Life Magazine - March 2023

CHOICE.

Raymond’s stroke had a devastating effect on his and Pamela’s life until they moved in to their Jewish Blind & Disabled apartment. Now they enjoy the best of both worlds –independence with a social life on their doorstep.

Raymond & Pamela moved into their state-of-the-art mobility apartment in 2019.

To make a donation or to apply for an apartment visit www.jbd.org or call 020 8371 6611

WHEN THE

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

30 ANY RUSSIANS

56 THE PERFECT TOPPER

ALL NEW IN ISRAEL

COVER STAR, SIR NICHOLAS HYTNER, ON WHY HE LOVES GUYS & DOLLS BUT NOT THE MOVIE TO HIS LIFE

Editor’s letter

Another Life. Sounds like a drama series, but it’s another issue of Jewish News’ sensational magazine filled with features to enjoy before, during and after Passover.

We have an exclusive interview with Melinda Simmons, UK ambassador to Ukraine, and a conversation with the Chief Rabbi that puts him a new perspective.

There are so many important and

interesting people inside: Dame Maureen Lipman, chef Michael Twitty and cover star Sir Nicholas Hytner, who is getting rave reviews for his Guys & Dolls revival.

We also have an exclusive chat with Scott Mitchell, husband of the late Barbara Windsor, who has helped to make a change to dementia research that will hopefully benefit many.

As we enter matzah season, it seemed a good time to visit the home of the Jewish cracker and suggest some sweet ideas for

your Seder. We also say our farewell to the unforgettable Chaim Topol with a tribute from Tevye’s screen daughters and the actor’s own.

Wishing you Happy Passover and please sign up to get Life magazine delivered to your home from September.

Register at www.jewishnews.co.uk/life

Chag sameach! Brigit

Editor Brigit Grant brigit@jewishnews.co.uk

Art Director Diane Spender

Jewish News Editor

Richard Ferrer

Features Editor Louisa Walters

Contributors

Alex Galbinski

Nicole Lampert

Louise Scodie

Jotam Confino

Naomi Frankel

Debbie Collins

Angie Jacobs

Designers

Daniel Elias

John Nicholls

Sarah Rothberg

Advertising Sales

Marc Jacobs 020 8148 9701

Beverley Sanford 020 8148 9709

Yael Schlagman

020 8148 9705 sales@jewishnews.co.uk

IT’S ALL NEW COMING TO YOU

A SNAPSHOT OF THE EXCITING TV, THEATRE, BOOKS AND FASHION PIECES YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO THIS SPRING

Missin’ ya already, Midge

It had to happen sometime.

A er four seasons of watching a mouthy Jewish New York housewife handle the heckles in 1950s comedy clubs, she’s finally throwing down the mic. Season 5 will be the last and fans will weep into their Mrs Maisel aprons (her first impromptu inebriated gig was at The Gaslight Café) while hoping Midge leaves us as a star.

Ending The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which debuted in 2017, was Amazon Prime’s decision, and the response to it by creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino was arch. “They write the cheques, so when they call, you have to pick up the phone, apparently,” they chimed but, they said, the moment they found out: “We really took a lot of time and care to make sure we stick the landing, because the most important thing is to make sure Midge gets the send-o and full treatment she deserves.”

And boy does she deserve a bells and whistles send-o . The show won 20 Emmys, one of which went to Rachel Brosnahan (who also got two Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Critics Choice Awards). No actor to date has had that many wins in any one series, yet Brosnahan, who isn’t Jewish and had just been to a lot of barmitzvahs, still had her critics. But casting sort of evened out, as Midge’s non-Jewish agent, Suzy, is played by the very Jewish Alex Borstein, who floored the Emmy crowd with an acceptance speech about her grandmother surviving the Holocaust by ‘stepping out of line’. It would be nice if Midge is reunited with her ex-spouse Joel, if only for the children, but what we really want is a merger with Jewish stand-up Lenny Bruce, the only role in the series based on a real person. Lenny gave Mrs M a blunt talking to at the end of season 4, but as season 5 is set in the Sixties, acknowledging the death of Bruce from a drug overdose in 1966 is hard to ignore. “We felt a duty to start touching on the aspects of Bruce’s life that led up to him dying young,” actor Luke Kirby, who plays Bruce, told US Weekly. “I don’t know how Midge will feel when Lenny eventually dies. Hopefully she’ll be really broken up about it and then do the healthy thing and move on and make herself happy.” Happy? Well, Mrs Maisel might be relieved that she’s baked her last brisket, but there were more tears than smiles from Brosnahan when she said goodbye on Instagram to the role that launched her career. “This thing was lightning in a bottle. A cast, a crew and creators who got to time travel for five years together. It changed my life. I’m eternally grateful. I’ll have more words later, but for now… thank you and goodnight.”

The final nine-part season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premieres on Amazon Prime 14 April with the first three episodes

FROM COSTUME TO COVERS

they

don

born Jewish daughter of an antique dealer honed her talent jewellery. would spend awful, the she there.

York, where I was living at the time, people asked where I got them and could by

India

portfolio originality doesn’t come cheap, as some pieces in her range cost also you want wait

It’s not unusual for Tyra Banks to be on the cover of People magazine. Less so these days for Carolyn Rodney, a Britishborn jewellery designer who brought her idiosyncratic sparkle to Hollywood. She is married to film director Steven Bernstein, but her entrée to the red carpet is by virtue of her imaginative creations. A necklace that expresses devotion with a diamond and sapphire 18K gold ‘I Love You’ puzzle charm. The gold and enamel ‘A irmation Dice’ charm in a diamond cage that tells others how you’re feeling. It didn’t take long for Tyra, Brooke Shields and Charlize Theron to recognise and don Carolyn Rodney bangles and earrings, though they would be interested to know that the Londonborn Jewish daughter of an antique dealer honed her talent rifling through her grandmother’s mostly broken costume jewellery. “I would spend hours combining old necklaces and gluing loose stones to create my own designs,” Carolyn reveals. “They were awful, but she told me how fabulous they were.” It wasn’t until she went to India 17 years ago and fell in love with the traditional jewellery that she revisited her childhood interest, and she created several pieces while she was there. “When I went back to New York, where I was living at the time, people asked where I got them and I realised I could make a career out of this passion.” Inspired by nature, metaphysics and philosophy (impressive), Carolyn still produces her self-titled jewellery in India and has also expanded her portfolio to home furnishings and interiors. To own such originality doesn’t come cheap, as some pieces in her range cost $80,0000, but reassuringly start at $1,000. Carolyn also does bespoke, but you may want to wait for that red carpet.

www.carolynrodney.com

Suzy, is played by the very Jewish Alex Borstein, who

three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Critics Choice just been to a lot of barmitzvahs, still had her critics. But

Pooh is Humming

“Deep in the

Hundred Acre Wood

Where Christopher Robin plays You will find the enchanted neighbourhood Of Christopher’s childhood days A donkey named Eeyore is his friend And Kanga and little Roo There’s Rabbit and Piglet….”

If you weren’t raised on this Sherman Brothers song, you had a musically deprived childhood. Written by siblings Richard and Robert, this song is just one from a prolific collection that includes the scores for, among so many others, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Richard and Robert, who were pushed into music by their Russian-Jewish songwriter father Al, even wrote the Disney theme park favourite It’s A Small World, the most-performed song of all time. But their hits and Oscar wins pale for those who grew up with and are committed to Winnie The Pooh.

The animated film was the last Walt Disney worked on and he loved that moment when Rabbit drew a face on Pooh’s bottom. That is according to Jonathan Rockefeller, the creator and director of Winnie The Pooh The Musical, which is full of the

Mel Done

Sherman brothers’ hits. “We’re delighted to bring Pooh Bear home to where he was born,” says Jonathan, an Australian who was mentored by and worked as an assistant to film director Baz Luhrmann. “Pooh will be 102 in August, so this is a wonderful opportunity to bring him to the stage in the UK for the first time.”

When the show opened in New York in 2021, it broke box o ice records for the largest advance. The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers is another Sherman hit in a show that also includes Pooh’s own made-up hums as written by author AA Milne, now set to music and delivered by Bear himself, who is no longer a toy or a cartoon, but a 5 puppet.

“This isn’t actors in animal costumes,” stresses Jonathan. “This is a team of brilliant puppeteers who walk around moving life-size puppets that look exactly like the characters. It’s like

Mel Brooks has always maintained that the subtitle of the title History of the World, Part 1 was a joke and the teasing sequel at the end of the film was never actually in development. Not anymore! History of the World, Part II is now a series on HULU (if you can get it ) and it has given Mel his first creative writing role in more than a decade. Expect to see a variety of historical and biblical figures satirised, among them Sigmund Freud as portrayed by Jewish director Taika Waititi and Seth Rogen’s interpretation of Noah, who only brings di erent breeds of dogs on to his ark (including three pugs). Mel is now aged 96 and we can only watch with awe, knowing the comic genius has been involved in every aspect of the eight-part series, which gives us the chance to pick up with Jews in Space! which is Star Trek – but with Stars of David on their velour uniforms. And to compliment the long-awaited sequel? Author Jeremy Dauber takes a spirited dive into the life and career of the man born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926. Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew looks at how the performer, writer and director straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, throughout his career, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come. Thank you Mel!

Published by Yale University Press on 28 March 2023, £16.99 hardback

seeing animation on the stage; Tigger leaps three feet in the air and Owl flies. You don’t notice the actors when watching the puppets.”

You might notice and rather enjoy the fact that actor Jake Bazel sounds exactly like Sterling Holloway, the voice of Disney’s Pooh Bear. And that there’s a bridge for throwing Pooh sticks, Rabbit’s garden and a Hundred Acre Wood.

“It’s for anyone aged three to 100, although 50 percent of the audience have been people without children,” says Jonathan. “Be sure to buy a meet and greet if you come.”

As if anyone would pass up a chance to meet a 102-year old bear who famously said: “The most important thing is, even when we’re apart ... I’ll always be with you ...”

Winnie The Pooh the Musical is at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, until 21 May ahead of a UK and Ireland tour

Word Sharp

“Words are all I have,” sang Elvis Presley, and Joshua Blackburn clearly felt the same way during lockdown when he invented a word game to entertain his children. “I was home with my two boys Sonny (now 11) and Jude (now 9) and I was increasingly downhearted to see the English homework they were being set. All SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and comprehension tests. It was so boring and joyless. So I started making games about language to inspire curiosity in the words we use.”

Joshua saw he’d hit on an opportunity to create a game for language-lovers. The result is League of the Lexicon – the ultimate test of linguistic knowledge. Wordle lovers, crossword fanatics and anyone who loves a language challenge – including children – would have great fun with this. The game has 2,000 questions in five categories, from archaic words and slang to usage and language trivia.

When it launched on Kickstarter, it became the most-backed word game in the platform’s history, with Stephen Fry calling it “a logophile’s dream”. When Waterstones made it Game of the Month, it quickly sold out. Linguists, lexicographers and authors around the world have contributed questions, including children’s author Michael Rosen, writer Ben Schott (Schott’s Miscellany) and journalist Lynne Truss (author of Eats Shoots and Leaves). It is beautifully illustrated by two highlyskilled artists and tests every corner of language, including Hebrew, Yiddish and the origins of ancient languages. The upcoming slang edition features many great questions about Yiddish words.

Here’s your starter for ten:

The word ‘Bible’ comes from Latin.

What does it mean?

A: Truth

B: Book

C: Word

D: Holy

League of the Lexicon is available exclusively at Waterstones, £34.99.

(Answer: B)

A BOOK is as good as a rest

Alex Galbinski looks at new releases o ering escapism and knowledge

It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism

by Bernie Sanders

Love his politics or loathe them, Senator Bernie Sanders – who is serving his third term in the US Senate – has published It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism. A global voice fighting for progressive change, Sanders’ book is a progressive take-down of the uber-capitalist status quo that he believes has enriched millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the working class, and a blueprint for what transformational change would look like. We must, he argues, demand fundamental economic and political change.

Published by Allen Lane, £22 hardback, available now

The World and all That It Holds

by Aleksandar Hemon

As the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo in June 1914, Rafael Pinto, a Sephardic Jew, is busy in the family pharmacy, a world away his poetry-filled student days in Vienna. And then the world explodes. In the Galician trenches, the only thing Pinto has to live for are the attentions of Osman, a Muslim fellow soldier, a man of action to complement Pinto’s introspective, poetic soul; a charismatic storyteller and Pinto’s protector and lover. Bosnian-American author Aleksandar Hemon’s new novel is described as a grand, tender and sweeping story spanning decades and continents.

Published by Picador, £18.99

Bloodbath Nation

by Paul Auster

Paul Auster’s new book, in collaboration with photographer Spencer Ostrander, concerns the gun epidemic that is tearing apart the fabric of American society. Its victims are of all ages and massacres happen in places of worship, schools, cinemas and rock concerts. Auster, who doesn’t take sides but wants to find a solution to avoid more death and grief, establishes how America’s love a air with guns originates from the arrival of the first British settlers, who used guns to eradicate the indigenous Native Americans. This history of carnage continues to this day.

Published by Faber & Faber, £25

Signal Fires

by Dani Shapiro

On a summer night in 1985, the lives of three teenagers are shattered by a horrific car crash in which a young woman is killed. For the Wilfs, it will become a family secret and over the decades they are each haunted by what they choose to ignore. Their lives become entwined with the Shenkmans, a couple with their own secrets and a lonely son who needs to break free. As their stories collide, the past comes hurtling back in this novel by bestselling author Dani Shapiro, setting in motion a chain of events that will transform both families.

Published by Chatto & Windus, £16.99 hardback, available now

DON’T YOU NEED A HOLIDAY?

Obviously that is a yes. But organising it yourself sends a shudder when the world is so chaotic, the cost so high and some travel companies are teetering on the edge. How can you rely on integrity, service and value when looking on the web is a faceless experience? What you want is a company with history and that’s The Travel Academy.

Established 20 years ago, it knows how to maintain excellence in all aspects of its operations, consistently meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations. The testimonials are genuine and the awards deserved, notably for its work as a cruise agency. The company works directly with its cruise partners, drawing on extensive experience within the cruise holiday market. What could be better than a travel agent who o ers impartial advice, never repackages your holiday and strives to build a long-term relationship with you?

You’ll be calling The Travel Academy to sort the bits of a trip you don’t understand. And cruising is complex if you haven’t done it before, so the company’s passion for it puts clients at ease. We all now long for a voice on the phone and a face-to-face with a bank manager or service engineer – a travel agency that tries that much harder is one you want on speed dial. www.thetravelacademy.co.uk/ 0800 652 6104

A Fresh Art

A piece of original artwork can transform your interior and bring meaning into your home. When you purchase or commission bespoke artwork, you get a piece that is a personal representation of what matters to you. To the untrained eye, the work may look beautiful, but to the owner it can mean so much more. Artist Zoe Beaumont says: “I’ve worked on pieces where I’ve incorporated family members’ initials and special dates or worked in elements of a photo from a memorable holiday. As something you’re going to look at every day, it’s important the artwork resonates with you and that you have an emotional relationship with it. This can be hard to get from a print of a painting or a poster.”

Visit Zoe’s website www.zoebeaumontart.co.uk for more details and upcoming exhibitions, including one at Reveley Lodge Stables Gallery in Bushey Heath, from 11 April to 6 May.

Pen to paper

If you’ve written a book, the path to publication can seem tricky to navigate. Luckily, help is at hand in the form of ‘assisted self-publishing’. This is when you give your manuscript to a trusted company and let them take care of the editing, cover design, interior formatting, marketing, printing, and more – while retaining your copyright and any royalties from sales.

One such company is London-based Wrate’s Editing Services. Founded in 2013 by ex-journalist Danielle Wrate, it provides a one-stop shop for taking your manuscript from dra to publication and covers a range of genres, including fiction and non-fiction, memoirs, lifestyle and recipe books.

