1,500 miles to Ukraine.

World Jewish Relief (WJR) is continuing to coordinate the majority of the community’s response to the Ukraine crisis, after the launch of a Jewish Community Task Force

Above, below and inset: Project ImpACT youngsters with non-perishable goods collected to send to

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Business Disrupted 31.03.22 7:30am - 9:30am ortuk.org/businessdisrupted

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Community recognition / World News ‫בס"ד‬

will be helped’

o Ukrainian refugees

on the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis instigated by the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies.

Northwood Synagogue was among the United Synagogue communities that sent food and other goods to Ukrainian refugees.

One van was sent to Krakow, accompanied

by Northwood members, two were sent to Ukraine along with a large lorry, and a fourth provided relief to the soldiers in Ukraine.

In Edgware, hundreds of people donated clothing, bedding and toiletries for the Jews of Ukraine, and dozens volunteered to help with the collection that took place at Edgware United Synagogue.

Pinner United Synagogue members and neighbours helped to collect more than 140 boxes of humanitarian aid for Ukraine and its borders, also in coordination with Goods for Good.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue put out a call for help and item donation for emergency aid for Ukrainian refugees. With the help of members and friends from the wider community, people packed more than 800 boxes of emergency aid.

These were sent to Chelm, in Poland, 15 miles from the Ukrainian border, with Goods for Good managing the logistical operation.

And more than 200 people visited St John’s Wood Synagogue to donate supplies including food, toiletries, and clothes to Ukrainian refugees, in response to an urgent call from GIFT. St John’s Wood Synagogue member Georgia Aaron, 11, said: “I really enjoyed helping and it made me feel great seeing how generous people can be and how a community can join together to do something to make an impact.”

United Synagogue chief executive Steven Wilson said: “We are very proud of our communities who have put a huge amount of time and effort into collecting supplies and raising money for those affected by the war in Ukraine.

“Thousands of people will be supported by their efforts and we are looking at what more we can do.”  Editorial comment, page 20

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

‘It was an obligation to pay back the deep debt we owe’ Israeli woman rescues descendants of a Ukrainian woman who saved her family in the Shoah, writes Jeremy Last However, after the Bass family launched An Israeli woman has told Jewish News how she has welcomed into her home the a campaign to help the Ukrainians, they Ukrainian granddaughters of the heroes were finally given permission to fly to Tel who saved her family during the Holo- Aviv. Sharon and her family met them at caust, after helping to rescue them from Ben Gurion Airport amid emotional scenes.

“We were very happy and excited when we the war-ravaged country.

Sharon Bass, 46, grew up hearing stories finally saw them at the airport. We cried, we about Maria Blishchick, the righteous gentile laughed, but also the tension was there,” she who took in her grandmother, Fanya Bass, 80 years ago after she escaped the Nazis.

The Bass and Blishchick families have stayed in touch all these years. So, when Maria’s grandchildren, Alona Chugai and Lesia Orshoko, told Sharon how scared they were living in Ukraine following the Russian invasion, she knew she had to help.

“We talked [and] they were very stressed and scared and wanted to come here to be safe,” Sharon explained. “There were sirens all the time. The electricity was on and off.

They heard the bombing in the distance.

“I can relate to this situation because of what has happened here in Israel. But it is still very different. So, we said: ‘We will do everything to help you.’”

She contacted the Israeli Interior Min- said. “Our thoughts were with the family that istry and managed to help secure a visa for stayed behind. We had mixed emotions.

“The situation in Ukraine is so difficult the two women, who finally arrived in Israel right now. This family that we have been in last Sunday.

“We Jews say that if you do something contact with for all these years were so sad good, like their grandparents did, it will come and felt that the best thing is to come here to back to you,” Sharon said. “I feel like it is my be safe.”

When the Blishchicks found her in 1943, obligation to be there for them and close the Fanya Bass had been living in a forest for close debt we owe.”

Lesia is now staying with Sharon and her to a year after fleeing her village just before all family in Kiryat Ono, while Alona is living 2,500 Jews were captured by the Nazis.

“They let her in the house and treated her with her parents in Petah Tikva.

“Eventually we got a permit for them to like a daughter while the whole family was in danger of death,” Sharon come. Now we are trying said. “If the Nazis had to get them permission found out that they had to stay in Israel because been giving refuge, they I don’t know if they will would have killed them have anything to go back all. They hid her for two to,” Sharon said. years. They treated her The area close to the city of Rovno, where like God sent her to them.

“From the moment the Bass family lived, became part of Ukraine they came to Israel, after it was taken by the my grandparents were Red Army in 1944. involved in many charities It was not clear that and tried to help people Alona, 47, and Lesia, 36, in need like they did in would immediately be the Holocaust.

“What I am doing allowed into Israel as they had already spent now is like giving back, five years working just a little bit, of what there on a visa promy grandparents gave to vided to the descendothers and the righteous family in Ukraine gave ents of those classed to them. I feel that I am as ‘Righteous Among Sharon Bass, top right, pictured here because of them.” the Nations’. with Chagit, left, and Lesia

❝

Alona Chugai, left, and Lesia Orshoko, right, at Ben Gurion Airport with their aunt Luba

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Hostages released / Chelsea sale / News

So-called ‘Mossad spy’ released

Free: Anoosheh Ashoori

The release of Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, a retired engineer falsely accused of being a Mossad spy, from Iran was warmly welcomed by communal figures on Wednesday, writes Lee Harpin.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed the pair had boarded a flight out of Tehran and were due to arrive in the UK as Jewish News went to press. Their release – and the decision to allow a third British born citizen out of prison in Iran on

furlough – is linked to the payment by the UK of a decades-old debt over an arms deal that was never fulfilled.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been detained in Iran for almost six years, serving five years in prison after being taken into custody at Tehran’s airport in April 2016.

She faced accusations she had been conspiring against the Iranian government – charges she has always denied.

Ashoori was imprisoned for

five years after he was accused by authorities in Tehran of “spying for Israel’s Mossad” and “acquiring illegitimate wealth.”

A 67-year-old retired engineer from south London, Ashoori was arrested in August 2017 while visiting his mother and jailed for 10 years on charges of spying for Israel.

Central to the releases was the UK’s payment now of a £383.8 million debt dating back to the 1970s owed to Iran following the cancellation of an arms contract.

SECRET JC OWNER MAKES CHELSEA BID A consortium representing the unknown owner of the Jewish Chronicle (JC) has emerged as a surprise contender to buy Chelsea Football Club, writes Esther Shamy.

The Premier League outfit is on the market after current owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, was sanctioned over his links to President Vladimir Putin.

Around half-a-dozen interested parties are believed to be preparing bids in excess of £2billion, including property developer Nick Candy and Saudi Media, the largest media group in the Middle East. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said Abramovich “will not benefit” from any sale of the club.

Sources now claim the JC owner, whose

Selling the blues: Chelsea is on the market

identity remains a closely guarded secret more than two years after forking out £2.5million for the newspaper in an 11thhour bid, is behind a move for the London

club, fronted by a consortium of former Arsenal and Tottenham footballers including Perry Groves, Ray Parlour, Ronny Rosenthal and Ledley King.

The consortium has pledged to invest “millions of pounds over the next five years”, with coach Thomas Tuchel becoming manager-atlarge. However, a Premier League insider told Jewish News: “I don’t expect the consortium’s bid to succeed without full disclosure. A fit and proper bid for a much-loved community asset would surely require full transparency.

Readers, ahem, I mean supporters, are entitled to know who’s bankrolling the bid and their motivation for the purchase.”  Editorial comment, page 20

Bailiffs retrieve compensation Court bailiffs have been appointed to retrieve a £10,000 compensatory payment from Piers Portman, which he was ordered to pay after being found guilty of a verbal antisemitic attack on Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism. In October last year, Portman, son of the ninth Viscount Portman, was convicted of the verbal assault.

Judge Gregory Perrins sentenced him to four months in prison and an order to pay more than £20,000 for calling Falter “Jewish scum”, after the Westminster Magistrates sentencing of the antisemitic singer Alison Chabloz in 2018. Falter says he intends to donate the entire £10,000 to CAA.

Shabbat-friendly crossing allowed One of the UK’s largest Orthodox communities is celebrating the green-light being given to the instalment of a Shabbat-friendly crossing at a busy road junction. The Sedgley Park community in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, have been informed that the crossing will be placed at the Kings Road junction with Bury New Road and George Street. The device is automatically controlled, allowing Orthodox Jews to use pedestrian crossings on Shabbat without pressing any buttons.

It is believed to be only the second Shabbatfriendly crossing device to be found in the UK – with the first installed in Finchley.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

News / Ofsted label/ Hospice funds

‘Inadequate’ school again rejects rating

by Jeremy Last

A Manchester Jewish school has been branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, just two and a half years after having a similar verdict quashed.

In a report published on Monday, King David High School was criticised for having ineffective safeguarding and for enforcing “discriminatory” arrangements for pupils in the all-girls section.

The school is split into three streams: the all-girls Yavneh Girls and all-boys Yavneh Boys which offer a modern orthodox Jewish eduction and a mixed boys and girls section.

But the school’s chair of governors has hit back. Joshua Rowe wrote to parents saying he believed tthat he “sweeping negative statements and their massive downgrade are way beyond the mark and border on the absurd”.

In the nine-page document, Ofsted inspectors wrote that “some pupils and their parents and carers told inspectors that leaders have not created a culture where concerns, including worries about bullying, can be easily reported”.

The school was accused of discrimination because pupils in the Girls stream are not able to mix with children in the mixed boys and girls section, but pupils in the Boys stream are.

The report, which followed a two-day visit

to the school on 10 and 11 November 2021, also said “a few” members of the governing body “do not understand their roles and responsibilities”.

“They are overly involved in the day-to-day running of the school. This hampers senior leaders’ ability to take appropriate steps to improve the school and to safeguard pupils,” the report said.

The 2019 Ofsted report, which also described the school as inadequate, was withdrawn after a legal challenge to Ofsted’s claim that separating boys and girls was unlawful. This meant the school’s ‘outstanding’ rating, achieved after a 2015 inspection, was reinstated.

However, in the latest report, Ofsted again said King David was breaking the law. Referring to the different arrangements for separated boys and girls, inspectors wrote: “This constitutes unlawful direct discrimination on the ground of sex, contrary to the Equality Act 2010.”

Rowe disagreed. He wrote: “They are wrong in fact and wrong in law [this was clarified to us by the Court and by the DfE, in 2019].”

He added: “The report presents a picture of the school which is unrecognisable to those who know it. Prior to the 2019 inspection, the school was inspected in May 2015 and was judged ‘Outstanding’.

Apartheid Week challenge An Israel advocacy group has launched a campaign against Israel Apartheid Week, set to take place at universities across the country from 21 March, writes Jeremy Last.

The British Israel Alliance (BIA) is raising awareness of the week of action, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Activities will include an “Art Against Apartheid” online panel discussion on 22 March and a “Student Rally Against Apartheid” to take place at Victoria Embankment Gardens on 23 March.

BIA director Michael McCann said the key concern is that a large number of British universities have still not adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of

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antisemitism. The BIA has found that most universities in Scotland and Wales have yet to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and that Northern Ireland’s two universities have not yet done so either.

“Israel Apartheid Week breaches the IHRA definition in several ways most notably by claiming that the existence of Israel is a racist endeavour,” McCann said.

“One of the first steps to eradicating racism in society is to ensure that all public bodies agree what constitutes racism. And the fact that some publicly funded universities have so far refused to do this is down to either indifference, incompetence or institutional racism.”

GRAN’S FIRST HALF-MILLION A tireless fundraiser has singlehandedly raised £500,000 for her local hospice.

Over nearly 30 years Jewish grandmother of three, Helen Bloom, 84, has handwritten hundreds of annual appeal letters to her generous friends, asking them to donate to North London Hospice.

Bloom, from Hampstead, wrote her first letter in 1994, after the death of her uncle in hospital. “It wasn’t the peaceful, dignified death we all hope for,” she said. “I had joined the Mill Hill and Totteridge Support Group to fundraise to build North London Hospice, and their vision of a peaceful end to life is what I would have wanted for my uncle.”

Having been a businesswoman for many years, she

Helen Bloom outside the hospice she raises money for

wrote to her contacts and used her powers of persuasion to ask them to donate what they could. “When I started my personal annual appeal, never in a million years did I think I would raise £500,000. I feel so proud of this achievement,”

she said. “Apart from bringing up my children, it’s one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Does she plan to stop now she has reached the £500,000 milestone? “I shall keep going… who knows maybe I can reach £750,000,” she said.

17 March 2022 Jewish News

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New shul and Torah for Brondesbury Park Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis spoke of “what surely is one of the greatest revival stories of Judaism in Great Britain” as he joined revellers for the grand opening of the new Brondesbury Park Synagogue building and the Torah dedication street parade on Sunday, writes Lee Harpin.

The opening of the newlydesigned shul, in an area of north-west London where the Jewish community continues to grow and thrive, had been eagerly anticipated – not least because the completion of the project first announced in 2015, and which began two years later, had been delayed as a result of the pandemic.

“What a glorious, and beautiful, and sacred moment this is,” said Chief Rabbi Mirvis as he addressed the congregation inside the spacious new building, which can now host a range of activities for all age groups, alongside its busy pro-

Joyous scenes on the streets of north-west London

gramme of services. I feel overjoyed to witness this.”

