1298 - 19th January 2023

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched Britain’s first-ever national billboard campaign seeking the public’s support against antisemitism after the most recent Home Office figures showed that Jews are 500% more likely to suffer hate crime than any other faith group per capita.

The striking digital billboards can be seen right across the country. We are calling on people to stand with the Jewish community by using the #StandWithJews hashtag on social media Members of the Jewish community can highlight their own experiences of antisemitism using the hashtag. We may share any posts that also tag us using

Israel wants British pints

Expats allowed to give blood for first time in a generation after health fears allayed

by Jenni Frazer jenni@jennifrazer.com @Jennifrazer

Brits living in Israel can donate blood for the first time in 24 years after contamination rules were relaxed.

Israeli laws that have been in place since 1998 prohibited donations from anyone who lived in Britain for more than six months from 1980 to 1996, owing to fears relating to the human variant of mad cow disease, or BSE.

But a change in regulations now means Brits can give blood – a typical donation being one pint – with the first donors already having given an armful, including Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedic Arye Myers, who once lived in Chigwell.

Myers, who made aliyah in 2012, made his donation at Tel Aviv’s Tel Hashomer Hospital on Monday. “Not being able to give blood in Israel always upset me,” he said afterwards. “I saw my friends and colleagues giving and all I was able to do was look on. To be given the privilege of giving blood and saving lives is incredible. I’m so proud to be the first.”

In the 1990s, a new variant of the disease was discovered in humans, following transfer from animals infected with the disease. As a

result, would-be British donors were unable to take part in national blood drives in Israel.

But new recommendations by America’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), issued at the end of last year, show there is a much lower risk of contracting BSE from blood donations, meaning there was no longer any justification for turning away British donors.

MDA UK’s chief executive, Daniel Burger, said: “It is wonderful news that British olim can again give blood in Israel. We at MDA UK have been lobbying our colleagues in Israel on this for many years as we know how much Brits in Israel long to support the MDA blood drive and save more lives.”

Prof Eilat Shinar, MDA deputy directorgeneral of blood services, welcomed the change in policy, saying: “We’re pleased to tell all our loyal blood donors, who continued to approach us and asked us to change the regulations, that this day has finally arrived.

“We will be pleased to meet these donors once again at MDA blood donation locations across Israel, in order to continue to fulfil the demands of the health service and the IDF, to provide blood units and components safely and at a high standard, to all those who require this treatment in order to save their lives.”

The British ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, is planning a blood donation event for expats, in conjunction with MDA UK, next month. He said: “I am very excited to hear this news. I would like to thank Magen David Adom and the Israeli Ministry of Health for making this important decision. I hope to be one of the first to donate and I encourage Brits in Israel to partake in this opportunity to save lives.”

A British father who is being taken to court by his rabbi son over a six-figure financial dispute has spoken of feeling “deeply ashamed and humiliated”, writes Jenni Frazer.

Rabbi Saul Djanogly (pictured below), 60, who now lives in Israel, is taking his father David and his brother Avi to court, after refusing to comply with two rulings made against him by two different sets of Jewish religious judges.

The matter was originally heard by the head of the Federation of Synagogues’ Beth Din, Dayan Yisroel Yaakov Lichtenstein, and later by the Beth Din of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC) in Golders Green. Both ruled against Saul.

Lichtenstein considered submissions from the two parties for three years, before making his ruling. However, Saul did not accept the judgment and the disputants were advised to take the matter to a Beth Din.

David said his son chose the UOHC to hear the case. When Saul did not accept its ruling either, the dayanim of the UOHC Beth Din “regrettably” found him to be a “mesarev l’beis din”.

Mesarev means to refuse or reject. Those given this label are refused honours such as an aliyah, in congregations aware of the ruling. It is a ruling more often applied to men who refuse their spouses a get [Jewish religious divorce].

In this case, the UOHC dayanim – Dayan Dunner, Dayan Cohn and Dayan Eisner – were making a ruling on what David Djanogly called “a most tragic and painful family financial dispute”.

Saul Djanogly’s lawyer, Elliot Lister, said the matter was private, the proceedings confidential and his client was exercising his right under the 1996 Arbitration Act, in the English courts, for review of the award. Rabbi

Continued on p8

•

Alarm at rise in

University-related antisemitic incidents rose by 22 percent over the past two academic years, a report out today reveals, writes Lee Harpin.

There were a total of 150 university-related antisemitic incidents reported to the Community Security Trust (CST) across the past two academic years covered in the report – between 2020/21 and 2021/22.

Fifty-five of the 150 university-related antisemitic incidents happened in a single month, May 2021, when there was a significant escalation of conflict in Israel and Gaza.

This was a period when national levels of antiJewish hate crimes increased, and university campuses were disproportionately a ected.

In one incident, a Jewish student was called a “neoNazi white supremacist”.

Overall, in the last two academic years, 93 percent of university-related incidents were categorised as abusive behaviour, totalling 140 incidents.

This category includes all forms of verbal and written antisemitism both online and o ine, other than those that include direct threats.

Seven threats were made to Jewish students in the

2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years.

Four were online and the other three were o ine, all of which took place o campus.

There were three instances of assault, one each in Lancaster, Birmingham and Bristol. In one case, a Jewish student was hit with a rubber bat as they were returning to their student accommodation.

On three occasions, the comments made by academics directly targeted or mentioned students or student organisations. In one case, an academic at the University of Glasgow tweeted that he had received an “email from the lobby” after a student journalist requested a statement for an article they were writing.

Prof set for free speech position is IHRA critic

A university professor reportedly being lined up by Rishi Sunak to become the first ever director for free speech on university campuses has been an outspoken critic of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in the past, writes Lee Harpin.

Newspaper reports have claimed that the prime minister favours Prof Arif Ahmed for the role, with powers to ensure visiting university speakers are not “cancelled” or banned from airing controversial views.

Ahmed has repeatedly warned that freedom of speech is under threat, arguing that university should be an environment where “you can pretty much say anything you like”.

The Cambridge philosophy professor has also made clear his dislike of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

In a blog written in February 2021, Ahmed he: “I am strongly against Gavin Williamson’s requirement that universities adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.”

“This ‘definition’ is nothing of the kind; adopting it obstructs perfectly legitimate defence of Palestinian rights. As such it chills free speech on a matter of the first importance. I hope the secretary of state reconsiders the need for it; but these new free speech duties ought to rule it out in any case.”

The new academic freedom role is being established under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which is passing

through parliament. It includes a call for universities to “actively promote” free speech, including student unions.

Ahmed has previously been critical of both left- and right-wing failure to allow free speech.

This month, he took part in a Cambridge Union debate, arguing in favour of the right to o end, and not to be prevented from discussing issues by the state “just because it is o ensive”.

Ahmed added that it is “very di cult not to o end somebody” when discussing the issue of Israel/Palestine. “Just stating facts can o end somebody.”

Ahmed then gave the example of a New York schoolteacher who had put a New York Times headline

“Israel kills dozens of Palestinians” on his door together with a statement saying “I support Palestinian rights.”

The teacher was told to take it down, said Ahmed, because it was deemed to cause o ence.

He told the debate: “That’s an example of an issue that, because it’s so important, it’s inevitably going to cause o ence.”

But he then warned about the consequences of not being able to discuss the issue.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told Jewish News no decision has been made yet about the appointment of a director for freedom of speech and academic freedom.

Ahmed has been contacted for comment.

Arif Ahmed

Campus antisemitism

campus hate incidents

CST chief executive Mark Gardner said: “Antisemitism at our universities has been a running sore for decades and these new findings show that far too many Jewish students su er hatred and bias.

“This study also reinforces last week’s National Union of Students’ own [independent] report into antisemitism, including the link between anti- Israel hatred and racist treatment of British Jews.

“Students’ Unions and university authorities need to better support their Jewish students, taking concerns seriously and acting against antisemitism, whether it comes from students or academics.”

The higher number of incidents occurring in London, followed by Bristol, Birmingham, Oxford, Coventry and Nottingham.

London incidents took place at University College London (12), Queen Mary University of London (four), Brunel University London (four), London Southbank University (four), Royal Holloway (two).

In total, 95 incidents occurred in the year 2020/21 – a record high for any academic year in CST’s records, – and 55 in 2021/22. For comparison, there were 123 university-related antisemitic incidents across the two previous academic years, 2018/19 and 2019/20.

The report shows the spread of university-related antisemitism, with incidents recorded during this period taking place in 30 towns and cities across the UK, on campus and o campus, online and o ine. Universities across the UK are home to nearly 9,000 Jewish students.

The government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann, said: “Antisemitism on campus has

long been a concern for parents and students, and the reported rise in university-related antisemitic incidents over the past few years is worrying and unacceptable.

“It is imperative that more is done to protect Jewish students and sta from the scourge of antisemitism and both the Community Security Trust and the Union of Jewish Students are at the forefront of this work.”

Union of Jewish Students president Joel Rosen said: “Jewish students living away from home for the first time have the right to be who they are and to feel safe where they live and study.

“These incidents have a detrimental impact on the community, leading some to hide their identity and disengage from parts of university life. Jewish students are resilient and won’t let themselves be defined by the prejudice of others. In spite of the odds, Jewish life on campus continues. Our answer to those who would uproot our thriving student communities is to ensure that they continue to grow and flourish.”

‘SHOCKED’ HALFON DEMANDS NUS IMPLEMENTS

CHANGES

The National Union of Students must make changes after an independent investigation found Jewish students faced a “hostile” culture, the government has said.

Education minister Robert Halfon said he was “shocked and sobered” after reading the report into the union.

He added that the recommendations of the investigation should be implemented in full by the union before he re-engages with them.

A report by Rebecca Tuck KC found the NUS failed to su ciently challenge antisemitism and, on occasion, Jews

were subjected to harassment – as defined by the Equality Act 2010 – and breaches of the union’s own policies.

The NUS, which commissioned the investigation, acknowledged its findings were “shocking” and said it is committed to tackling antisemitism across “the breadth and depth” of the union.

The report found there was a “poor relationship” between the NUS and some Jewish students, stemming from views about the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

It cited numerous instances in which Jews suf-

fered antisemitism because of assumptions that they were Zionists and about what that might mean.

Conservative MP Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) told the Commons: “When I met with Jewish students studying in universities in my constituency I was appalled to learn of the antisemitism that they have to su er on a daily basis often. It was made worse by the recent report into the NUS – the National Union of Students – handling and challenging of antisemitism.”

• Alex Hearn, page 20

Anti-hate billboards up

Campaign Against Antisemitism has launched a national billboard advertising scheme that highlights recent Home O ce figures indicating that Jews are 500 percent more likely to su er hate crimes than any other UK faith group.

The two-week campaign – to include Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January – features ‘models’ using the hashtag #becauseImJewish. It’s the first campaign of its type and will run on digital billboards in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow. All the models are British Jews from a variety of different backgrounds, from a Holocaust survivor to a tattooed young woman, and, in what is

believed to be another first, a member of the strictly Orthodox community.

CAA chief executive Gideon Falter said: “People are utterly appalled when we tell them quite how much Jews are targeted by hate crime. The UK is a fundamentally decent and tolerant place, and one of the best countries in the world to love as a Jew, but we still su er racism and attacks every day simply because we are Jewish.”

Members of the public are being asked to support the campaign on social media by using the hashtag #StandWithJews. Falter said such support would mean a great deal to the community “and shows the racists that they cannot win”.

Antisemitic graffiti at the University of East Anglia

Female Arsenal fans called ‘f*****g Yids’ in hate face-off

Two female Arsenal fans were branded “dirty f*****g Yids” after they challenged a group of men for yelling the race hate slur “Yid” in a pub during Sunday’s game against Spurs, writes Lee Harpin.

In shocking scenes, five men

approached Jewish Arsenal fan Katie Price, 26, and friend Lily O’Farrel, threatening to beat them up and accusing them of being Spurs fans for objecting to the slur “Yiddo”.

The two women, both wearing Arsenal shirts to watch the match,

say they were made to leave The Cally pub, on Caledonian Road, north London after the altercation.

Price, who told Jewish News she always proudly wears a Star of David necklace, O’Farrell, who is not Jewish, and male friend Jamie D’Souza say they were confronted by vile chants of “Yiddo go home”.

The incident is being investigated by the Met after Price contacted the Community Security Trust. The victims also notified Arsenal Football Club, who have yet to respond.

Price, a professional comedian, said: “The thing I really want to stress about all this is how, in a pub in north London, a group of about 40 men were all chanting ‘Yiddo go home’ at a 26-year -old woman. I just think that is really shocking, most people wouldn’t believe that.”

She added: “I hate this thing that it’s kind of OK to say the word ‘Yid.’ Then suddenly there’s someone looking me in the eyes calling me a ‘dirty f*****g Yid’.” Price went on: “The atmosphere was great, 2-0 up with three minutes to go. I then heard

the ever-familiar ‘What do we think of Tottenham…?’ chant. What I did not expect was the conclusion of the chant with ‘Yiddo, Yiddo, Yiddo’.