Danielle will guide you through each step of the process, making it enjoyable and stress-free. Packages are tailored to your needs – whether you want to print a small number of books to give to friends and family or to sell commercially on global platforms such as Amazon and in bookshops. The result will be a professionally-edited, stunning book you will feel proud to put your name on. Get in touch for a no-obligation free sample edit and initial feedback on your work. www.wrateseditingservices.co.uk

Piano Man In Town

Billy Joel took to the stage in Madison Square Gardens in August 2017 with a yellow Star of David sewn on to his jacket. A er the show, Billy, a self-professed atheist, issued a statement clarifying that he was taking a stand against antisemitism, quoting Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

It makes us happy when a high-profile person makes a show of support and Billy is playing in Hyde Park on 7 July. Billy grew up in a non-religious home and went to a Roman Catholic school, but he experienced antisemitism as a child and many of his father’s family perished in Germany. Howard Joel escaped, but was among the American troops who liberated Dachau in 1945 so, as secular as Billy is, his history informs his present. With a back catalogue such as his, get your tickets now. For tickets visit www.bst-hydepark.com

King Of The Kitchen

Food is a fundamental part of every celebration, and whatever your budget you want to feed your guests that very best that your money can buy. Kushan Marthelis at Cacao Catering has been doing this for years. He knows how to please your guests and, if you want to keep it kosher, he can do that too. The biggest change in events over the past few years he has seen is that the food is more interesting and his ability to provide that is his USP. “People used to stick to classic dishes but now they travel more and eat out more, and they want the amazing dishes they have discovered recreated at their party,” says Kushan. And this is his speciality. Korean-smoked BBQ chicken, coconut sea bass with mango salsa and blackened aubergine, blackened cod with coconut rice, miso dressing and lime leaves or braised beef with crushed baby potatoes, caramelised onion and wild mushroom are all on the menu. With dishes like these and also sake marinated yellowfin tuna with Japanese mooli salad, yuzu and mandarin dressing and butternut squash ravioli with spiced lime and coconut sauce in his repertoire, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Kushan’s food is too fancy for kids. “We always have kids dishes – and the adults always pinch them!” he laughs. With options such as chicken katsu with Thai rice and katsu sauce, mini fish and chips with tartare sauce and mac and cheese, that’s not surprising. “The most important part of the event is dessert,” says Kushan. Miso brûlée with sesame praline cracker or ginger sticky to ee pudding with salted caramel anyone? Of course he has to cater for vegan, gluten-free, nut free and dairy-free diets, but none of this a challenge for him.

www.cacaocatering.co.uk

Gorgeous Gifts

Kosher Travel

With it becoming easier and easier to keep kosher at home with the increasing number of kosher supermarkets and restaurants, it follows suit that options for travelling abroad have opened up too. Bespoke Kosher Travel has been organising kosher holidays for years, with the goal of making any request at any time of year become a reality. Whether you want five-star luxury hotel/beach life, adventurous kayaking, or simply to have a go at dune surfing, anything is possible, with itineraries and budgets tailored to individual needs. Bespoke Kosher Travel is all about ‘taking the hassle out of travel’ and the company really does come through on that promise. www.bespokekoshertravel.com

BEL CHIMES

coloured glassware, there is plenty to enhance any table.

at Henley’s Corner in Finchley/Temple Fortune (and also online) has been the place to buy gi s for nearly 20 years and remains one of the few independent gi shops around. Everyone loves to receive a gi , but a Wrap a Wish gi comes with free gi wrapping, which sets it apart. Owners Deborah and Tali are always on the hunt for new and innovative tableware from suppliers worldwide, as they know this is something you can never have enough of. From serving dishes, salad bowls and servers to cake plates and gorgeouscoloured glassware, there is plenty to enhance any table. A particular favourite is pretty coloured glass bud vases – perfect for spring flowers. There’s also a great range of tablecloths with matching napkins. www.wrapawish.co.uk

In the blistering BBC series Everything I Know About Love, Bel Powley (second from le in cast picture below) was the Jewish one who got hysterical when a friend used her mother’s fish plate to snort cocaine. Jewish in real life, British-born Bel is already a player in the US and had to pinch herself when she starred alongside Jennifer Aniston in Apple TV’s The Morning Show. We really want her as a Life cover star, especially as she is about to appear in the eight-part series A Small Light, in which she plays Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s secretary who willingly agreed to hide his family from the Nazis. It is another Anne Frank tale, but no one begrudges that, especially when it is in the empathetic hands of Jewish director Susanna Fogel. The series on Disney+ also stars Liev Schreiber, one of the few Jewish actors getting Jewish roles, which he does brilliantly here as Otto Frank and in upcoming film Golda as Henry Kissinger. Miep Gies and her husband Jan (Jo Cole) hid the Frank family for two years and several other everyday heroes watched over the eight people hiding in the secret annex. It was Miep who found Anne’s diary and preserved it so she and Otto could later share it with a world that continues to tell the tragic tale.

Teas & C’s Kasbah two-tier cake stand, £26.50

Glass bud vases, set of three, £15

Kosher Celebrations

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Kosher celebrations package includes:

 Private hire of MacLeod House*

 Ten luxury guest rooms sleeping up to 20 guests

 Opulent private dining, lounge and bar facilities

 Kosher kitchen with dedicated utensils, crockery & cutlery

 Kosher meals prepared under strict Rabbinical supervision

 Full & rich breakfast in Lake View room

 Complimentary in-room amenities and welcome gift

 Private use of the Clavis Whisky Bar

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 Full use of driving range, short-game area and putting green

 Preferential green fee rates on our championship links**

 Beauty & Wellness treatments at the Heritage Retreat**

If you know your Adam Sandler films, you’ll spot the missing memorabilia. But the actor, who is also a mogul producer, has starred in 86 movies, so featuring souvenirs from them all would fill an entire magazine or three. Our edit includes Murder Mystery 2, his 87th movie, which premieres on 31 March on Netflix and is a sequel to MM1, in which he and Jennifer Aniston played a married couple with a knack for sleuthing. Also included in our mix, because it is new, is Hustle, in which Sandler plays a veteran basketball scout, and the actor’s performance has been hailed as Oscar-worthy. This was also true of his portrayal of Howard Ratner, the fast-talking jeweller hedging too many bets in Uncut Gems. For whatever reason, the Academy is not seeing what we see, or saw, when he starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love or, more recently, in Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories.

It’s arguable that his screen debut in 1989 as struggling cruise ship comic Shecky Moskowitz in Going Overboard (1989) paved the way to such comedy classics as Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer, but also typecast him as the hapless

The SANDLER FILES

Too many films for keepsakes. Brigit Grant assesses the Zohan

loveable protagonist that the blinkered voters can’t see beyond.

But this month, Sandler, 56, did receive an award – the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour – and fellow actors turned up in droves to pay homage to the star whose production company Happy Madison (a portmanteau of his first two film successes) has an ongoing movie deal with Netflix. We love him because he wrote The Chanukah Song, plays a lot of characters with ‘Stein’ or ‘Levine’ as their surname and is about to make the film of Fiona Rosenbloom’s book You Are SO Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah! starring alongside his daughters, Sadie and Sunny. Recently director Quentin Tarantino revealed that he wrote a role in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds specifically for Adam Sandler, but the actor declined as he was already filming Judd Apatow’s Funny People

Maybe Tarantino, who now lives in Israel, will consider Sandler for a role in The Movie Critic, the film he claims will be his last. If he does, he should invite Sandler to visit, as his 2008 comedy You Don’t Mess with the Zohan may be about an Israeli soldier who becomes a hair stylist, but the actor has never been there.

Next year in Jerusalem, Adam?

“Sold my cask of Bruichladdich to these guys. Offered a fair price from day one and effortless process to complete the deal. Cash was in my account on the day of the deal. Personally, I made a 950% ROI on this cask over the past 12 years so very pleased.”

WE CAN’T WAIT TO WELCOME YOU

The social enterprise café by Jami, the mental health service for the Jewish community, is a community hub offering delicious kosher food and drink, and a peer-led support programme which is open to everyone.

More than a café, Head Room is a place where coffee, conversations and connections are made. Sunday to Thursday 8am–6pm

8am–2pm

by C.P. Taylor directed by Dominic Cooke Photography (David Tennant) by Johan Persson.

Head Room has reopened and is bigger and better than ever.

In search of FORGIVENESS

Alex Galbinski speaks to Sarit Yishai-Levi, author of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem

Sarit Yishai-Levi is an eighth-generation Jerusalemite born into a Sephardic family. Secure in her identity, she is grateful for having “indubitable roots, culture and values”.

This privilege is not something the author has a orded her characters in her recently-published novel, The Woman Beyond the Sea. In the book, protagonist Eliya believes she has found true love and passion with her charismatic and demanding aspiring writer husband, Ari, and gives up her chance of a career in the hope she will become his muse. When she follows him to Paris, he all but ignores her and when he ends their relationship, Eliya attempts to take her own life.

Seeking to heal herself, Eliya, now in her twenties, finds herself back in Israel living with her mother Lily, who has depression, and father Shaul, who does anything he can to alleviate Lily’s pain. Abandoned as a newborn on the doorsteps of a monastery, Lily knows nothing about her own mother (Rachel) who gave her up. She is also consumed by grief, having lost her first child when he was one – and along with him died her hopes of a normal family life.

“I don’t usually like to talk about it,” she tells me. “Lily calls it a punishment that no human being should experience. Or be punished like that. My own baby died quickly – in a few days; it was a virus that came up to his brain. It was extremely shocking and it’s an open pain in my heart.”

The pain is visible, almost tangible, but Sarit recovers by talking and celebrating her other “three healthy, fantastic, beautiful children”.

“Thank God, I had two children a er I lost him – and I have three grandchildren – but I haven’t healed. During the writing of the story of Lily, I really released a lot of my own pain.”

Sarit, who studied acting at Tel Aviv’s Missan Nativ Acting Studio and appeared in film and on stage, also gave up a place at LAMDA in London a er deciding acting wasn’t for her. Becoming a journalist instead, Sarit recently found her place as a novelist and relished writing the mean character of Luna in her Beauty Queen bestseller, which was turned into a Netflix series. Though she highly rates the actors who portrayed her characters, Sarit says it was a shock to discover that the TV adaptation was nothing like her book. Should The Woman Beyond the Sea be turned into a TV series – and there are talks to that e ect – she insists she’ll be involved in the script. She hopes readers will enjoy immersing themselves in her stories as much as she did reading as a child in the public library. “I used to read for hours. I fell in love with the characters; I woke up with them, I went to sleep with them, I cried and laughed because of them. And that’s the experience I want to give to my readers.”

Israel has never healed”.

The Tel Avivian says she is horrified at the current “chaos” in the country. “It’s a terrible atmosphere. There are demonstrations all over and women are wearing clothes from the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale,” she shudders.

“I don’’t remember anything like this in my life. I’m terrified because we don’t want to lose our democracy or to become more religious – as most of us are not religious. It’s very, very sad because it is a wonderful country and the people are wonderful.”

As a correspondent in Los Angeles in the 1980s, Sarit interviewed A-listers such as Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor and Kris Kristo erson and even spent a day with Hugh Hefner at his Playboy mansion. She retains a so spot for the late boxer Muhammad Ali, whom she says was “fantastic” and taught her how to box.

Sarit recently completed her third novel, about a mother and son, which is due to be published next year. If it is anything like her previous two, it will be an intricate exploration of family ties.

just to write and see where the story

Yishai-Levi, 75, who also wrote the international bestseller of Jerusalem, says she didn’t set out to write her current novel – her urge is just to write and see where the story takes her. But she says aspects of her characters or their stories are based on people she knows. “You write your thoughts, your feelings; sometimes you write things you don’t dare say – you put them in the mouth of your character. You can also open old wounds.”

One such wound relates to the death of her own one-year-old child.

She also wants those who enjoy The Woman Beyond the Sea to take away a message.

“The most important thing for me is that readers understand that there is no love without forgiveness. If you don’t forgive, you won’t find love. Only when Eliya forgives Lily, and Lily forgives Rachel, do they find love in their heart between them. People have to learn to forgive and to be loved.”

It is also likely to have characters based on people she knows, as she modelled the selfish Ari in TheWomanBeyondtheSea on a previous ex. She won’t name him, but says he is a famous figure in Israel. Now if that isn’t an incentive to read it...

In her novel, Sarit imparts knowledge about the country she adores, including the British Mandate, the waves of immigration to Israel and the Yom Kippur War, which she tells me was a “traumatic event from which

to Israel and the Yom Kippur War, which she

• The Woman BeyondtheSea by Sarit YishaiLevi is published by Amazon Publishing, £8.99

, about her latest book, which follows the journey of a family lost to each other and the quest to unite them

Sarit Yishai-Levi studied acting before becoming a journalist –and later a bestselling novelist

David (Israel Ogalbo) and Luna (Swell Ariel) in the televised series of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem

Help us to make memories for Rockey this Pesach

Seder night is a time for family, a time for food, a time for singing and stories. Above all else, Seder night is a time for memories.

As dementia takes hold and Rockey’s memory fades, it is events like the Seder at The Sam Beckman Centre for people living with dementia that help bring it back, even for just a moment.

Rockey, like hundreds of others, relies on the services provided by Jewish Care. These services receive no government funding and rely on the generosity of our community.

This Pesach they rely on you.

Your donation will ensure that even as memories fade for people like Rockey, they still have the opportunity to make new ones, for as long as they last. Thank you. Call

I’M AN ARTIST.

I used to get so frustrated. I’d throw things when people couldn’t understand what I wanted. I’d try to calm myself by rocking in a corner. I now have a home with Norwood. I like the people there. They encouraged me to try different things and found I was good at art. Now I like shopping on my own - I’ve bought myself a new outfit for our Seder. And best of all, I’ve had my paintings displayed at the Royal Academy of Art.

I’m Joe. And I am Norwood.

Patron Her Majesty The Queen. Registered Charity No. 1059050

CAMPUS UPDATE

We’re delighted to share with you news and updates from campuses across the UK. Here’s a snapshot of what we have been getting up to:

REGULAR EVENTS

Chaplains have been organising weekly educational and social events, providing an opportunity for self-development and enhanced Jewish education. Students appreciate the access to Jewish content on campus and the Chaplains enable these opportunities through engaging programming.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS ON CAMPUS

Mental health, particularly postCovid, is an important topic for students and highlighting the support available is a key objective for our Chaplains on campus. Our Chaplains have run thoughtprovoking events on these issues.

FROM THE EDINBURGH CHAPLAINS…. RABBI ELIRAN AND AYALAH SHABO

PESACH 2023/5783

PURIM PARTY

By all accounts, the Purim party organised by our Chaplains in Nottingham, Rabbi Uriya and Shima Dvir was a great success! This was the first time that some of the students had experienced Purim on campus and we are delighted that so many students participated and celebrated Purim in true Chaplaincy style.

SUPPORTING OUTLYING CAMPUSES

Visiting outlying campuses, such as Warwick, Loughborough and Bangor, where there are small but mighty groups of Jewish students, is a vital part of our Chaplains’ work. Giving support to smaller Jewish communities and ensuring they too can have Jewish experiences on campus speaks to the heart of what we do.

A new tradition began this year in Edinburgh, home to the biggest Jsoc in Scotland. In collaboration with Rabbi Aharon and Hodaya Lemberger, Glasgow & West Scotland Chaplains, and the JSoc committees, we hosted a Friday Night Dinner for more than 230 students from nine campuses across Scotland.

To read more about these stories and to find out more about Chaplaincy visit mychaplaincy.co.uk/ pesach-2023 or scan here

There is nothing like this

Dame

The only time Melinda Simmons sounded isolated was when His Majesty’s ambassador to Ukraine talked about being in synagogue in Kyiv, the nation’s capital. For despite the year-long conflict with Russia, it turns out that, even in Ukraine, “no matter what denomination”, shul services are conducted in Russian and Hebrew.

She said: “I have a pretty good passive understanding of Hebrew, but my Russian is poor – I am a Ukrainian speaker – and it can feel really alienating to sit in a room with a language you can’t speak being used to communicate the service”.

But that’s almost the only time Dame Melinda – she was given the title in this year’s New Year Honours list –sounded faintly negative. In her first exclusive interview with a Jewish publication, she told Life about what it was like living in Kyiv and what made her stay when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Speaking in mid-March, she said: “Kyiv looks and feels

normal. But if you look a bit closer, you see that there are very few children here. Most have been taken with their mothers to elsewhere in Ukraine or outside the country. A city with few children in it feels strange.

“And then there are frequent air raid sirens, which remind you every time that, though free, Kyiv is in a waraffected country, and is itself under attack”.

The ambassador said she was “proud” to be living in Kyiv, and specifically proud of what she and her colleagues in the British embassy were doing. It felt “secure – but not safe”. Nevertheless, Dame Melinda was clear: “I never once questioned my decision to stay in Kyiv. I was one of the first ambassadors to return and it seemed completely right that I should be doing the job I was hired to do, inside Ukraine – not outside it”.

And she spoke of being “inspired every day by my Ukrainian colleagues and friends and their ongoing bravery. They inspire me to continue this important work and ensure they succeed. It’s a tough decision to make, but I know it’s the right one”.

Just the same, she admitted, staying in Kyiv comes at a price. “It’s seven-days-a-week work. War doesn’t stop at the weekend. And it saddens me that my decision means my family [her husband and sons in London] has to worry about me,” she said.

“Every single one” of her staff, she said, “supported the decision to stay open as long as possible. And they all understood when we were instructed to fall back to Lviv. We were all traumatised when we pulled back to Poland”.

Many British and Ukrainian embassy staff followed Dame Melinda when she returned to the capital.

“Honestly, every day I am at the embassy and see my colleagues is a triumph. The country is under attack – and yet here we are, getting on with our work”.

As a former Jewish student activist, Dame Melinda has always been upfront about her identity. She said: “It’s been important for me to stay connected to the community I’m a member of. That’s partly to do with how lonely it can be in Kyiv. Family cannot join me here, nor can friends from outside Ukraine. I fill my evenings with work meetings

The title may be new, but the dogged determination is the same. Melinda Simmons, British ambassador to Ukraine, talks exclusively to Life

but, in the end, you need people around you who love and care about you, who you love and care about.”

Being Jewish, the ambassador said, “has always been a defining part of who I am”. She continued: “But it does make me more acutely aware of the crimes Russian troops have been committing against Ukrainians. Ukraine is in the epicentre of where the Holocaust took place.”

In the middle of last year, the Masorti community in Kyiv re-established itself and Dame Melinda helped affix a mezuzah to the synagogue’s building. She joined the community for Rosh Hashanah services, which she said were “lovely”. If she’s in Ukraine during a Jewish holiday, she will seek out a community in Kyiv. But more usually, rather than struggle with Russian, she prefers to go online with her home community, Finchley Reform Synagogue. She was full of praise for her erstwhile synagogue, which she said has been “brilliant” at supporting Ukrainian refugees.

“I joined a weekly drop-in they hold, where there were English lessons and a coffee morning, and chatted with some of the guests in Ukrainian. The community spirit of the whole UK has been amazing, with so many households taking part in the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Over 200,000 visas have now been issued to Ukrainians seeking sanctuary in the UK, and the UK public dug deep into their pockets and raised £400 million for the DEC [Disasters Emergency Committee] appeal.”

Despite changing British prime ministers, the ambassador was clear that “UK policy of support for

Ukraine has been consistent throughout and has crossparty support. The recent UK-Ukraine Declaration of Unity clearly shows we will continue to be in partnership with the Ukrainians. I have no doubt about this”.