It seemed fitting that Rabbi Mirvis then turned to who he described as the “architects of the transformation of Jewish life in this area” – Rabbi Baruch Levin, and his wife Kezi.

“You have breathed new Jewish life into this area and are responsible for what surely

is one of the great revival stories of Judaism in Great Britain,” he said to the pair.

If anyone wished to find evidence of the strength of the Jewish revival in the local areas of Willesden, Brondesbury Park, Queens Park, Cricklewood and Kensal Rise that surround the shul, the joyous late afternoon street parade to

greet the new Sefer Torah provided much to see and admire.

Hundreds lined a nearby street, as the new Torah was taken from Rabbi Levin’s home address, under a Chuppah, to be joined and followed by a DJ truck which played Hebrew songs of joy and celebration.

Police officers and CST volunteers were present throughout – but the mood remained relaxed and celebratory at all times in an area of London in which Jewish life continues to flourish.

Inside the shul, Levin was understandably emotional as he addressed the congregation. The Torah Dedication had been, he revealed, the first to take place in the area “for at least three decades, possibly four.” Levin added: “The image of several hundred people marching down the road with such vibrancy speaks volumes about Jewish life in this area.”  Editorial comment, p20

‘Wise amendment’ to safeguard kosher meat MPs this week backed an amendment to the government’s Animal Welfare Bill that instructs a committee set up to examine policy decisions to respect religious traditions such as shechita, writes Lee Harpin.

Amendment reduces shechita threat In a move welcomed by Shechita UK, the Commons voted on Monday in favour of a backbench amendment led by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown which requires the new Animal Sentience Committee to have regard to “balancing factors” including respect for traditions.

Communal sources told Jewish News the move minimised the risk that members of the committee were able hijack the agenda to move against Jewish and Muslim dietary requirements.

Conservative MP Clifton-Brown’s amendment replicates the mandate of the EU Committee on animal rights under the Lisbon Treaty, and received the support of backbench 1922 chairman Sir Graham Brady, Andrew Percy and Theresa Villiers ahead of the vote. Shimon Cohen, campaign director of Shechita UK, said: “We thank the Government for backing the wise amendment of Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, which places a duty on the new Animal Sentience Committee to respect ‘religious rites’. It was heartening to see the crossparty consensus supporting us on this. Particularly thanks go to Jonathan Djanogly MP, Theresa Villiers MP and, of course, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP.” While the amendment does not end the prospect of MPs continuing to campaign against shechita, it reduces the immediate threat.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

News / Survivor dies / Divorce refusal / Sacks legacy

Auschwitz survivor dies, aged 101 Auschwitz survivor Leon Schwarzbaum, who spent his latter years campaigning and raising awareness of the death camp’s horrors in meetings with figures including Prince William, has died aged 101.

He died on Monday

in Potsdam, near Berlin, the International Auschwitz Committee said.

Schwarzbaum, who was 22 when he was deported to Auschwitz in 1943, was the only one of his family to survive. He had also been held at Buchenwald

and at a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen.

After the war, he moved to Berlin, where he worked as an art and antiques dealer. He married twice but had no children.

He spent his latter years visiting schools to speak to children and appearing on German TV until he was in his Leon Schwarzbaum with the Duke late 90s. He also met the and Duchess of Cambridge in 2017 Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when they visited pointing to a row of three bunks. “This was the chimney,” Germany in 2017.

During their conversation, he said, showing them a picture.

Kate asked him: “How many “You could smell the chimney people slept in each bunk?” throughout the whole camp.

He replied: “Six, six, and six,” It was a terrible smell.”

BETH DIN SUPPORTS GET REFUSAL PROTEST

by Jenni Frazer @JenniFrazer

In an unusual move, the Kedassiah Beth Din has encouraged women from the GettOutUK group to stage a protest against a Stamford Hill man who has refused to offer his wife a get.

Chaim Yeshaye Hochhauser and Leah Hochhauser were married for 23 years and separated eight years ago. Mr Hochhauser has been called to the Beth Din five times and, the organisation says, refused to appear. He has also, allegedly, refused to sign papers for a civil divorce.

Mrs Hochhauser, who has six children with her husband, is understood to be in poor health and did not join the small protest on Clapton Common last week. But the demonstrators, waving banners, were addressed by the Orthodox feminist Shoshanna KeatsJaskoll, who had spoken the previous day – International Women’s Day – at a gathering held by GettOutUK. Rifka Meyer, who founded GettOutUK after waiting years for her own get, said: “Kedassiah gave our demonstration their blessing and encouraged us.”

• Opinion, page 24

Rabbi Sacks digital archive going live A digital archive containing thousands of articles, videos and audio recordings of former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was launched on Tuesday to coincide with what would have been his 74th birthday.

Sacks died aged 72 in November 2020.

The Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust was set up “to perpetuate and promote Rabbi Sacks’

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: videos online

teachings and ideas so they can inspire and illuminate the world for generations”. More than 3,000 pages of content have been added to the archive since its soft launch in January.

A newly-animated video on Being Jewish, accompanying a recording of him from 2010, has been released, and is available to view at RabbiSacks.org.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

PUTIN’S WAR ON UKRAINE

‘We want to be free’ Now that their country is suddenly a pariah, Jews in Russia are looking for ways to leave, writes Jonathan Shamir

Y

ou’ll be calling until the moshiach comes,” a woman responded this week to a query about embassy appointments on a Facebook group for Russians planning to move to Israel.

While Russians seeking to make aliyah may not have to wait until the messiah arrives, they are facing extended delays even as their country sinks into crisis because of the war their president, Vladimir Putin, launched last month against Ukraine.

In Moscow and St Petersburg, waiting times for appointments at the Israeli embassies have grown and now can be up to eight months. That is a challenge for the many Jews making abrupt plans to leave, driven

by Putin’s crackdown on freedom of speech, shutdown of independent media outlets and criminalisation of opposition to the war.

“Everyone who has any hope of obtaining

PRECIOUS STONES

citizenship and leaving Russia is trying to do it,” an artist in Moscow told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He went through the immigration process before the war and will soon leave for Israel.

Almost three million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, and Israeli authorities are anticipating tens of thousands of new immigrants as a result. Israel has already accepted thousandsfrom Ukraine, most of whom are not Jewish. The Jewish Agency, the group responsible for overseeing Israeli immigration, describes the influx as “an unprecedented operation”.

But while scenes of Ukrainian Jews and their relatives arriving in Israel have captured global attention since the first flights arrived last week, less attention has been given to people on the other side of the war.

Israel has granted 1,400 entry visas to Russians since 24 February, according to

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Nativ, the government department dealing with immigration from the former Soviet Union. Recognising that Russia has rapidly become a more difficult and dangerous place, the country has eased its immigration process for Russians, although the embassy waiting times are unlikely to be affected.

“Russian citizens requesting to make aliyah at this time are not required to have apostille [official certified] signatures on their documents or bring a police certificate,” a Nativ spokesperson said, adding that Russians can use a “previously received aliyah visa (even if it’s expired), and are not obligated to declare intention to settle in Israel”.

The Jewish Agency said it is seeing “an uptick in interest” from Russia. And on the ground many Jews say they are packing their bags, and in many cases, leaving a lot behind.

Ilya, a 42-year-old digital creative professional, arrived in Israel last week. “The recent actions of the Russian government have left us no choice,” he said. He managed to secure an Israeli passport in 2019, meaning he could simply board a plane with “no questions asked”. But the process of obtaining citizenship had been “humiliating” — an appraisal shared by many Jews who run up against Israel’s efforts to scrutinise the family history or conversion status of aspiring immigrants.

“If you pass this purgatory, you will find the rest easy,” Ilya said, in sympathy with people going through the process in wartime.

With the Russian ruble falling to a new low daily, the new immigrants’ savings are worth less than ever. Ilya criticised the “hypocrisy” of economic sanctions, which he says mostly hit ordinary people “who are losing their jobs, access to their professional tools like Adobe products and can’t work for companies outside of Russia”. Still, he said, “We chose to be free. Poor, but free.”

Daniil Goldman and his wife Sophia moved to Israel a day before the war began.

They left for “political reasons” but the war was the “cherry on the cake”, they said.

Though they have suffered from the tumbling currency, they said they supported the sanctions that have sent the Russian economy into freefall. As of last week, Sophia’s Russian

bank card no longer works in Israel following sanctions by Visa and Mastercard. she said: “The harder the better, because nothing will change until Putin is deposed.”

“Our life was brilliant,” they say. Daniil owns five bars — including one called Zionist and another called Mitzvah — and an anise distillation plant for arak, the Middle Eastern alcoholic spirit. They realised their time was up in Russia when Sophia became pregnant.

“I don’t want to raise children in a place like this,” Sophia said about Russia. “I don’t want to explain to my daughter you need to be afraid of the police, that there would be no justice if somebody did something to her,” she said, adding that they hope that they can return to a better Russia one day.

Sophia, who isn’t Jewish, describes the “terrible” process to get recognised as a partner by the Israeli government. For other Russians, many of whom are married to nonJews, this has proved a decisive obstacle.

Katharina, who lives in St Petersburg, said her 12-year-old son was harassed at school after questioning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After the teacher called her to complain about her child’s views, she realised that the situation at home was untenable.

Israel is potentially on the agenda, but she fears the fact her husband isn’t Jewish will cause problems, even though he should be able to join her under the Law of Return.

His home town of Bila Tserkva near Kyiv was heavily shelled. “He doesn’t eat or sleep,” she says. “If it wasn’t for our child, he would be volunteering to fight there.”

Katharina was telling her story over the phone to her friend Asya Engele, a Jewish poet who left Russia in 2016 to secure a better life for her disabled son. She shares her home in Jaffa with another Jewish Russian immigrant.

Besides the many hardships, Russian Jews said they were shocked by Putin’s labelling elements in the Ukrainian government as “Nazi”. Asya, whose grandmother Bluma was a Holocaust survivor, dismisses Putin’s narrative: “Putin himself is the Nazi.”

“My heart is in pain for all my Russian friends,” Asya adds. “But I am so happy that I am here.”

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

World News / Health campaign / Amnesty admission / Flag fury

Holy smoke! Crackdown on youngsters lighting up

Lighting up: Charedi children smoke cigarettes to celebrate Purim

Israel’s Health Ministry launched a high-profile campaign this week against the phenomenon of strictly-Orthodox children smoking on Purim, writes Nathan Jeffay.

The 25-hour festival, which started yesterday evening, is a day of costume parties. It is traditional for children to invert the natural order of things; for example, in some schools, children take the role of teachers for a day ahead of the holiday.

In this spirit, in parts of the Charedi community, it has become accepted for children to try the adult habit of smoking as a quirky exception to the rules.

But a Health Ministry campaign is urging against the practice, as healthcare providers are running gen-

eral anti-smoking campaigns tailored to the Charedi community, with the backing of rabbis who say the efforts are saving lives. Advertisements placed by the ministry across the Charedi media cite research suggesting that one in 10 children who smoke became addicted after their first cigarette.

The text suggests that amid the jovial atmosphere of the holiday, and surrounded by friends, there is often a feeling that trying a cigarette is acceptable, and underage smoking a way of observing the tradition of turning things upside down for Purim.

“But after the first cigarette on Purim, the process of addiction has begun and people regret this moment,” the campaign says.

Amesty ‘opposed’ to a Jewish state ANGER AT FLAG PROJECTION An Amnesty International official said that the organisation is opposed to Israel continuing to exist as a Jewish state.

“We are opposed to the idea – and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate – that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people,” Paul O’Brien, the human rights monitor’s US director, said in a luncheon last week with the Women’s National

Democratic Club in Washington D.C. O’Brien said on Twitter that his remarks had been removed from context, although he did not contest the quotes themselves.

O’Brien also said on Twitter: “While we recognise the right of self-determination for Jewish and Palestinian people as a basic human right, we take no position on the legal or political solutions that any people

may take to exercise that right.”

Taking a position on whether and how an established state should continue to exist is unusual for organisations with responsibilities limited to monitoring compliance with international laws governing freedoms and human rights.

O’Brien’s comments immediately drew a torrent of condemnation from Jewish groups.

A projection of the Ukrainian and Russian flags upon the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City was removed following criticism that the images disregarded Russia’s role in starting the war. The animation featured the flags on either side of two doves. It was removed hours later following criticism that it was not “politically smart” to include the Russian flag. Ofer Berkovitch, opposition leader on the city council, said: “This is an injustice.”

The Russian flag in Jerusalem

JN video report at jewishnews.co.uk

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Ukraine heritage / Football league / Statue found / Kosher dining / Diaspora News

Fears for Ukraine’s Jewish heritage Jewish heritage organisations are “watching closely” as war rages around sites of Jewish historical interest in Ukraine.

The Foundation for Jewish Heritage (FJH) recently commissioned mapping work on the historic synagogues of Europe, rating each according to their significance and condition, and this included Ukrainian sites. Western militaries have since been given the information.

“In order for armed forces to be able to fulfil their responsibility to protect cultural property, they must be able to identify it,” said the FJH. “This list provides descriptions and coordinates of particularly important Jewish heritage sites, which have been shared with trusted military partners known to operate in good faith and to uphold the principles of international law, in order to support them in preserving this heritage.”