“I decided, to my shame, to ignore it and hope they wouldn’t say it again. Within 30 seconds, around 10 men were chanting ‘Yiddo’ repeatedly, with folk from the pub joining in. At that point, I had to say something. I walked over a guy and said ‘Look, don’t use that last bit’ and walked away. He then came back with a mate who, within seconds of finding out I am Jewish, shouted ‘You dirty f*****g Yid’.”

O’Farrell also tweeted: “Some friends and I went to The Cally to watch the north London derby.

“An Arsenal pub in an Arsenal area, wearing our Arsenal shirts and cheering throughout for Arsenal.

“At around the 89th minute, a group of men behind us start chanting ‘we hate Tottenham’ and we all join in.

“They end the chant by repeatedly chanting the slur ‘Y*ddo’, which as a Jew is incredibly offensive. My friends and I heard but ignored, rising

above it. Two minutes later, more start joining in with the chant.

“I turn around to the instigator, say ‘look, mate, no need to say that last bit’ and walk back to my friends and the remaining three minutes of the game. His friend then comes up to me, looks me in the eyes and says ‘you dirty f*****g Yid’.”

After further confrontation, O’Farrell said the manager of the pub came up and asked her and her friends to leave.

Jewish News contacted The Cally, where a man who identified himself as the manager denied the two women had been asked to leave by himself or his staff. He accepted there had been an altercation, and said the pub staff’s main concern was preventing any violence breaking out.

The pub manager said he did not hear any of the taunts made by the group of men but said the pub would co-operate with any police investigation, and confirmed CCTV would be made available.

Arsenal and the Met Police have been contacted for comment.

... AS SPURS URGED TO TAKE FIRMER ACTION ON CHANTS

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is facing renewed calls to take tougher action on fans using Y-word chants inside the north London stadium during games.

One senior official at another Premiership club told Jewish News they believed the Spurs chairman was not doing enough to tackle the issue for fear of further alienating fans who continue to use the Y-word in songs.

During TV coverage of the north London derby clash with Arsenal, loud chants of “Yid army” and “Yids” were clearly audible.

Lord John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, urged Spurs fan groups to “get behind” the club’s demand that the Y-word be ushered out.

He added: “A good starting point would be to get rid of some of the worst songs, which with today’s technology and excess demand for tickets is eminently doable.”

Spurs launched a campaign last February urging fans it was “time to move on” from using the Y-word, with an announcement on the club’s website and messaging in the official match day programme.

The campaign, launched with the support of Lord Mann, was immediately welcomed, but some observers now accuse Spurs of failing to continue with a programme of educating fans on the issue.

However, a Spurs spokesperson defended the club’s record, telling Jewish News: “We have made our position clear to fans that we believe it is time to move on with associating this term with our club.

“Since making this statement, we launched our online WhY Word hub, which is permanently available to fans for further reading around the topic, with informed media articles and fan views.”

No 10 snub for Braverman

Downing Street has failed to defend home secretary Suella Braverman in the aftermath of the row over her migrant “invasion” comments made in front of a Holocaust survivor.

A video published online and viewed more the five million times showed 83-year-old Joan Salter MBE objecting to Braverman’s rhetoric, which the campaigner said was similar to that used by the Nazis.

The comments were made during a meeting in her Fareham constituency on Friday, and subsequently circulated online by theFreedom From Torture charity.

Asked twice if Rishi Sunak’s agreed with Braverman’s language, the prime minster’s spokesperson said: “The Home Office put out a statement on this. I don’t have anything to add to that.”

The spokesperson added: “You’ll know the UK’s record on providing a safe haven to tens of thousands of people, whether it’s people from Afghanistan or other countries and we continue to be proud of that record.” The Home Office had called for the video to removed by the charity, arguing that it had misrepresented Braverman’s words.

Katie Price, Arsenal fan and Jewish comedian, on the way to watch the North London derby with friend Jamie D’Souza

Survivor Zigi Shipper dies on 93rd birthday

Tributes flooded in from across and beyond the Jewish community this week after news that much-loved Holocaust survivor Zigi Shipper, who lived through Auschwitz-Birkenau and Stutthof, had died on his 93rd birthday, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

Ten years after being born in Łódź in Poland in 1930, Zigi was forced into the Lodz Ghetto, where he was put to work in a metal factory. In 1944, when the Ghetto was liquidated, he was deported to AuschwitzBirkenau as a young teen.

After a few weeks, he was moved to Stutthof concentration camp before being sent on a death march in 1945.

He was liberated by British troops on 3 May 1945 and came to the UK in 1947, where he met his wife, Jeannette. They had two daughters and later saw his family grow further, of which he was hugely proud.

With energy, he used his experience to inform the next generation. “In recent years, Zigi became an indefati-

gable speaker, sharing his personal story in schools across the country,” said the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR).

This he did through the Holocaust Educational

Trust (HET) outreach programme as well as at numerous other community events, including AJR’s 2020 Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration.

AJR added that “his amazing story of resilience and hope, combined with his charm, humour and kindness, won the hearts of thousands of young people who invari-

ably commented that they would carry forward his story and his simple, enduring message: don’t hate.”

Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), said Zigi “lit up a room with his charm and personality… I never had a conversation with him without him being cheeky, without his eyes twinkling at me or without his broad smile lighting his face”.

BY KAREN POLLOCK HOLOCAUST EDUCATIONAL TRUST

was so proud of them.

Despite everything he went through, despite being a survivor – when I hear his name, I smile. Because above all, Zigi was a man of joy.

Zigi was the heart and soul of every event. He had an infectious sense of humour, he was charming, flirtatious and had boundless energy. It’s di cult to accept he has gone.

He was wonderful to be around, found fun everywhere he went and he was full of love – for his family, for the people around him, for life.

She recalled a familiar Zigi refrain, when he would say: “There is nothing we can do about the past, but we can do a lot about the present and the

She added that he was “a man who witnessed so much darkness during the Holocaust and yet spread so much light,” saying: “We will miss his joyful, and compassionate presence very sorely.”

a without refrain, when he would say: future.” was “a man who darkness during the Holocaust spread so much light,” joyful, and compasvery

Zigi was born in 1930 in Lodz. When he was just 10-years-old he was forced into the Lodx Ghetto with his grandparents. When the ghetto was liquidated, Zigi and his grandmother were deported to Auschwitz. From there, he was sent to Stutthof, and eventually to Neustadt where he was liberated. His grandparents did not survive.

In 1947 Zigi came to the UK where he settled and married Jeanette. They had two children and a large family. Every time I saw Zigi, he had stories of grandchildren and great grandchildren to share – he

Zigi was in near retirement by the time he started regularly sharing his experiences through our outreach programme. And yet, this giant of a man travelled the length and breadth of the country, reaching hundreds of thousands of young people. He was indefatigable. Students loved him – there was even a Facebook fan page set up for him!

In recent years, as his health deteriorated, it became more di cult, but his spirit was always there and his legacy is carried by his dedicated daughters, wider family and by us – the HET family and all who had the privilege and honour to hear from him.

Zigi the educator

Zigi as a young man in 1948

Labour could drop a commitment to the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state from its election manifesto as part of a shift towards a slimline document “for a party fit for government, rather than one wishing to remain in opposition”, writes Lee Harpin.

Jewish News understands party chiefs are determined to produce a manifesto highlighting only the core issues that they believe will put Keir Starmer in pole position to become prime minister when the country next goes to the polls.

Since 2014 under Ed Miliband’s leadership the Labour manifesto has included a specific pledge stating that in government the party would seek to immediately recognise a Palestinian state.

Current Middle East Minister Bambos Charalambous was asked early this month at the Jewish Labour Movement’s annual confer-

ence about this commitment. He told the audience: “We would recognise a Palestinian state, as things stand.”

But two senior party sources have told Jewish News that under Starmer’s leadership there is a determination to ensure the manifesto includes pledges around issues seem as vital to winning over the UK electorate – on areas such as the NHS, education, transport and the environment.

Consultations about party policy ahead of the manifesto being finalised later this summer are set to begin later this month.

Labour’s National Policy Forum, (NPF) the group that decides on the party’s election manifesto, opens a consultation which begins on 30 January and runs until 17 March, o ering stakeholders, a liates or members the opportunity to shift policy.

The NPF will then regroup and hold a final

stage meeting in July, into which the consultation stage will be considered, before the final election manifesto is agreed.

Jewish News understands the slimline manifesto favoured by some party chiefs would still include a broad commitment to peaceful resolution of conflicts across the globe.

One party source said: “Leaving out Palestinian recognition from the election manifesto does not in any way mean Labour are not still committed to a two-state solution for both Israel and for the Palestinians.

“Nor does it mean we are not prepared to call out the most far-right Israeli government in history, when we need to do so. But unlike under Jeremy Corbyn, we do not believe our stance at the top of most voters’ priorities.

“We have no wish to continue with manifesto commitments suited to political parties who wish to remain in opposition.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury has held an historic

Although the timing was coincidental, the meeting at the Lambeth Palace Library came just one week after a report found the National Union of Students has failed to protect Jewish students from harassment over 17 years during which time it had committed breaches of the Equality Act.

During the conversation with four

Jewish and three Christian undergraduates, facilitated by CCJ, Justin Welby expressed shock at examples of antisemitism faced by students. He relayed examples of Jew-hate during his time at university including tropes around power and money and reflected on how the students’ experiences today focused on discourse around Israel.

A Church of England o cial said the Archbishop had been “dismayed” to hear of the challenges facing Jewish students over many years and wanted to hear directly from undergraduates about their experiences. Richard Sudworth, the Archbishop interfaith advisor, said: “We want to see Jewish students safe and secure on campus.”

meeting with Jewish and a Christian students to learn more about the challenges and opportunities they face on campus.

Labour’s annual conference in 2017

UK-Israel set for next set of free trade talks

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

The UK government will begin a second round of negotiations with Israel this spring in the hope of concluding a long-awaited free trade agreement, Jewish News can reveal.

The Department of International Trade confirmed the plan for new talks to begin with Israel over a lucrative trade deal.

It is understood that ocials from both countries had been confident that an agreement could be concluded in the first quarter of 2023. However, the election of a new government in Israel meant it was likely that any ongoing discussions would be scrutinised again by newly installed o cials.

Richard Pater, chief executive of BICOM, told Jewish News: “My assessment is that

after several months of successful and fruitful negotiations both sides have a vested interest in advancing bilateral relations and a free trade agreement in particular.”

A Department of International Trade spokesperson added they would not pre-

empt the outcome of the negotiations, set to take place in a few months’ time.

Last July, the UK government confirmed it had started negotiating an ambitious new free trade agreement to strengthen both its and Israel’s economies and “deepen

our friendship.” The existing trading relationship with Israel is worth £5bn.

A new deal would build on the current UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, which replicates the scope of existing trade agreements between the EU and Israel.

The agreement, which forms the basis of the current trading relationship, was originally signed in 1995, before smartphones, artificial intelligence and the internet transformed our economies. While it allows tari -free trade on 99 percent of UK goods exported by value, it contains scant provision for the UK’s thriving services and digital sectors.

Israel’s economy has seen its service sector growing by 45 percent over the past 10 years. A new FTA would allow the UK to take advantage of this growth, generating opportunities for companies here to export to Israel.

Rabbi’s father says he is ‘ashamed’ of son’s court decision

Continued from page 1

Saul Djanogly is a known figure in adult Jewish education but has a parallel career in wealth management and financial investment. His move to Ra’anana in Israel with his wife, Anne, took place in the last couple of years. It is not yet known when the English court review will be announced but Rabbi Saul Djanogly has asked that it take place in private.

Lister added that his client “promptly sought the Beth Din’s clarifications and correction of the award that is being challenged”, in the hope that it would not be necessary to go to the civil courts, “but received no substantive answer whatsoever”.

Observers close to the details of the financial dispute, who asked not to be named, said they were alarmed at the prospect of the matter going to the English courts, because this could set a precedent that would a ect every Beth Din ruling in the country, in which halacha [Jewish law] could be ultimately over-ruled by English law.

David Djanogly told Jewish News he cannot a ord to fight his son in the English courts. “I am 85, blind in one eye, disabled and su ering from a severe heart condition,” he said. “I am utterly and most deeply ashamed and humiliated by these actions.”

Lister said: “The award is subject to challenge before the English court. This is entirely proper under English and Jewish law and the Beth Din has correctly not objected to this challenge under either English or Jewish law. There are compelling grounds for the challenge, justifying non-compliance with the award for the time being.

“If the award is upheld by the court, Saul Djanogly will comply. The Beth Din and court proceedings are private and confidential. No permission to publish has been granted to any party. Sadly, no purpose is served by Mr David Djanogly’s breaching of the confidentiality of the proceedings in seeking to publicise this dispute.”