“It’s not just about who the prime minister is, it’s about the UK’s values ,” Dame Melinda continued.

“I’m very proud of the UK, our decisions to give all of our support, nearly £4 billion of military, humanitarian and economic support. It might be tanks, generators or trade access.

“The prime minister has tasked the government to accelerate our support for Ukraine and to take a wholesale approach. The UK has provided £2.3bn in military support in 2022 – more than any country other than the United States – and has already committed to sustain that level of military support into 2023.

“We will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. That’s why when President Zelensky was in London, the prime minister announced that we would extend our military training to pilots and marines, why we were the first country to send main battle tanks to Ukraine”.

She added: “[Being here] is a daily defiance. And we know we have the full support of colleagues in London and partners across the world to continue our

work here and ensure Ukraine wins this war and secures peace on Ukrainian terms.”

Discovering she was going to be made a dame, the diplomat says, had left her “astonished”. But she described the honour as “a huge sign of the UK’s pride for what Ukraine has done for itself”.

Living up to her reputation of ‘taking no prisoners’, Dame Melinda was bullish about an end to the conflict. Ukraine “can and will win” the war, she said. “We’ll continue to support Ukraine to do this – through our work in-country and with partners around the world. We are all united behind Ukraine.

“We have an opportunity, with Russia on the back foot, to ensure Ukraine wins this war and galvanise a surge of international backing for Ukraine.

“That’s why we’re accelerating the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine to help counter Russia’s spring offensive, reinforced by long-term support, and working to galvanise international efforts.”

The ambassador has been in post since 2019. Life wondered if she had any thoughts on her next job. In true diplomatic style, she replied: “Yes. Plenty!”

Clockwise from top: Dame Melinda joins President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support for his country; Melinda helps to a ix a mezuzah to the Kyiv Masorti synagogue building

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LOUISE SCODIE TALKS TO THE JEWISH FILMMAKER WHO PUT SESAME STREET ON SCREEN IN MOSCOW

WHENAcourageous film-maker drawn into a world of corruption and political unrest. Corporate clashes, difficult colleagues and a dramatic personal story make this turbulent landscape even

more challenging. At the heart of it all, a project destined to influence the hearts and minds of an entire generation.

It sounds like a crime thriller but, in fact, it’s the absorbing, surprising and

moving story of making Sesame Street (Ulitsa Sezam) in Russia, documented in the new book Muppets to Moscow by film-maker Natasha Lance Rogoff.

In 1993, Natasha was recruited to produce the classic children’s TV show in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union. A New Yorker so taken with Russian literature that as a teenager she changed her name from Susan, Natasha, who is now 62, studied Russian at college and went on to live in Leningrad to make social justice documentaries, mixing with artists and dissidents.

Natasha’s work attracted the attention of the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW), home of Sesame Street. The CTW had secured congressional support

to make the programme in Russia (with help led by the then Senator Joe Biden), hoping that Cookie Monster and co would teach Russian children values for their new society.

Like tirelessly hard-working Kermit the Frog, whose job it is to marshal the muppets into some form of operation despite their crazy idiosyncrasies, Natasha had to source and lead a cast of hundreds of writers, musicians, producers, puppeteers and actors to make the show.

Starting from scratch and using her contacts on the ground, Natasha fought tooth and nail to finance the show and get it televised while managing Russians opposed to “American muppets”, navigating CTW’s politics and building

Natasha Lance Rogo with Russian producer Leonid Zagalsky

Natasha with puppeteers Elena Teschinskaya and Andrei Kuzichev. Le : Elmo

a long-distance relationship with the very patient Ken, now her husband and father of her two children, Gabriel, 26, and Juliana, 24.

Natasha may describe herself as “Jewish”, but her background has clearly influenced her work. She explains: “The whole idea of giving back was part of my upbringing. From a young age, I was sensitive to injustice because of the history of my ancestors. I had one relative who was killed in the Holocaust with her five children. I was a nerdy Jewish teenager who read a lot. I was obsessed with history and whose side I would have been on.

“My grandfather left Russia in 1912. When I was filming there in the 80s, all I could think about was that if he hadn’t left, I’d be here instead of New York.”

Ulitsa Sezam featured three original muppets, including Natasha’s favourite: blue giant Zeliboba. Natahsa recalls fondly: “I love Zeliboba’s origin story, which is based on the Russian folklore spirit Dvorovoi, who protects the hearth and the home. He’s enormous and has fur and twigs sewn into his costume so he’s at one with nature. All of the Russian puppeteers were incredible: hard-working and able to train for their very physical roles in a short space of time.”

As for which of the American Sesame Street cast is Natasha’s favourite, the answer is telling: “Telly Monster. He’s so wild and out there, you never know what’s going on. There’s a risk-taker in me that identifies with him.” It makes perfect sense from adventurous

Natasha. While making Ulitsa Sezam, she had brushes with gangsters and the production office was raided by machine gun-toting soldiers, during which her colleagues scrambled to fax the show’s budget to America as scripts and equipment were taken. To add insult to injury, they stole Elmo. “A colleague tried to save Elmo by grabbing him out of the soldier’s arms, but the commando yanked him from his grasp.”

The team speculated the soldier took Elmo to give to his child. But they were able to continue shooting the show using borrowed equipment. Natasha flew back and forth to Moscow while heavily pregnant, working 18-hour days until just before giving birth.

“If my children did some of the stuff I did, I don’t know what I would say! Russia at the time had no Western banking system, no rule of law and extensive corruption. I give the Sesame Workshop enormous credit for persevering and having the faith that, eventually, Ulitsa Sezam would be possible.”

It took four painstaking years to get Ulitsa Sezam onto Russian TV: 52 halfhour episodes were shown over two years. They brought hope and guidance to children in a society finding its feet after years of communism. Today, with Russia waging war in Ukraine, does Natasha think the show could air again? She says: “Most definitely, if Russia went back... there was such a sense of hope at the time of the fall of the Soviet Union. Our team believed it was possible for Russia to

change. We worked around the clock to model a society, first on the small screen, and then hopefully in real life.

“This war is horrific. I have many friends who spoke out online before the invasion and have had to leave. I have thought about the people in their 20s and 30s who grew up on Ulitsa Sezam, and I take comfort in the legacy the show brought. We imparted the values of an open society and now Ukraine is fighting for those values, while millions of young Russians have marched against the war. There is hope.”

Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected CrazyTrueStoryofMakingSesame Street in Russia by Natasha Lance Rogo is out now

The Jewish side of Sesame Street

Created by Joan Ganz Cooney, who is Jewish and now 93, the show debuted on American T V in 1969. Dr Lewis Bernstein, the executive vice president of research at Sesame Workshop, is also Jewish and influenced the creation of grocer Mr Hooper, proprietor of Hooper’s Store, who was assumed to be Jewish. Played by Jewish actor Will Lee, Mr Hooper’s Jewish faith was o icially revealed in the TV special on Sesame Street.

Dr Bernstein spent seven years living in Israel and wrote the book What We Now Know About JewishEducation, in which he explained that teaching children is part of the theology behind Sesame Street

Bernstein also helped to create Shalom Sesame, the Jewish education version of the American series, and Sha’ra Simsim, the Israeli/ Palestinian production of the show, which included the first Arab character, Mahboub, who speaks Arabic and Hebrew.

Above: Stanislav Klimushkin, puppeteer performer of Zeliboba, rehearsing in partial costume in the studio. Zeliboba is based on the Russian folklore spirit of Dvorovoi, who protects the hearth and the home. Natasha’s favourite American character is Telly Monster, right

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SHE WAS FAMOUS AND HE WAS YOUNGER. TOGETHER THEY WERE PERFECT.

SCOTT MITCHELL TALKS TO BRIGIT GRANT ABOUT LOVING AND LOSING

DAME BARBARA WINDSOR

A Carry On

Jewish Romance

Jewish Romance A Carry On

Scott Mitchell could not have been more embarrassed. He had only just met Barbara Windsor and she was watching a video of his barmitzvah in which he was crying.

“I think I should explain,” volunteers Scott with a warm smile. He exudes warmth and seems to be known for it in his part of town. Walk with Scott in his W1 manor and everyone says hello or wants a word.

Not unlike Albert Square. But then Scott was married to the landlady of the Queen Vic pub who, coincidentally, was a ‘Mitchell’ too.

they met. “We’d all had a few drinks when my father suggested putting it on. Barbara was laughing with my mum at the guests’ outfits. But I was mortified, while thinking ‘do I need this?’”

As things turned out, he did. Barbara went from being his mother Rita’s old friend to the love of his life. When he talks about her now, he sounds like a man in love, yet it has been two years and three months since she died from Alzheimer’s disease.

her. She’ll always be in my heart.”

Barbara was 83 when she died, and Scott turns 60 in April, but the age disparity never bothered them or their good friends and family.

It was Rita who set the wheels in motion by inviting Barbara to dinner. They went to dancing school together.

When Scott was 18, a clairvoyant in Brighton predicted he would go on stage (he went to drama school) and that he would meet a lady, probably older, who would make him happy.

Clairvoyants seldom get it so right, but Scott didn’t make a note of it. He was 23 before he kept a diary, which he still does, and his diligence for documenting everything was invaluable when it came to writing By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor (available

“I have her name tattooed on my arm, so I’m not able to erase now in paperback).

“Madame Behenna’s Juvenile Jollities in Stoke Newington. Could it be any more camp?” asks Scott, who was sent to collect Barb. “I was first taken by how young she looked, then we clicked right away. The chatter never stopped.”

Solicitous and

Wood – “We weren’t well off, but my

Back at the barmitzvah, in the Florence Michael suite in St John’s Wood – “We weren’t well off, but my parents pulled out all the stops” –13-year-old Scott was weeping.

“I was overwhelmed by the enormity of it and moved by the prayers,” says Scott. “We weren’t religious, and I learned my barmitzvah parrot-fashion off a tape recorder. But our shul, Brighton and Hove, had a wonderful rabbi – Rabbi Fausner – and I’ll never forget his face. Or his passion when he sang.”

Scott’s emotional reaction to grace before meals was what Barbara watched the night

Scott’s parents, Rita and Ronnie, sister Marsha and her husband Laurence with Barbara and Scott

straightforward, no stone is left unturned in Scott’s story, which invites the reader to every party, opening night and paparazzi chase before the couple went public.

After seven passionate and chaotic years of dating, their ‘carry on’ style romance was sealed in April 2000 with a wedding that wasn’t Jewish but felt like it was.

“Barbara always had an affiliation with the Jewish community. In her own book, she talked about how she defended Jewish children being tormented in the school playground. Her dad had enlisted when he told her about ‘nasty Hitler’, so she stuck up for the kids saying, ‘Don’t talk to them like that. They can’t help it. My dad’s gone to war.’”

Not just a defender of our faith, Barbara also shared Scott’s love of Jewish prayers. “Growing up in Stoke Newington, she would hear singing coming from the synagogue and found it very theatrical and moving. She actually told her mum she was going to marry a Jewish cab driver, and the irony was that my late father had two professions: jeweller and cab driver. So she did get the son of a cabbie.”

Scott relishes the roster of Jewish/ Barbara stories, particularly the one about her going to the Royal Tottenham dance hall via Stamford Hill’s E&A salt beef bar. “My dad and his mates would stand outside it, and Barb, then 18, told me how they wolf-whistled and tried to grab her. Except for one handsome guy called Ronnie

Mitchell who told the lads to leave her alone. That was my dad. So she knew my parents independently before they even met.”

Scott’s heart is on the sleeve of his book, which also documents his own demons with addiction, Barbara’s divorce (she was married when they met) and, finally, the traumatic diagnosis that turned him from husband to carer.

“The early days were awful,” he says. “But I grieved from the moment she was diagnosed. I think, as humans, we jump forward to the darkest place, so when the neurologist said it was Alzheimer’s, I looked at Barb and thought, ‘Please don’t tell me this lady’s not going to know who she is one day.’ But the advice I got was to not miss out on what we had then.”

Every stage of Barbara’s deterioration is in the book.

The clinicians and confusion will resonate with those facing a similar situation with loved ones. There were times when Barbara thought she was in Stoke Newington with her mother and Scott had to gently correct her. Moments when he would catch her looking at him, then ask: “Are we married?” and when he said “yes”, she would punch the air. Hardest of all was when she didn’t know Scott.

That he is an ambassador for Alzheimer’s Research UK shows how much he learnt about the disease and how committed he is to helping find a

cure. He pitches sponsors, bares his soul to struggling carers and runs the London Marathon in his ‘Bab’s Army’ T-shirt.

After going public about her diagnosis, Dame Barbara used her profile to raise awareness and went with Scott to meet Boris Johnson, then prime minister, to implore him to allocate more budget to Alzheimers’ patients and research. As a result of their pleas, backing for dementia research was doubled to reach £160 million by 2024.

Barbara died on 10 December 2020 at Anita Dorfman House in Stanmore, a Jewish Care home. “When she could no longer stay at our wonderful mews house, I saw lots of places and was quoted ridiculous money,” says Scott.

“I would have sold the house if necessary, but friends Richard Desmond and Gerald Ronson told me to ring Jewish Care. I said, ‘But Barbara isn’t Jewish,’ to which Gerald replied, ’She’s your wife. In our eyes, she is part of us.’”

Scott lost his father in May 2019. It was a big funeral, unlike the small gathering for his Barb, who died during the Covid lockdown. Grieving in isolation was harrowing, but he told his long-time therapist he wasn’t needed. He knew he was meant to feel crushed with sorrow. Scott still cries, but ultimately his solitary shiva made him stronger.

Six days before his birthday, he will run in the London Marathon on 23 April.

“It will be my last. I’m getting too old,” he says, but he has already crossed the finish line that matters most.

On 21 March, The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission officially announced it had appointed co-chairs to accelerate the research he had pitched to Johnson. “It’s inspired by the Covid Vaccine Taskforce, as we thought a similar task force could speed up dementia trials and get them into the system faster. Now it’s happening.”

Somewhere, Ronnie Mitchell and Dame Barbara Windsor are kvelling. As a Jewish family should.

ByYourSide:MyLifeLovingBarbara WindsorbyScottMitchellispublished bySevenDials(Orion),priced£8.99

Clockwise from top le : Dame Barbara and Scott; Scott with Boris Johnson; running the marathon; and Barbara as a nurse in Carry On Doctor

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Many actors, as with all humans, start to lose their memory as they get older. At the age of 76, meanwhile, Dame Maureen Lipman is learning 46 pages of a script for her next project, which she is fitting around filming (and learning more lines for) Coronation Street.

Forty-six pages is around two hours of talking and talking and talking ; her latest project is a one-woman show so she doesn’t even have a fellow actor to bounce off. She’s learning as she walks in the park –muttering her lines to the surprise, one presumes, of fellow walkers, and she is getting her 10-year-old granddaughter to test her.

"There are parts that I think I know very well but when I start to say them out loud, I come up against a horrible, yawning abyss," says the actress. "Of course, there is always the fear that it will happen on stage –but it does happen, and you soldier on. I don’t have courage in other ways – you won’t catch me on a roller coaster or bungee jumping, but I think this is pretty courageous because it frightens me."

It is a Herculean task. And then there is the fact that the things she is talking about are hard – the hardest. Maureen is performing Martin Sherman’s one-woman show Rose – which she first performed last year in Manchester and at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park – which starts at a shiva and covers pogroms, the Holocaust and the immigrant experience. The play was first written for her, but she was 50 at the time and felt too young.

But she performed it on camera to raise money for theatres during the pandemic and there was a huge clamour for her to do it live – which she did to rave reviews. Now she is taking it to the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End for four weeks in May.

It takes a lot out of her. When she did it for eight weeks last year, she developed shingles. She looked to an unusual place for help.

"Once you’ve had chickenpox, the possibility of shingles is always there and one of the things you

A ROSE

by any other name...

…is Maureen Lipman, who talks to Nicole Lampert about Passover, perverse casting and her new play

are meant to not do is get run down, but I got very run down before," she says. "I did have a very nice conversation with a life coach who was very helpful, and I might talk to him again. One of the things I need is to sleep and also to not panic. That’s the whole thing, isn’t it? Don’t panic, remember it is all in your head. Remind yourself that, of course, you can do it and if you do make a mistake people won’t notice. And the other think you have to try and do is sleep.

"Something to lie down on is the only thing I ask for so that I can rest between performances. Over the years, I have tried to sleep on the floor, but it’s much more comfortable to have an actual sofa in my dressing room. I also know I need to try not to sentimentalise Rose – to remember it is just a role – but it does feel almost impossible not to get dragged in."

It sounds rather a lot to be taking on, but Maureen admits that the terror goes hand in hand with the joy. "When it goes well, it is like an adrenaline boost from heaven," she raves. "It isn’t a polemic but a story – an incredible story. It is amazing to think what human beings can survive. It is impossible not to look at this play and see the horror of being a refugee. It’s not just what the Nazis did, but the English did too – how they bombed the refugees after the war. There is a universal culpability when it comes to our tribe.

"Martin has written some fantastic words and I am enjoying the best of

my career with this. I have had to kiss a lot of frogs – change a lot of lines – to get a chance to do something like this. I’ve had some great jobs in my life, but to be doing Martin Sherman and then, on the other hand, working in the National Theatre of television, which is Coronation Street, is heaven. "People don’t understand. Prince Charles – as he was then – asked me about it when I got my gong [in 2021]: about how I could do it every night, but I told him the audience is always different. It never gets boring because every night you are talking to different people."

She admits she’d like to be doing more than four weeks but Coronation Street, in which she plays the wonderful battleaxe Evelyn Plummer, would only allow her that amount of time off.