Places of worship that constitute “the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples” are protected during war under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, signed by more than 130 countries, and its two Protocols (1954 and 1999).

They are also protected under the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, as well as customary law, such as the 1907 Hague Regulations. Intentional damage to cultural property and buildings dedicated to religion can be a war crime, prosecutable at the Interna- One of 12 historic Ukranian synagogues that need to be protected tional Criminal Court.

Ukraine has 12 synagogues recognised as having “international “We are closely following events in Ukraine,” said FJH chief executive Michael Mail. “Preserving cultural heritage in significance”, which is more than any other country in Europe. conflict zones is now recognised internationally as a major con- By contrast, there are only 11 synagogues of international significern, and significant Jewish heritage sites should also receive cance in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and the Netherlands combined. the benefit of being identified and safeguarded in this way.”

ARGENTINE JEWS KICK OFF IN ISRAEL Argentina is home to one of the most high-level amateur Jewish sports leagues in the world. Normally the young Argentine athletes who play in it, representing various Jewish community centers from different cities, are rivals on the field. But this season, 18 of them came together to play on one team – in an Israeli professional league.

The development could be the start of a new programmatic trend and signals a new kind of international influence in Israeli sports, a realm

that has historically kept strict caps on the number of foreign players on pro teams.

The squad of Argentine Jewish teenagers fresh out of high school has played in Israeli football (known in Israel as soccer) lowest professional tier, the Liga Gimel, or Gimel League, since September (the league’s playoffs are currently in progress).

The players have had work visas for the seven months – and they have also taken part in an educational programme, consisting of Hebrew lessons,

volunteer activities in Israeli organisations and tours.

It is the brainchild of Argentine former football pro Fabian Grimberg, 57, who played in both Argentina’s and Israel’s top leagues – for Velez Sarfield in Buenos Aires (1980-1986) and various Israeli teams from 1988 to 1997.

Argentine Jewish families often push their children into non-athletic careers, Grimberg said, and he saw an opportunity to give young Jewish athletes a taste of the professional athlete life

before university. “I know a lot of very good players, but Jewish families do not always support the idea of a professional soccer career, in some cases they prefer to focus on a university career,” Grimberg told JTA. “Sometimes they don’t want the kids to face the tough environment of sport – that includes some expressions of antisemitism – so I designed a program of a gap year before university, for them to experience Israel and the opportunity of being a soccer player.”

Istanbul Airport gets kosher vending machine One of the world’s biggest transport hubs has been given a kosher makeover, with a new vending machine offering kosher food and snacks alongside airport lounges that have made available hot kosher dishes.

Istanbul Airport, which has been Europe’s busiest airport for the past two years, serves nearly 40 million passengers a year but, despite its size and scope of operations, observant Jewish travellers have been left uncatered for – until now.

Since its installation in late February, the Kosher Food Point machine has offered sandwiches in the airport’s

main mezzanine. The food is certified by both Denet Gida, an arm of the Turkish rabbinate, and international certifier OK Kosher.

The Istanbul-based caterer, La Casa, said the proceeds would go to support poor Jewish families in Turkey.

Speaking to JTA, organiser Rabbi Mendy Chitrik said: “There are more flights to Tel Aviv than to London. It’s a very important hub with hundreds of thousands of kosher-eating Jews passing through or sometimes getting stuck.”

He added: “It’s a statement of

Kosher dining in Europe’s busiest airport

comfort, tolerance and coexistence.

It’s a good thing. A sign of normalisation for Jewish life in the Muslim world.”

WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF

Your weekly digest of stories from the international press ITALY

A huge effort to digitise 35,000 historical Jewish texts dotted around Italy is making good progress, with around 10,000 now uploaded for future generations. Some scripts date back to the 15th century and are held in public and private collections, Jewish centres, libraries, churches and the Vatican.

UAE

An umbrella group for Jewish communities in the Arabian Peninsula is organising the region’s first matzah-baking events for Passover. The UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar are taking part. Organisers said: ‘Bringing matzah in makes it easier for Jews here to celebrate.’

TURKEY

Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited Turkey last week to meet president Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid thawing relations between Ankara and Jerusalem. The Turkish government has spent millions of pounds in recent years renovating and restoring old synagogues and sites of historic Jewish interest.

UNITED STATES

A US-based Jewish civil rights organisation has built the first algorithm designed to monitor antisemitism on social media.

The ADL’s ‘Online Hate Index’ tool, which uses artificial intelligence, sifts through millions of online comments every minute, highlighting posts for removal.

Anne Frank statue is found in Buenos Aires A statue of Anne Frank stolen in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires has been found by police in a raid on a shanty town.

The statue of the world-famous child diarist – who hid in an Amsterdam attic until she was discovered and deported to Auschwitz – was recovered after it was taken during a robbery, Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta said.

The statue is a replica of one in Amsterdam, and Larreta said that he and the Netherlands’ ambassador to Argentina would soon rededicate it in a ceremony.

“This piece symbolises the memory of the Holocaust and the union between our countries, as well as the respect for human rights,” he said.

The Anne Frank Museum said the episode “lets us reflect on the value of some symbols and gives us strength to continue working on the construction of memory and human rights”.

ZEMMOUR ACCUSED

Far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour has been accused of sexual misconduct by eight women dating back to 1999.

Zemmour, who is Jewish and strongly denies the allegations, is accused of groping and kissing them against their will, after the first allegations began to surface last year.

The eight women spoke on-camera to a French news channel and many of the allegations relate to Zemmour’s time as a TV commentator.

“I don’t comment on my personal life,” he told TV channel France 2 last year. “These women have no proof. What they are saying is false. It’s their word against mine.”

Zemmour has been convicted three times of inciting hatred against minorities. He declared his presidential candidacy in November. Polls suggest that he would win around 12 percent of the vote, behind Marine Le Pen and Emanuel Macron.

20

Jewish News 17 March 2022

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Editorial comment and letters ISSUE NO.

1254

VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS

The rescued have become rescuers

The poignancy of World Jewish Relief’s (WJR) support for the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme will not be lost on our readers. WJR, albeit under its previous name, the Central British Fund, was instrumental in supporting the evacuation of 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe in the late 1930s.

Today WJR is working round the clock on the ground to support ordinary Ukrainians suffering unimaginable fear and loss under fire from Putin’s forces. But within hours of Monday’s announcement of the scheme to house refugees lucky enough to make it to Britain, the charity also turned its focus to registering Jewish families who feel it is their duty to open their doors to those fleeing.

Families who were once rescued are turning into rescuers – and in big numbers. At the time of going to press, nearly 1,000 people had registered their interest with WJR in less than three days. The support Anglo-Jewry has shown from the moment of Russia’s invasion has been nothing short of awe-inspiring.

The discussion about whether Britain could have gone further than just taking in children ahead of World War Two is not new. It has been reignited again this week. Yes, this country could have done more. But the fact is Britain stepped up in the 1930s when others closed their borders and each one of the 10,000 youngsters allowed in – and the families they’ve raised – owe this country their lives.

Today, as history repeats itself, the humanitarian challenge is being answered by a charity chaired by Maurice Helfgott, the son of a Holocaust survivor who made Britain his home after the war.

Like Sir Ben Helfgott, many of these Ukrainian newcomers will have a lot to thank Britain for in the decades to come.

Reasons to cheer

It’s not easy to find uplifting news stories at the moment. But last Sunday, on the streets around Brondesbury Park Synagogue, in Willesden, northwest London, the Jewish community was able to celebrate not one but two momentous moments. There was a new shul building for a community that has boomed under Rabbi Baruch Levin’s watch, along with a Torah dedication – the first in the area for more than 30 years.

But there was another reason to celebrate. On the streets of London, in one of the most multicultural boroughs in the country, several hundred Jews took to the streets to party, without fear.

We read lots about rising antisemitism in this country, but sometimes a bit of perspective is important too.

Spotting the spiel For the avoidance of any doubt, the story on page 11 of this week’s newspaper about the Jewish Chronicle’s unknown owner bidding for Cheslea Football Club is (if you haven’t already guessed) a spiel. Happy Purim!

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Send us your comments PO Box 815, Edgware, HA8 4SX | letters@jewishnews.co.uk

Board insult Loud silence Israeli President Isaac Herzog was absolutely right to condemn the coarse tweet put out by the Board of Deputies, which markets itself as AngloJewry’s only representative democratic body. Was its insult to MK Bezalel Smotrich put out with the knowledge, never mind approval, of deputies? Absolutely not!

The tweet reflected a far-left fringe group at the Board. To compare the actions of President Chaim Herzog in refusing to meet Meir Kahane on 1984 to that of President Herzog and Smotrich was also spurious. There is no comparison between Kahane and Smotrich, despite efforts to create one.

D Rosenthhal, Hendon

During the past weeks we have heard many condemnations concerning the war in Ukraine from countries worldwide.

We have also seen sanctions against Russia.

However, I have neither seen nor heard anything from that usually very vocal movement – boycott, divestments and sanctions.

The second group who have been strangely quiet is the ‘We are all Hamas’ marchers seen on the streets of London. Again, they wave their flags while condemning Israel but haven’t joined their friends in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza who are bearing placards in support of Mr Putin. Strange times we live in.

Maureen Shapiro, Redbridge

ISRAELI AMBIGUITY

LIGHT IN THE DARK

I realise that cold, hard realpolitik is at play, but Israel’s unwillingness to stand on the right side of history over Russia’s evil invasion of Ukraine is fast becoming a matter of deep shame for many in the Jewish diaspora.

Yes, the state finds itself in a delicate position with Russia allowing Israeli operations in Syrian skies and the prime minister, Naftali Bennett, playing a supposed key role in peace negotiations, but how much of its soul is it will to compromise?

It was shocking to see the Russian flag projected on the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City alongside the Ukrainian flag this week. What thoughtless disrespect to Putin’s victims.

I’m sure I speak for many in calling for the Jewish state to examine its conscience and motivations.

Once again, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain is on the frontline of the community’s response to a humanitarian tragedy.

In these dark days the Maidenhead rabbi shines a little light with his initiative to bring Ukrainian refugees to Britain in the spirit of the Kindertransport.

As the UK government finally gets its act together and allows more refugees to enter the country without jumping through administrative hoops, I hope the Jewish community does its share to ease their pain.

Samantha Elwin, By email

Ally Mosvich, By email

• Any Jewish News readers interested in getting involved can email Rabbi Romain at admin@maidshul.org

Russia gave us lots of warning President Putin had given plenty of warning of his desire to resurrect the Soviet Union with his dress rehearsal in 2014, annexing the Crimea. This in itself should have spelt out his intentions. However, that capture of territory certainly passed with platitudes from the West but very little else.

An attempted blitzkrieg and genocide is possi-

bly occurring, being witnessed by us on primetime television and, other than us supplying arms and wringing our hands, is likely to continue.

Surely the bully in the Kremlin must be ousted and stopped; otherwise this crime against humanity will and should lay heavily on many consciences.

Stephen Vishnick, Tel Alviv

COLUMNIST TOO EASY ON ABRAMOVICH Your columnist Alex Brummer’s piece suggesting that sanctions against Russia and Russians are pointless could not be further from the truth. He may wish to reflect on it, wide and far hitting sanctions being only the starting point and the catalyst for independent businesses around the world to disengage from a regime that goes against basic principles of human rights.

The sanctions regime is working to isolate Russia’s ability to finance President Vladimir Putin’s war of choice.

Shelley Schachter-Cahm, By email

Alex Brummer is wrong in his defence of Chelsea’s Russian owner. Roman Abramovich made his millions, nay, billions, through business practices that have raised alarm bells worldwide.

He has major links with steel companies that may build Russian tanks. I am glad Yad Vashem in Jerusalem has decided to suspended the Russian’s donations to the memorial – the most recent one being £10 million handed over only last month – as it is very possibly tainted money. Brummer’s lack of conviction on Abramovich is a worry.

Ed Jones, By email

17 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

21

Editorial comment and letters

Sketches & kvetches

‘I know some letters in your first guess are correct, but it’s showing blue because PUTIN is occupying the wrong position’

Putin’s war has parallels with Iranian nuclear deal JEREMY HAVARDI AUTHOR & JOURNALIST

P

utin’s murderous assault on Ukraine has shocked the world and produced a justified wave of support for the nation. But true to form, the breast-beating sections of the Western commentariat assume that the fault lies elsewhere than the Kremlin. They refuse to see Putin’s war of aggression for what it is, namely an imperialist effort to remove a democratically elected government, replace it with a puppet regime and merge Ukraine with ‘mother Russia’.

Instead, the Putin apologists blame Nato for expanding its boundaries eastwards in apparent contravention of promises made decades earlier. It is a foolish argument, not least because Ukraine’s desire to join Nato, an alliance designed to deter threats from nondemocratic regimes, was predicated on the very threat it now faces.

It is part of the narrative of appeasement that refuses to see Vladimir Putin for what he is, a warmongering autocrat who targets his enemies at will and defies the laws of war with impunity. If anything is oxygen to the modern ‘Vlad the impaler’, it is not the expansion of a

Western alliance. It is the sense that his adversaries are too weak and cautious to intervene when Russia flexes its military muscle.