Former UK envoy David Quarrey oversees trade talks

JVN honours late founder at emotional awards night

The husband of the founder of the Jewish Volunteering Network Leonie Lewis has recalled how she was unable to turn down any opportunity to support the community, in an emotional speech at an awards evening held in her memory, writes Michelle Goldberg.

Howard Lewis hailed his late wife’s legacy at the Jewish Volunteering Network awards, following her sudden death last April, aged 66, after a diagnosis of lymphoma.

Addressing 400 guests from the Jewish and wider communities at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire, he said: “Whenever she was asked to do some task, on a voluntary basis, she could never refuse, despite my best efforts to get her to say no, just once.

“The room is overflowing with people who have come across Leonie over many years. It’s so nice to see them all – it’s very special. All I ever get from people I don’t know is what impact she had on their lives –she touched many, many people.”

Leonie and Howard’s sons, Ben and Adam, also spoke movingly in tribute to their mother.

In the JVN’s first in-person awards event since the pandemic, 90 award winners from 46 charities were recognised across four categories: volunteer of the year, volunteer team of the year, young adult volunteer of the year, and lifetime achievement award. Additionally, an outstanding winner was awarded in each group.

Outstanding volunteer of the year was Dr. David Spitzer, a GP for KEF Kids at their residential schemes for children with disabilities.

Ian and Jane Pearl, trustees of the charity, said: “Our child has highly complex medical needs and we have only been able to send him to Camp Kef due to Dr Spitzer volunteering his time and expertise summer and winter for years. He is an exceptional doctor, an incredible person and an outstanding volunteer.”

Volunteer team of the year was awarded to the Royal Free Charity digital volunteers, who teach patients how to attend their appointments remotely using bespoke NHS software. Jon Spiers, CEO of the Royal Free Charity, said: “The volunteers have helped thousands of patients attending our sleep and ventilation

clinic at the Royal Free Hospital across the past two years and saved the NHS many, many hours of professional time.”

Young adult winner was Ben Brownson, who for 13 years has volunteered for Maccabi GB. He set up the Jewish Golf Initiative, aimed at making the game more diverse, inclusive and accessible.

Ashley Lerner, CEO Maccabi GB, said: “Whilst golf is his passion, Ben always is the first to volunteer to support one of our projects, always on hand to assist his colleagues and the professional team and always doing it with a smile on his face.”

Jewish Care volunteer Rita Newmark, 89, was given the outstanding lifetime achievement award following five decades of volunteering. She was one of the founder members of the Meals on Wheels service, established in 1973 by a group of friends cooking in their own kitchens for older, isolated people in the community.

Accepting her award, for which she was given a standing ovation, Newmark said: “It seems strange to win an award for something

that has given me and my husband, Leon, so much enjoyment. During this time, we have made so many lifelong friends whilst serving our local community.”

The charity’s CEO, Daniel Carmel-Brown, hailed Rita for “continuing to give her skills, time, and expertise delivering meals and nurturing and inspiring many others to volunteer. Today, this service provides 700 meals each week to 300 older people.”

A campaign to create the Leonie’s Life and Legacy programme for 2023 has passed its original £36,000 target and has a new one ,of £66,000: £1,000 for each year of her life. The JVN is talking with 10 charities including Mitzvah Day, Faiths Forums for London, Camp Simcha and Goods for Good to partner on events during the year to inspire new volunteers.

Nicky Goldman, JVN’s chief executive, closed the evening by hailing her mentor. “Leonie Lewis was my mentor, my colleague, my friend. Her memory will always be a blessing to all those who she inspired throughout her life.”

A group of Leonie’s friends are collecting money tomorrow for Community Connex (formerly Harrow Mencap, which she fundraised for regularly) outside Tesco’s in Pinner Green.

The Anglican priest who was headteacher of JCoSS until last month has outlined ambitious plans to open the UK’s first vocational Jewish sixth-form college in Barnet, writes Joy Falk.

Patrick Moriarty is fighting for the UK’s first faith-based T-levels centre after a successful spell leading the 1,335-pupil Jewish crossdenominational secondary, which includes a 350-pupil sixth form. T-level qualifications were launched by the government in 2020.

Speaking to Schools Week, he said the centre – which he is calling JV6 – would help less academic Jewish pupils who he feels are being let down by the current set-up and parents’ tunnelvision focus on careers in the professions.

“I’ve watched some of the most wonderful, vulnerable members of the school community, often with special educational needs, having to leave at the age of 16, sometimes for the first time going into education outside the Jewish community, and it’s a real shock to their systems,” he said.

“I know this from some really painful cases. They feel it as a personal rejection by the school and the community. They feel that ‘Just because I don’t want to be a doctor, lawyer or accountant, you’re turning your back on me.’

“That never felt right to me. There is a sector of people for whom university is not the right thing, so let’s provide an attractive alternative… I want to make technical and vocational education sexy, and at the moment it’s not.”

Moriarty, who was JCoSS head while business secretary Grant Shapps’ children studied there, said the qualifications have both financial and political support, including a committed £180,000 from two Jewish philanthropic trusts. He said the community’s “cohesion, demography and employment patterns” means that it is “brilliantly placed to make T-levels work”.

Moriarty, also said today’s parental obsession with academic achievement was not shared by previous generations of Jewish immigrants. At the school’s annual “grandparents’ day”, he said, older Jewish relatives would recall how they “left school at 14 to work as taxi drivers or in the rag trade”. While each individual Jewish school did not have enough such pupils to warrant their own vocational sixth form, there were more than enough across all Jewish schools in Barnet to make post-16, level two courses sustainable, he said.

Some of the award winners on stage. Inset: JVN founder Leonie Lewis

‘Inspirational’ philanthropist Marc Worth dies, aged just 61

Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, and her deputy, Oren Marmorstein, have led tributes to the businessman and philanthropist Marc Worth, who died suddenly last Friday while playing tennis, writes Jenni Frazer.

Nottingham-born Worth, 61, chaired UK Israel Business, the successor organisation to the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce, and initiated the hugely successful Tel Aviv in London and London in Tel Aviv projects in 2017 and 2019.

Hotovely worked closely with Worth. She said: “I am deeply saddened by the passing of Marc Worth. Marc was a generous philanthropist, who regularly gave his time and wisdom to strengthen the relationship between our two democracies.

“The state of Israel is extremely grateful for his years as chair of UK Israel Business and of course his Tel Aviv in London initiative that will long be remembered. Marc was a true and close friend of the embassy, where his leadership will be much missed”.

Marmorstein said he was also “deeply saddened”, describing Worth as “one of a kind in his support of Israel”, adding the country had lost one of its greatest friends in the UK, while he himself had lost a personal friend.

Worth, a leading member of BBYO in his youth, left school at 16 and began his business life with his brother, Julian, in the family company, HeatSeal Textiles. The siblings were said

to have been early adopters of the internet and could see its potential from the mid-90s. In 1997 they launched a fashion trend prediction business, World Global Style Network, which was sold for £140 million in 2005. Marc then began a design trends consultancy, Stylus. com, which also found international success.

Around the time he sold WGSN, Marc Worth became involved in community philanthropy. A passionate Zionist with a second home in Her-

zliya, he was a member of the board of governors of Shenkar College, regarded as Israel’s top design school.

He became chair of UK Israel Business, and friends speak of him “galvanising” the organisation and pushing it to be hugely effective. Danny Kessler, his successor as chair of UK Israel Business, said: “Marc was one of life’s doers ... an inspirational

chair of UKIB from 2011–2015 who continued to do an immense amount to encourage entrepreneurs and trade between the UK and Israel.

“Marc spearheaded the Innovate Israel events which transformed UKIB’s bilateral role, and most recently we were working closely together on a series of initiatives to mark Israel’s 75th anniversary, to develop further the special relationship between the UK and Israel.”

The Tel Aviv in London and London in Tel Aviv projects, known by the international airport codes of TLV and LDN. were festivals of music, food, the arts and business. Tali Tzemach, a producer and close collaborator, said: “Marc was a visionary, who brought relentless drive, creativity and passion.”

Worth, a member of Hampstead Synagogue, was married twice; first to Hilda Worth, chair of the Conservative Friends of Israel and vice-chair of World Jewish Relief and former co-chair of Jewish Women’s Aid. The couple had four children and three grandchildren. Worth is also survived by his second wife, Kelly, and his three stepchildren, Annabelle, Max and Sophie, together with his brother Julian and sister Erica.

WOMEN’S GROUP WELCOMES 1,000TH MEMBER

A worldwide Jewish women’s Zoom group launched in the UK three years ago has welcomed its 1,000th member, writes Michelle Goldberg.

Jane Myers, 58 and Sara Garfield, 47, of Edgware’s Jewish community, co-founded Hallel in 2020, initially on Facebook, to move women’s-only services online during the pandemic.

Myers said: “We have women who discovered their grandpar-

ents were Jewish and joined to get support and advice about learning more about Judaism. It’s a safe, non judgemental space for everybody, including women who have never done anything Jewish. We also have breakout sessions so you can find yourself in a virtual kiddush room with women from Brazil, Switzerland and Portugal, between the ages of seven and 94. It’s extraordinary.” Myers said: “You don’t have

to be frum, it’s just a lovely uplifting experience whether you are orthodox, reform, liberal or Masorti. Synagogues have reopened, but we are flourishing.”

Myers and Garfield looked for champions in different cities and countries to help grow the programme, alongside networking, social media, working with rabbis and rebbetzens and even via the World Jewish Congress.

“Finland,” says Myers, “has

a very small community. But we found one woman who came to the service, loved it, talked about it and they are now one of the top five countries of the Hallel’s membership.

“At times there have been hundreds of women online together. We’ve been running for over two years and it’s really helped many to stay connected to Judaism, combat loneliness and be part of a lovely group of women and girls.”

Ester Rada, Marina Maximilian and Mira Awad were just some of the Israeli performers Marc Worth (inset) brought to the UK for TLV in LDN

Co-founders Jane Myers and Sara Garfield

Israeli uni hosts conference celebrating Sacks’ legacy

by Jotam Confino jotam@jewishnews.co.uk @mrconfino

Israel’s Bar-Ilan University has announced the establishment of the Jonathan Sacks Institute, in honour of the late former Chief Rabbi.

The announcement was made as the university kickstarted a three-day conference, media partnered by Jewish News, bringing together scholars, students and guests from all over the world to discuss Rabbi Sacks’ teachings.

More than 800 guests signed up for the conference, which will have nearly 40 lectures on themes of religious extremism, Bible and commentary, Jewish philosophy, interreligious theology, political thought, ethics and sustainability by scholars from around the world.

President Isaac Herzog greeted the guests at the opening of the conference, hailing Rabbi Sacks’s intellectual legacy, which he said o ers “unique wisdom” that holds the promise of growth.

“It’s no surprise that many in Israel have come to discover his teachings,” Herzog said.

University president Prof Arie Zaban told Jewish News that Rabbi Sacks was one of the “leading public intellectuals in the world”.

“There have been many great rabbinical thinkers. What is exceptional about Rabbi Sacks is that he developed a body of thought deeply grounded in the Jewish religious tradition that speaks to the most important contemporary issues for Jews and non-Jews alike,” Prof Zaban said. “For many Jews, but also for many people of other religions or no

religion, he was looked to as the foremost moral thinker of our age.”

One of the topics which will be discussed at the forum is religious extremism, a growing problem worldwide, including in Israel.

Prof Zaban said Rabbi Sacks was “deeply concerned with the threat to a free democratic society posed by rampant individualism

on the one hand and religious extremism on the other.

“He argued that our ability to overcome these challenges depends on a civic culture that engages in debates with mutual respect, a moral ecology that provides hope and builds connections and trust between di erent communities.”

He believed “in principle” that rabbis should not aspire to political power, but rather to “moral, cultural and religious influence, and that consequently they should stay out of party politics and day-to-day political issues”, Prof Zaban added.

Elliot Sacks thanked the university for hosting and arranging the conference honouring his brother, describing how deeply his connection to Israel was.

“It’s appropriate and fitting that this conference, the first to be devoted to Rabbi Sacks’ thoughts, is taking place in Israel, and in particular at Bar-Ilan University.

“My brother’s deep connection to Israel is well known. A love that dated back to his first visit here with my late father shortly after the Six Day War in 1967,” Sacks said.

 The conference at Bar-Ilan University was media sponsored by Jewish News

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Raymond James Investment Services Ltd is a member of the London Stock Exchange and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales number 3669657. Registered office: Ropemaker Place, 25 Ropemaker St, London EC2Y 9LY.