Maureen, inset and above as busybody Evelyn Plummer with her Coronation Street co-star, actor David Neilson, who plays the mild-mannered Roy Cropper

When we speak, the actress, who commutes every week from her home in London to Manchester, where the soap is filmed, is pondering her latest battle with the soap bosses: seder night. "I'm debating Passover with Coronation Street because there has been a lapse in which they were not told I needed to be home for seder night," she says. "I will be home. And I will do things to a poor little lamb. I will be ringing everyone when I realise I don’t have enough Haggadahs and will forget what goes on the seder plate, as I do every year. And there will be a fight among the grandchildren over what we do every year. ‘That’s what we do’, as Rose says in our play, we need ritual."

Friday night dinners are one of her favourite rituals, partly because they remind her of her husband, the acclaimed playwright Jack Rosenthal, who died of multiple myeloma, a form of bone cancer, in 2004.

"I got the message about Friday nights when Jack

was ill because it meant so much to him to see a gathering of people around the table – he loved the idea that the family came together on a Friday night and we’ve kind of kept that up even if it’s not always possible," she says. "Friday nights are a lovely way to finish the week. The dog sits under the table and as soon as I go near the candles she waits for her piece of challah."

Maureen is unashamedly Jewish; she speaks up against antisemitism and other wrongs she sees being committed and is a rare famous Zionist. Perhaps that’s because she first found fame when Jews were – oh so briefly – flavour of the month.

"When I was growing up, we were the fashionable ethnic group," she laughs. "Partly because of what happened in the war and also because so much of the humour of the 1950s and 1960s was coming out from Jewish New York. I was always terribly proud to be the person who was seen as different. It was a great thing. Unfortunately, they’ve managed to turn

the State of Israel into a divisive issue and there is a new way to get back at us again. So times are hard."

She recently started the debate on ‘Jewface’, saying that a Jewish actress should have been offered the role of Golda Meir in the film Golda that went to Helen Mirren, who has been criticised for wearing too much latex to look like the former Israeli prime minister.

"I haven’t seen the film, but I presume it is fairly proIsrael so it hasn’t got a cat in hell’s chance to begin with, has it?" she laughs. She maintains that while acting is acting, if Judaism – culturally, nationally or religiously – is at the centre of a role she believes should be played by a Jew – even if she is a Jew playing a non-Jewish woman in Coronation Street. And she’s unhappy that Jewish directors and producers aren’t leading from the front on this issue.

"I’m thinking about when Alec Guinness played Fagin and how his nose was almost bigger than the screen," she says. "I’ve played a lot of non-Jewish people in my life and I don’t think every Jewish role needs to be filled by a Jew – that would be stupid. But if it's integral to the part, why wouldn’t you cast a Jew?”

She ponders this thought momentarily.

"But if Steven Spielberg can cast a non-Jewish actress to play his own mother, there’s no hope. I haven’t seen The Fabelmans and I know Michelle Williams is wonderful as an actress, but Steven Spielberg is someone who can make things happen in the world of Jewface.”

The Lehman Trilogy is also problematic for her.

“The show obviously has fabulous actors, but I would say to Mr Sam Mendes [the Jewish producer and director of the show] fight for your own a bit more. I know most people won’t notice if there is a shrug in the wrong place or simcha is pronounced incorrectly but we notice, we Jews will notice and we count too."

The ’Rose’ among our thorny detractors has spoken. Here’s hoping she keeps on talking.

Rose is at the Ambassadors Theatre, London from 23 May. For tickets visit roseonstage.co.uk

Maureen with her late husband, the writer Jack Rosenthal

Maureen was made a dame by the then Prince Charles in 2021

Maureen Lipman stars in the award-winning, critically-acclaimed production of Martin Sherman’s Rose

Jews were – oh so briefly – flavour of the month.

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Sir Nicholas Hytner talks composers and cheesecake with Brigit Grant before the opening of his Guys & Dolls revival

of Richard Eyre's stunning 1982 production with Bob Hoskins and Julia McKenzie at the Royal National Theatre, which Nicholas later led for 12 years as artistic director.

Dream at The Bridge in the immersive format, instead of another Shakespeare, I thought, 'Let's do a musical'.”

Sir Nicholas Hytner is at lunch and apologises for any background noise. Hopeful to hear strains of Luck Be A Lady, the only sound is the clanging of cutlery. Sir Nicholas can’t quite recall when he first saw the 1955 film of Guys & Dolls, but never regarded it as competition for his new revival of the musical. “It’s a famously bad film, even though it’s beloved,” he says, dismissing a family favourite and Marlon Brando in a single breath. But what about Frank Sinatra?

“He was miscast and should have played Sky Masterson instead of Brando. Brando should not have been in it. He couldn’t sing, so they cut songs and Sinatra wanted more. They hated each other.”

With nothing ‘nicely-nicely’ to say about the “clunky” film, Nicholas explains that the only challenge for his stage revival was his vivid memory

Boys

If anyone was capable of setting a new benchmark with Frank Loesser’s musical, it’s the man acclaimed in London and on Broadway for his musicals and plays. Too many awards to list, Nicholas' knighthood attests to his ‘services to drama’. He is also a triple threat because he directs films too, and took Sir Alan Bennett’s The Madness of King George, The History and The Lady in the Van from stage to screen. Cameron Mackintosh hired him to direct Miss Saigon, so he didn’t need the prayers of Sister Sarah Brown. And any doubts he expressed in our chat were forgotten when the first night reviews dropped on 4 March.

'Staggering achievement' (Time Out), 'A solid-gold knockout' (Variety), 'An extravaganza that explodes every which way' (Daily Telegraph).

There are so many rapturous reviews that picking the best for the poster won’t be easy. It wasn’t easy for Nicholas either and by final run-through, he was exhausted.

“This is the first musical I've done since Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Carousel, and that was one of my absolute favourite things I ever did. I've always loved musicals but, my goodness, directing them takes it out of you.”

Yet he couldn’t resist Guys & Dolls? “Because it is indisputably one of the top three musicals ever. And after doing Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night's

Nicholas’ ‘immersive format’ requires the removal of 400 seats from the theatre he founded with partner Nick Starr, in order to create space for a standing audience to follow the action. They effectively promenade as part of the show, with the rest of the 650 audience seated.

“In Julius Caesar, the audience were the Roman mob and they loved it,” says Nicholas.

“You have to treat them courteously and seriously, then they very much become part of the event.”

What was Rome’s 44 BC Appian

Way at The Bridge is now Broadway 1950 for Guys & Dolls, and those with promenade tickets are on 52nd Street, amid pretzel stands and hotdog sellers, until the overture starts. Then ushers dressed as NYC cops direct them between rising and falling platforms on which the actors perform. Andrew Richardson (Sky Masterson), Celinde Schoenmaker (Sarah Brown) Marisha Wallace (Miss Adelaide) and Daniel Mays as Nathan Detroit are within touching distance and in the rousing finale dance with you. Why wait at the stage door for Cedric Neal (Nicely -Nicely), when you can high five him after Sit Down, You're Rockin the Boat?

Few directors would consider

The promenading audience at Guys & Dolls' Hot Box at the Bridge Theatre

such radical staging or deliver it so seamlessly, but Nicholas, 66, is a veteran who started creating plays in his toy theatre as a child.

Growing up in Didsbury, south Manchester, the eldest of four, he was raised in a “typical Jewish cultured family”, went to Manchester Grammar School then Cambridge and, though his early ambition was to be an actor, “I was savvy enough to discover my acting was poor,” he admits. A realisation that has benefited the actors he's directed ever since.

Delving into the Damon Runyon stories that Abe Burrows turned into the book for Guys & Dolls, Nicholas was most thrilled about the Jewish characters within the pages.

They certainly grabbed the Jewish corps of producer Cy Feuer, writer Abe and composer-lyricists Frank and George Kaufman who directed the first production in 1950.

“In the Runyon stories, when bad guys appear they always come from Brooklyn, or further afield in Chicago,” informs Nicholas. “In the middle of Manhattan, it's small-time Jewish gamblers. And they are really Jewish. They eat gefilte fish and are called things like Izzy Cheesecake. There's an eating competition, which is won by Violette Schlumberger.

The humour is so Jewish and you realise, as I have, when you go to New York, everybody's Jewish. Even the people who aren't Jewish are Jewish. They unaffectedly drop Yiddish into their conversation without even knowing it.

"You're also dealing with a totally Jewish art form, because the American musical – putting Cole Porter to one side – is basically Jews and African Americans. There would be no American musicals without Jews and no American popular music without African Americans.”

We chat a while about other sublime

Jewish musical composers, including the late Marvin Hamlisch – “an adorable bear of a man” – with whom Nicholas worked on the musical Sweet Smell of Success. Sadly it did not get the same gushing reviews as his Guys & Dolls

“It has a wonderful score and I would absolutely accept being told, ‘the reason it was a flop was YOU!’ I might have screwed it up. But it was the wrong time and, at some point, a young director will rediscover that show and it will be the right time.”

The reviews prove it's the right time for the theatre knight and for his choreographer, Dame Arlene Phillips who, at the significant age of 80 can still leap and twirl, which Nicholas envies. “I wish could dance. But her age? I know it's true, I just don't believe it,” he jokes about the former Strictly judge, who choreographed his past two immersive Shakespeares and Alan Bennett's play Allelujah!, which is now a film.

“She's also from the same part of Prestwich as both my parents and I’ve heard her talk about the local butcher with my mother.” So Jewish! And Sir Nicholas doesn’t shy away from it.

Starting off on a dubious footing with the decrying of the 1955 film, he ends our chat declaring it was a pleasure, which left only one more question.

“Are you strudel or cheesecake?” He pauses.

“I'm cheesecake,” he says with a wink. For clarity see the show. And sample that cheesecake. According to Sir Nicholas: “It’s better than Mindy’s.”

Footnote: Damon Runyon was a big fan of the cheesecake served at Lindy’s deli on the corner of Broadway and 51st. But when he wrote about it in his books, he changed the name to Mindy's. It remained a contentious issue for owner Leo 'Lindy' Lindemann. For tickets: bridgetheatre.co.uk

Guys & Dolls

Daniel Mays (Nathan Detroit) and Andrew Richardson (Sky Masterson) in Nicholas Hytner's production

Miss Saigon was one of Nicholas' major successes as director, along with other high-profile shows

Nicholas with Dame Maggie Smith, writer Sir Alan Bennett and producers of The Lady in the Van

Helen Mirren and Nigel Hawthorne with Nicholas directing The Madness of King George in 1994

As a teenage runaway, from a broken home where she was beaten and abused, Shani’s escape was to take to the streets. With no food, shelter, support or schooling, she felt completely alone.

A friend told her about the WIZO Adi centre. It was there, that for the first time, she felt truly heard and accepted for who she was. No-one judged her and she was welcomed, listened to, supported, and loved.

The Adi centre, located in Be’er Sheva, is a day centre for girls at high risk, many of whom have lost all trust in adults. The centre’s aim is to guide these girls out of crisis, through counselling and care. With expertise and passion, the girls are encouraged to believe in themselves, to find a vocation and the confidence to become successful and independent, enabling them to reach new heights as they move towards a brighter future.

Raising funds to support the work of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre

Annual sponsor of UK Jewish schools’ Teachers Seminar at Yad Vashem’s International School of Holocaust Studies

Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Twinning with a young victim of the Holocaust

Remembering named Jewish victims through Guardian of the Memory

Travelling Exhibitions

Organising live sculptures of Holocaust survivors

Organising talks with Holocaust Survivors

Book Club and Film Events

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Running HERO

When a deadly earthquake hit Turkey last month, Israel was among the first countries in the world to dispatch searchand-rescue teams. Officers and soldiers from the Israel Defence Force’s Medical Corps. Personnel from the Home Front Command. And doctors, nurses and paramedics from the Ministry of Health.

As the reverberations of the earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6 were still being felt in the neighbouring countries of Syria, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Georgia, Israel had already sent the first batch of first responders to the province of Kahramanmaras, one of the areas hardest hit.

Their role was to help find the thousands of people trapped under the rubble and, at the same time, to set up a field hospital to treat the injured. Ofer Merin, the director of that hospital, is a cardiac surgeon and consummate medical veteran who knows how to navigate disaster missions. But Turkey

was different. “When we arrived, we understood that the Turkish people had been quick to evacuate the wounded to areas in the north that hadn’t been affected by the earthquake,” Merin (pictured inset) recalls.

“As opposed to many other missions where we see tens of thousands of people who need medical assistance, this wasn’t the case in Turkey. We didn’t see the same numbers of people lying on the street.”

While the professor’s team still assisted more than 500 people with medical care, their main effort was concentrated on helping local staff get back on their feet.

“Reopening the hospital, which had been deserted after the earthquake because the staff were afraid the building wasn’t safe, became a key priority,” says Merin.

“Our constructors made sure it was safe, so we decided to reopen it. Within a day we made sure it was clean and safe. Not long afterwards, volunteers from all over the country came and ended up doing most of the medical care.”

A total of 9,793 teams from different countries arrived in Turkey to help

and, for some, rescue was a priority. “The Israeli rescue teams helped save the lives of 19 people who were caught under the rubble, something that is quite extraordinary,” says Merin.

“Usually, after four to five days, it’s not common to rescue people stuck under the rubble. This probably has something to do with the cold weather at the time of the disaster.”

Having been on six rescue missions throughout his career, Merin is among the most experienced in the field. Still, seeing the immense destruction in Turkey left a big impression him.

“You’re looking at this frightened three-year-old kid who has been under the rubble for over 130 hours, not knowing if anyone was coming to save him. Medically, you can make sure he is stabilised in 24 hours but, mentally, I’m sure it had an affect on him.”

Israel has received a lot of praise for its outstanding emergency aid in disaster areas and, according to Merin, the World Health Organisation currently ranks the country, along with China, as the best emergency medical teams in the world.

It is, therefore, no surprise that emergency teams from other countries have asked Israel to be their referral team, should something happen to their staff.

“The British team in Turkey made such a request,” says Merin. “It also happened on our last mission, when the American team asked us to be their referral centre. So we are quite known for our abilities.”

The surgeon, who has been at Shaare

Zedek Medical Centre for 31 years, has no doubt about why Israel stands out when assisting in disaster-hit countries.

“Israel is known to respond very quickly,” he explains. “It is also about being flexible and able to adapt to the needs on the ground. We also come in large and strong teams.”

When asked how experiences like these affect mental health, Merin says everyone has to find their own way to handle them. But there are certain basic things every team should do, including understand and acknowledge that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a risk.

“I’m making a big effort to prevent PTSD for me and my team – it is a psychological condition well known to first responders. Being aware of this risk is very important and, of course, speaking to people about their experiences and the decision-making process.

“They also have to make sure they get their sleep, food and that they communicate with their families.”

To clear his mind of the traumatic scenes he witnesses, there is one thing he cannot live without – running. “For me, running is part of my everyday routine. I still do it when I am on missions.”

The professor who saves lives also raises money for Shaare Zedek by competing in marathons, so his commitment to running is about more than self preservation.

But to run in the midst of a life-saving mission? “In Turkey I woke up early and ran around the camp in minus eight degrees,” he shrugs.

The director-general of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Centre deals with trauma every day. But leading field hospitals in disaster zones is a different kind of challenge, he tells Jotam Confino

Israel sent rescue teams to Turkey

Ofer and his team before going to Turkey

STAY SAFE

Ex-IDF lieutenant Yair Daren at Security Risk Specialists explains what makes his security company stand out from the crowd

In the spirit of Pesach, why is your security company different from all other security companies?

Unlike most Israeli security companies, which are based in north London, Security Risk Specialists (SRS) is in central London. When I set up the company in 2013, I wanted to offer something different to what was already out there and appeal to clients both within and outside the traditional Jewish community. My father made aliyah from Wales and my mother from Morocco, and I feel this diverse background enables me to relate to a broad spectrum of people, so the cosmopolitan nature of central London appealed to me. I’ve lived in Clerkenwell for more than 10 years and fortuitously my first client was an office complex based here, so my business in this area has grown organically. The location of our HQ in Clerkenwell, a stone’s throw from the City, enables us to provide services for the financial sector and corporate world, as well as the residential sector in central London.

What services do you provide?

SRS offers an array of man-guarding and front-of-house services with a particular emphasis on security concierge services for offices and luxury residential apartments. We protect people, institutions and property and this can include close protection, canine security and the use of patrol cars. Our clients have included heads of state, the Royal Navy, Jamie Oliver’s headquarters, the Hatton Garden diamond district and Madonna.

How does your IDF experience inform your approach ?

My experience as an army lieutenant in a front-line tanks unit gave me an insight at an early age into a leadership role but perhaps more profound in determining the ethos behind SRS was the decade I spent as a security officer and manager in the UK. There was little investment in training and development, I rarely saw inspiring managers and it was hard to feel connected to a wider team. So when I established SRS I wanted to create a sense of community - an kind of extended family for my security officers. As SRS we have clear values that we ensure all our employees are aware of and aligned with. These include accountability, integrity and collaboration. They are consistently reinforced by our managers, who are committed to leading by example and adopting different approaches to ensure our security officers are motivated and that the contribution they make is recognised and valued.

What is your assessment of the current security landscape?

I regularly attend security briefings and conferences. At a recent meeting with key figures from the City of London Police, the current threat level was discussed at length. The UK intelligence agencies have deemed the threat level in the UK from international terrorism as ‘substantial’ at present, which means that an attack is likely. However, this threat assessment shouldn’t be taken out of context - for instance the threat in the UK is smaller than for some of our continental neighbours such as France or Belgium. Contrary to continental Europe, the

UK benefits from a natural border since it is surrounded by water, strict and highly-regulated gun laws and advanced intelligence-gathering capabilities by both MI5 and MI6, which are backed by a pro-National Security consensus from both sides of the political spectrum. The Jewish community, with its close allegiance to Israel, is subject to greater threats so naturally visible security can be a very useful tool in creating deterrence and achieving prevention.