In 2013, the Russian-backed Assad regime crossed a ‘red line’ by using chemical weapons against rebel-held areas in Syria. The British parliament, to its shame, voted against military intervention, led by a Labour leadership that wanted to present itself as the postBlair anti-war party. Doubtless, that spurred Barack Obama to backtrack on intervening in Syria, reneging on a pledge to take action and allowing Russia to seize the initiative.

With every Russian breach of international law that followed, whether it was the invasion and annexation of Crimea, anti-Western cyberwarfare or the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury, European politicians continued to insist on resetting relations with Moscow.

In 2016, Macron was in favour of lifting sanctions against Russia that were imposed after it annexed Crimea, undermining Western unity

❝

in the process. Europe’s addiction to Russian energy further reduced its leverage over Putin.

Sadly, we are now seeing a parallel with the Iranian nuclear talks that are taking place in Vienna, another abject tale of appeasement and political folly. As things stand, the path towards a renewed JCPOA is stalled, given Russian demands to guarantee that international sanctions over Ukraine will exclude its trade with Iran.

But until recently, the deal being proposed was even worse than the one that was concocted in 2015. Not only would all the flaws from the original deal still be present, including a lax inspection regime and sunset clauses, but there was talk of removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps from the Foreign Terrorist List and ending human rights related sanctions on Iran’s bloodthirsty President Raisi. It was proposed that other bloodthirsty terrorists would be free from US sanctions too, including two of the chief

TALKS IN VIENNA ARE YET ANOTHER ABJECT TALE OF APPEASEMENT AND POLITICAL FOLLY

culprits in the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people in 1994.

The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) is an active participant in acts of terror, including the 1983 bombing of the US marine barracks in Lebanon that killed 241 American personnel and the bombing of the Saudi Khobar Towers that killed 19 US servicemen.

Its proxies are estimated to have killed 600 American soldiers in Iraq and attacked civilian infrastructure in the Middle East.

Removing sanctions on Iran would be a slap in the face for victims of Iranian terror and empower the regime to spend more on its terrorist proxies, entrenching the chaos that it fuels throughout the region. Worse, such abject capitulation would legitimise Tehran’s path to the bomb, albeit with a decade’s grace, making it as hard to oppose Iran in the future as it is to oppose a nuclear Russia today.

It is understandable if such developments are viewed with alarm and despondency in Jerusalem. Israel’s allies, who have pledged to confront rogue regimes, have too often strengthened them through inaction or half-hearted responses to aggression. Thus, Western policies on Russia and Iran only remind Israelis that their country’s defence must never be entrusted to outside powers.

The state’s destiny is in their own hands.

22

Jewish News 17 March 2022

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Opinion

The toxic woke squad turns to greenwashing JENNI FRAZER

T

his is a morality tale but, I am afraid, without a happy ending.

Gabe Stutman, a journalist with J Weekly, which serves the San Francisco community, has written an astonishing story: how one unnamed Jewish activist, together with a gaggle of “woke” climate campaigners and anti-Zionist groups, managed to stop America’s Sierra Club from running its regular tours to Israel.

If you know nothing about Sierra Club, and I didn’t, it is a national environmental group which for years has offered trips to Israel, among many other world destinations. The trips are not cheap — $5,000 per person — but they are said to be wonderfully rewarding. They offer the opportunity over two weeks to explore Israel’s diverse geography and wildlife. Last year’s trip, says Stutman, included “birdwatching, sea snorkelling, a visit to the Dead Sea and evenings on a kibbutz”, taking participants the length and breadth of the country.

But, according to Stutman’s worryingly detailed story, this innocuous state of affairs has been permanently disrupted because activists accused Sierra Club of “greenwashing the conflict” and “providing legitimacy to the Israeli state, which is engaged in apartheid against the Palestinian people”.

“Greenwashing”, in case you didn’t know, is a term used to describe Israel using its “good” behaviour on environmental issues to disguise its “bad” behaviour on the Palestinian issue.

Mary Owens, the chair of Sierra Club’s national outings team, delivered the news of the cancellation in an email to the hundreds of volunteers who regularly lead the trips around the world. She told them that the first approach came from “a Jewish-American activist” in late January. He it was who levelled the charge of greenwashing. Sierra Club told him to take a hike: it did not, it said, “restrict our trips due to regional conflicts or politics”. Among its more than 250 upcoming tours there are planned trips to China and Nepal. But this was not good enough for the

❝

ACTIVISTS ACCUSED SIERRA CLUB OF ‘GREENWASHING’ THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT activist, who said he was not satisfied and planned to get additional activist groups involved. “On 22 February, the board received an email from a coalition of activist organisations… threatening that if we did not cancel upcoming trips within a week they would go public that the organisation was violating the organisational values it recently rolled out.”

One can only imagine the discussions within Sierra Club on the receipt of this second email. Its leadership sought a meeting with the activists, by now identified as “proPalestinian Adalah Justice Project, the indigenous rights group the NDN Collective, the Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Sunrise Movement and the Movement for Black Lives”. This group of charmers told Sierra Club, which did not

want to cancel the trips, that “there was no room for compromise”. After some days of discussions, Sierra Club capitulated. Israel — even reports of its previous trips — no longer exists on the organisation’s website.

Of the more loathsome aspects of this story, the one I am sorely repelled by is that not one of these fabulously progressive people was prepared to defend their actions to JWeekly. We still don’t know the name of the solo activist who put Sierra Club’s metaphorical feet to the fire with his purity test.

But in any case, this story has a concerning lesson for us. The domino effect of just a couple of emails and an aggressive meeting has resulted in Israel being written out of an environmental club’s history. Think it couldn’t happen here? Think again.

CHAIR, UJIA

L

ast week, I stood on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport alongside UJIA colleagues and partners to welcome 140 Ukrainian olim to Israel. It was poignant and humbling; inspiring and harrowing.

The new arrivals had escaped the horror of the invasion of their homeland and made it to Bucharest where their flight to Israel took off.

We felt building anticipation as we saw their plane approaching. As they emerged it was clear that, while obviously relieved, they were traumatised, shocked and exhausted.

Most were either elderly people or young mothers, clutching small children and babies.

Men of fighting age had of course stayed behind in Ukraine. It was heartbreaking and impossible for me to convey in words the haunted look in their eyes from what they have been through in the past couple of weeks. Very little luggage came off the plane; these were people who had left in a hurry.

They tried their best to smile and thank us for being there to greet them but their minds were back home.

Most of these Olim would not have chosen to make their lives in Israel. Until the Russian

invasion they led good lives in Ukraine – full Jewish lives at that. They made the painful decision to leave their home and everything and everyone else they know. It was not an ideal choice, one young mother explained to me, but one she made to protect her two young sons. When she thought about their future, she explained, then if they had to leave she wanted it to be to Israel.

Alongside me at the airport was UJIA’s CEO Mandie Winston. In a moment of remarkable coincidence, Mandie recognised one the of the women disembarking from the plane from her time working with the Odesa Jewish community. They saw each other and embraced. It was deeply moving on a personal level, and as a snapshot of just how interconnected the Jewish people are and need to be. As the new olim boarded buses to

❝

VERY LITTLE LUGGAGE CAME OFF THE PLANE; THESE WERE PEOPLE WHO LEFT IN A HURRY

the terminal, I took time to reflect. We talk about Jewish peoplehood but at times like this we see it in action.

We are fortunate that the State of Israel exists to provide a home for members of Jewish communities who need one. This new wave of Ukrainian olim will be taken in and will in time, despite the horrors they have faced, build new lives here. They will join olim who have arrived over the course of Israel’s history, whether from Iraq, Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union, Bosnia, Venezuela or elsewhere. We can be sure many will follow.

Our community has responded magnificently to the horror that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has unleashed. The humanitarian needs of Ukrainians are monumental and I am in awe of the work being done by World Jewish Relief. I urge everyone to support their continued efforts on behalf of refugees.

The aliyah now underway from Ukraine is also a moment in Jewish history and the history of Israel. UJIA has always been committed to helping Jews in need build a new home in Israel – a task that is only made possible thanks to the incredible work of our partners at the Jewish Agency for Israel.

We are all responsible for each other. I hope Jewish communities around the world will come together to help the tired, trauma-

Louise with children from Ukraine in Israel

Photo by Keren Hayesod-UIA

LOUISE JACOBS

Photo by Jonathan Roland

Welcoming Ukrainian olim so poignant and humbling

Mandie Winston embraces a Ukrainian she recognised from her work in Odesa

tised and scared women, children and elderly people who I met last week, and those who will follow in their footsteps, as they rebuild their shattered lives in the Jewish homeland.

17 March 2022 Jewish News

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Opinion

Courts can finally act in cases of get refusal CHARMAINE HAST HEAD OF FAMILY LAW, WEDLAKE BELL

I

t was probably with great sadness and to some, especially women, great relief to read that the criminal court in Manchester accepted a guilty plea from a man in a private prosecution brought by his former wife to secure a get. The parties were divorced in 2019.

Without a get, a woman will be unable to remarry in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony. The voluntary giving of a get by a man to a woman, who must accept it, is not something often ordered by the rabbi in his judicial role. There is much debate and concern that the threat of prosecution could invalidate the get because it conflicts with the Jewish law of voluntary giving and accepting. Interestingly, women who wish to obtain a get urgently are encouraged to contact the Beth Din to start the process, notwithstanding the voluntary element that is now the topic of debate.

The case in Manchester has a sad history of the former husband causing the wife to fear for her own safety, exercising unreasonable financial control and preventing her from obtaining a Jewish religious divorce. The judge warned him he could face a custodial sentence. The man had already tried to use the get to assist him in appealing his civil divorce order.

There has been much support communicated to the government to include get refusal in the statutory guidance to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. It is seen by many women as another strand to a former husband’s ability to control them, hold them to a marriage that is dead, and deny them their freedom. Although the guidance is not binding, it will have an influence in the legal system where the withholding of a get is described as “spiritual abuse”.

It may well be that it becomes a requirement in the civil financial order for the husband to provide an undertaking to provide the get within a particular number of days of the decree absolute being granted. An undertaking is a promise also to the court. The wording of an undertaking speaks for itself: “You may be held

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THE FORMER HUSBAND CAUSED THE WIFE TO FEAR FOR HER OWN SAFETY

to be in contempt of court and imprisoned or fined, or your assets may be seized if you break the promises you have given to the court….”

It is essential not to forget that even though a Jewish wife has a civil divorce, she is deemed to be committing adultery in Jewish law if she commences a sexual relationship with another man. The term for a religiously married Jewish wife who wishes to divorce a husband who will not grant a get is agunah (meaning chained).

If a religiously married Jewish 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. Many forget a get can be

obtained at any time after separation.

Some non-Orthodox denominations do not require both parties’ consent and will allow a unilateral get instigated by one party. Note that the Beth Din does not terminate the marriage, it merely acts as the regulating authority.

As a get can only be completed with both parties’ consent, difficulties arise when either party refuses to respond to the Beth Din’s call to co-operate. It is for this reason that the Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002 was enacted.

It includes provision enabling a party whose spouse is refusing either to give instructions for the writing of a get or refuses to accept it, to apply to the court for an order to delay the making of the decree absolute until the other party has co-operated. It is therefore vital for practitioners to consider making such application immediately after a decree nisi has been obtained, since the relief is not available after the decree absolute has been made.

The court has a discretion whether to make the order and will only make it if it is satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case it is just and reasonable to do so.

With World Jewish Relief’s aid, Ukrainians can start over MADELEINE THOMPSON LONG-TIME SUPPORTER OF WORLD JEWISH RELIEF

M

y connection to World Jewish Relief, and to Ukraine, has a long history. My mother was born in Wapniarka and my father’s parents were from Odesa.

I first got involved with World Jewish Relief more than 40 years ago. I used to go to New York to purchase clothing and have it shipped to London where a team of volunteers would pack everything into parcels and send them onto the Soviet Union for the Jewish community who were living in poverty there.

On one visit with World Jewish Relief, my husband and I located some of my extended family in Kyiv and met up with them. When we arrived they were wearing some of the clothes we had sent to the region through World Jewish Relief. One of them had a photograph of my Bubba holding my son as a baby, so I knew they were family. They subsequently decided to leave the Soviet Union, where they were living in poor conditions. We helped to organise their journey to New York, via a refugee camp in Italy.

Many years later we found out, via

a missing relatives advert, that we had family still in Odesa we didn’t know about. We made contact, and my cousin and I travelled to the meet them and hosted a Friday night dinner where more than 40 relatives showed up!

This was the first time I met my cousin Rosa (not her real name). Rosa has just spent Shabbat in Paris, but the past weeks, since Russia invaded Ukraine and destroyed her life, have been unimaginably traumatic and her journey to safety is not over yet.

Rosa is 66, single and, since her parents died, has been completely on her own. She suffers with poor health. When the invasion began, she was very, very frightened. She had nowhere to shelter.

She had to lie on her bathroom floor when the sirens were going off because that was the safest place for her. She was alone.

She collapsed numerous times – we have no

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WHEN THE INVASION BEGAN, ROSA WAS VERY, VERY FRIGHTENED

doubt that the trauma she experienced has compounded her health condition.

I was so concerned for Rosa that I reached out directly to World Jewish Relief’s chief executive, Paul Anticoni, and told him her story. The next day, staff from the charity’s partner, Hesed Shaare Tzion, were with her, in her home, providing food and companionship, helping her to feel less alone.

Rosa didn’t want to leave Odesa. It is her home. Her parents are buried there, and she wanted to continue looking after their graves.