Elaine Sacks (third left) with members of Bar-Ilan and the Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust

Hundreds risk ‘spiritual harm’ to enjoy sold-out women’s gig

Hackney Empire, the grande dame of theatres from another era, rarely had an audience like this — 700- 800 girls and women, from every level of Orthodoxy and none. All were avid to see their heroines, singers Bracha Ja e and Chava Kogan from New York and Israel, together with “child sensation” Esther Khron, writes Jenni Frazer.

The two-hour event, replete with encores, was a sell-out. But it attracted the unwelcome attention of rabbis from the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, who said the concert should be shunned for fear of bringing “spiritual harm” to its intended audience.

In a statement by email and posted on synagogue notice boards, the UOHC said it “endorses and supports the decision” of Charedi girls’ schools, such as Beis Yaakov Grammar School, to ban girls from attending the concert.

The statement appeared

to have no e ect on the women and girls crowding the Hackney Empire steps as soon as its doors opened.

Few of the audience wanted to speak to Jewish News but some opened up once assured no-one would be able to identify them from their remarks.

One chicly-dressed woman said: “I wanted to come, I’m familiar with the songs.”

Another said: “I thought the

ban was on children, and we’re not at school, we’re adults.”

Another fan added: “We listen to Bracha Ja ę and Chava Kogan every day at home. We love their music, so of course we are taking the opportunity to attend their concert.”

She said she didn’t know about the ban and began explaining it to another woman queuing to get in.

To laughter, two women said they heard of the event — Zahav 2023 — only when the rabbis announced their ban “so actually the rabbis were giving it free publicity”.

It was claimed many women nervous about a clampdown on school admissions if they were known to have attended the concert were selling their tickets, but the box o ce said that there had been no returns or cancellations — and pictures of the concert showed a joyful and packed audience singing along.

Bracha Ja e previously said she was “greatly saddened” by the UOHC ban, adding: “Our girls need healthy kosher music, healthy kosher entertainment that will bring them closer to God.

“I want to be a good example to our girls. I care about the way I present myself. I only want to be a positive role model.”

HASMO PRIMARY IS ‘OUTSTANDING’

An Orthodox primary school in north-west London has been rated ‘outstanding’ by Pikuach, the inspection service used by Jewish schools for religious education.

It’s the first review in eight years for Hasmonean Primary in Hendon, which has more than 200 students.

Pikuach o cials found the school has “an acute knowledge and understanding of both the school’s strengths

and areas requiring improvement.” The quality of Jewish education, personal and spiritual development and e ectiveness were all ranked ‘good’.

Overall, the school was praised for its “warm and caring environment” which the Pikuach report said delivers “a holistic Jewish education… provided by a team of enthusiastic Kodesh teachers under the leadership of an outstanding head of Kodesh”.

Refugees’ gift to homeless

Jewish refugees including Holocaust survivors have been knitting squares that form blankets for homeless people in Manchester, as temperatures around the UK plummeted to below zero.

Members of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) together with volunteers for Jewish charity Mitzvah Day got busy ahead of the blankets’ distribu-

tion to the homeless charity Street Treats in the northwest of England on Saturday night.

The knitters were thanked by AJR head of volunteer services Fran Horwich.

The Hackney Empire was packed, despite concerns for the spiritual safety of an audience confronted by singing women

The finished blankets

‘Nothing to see here,’ says brains behind law reform

Simcha Rothman is, in many ways, the brains behind the Religious Zionism party. He chairs the powerful Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and is seen as one of the architects of the government’s judicial reforms which will significantly weaken the High Court of Justice.

The plans have been widely criticised by the High Court president, the attorney general and the Bar Association, as well as by opposition lawmakers, former prime ministers and right-wing justice ministers as an “attack on democracy”.

Last Saturday, more than 80,000 people demonstrated throughout Tel Aviv, with organisers and lawmakers promising to continue their actions until the government backs down.

In an interview with Jewish News, Rothman dismissed the “shouting” in the media and opposition, describing the situation between left and right-wing lawmakers in Israel as “much better”

than in the US, for example. “There’s nothing to see here, move along,” he said. “We are not in a war or in a crisis. I understand and hear the criticism (of the reforms) but I don’t agree with it. We are returning the High Court to what it was in the past, before it took too much power for itself.”

Rothman and the government argue the judicial activism that was promoted in the 1990s under High Court president Aharon Barak took too many liberties, interpreted the law too freely and struck down too much legislation passed in the Knesset.

Legislation should be in the hands of “elected o cials and not in an unelected and unaccountable court”, Rothman insists.

Discrimination law

The coalition’s plans to amend the current discrimination law so business owners and doctors can turn away customers and patients if it “con-

tradicts their religious beliefs” has alarmed civil and human rights organisations in Israel and in particular in the LGBTQ community which fears it will allow ultra-orthodox doctors and business owners to discriminate against them.

Rothman again dismisses those fears, quoting a case in Colorado over a cake shop owner who refused to sell a cake to a gay couple citing his religious beliefs. The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the owner. “Some people saw it as discrimination against gays; the Supreme Court said it wasn’t,” Rothman says.

The issue of the LGBTQ community is not the central focus, he adds – rather, the government wants to make sure people can exercise their religious freedom, which Rothman says is not the case currently.

Law of Return

One of the proposals by Religious Zionism and the ultra-orthodox parties to draw criticism in the diaspora is cancellation of the “grandchild” clause, which allows the grandchildren of Jews to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return.

Earlier this month, the Jewish Agency sent a letter to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing concern over “voices” in his new government advocating for a change to the Law of Return as well as the religious status quo.

“It is our duty to share with you our deep concern regarding voices in the government on issues that could undermine the long-standing status quo on religious a airs that could a ect the Diaspora,” the letter said.

It’s another negligible issue for Rothman,

President warns: ‘Profound

Israel president Isaac Herzog has issued an unprecedented statement vowing to do what he can to prevent further escalation of the “constitutional crisis” which is “tearing” Israel apart.

“We are in the grips of a profound disagreement that is tearing our nation apart. This conflict worries me deeply, as it worries many across Israel and the diaspora,” he said.

As noted above, more than 80,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv against the government’s judicial reforms. Another 1,500 people demonstrated in front of Herzog’s residence, calling on him to intervene in the debate.

“I respect everyone who has been arguing and getting involved, protesting and demonstrating, and I appreciate the public engage-

ment in this important debate. I respect the criticism toward me, but I am now focused on two critical roles that I believe I bear as president at this hour: averting a historic constitutional crisis and stopping the continued rift within our nation,” Herzog said.

“The foundations of Israeli democracy, including the justice system, are sacred and we must strictly safeguard them, even at a time of fundamental arguments and debates about the relationship between the di erent branches of government.”

Herzog said he had been making “nonstop e orts” with party leaders in an attempt to create “wide-reaching, attentive, and respectful discussion and dialogue”. But despite the e

Simcha Dan Rothman arrives for the first session of the Knesset after the November election

who says the change will primarily a ect those immigrating from former Soviet Union countries: “Most of the Olim from there are nonJews and some of them don’t even want to be Jews. And they make aliyah to Israel because they get benefits. A lot of them get the benefits and go back or leave for other countries.”

The issue, however, has been raised by both American and British Jewry as a huge concern.

Rabbi Lea Mühlstein from The Ark Synagogue London told Jewish News the proposals were “very disappointing, especially at this time when Israel is preparing itself for mass immigration from Russia and Ukraine. Many of those might not be able to come if the grandchild clause is nixed.”

She added: “It’s also a massive slap in the face to Reform Judaism in the US and Liberal Judaism in the UK. It basically tells Jews around the world Israel isn’t the homeland for Jews, it’s the homeland for Israeli citizens.”

West Bank settlements

One of the central issues for Religious Zionism is annexing West Bank settlements, something party leader Bezalel Smotrich has vowed to fulfil. Asked about an upcoming Likud-sponsored law on annexing the Jordan Valley, Rothman won’t say if the party will vote for or against it.

He also disagrees with the term annexation, which he says applies only when you take land from another country: “There is no country which has claims for those lands. The right term is therefore applying Israeli law.”

With such a decision, he says, Israel “has to check with our friends, allies and enemies and

try to think how they will react. It’s for the government to decide on the timing. But if you ask me on a matter of principle, of course I think we should [apply sovereignty].”

Since the settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, no country currently supports Israeli annexation or sovereignty over those areas.

Temple Mount

The status quo agreement from 1967 between Israel and Jordan allows Jews to visit the Temple Mount but not pray on the site. The Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, is also the home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In recent years, several incidents of Jews praying at the Temple Mount have been documented on video, causing anger among Palestinians and the rest of the Muslim world.

While leading ultra-orthodox authorities have said Jews are forbidden even to visit the site, Religious Zionism and the Jewish Power party have advocated for a change.

“I find it hard to believe people think Jews shouldn’t be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount,” Rothman says. “There’s a right for anyone to practice their religion in holy places. Now the practising of this right depends on the situation on the ground. That’s why there’s an age limit for those coming to the Temple Mount from Judea and Samaria. The role of the government is to keep the peace, especially in a tense place like the Temple Mount.”

Rothman agrees in principle the status quo should be changed, but doesn’t think there’s a need “as things stand now”.

disagreement tearing us apart’

Herzog said “there is still a long way to go and significant gaps remain.”

Simcha Rothman, Religious Zionism lawmaker and chair of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, welcomed the statement: “If he thinks he can lower the tensions by inviting and talking to people, why not? It’s a good thing to have people negotiating,”.

However, a report on Channel 12 said the government will only allow for “cosmetic” changes to its reform plan, dampening the opposition’s hope to reach a deeper compromise.

“The principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Jewish and democratic contours of our state are my guiding lights and I will not allow them to be harmed,” Herzog vowed.

Jewish News meets... Simcha Rothman

New government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich

President Isaac Herzog with Ben-Gvir

This country is not a chuppah for refugees

It speaks volumes that a Jewish Holocaust survivor should be the one to challenge anti-immigrant Home Secretary Suella Braverman on her use of words like “invasion”. It speaks further volumes that a video of the exchange has been viewed more than five million times.

Foot fault No justice

Alex Brummer, in your edition of 5 January, wrote a generally sensible critique of the way British Jewry functions. However, he threw in at the end a gratuitous query: “Does diaspora Jewry really need the extra day in the foot festivals?” He means the second day of Pesach, Shavuos and Succot. (Even in Israel a second day of Rosh Hashanah is observed).

I refer to letters by Adrian Korsner and Norma Neville (Jewish News, 5 January), regarding the sentencing of former Nazi Irmgard Furchner.

Joan Salter (pictured, right, holding an image of herself as a girl), awarded an MBE for her work on Holocaust education, told Braverman that using words like “invasion” and “swarm” was reminiscent of the language used by pre-war Nazis to demonise Jews. She then asked the pertinent question: why did Braverman feel she needed to use words like that? Braverman refused to retract or apologise, but had she answered truthfully, she’d have told Salter that she was playing to her base. Alas, in this case, it also means playing to people’s base instincts.

Does Mr Brummer really think that the abolition of this would suddenly cause a revival in religious interest among unaffiliated Jews here in Britain?

like “invasion” and “swarm” was remi-

Xenophobia, racism, insularity, and protectionism are the playthings of populists, who conjure a fear of ‘the other’, of being overrun by hordes of out-for-themselves criminal/grasping foreigners. As Jews, we know this well.

Brexit, if about anything, was about borders, which reminds us that – while Salter was right – the UK has hardly been an international chuppah, open on all sides like the biblical tent of Abraham and Sarah, signifying everyone is welcome and will be treated hospitably. For all Sir Nicholas Winton’s e orts, the UK allowed relatively few Jews to flee Hitler. Tens of thousands were admitted by 1939, but British Jewish associations had half a million more case files of those who were not. The US was no better: from 1933-1941, only 150,000 German Jews were allowed in.

Yes, Braverman’s comments are disappointing, but they are also unsurprising and unfortunately nothing new. It’s just that they are palpably stark when uttered in the company of a Holocaust survivor.

Only authorities with much greater knowledge of the reasons for the rules and regulations of Judaism than he will decide that question. In fact the second day of yom tov in the diaspora will never be abolished before Moshiach comes and we are all living in the land of Israel. David Levy, By email

The non-custodial punishment handed out does not fit the crime and belies the severity of her complicity in what happened at the time. Justice has not been served, to the dismay of the dwindling number of survivors.

Furchner has lived for 97 years in freedom –how shameful that she will be allowed to continue doing so. The message once again sent out is that crime can pay or, at the very least, will not cost you too much even though for others it costs their lives. JD Milaric, By email

TWO LAWS OF THE LAND

Vivian Wineman (22 December) reports on his recent tour of the occupied West Bank. He is clearly interested in how the laws affect the acquisition and loss of land and property.

He tells us that in Area C, where both settlers and Palestinians live, there are two systems of law. The Palestinians live under military law while the Jews live under Israeli civilian law which is much less restrictive.