Events security Reception/front of house security

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The KNIGHTLY News

CHIEF RABBI SIR EPHRAIM MIRVIS SITS DOWN WITH RICHARD FERRER TO REFLECT ON THE MOMENTS IN HIS LIFE THAT HAVE INFLUENCED HIS PHILOSOPHY OF INCLUSION

Ten years, five prime ministers and one knighthood later, the Chief Rabbi can look back with pride on a decade defined by one overarching goal – to make Modern Orthodox Judaism as inclusive as possible.

His illustrious predecessor, Rabbi Lord Sacks, was undoubtedly a Sir Alex Ferguson-sized act to follow, but Ephraim Mirvis has adeptly presided over a transformational decade in which halachic hot potatoes have been tackled head-on.

He wasted no time in setting the tone of his tenure, becoming the first sitting Chief Rabbi to speak at Limmud conference, where he received a standing ovation. He set about expanding women’s roles in the United Synagogue through his Ma’ayan and Neshama programmes and appointed its first female halachic adviser. He issued a landmark guide on the wellbeing of LGBT+ children in Orthodox schools and, through his Ben Azzai programme, inspires young leaders to tackle global issues such as climate change and the refugee crisis.

Through ShabbatUK, he encourages non-observant Jews to keep the day of rest at least once a year and, with Project Welcome, got people back into synagogue postpandemic. And, just months ago, he was the first Chief Rabbi in his office’s 318-year history to make an official visit to an Arab state. Everything this Chief Rabbi does is guided by his philosophy of inclusion.

A deeply private man in a relentlessly public role, it’s a contradiction he has learned to live with. “I don’t like talking about myself,” he admits, midway through a lengthy chat in which I try to make him talk about himself as often as seems polite. “Being Chief Rabbi did not come naturally to me. I don’t think it comes naturally to anyone. The enormity of the task

requires exceptional seriousness. I love it, I enjoy it and it’s a huge privilege. But does it come naturally? No. Leadership roles, especially religious ones, demand dedication and a sense of responsibility. It takes time and effort to develop the skills to be a successful leader.”

We chat about the young Ephraim Mirvis growing up amid the injustices of apartheid South Africa. How did this brutal system shape his formative years?

“Apartheid was central to my existence,” he reflects, his Rainbow Nation accent tinged with a hint of Hendon. “Many people still don’t appreciate the true evils of this system, the depths to which it sank. Every day I travelled to and from school on a train with eight coaches, the front four for whites only. Every railway station had separate black and white entrances, seating and ticket offices. A white ambulance couldn’t save a black life and an interracial relationship was a jailable offence.”

His family publicly opposed the regime, often at a cost. “Being against apartheid wasn’t just a moral decision, it was a Torah stand. My father (Rabbi Dr Lionel Mirvis) was a lecturer at Cape Town University, where he took part in protests. I remember him coming home from one almost blinded by tear gas.

“My mother (Freida), in addition to being a rebbetzin, was principal of South Africa’s only preschool teacher training college for people of colour. She invited colleagues to my brother Jonathan’s barmitzvah and some of the guests complained about black people being there. One couple insisted on moving to another table. Imagine that happening today! A lovely lady called Phyllis, a black friend of the family who also worked for us, named her boy after me. I wonder where little Ephraim is these days?”

He continues: “One of my proudest memories was seeing my great-uncle, Benny Eidelman, a partner at the legal firm that employed Nelson Mandela at a time when other firms would not, mentioned in Mandela’s autobiography A Long Walk to Freedom. The pages with Mandela’s words of appreciation are on display in the Jewish Museum in Cape Town.”

Having experienced a segregated society, how does he respond to apartheid accusations against Israel? “It’s an outright lie to suggest anything in Israel is comparable to the cruel and evil system I grew up in. You just have to visit a hospital to see the real Israel. When our daughter was ill, she was treated by the Arab head of general surgery, a great man named Professor Ahmed Eid.

“In that hospital, around 40 percent of the patients tend to be Arab, as are 40 percent of the staff. Everyone is respected. No differentiation, no discrimination. I’m not saying there aren’t issues in areas of Israeli life, but no more so than in other countries. ”

Was antisemitism also an issue in South Africa at the time? “Yes, I had abuse shouted at me as a child at my Jewish high school,” the 66-year-old recalls. “And we suffered abuse when we played rugby and cricket against other schools.”

Sensing the presence of a fellow cricket nerd, I ask if he was a batter or bowler. It turns out he was a something of a Ben Stokes. “I was an all-rounder,” the Chief Rabbi smiles. “There’s a picture of me batting on display in the Irish Jewish Museum. ” An hour later, he proudly shares a black-and-white 1970s photograph of him adeptly nudging the ball through point for a quick single. Cricket’s loss was the community’s gain.

In January 1974, soon after the Yom Kippur War, a 17-year-old Mirvis arrived in Israel as a student at

Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh. He recalls witnessing the return of Binyamin Mazouz, a fellow yeshiva pupil who had been held as a prisoner of war. “The atmosphere was one of relief and celebration that he had come home and sadness as we mourned students who had not.”

He was still at yeshiva three years later when, he recalls, Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem in November 1977. “The idea an enemy could become a friend was inspiring, especially given the many instances where good friends had turned out to be enemies. Sadat’s visit [four years before his assassination] was a unique and inspiring experience that has always given me hope.”

He lived in Jerusalem when the city was undergoing enormous excavation. “From 1980 to 1982, during our first few years of married life, Valerie and I lived in the Jewish quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem. There was constant digging and drilling around our building. One day, Hezekiah’s Wall [built by the King of Judah in the eighth century BCE to fortify the city against the Assyrians] was discovered beneath our apartment!

“Six years ago, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, asked me to be his Jerusalem tour guide for the day. I met him at Jaffa Gate and we walked to the Kotel, stopping at Hezekiah’s Wall, next to my old home. I like to think my tour helped him connect to the Jewish cultural and historical significance of the city.”

He and the archbishop have since forged a close friendship. Both have lost daughters – Welby’s sevenmonth-old child, Johanna, died in a car crash in 1983 – and appeared together on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to talk about how they live with grief.

The Chief Rabbi suddenly reclines and says: “Oh, I must tell you a funny story about the Kotel... There’s has been a continuous presence at the Kotel ever since 1967 [when Judaism’s holiest site returned to Jewish control for the first time in 2,000 years]. A group called Chevrat Mishnayot holds 24/7 study sessions there. It’s a symbol of Jewish commitment to the site, of the handing over of its care to future generations and the fact it represents every one of us. It’s an important tradition. Well, there was a heavy snowstorm in Jerusalem during Purim in 1981. I said to Valerie, ‘I’m going to the Kotel to pray.’ She replied, ‘Are you crazy? In this weather?!’ but off I went.

“I arrived, thick snow falling, I couldn’t see a single person. Suddenly, a figure ran towards me and yelled,

‘Thank God you’ve arrived! I’ve been stuck here waiting for somebody to come for ages!’ Then he ran off. So, there I am, immersed in a unique spiritual experience. I was the link preserving this historic chain all on my own. After about half an hour I realised Valerie would be wondering where I was so, as the snow fell, my prayers changed to, ‘Please God, send someone!’ Eventually someone else did turn up. I ran up to them, said, ‘Thank God you’ve arrived,’ and left. The message I took from that day was the sense of responsibility we have to stand as a link in the chain of the Jewish people. It has always stayed with me.”

The following year, he left Israel to become rabbi of Dublin’s Adelaide Road Synagogue – which closed in

history by delivering the opening address at the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Seated next to forum founder Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, one of the world’s most revered Muslim scholars, he told the 500 religious and political leaders “a window of opportunity has been opened for Jewish-Muslim relations”.

He reflects: “When I meet religious or political leaders, I tend to ask myself: are they genuine or just saying all the right things? Well, the warmth between Jews and Muslims in Abu Dhabi was palpable. The outpouring of friendship and hospitality was not scripted. When you meet someone like Sheikh Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, who has dedicated his life to running the Arab world’s first Holocaust museum, you know you are in the presence of someone genuinely sincere.”

1999 – and, three years later, Chief Rabbi of Ireland. “Being Chief Rabbi of Ireland is like being Prince of Monaco,” he says. “It’s a huge role in a small place [Ireland has a Jewish population of just 2,500]. I met with the president and visiting statesmen and dealt with important national and religious issues. It prepared me in many ways for the role I have today.”

The King will spend a fair bit of quality time with Valerie and the Chief Rabbi – who has been nominated for a knighthood – in the coming months, as they are booked in for a sleepover at Clarence House, a mile from Westminster Abbey, the night before the coronation on 6 May to avoid Shabbat travel. He says: “It was a lovely gesture from the King and Queen Consort to invite us. They are providing a kosher caterer and making all the Shabbat preparations.”

Last November, Rabbi Mirvis marked the first official visit to an Arab state in his office’s 318-year

The UAE is the only place in the world with a minister of tolerance. Under his watch, the Abrahamic Family House, consisting of a mosque, a synagogue and a church, has just been opened. The Chief Rabbi addressed the opening ceremony and fixed a mezuzah on what was the first purpose-built synagogue in the Arab world for nearly a century. “The UAE genuinely wants to be at the heart of global interfaith. It is investing a lot in bringing Jews, Muslims and Christians together. This is so refreshing because many aspects of European society appear to be heading in the opposite direction with an increase in xenophobia and antisemitism. ”

Back home, how would he characterise current relations between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jewish movements? “To use another cricketing analogy... we must stand up for what we represent, be proud of our achievements and score runs for our side without trying to get the other side out. I made it clear on becoming Chief Rabbi that I would never publicly criticise nonOrthodox Jews. I have good relations with progressive groups; we speak diplomatically and effectively.”

When do you have a moment for yourself, I ask. “My favourite time of day is early morning, around 5am, when I’m surrounded by silence, the phone doesn’t ring and I have time to really think,” he says. “I also enjoy being on my exercise bike before bed, watching the Sky News newspaper review. I need these moments of quiet to gather my thoughts and clear my mind for the next day.”

IT WAS A LOVELY GESTURE FROM THE KING AND QUEEN CONSORT TO INVITE VALERIE AND ME TO STAY

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15 YEARS

Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

Serves 4 to 6

Black-eyed peas are a strong link between the two Diaspora cuisines, probably meeting in the Nile River Valley and the Fertile Crescent. Originally from ancient West Africa, black-eyed peas are a significant part of the cuisine of the Levant to this day, moving with African people throughout the region. Hummus, emblematic and beloved by many cultures in the Levant, is a dish that relies on the staple legume of the Arab farmer and ancient biblical standby, the chickpea. Here the black-eyed pea, loaded with mystical symbolism and its own honoured place in West and Central Africa, replaces the chickpea.

• 1 15 oz can black-eyed peas, rinsed & drained

Ingredients

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

• ½ cup tahini

3

• ½ cup fresh lemon juice

• 1½ tsps kosher salt

• 4 garlic cloves, chopped

• 1 tsp sweet or smoked paprika

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• ½ tsp ground coriander

• ½ tsp chilli powder

• 1 tsp brown or turbinado sugar

• 2 tsps minced parsley, for garnish

• 1 tsp hot sauce

Instructions Throw everything but the parsley into a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and add more spice, hot sauce, or whatever you think it needs. To serve, sprinkle parsley and drizzle olive oil on the top.

Michael Twitty and (below left) dressed in clothes of his ancestors during a cooking demonstration, and with a seder plate

The man who makes ROOM AT HIS TABLE

Alex Galbinski talks to black African-American Jewish culinary historian Michael Twitty about food, identity and bigotry

Raising one’s head above the parapet is both brave and risky. So discovered Michael Twitty, a black and Jewish food historian and author who is passionate about encouraging everyone to find their metaphorical place at the table and be proud of their identity.

Koshersoul:TheFaithandFoodJourney of An African American Jew, Twitty’s most recent book, concerns the intersections between food and identity. As the book’s blurb says, he explores the “marriage of two of the most distinct culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora”.

If you’re wondering what he means by this, Twitty writes: “There were colonial dames and enslaved black cooks who for a generation or two had to master the ways of a kosher kitchen and foods that were relatively di erent from the usual fare of other citizens of Norfolk Savannah, or Charleston; they were black people of Jewish descent, Jews who fought for the Confederacy, abolitionists, black domestics, and Ashkenazi and Sephardi immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, not to mention those who actively fought against it and Black people without whom many modern Southern shuls could not function…”

Twitty believes it’s important to create a record of people with these varying identities. “People don’t know who we [people who are black and Jewish] are,” he tells me. “There’s a lot of suspicion and speculation about where we come from, our numbers, and even where our loyalties lie, which is really annoying, frustrating and painful.

“I want people to be able to testify to

their own identities, their own stories, their own cultural markers, the ways in which they choose to demonstrate or amplify their black and Jewish identities.”

Twitty grew up in a very Jewish and multicultural community in Washington, DC. His previous award-winning book, The CookingGene, is a memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry – both black and white – through food, from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom. His great-greatgrandfather’s family had been enslaved for almost 200 years and Twitty used to run cookery demonstrations on former plantations dressed in 18th and 19th century clothes to show the past of his African-American ancestors.

A kippah- and tzitzit-wearing Jewish religious school teacher for more than 15 years, Twitty, is a Jew by choice. Finding Judaism his spiritual home, he converted aged 25 in a Sephardic and Mizrahi synagogue (he is now 46) and describes himself as “Afro-Ashkefardi Conservadox” – but is fed up of dealing with microaggressions and having to justify his place.

“I get a lot of questions: ‘So when did you become Jewish’ and I’ve stopped answering them because first of all, if you don’t know that I had an Orthodox conversion by the Beth Din, that’s a problem. But the other part is this: I’ve been in this peoplehood, in this culture, in this faith, for quite some time and I think that far outweighs other explanations of why I’m here and what my intention is.”

In Koshersoul, Twitty, who is gay and whose next book will explore gay identity in food and cooking, writes a letter to his former students about being Jewish and LGBTQ+. His dream is for everyone to find acceptance, and the notion of mishpahah

(family) is extremely important to him. He views Judaism as “an incredible gi ” and recently thought about what his faith meant “and what it meant to have a new year and an opportunity to renew oneself… to spiritually, physically and mentally reorient yourself”. He adds: “What it means to know that no matter what someone else believes, they’re still your family and still part of you.”

Public displays of antisemitism are brutal, he says, referencing last month’s white supremacists’ ‘Day of Hate’ in Orlando, Florida. “People felt like they could say anything,” he says, but things like this don’t stop him from sharing his own experiences on social media. “The Kanye West thing was unreal. It would be one thing if he was just blathering; it’s another thing when you see people who look like you say ‘Jews don’t want us to have… it’s because of Jews...’ How did we get to a point where we are just going back to arguments that are literally medieval?

“We have to rescue ourselves from this slow death because, if you’re in a multicultural society, we don’t have room to go back. You have to do more than just get along – you have to respect [others].”

He hopes Koshersoul (which is also his Twitter handle) will have wide appeal. “I really did want predominantly black, global and Jewish audiences, to read this. [For the readers] it’s an act of trying to understand where people come from and what things mean to them.

“The majority have seen themselves in this book. White and Protestant from the South, Jews of colour from various backgrounds, Jews who are Sephardi and Mizrahi or Jews who are just passionate about Judaism in how they live and their identity.

“The fact that all those have a common ground is, to me at least, success: I’ve done what I’ve come to do, to bring them together through our culture, through our food.”

Koshersoul:TheFaithandFoodJourney of An African American Jew by Michael W. Twitty is published by Amistad, £20

Alongside interviews with Jews and Twitty’s own experiences and ruminations, Koshersoul features menu plans and recipes, including black-eyed pea hummus, Senegalese-inspired chicken soup, yam latkes and West Africaninspired brisket. He says his (Lutheran) mother was the “best challah-braider I have ever known” and her mother had provided domestic help for a Jewish family and used to tell him about the Pesach foods she made. He himself grew up cooking with them both and, at the homes of his Jewish friends, would cook with their grandmothers.

Twitty’s own experiences and ruminations,

Louisa Walters meets an Israeli chef duo doing meat their way in Camden

Iwas in the kosher butcher when I heard about The Black Cow – a non-kosher steak restaurant in Camden. “I love the irony of this,” laughs Shiri Kraus, who, together with Amir Battito, opened the restaurant in Hawley Wharf (the new bit of Camden market) in 2021.

The two Israeli chefs, who both live in north London, have worked together for many years as caterers and restaurant consultants, meaning that they have always been cooking and serving for clients, but when it came to opening restaurants they only did that for other people.

“Restaurant owners would come to us and say, ‘Here’s the concept, here’s the location, make it work,’” explains Shiri, 44. “And then, one day, this opportunity came up. The owners of this amazing new building said to us, ‘Would you be interested in taking the main unit and developing a concept for it?’ which is, of course, what we do, but this time we did it for ourselves.”

It’s a large, spacious, yet convivial unit, with an attractive bar and lots of large tables for groups – perfect for sharing, which is what the concept is all about. Indeed, ‘sharing is caring’ is the first section of the menu and, as we tucked into the signature corn bread, Husky corn ribs with salted crumble and feta cream, and Casbah, which is a deep-fried brik pastry-filled take on a Philly cheese steak, Amir, 39, who started working in

BLACK IS THE NEW STEAK

hospitality as a teenager in Israel, explained: “I’m always looking for opportunities to make money and I decided to work in restaurants and hospitality because that’s what I love. I learned to love what I’m good at and do what I love.”

With Pesach approaching, I had to ask – what makes your steak restaurant different from all other steak restaurants? Shiri laughs. “As one of our customers said, it’s not a steak house – it’s a house with steak. Steak restaurants are all very samey. Israeli restaurants are very samey too –it’s all the sharing plates with aubergine and cauliflower, pomegranate and tahini. Always the same dishes – different touches, but the same food. We wanted to do something different.