It took several days for her to admit that it was all too much for her and that she was ready to leave.

Once again, I contacted Paul. World Jewish Relief arranged for her to leave the country by bus. Two days later, she crossed the border into Romania.

Local volunteers met her and helped her to organise a flight to Paris where she is now, with my cousin’s daughter-in-law’s extended family. They have taken her in until we can get her to the UK. From what I understand, the UK visa application process is complicated. I hope the fact Rosa has had previous British visas to visit the country, and has references and sponsorship from the family, will help her to gain entry. So many of our wider family

An ORT school complex in Kyiv, Ukraine

have reached out and offered to support her here.

If she does come to the UK, I don’t know how long it will be for. Will it be indefinite?

Will she want to go back again? Will she have anything to go back to? At this point we just don’t know.

Before the invasion, Rosa was working for the university in Odesa. Her English is good, and she is computer literate. She will be an asset here in the UK. Please God, with World Jewish Relief’s help, she will be able to start working, become independent and able to thrive again.

If she makes it to the UK, it will be such a relief. I hope that before not too long, Rosa will be able to join us here in safety.

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17 March 2022 Jewish News

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

Opinion

We can do better than a modern Kindertransport DR AMY WILLIAMS

KINDERTRANSPORT RESEARCHER

W

ithin days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, photographs started to appear on social media of the Kindertransport memorials in London, Prague and Alkmaar in the Netherlands draped in the Ukrainian flag.

The message ‘Safe passage now’ was printed on a brown luggage label, similar to the ones the Kinder wore in 1938 as they fled their homelands, and placed at the front of the memorial in London. This memorial activism not only raises issues about how we are helping refugees today, but sheds a questioning light on our history and memory of welcome and refuge.

This past week we have heard moving pleas from politicians and religious leaders to bring forward a modern day Kindertransport for Ukrainian refugee children. But is the Kindertransport the model of a successful rescue operation? After all it is not without its flaws.

For example, the Kindertransport of the late 1930s and early 1940s was not a family reunion scheme as parents were not permitted to accompany their children to safety. Instead they were forced to escape by other means, such as applying for domestic visas or crossing several borders to reach places such as Shanghai.

The refuge granted to the children was also temporary and offered little long-term security. It was envisaged that the children would make further journeys to America and Palestine. Does this not call into question the very notion of safety? Safety should be an ongoing obligation of the host nation.

Some people have also made the point that the Kindertransport took place before the outbreak of the Second World War so, again, how appropriate is it to think about it in connection to the present refugee crisis? In fact, the last Kindertransport to Britain was in 1940 and many other movements of Jewish children took place as war raged in Europe.

We often think of the Kindertransports from a British perspective, but there were Kindertransports to many host nations

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LIVING THE LESSONS WOULD SURELY MEAN A MORE FAMILY-ORIENTED REFUGEE POLICY

(Sweden, France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland) before and during the war.

There are clear connections between the Kindertransport and the refugees fleeing Ukraine. The scenes of fathers placing their children on humanitarian trains not knowing if they will see them again are chilling to witness. Some of the children today are travelling without parents as they were orphaned before the war or separated as a result of it.

Other, however, are trying to escape with their mothers and grandparents.

A Kindertransport in the modern sense could potentially see teenagers coming to Britain as students. This would mirror the Kindertransport as the documentation the Kinder travelled with stated that they were admitted to Britain for educational purposes.

While this offers a most-needed way out it

does not avoid the trauma of family separation.

Truly living the lessons of the Kindertransport would surely mean implementing a more family-oriented refugee policy. Do we not need what Rabbi Jonathan Romain calls a ‘Ukrainetransport’, whereby families are brought to Britain on a visa waiver scheme? Kindertransport denotes rescue of children whereas a Ukrainetransport refers to refugees of all ages.

Memorial activism can and is making a difference: it can galvanise governments to act and not rest on their laurels. I am reminded of the Kinder who have Ukrainian heritage and how current events can reinforce the need to listen and learn from survivors as well as refugees today. It is worrying, though, when Russian children are detained for placing flowers outside the Ukrainian Embassy. Their activism was not met with warmth or openness.

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Community / Scene & Be Seen

1 A KINDLY TREAT

More than one hundred Project ImpACT volunteers took a break from cooking for the homeless to bake hamantashen and spread the Purim spirit to the Jewish community.

The tasty treats were distributed by organisations including Jami, Langdon, Norwood and Chai Cancer Care for the event, which was held in partnership with US Chesed.

2 CHANGE CAMPAIGN

And be seen!

Kisharon ran its Make a Change Purim fundraising campaign, for which volunteers collected change in the annual Purim bucket appeal with the view that ‘every penny can make a change to the lives of people we support’. The charity gave prizes to the collectors who raised the most or in a particularly creative way and the collector who ‘made a change’ with the most original costume.

The latest news, pictures and social events from across the community Email us at community@jewishnews.co.uk

3 BUSINESS BREAKFAST

Laniado Hospital UK welcomed more than 30 guests at Breakfast and Bubbles, its first business breakfast event since the start of the pandemic two years ago. The group enjoyed a range of Israeli-inspired dishes at Novellino in Golders Green. Simon Silver, CEO of Laniado Hospital UK, spoke of the need to raise funds for the Netanya hospital’s new ICU department.

4 PASSION PRAISED

Britain’s minister for industry, Lee Rowley, praised the “passion and creativity” of Jewish small businesses after visiting Finchley-based WE Hub, the community’s first shared workspace.

He was given a tour of the building

by Work Avenue CEO David Arden, director of operations and employment Emma May, and trustee Maurice Golker. Run by Work Avenue, WE Hub offers start-ups and small businesses the chance to hot-desk daily or rent a permanent desk or office space.

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5HAMAN PROSECUTED

A mock trial of Purim story star Achashverosh was the centrepiece of a London School of Jewish Studies fundraiser, which brought in some £450,000 for the educational institution. During the ‘trial’, witnessed by more than 400 guests on screen and in person, Golders Green Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski took on the role of judge with Dr Harris Bor and Joanne Greenaway acting as defence and Adam Gersch and Rachel Marcus as prosecution.

6

LILY AWARDED

This year’s Topland Group Business Group Lunch award was given in memory of Philip Greenwold, one of the original members of its lunch committee. It was given to Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert and her greatgrandson, Dov Forman. Lily was one of the founding members of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, the only place of its kind in the country that supports survivors through a programme of social, cultural and specialist therapeutic activities.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

LI FE

Proof of ownership documents for Dan’s vodka factory

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Inside A look

Who, What & Where Laughter as medicine Travel: Cotswolds

LOST EMPIRE

Haunted by memories of a vodka factory the Russians stole, Dan Edelstyn chats to Brigit Grant about his own Ukrainian nightmare

T

here was a time when Dan Edelstyn never left home without a bottle of vodka in his hand. But don’t be thinking he had a drink problem.

Dan was on a mission to introduce his own vodka brand to London’s cocktail bars and restaurants.

When I first met Dan, he was holding a briefcase filled with bottles of his wheat-based liquor, Zorokovich 1917, and his determination to break into the crowded vodka market was to be admired. Key to this admiration was Dan’s resurrection of the Ukrainian vodka factory founded by his greatgrandfather, Ilya Zorokovich in 1904.

Dan, a documentary maker and

commercials director, was only vaguely aware of his family’s Ukrainian Jewish history, but then, while rifling through the contents of his mother’s attic in Totnes, Devon, he discovered a yellowing manuscript penned by his late grandmother.

“My grandmother, Maroussia, who was born in 1898, had written about her life in Kiev [as it was then] in the style of a 19th century romantic novelist, so I couldn’t be sure how much was true or embroidered to make it more interesting,” says Dan, a former pupil at Gordonstoun public school. “We knew my great-grandfather had owned land and properties before the revolution, but everything had been expropriated

Ilya Zorokovich with his family outside their Ukrainian home

by the Bolsheviks and the family had fled by 1920, taking anything they could carry. There was no mention of a vodka distillery, but my grandmother wrote about a grand country estate and a sugar factory. She left out the location, however, and the only clue was a reference to the ‘little town of K’, which she said took a day to reach by train.”

Convinced that he had found the makings of a great film script, Dan convinced his artist wife Hilary that they could make a stylish documentary to capture the search for his ancestral seat. Weeks of trawling through Ukraine’s National Archive and poring over documents to get information about Maroussia’s home, eventually lead them to the little town of K (Konotop), now called Douboviazovka.

The couple filmed every part of their search as they journeyed to the town only to discover the sugar factory boarded up and they weren’t allowed in.

“But then we spotted the distillery, which they confirmed was my great-grandfather’s and it was working,” says Dan, who knew the locals would be suspicious of his arrival as the heir apparent.

“There was no precedent in Ukraine for Jewish property to be returned to its rightful owners, so I knew that would never be an option,” recalls Dan. “Luckily, the family name was enough to initiate discussion and I was soon walking around like the lord of the manor. With the distillery edging towards bankruptcy, any help was welcome.”

Post-perestroika Douboviazovka, like so many towns in Ukraine, was economically depressed and many of the younger people had left to find work elsewhere. “The village relied on the vodka factory for employment, but they had no means of selling their produce,” says Dan, who decided on a whim to try to turn the business around.

Still intent on making the film, which became How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire, Dan simultaneously rebranded the vodka as Zorokovich 1917 and, over five years, created a blend made from spring water from the village well, triple distilled in small batches, and gave it a cool, retro image and packaging.

“I felt we would have the edge over other independent brands and an intriguing back story that would captivate,” he reflects, and he was right.

Well reviewed by the experts, Zorokovich 1917 was a bottle of great beauty.

Something to be kept on display, not hidden in a cupboard even after it was empty. That was 2012, a year in which Dan visibly had no end of enthusiasm and hope for his product and revelled in his role as a vodka baron.

Today, that industrious swagger has gone. Not because he was unable

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to keep going solo without investment as resurrecting the factory was his gift to the town. His film was also well received. Dan is a darker soul because Ukrainians are living the tortuous experience of his ancestorsleaving their homeland in fear of their lives.

“Watching them, I understand first-hand the terrible nature of the ‘clan’ who came out of the Donetsk region, and who bullied and marauded their way through Ukraine,” he says solemnly.

“The last time I visited my great-grandfather’s vodka distillery in 2013, everything had changed. The distillery director, Andrei Aleksandrovich, had been thrown into prison, and the director of the neighbouring distillery had been found hanged. In his place was a stocky man with a neck so wide it was hard to tell where it ended and the rest of his body began.”

Dan continues: “We were staying in a hotel in Konotop, as close to the distillery as it was possible to get lodgings. The man now in charge arrived at 8.30am while we were having breakfast, strode through the front door, totally ignored us and reached across the small bar, grabbing a glass and filling it up with beer from the tap. It was as if he felt he owned everything there.”

Dan could tell at once that the self-important, self-appointed foreman of the factory hated him and Christophe, his director of photography.

“He sneered and talked about us as jokers and worthless idiots, despite the fact we were crammed into his car and had our Russian-speaking translator there. He called us ‘space men’ and spat violently from the window. He told us: “God is great. You – your vodka – you are nothing.”

“Everyone in the distillery with whom we had worked to launch the project was trampled on. They were still there, but only as shells of themselves. They couldn’t look us in the eye.

“You see at that point, [former Ukrainian president Viktor] Yanukovich, who was a puppet of Putin, had seized the reins. He was a gangster. There was talk of pro-Ukrainian politicians landing and being gunned down

by Donestsk gangs as they walked off their airplanes. The violence was something beyond what I could understand. I just

Dan’s family before fleeing Ukraine

17 March 2022 Jewish News

29

Above: On location – Dan and his wife Hilary inside the grounds of the distillery they saved and put on film

knew that I could never go back there. It was like a poison.”

As this terrifying scene played out, Dan’s only thought was to get out of Ukraine alive. “We were all just relieved to make it through that day intact – the violence was there, the hatred, the desire to crush us, to extinguish everything.

“That was the last time I would ever go back to the distillery and that was the day I knew all the work we had been doing there, all the love and care, had met with a brutal end. My ancestors had left Ukraine in 1918 – what the hell was I doing there?”

Watching events in Ukraine unfold has brought his own terrifying time in Konotop into sharp focus and churned up identical emotion. He has also revisited his grandmother’s manuscript where, within the flowery prose, is the express wish that Ukraine should be independent.

“That was what she and others always wanted after the Ukranian Soviet Republic was thrust upon them in 1917,” said Dan. “The notion that the desire for independence is more recent is wrong.”

Witnessing the horror Putin is perpetrating makes Dan more strident in his beliefs. “To anyone on the left, who may have some sympathy with arguments that Putin should be left to do what he likes with Ukraine, that somehow the gang he runs is in some way legitimate, and that Russia is simply trying to redress the balance of power in Europe, I would say to be very careful,” he says.

“I’d be the first to point a finger at Wall Street’s eastward drift of investments and expansion towards those Eastern countries. And I know that Western capitalism is in deep crisis, and has many issues, but all I can remember is how I felt that day in the Ukraine. How much destruction and

Dan Edelstyn beside his vodka factory

violence there was in that thick-set Russian man who had taken over the distillery at the supposed behest of the ‘Ukrainian state’.

“Spirit distilleries like my great-grandfather’s had been taken over in 1917 and were still run by the state, but the government had been hijacked by Russians.”