Mr Wineman’s judgment is clear. He writes: “Equality before the law is totally absent.” But the reaction from various correspondents was predictably the same: in most cases an

attempt to deny the reality of these laws is discriminatory. Mr Wineman concludes that there are a whole host of unanswered questions over land appropriation by settlers.

I look forward to Jewish News publishing more in this vein.

Fraser Michaelson, Southgate

THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING

Last week’s front page on plans by far-right Israeli ministers to end the Supreme Court’s power to keep them in check painted a stark picture of the country’s direction of travel. I am surprised almost every other communal organisation is silent. Will this still be the case when the new government makes good on its threat to make aliyah harder for reform Jews? Emma Janes, HA8

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LABOUR ROSE

TINTED VIEW?

The Jewish Labour Movement’s Mike Katz seems happy with Labour now led by Sir Keir Starmer (5 January). I’m not so sure.

During Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Sir Keir served in the shadow cabinet and, as far as I’ve ever heard, never spoke against the tide of Jew-hatred that spread through the party in those days.

If he opposed it he ought to have resigned, but he didn’t.

So what are we to make of the Sir Keir Starmer who remained silent when he should have spoken out and quit and of Mr Katz, who seems to see only through rose-tinted spectacles?

Geoffrey Bernstein, HA3

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Jewish News is owned by The Jacob Foundation, a registered UK charity promoting cohesion and common ground across the UK Jewish community and between British Jews and wider society. Jewish News promotes these aims by delivering dependable and balanced news reporting and analysis and celebrating the achievements of its vibrant and varied readership. Through the Jacob Foundation, Jewish News acts as a reliable and independent advocate for British Jews and a crucial communication vehicle for other communal charities.

Sedra: Vaera

Misleading data hinders fight against antisemitism

DANNY STONE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ANTISEMITISM POLICY TRUST

Ispend my days educating about antisemitism. It is a job I find fulfilling and, I believe, is important. Specifically, the charity I run, the Antisemitism Policy Trust, focuses on educating decision makers.

One way we do this is through the AllParty Parliamentary Group (APPG) Against Antisemitism. APPGs bring together MPs to work jointly on issues cross-party.

They undertake important work, yet last week data was released that, on the surface, seems to show the trust funding individual MPs to the tune of £85,000.

A key element of antisemitic conspiracy theories is often the notion Jewish people have undue power or influence over political a airs, usually funded by money from nefarious sources.

Without explanation or justification of where these funds come from or what they are used to do, there is a serious

concern here this could lead to accusations of Jewish financial control. Those with existing antisemitic worldviews will seek to weaponise this data to try to prove something which is patently untrue.

We have nothing to hide. Everything is declared. We follow the rules and seek where possible to go beyond them.

Much has been written in recent weeks about APPGs but little if anything of the benefit of such groups, such as the landmark reports produced by the APPG Against Antisemitism or members’ e orts to challenge tech companies, higher education institutions, or even parliament to put better policies in place to tackle anti-Jewish racism.

I was disappointed with the ‘tracker; released last week by the Tortoise media outfit and Sky. I applaud the idea; it is the delivery I find flawed.

The APPG Against Antisemitism is sta ed by the Antisemitism Policy Trust. The records are created in such a way that we must declare what the approximate ‘benefit in kind’ is of the work. The trust gives no direct funds.

MPs do not receive a salary or direct payments unless expenses are being reimbursed in some way.

The framing of the tracker – which collates information already publicly available – was clear: an “… extensive, though not comprehensive, record of the financial interests in Westminster – use our tool to search for your MP and find out who has given them money”. When one clicks through to Andrew Percy MP, to take a former chair of the APPG, it shows that he is or has been an o cer of several APPGs and since 2019, five of them have ‘taken in’ the equivalent of £109,500, the largest, £85,500, from the Antisemitism Policy Trust.

What it does not say is that the money is our estimate of the time provided, at no taxpayer expense, to educate MPs about antisemitism through one sta member facilitating the running of the group, under the direction of its leadership, including organising meetings for the chairs, assisting with research on anti-Jewish racism to save their o ces’ time, and so on.

It isn’t just Andrew Percy. Every o cer of

the group has a linked slide easily understood as each member of the group having ‘taken in’ 85k from the Trust.

There is no attempt to divide the figure (which constitutes one sta member) per group o cer or member. It is misleading.

Also, the tracker is based on the period since the 2019 election, not an annual account. Why? APPG reports are lodged annually. This information was not clear from the way the tracker was first designed, and it took our complaining to have additional clarity added. I think it is still unclear.

The benefit of the group over the threeyear period is attributed to any MP no matter whether he or she joined or left the group during that time or how active they have been. There is no mention that the trust is a charity, no link to the evidence we gave to the Standards Committee or even to our website.

Tortoise contacted us for details of the APPG financial declarations – which were already on our website, in line with the rules. We sent them, but the organisation did not ask us to explain any of them in advance.

I wish they had done so.

Note to Suella: It’s time to realise words really matter

JENNI FRAZER

It’s sad to admit this, but few things said by politicians shock me these days. Even the repellent Andrew Bridgen, who finally lost the whip for his comparison of the implementation of Covid vaccines to the Holocaust. It was terrible, of course, but Bridgen should have lost the Tory whip long before now.

However, Suella Braverman, who is apparently the home secretary and manages to make her predecessor, Priti Patel, look faintly human, has outclassed Bridgen in the repulsive stakes.

Braverman was speaking at a meeting in her constituency, Fareham in Hampshire, last Friday night. My assumption is that much of the meeting was devoted to Braverman’s war against asylum seekers.

There were questions from the audience following her address. Joan Salter, a very courageous woman well known to the Jewish community, who has been awarded an MBE for her work in Holocaust educa-

tion, is a child survivor. Salter, now 83, told Braverman: “When I hear you use words like ‘swarm’ and ‘invasion’, I am reminded of the language used to dehumanise and justify the murder of my family and millions of others. Why do you feel the need to use that kind of language?”

Several things happened in the wake of that question. First, that Braverman – whose husband is from a Jewish family (in fact his father was apparently a long-standing volunteer at the Yoseftal Hospital near Eilat) — chose to reply citing her own parents’ arrival in the UK as immigrants, arriving “with nothing” as she told the audience.

Second, that Braverman dug her heels in and insisted that she “would not apologise” for the language that she used “to demonstrate the scale of this problem”.

It seems extraordinary Braverman is unable to recognise a parallel between the story of her parents, which she chose to raise in answering Salter, and that of present-day refugees. Even more extraordinary that in responding to Salter she did not acknowledge Salter’s point about language — or how words

like “swarm” or “invasion” might once have been disgustingly applied to her Kenyanborn father or Mauritian-born mother.

Chillingly, the Fareham audience applauded Braverman, which indicates to me at least that many present either did not understand the import of her reply or, worse, agreed with her.

On the day after the Braverman/Salter exchange, a non-profit organisation called Freedom from Torture tweeted an edited version of the question and answer, focusing specifically on Braverman’s refusal to apologise for her words.

And this is where it gets really unpleasant. Because whoever it is that operates the Home

O ce Twitter account accused Freedom from Torture of manipulating Braverman’s response, and challenged the NGO to remove its version of what she said.

Regrettably, those who still in the face of all reason and logic support Braverman attacked Freedom from Torture.

But fortunately there remain enough honest reporters who were able to supply the full version of what the home secretary said. And that means (a) Home O ce civil servants were trying to torpedo the truth and (b) perhaps even Braverman herself recognised that she had crossed a line.

As we Jews have all too many reasons to know, words matter and they have consequences. Some of those consequences are playing out right now in Israel. But here, in the UK, a home secretary who is the child of refugees does not understand the impact of the language she continues to use when facing the real challenges of immigration.

If Andrew Bridgen can lose the whip for arrant stupidity, perhaps Rishi Sunak should pay attention to what’s going on in the Home O ce.

This winter is going to be tough. But for families in Ukraine, it’s going to be tougher.

PERHAPS RISHI NEEDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE HOME OFFICE

❝

NUS made Jewish hate acceptable on campus

ALEX HEARN ANTISEMITISM CAMPAIGNER

Racism is evil. Antisemitism is not real and complaining about antisemitism is inherently racist. Therefore, Jews must be evil. This was the twisted thought process exposed by Rebecca Tuck KC’s unambiguous and damning report into antisemitism within the National Union of Students.

Relating their experience, Jewish students complaining of antisemitism were assumed to be acting in bad faith and disbelieved. On the other hand, claims about Jewish students being motivated by a racist agenda and other nefarious intentions were accepted without question, despite a lack of evidence.

This gaslighting of Jewish people when they sound the alarm is not limited to the UK. On the day the investigation into NUS antisemitism was released, a news story surfaced about Jewish students in the USA being subjected to near-identical treatment. It was reported that a George Washington Univer-

sity lecturer, Lara Sheehi, had been harassing Jewish students. When they complained, their testimony was not only rejected, but they were punished for an ‘unnamed o ence’; retaliation came in the form of a counter-accusation of racism by Sheehi, which was believed despite there being no evidence to her claim.

The accusation of Jews being dishonest and underhand is consistent with classic Christian teachings about Judas representing the lies of Jews and their betrayal of Jesus. It took until 2011 for a full and unequivocal recanting of this idea in Pope Benedict’s book Jesus Of Nazareth – 2000 years too late. The millennialong teaching of contempt cannot be easily undone. It is now part of the collective memory and of the cultural heritage of society.

Incidents described in the report were mostly classic antisemitism in the context of Israel/Palestine, reminiscent of Soviet antisemitic propaganda. An NUS o cer tweeted the medieval accusation that Jews drink the blood of babies at a Jewish student. The trigger was Coca-Cola, which has a distribution plant in the West Bank, sponsoring an NUS event.

Who can Jewish students turn to when abused by elected NUS representatives or attendees at NUS conferences? Like the Labour Party where Luciana Berger “went from being a Labour MP to being a Jewish MP”, students found that everywhere they turned they were defined by their Jewishness in hostile terms. It was the ideology surrounding them.

Even more alarmingly, the problems that arose in the Labour Party and that are now apparent in the NUS have become part of a wider issue. Antisemitic themes are whitewashed within progressive circles and then used by other elements of society.

To underline the point, the BBC website report about Tuck’s investigation ended with a section called ‘legitimate criticism’. It amplified the original NUS narrative, that antisemitism complaints by Jewish students were false and made in bad faith. In doing so, the BBC report legitimised a malicious campaign against Jews.

Many students will encounter antisemitic ideas about Jews online before they even meet someone who is Jewish. Tuck’s report shows that in universities, the NUS has been

❝

AFTER LEARNING TO HATE, THE STUDENTS GO OUT INTO THE WORLD TO SPREAD THEIR IDEOLOGY

validating these ideas as part of a liberation movement. After learning how to hate Jews in a socially acceptable way, the students go into the wider world to spread their ideology.

Through the ages, Jews have been accused of the evils of society. Not so long ago, Jewish ‘racial impurity’ was the Satan of the day.

Following the rise of the human rights movement, this idea has been inverted and Jews are now denounced as racists themselves. The NUS has put Jews on trial and found them guilty.

The NUS made an unequivocal apology following the release of the report. But now it must be judged by its actions.

Israel’s judicial reforms require calmer scrutiny

YONATAN GREEN ISRAEL LAW & LIBERTY FORUM

Anyone following the news in Israel can hardly avoid the frenzied reactions to the proposals for judicial and legal reform. Delivering on a key campaign promise, freshly appointed minister of justice Yariv Levin has outlined his policy agenda in broad strokes, triggering a deluge of dire warnings from politicians and pundits about the end of Israeli democracy. “Hungary is here” and “political coup” are common refrains.

Yet for all the hyperbole and alarmism, a closer look at the proposed reforms reveals a measured, justified, and indeed patently democratic response to decades of illegitimate judicial overreach.

Regardless of whether one supports them, these reforms are well within the democratic prerogative of an elected government with a popular mandate for constitutional redesign, and hardly warrant a collective panic attack.

The Israeli Supreme Court is widely regarded to be among the world’s most activist.

Over 40 years, it has arrogated to itself

key governing authority and has invented a degree of judicial power unparalleled in any modern democratic society, for the most part with no basis of statutory authorisation or public legitimacy, and in many senses entirely incompatible with established notions of accountable government and democratic self-rule.

This has been e ected by the development of some truly egregious flaws – elements of Israel’s legal system that are indefensible in principle and unsustainable in practice.

The most glaring are indeed targeted by the new proposal: judicial supremacy over legislation despite the lack of a written and publicly acknowledged constitution; a vague and lawless “reasonableness” doctrine replacing the executive’s

governing prerogative and subjecting accountable government policymaking to unaccountable judicial control; and judicial veto-power over appointments to the bench systematically abused to exclude jurisprudentially diverse judges.