“When you go to a classic American-style steakhouse, you always get different versions of the same thing – a steak with a side and a sauce. You always get the same cuts. We bring a different aspect to that, both in the flavours, which are more Middle Eastern, with lots of spices, and also in the concept, so all the steaks come pre-cut, perfect for sharing. We serve dry-aged cuts by weight and other sharing dishes so it’s not like a steak and a side. I think a lot of people are looking for a bold palette and also looking for Israeli

hospitality, which is very relaxed. We are here with our customers every day – we go to the tables, we joke around, we sometimes do some shots, and people love that.”

I mention that Ottolenghi is about to celebrate 20 years since he opened his first restaurant in London. “He was a visionary in the sense that he brought the right food here at the right time,” says Shiri. “He brought a fresh new style with all the amazing flavours. When I look at what we’ve done with the Black Cow, we, too, have brought something new.” They certainly have. The menu sings with the sound of sumac, harissa, chermoula and ras al hanout, flavouring dishes such as Caesarea (roasted lettuce), Wings of Change (spicy chicken wings) and Cheesy (their take on cauliflower cheese).

Shiri originally trained as a nurse, but got into restaurants eight years ago, training at The Palomar and The Barbary. “I don’t think I went into this restaurant thinking I want to do something very different. Amir and I just are different in the way that we think as individuals, the way that we think as a company. The Black Cow is called that because we are a bit of a black sheep.”

Amir says that Israeli chefs mostly come from families that originally were not Israeli. “I grew up with Moroccan food at home and my wife is Iraqi. My best friend is a Yemenite. Israeli cuisine is a melting pot. The influences are endless and that is what’s creating the uniqueness.”

Shiri explains what is different about the meat. “We’re very lucky to be working with excellent butchers who supply us with all the regulars – including sirloin and rib-eye – but also the butcher’s cut, otherwise known

as onglet. It’s not popular because it’s not straightforward to cook, but it’s very tasty so butchers used to keep it for themselves. It’s a special cut because all the blood from the abdomen flows through it, it’s very lean and it has an extremely aromatic flavour. So we are basically saying to the butcher give us the cut nobody else will buy. Because we like to do things differently.”

While I’m eyeing up the Danny for dessert – a chocolate cigar filled with vanilla custard – our onglet steak is brought to the table nicely charred with a large bunch of herbs. These are set alight and the resulting ashes give the whole dish a smoky elevation. It makes me think of the Passover burnt offering. Shiri laughs. “We have taken the food out of Israel. You can’t take Israel out of our food.”

theblackcow.co.uk

Shiri and Amir’s second restaurant, Epicurus, will open at Stables Market in April

Casbah is a deep-fried pastry parcel

Steaks in The Black Cow are pre-cut for sharing

JERU

Roy Ner spent 18 years working in Sydney, where he was awarded several Michelin stars for his innovative, inspired cooking. Then, luckily for us, he brought his brilliance to London’s Mayfair, where relaxed, informal and Middle Eastern have never been a thing – until now. JERU styles itself as ‘Eastern Mediterranean’, which is perhaps a more refined take on the genre, as befits the location. I visited this gorgeous restaurant, with its glamorous Moroccan-style interior with oversized flower chandelier, pretty lights and lots of ceramics and stone a year ago when it had just opened. The only downside on that trip was that the onsite bakery had not yet opened – so I missed out on wood-fired potato bread, served with truffled honey and miso butter. Note: one portion is not enough! But you must leave room for indulgent, creamy halloumi doughnuts – by now a signature dish – and chargrilled aubergine with peppers, tahini and mint salsa. On the leaner side there’s a lovely citrussy tuna ceviche with orange and tamarind dressing and a spectacular platter of cured meats, but then we headed into chicken shawarma bites and roasted aubergine with macadamia dukkah and smoked mint tahini. And then... a stunning tender steak cut into bite-sized chunks with crispy potatoes and a delicious lettuce salad. Dessert choices are limited, but you want them all – caramel chocolate ice cream bar, pistachio baklava with pistachio ice cream and a pretty plate of sorbets. I prefaced my

Lebanese white wine from the stunning wine room with a vodka, lychee, hibiscus and rose ‘Mayfair Lady’ cocktail because, after all, when dining in these parts that’s exactly what I am! As Giles Coren – who loved it too – said: it’s not cheap, but then really good food isn’t. jeru.co.uk (Louisa Walters)

KAPARA

curd sauce, chocolate soil and smoked tuile – and the Open Sesame – a black sesame mille feuille with yoghurt and black tahini – were dreamy. From a list of Gazoz – ‘oldschool’ Israeli infusions – to which you can add alcohol, Israeli wines and naughtynamed cocktails, we knocked back a ‘Katani’ (espresso martini), and promised to return. kapara.co.uk (Alex Galbinski)

COAL OFFICE

BALADY

Ever since Josh Katz and Eran Tibi left the building, JW3 hasn’t really had a food offering to shout about, but now Oz Sabbo has opened a branch of his popular BALADY restaurant. This one is called Baladyt, meaning ‘little sister’, but in truth it’s not that little, and indeed Oz has plans to make it larger and open up a meaty section. For now,

With a relaxing peach and dark pink colour scheme and comfortable seating, KAPARA, ‘a Tel Aviv fantasy’ in Soho, is designed to appeal to a hedonistic crowd. The food is beautifully inventive and its presentation pitch perfect. Foodies will know Cordon Bleu and Ottolenghi trained Tibi from Zest at JW3, which he set up with Josh Katz in 2013, and from Bala Baya, Kapara’s ‘little sister’ restaurant in Southwark. At Kapara (Hebrew slang for ‘darling’) the modern Israeliinfluenced menu is eclectic. There are tapasstyle dishes: slivers of red charcoal-marinated peppers with goat’s cheese, basil, rose and chopped almonds form a romanesco carpaccio, which we enjoyed with borekitas – soft, pillowy cheese-filled pastry triangles. Chicken soup is served in a glass from a teapot and has a kick and the ‘cheeky bums’ are beautifully succulent chicken oysters. Black bream ceviche has spring onion sprigs cutting through the sweetness of the sauce and the apple tempura is an inspired touch. Soft aubergine heart with pine nut jam, tahini and clementine marmalade has a smokysweet umami taste. Imaginative cod ‘chops’ come with a crusty polenta collar, fermented and dried tuna aioli and a citrus glaze.

The Gramps cigar – a brik pastry filled with a pistachio cream, rose, coco, passion fruit

When it opened, Assaf Granit’s collaboration with Tom Dixon, COAL OFFICE in Granary Square, rightly won a plethora of accolades for design and food. Now it has launched a Jerusalem Sunday roast – and that means more than just a hint of Middle Eastern style and flavour. Sat up at the kitchen counter (best seats in the house if there are just two of you), we had an open view of the (mostly Israeli) chefs and preppers. It struck me how young and calm they were and how happy they seemed. We dipped soft kubalah (a cross between challah and brioche) into creamy tahini and rich labneh, both laced with Middle Eastern spices. We also had two delicious salads before the Turkish coffeebraised brisket with harissa carrots and pink fir potatoes. The meat was uber-tender with tons of flavour and a thick gravy with great depth and richness. Dessert was the very interesting Ma Ha Louz, a hazelnut and chocolate crunch concoction that was the perfect, not-too-sweet way to end this incredible meal. There are special Sunday cocktails too – mine was a citrus mimosa. coaloffice.com (Louisa Walters)

though, it’s a dairy restaurant extraordinaire, with a magnificent cauliflower shawarma and shakshuka taking centre stage on a menu that also features a wide range of hummus dishes – hummus with baba ganoush, hummus sabich, hummus with falafel and so on. The falafel are the best – and I do mean the best – outside of (and possibly even inside of) Israel. A thing of beauty and joy, the dark crisp shell breaking open to reveal a beautiful bright green herby interior – unparalleled. These plus the tahini aubergine and squishy pita is what I’d like to eat for lunch every day, washed down with Moroccan tea – and now I can as there are five branches to choose from: JW3, Temple Fortune (meaty), Barnet (which will also be meaty after Pesach), Camden and Leather Lane. Did you know that Balady is an Arabic word meaning ‘I’ve made it’. In both senses of the phrase, Oz Sabbo has done exactly that.

020 8458 2064 (Louisa Walters)

With a Tel Aviv restaurant named among the best in the Middle East and Africa, and Israel accepted into the Michelin guide, we celebrate some of the finest Israeli offerings in London

“When I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, I just didn’t know what to do.

I had my surgery in Israel as both mine and my husband’s families live there. Then I had a big decision to make - where would I have my treatment?

How could I uproot my husband and girls? But equally, how would I get through my chemotherapy here without our families’ support?

Then my oncologist told me about Chai.

They have been amazing – I truly believe there is nothing like it in the world. Being able to rely on Chai’s all-encompassing support gave me the confidence to come home to my husband and girls. Thanks to Chai, we’re together as a family again”

CRACKER ME UP

Dreading the matzah-laden days ahead? With a visit to Rakusen’s on her wish list, Brigit Grant can’t wait to open a box

Everyone, at some time, has thought about their last meal. Though there is small to no chance of that final menu being needed, it’s good to plan ahead and my own bemuses most because it’s matzah. Not ‘matzah déshabillé’ as eaten by the Israelites, but lightly spread with butter and a Cheddar wedge. Jam works too, as does cream cheese, and I never dismiss a sweep of chopped herring. But, ultimately, if no topping is available I’ll take it dry.

My late mother, bless her, was also matzah mad, and we o en chose Jewish crackers over a fancier supper. With so much a ection for unleavened bread, it won’t surprise you that I jumped at the chance to visit Rakusen’s, in much the same way a sweet-lover would to a Wonka factory invite. There would be no chocolate lake or everlasting gob stopper, but, on arrival, I was given the o icial Rakusen’s white coat and hair net. If looking like Ena Sharples would get me on to the production line, I was wearing it.

I searched for words that would turn matzah ingredients into poetry but, in the absence of seasoning, even Keats would struggle to romanticise flour and water. But there is something sensory in Rakusen’s use of fine English wheat flour and Yorkshire water, which Lazarus Rakusen started blending in 1900.

Born in Lithuania in 1881, Lazarus emigrated to Leeds as a child, later changing his name to Lloyd when he became a jeweller and watchmaker. The clue to his previous trade is the inclusion of a pocket watch in the company logo, but it was his sideline in matzah-making that shaped his future.

Lloyd first made matzah in his kitchen workshop with a small hand machine of his own invention and, assisted by four sta , made crackers, though only in the month preceding Passover. But the Jewish population of Yorkshire kept growing and once Leeds was identified as ‘a continental Jewish ghetto’ by the Yiddish press, the demand for Rakusen’s matzah grew too. Not that Lloyd was complaining – he happily moved to larger premises on Meanwood Road, joined by his son Philip in 1930.

Thirty years later, there were 400,000

potential matzah buyers across the UK, an alarming contrast to our now muchdepleted population. But the community reached its apogee in the Sixties, and Rakusen’s and Sons were operating yearround. That hasn’t changed and Passover is the prompt for even more crackers.

Creating the ‘kosher for Passover’ kind means it’s been all systems go since January at the HQ on Clayton Wood Rise. A stone’s throw from Headingley cricket ground, it’s an odd location for matzah mass production, but Lloyd liked it enough to schlep three of his five ovens to the site.

“Two ovens didn’t make it,” explains executive Morgan Hammond. “So the lines are numbered 3, 4, 5.” ‘Three’ is the Passover line and most watchedover in the Pesach lead-up, with Rakusen’s under the supervision of the London Beth Din. I have a tendency to humanise inanimate objects and started to wonder if the matzahs knew they were being shomer-supervised as they emerged from the oven on to the conveyor belt.

Pity then the matzahs that came out too dark, as it was straight into the bin, which was hard to watch. But Rakusen’s has been doing this too long to risk sending out a cracker that looks sun-damaged (read burnt). The company does use the term ‘flame baked’ on its Bonn’s & Co crackers, which are also made on site, but they are deemed the more exclusive crunch and sold at Fortnum & Mason.

Lloyd partnered with Joseph Bonn, the UK’s first kosher caterer, and Theodore Carr

around 1910 to form Bonn Rakusen & Co, but you now see the sole name Rakusen’s on everything from Mini Snackers to Tomor, as well as that old favourite Matzo Meal produced on line 5.

Unfazed by the three million or more matzahs produced in a normal week, the significant increase for Passover doesn’t trouble Morgan, who joined Rakusen’s degree apprenticeship scheme and now has his own recipe for matzah pizza. Like most of the employees, Morgan isn’t Jewish, but his enthusiasm for our dry crackers is stirring. An ideal candidate to promote the matzahs, Morgan is as informed about quality control as he is about the health benefits.

“Just look at the box,” he says. “Matzos are vegan, vegetarian and dairy free, 75 calories a slice and 0 percent fat.” As he was so buoyant about the salubrity of the matzos, it felt wrong to tell him I’d still eat them if they were a 1,000 calories a slice.

There are no Rakusen or Bonn family members attached to the company any more and the primary owner, Andrew Simpson, has channelled export to the USA and South Africa, with the Middle East and China in his sights. It’s heartening to know that the Chinese, who can make anything, are still eluded by crackers that were created by fleeing Israelites. When it was time for me to flee, Morgan gave me a matzah gi bag filled with Mini Snackers and a box or two of my faves. Tempting though it was to ask for a box created for the late Queen’s 75th jubilee, I resisted. We all know what happened to greedy children in the Wonka factory, so I’ll have to buy the King Charles coronation box myself. And you know I will.

Rakusen’s plant in Clayton Wood Rise, outside Headingley, has three ovens, with number ‘3’ being the one baking the Pesach line. More than three million matzahs are produced at the site in a normal week and the shomer checks them on the conveyor belt.

A picture tells a thousand words of matzah-making

Matzah is vegan, dairy-free and without fat

Bonn’s & Co crackers are also made on site and sold at Fortnum & Mason

for Pesach

All the recipes in Instagram sensation Emma Hollingsworth’s (@mrshollingsworths) new book Vegan Chocolate Treats are dairy-free, refined-sugar-free and gluten-free – making them not only guilt-free but ideal for Pesach

MATCHA-CHOCO COCONUT BALLS

MAKES 12 BALLS

ALMOND NOUGAT BARS

MAKES 6–8 BARS

INGREDIENTS

For the almond nougat

85g (½ cup) coconut sugar

100g (2/3 cup) almonds, chopped into small chunks

Pinch of Himalayan salt

For the chocolate

230g (1 cup) cacao butter

5 tbsp cacao powder

5 tbsp maple syrup

Pinch of Himalayan salt

METHOD

1. Place the coconut sugar in a frying pan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until it is melted and amber in colour. It will be sticky and not runny and will burn easily if heated too high.

INGREDIENTS

For the matcha balls

300g (2 cups) Medjool dates

130g (1 cup) cashews

100g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

METHOD

1.Blend the matcha ball ingredients in a food processor for around 3 minutes, until you can take a small handful of the mixture and easily shape it into a ball. If the mixture is too crumbly, add in some water, a tablespoon at a time, and continue to blend until it becomes sticky enough to shape into balls.

2. Place the balls on a chopping board. In a bowl, mix the coconut

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY BLONDIES

MAKES A 20CM (8IN) SQUARE TRAY-FULL

INGREDIENTS

170g (2/3 cups) ground

almonds

40g (1/3 cup) buckwheat flour

160g (2/3 cup) peanut butter

125ml (½ cup) almond milk

220g (2/3 cup) maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

2 tbsp coconut oil

70g (½ cup) white chocolate chunks (see below or use any vegan white chocolate broken into chunks)

60g (½ cup) raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

2. Make the white chocolate in advance by melting the cacao butter in a bowl over a saucepan half-full of water on a low heat, making sure the bowl is not touching the water, then remove from the heat and stir in the other ingredients until well combined. Pour the mixture into bar-

4 tbsp cacao powder

½ teaspoon matcha powder

To decorate

50g (½ cup) desiccated coconut

½ tsp matcha powder

with the matcha powder using a spoon, then roll the balls one by one in the coconut mix.

3. Store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to two months.

Top tip: If you don’t have any matcha to hand, don’t worry! These balls are just as tasty without it.

2. Stir in the chopped almonds and salt and remove the pan from the heat. Place some baking paper on a chopping board and spread the almond sugar mixture onto the paper, then leave it to cool completely. Once cooled, chop into small chunks.

3. Melt the cacao butter in a bowl over a saucepan half-full of water on a low heat, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Remove from the heat and stir in the other chocolate ingredients.

4. Stir the almond nougat into the chocolate and then spoon this mixture into bar-shaped moulds or cake cases. Place in the fridge for half an hour to set.

5. Store in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to two months.

Top tip: If you really want them to look the real deal, make them in bar moulds then, once set, slice them into chunks and again diagonally into triangles. You can even use a little melted chocolate to stick them together into a bar of triangles!

For the white chocolate

chunks

75g (1/3 cup) cacao butter

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tbsp peanut butter

½ tsp vanilla extract

shaped moulds or an ice-cube tray and place in the fridge to set.

3. Pop the ground almonds and buckwheat flour in a bowl and mix well.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the peanut butter, almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla, then cream in the coconut oil (melt it a little bit if it’s very hard). Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix

well. Finally, chop the chocolate into chunks and stir these in, along with the raspberries.

5. Spoon the mixture into a 20cm (8in) square baking tin or mould, then bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into delicious squares!