Voraciously reading the news and speaking to his friends still in Ukraine has left Dan with a sense of deep dread.

“I have felt that taste of poison I experienced flowing through me and I’m afraid of what Putin might do next. This is a man who has come up through a culture of just taking and taking. That’s what post-perestroika Ukraine was – the flagrant, daylight theft of public infrastructure. And Putin’s rise to power has been the active repression of all freedoms of speech and those who do not conform or obey.”

Breaking away from the 24/7 war coverage isn’t easy for Dan, who thinks the entire fate of Europe rests in the Russian leader’s hands – “and in the nuclear suitcase”.

“Our children are being told in the playground that ‘nuclear war shouldn’t start for another month or so.’ What are we supposed to tell them?”

From his study of 20th century Russian and Nazi history, Dan thinks standing up to a tyrant seems the only avenue.

“But I am certain the costs of doing so will be high.”

He pauses and digs deep for some optimism. “I think we must continue to lead lives as absolutely full of meaning as we can, following our purpose and our values. We must be aware of the threat, and not run from it – but try not to focus directly on it and feel diminished by it. Let’s stand up for what is right.”

Such persuasive rhetoric should be toasted, but charging glasses doesn’t feel appropriate for the man who no longer has a vodka empire.  How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire is available to watch on Netflix

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

JN LIFE

&

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WHO WHAT WHERE RADIO

Role Play

Some people are just plain funny. Maureen Lipman is one of them. To spend an hour in her company, whether it’s watching her, listening to her or driving her home from the theatre (which I once did, having been in the audience of one of her shows and got chatting afterwards to Maureen, who was stranded with no way to get home), is one of life’s most special treats. Maureen and Friends, her new show on Radio 4, is a unique collection of musings, monologues, duologues and amusing anecdotes about her life and popular culture. A stand-out skit is a summation of the airport experience during the pandemic. Written and performed by Maureen, with a few roles played by actor Oliver Cotton, she gives life and opinions to characters both human and animal.

I saw this recorded live at the BBC Radio Theatre in front of a hugely appreciative audience, which included her family. At 75 years young, Maureen, who recently lost her partner, Guido Castro, stood for more than two hours entertaining us with a litany of scenarios and accents.

Louisa Walters The latest episode of Maureen and Friends is available on BBC Sounds now. The next episode is on Radio 4 on Wednesday 23 March at 11.30am

BOOK

Sleepyhead

Catching up on your beauty sleep is vital for mental and physical wellbeing. But what if you can’t? What if you struggle with sleeplessness, either chronic or occasional?

Friday 18 March is World Sleep Day and it seems fitting to mention journalist Miranda Levy’s book, The Insomnia Diaries, which tells of her own experience of devastatingly disruptive insomnia and how she ultimately learned to sleep again. After a single catastrophic event, Miranda – who had, until then, been a mum of young children and the editor of a parenting magazine – had one sleepless night, then another, then another. She sought help from anyone she could, including doctors, complementary therapists, personal trainers and others, but nothing seemed to work and she suffered for years. The book, which has a foreword by Dr Sophie Bostock, is part memoir, part reportage and includes contributions from sleep experts.

Alex Galbinski The Insomnia Diaries: How I Learned to Sleep Again by Miranda Levy is £9.99 from www.octopusbooks.co.uk

Woman of Words UKRAINE

MOVIE STREAMING

Move in with Midge NEW YORK

Jack of all Movies

No one needs an excuse to go to New York, but fans of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel now have a legitimate one. Will it cost you? Obviously.

Chippy comic Midge only likes the best and what is better than the iconic Plaza hotel? Not much, and especially when they have gone to the trouble of recreating Mrs Maisel’s Upper West Side apartment for your pleasure. Yes, the Plaza is currently offering themed stays in an elegant suite filled with vintage furnishings, bold colours and accoutrements sourced directly from the 1950s and Sixties. if you’re there before 10 April, you can also indulge in a Midge-themed afternoon tea with deli-style pastrami tea sandwich and a chocolate Nutella babka cheesecake. You’ll feel like Midge and eat like Midge but hopefully not behave like her, as she has been a self-serving brat in Prime’s new season 4. Stepping back in time with a vintage TV and bar cart could restore your love for the gal and they might even throw in some Tupperware. Actually they probably won’t, but with nightly rates of $1,675 they really should. In fact for that money, Mrs M should stay there with you and make brisket. You can only ask.

Most film debuts don’t include licking a taser while dressed as a mime artist, or having a scorpion crawl on one’s face. But when it comes to the Jackass TV show and movies, that’s par for the course. That doesn’t mean Rachel Wolfson’s Jewish parents weren’t a little worried about her joining the stunt comedy group for its latest film, Jackass: Forever. “When I told them, they were like, have you told your therapist?” says Wolfson, 35, who is the first woman in the Jackass troupe and the first Jewish member with prominent screen time in a Jackass movie. She’s been prepared for what she describes as a dream job for years. “I was a big MTV kid. I watched the show, I did prank calls growing up with my friends, and my friends are skaters.” Knoxville found Wolfson through her stand-up comedy, which she says is influenced by her Jewishness. “Jews use humour as a way to cope, because oftentimes that’s all we had,” she said. Jackass: Forever is showing in cinemas now

A Jew? Who knew?

The most prominent Jewish Ukrainian is Volodymyr Zelensky, but the runner-up may well be former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. A native of Kyiv, her family fled in 1906 amid antisemitic violence. Her words have appeared in pro-Ukrainian memes, been quoted by its diplomats and even pulled from the backpack of a Ukrainian soldier.

“If Russia lays down its weapons, there is no war. If Ukraine lays down its weapons, there is no Ukraine,” read one tweet. This an adaptation of a quote about the Arabs and Israel widely attributed to Meir during the Yom Kippur war. Last week an Israeli reporter encountered a Ukrainian soldier, who pulled a biography of Meir from his backpack. The soldier, whose nickname is Zion, said: “This is my favourite book. I take it with me even if it will be my last battle. I’m not Jewish, but I am a Zionist and I think Ukraine has to say thanks to Jewish people.”

HISTORY

Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t know, we didn’t know – did you know? The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton by Andrew Porwancher (Princeton University Press) reveals that the founding father of the USA, Hamilton, in all likelihood was born and raised Jewish. The man himself revealed scant details of his youth in the Caribbean, and most biographers have assumed he was a Christian. But Hamilton cultivated a relationship with the Jewish community. As a lawyer, he advocated for Jewish citizens in court. As a financial visionary, he invigorated sectors of the economy that gave Jews their greatest opportunities. As a Columbia alumnus, he made it more welcoming to Jewish people. And his efforts are all the more striking given the pernicious antisemitism of the era. This fascinating book sets the enigmatic Hamilton in the context of his Jewish world for the first time.

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17 March 2022 Jewish News

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JN LIFE

is the best medicine Deborah Cicurel meets a doctor and a therapist who believe that reverse psychology and laughing at yourself can effect positive change

I

f you imagine a therapy session, you might see yourself being sprawled out on a couch, reliving your childhood while your therapist thoughtfully strokes his or her chin. And while that’s a popular image, and traditional psychoanalysis certainly works for a great many people, one enterprising couple are turning the world of traditional therapy on its head.

Brian Kaplan, 65, a medical doctor, and Hephzibah Kaplan, 63, an art therapist, have been married for 30 years and are co-authors of Almost Happy: Pushing Your Buttons With Reverse Psychology. While laughing at yourself might seem like the very opposite of what you’d want to do when entering a therapy session, the Kaplans argue persuasively that reverse psychology, self-effacing humour and learning to laugh at yourself can be an energising impetus for positive change.

The couple, who live in West Hampstead, say that by building a rapport and gently teasing a patient (with their permission, of course), they can galvanise change and self-awareness in a more effective way, by helping patients to help themselves.

“As a therapist, I’m in favour of long-term therapy for some people, but other people could spend 30 years on the analyst’s couch blaming their parents,” Hephzibah explains.

“But if we tease them and say, ‘Why not blame your parents? And if not your parents, why not blame your astrological sign? Blame the government, blame society, and even blame God?’, they can start to see the ridiculousness of playing the blame game.

“In that, you catalyse a sense of agency and personal responsibility. This is what we are trying to do: stimulate a voice and a conscience that really know what they’re doing, to take charge and go forwards.

“When we encountered this notion that you could use comedy to change people for the better, we were blown away by people’s quick change and their responses to this approach.”

The book is a chunky, eyecatching read: there are no long chapters in small text, but instead 114 ‘buttons’ to include every type of reader and habit. These include people-pleasers, moaners, couch potatoes, coffee addicts and adulterers.

Each ‘button’ includes provocative suggestions for change, both jokey and serious. Brian estimates that the average person would identify with between five and 12 buttons – “and 36 if you’re Donald Trump!”

The couple have purposefully made the book easy to read in 40 minutes, in an age in which readers’ attention spans are always flitting between countless distractions and responsibilities.

“It was designed as an easy read that you can pick up and flick through,” Brian explains, while Hephzibah adds: “We are really trying to get people’s attention visually, as a form of art, because people respond to messages in the form of images. We wanted to make it very accessible.”

Brian adds that through reverse psychology, laughter can not only have positive mental effects, but can create physical changes too.

“In the words of Mark Twain, ‘Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand’,” he explains. “Once you laugh at something within yourself, it cannot stand up and dominate you any more.

“That’s the principle. You disempower things when you laugh at them. No one can withstand intensive laughter.

“If you laugh at the things that are holding you back, they will quieten down.

“Laughter is so good for you physically and psychologically.

Everyone loves laughing: you feel

better, your stress levels go down, your muscles relax, your immunity goes up, your lungs expand.”

He continues: “When you’re in that laughing state, and you are talking to someone at the same time, you’re facing things within yourself that you need to deal with. We all laugh at the silliest things.

In that high-energy state, laughter acts as a balm to face something that might be a little bit painful that you may need to deal with.”

The Kaplans believe that adding humour into therapy is simply a reflection of real-life psychotherapeutic conversations and that this can be a positive force during their sessions.

“Psychotherapy may have started ‘officially’ when Freud wrote The Interpretation of Dreams, but that doesn’t mean that conversations have not been psychotherapeutic before that,” Brian adds.

“There have always been psychotherapeutic conversations. If we go and look at all the psychotherapy rooms in the world now, you won’t see much laughter, but if you go and see all these psychotherapeutic conversations that are happening right now between a mother and a daughter, an aunt and a niece, a father and a grandfather, how likely is there that there will be joint laughter, warmth, a joke, a smile?

“What this book is saying is that we need to emulate the way people have helped each other with loving humour for thousands of years.

“The over-seriousness of therapy is unnatural to some degree.”

The couple’s approach – putting humour first – is something they feel is deeply ingrained in them as Jews.

“Genetic, social or cultural, I’m not sure, but Jews have a propensity to respond to trauma with humour,” Hephzibah explains.

“How can we find redemption in suffering? Sometimes, it’s not by minimising the suffering, but by turning it on its head and thinking – where is the gain?

“If you call a dyspraxic person clumsy, it can feel critical, but if you call them a klutz, it can be endearing in a way, and that makes it more palatable for the person to laugh at his or her own ‘klutziness’.

“A bit of reverse psychology, some particular provocative strategies and interventions usually galvanise people to laugh at themselves, and by laughing at that inner saboteur, they can get over it and get on with life!”  Almost Happy: Pushing Your Buttons With Reverse Psychology

by Dr Brian Kaplan and Hephzibah Kaplan is out now, priced £16. For more information: www.almosthappy.com Double act: Married couple Hephzibah and Brian Kaplan use humour to help patients help themselves

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

JN LIFE

Perfection in PAINSWICK Louisa Walters discovers a little-known Cotswold village and its lovely hotel

C

otswold hotels tend to fall into one of two categories – shabby chic or an ode to Farrow & Ball. The Painswick, near Stroud, veers towards the latter, but breaks the mould by throwing arty and quirky into the mix.

It further defies Cotswold expectations by being in a village you probably wouldn’t know of. So despite being old (it’s an 18th century Grade II listed Palladian building), it was a new discovery to me.

Roughly halfway along the 102-mile Cotswold Way stretching

The Hearth at The Painswick

from Chipping Camden to Bath, pretty Painswick is a hilly little village.

The valley views are spectacular and every corner affords an Instagramworthy photo opportunity.

There is no reception, just an entrance hall with polaroids of the lovely staff pegged up on the wall and an Eminesque neon pink sign proclaiming that this is indeed The Painswick.

Its 17 attractive bedrooms are in neutral tones of soft greys and creamy whites with hints of sage green, ochre and dusky pink, prettily patterned tiled bathroom floors and roll-top baths. Homely touches such as home-made choc chip cookies, fresh milk to make tea, books, a retro radio and waffle-check robes mean that you could happily bed down and not leave the room.

But we were there to make the most of the Taste of Painswick, a superb-value midweek overnight

Above: Yew trees in the churchyard. Right: A bedroom in The Painswick. Inset: Venison with beetroot and blackberry

offering that includes a six-course tasting menu and breakfast.

Arrive mid-afternoon and you can add on a sumptuous afternoon tea – do so in summer and this can be taken on the terrace or the beautiful front lawn.