Far from purely partisan or self-serving, genuine criticism of these flaws has been consistent (and consistently growing) since the 1980s and has been forcefully advanced by some of Israel’s leading legal scholars. They include towering figures such as Prof Daniel Friedmann, Prof Ruth Gavison, Prof Yoav Dotan and chief justice Moshe Landau – all considered political moderates. Levin’s proposed reforms address these flaws precisely and closely track specific suggestions made by many of Israel’s highlyregarded legal giants.

The maligned ‘override”’clause merely reverts final say authority to the Knesset – Israel’s legislature and the only branch of government directly accountable to the electorate.

While a written constitution may be desirable, it is inescapable that the Israeli public never consciously enacted or adopted one. Instead, in a 1995 ruling hotly disputed and vehemently contested to this day, the Supreme Court decided two new Basic Laws

could serve as Israel’s pseudo-constitution, which somehow grants judicial review over primary legislation.

Israel remains the only country with judicial power to strike down laws, yet without the textual basis of a written constitution to legitimise, define and limit such monumental judge-made authority.

Critics and observers should also consider the proposed reforms are in many senses more benign and measured than other valid alternatives.

In lieu of the override clause – requiring an absolute majority and unlikely to be used often (if Canadian experience is anything to go by) – the Knesset could simply amend the Basic Law and state explicitly no court has authority to override legislation, period. Instead of minor tweaks to the judicial selections committee, the Knesset could scrap it and adopt a purely political process (nomination by the government, approval by the legislature, etc), as is standard practice for most constitutional courts. The Knesset has full authority to make these changes, and none needs special legislative majority.

All would be wise to approach the current proposals for judicial reform in a levelheaded, responsible and informed manner; our democracy would be all the better for it.

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1NOISY SLAM DUNK AT WEMBLEY

A huge supporting crowd turned out to cheer Israeli professional basketball team Hapoel Tel Aviv, roaring as they beat London Lions 95-93 in the Euro Cup match at OVO Arena Wembley. Twelve-year-old superfan Rafi Shakhani met American Hapoel team member Jean-Pierre Tokoto II. “It was such a high to be there,” said Rafi’s mum Ronit.

2

JNETICS SUPPER QUIZ SUCCESS

Some 200 young professionals attended the first supper quiz for Jnetics. Held in conjunction with Kinloss (Finchley United Synagogue), it featured eight rounds on topics including sports, music, food and drink, TV and film, with a bonus round on Jewish genetic disorders. Nicole Gordon, Jnetics CEO, said: “I am immensely proud of the young committee, who have worked tirelessly to ensure tonight is nothing less than a success.”

3

PAPERWEIGHT GREETS GUESTS

Paperweight, the Jewish community’s advice and resource centre, welcomed Mike Freer MP to its offices to meet the team and view the charity’s new walk-in offices in Bell Lane, Hendon. Pictured, from left: Benjamin Conway, chair; Mike Freer; Bayla Perrin, CEO; Andrea Silverman, national services coordinator and Harvey Silver, team leader.

4

DANCING QUEENS VISIT CARE HOME

Members of Club12, the batmitzvah club at Whitefield Shul in Manchester, learned and performed a dance at Heathlands Senior Home this week. They also spent time speaking with and getting to know the residents.

A TIGHT-KNIT TAKE ON CLIMATE CRISIS

Knitter Jacqueline Krafchik from Woodside Park took 365 days and 17 different coloured balls of yarn to knit a wrap documenting the daily highest temperature in Barnet. Part of a climate change project, each day was represented by a corresponding colour. The hottest day of 2022, 18 July, was marked by a dark grey yarn with a hint of purple, called ‘Death on the Tarmac’.

6 GIFT-ING TO THE COMMUNITY

A crowd of more than 200 gathered at the first Young GIFT fundraising social at the White City Soho House in west London. The group encourages young professionals aged between 22 and 32 to connect alongside volunteer opportunities at The Giving Kitchen, across food support, packing and delivering, befriending the elderly and tutoring.

Jewish Deaf Association

A look

Sculptor captures 92-year-old survivor Sing as you ski!

THE EFFECT DORON

It is hard to imagine Fauda’s Doron as bashful. Surly, brooding, arrogant and violent, sure. But never bashful.

Lior Raz is a different beast, particularly if you talk about how he – thanks to Doron – has become an international sex symbol.

“Can we talk about something else?” he pleads when I ask about his heart-throb status. “I don’t know. I don’t know.” The Doron-style steeliness that is beneath Lior’s smoother edges ensures that we move on.

What the married (sorry, ladies) father of four does concede is that there are certain places where he can barely walk down the street without being bothered. The places will surprise you: “I cannot walk down the street in Saudi Arabia, I cannot walk in the UAE,” he says. “People just grab me because they want pictures. They shout, ‘Doron! Doron! Doron!’ It is crazy. It is a number one show all over the Arab world and that is one of the craziest things about it.”

It is not the only thing; a few weeks before we meet in London, where Lior, 50, was supporting the British arm of the Magen David Adom charity, his face was on the front of an Egyptian newspaper. At first, he was worried. “I thought they might want to kill me.”

It was quite the opposite: “They wrote about how Fauda had changed the perspective of how young Arab people see Israelis. It was a number one show in Lebanon, the UAE, Syria… in Iran they show it in Farsi. This is the magic of Fauda.”

It is not only the Arab world which has been a surprise but Israel too. “The right wing in our country said to us, ‘For the first time we feel compassionate about the other side.’”

Fauda is, in essence, a tense and brilliant spy drama about a commando Arab-speaking IDF unit that works undercover in the West Bank and Gaza. But it has always been much more than that; humanising both sides of the intractable IsraelPalestine conflict and also showing the dreadful tit-for-tat cycle.

to talk about the Palestinian side too because knowing who they are is just as important.”

Lior had already been told that it was likely he had PTSD but didn’t know how to help himself. He calls writing the show his therapy. “I suffered from PTSD for long time,” he says. “I think through the creation, the writing, I can sort of get out of it. It has helped me a lot. But there are six friends of mine who were in that unit – there were 11 of us –and they are now, like me, 50 and they are suing the army about their PTSD. It has taken them 30 years to understand their life is bad, maybe because of it, and they are suing the army to get some treatment.”

Much of what is in the show comes from the experiences Lior and Avi encountered in the unit; even if his memory had – in his words –“blacked out” a lot of what happened.

unit because you have to be a strong person, and also a moral person because we were often in very difficult situations. But I think it takes years after you’ve left to understand what went on.”

Lior and Avi don’t dress up the pain of what life is like in that unit, and in the IDF as a whole. But at the same time, they remain proud ambassadors for both their unit and their country.

“When the IDF found out we were doing the series – there are no censors so you can write what you like – I think they were a bit afraid but then they saw the show,” Lior says of the IDF.

“The Palestinians already know about the undercover units – sometimes more than we show – but at the same time we don’t show everything. They remain our brothers – we are one big family.”

and angry - he’s been kicked out of the unit as a result of what happened in the previous series until something so dreadful happens that it drags him back in. This series also gives the team their biggest challenges yet as they go into completely new territory: first Belgium and then Lebanon.

While some shows appear to drag on, Fauda seems to get stronger and stronger, but for Lior that is just part of a career he could never have envisaged.

“My life has changed so much,” he says. “I have just finished filming a show in London with [British actor] Tom Holland, an Indian version of Fauda has come out and we have so many plans in the pipeline including setting up a Middle East hub with creatives in the UAE. I am living a dream that I would never have dared to dream.”

The show is based on Lior’s own experiences in the IDF’s elite Duvdevan unit. He was talking with a fellow member of the unit, journalist Avi Issacharoff – a teenage friend from Jerusalem – while they were working as reserves in the West Bank when they jointly came up with the idea of making a drama out of their experiences.

“Avi asked me if I had a dream and I told him that I wanted to write something about the people we were then with – about the mental price they were all paying, the price everybody surrounding them was paying,” says Lior. “We both wanted

“When we were in the service we didn’t think too much about what we were doing; you have your mission, this is what you do,” he says. “We were very young and very stupid. You just do what you are told to do, like a warhorse.

“I think it was only later on that we understood many of the things that we did with perspective. And we understood that some of the stuff that happened there wasn’t right. Some of it was good but some of it you regret.

“We were chosen to be in that

In the start of the fourth series Doron is once again alone

 Fauda season 4 starts on Netflix on 20 January

Lior Raz as Doron (also inset) and Lucy Ayoub as Maya in season 4 of Fauda

Holocaust Memorial Day is on Friday 27 January

A day to REMEMBER

The

Typically, when eating sandwiches and enjoying morning tea, Manfred Goldberg is rarely the focus of attention. So it took some adjusting when he found himself sat in the middle of an art studio in Wapping with all eyes upon him as sculptor Frances Segelman set about creating his likeness in clay.

The artist and her 92-year-old subject had not met before, but producing a bust in front of an audience is second nature for Frances, as she has done it many times before. “I like to have lots of people watching,” says the woman known for her sculptures of the royal family and personalities from the world of entertainment, politics and sport. Frances actually excels under scrutiny, and her work becomes more fluid when the subject’s face holds a story, though she rarely asks them to tell it if they are Holocaust survivors.

Manfred Goldberg’s tale is etched across his brow and his heart. He is the fifth survivor Frances is creating for the Yad Vashem UK Foundation’s Holocaust survivor series and, once the likeness has been bronzed at a nearby foundry, there will be an intimate unveiling for friends and family. But there is one family member whom Manfred would have loved to be present on that auspicious day. His younger brother, Herman.

For seven decades Manfred chose not to recite a memorial prayer for his sibling, who was taken by the Nazis from Preču labour camp in Latvia in 1941. Manfred was also there as was his mother, as all three had been transported from their home in Kassel, Germany, after Baruch Goldberg, the boys’ father, escaped to England. Manfred, then 13, had been working on nearby railway lines when he returned to the camp to learn that his nine-year-old brother had gone. The panic and terror that ensued as he and his mother realised Herman had disappeared echoed in Manfred’s mind. “One hears of miraculous reunions where members of a family find each other after 60 years or more by pure chance,” Manfred told BBC Teach. “I never said the prayer El Maleh Rachamim on his behalf, making myself believe that maybe he was still alive.”

13, had been working on nearby railway lines when he returned to the camp to learn

When Manfred was invited by his hometown to place some stolpersteine (‘stumbling block’ memorials) on the street where the family had lived; after 72 years of hoping and searching, Herman’s murder finally had to be acknowledged.

explain,”

“All the survivors I have sculpted have something really beautiful about them, which I can’t really explain,” says Frances, who has created sculptures of Sir Ben Helfgott, Mala Tribich, Lily Ebert and Zigi Shipper who died on Wednesday, his 93rd birthday.

Frances Segelman, who has made 15 busts of Holocaust survivors, speaks to Brigit Grant as she sculpts her latest

sculptor & the survivor

REMEMBER

me her husband never complains. He never feels cold, never feels hot, never feels hungry and never feels tired... that must be from the hell that he’s been through in his life.” From her experience, which has seen her create more than 200 heads, Frances has found that the people who have been most successful in their lives have been the most positive. “And that is the thing that gets them through. Holocaust survivors have experienced such horrific things and maybe a number of them feel guilty because they’re still here. But they understand that they’re here to tell their story to the world so that it doesn’t happen again.”

Performing under pressure as she was observed last week was business as usual for Frances, who joined everyone for a cuppa when she had finished in the allocated two hours. “But once I sat down and looked at Manfred as he was eating a sandwich, I realised something was not quite right with what I had done. So I said, ‘Manfred, come back quickly. I know where it has gone wrong.’”

Frances had seen a shadow and a shape that she had missed before and suddenly understood. “Then it was okay,” she smiled.

But the shadow of Manfred’s brother remains.

The stories unfold

How the Holocaust Began (BBC Two and iPlayer)

Many people do not realise that the death camps were just the final act of the Holocaust. Historian James Bulgin, who created the New Holocaust Galleries at the Imperial War Museum, has made a film about what went on before, exploring the mass shootings, collaboration and experimentation by a highly organised genocide machine that led to the Final Solution. Millions of victims – men, women and children – were shot and buried in thousands of trenches and ditches in fields and forests across eastern Europe, o en unrecorded and uncounted. James meets image analysts and forensic experts as well as relatives and eyewitnesses to piece together what happened to the lost victims of the Holocaust.

The US and the Holocaust (BBC Four and iPlayer)

This three-part series examines how the American people and their leaders responded to one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of the 20th century, and how it challenged their identity as a nation of immigrants and the ideals of American democracy. The first episode focuses on 1938 when, a er decades of open borders, a xenophobic backlash prompts the United States to pass laws restricting immigration. As Hitler gains support for his antisemitic rhetoric, and the Nazis begin their persecution of Jewish people, many flee to neighbouring countries or to America. Franklin D Roosevelt and other world leaders are concerned by the growing refugee crisis, but they fail to coordinate a response. In episode 2, a er Kristallnacht, Germany’s Jews are desperate to escape Hitler’s tyranny and, although Americans are united in their disapproval of the Nazis’ brutality, they remain divided on whether and even how to act as the Second World War begins. In episode 3, reports of mass killing reach the United States and we see how the country responds. A deeply engrossing must-watch.