Treats by Emma Hollingsworth is published by Kyle Books, priced £18.99. Photography: Jen Rich

VeganChocolate

by Light in the Box, black hat by Judy Bentick. Second row: The lady in white in the family

photo is Naomi’s great-great-aunt, Rosa; rose hat by John Boyd; Halston fits hats at Bergdorf in 1962; Trudi Kanter’s book and a hat by Fanny Berger. Inset: Fanny Berger.

Bottom row: Hat by Judy Bentick, German-born Otto Lucas and a hat by Rosie Olivia

THE PERFECT TOPPER

Naomi Frankel looks at the history of Jewish millinery and her own family’s love of hats

The joy of my family’s old black-and-white pictures are the relatives from bygone eras wearing hats. Perched on top of an elaborate updo, so waves or the bald pate of a gentleman; their headwear is a celebration of fashion in the 1920s.

How sad that when people look back at 2023, there will be no such distinctive accessory to mark the age – except for the septum nose ring – as hats for the majority these days are barely more than beanies. Of course, there will always be hats at racecourses and in synagogue, but they no longer indicate one’s status. Except when worn inside Ascot’s Royal Enclosure.

Across the Atlantic, hats were always a feature, and their popularity helped to build the success of stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, which was small when it was opened in 1899 by French-Jewish immigrant Herman Bergdorf. It grew when Bergdorf joined forces with Jewish-American apprentice Edwin Goodman and, though the hat department has shrunk, a beret bought at Bergdorf gives one instant status. Interestingly, the designer Halston began as head milliner at the store before conquering the fashion world with clients acquired at Bergdorf.

Hats first got serious during the Renaissance, according to Professor Beverly Chico’s HistoryofWomen’sHats, though the 19th century’s industrial revolution was the real ‘Golden Age’ of millinery. It was at that point that silk, lace, florals, feathers and artificial fruit trimmings were added to bonnets and the more elaborate the trim, the more the married woman wearing the hat reflected her husband’s financial success.

In the early 20th century, clients kept milliners kept extremely busy as hats were everyday wear, as best illustrated by the photo of my great-great aunts, who are dressed to the nines for a day at the beach. By all accounts, hats were their passion and took up more storage space than they had to spare.

Hat fashion, which persisted through the 19th century and into the 20th, was also adopted by Jewish women, many of whom were also hat-makers in their own right. Prior to the Second World War, Vienna had quite a reputation for hats, largely owing to Jewish milliner Trudi Kanter, who designed headwear for the smartest women in the city. In her moving memoir, SomeGirls, SomeHatsandHitler, Trudi describes welcoming the elegant upper crust of Vienna into her showroom until the horror of war forced her out of Austria.

During the war, Herta ‘Georgette’ Groves also escaped from Vienna to the UK , and from there she heroically helped other Jewish women obtain work visas in order to escape her Nazioccupied homeland. She also established her London Hat Company, for which she made bespoke designs that were sold across Europe, and eventually became hat-maker to Queen

Elizabeth II. Herta died aged 96 in 2016 a er being hit by a lorry. In Paris, Fanny Berger (born Odette Bernstein) set up her milliner’s shop on the Champs-Élysées in the early 1930s but when the Germans occupied Paris in 1940, she was forced to hand over her business to an Aryan administrator. Fanny was murdered in Auschwitz in July 1943. Her Jewish registration card and two of her hats are in the Galliera museum in Paris.

Second World War meant trims were less fancy. A er the war, women’s clothing made a comeback, notably with ladies’ hats and, in time, individuals influenced style, hence the clamour to copy hats worn by Grace Kelly. The grandmother of the Lifeeditor was a copyist and the late Anne Shaw o en talked about secretly sketching hats on display in West End stores, only to recreate them at home and sell them at more a ordable prices.

The late Princess Margaret felt that some hat-makers were too pricey, until she encountered Simone Mirman, whom she invited to Buckingham Palace to show her hats to the Queen and the Queen Mother. A Paris-born Catholic, Simone eloped to London in 1937 with Jewish medical student Serge Mirman, of whom her parents did not approve. Working with couturière Elsa Schiaparelli in London, Simone then opened her own salon in Belgravia, which was granted Royal Warrants. Simone closed that salon in 1980 and opened a leather goods shop that she ran with her daughter, Sophie, who later founded Sock Shop.

Princess Diana’s impact on fashion is well noted and Simone appreciated her custom, as did London-based milliners Frederick Fox, Philip Somerville, Graham Smith and John Boyd. He was Princess Anne’s hat-maker of choice, before he met Diana, but the iconic going-away peach silk tricorn hat he made for her put him on the map.

Fortunately for German-born Otto Lucas, by 1932 he had already moved to London and set up his own milliner’s shop on Bond Street. From there, he dressed the heads of the famous until the early 1970s. On the London Museum’s website, there is a film depicting his life and legacy along with three of his hats with matching hair pins.

As impressive in reputation was H Levenson’s Millinery Shop in Canning Town, which opened in 1910. The independent family business was run by Polish-born Annie Levenson and her four daughters, although the shop was named a er Annie’s husband Hershel, as women could not be leaseholders then. But while Annie made hats, Hershel worked as a cabinetmaker and the family became founding members of Canning Town Synagogue. I believe my aunts may have frequented H Levenson’s, though none of the hats survived.

Hats were still worn during wartime, but rationing in the

Today there are many talented Jewish milliners, among them Tracy Hillel, who creates hats in the finest luxury materials; her designs are worn at Ascot, royal garden parties, weddings and other social events. Judy Bentinck’s list of clients includes Clare Balding, Amanda Redman and Jenny Agutter. Trained by Rose Cory, the Queen Mother’s own milliner, Judy was taught the secrets of true cra smanship and now only sees people by appointment. One has to book to see Liverpool-born Rosie Norman of Rosie Olivia, too. Her introduction to millinery was via her synagogue, where she would take stock of the headgear. Her entry to the market coincided with the 2011 royal wedding and the Princess of Wales’ continued liking of hats has paid dividends. Zara Tindall remains a loyal Rosie Oliver customer.

My more religious Modern Orthodox relatives and friends are also hat wearers, though their loyalty is to Accessory World, which has branches in Stamford Hill, Golders Green and Manchester. The impressive collection of fedoras, beanies, snoods and berets keeps them coming back, as they wear them all the time, either alone or on top of wigs. They also go to Bitz of Glitz in Golders Green, which has an exclusive beanie collection in luxe velvet and angora. My own favourite is Missoni-inspired, and the fact that proceeds from sales of their embellished beanies support Camp Simcha is magnanimous millinery. I hope future generations in my family will look at me in the beanie and know the hat made a di erence.

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Dream

dresses Wedding

From Israel to London, two top designers have very special dresses for a very special day

You don’t have to head to Israel to get your hands on an Israeli wedding dress as Mira Zwillinger’s stunning designs are available at Browns Bride in London. The dresses are a fusion of modern and classic styles, with outstanding attention to detail, from intricate lacework to exquisite beading and embroidery.

Lihi Zwillinger joined her mother Mira’s eveningwear atelier in Tel Aviv in 2015 and together they expanded into bridalwear.

making people feel happy. “Our first wedding dress was an adaptation of a black satin evening gown. A client fell in love with it and asked if we could make it in white for her wedding day,” she says. Anna is still making a version of this same dress today.

together they expanded into bridalwear. was my wedding and I designed my own

The dresses ae designed and manufactured in Tel Aviv and the motherdaughter design team sign o every piece before it leaves the studio. The romantic, ethereal designs are created from fabrics sourced in Italy and Belgium and others created in the atelier. The SS23 Wonders couture collection has 13 delicate dresses, with florals being the main component.

“All our gowns are designed with intricate detailing, but remain light and airy. This, along with the custom madeto measure technique, means that our dresses are always a comfortable fit,” explains Lihi, who fell in love with creating wedding dresses when she designed her own. “I had never had a love of wedding dresses and certainly had no desire to start designing them,” she says. “But when it was my wedding and I designed my own fell in love!”

Post-Covid, destination weddings are once again on the agenda, and Anna uses a lot of lace and silk chi on, which are suitable for hotter climes. On the other end of the spectrum, Anna explains: “We can fit Orthodox brides who need to cover up but still want to look fashionable. We have beautiful dresses designed particularly for this market, but they are so lovely that nonOrthodox girls buy them too.”

Mira Zwillinger says: “A bride should keep an open mind when looking for her dream gown because what she ultimately falls in love with might surprise her.”

Maybe your dream wedding dress is on this page?

Mira Zwillinger dresses from approx £8,500. mirazwillinger.com brownsbride.com

At

At Anoushka G, in Temple Fortune, motherand-daughter team Anna and Gabriella Hadji have been making wedding dresses for 20 years. They specialise in bespoke dresses, totally created to suit the bride’s body shape and needs. However, even if you buy o the peg, you are still buying direct from the designer – the head of the fashion house. For Anna, it’s not about ‘fashion’ – it’s about

Anoushka G dresses from £1,500 up to £3,000. 020 8458 1029

Le : Gown by Mira Zwillinger. All other dresses on this page by Anoushka G

Editor’s Fashion FOREWORD

From le : Dior netted white skirt with lurex underlay, £64 Suzy D; Black Guipure lace insert layered hem dress, £69 Shein; Denim blouse with bow, £35.99, and long denim skirt, £35.99 Zara; Satin green skirt with knot, £29.99 Zara; Forget-Me-Not fit & flare dress, £149 My Mother’s Garden; Long sleeve lace midi dress in cobalt, £70 Topshop; Long coral beaded dress, £149 Zara; Ricci stripe lo y maxi cardigan in camel, £60 Cara & The Sky; Suit, £1,200 Eudon Choi; Pastel pink cropped trousers, £35.99, and pink blazer with gold buttons, £59.99 Zara; Bag (below, inset), £290 Eudon Choi

IF YOUR HEAVY DUTY PUFFER IS STILL BY THE DOOR and you’ve yet to spot a bud on your roses, you’re probably hedging your bets on bringing out that spring jacket. But you’ve thought about it. Possibly even pined for it and a slither of sunshine is enough to get you looking at the seasonal fashion fayre. Post-Pesach is the right time to reassess your wardrobe – and even if you already own this year’s staples, who doesn’t want to add something new? Such as a statement maxi skirt. Dozens may hang in the closet, but in sheer net or satin or low waisted, it will take you from day to night. And that long denim A-line you loved is bang on trend, especially when worn with a denim shirt; denim-on-denim is no longer a howler! And hang on to those platform slip-ons. As for pastels and flowers, there’s nothing ground-breaking about wearing them in spring – a cropped jacket in so pink or something more slouchy by Eudon Choi, for example. If you’re feeling flush, get a Eudon

Choi structured bag, too, as bags are rigid this season. Sheer, as previously mentioned, is hot as a slip or an overlay if you’re modest or still on the 5:2 diet, which will also help with the trend for low waists. Black never goes away, though the suggestion is to edge towards skin-baring crochet or lace, and those who favour thri y should look to Shein for chic imposters. Sequins may feel more suited to winter, but a smattering on an event dress or a pale sparkle for a spring party is not OTT. Cobalt blue is the colour, but save it for when you’re tanned and, as we won’t know it’s spring until the flowers bloom, give it a push with a fit and flare floral dress by

bags a

From My Mother’s Garden. But as my nana always said, “Don’t cast a clout ‘til May is out”, and be sure to invest in a Cara & The Sky cardigan that will never go out of fashion and is needed all year. Mine is.

Brigit Grant

EDITOR’S BEAUTY LIST & LAUNCHES

MANY OF US HAVE NO IDEA what’s in our skincare products and we don’t want to read about it either. We’d much rather read about Charlotte Tilbury’s new Pillow Talk Blush & Glow Glide Duo. Nice packaging and a Gwyneth Paltrow endorsement might suggest a product is una ordable, but being clueless about the ingredients is on us. The beauty industry’s £83 billion annual turnover hasn’t su ered. With new products launched daily, Life likes to streamline the choices, trial them and tell you if they’re worth it. If we feature some more o en than others, it’s not because Mandy, Lily, Natalie and Gwyneth like them but because they’re beauty keepers.

TULA

Jewish actress and singer Mandy Moore uses this American skin care range and Life knows why. A er weeks of applying overnight repair treatment Beauty Sleep (£59), morning skin is brighter and that lasts all day. See a di erence in dark spots with Bright Start (£49), a moisturiser with nourishing mandarin orange and tranexamic acid, which does the work. Brand founder Dr Roshini Raj is a gastroenterologist who applies the ‘you are what you eat’ to her products and loads them with probiotics (live microorganisms) and superfoods(fruit and veg). Top marks for Rose Glow & Get It (£28) - a multi-purpose hydrating balm for eyes, fine lines and highlighting for cheekbones. tulaskincare.co.uk

THE ORGANIC PHARMACY

As stated, a celeb can do a lot to boost a brand, but we got to this London company before Lily Collins, Natalie Portman and Gwyneth, who have caught on to chemicalfree, no-animal testing products and are probably using the Antioxidant Duo (£125), which contain rosehip, ginseng, lemon and too many other fruits to list but, much like the Jewish actresses, this pricey yet e ective gel/serum performs. theorganicpharmacy.com

DR IRENA ERIS

As the owner of the biggest cosmetic company in Poland, Dr Irena Eris swi ly moved into make-up for movies, but we don’t need a red carpet line-up as we are fans of the Neometric Anti-Wrinkle Capsules (£70) that are filled with pure retinol concentrate, and though nothing beats a shot of Botox to deal with wrinkles, this really takes the drop out of baggy eyes when applied two to three times per week. debenhams.com

She has already been the face of luxury brands Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton Dolce & Gabbana and L’Oreal Paris and survived the flak a er appearing in adverts for Israel’s SodaStream in 2014.

These, along with a prolific list of movies, among them 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe moneyspinners, have taken Scarlett Johansson’s net worth above $165 million (£134m).

But instead of kicking back with her comedian husband Colin Jost and two children, she has five films in various states of production and has just launched her own skincare brand, The Outset. Seen only a few days ago running into a New York branch of Sephora with co-founder and beauty/fashion executive Kate Foster, Scarlett has been involved with every aspect of the company, flexed her creativity, and maintained her vision for the brand. That is according to the press release in which the Black Widow star says she’s been “fascinated by the transformative power of beauty since I was a child”.

“My mother instilled in me a passion for self-care from my early teenage years. Several years ago, I took a step back from my beauty deals with the goal of creating something true to me. The result is a clean, accessible approach to beauty.”

The brand’s philosophy is spelled out in pale colours on theoutset.com, where products “mindfully designed to minimise our environmental footprint” include Scarlett’s three-step Daily Essentials Regimen Bundle ($105), which brings skin back into balance for a healthy-looking complexion with the help of signature Hyaluroset™ Complex: a botanical alternative to hyaluronic acid to plump, smooth and nourish.

There are micellar cleansers, an exfoliating ca eine polish and the firming vegan collagen prep serum, which is already a bestseller, such is the power of celebrity and beauty combined. It is currently only available in the US, so you might have to resort to using her favourite Max Factor’s Masterpiece Mascara (£10.99) until The Outset makes one of its own and makes it available in the UK.

ORMONDE JAYNE

When it comes to scents to which Life is attached, Ormonde Jayne never fails to provide them and the latest Sakura Eau de Parfum (£145) is inspired by ‘hanami’, the symbolic Japanese springtime tradition of reflection. Appreciating the transient yet eternal beauty of flowers is something Scarlett Johansson won’t have time for now, but if she does get to smell the sparkling notes of lime and mandarin tempered with pink pepper, she’ll be as hooked on the artisan fragrance as we are. It’s the cherry blossom, intermingled with so almond, that makes it a keeper.

Mandy Moore

Lily Collins

Natalie Portman

Gwyneth Paltrow

Scarlett shares product news on Instagram

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ANIMAL MAGIC

FORMERLY UK AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL, MATTHEW GOULD CAN NOW SEE MONKEYS FROM HIS OFFICE WINDOW. DEBBIE COLLINS GOES TO THE ZOO TO MEET HIM

FIND A JOB YOU LOVE AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE.’ Whether this phrase is attributed to Confucius or Mark Twain, Matthew Gould seems to have nailed it in his role as director general of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), to which he was appointed last September. I went to meet in his natural habitat of London Zoo to find out how a nice Jewish boy from Wembley ended up there.

having the opportunity to explore this by speaking to honoured rebbes and visiting yeshivas. For me, it’s more about identity than being a practising or observant Jew. My daughter is currently having batmitzvah lessons so I would say from that perspective, I’m proud of my roots. Also, being the first Jew of the family to hold a position at ZSL counts for something.”

best-known

looking for a chief and I just applied.” A new domain indeed, but one

Prior to ZSL, Matthew Gould’s best-known role was as the British ambassador to Israel and so this is clearly a big change in direction. “I lived in Sudbury Hill and my family were members of Wembley Liberal shul. My parents would regularly take me and my brothers to London Zoo and Whipsnade; we’ve always been a family of animal-lovers and had pets growing up, but I’d be hard-pressed to say there was a logical arc in taking this role. The organisation was looking for a chief and I just applied.” A new domain indeed, but one where Matthew’s skill set was highly appropriate, being more than qualified in leadership, strategy and communications.