We had drinks in the first floor lounge with its cosy couch and open fireplace. The Rococo Garden cocktail, named after the nearby gardens (a must-visit) is a raspberry and rosemary gin-based sweet treat that works beautifully with the melt-inthe-mouth truffle pudding canapés.

With its wooden floors and

comfortable teal leather chairs, the restaurant is full of life at dinner. The menu, devised by Jamie McCallum (a protégé of Gary Rhodes), focuses on the best of British from local suppliers and changes seasonally. At the tail end of winter, we were treated to pumpkin agnolotti with truffle and parmesan, venison with smoked beetroot and blackberry, followed by dark chocolate and praline delice with toasted barley ice cream and blood orange. Some local wines feature on the varied list.

The following morning we walked off a particularly good breakfast of eggs royale and yoghurt with compote

and by following one of the hotel’s suggested walking routes, which took us around the village and through the churchyard. This has the dramatic spectre of 99 yew trees – legend says the devil would destroy the 100th if it were ever planted.

‘Earth without Art is just Eh’ proclaims an artwork in one of the two lovely lounges. There’s an art to creating the perfect Cotswold escape and The Painswick has perfected it.  The Taste of The Painswick offer is on Weds and Thurs until 28 April 2022, at £135pp. www.thepainswick.co.uk

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Residents enjoy hotel-style luxury, with their own spacious room, complete with full en-suite facilities, personal telephone and wi-fi. There are three delicious meals a day, with a varied choice of menus.

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

JDA – improving the learning environment for deaf pupils

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Thank you for helping me hear better in class The panels make the class quieter so I can ell! w y all re ing do I’m w No k. or w my on te tra concen Please show you care by making a donation today.

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35

Orthodox Judaism

MAKING SENSE OF THE SEDRA In our thought-provoking new series, rabbis and rebbetzins relate the week’s parsha to the way we live today

BY RABBI DAVID MASON MUSWELL HILL SYNAGOGUE

If God undertakes miracles, what is the point of human action?

In this week’s Sedra, Tzav, we read about the offerings brought to the Temple, and the one that was totally consumed, the olah. But immediately we are told: ‘Each morning, the priest shall kindle wood on [the altar]… Thus, there shall be a constant fire kept burning on the altar, without being extinguished.’ (Leviticus 6:5-6) So far, very much about human action. It seems there is a commandment to keep fire on the altar by a

daily placing of wood. The Talmud (Tractate Yoma 21b) states: ‘Even though fire came down from the Heavens, there is a commandment that a human should bring it.’

Sefer HaChinuch, a 13th century compendium of the commandments, explains that there is something positive about miracles being carried out

by God in a way that would be perceived as ‘hidden’ rather than ‘open’.

For example, the splitting of the Red Sea was a great miracle, but may have been experienced in natural terms such as a strong wind parting the sea.

This makes me think of the Talmudic concept that one ‘should not rely on a miracle’ (Shabbat 32a). We are a religion anchored in a belief in God and His ongoing involvement in the world, alongside our own efforts to build a better world. We do so by

observing the mitzvot and bringing to the world the values of the Torah.

This is why, for example, God asks Moses to ‘go’ into the Red Sea after a short prayer, rather than awaiting reliance on a miracle to save the Children of Israel. And so with our growing climate crisis. An approach based on belief in miracles might say God would not allow His world to be destroyed and will miraculously save it. But we must not rely on miracles.

Like Moses, we need to pray alongside taking action to protect our planet, bringing Jewish values to the fore in doing so. Campaigns such as the United Synagogue’s Dorot ‘phasing out disposables’ campaign, and the Board of Deuptie’s EcoSynagogue initiative enable us to be part of protecting our world. Even avoiding single-use plastics and other dispos-

Phasing out disposables is an important part of protecting our world

ables in our home, our place of work and our community is significant from a Jewish perspective.

This week, the United Synagogue’s head office and nearly a third of US synagogues have gone disposablesfree or have committed to do so as part of the Dorot initiative.

This recognises the very real responsibility we have for the future of humanity. These small acts may counter the feel of disillusionment borne by the question ‘what difference can I make?’ Eschewing disposables is a role we can play in protecting God’s creation.

36

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Jewish News 17 March 2022

Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

A stimulating new series where our progressive rabbis consider how biblical figures might act when faced with 21st century issues

BY RABBI DEBORAH BLAUSTEN FINCHLEY REFORM SYNAGOGUE

Explaining the war in Ukraine to children This year, the journey we are now on from Purim to Pesach, two festivals that each present despotic and hateful leaders and the harm they can cause to others, is paralleled in time by a cruel and violent invasion of Ukraine and the unfolding refugee crisis as a result.

In Purim’s reminder of the power of individual acts of bravery, and in the Haggadah’s text and the way it holds conversation, we can find some wisdom to support us in discussing with children the issues of today.

The Torah, says the Haggadah, speaks of four children.

One child has copious factual knowledge, one a simple understanding, one struggles to see himself in the story, and one doesn’t know how to ask at all. Each one of the children is spoken to according to their needs. The seder does not deal with easy subject matter, but it does help us to think about how we might engage with young (and not so young) people around us.

The individual with much factual knowledge may present as well equipped, but knowledge and understanding are

different things. They may tell you of the things they have seen on the news, and you might ask this child if the news makes them want to ask you any questions. You might even tell them: “When I watch the news it makes me feel…” so that they can continue to learn.

The individual who has a simple understanding, perhaps a younger child who knows only that there is a sad thing happening, might need simple reassurance. They may need to know that if they see or hear anything that worries them, they can tell you, and this may be all they need to know. We might ask them what they have heard so we can respond in an age-appropriate way. There will always be time to learn more.

The individual who struggles to relate may be helped by the story of the seder itself. Our ancestors had to leave their homes, and it was hard for them, but we remember all the kind things people did to help. Now there are other people who are in danger, and it is our turn to help them.

Perhaps most crucially, our tradition hands down to us the idea that even the child who doesn’t know how to ask is aware of the situation that is around them. Even the youngest children sense when adults are scared or upset. For these children, we can keep the order (the seder) of life stable, with reassuring routine and reminders of love and care.

Even the youngest children sense when adults are scared or upset

AS COMFORTING AS A BOWL OF CHICKEN SOUP KKL, JNF UK’s legacy department, has been serving the Jewish community for over 70 years. Our highly qualified team combines first-rate executorship and trustee services with personalised pastoral care. We can support you in the way that close family would, keeping in regular contact with you and taking care of any Jewish needs (such as saying kaddish for you) in accordance with your wishes.

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17 March 2022 Jewish News

Ask our

37

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts Broadband · Phone Services · IT Support

FOR ALL BUSINESS COMMUNICATION NEEDS

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This week: Pet nuptial agreements, differences between banks and e-money providers and pension fund access after a death VANESSA LLOYD PLATT DIVORCE AND FAMILY SOLICITOR

LLOYD PLATT & COMPANY SOLICITORS

Dear Vanessa How are pets dealt with in law?

Eliott Dear Eliott There have been increasing numbers of disputes over pets arising out of divorce and relationship breakdown. These can range from cases being taken to court, with the judge having to decide with whom a pet should live and also, for financial applications in divorce, to decide who should pay what for the pet and for how long.

Currently, pets are legally regarded as chattels. This means that they are only dealt with upon the basis that they have a financial

value. Most of the cases surround who paid for the animal in the first instance and who should benefit from that animal in the future.

There was such confusion by the public over their rights in relation to pets that my firm drew up the first ‘pet nuptial’, ie a Deed of Agreement, which can be adapted by parties, for example, whether they are married, living together at university, related or unrelated.

The main disputes are over dogs and cats.

The issues mainly centre on whether both parties have the same kind of living circumstances for the pet and what happens if one person wants to feed different items to the pet and the other disagrees. If the courts do not like getting embroiled in such disputes, my advice would be that in the event you have any difficulty over knowing what issues will arise over your pet, download the Deed of Agreement I drafted from the Blue Cross charity website.

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JACOB BERNSTEIN FINANCIAL SERVICES

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD Dear Jacob I’ve seen an influx of interesting-looking banks appear online or via apps.

Looking more closely, I’ve noticed some call themselves e-money providers or e-wallets, while others refer to themselves as banks. Is there a real difference?

Jerome Dear Jerome Your question is a very impor-

tant one, as funds held in a bank provide you with a very different level of protection to those funds held in an e-wallet.

The distinction between the two is so stark they fall under separate sets of regulation.

Banks fall under the Financial Services & Markets Act and are regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

E-money providers are governed by the Electronic Money Regulations and Payment Services Regulations and are only regulated by the FCA. Banks can take deposits and, crucially, can utilise the money you deposit with them.

They must be authorised by the PRA, which requires them to have adequate processes in

place to ensure they are able to return your deposit(s) in line with the terms of your account.

E-money providers can only provide certain payment services such as holding the funds and making transfers, and certainly cannot utilise your money. They are instead required to segregate and safeguard your funds in a very specific type of bank account (exceptions may apply).

The primary result is that banks are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), meaning that if the bank cannot return your deposit, you will be compensated up to £85,000.

While the e-money providers may sound safer in principle, if the provider fails to return your funds, you will not be compensated by the FSCS.

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

KKL EXECUTOR & TRUSTEE COMPANY Dear Carolyn What happens to my pension when I die?

Robert Dear Robert This is a question I’m often asked. The pensions regime is complex and your loved ones should ideally ask a professional to help, particularly if also having to deal with a loss in the family.

When you die, your spouse, civil partner or beneficiaries may be able to access your pension fund.

The rules for pension scheme death benefits will vary depending on personal circumstances, not least the type of pension you have.

In 2015, new rules were introduced governing everything from how you access your pension to what can happen to your pension ‘pot’ after you die.

Pensions largely sit outside your estate, which means that when you die, beneficiaries should be able to benefit from your retirement savings without having to pay inheritance tax.

Most workplace and personal pension schemes provide death benefits

11/04/2021 18:40

so, when you pass away, your beneficiaries should contact the pension scheme administrators for more information.

Briefly, whether you are a member of a workplace pension scheme or have set up your own private pension, there are two main sorts of scheme namely defined benefit (‘final salary’) and defined contribution (‘money purchase’).

The type you have will determine how much pension your beneficiaries can claim and how they can draw it in the event of death.

If you are already drawing your state pension, your pension beneficiary should contact The Pension Service.

I do hope this is of some help and wish you well.

38

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Hearing aid advice, support and maintenance.

KKL EXECUTOR AND TRUSTEE COMPANY 020 8732 6101 www.kkl.org.uk enquiries@kkl.org.uk

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Get the very best out of life

EMMA GROSS Qualifications: • Specialist in claims of unfair dismissal, redundancy and discrimination.

• Negotiate out-of-court settlements and handle complex tribunal cases.

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• Contributor to The Times, HR Magazine and other titles.

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• Advising on maximising cover, lower premiums, pre-existing conditions.

• Excellent knowledge of health insurers, cover levels and hospital lists.

• LLB solicitors finals.

• Member of Chartered Insurance Institute.

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PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

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.

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Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

ACCOUNTANT

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

JACOB BERNSTEIN Qualifications: • A member of the APCC, specialising in financial services compliance for: • Mortgage, protection and general insurance intermediaries; • Lenders, credit brokers, debt counsellors and debt managers; • Alternative Investment Fund managers; • E-Money, payment services, PISP, AISP and grant-making charities.

ADAM SHELLEY Qualifications: • FCCA chartered certified accountant.

• Accounting, taxation and business advisory services.

• Entrepreneurial business specialist including start-up businesses.

• Specialises in charities; Personal tax returns.

• Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation Volunteer of the Year JVN award.

LISA WIMBORNE Qualifications: Able to draw on the charity’s 50 years of experience in enabling people with physical disabilities or impaired vision to live independently, including: • The provision of specialist accommodation with 24/7 on site support.

• Knowledge of the innovations that empower people and the benefits available.

• Understanding of the impact of a disability diagnosis.

RICHDALE CONSULTANTS LTD 020 7781 8019 www.richdale.co.uk jacob@richdale.co.uk

SOBELL RHODES LLP 020 8429 8800 www.sobellrhodes.co.uk a.shelley@sobellrhodes.co.uk

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

INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS SPECIALIST

IT SPECIALIST

LEE SHMUEL GOLDFARB Qualifications: • Hands-on service, with full and personalised support for international transfers.

• Get the most out of your currency exchange with regards to pension income, when purchasing your first house in Israel or benefitting from an inheritance from aboard.

• UK leader in financial exchange and partner to brands such as St James Place and Hargreaves Lansdown with industry-beating Trustpilot score.

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.

CURRENCIES DIRECT 0786 0595 890 / 0207 847 9400 www.currenciesdirect.com/jn lee.goldfarb@currenciesdirect.com

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

ISRAELI ACCOUNTANT

INSURANCE CONSULTANCY

LEON HARRIS Qualifications: • Leon is an Israeli and UK accountant based in Ramat Gan, Israel.

• He is a Partner at Harris Horoviz Consulting & Tax Ltd. • The firm specializes in Israeli and international tax advice, accounting and tax reporting for investors, Olim and businesses.

• Leon’s motto is: Our numbers speak your language!

ASHLEY PRAGER Qualifications: • Professional insurance and reinsurance broker. Offering PI/D&O cover, marine and aviation, property owners, ATE insurance, home and contents, fine art, HNW. • Specialist in insurance and reinsurance disputes, utilising Insurance backed products. (Including non insurance business disputes).