Three Minutes: A Lengthening (BBC Four and iPlayer)

Narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, this film unravels the stories hidden in three minutes of footage – all that remains of the Jewish community of Nasielsk, Poland, filmed in 1938 by photographer David Kurtz and made available courtesy of the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. There is insight from the filmmaker’s grandson and a boy who appears in the faded footage – one of the few survivors of the village wiped out in the Shoah.

A photo of Manfred with younger brother Herman, who was killed, behind the stolpersteine

Scenes from Three Minutes, footage from 1938 of the Jewish community of Nasielsk, Poland

A view of the Statue of Liberty in The US and the Holocaust

and the Holocaust, and historian James Bulgin

The HISTORY boy

Dynastic power struggles, deadly betrayals and the brutality of war might be par for the course in GameofThrones, but the reality of medieval times was far more intense and dramatic, albeit without the dragons, says the author of an intriguing historical novel.

At The Court of Broken Dreams is by Laurence Baillie Brown, a resident of Stella and Harry Freedman House in Friern Barnet.

The 68-year-old has been “enthusiastically” embarking on a second career as a writer, having spent 37 years as a college lecturer teaching business law to his students, before a spell of ill health meant he had to move into the Jewish Care home three years ago.

Laurence recalls “not eating or reading, let alone writing” when he first arrived, but with the encouragement and support of his carers he was able to pick up his pen once more, having published his first novel, Addictions, in 2000.

That time, he composed a ‘coming out’ story, which he says was “based largely on my own life

story of blood brotherhood and courtly love, featuring England’s most controversial monarch and a mysterious Catalan rabbi.

A self-confessed history bu , Laurence spent many “enjoyable months researching” his latest book and even diligently compiled the family trees appearing in the introduction of his main characters, who are based on real-life figures from the 15th century.

“I’ve always loved history,” Laurence enthuses during a recent Zoom chat from his care home. A look around his room reveals his passion for the past. On the wall behind him are black-and-white photographs and colourful reprints of historical paintings.

“Those are my great-grandparents,” he smiles, pointing to one frame. “They were from Poland and came to Hull in about 1895. My great-granddad was the president of the Central Synagogue. He was a very well-known figure and they had a small furniture-making factory.

“This one is Esther Before Ahasuerus by Tintoretto, and to the right of that is my abso-

took o , but he did go on to write for the gay press.

That Laurence would want to combine his love for history and writing in this second novel is not surprising – but why the Middle Ages? The discovery of Richard III’s bones buried under a Leicester car park in 2012 – under a space painted with an ‘R’ no less – planted the first seeds of an idea. He began to consider framing a story around the War of the Roses featuring one of the most divisive kings, who was responsible for the apparent murder of his nephews, Edward V and his younger brother, Richard, the Duke of York. Richard III was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty, so his death marked the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new Tudor age. There’s also a nod to Henry VI, the last Lancastrian king, who “was absolutely pathetic” as monarch, but invested in education, founding both Eton and Laurence’s alma mater, King’s College, Cambridge.

Woven into this backdrop is “a longstanding interest” Laurence has had in the De-La-Pole family, who came from his native Hull.

“Everybody in Hull knows that name. My aunt lived in De-La-Pole Avenue and there was the former mental health facility, De-La-Pole Hospital. The family went from being Hull merchants to marrying into the Plantagenet family in just three generations.” The origin of the DeLa-Pole family is unknown, though Laurence discovered an ancestor called Rotenheryng, who may have been Jewish.

marry Elizabeth Plantagenet, the sister of King Edward IV, whom Eddie “absolutely worships”.

He becomes involved in a close friendship with Edward IV’s brother-in-law Anthony Wydeville, with the pair eventually deciding to become “blood brothers”, to the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth. She sends Anthony away from court to tutor her son, allowing Eddie to become more focused on his political ambitions. He finds himself drawn to an up-and-coming figure in court, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who will later become Richard III. When he ascends to the throne, Richard decides to eliminate the Wydeville family and their claims to the monarchy. The princes are sent to the tower, and Anthony is sentenced to execution.

– being brought up Jewish in the north of England and discovering being gay as a teenager.”

But while his latest work also encompasses Jewish and gay themes, the setting takes place hundreds of years ago rather than in Laurence’s lifetime. For his second novel, he has plundered history for the most intriguing moments of the Middle Ages. The result is a factually-based

lute favourite, The Ambassadors by Holbein –both copies though, of course!”

Laurence was encouraged to study law at Cambridge “under the influence of my dad”, but admits that from early on he would have liked to have been a writer and poet. After graduating, he proposed to the BBC a TV adaptation of EM Forster’s novel Maurice, which never

The novel is steeped in historical accuracy except for the main narrator, Eddie, who is a fictionalised son of the Duke of Su olk and is bisexual; and his companion, Rabbi Abraham di Mayorca, a mystical scholar and Spanish ambassador who can see the writing is on the wall for the Jews of Spain.

In the opening scenes a teenage Eddie is sent to fight at the Battle of Towton, which the Yorkists win against the greatest odds. His brother, John, is engaged to

between his political ambitions and loyalty to his friend, he

rence. To find out what happens buy their own copy.

“But Eddie says nothing and is wracked by guilt, because in this battle between his political ambitions and loyalty to his friend, he chooses the first,” explains Laurence. To find out what happens next, and the book’s unexpected conclusion, readers will have to buy their own copy.

rence. “I always loved learning about the Tudors and Stuarts, but actually the Middle Ages are

“The whole of the era is about dynastic struggle,” says Laurence. “I always loved learning about the Tudors and Stuarts, but actually the Middle Ages are far more exciting than people might think.”

▶ At The Court of Broken Dreams by Laurence Baillie Brown, £13.99. Available from Amazon

Dreams Brown, £13.99. Available

The unusual author of a new historical novel tells Sarah Miller the Middle Ages were far more exciting than people think

lecturer, signs copies of his novel

Laurence at the launch of his book at Jewish Care’s Stella and Harry Freedman House

as you

You could call it high anxiety – 1,800 metres above sea level to be exact –though the worry itself was small.

My nervousness was a legacy of my first skiing trip, when an ankle injury on the third day had confined me to the chalet. On this, my second trip, I was returning to the same area of France, and I was with my daughter. The aim was to introduce her to a sport she’d been keen to try, and to rediscover a joy of skiing. We smashed both targets, thanks to the unique, family-run hotel where we stayed.

The slopes were buzzing on our first morning on skis because mid-December was the first week of the season. We had booked a two-hour private lesson with Pierre, organised through the hotel’s owner. Pierre sensed our keenness but knew that confidence was everything, so he took things slowly. Twenty minutes later we were ready to take a chair-

lift up to the ‘plateau’ of Avoriaz (the z is silent) where, to my amazement, we skied down a 2km blue run. At the end of the morning, at the bottom of the Boulevard des Skieurs, Pierre saw the grin on my face. “C’est bien le ski,” he said, in acknowledgement. “Oui, je l’aime,” I replied.

The following morning, though, my nervousness returned. I confided in Francesca, the owner of Chilly Powder, the resort in Morzine where we were based. She had a tip: “You need to sing,” she said. “Out loud.” Seeing my hesitancy, she added emphatically: “Sing the words.” Doing this would stop my upper body tensing up. Soon afterwards, I was making my way through show tunes from West Side Story to Lloyd Webber to the Sound

of Music; so apt for the Alps, I told myself smugly. And, as Chanukah was a few days away, I began another song as I leaned into my boots and prepared to set o down the 2km run we had mastered with Pierre.

“Maoz tsur yeshua –” crash. The previous day’s snow had turned to ice and, as I fell forward, limbs splayed, my voice stopped as abruptly as my progress down the slope.

With a bruised thumb and wounded pride, it helped to be staying at a luxury hotel. Our accommodation, Au Coin du Feu (At the Fireside), in Morzine, is perfectly situated for the slopes of Avoriaz because it’s right at the foot of the mountain: five minutes’ walk from the Prodains Express cable car (“better than

and, a blessing, the sun shone as my daughter and I travelled up the mountain on the button lift, silent beauty all around punctuated only by the occasional jangle of the metal arm righting itself. On the blue run from the day before something clicked; she was doing some impressive parallel turns and mine were definitely getting more parallel by the day. Beaming with pride, that evening at the hotel we asked Ben, one of Chilly Powder’s ski school assistants, to suggest a new route, and the following day we arrived, just as the piste map promised, at Les Lindarets, a tiny village which in summer has hundreds of goats roaming through it.

Francesca and Paul, the British-born couple who set up Chilly Powder in 1996, met while working in Morzine and brought up their family in the hotel they built. “As our children grew and we realised what people needed, so we expanded,” Francesca told me. Le Coin Au Feu now has 53 beds, including family rooms, as well as smaller chalets sleeping up to 15, but retains a homely feel.

a fairground ride,” my daughter noted) that takes you to the resort. At 1,800m, Avoriaz is rarely short of snow in the winter and o ers a quiet elegance. Its tall buildings, mostly covered in red cedar wood, blend in with the mountains and the village itself is entirely pedestrianised, though with plenty of restaurants, cafes and shops for delicious lunch and rest breaks and necessities.

We stayed half-board at Hotel Au Coin du Feu, where the hospitality extends to so much more than food: every member of sta has a smile and a kind word. Our evening routine was a treat, with scones and cake at 4.30pm to welcome us home before we unwound in the outdoor hot tub. Dinner itself was outstanding: exquisite canapes at 7.45pm were followed by four excellent courses –including cheese – with fine wines included. My smugness returned.

Our third day’s skiing was a joy. Heavy snow overnight lay thick and powdery on the slopes

As free shuttle buses brought skiers to and from the centre of Morzine to the Prodains Express, we were just a walk away, and were being thoroughly pampered, not least by Annie, who gave my daughter a 50-minute massage in the cosy spa tent next to the hotel. A miracle? Almost. Magical? Without a doubt. “Maoz tsur yeshua-ski, lecha na’eh leshabe’ah…”

Childcare, ski school – and kosher food on request

Chilly Powder operates all year round. Winter packages (half-board) for individuals, groups and families start from ¤995 pp per week based on two adults sharing. Childcare is available, from ¤315 a week, and ski school for ¤295 a week. Chilly Powder also offers self-catered and B&B options in both summer and winter, and is available for weddings and events. Kosher catering can be arranged by special request.

Visit www.chillypowder.com Ski hire: www.doorstepskis.com Lessons: www.avoriazalpineski school.com

Hotel Au Coin Du Feu and (le ) Beatrice and daughter Freyde

Wedding suite

Social, Wedding & Events

Open Day

Come along and join us at the DoubleTree by Hilton London Elstree on Sunday 29th January 2023 from 11 am - 4pm. See our large function rooms set up throughout the day and meet with our dedicated Events team who will be on hand to help you envision your next event. Whether it’s a wedding, bah or bat mitzvah, birthday party or a corporate event, we have an experienced team who would be delighted to make your event a success. Come and view our multimillion pound refurbishment, discuss your requirements with us and we will give you two complimentary bedrooms when you book your next event.

Please pre-book your attendance. To claim your 2 complimentary bedrooms, book and confirm your event with usby 31st March 2023. Bedrooms will be for the night prior or the night of your event (x1 night, Bed & Breakfast in a standard room for double occupancy).

MA’AYAN

decisions? You don’t have the right grades for that course, the right experience to apply for that job, the right skills to get that promotion. It can seem that once you’ve chosen a path, it’s too late to change direction.

Do you find yourself agonising over a decision? Which A-levels to do, which degree to apply for? Is now a good time to get on the property ladder? Whatever stage you’re at, you can with hindsight see how every decision as well as circumstances out of your control have led you to this point.

What about going forward? Are there things you’d like to achieve that feel unattainable because of previous

A Jewish child given away as a baby was brought up by a non-Jewish family. He grew up in a tough neighbourhood and one day came across two men fighting. He intervened, killed the aggressor to protect the victim then fled the country to avoid arrest. He settled down and married the daughter of a priest; he no longer had any connection to his birth family or the Jewish community.

He eventually, aged 80, returned to Judaism and the Jewish people. Why? Because God told him to lead the Jewish people out of the slavery they’d been trapped in for 210 years.

When Moshe hears what God wants him to do he is filled with doubts. He’s exceedingly humble, doesn’t like the limelight, and he has a speech impediment; not the best skillset for a leader and teacher who must do lots of public speaking. He’s used to working alone, with only sheep for company.

On paper, with his experience, background and skills, he’s not the obvious candidate for the job.

He expresses these concerns to God with the words: “Who am I?” (Exodus 3:11). How could I possibly be the best person to take on this role?” Yet despite his fears, he steps up and demands his people’s freedom.

This week, in parshat Va’eira, the Torah makes the point that Moshe was 80 and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7). Everything

we associate with Moshe – the miracles, the plagues, splitting the sea, teaching us the Torah and leading us through the desert to the Promised Land – he accomplished between the ages of 80 and 120. Moshe wasn’t born a great leader; he had struggles, doubts and insecurities like the rest of us. He didn’t allow his past to deter-

mine his future, and in overcoming his challenges he became Moshe Rabbeinu (our teacher), the greatest teacher we’ve ever had as a nation.

If you’re having a ‘who am I?’ moment, remember there’s nothing really stopping you taking that next step – it’s never too late to become great.

Shoah survivor Lily Ebert, 99, co-authored her first book in 2021

BY RABBI LEA MÜHLSTEIN THE ARK SYNAGOGUE

in the list of so-called Noahide laws – the seven laws that even non-Jews are obliged to follow.

“Justice, justice shall you pursue!”

These words from Exodus 23:8 echo loudly through the Jewish tradition from biblical times until today. From this injunction follows the commandment to establish proper courts of law with judges mandated to mete out justice without prejudice or favour to those who hold power. The rabbis of the mishnaic and talmudic period considered this commandment from Deuteronomy 16 to be of such grave

In light of these clear biblical and rabbinic teachings, it is shocking that the new Israeli government, the first majority orthodox government in Israeli history, has launched a serious attack on the judiciary in its first 100 days in o ce.

Its proposal for an ‘override clause’ would allow the Knesset, with a bare majority (in the 120-seat parliament, that is 61 votes), to overrule any ruling of the Supreme Court. It has far-reaching consequences.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, Esther Hayut, warned that the clause will “deprive the court of the option to override laws that disproportionately violate human rights, including the right to life, property, freedom of move-

human dignity and its derivatives – the right to equality, freedom of speech and more.”

To appreciate why the proposal is widely considered to pose a serious threat to Israel’s democracy, it is important to recall that as Israel lacks a second chamber or formal constitution, and the country’s president does not have the power to veto laws, the Supreme Court is the only Israeli institution that can provide checks and balances on decisions of the Knesset.

The ‘override clause’ would e ectively abolish these. It would make Israeli democracy highly susceptible to a tyranny of the majority – enabling even a government that holds a very small majority of the seats to pursue exclusively its own objectives at the expense of all who find themselves in the minority.

Yet, the Bible and our Jewish

tradition are clear that this model of a tyranny of the majority is not what can be considered justice. As it says in Deuteronomy 27:19: “Cursed be the one who subverts the rights of (or maybe more literally, twists justice

away from) the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.”

We can only hope that the Israeli government will remember these Jewish teachings about the value of justice and reconsider its proposal.

A stimulating series where our progressive rabbis consider how Biblical figures might act when faced with 21st-century

Benjamin Netanyahu leads a government that is attacking the judiciary

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

Ask our

Our trusty team of advisers answers your questions about everything from law and finance to dating and dentistry. This week: Inheritance tax, manging the menopause and moving to Israel...

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES KKL

Dear Carolyn

I would like to transfer my house into the names of my married children, but I don’t want to move out. Is this sensible inheritance tax planning?

Ruth

Dear Ruth

There are several important reasons why this would not be advisable.

You haven’t said, but I would assume for the purpose of this answer that your children live in their own homes which they will continue to occupy whilst you live in your home. If this is the case, the (inheritance) taxman will view what you have done as a Gift with a Reservation

of Benefit. They will deem that you reserve the enjoyment of the object in question (in your case, your home) while purporting to have given it away and therefore your estate, when you die, will still be taxed, possibly at 40% depending on how your Will is structured, on the value of the property. One way of avoiding this trap is to pay your children a market rent for the right to continue living in the house although this is not normally a popular option.

Additionally, you could put your own security of occupation at risk if any of your children were to get divorced or they or their spouses faced bankruptcy, bringing what was your home into the sites of the family courts or creditors depending upon the case. Your children would also be entitled, as owners, to sell the property without your consent.

These sound like drastic consequences but these situations arise. Take professional advice before taking such a hazardous step.

Hi Joanna So sorry you are having a rough time of it. I feel your pain.

DAY-MOORE MENOPUASE CHAMPION LABALANCE

Dear Angela

I have menopause had symptoms for the past 10 years (it’s a long time). With continuous brain fog, unbearable hot flushes and night sweats which make me tired and irritable all the time. My doctor prescribed HRT and my symptoms worsened. I was advised wear a patch and take pessaries but nothing worked. I don’t know what to try next. Joanna

Perhaps telling you my story could help you. I’m 55 years young, at the height of my menopause, and was feeling like I had been run over by a lorry!

With the HRT weight gain and mood swings I felt that I had no control over my body.

I started to wear my LaBalance recommended by a friend for my menopause at the beginning of this year.

Within a few weeks I noticed a decrease in my hot flushes, smoother sleep patterns and many of my symptoms started to disappear. In my third

month virtually all my symptoms had subsided! After six months they had all gone and my libido had returned!!.

I feel so back to normal, amazed this little discreet magnetic device works for me.

It has had such a positive effect on my menopause journey and my life. It’s why I’ve created Sassy La Femme to spread the “LaBalance” word, as for me it brings balance back to my body.

I’ve collected hundreds of testimonies, from the past 18 years from wearers who say it has massively helped them.

If you decide to try it I’d love to know if it helps you too.

STEPHEN MORRIS

REMOVALS MANAGING

DIRECTOR

STEPHEN MORRIS SHIPPING LTD

Dear Stephen

What are the costs and delivery times like these days for moving home from the UK to Israel?

Mel

Dear Mel

At long last it looks as though prices are beginning to stabilise. We belong to a sea freight buying consortium called The Movers

Development Company for Israel (International) Ltd.

This advertisement has been issued by the Development Company for Israel (International) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and registered in England No. 01415853. This is not an offering, which could only be made by prospectus. Your capital is at risk, the rules under FSMA for the protection of retail clients do not apply. An investment in any of these bonds will not be covered by the provisions of the Financial Services Compensation scheme, nor by any similar scheme.

bonds are intended as a long-term investment as they are not listed or admitted to dealing on any recognised investment or stock exchange nor is there any established secondary market, as a consequence Israel bonds are not readily realisable before their maturity date. DCI (International) Ltd is not the issuer of these bonds, they are issued by the State of Israel. 01-23

Trading Club (MTC) and we enter into contracts fixing sea freight shipping costs for up to a year at a time. Of course there are little increases caused by fuel and currency changes, but overall we can quote excellent all-inclusive, door to door rates and hold them for a bit longer than during the pandemic!

And the current bonus is that the journey time between the UK and Israel has been reduced from 21 days to just 14 days which makes the logistics of the move so much easier.

Allowing time to pack, load, deliver to the port, clear UK Customs, sea freight to Israel, clear Israeli Customs and deliver to your new residence, less than a month

is now achievable for full containers.

Even our groupage times have seriously improved.

We are the largest movers of families from the UK to Israel and as such can o er similar fast journey times for small shipments within one of our groupage containers.

These leave, on average, every two weeks and, at busy times (like now) we can often o er immediate shipment.

Do please call me when you are ready to plan your move.

ANGELA

Got a question for a member of our team? Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

Got a question for a member of our team?

Email: editorial@jewishnews.co.uk

TREVOR GEE

Qualifications:

• Managing Director, consultant specialists in affordable family health insurance.

JEWELLER

JOE OZER

Qualifications:

FINANCIAL SERVICES

• Executive director for the United Kingdom at DCI (Intl) Ltd

• Worked in finance for more than 20 years

• Specialists in distribution and promotion of Israel Bonds

DEVELOPMENT COMPANY FOR ISRAEL 020 3936 2712 www.israelbondsintl.com joe.ozer@israelbondsintl.com

COMMERCIAL LAWYER

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

Qualifications:

• Jewellery manufacturer since 1980s.

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

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

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

DIRECTOR OF LEGACIES

CAROLYN ADDLEMAN

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in will drafting and trust and estate administration. Last 14 years at KKL Executor and Trustee Company.

• In close contact with clients to ensure all legal and pastoral needs are cared for.

• Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

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

REMOVALS MANAGING DIRECTOR

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.

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

•

ADAM LOVATT

Qualifications:

• Lawyer with more than 11 years of experience working in the legal sector. Specialist in corporate, commercial, media, sport and start-ups.

• Master’s degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London.

• Non-Executive Director of various companies advising on all governance matters.

LOVATT LEGAL LIMITED 07753 802 804 adam@lovattlegal.co.uk

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

•

•

SUE CIPIN

Qualifications:

•

JEWISH DEAF ASSOCIATION 020 8446 0502 www.jdeaf.org.uk mail@jdeaf.org.uk

PRINCIPAL, PERFORMING ARTS SCHOOL

LOUISE LEACH

Qualifications:

• Professional choreographer qualified in dance, drama and Zumba (ZIN, ISTD

& LAMDA), gaining an honours degree at Birmingham University.

•

•

DANCING WITH LOUISE 075 0621 7833 www.dancingwithlouise.co.uk Info@dancingwithlouise.com

•

•

FINANCIAL SERVICES (FCA) COMPLIANCE

JACOB BERNSTEIN

Qualifications:

• A

• Alternative Investment Fund managers;

• E-Money, payment services, PISP, AISP and grant-making charities.

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

MENOPAUSE CHAMPION LABALANCE

ANGELA DAY-MOORE

Qualifications:

•

•

•

MENOPAUSE CHAMPION LABALANCE 0333 188 6580 www.sassylafemme.com hello@sassylafemme.com

HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYMENT LAW

DONNA OBSTFELD

Qualifications:

• FCIPD Chartered HR Professional

• 25 years in HR and Business Management.

• Mediator, Business Coach, Trainer, Author and Speaker

• Supporting businesses and charities with the hiring, managing, inspiring and firing of their staff

DOHR LTD 020 8088 8958 www.dohr.co.uk donna@dohr.co.uk

•

•

NEFESH

DIVORCE & FAMILY SOLICITOR

Qualifications:

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

ADAM SHELLEY

Qualifications:

Professional advice from our panel / Ask Our Experts

ACCOUNTANT

• 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.

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

IT SPECIALIST

LISA WIMBORNE

Qualifications:

CHARITY EXECUTIVE

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.

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

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.

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

INSURANCE CONSULTANCY

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.

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

CAREER ADVISER

Email: sales@jewishnews.co.uk

TELECOMS SPECIALIST

ALBERT

BENJAMIN

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.

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

ALIYAH ADVISER

Superb care in a setting family

Looking for a care home for yourself or a loved one? Then you could do no better than to join us as part of our Springdene family. Unlike other care homes, which are often part of large corporations, we are a family business. And we’re still run by the same family that founded it more than 50 years ago.

New residents at Springdene can be sure of a warm reception. All our homes – Spring Grove in Hampstead, Spring Lane in Muswell Hill and Springview in Enfield – are rated as good by the Care Quality Commission.

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.

And there are lots of regular activities, including quizzes, short stories, art competitions and poetry readings, live-streamed concerts and film-showings on a big screen, as well as walks in delightful gardens.

We’ve a great team, o ering wonderful care and everyone is brilliantly looked after.

As our motto says:

Muswell Hill

One of the finest and best-appointed homes for older people in North London, Spring Lane is just a short distance from Muswell Hill Broadway.

Hampstead

Instrument panel of a motor vehicle (6)

Person who always agrees with the boss (3-3)

Carbohydrate (6)

Copy illicitly (4)

Bone between the neck and arm (8)

Picked, selected (6)

Bring in from another country (6)

Male deity (3)

Domesticated polecat (6)

Short period when children are off school (4-4)

Very smart (6)

Lightening of a burden (6)

Network (4)

Cereal, fruit and nut breakfast dish (6)

Observe illegally (3)

Edible shellfish (8)

Cigarette flickings (3)

Ribald, bawdy (6)

Interfering impertinently (6)

Dependable, phlegmatic (6)

Cries of approval (6)

Second to none (4)

The listed words related to junk and clutter 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.

Siesta,

Unopened, 11 Comfort food, 14 Extra-virgin, 18 Portable, 19 Avid, 20 Detour, 21 Exhort.

DOWN: 1 Disavow, 2 Tsar, 3 Valuer, 4 Get off, 5 Fire door, 6 River, 12 Fixation, 13 Mimicry, 15 Reborn, 16 Viewer, 17 Bones, 19 Ache.

SUDOKU

SUGURU

Rabbi Daniel HadarRabbi Dr. Laibl Wolf

Rabbi Yossi

Solomon Brothers

Rabbi Doron Perez