• Ensuring clients do not pay more than required.

HARRIS HOROVIZ CONSULTING & TAX LTD +972-3-6123153 / + 972-54-6449398 leon@h2cat.com

RISK RESOLUTIONS 020 3411 4050 www.risk-resolutions.com ashley.prager@risk-resolutions.com

ALIYAH ADVISER

CAREER ADVISER

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.

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

• Offers mock interviews and workshops to maximise job prospects.

• Expert in corporate management holding director level marketing,

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

RESOURCE 020 8346 4000 www.resource-centre.org office@resource-centre.org

DIVORCE & FAMILY SOLICITOR

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

VANESSA LLOYD PLATT Qualifications: • Qualification: 40 years experience as a matrimonial and divorce solicitor and mediator, specialising in all aspects of family matrimonial law, including: • Divorce, pre/post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements, domestic violence, children’s cases, grandparents’ rights to see grandchildren, pet disputes, family disputes.

• Frequent broadcaster on national and International radio and television.

BENJAMIN ALBERT Qualifications: • Co-Founder and Technical Director of ADWConnect – a specialist in business telecommunications, serving customers worldwide.

• Independent consultant and supplier of Telephone & Internet services.

• Client satisfaction is at the heart of everything my team and I do, always striving to find the most cost-effective solutions.

LLOYD PLATT & COMPANY SOLICITORS 020 8343 2998 www.divorcesolicitors.com lloydplatt@divorcesolicitors.com

ADWCONNECT 0208 089 1111 www.adwconnect.com hello@adwconnect.com

If you would like to advertise your services here Email: sales@jewishnews.co.uk

at your service Our highly professional team can: • Assist in arranging for your Will to be professionally drafted.

• Help reduce inheritance tax liability or eradicate it completely.

• Act as Executor in the administration of your estate.

• Provide caring pastoral services.

Contact us to find out more and about leaving a legacy to support JNF UK’s vital work in Israel

Call: 020 8732 6101 Email: enquiries@kkl.org.uk

KKL Executor and Trustee Company Ltd (a Company registered in England No. 453042) is a subsidiary of JNF Charitable Trust (Charity No. 225910) and a registered Trust Corporation (authorised capital £250,000).

40 Jewish News

17 March 2022

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41

17 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Fun, games and prizes

THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD 1

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ACROSS 1 Haughty (5) 4 Pose (5)

Fill the grid with the numbers 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3 block contains the numbers 1 to 9.

Crunchy lettuce (3) Fire-breathing monster (6) Popular deck activity on a cruise ship (6) Animal covering (3) Tea-making vessel (3) Accumulate (7) In these present times (5) 2015 Michael Caine film (5)

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7 Quick massage (3-4) 8 Wise bird (3)

The listed kitchen items can all be found in the grid. Words may run either forwards or backwards, in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction, but always in a straight, unbroken line.

In this finished crossword, every letter of the alphabet appears as a code number. All you have to do is crack the code and fill in the grid. Replacing the decoded numbers with their letters in the grid will help you to guess the identity of other letters.

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O J R A G H M S C A L E S O E E P U D W E F K V C O A C E O

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BLENDER COLANDER COOKER FRIDGE GRATER

GRIDDLE JUICER KETTLE KNIFE LADLE

Last issue’s solutions Crossword ACROSS: 1 Role 3 Pliant 8 Slavery 9 Awe 10 Uninformed 13 Times table 17 Put 18 Haunted 19 Arrows 20 Sett DOWN: 1 Rash 2 Learn 4 Lay 5 Alarm 6 Trendy 7 Tennis 11 Opaque 12 Utopia 14 Motor 15 Latte 16 Edit 18 Hew

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STEAMER STOVE TOASTER TUREEN WHISK

5 4 3 7 9 1 6 2 8

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8 3 7 9 4 5 1 6 2

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SUGURU Each cell in an outlined block must contain a digit: a two-cell block contains the digits 1 and 2, a three-cell block contains the digits 1, 2 and 3; and so on. The same digit must not appear in neighbouring cells, not even diagonally.

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2 9

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6 8 5 1

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

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

Sudoku 1 2 8 6 5 4 3 9 7

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MICROWAVE OVEN SAUCEPAN SCALES SIEVE

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CODEWORD

L E N D E R P B

2 2 6

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WORDSEARCH C H S E B

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DOWN 1 Continent where Swahili is spoken (6) 2 With the sceptre, a symbol of royalty (3) 3 Scandinavian inlet (5) 4 Extreme enthusiasm (5) 5 Designated unloading place (4-3) 6 Inflatable bed (4) 10 Rendered unconscious (7) 12 Plague-carrying animal (3) 13 Aid for someone whose leg is in plaster (6) 15 Restive (5) 16 Stupid, foolish (5) 18 Fat used to make puddings (4) 21 Ostrich-like Australian bird (3)

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SUDOKU

2 6 5 1 7 8 9 3 4

9 1 4 3 2 6 8 7 5

4 1 3 2 3 1

5 2 4 1 5 2

4 3 5 2 4 1

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

Wordsearch 2 1 4 3 5 2

3 5 2 1 4 1

1 4 3 5 2 3

3 4 3 1 2 5

2 1 2 4 3 1

3 4 3 1 5 2

2 1 5 2 3 1

4 3 4 1 4 2

2 1 5 2 3 1

N I U G N E P F G O O S E

H B S E N N L A T A N S A

S H W O R A E B S E T R P

D U R I M W C E K N A U A

S E A I G S C I A E F L L

H I N A I E D R L F U N B

A G E P E A O L I E E R A

Codeword O K D G L M R N R P P E T

E E R D R A L L A M D T R

N I L O H E T N T U C T O

A D C S T S T M C W D I S

R E I T U S I K I H L B S

C R M O O R H E N C O O T

G R S OV E R T S T Y SQU E E I R P E N I N E E F AD E E D WH I R L E R E S PON S T N S

G A O ABDOM T V E Z E OUN A C S U L A D T R X T R EM I A B V I S I B E A L OR C L E N K D

I E N J C E C O T S T R L Y I AN G

A YOGQB I J Z L SW X 17/03 P T N F RDH E UCK VM

42

Jewish News 17 March 2022

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Business Services Directory HOUSE CLEARANCE

ANTIQUES

Stirling of Kensal Green

Top prices paid Antique – Reproduction – Retro Furniture (any condition)

Epstein, Archie Shine, Hille, G Plan, etc.

Dining Suites, Lounges Suites, Bookcases, Desks, Cabinets, Mirrors, Lights, etc.

Established over 60 years.

Know who you are dealing with.

Dave & Eve House Clearance Friendly Family Company established for 30 years

House clearances

All quality furniture bought & sold.

Single items to complete homes

Best prices paid for complete house clearances including china, books, clothing etc. Also rubbish clearance service, lofts, sheds, garages etc

MARYLEBONE ANTIQUES - 8 CHURCH STREET NW8 8ED

07866 614 744 (ANYTIME) 0207 723 7415 (SHOP)

Please contact Gordon Stirling

closed Sunday & Monday STUART SHUSTER - e-mail - info@maryleboneantiques.co.uk

020 8960 5401 or 07825 224144

MAKE SURE YOU CONTACT US BEFORE SELLING

Email: gordonstirling65@gmail.com

CHARITY & WELFARE

We clear houses, flats, sheds, garages etc.

No job too big or too small!

Rubbish cleared as part of a full clearance.

We have a waste licence.

We buy items including furniture bric a brac.

For a free quote please phone Dave on 07913405315 any time.

HOME & MAINTENANCE

ARE YOU BEREAVED? Bereavement Counselling for adults and children individually. Support Groups available.

During the pandemic, we offer telephone and online counselling.

Contact Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service in confidence.

0208 951 3881 enquiries@jbcs.org.uk | www.jbcs.org.uk

Labels are for jars.

Not people.

Refer yourself or a loved one by calling 020 8458 2223 or visit www.jamiuk.org REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1003345

CHARITY & WELFARE

SILVER

PLUMBSAFE (UK) LTD

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“Better Safe Than Sorry”

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For all your heating and plumbing requirements

We have an open waiting list in our friendly and comfortable warden assisted sheltered housing schemes in Ealing, East Finchley and Hendon. We provide 24-hour warden support, seven days a week; a residents’ lounge and kitchen, laundry, a sunny patio and garden.

| boiler repairs and installation | complete central heating | | power flushing | complete bathroom installation service | | landlords certificates | project management | home purchase reports |

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PLUMBSAFEUK.COM

OFFICE FURNITURE

For further details and application forms, please contact Westlon Housing Association on 020 8201 8484 or email: johnsilverman@btconnect.com

UTILITIES

Are you happy paying big household bills?

Need to furnish your home or office?

London’s leading supplier of new and reconditioned furniture.

Free assembly and delivery next working day on most items – call now!

Would you like to pay less?

Find out how ©

call Jeff on 07958 959 822

STONEMASON

A. ELFES LTD New memorials Additional inscriptions & renovations

Call 0207 205 4229 Email sales@andrewsofficefurniture.com www.andrewsofficefurniture.com

The specialist masons in creating bespoke Granite and Marble Memorials for all Cemeteries.

Clayhall Showroom 14 Claybury Broadway Ilford. IG5 0LQ T: 0208 551 6866

Edgware Showroom 41 Manor Park Crescent Edgware. HA8 7LY T: 0208 381 1525

Email : info@garygreenmemorials.co.uk

www.garygreenmemorials.co.uk

Gary Green ad 84 x 40mm JM Group v2.indd 1

18/03/2019 12:50:51

Gants Hill

12 Beehive Lane Gants Hill, IG1 3RD Telephone

Edgware

130 High Street Edgware, HA8 7EL Telephone

0207 754 4659 0207 754 4646

www.memorialgroup.co.uk

ADVERTISE IN THE UK’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER FOR LESS THAN £24 A WEEK Email Sales today at sales@thejngroup.com

17 March 2022 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

43

Business Services Directory LEGACY- LEAVE A GIFT IN YOUR MEMORY

JEWISH WAR VETERANS

Leave the legacy of independence to people like Joel.

YOUR LEGACY

PLease remember us in your wiLL.

& THEIR DEPENDANTS NEED

legacy@cst.org.uk ►

eNABLeD

Tel: 020 8202 2323 Web: www.ajex.org.uk Email: headoffice@ajex.org.uk

visit www.Jbd.org or caLL 020 8371 6611

Registered Charity No. 259480

Legacy Classified advert v1.qxp_Legacy 16/06/2021 10:57 Page 1

Registered Charity No: 1082148

www.cst.org.uk ► 0208 457 3700 ►

Together

we protect our children’s future Please include CST in your will

Charity no. 1042391 and SC043612

COMPUTER

HELP US CONTINUE TO BE THERE FOR OUR COMMUNITY WITH A GIFT IN YOUR WILL.

Legacy advert 84x40.indd 1

16/04/2021 10:55

Call our Legacy Team on 020 8922 2840 for more information or email legacyteam@jcare.org Chancellors House, Brampton Lane, London, NW4 4AB Tel: 020 8903 8746 | Fax: 020 8795 2240 www.bfiwd.org | email: info@bfiwd.org

Charity Reg No. 802559

ADVERTISE IN THE UK’S BIGGEST JEWISH NEWSPAPER FOR LESS THAN £24 A WEEK Email Sales today at sales@thejngroup.com

Antiques Buyers WE BUY ANTIQUES

TS. VERY HIGH PRICES PAID. FREE HOME VISITS. rcelain, in, All Antique Furniture Hille & Epstein Diamond Jewellery, Gold, Silver, Paintings, Porcelain, aica Judaica Glass, Lowry Prints, Bronzes, Ivories, Oriental & Judaica sed.

Antiques etc. Full house clearances organised. ails Please look at our website for more details

o.uk k www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk

ON: FOR APPOINTMENTS CALL SUE ON: 90 0800 840 2035 or 07956268290 OPEN 8am TO 9pm 7 DAYS. PORTOBELLO RD LONDON.

Wanted all Antiques & furniture including Lounge Dining and Bedroom Suites. Chests of drawers.

Display and Cocktail Cabinets. Furniture by Hille.

Epstein. Archie shine. G plan etc in Walnut. Mahogany.

Teak and Rosewood.

We also buy Diamonds & Jewellery. Gold. Silverware.

Paintings. Glass. Porcelain. Bronzes etc.

All Antiques considered. Full house clearances organised. Very high prices paid, free home visits.

Check our website for more details www.antiquesbuyers.co.uk Email: info@antiquesbuyers.co.uk Please call Sue Davis on Freephone: 08008402035 WhatsApp Mobile: 07956268290 Portobello rd London By appointments only.

44

Jewish News 17 March 2022

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A HOME FOR HOPE

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN Tikva Emergency Appeal for Ukraine Over the last 3 weeks Tikva has successfully evacuated its entire community to Romania and continues to rescue bus-loads of other Ukranian citizens daily. The cost of the evacuation stands at $3.2m.

As we endeavour to keep our children safe, warm and fed, please continue to donate at charityextra.com/tikvaemergencyappeal This advert has been sponsored Registered Charity: 1151993 6360 Tikva Protect Our Children Advert (JN FP Update) v1.indd 1

Scan the QR code 15/03/2022 15:43