A er returning from Israel in 2015, Matthew and his family settled in Somerset so, rather than commute daily, Matthew has moved back in with his parents. “I come up to London first thing Monday morning and head back on Thursday or Friday to be with my wife and our girls [aged 11 and nine],” he explains.

in Somerset so, rather than commute daily, Matthew has moved granting Matthew some anonymity amongst the Goldfarbs and Israel and not spend a lot of time thinking about heritage and

I ask Matthew about being Jewish and his family history – his surname disguises his Polish ancestry. As with many Jewish immigrants, his grandfather changed the family name from ‘Goldkorn’ to ‘Gould’, granting Matthew some anonymity amongst the Goldfarbs and Goldsteins of today. “You can’t be the first Jewish ambassador to Israel and not spend a lot of time thinking about heritage and identity. One of the joys of being in Israel was

Whether working in the British Foreign O ice or the ambassador role to Israel, animals have always been on the work agenda. “For my first post in the Philippines, I arranged for Prince Charles (as he was), to meet a tarsier [a tiny, endangered mammal]. In Israel, I became involved with Israel Guide Dog Centre (IGDC) –I had a lot of a ection for the charity and when we returned to the UK, we brought back a lab retriever cross – she’s 13 now – one of our many animals. It’s really lovely to finally have a job that speaks directly to my passion.”

in role animals have to job

As ZSL members, Matthew’s family were frequent visitors when the girls were little and, since returning from Israel, the zoo visits continue, but this time ‘Dad has the coolest job in the world’.

“I love walking around the zoo talking to sta and keepers, wearing my green ZSL jacket. Because the public don’t necessarily know who I am, it’s great to have genuine conversations with visitors and watch the children get excited about seeing the animals.” I ask the inevitable question about which enclosure he heads to first on a walkabout. “Hmm, I shouldn’t really have a favourite, but I love the pygmy hippos, especially ‘Thug’. They’re a threatened species so to be able to have a breeding pair is very important. Without a zoo,

were little and, since returning from Israel, the zoo visits continue, but this “I love walking around the zoo talking to sta and keepers, wearing my it’s great to have genuine conversations with visitors and watch the which these species are gone.” meaning

The zoo has a special meaning to so many (my own husband proposed by the now-protected Grade I listed penguin pool structure) and Matthew says: “I was recently at a dinner with the leader of Camden Council, who was excited to tell me they got married there. My nephew also had his barmitzvah at London Zoo.”

excited to tell me they got married there. My nephew also his London

Reflecting on his diplomatic career path, Matthew tells me: time in a

government, in the NHS, in technology. Rather than being a ‘techie’ done, intelligence] on schools or making best and safest use of health data. That introduced to a roomful of nurses as ‘Matt from IT’, which

Reflecting on his diplomatic career path, Matthew tells me: “I loved foreign policy and I had a fantastic time travelling round the world, culminating in five years in Israel. I developed a passion for technology there and had some fabulous conversations, which set me up for a logical progression into my next three jobs – in government, in the NHS, in technology. Rather than being a ‘techie’ in the jobs I’ve done, it was more about tech strategy. That is to say I’m not ‘responsible for making the printer work’, but for making sure we’ve thought about the impact of AI [artificial intelligence] on schools or making best and safest use of health data. That said, I once went to visit a community hospital and was introduced to a roomful of nurses as ‘Matt from IT’, which I thought was brilliant – very proud of that!”

But it’s not all monkeying around. “The zoo isn’t just a place to come and gawp at animals. It’s a conservation zoo where,

But it’s not all monkeying around. “The

Matthew Gould le , with Benzi and Yariv of IGDC

across both sites, we hold 16 species that are deeply threatened in the wild and some wouldn’t even exist without our support.

“There’s a deep obligation to look after the animals’ mental and physical welfare, with habitats designed to keep them as close to natural behaviours as possible. We are massively regulated and every four years all sorts of government guidelines must be followed.”

In terms of future plans for the zoo, Matthew is excited about the work being done. “We’ve got 140 scientists beavering away, solely focused on saving species from extinction, formulating new ideas and techniques, testing them and scaling them. We have projects in 69 countries around the world and nine field offices in Asia and Africa. The people at ZSL are phenomenally committed to their work – conservation and animal welfare but also being a genuinely inclusive organisation.”

Initiatives such as the ‘£3 ticket scheme’ are another way ZSL is making zoos more accessible to all demographics. “ZSL has surprised me in all sorts of positive ways,” says Matthew. “We do visits for otherwise excluded groups, such as early opening for autistic kids, making the experience less overwhelming. We also run described tours for the blind, sensory tours, plus elderly and early-stage dementia tours.”

With a keen interest in everything around him, Matthew must have picked up some pretty interesting nuggets of information. “I’ve learned so many things, such as there being only 300 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and we’re fortunate to have a breeding pair and two cubs. Our coral reef experts have managed to train the fish to move into particular areas for food. That’s pretty brilliant.”

Once the working week is done and he’s on the train to Somerset, surely this is his chance to decompress and get away from it all? “Slowing down doesn’t come very naturally to me,” he admits. “Spending time with the family is actually a super busy time, tending to our many animals, mucking out the chickens, sorting the stables. We currently have three dogs, one cat, five sheep, three horses, 24 chickens, some fish and two beehives. But it’s a family decision because we all love animals and enjoy working together sorting the chores and wheeling barrows full of horse muck!”

Monday mornings at the office can be a pretty depressing time for most, but not for Matthew, who has the vista of dreams: fun-loving grey langur monkeys to the right and majestic Asiatic Lions, Bhanu and Arya, to the left. It’s no wonder he’s not planning to move on any time soon.

TEL AVIV –Access all areas

ANGIE JACOBS ACCOMPANIED HER WHEELCHAIR-BOUND FRIEND, SAM, ON A SPECIAL TRIP

Aweek in Tel Aviv without the husbands? Surely we couldn’t. Sam is an abovethe knee amputee and her preferred method of transportation is an electric power chair, though she also uses crutches. This would provide us with some challenges, but we would do our research and navigate Tel Aviv and all it has to offer as best we could.

Booking hotels online proved to be more difficult than I’d envisaged. Despite travel websites such as Hotels. com having tick boxes to narrow down the search results, Sam always follows up with a phone call (easier said than done), to make sure they provide the accessibility she needs.

selling point) can only be accessed by lift and it being out of order. Whereas you or I would be able to take the stairs, Sam can’t and no unlimited schmaltz herring Israeli breakfast can fix it. This is not a name and shame, as that’s not Sam’s style, but people in wheelchairs need ‘fully accessible’ rooms and bathrooms with space to manoeuvre, reachable towel hooks, access to both sides of the bed and space for a carer to bed down if necessary. If a hotel says it can accommodate disabled needs, it needs to live up to those promised standards.

At the blackout restaurant at the Na Laga’at Arts Centre, given that its mission statement is to integrate people with disabilities in society and place deaf and blind people on an equal platform with the wider public, it was no surprise that we were treated with utter respect and kindness and accessibility was spoton. Incredibly the staff are all blind, which is humbling, and the darkness provides a lesson.

kitchen gloves and invited to get involved in the meaty fun (think massaging kilos of sirloin with a garlic rub to the tune of Je T’aime). Most importantly, there was an accessible toilet for Sam and they let us into the restaurant early so we could get to our place before the crowds came in.

Staff at both Luton and Ben Gurion airports were friendly, helpful and welltrained in dealing with disabled travellers. Sam’s chair was brought right to the door of the plane and accessibility throughout the airports was effortless – the smooth floors and disabled-friendly toilets a huge relief after challenges in other locations.

There is a lot for the less able-bodied to consider when embarking on travel, as those with partners or family in that situation will vouch. Hotels promising so much often fall at the first hurdle, Sam told me, citing such examples as street access to the lobby requiring a lift and said lift requiring a key that is not provided.

One of the biggest downers is discovering that the hotel pool (used as a

The David Kempinski, which effortlessly blends modern luxury with classic elegance, entirely lived up to our expectations. The staff had patience, helping us with apps, transport and anything we needed with a friendly smile. Breakfast pastries were out of this world and every type of salad, egg, fruit and bread was available. As a treat, we were also given access to the Horizon Lounge on the 22nd floor (fully functioning lifts!), where delicious dairy food was served throughout the day.

The disabled street experience in Israel is about the same as it is in the UK, with Sam expertly and instinctively looking for the next dropped kerb. Using a heavy electric chair that can’t be folded into a regular car boot meant taxis needed to be ordered when we wanted one, which was difficult and there were not many cabs. We chickened out when it came to buses, but were told that once we’d downloaded the Moovit app, they were easy to use and had ramps for disabled users.

Many of the restaurants on our wishlist had neither ramp nor accessible toilet, so we had to make some changes.

I ordered well – tilapia goujons and chips, which I could eat with my fingers – while Sam struggled somewhat with her salmon and salad. It was tasty but for some reason I couldn’t finish my plateful – possibly because I’d stuffed so much already that day, or maybe something to do with my stomach telling my brain it is full rather than my eyes seeing more food.

At Pitmaster, in Petah Tikvah, we indulged in a seven-course extravaganza of meat. Unlimited beer, wine and dessert is included in the price and loud music and a party crowd make you feel like you’re at a very special simcha. There is no menu, just what the team have smoked, marinated, preserved and barbecued that week. Birthday customers were pulled out of the crowd, kitted out in aprons and

At Ca Phe Hanoi, Israel’s only kosher Vietnamese restaurant, our table was waiting for us, the regular chair already respectfully removed so Sam could easily glide in on her Pride Go Chair. We ate chicken nemza (spring rolls) and papaya salad, chicken ginger noodles and a Hanoi bao burger. The restaurant was very accessible for Sam and her toilet straightforward. The door on the regular one, however, had see-through glass, which I didn’t realise was only one-way until I came out. I was not amused.

The set-up for disabled visitors in Tel Aviv isn’t perfect, but the Israeli mindset is one of not giving up until you’ve finished a job. Thus, when locals agreed to help us, they used their phones, contacts and shekels to make sure we got to where we needed to be. Sam felt that the shops, as in London, were ‘hit and miss’, but the main part of the Shuk HaCarmel is flat and all the malls are disabled-friendly with accessible toilets. The Tayelet is flat and there are accessible beaches. We didn’t get to the other disabled-friendly activities we’d planned – the static hot air balloon at HaYarkon park and the Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation – so we may have to go again for further research.

• Rooms at The David Kempinski start from around £500 per night. kempinski.com. A useful resource for accessible travel is touristisrael.com/ accessible-travel-israel

Top: Angie and Sam. Above: A bedroom at the David Kempinski and, left, the hotel pool

Pitmaster has a party vibe and no menu

Ca Phe Hanoi, by Rabin Square, is Israel’s only kosher Vietnamese restaurant

All new in

In just five short years since shabby chic café Herzl 16 opened on the oldest street of the liveliest city in the world, it has become a Tel Aviv institution where locals sip coffee, snack on pastries, enjoy Japanese-inspired food or relax over a hearty brunch on weekends. And exciting new places continue to come –design hotels and ever-inventive restaurants jostle for space in the city and stunning places to stay are opening up all over the country. Here are some to tempt you.

Chef’s Table at the new R48 Hotel and Garden in Tel Aviv is the hotel’s flagship restaurant, led by Chef Ohad Solomon, who

has designed an 11-course tasting menu, inviting guests to sit back and be surprised by the meal. Small bites are served first, followed by larger appetisers, deviating from the traditional tasting menu’s bite-sized dishes. With only nine tables, the restaurant provides an intimate and exclusive ambiance with distinctively designed interiors by French designer Christian Liaigre. It’s an inviting open space with an open kitchen taking centre stage. Through the glassensnared interior, diners have views of the stunning garden.

Sitopia, a new natural

retreat in the village of Kfar Uria in the Judean Hills, has a focus on slow living, farm-to-table dining, authentic hospitality and experiences. The property offers just four thoughtfully-designed rooms, a heated swimming pool and an open-plan kitchen and dining area. Relax by the swimming pool, venture out into the surrounding fields with a freshly-made picnic or discover a nearby vineyard. In the evening, cosy dinners by the pool can be followed with a nightcap by your very own outdoor fireplace. This special place is run by a BritishIsraeli mother-daughter duo.

Galei Kinneret Hotel is a luxury, 123-room-hotel on the Sea of Galilee, created by London-based design studio Saar Zafrir Design. The concept is a blend with the landscape, using a minimal, clean colour palette and drawing inspiration from the surroundings. The hotel exudes sophistication with a glass outdoor pool exposing ancient ruins beneath, a beach club,

indoor and outdoor bar and restaurant by Israeli chef Assaf Granit (he of The Palomar fame). A stunning feature of the restaurant is the green ceramic leaf-shaped tiles that climb up the walls and across the ceiling.

Since opening a year ago, The David Kempinski Tel Aviv has done much to raise local hospitality standards with its five star deluxe offering. Most of the 250 rooms have sea views and it is also home to a three-floor penthouse. Dine at the upscale Sereia Restaurant, relax at the pool bar and inside the majestic infinity pool facing the sea or kick back at the Common Bar, a whisky and cigar lounge with more than 15 labels. One of the hotel’s most enticing offerings is the top-floor private lounge and pool, reserved for the hotel’s signature suite category guests.

Theodor by Brown Hotels and its Cena restaurant opened last October in a traditional 1935 Bauhaus property at the intersection of Herzl Street and Rothschild Boulevard. Its location places it bang in the middle of some of Tel Aviv’s most popular restaurants, nightlife and cultural destinations. A cosy, refined urban bolthole in the beating heart of

the city, the charming boutique hotel combines architectural history, contemporary design and superb local and in-house amenities, for a terrific Tel Aviv experience.

Hiba features regularly in the ‘Best Restaurants in Tel Aviv’ guides and now that Michelin stars are shooting towards the city, chef Yossi Shitrit could well be first one to get one. This is haute cuisine at its finest. The restaurant’s use of fresh and local ingredients influenced the architect-designers Pitou Kedem to use natural materials, resulting in a fusion of oak and granite to create a stunning contemporary interior. The food is a fusion too, of ArabIsraeli fayre, and the 12-course tasting menu is an immersive culinary experience.

At the heart of the German Colony and crowned by the breathtaking Bahai Gardens, the luxurious new Hotel Botanica in Haifa has stunning bedrooms, a gorgeous spa and superb culinary experiences. Over 16s only.

Herzl 16

Hotel Botanica

Kempinski Hotel

New hotels, new restaurants, new concepts. Israel proves once again why it’s the place to visit, says Louisa Walters

Right: Mackerel sashimi at R48

Sitopia

Galei Kinneret Hotel

Now Open

Nestled at the heart of the German Colony and crowned by the breathtaking Bahai Gardens, the luxurious new Hotel Botanica in Haifa is presented by the exclusive Fattal Limited Edition collection, promising that every guest will enjoy a truly exceptional hospitality experience.

incfits@fattal.co.il | www.fattal-hotels.com

Let's Travel!

CHARMING KOSHER CYPRUS

Angie Jacobs checks into a kosher resort hotel in the pretty village of Latchi

If you love the idea of a relaxed holiday within walking distance of a quiet fishing village, then the Caprice Kosher Spa Resort is for you. If you love a great choice of delicious, kosher food at every meal, then the Caprice is for you. If you love relaxing by the pool and pampering yourself in the spa, yet also want incredible scenery with beautiful walks on your doorstep, you guessed it – go to the Caprice. We were going for a long weekend and I was worried that it wouldn’t be worth the schlep. How wrong I was.

Paphos airport is tiny and we had not checked in any bags, so were in our hire car within half an hour. Driving is easy, partly because I didn’t have to do it, but also because Cypriots drive on the le . This meant I could concentrate on looking out of the window and I was totally charmed by the island’s lush, green beauty, most in evidence in spring. It looked like the landscape gardeners had been in to spruce it up for a royal visit.

We reached the Caprice in less than an hour, having driven through the village of Latchi, which is a 15-minute walk away. The resort is laid out in an attractive manner as a series of

two-storey villas around a communal pool and bar. Victoria, the friendly receptionist, showed us to our lodgings – a spacious bedroom, living room/kitchen, bathroom and large balcony. And here’s another benefit of the Caprice –you get abundant kosher food on site plus an apartment rather than a hotel room. The flats are well-equipped, with neutral, tasteful furnishings and some even have their own pools. I particularly appreciated the pristine white linen on the very comfortable bed.

We had about an hour of daylight le , so we found our way to the pebbly beach in Akamas Bay and took some ‘look where we are’ photos, then got back on track to the pretty village and mooched past all the lovely restaurants we wouldn’t be needing. However, I did manage a delicious black cherry cheesecake ice cream at Co ee Island overlooking the sailing boats, a veritable snip at €2, and noted they had vegan sorbets. We had missed the Shabbat service in the hotel’s synagogue, but we freshened up and got ourselves down to the dining room for our Shabbat meal. The building is reminiscent of a kibbutz guest house, with seating both indoors and outdoors. Everything is available for keeping Shabbat to the highest standard, but the atmosphere was comfortable for those who are less religious. Tony went to

wash his hands and, on request, the Merlot from the Hayotzer winery was passed from the next table to ours.

Meals are bu et-style, which is not good for people like me who don’t know when to stop eating. We tucked into beautiful chicken and beef along with rice and roast potatoes. Vegetables and salads were in abundance and there was even a fish choice at every meal. Breakfast was continental style, with a meaty lunch served on Shabbat and a lighter dairy meal on Motzei Shabbat, when we were brought steaming bowls of creamy mushroom pasta just in case the wide variety of smoked fish, salad, cheese and breads wasn’t enough.

The delightful chef, Stella, was from the nearby village of Neo Chorio, and she suggested we make a visit. It had a real old-world charm, with cobbled streets and a beautiful church. Just a few miles from here is the Aphrodite Trail, part of which we walked so that we could get even more stunning views of the coastline. At the beginning of the trail, we both splashed our faces in the water from Aphrodite’s fountain, which is believed to have certain qualities. Eternal youth yes please, fertility no thanks – I’m 56.

The March weather was sunny and warm, but not hot enough to swim and this did me a favour as it meant that each day we set o in the car and discovered the country. My husband Is not fazed by a windy road and, on our second day, we drove into the mountains past Pomos, where we got out and walked a

trail with the most wonderful view over the green hills and the shoreline. Sadly, even though we clocked up well over 10,000 steps each day, our calorie count was greater.

We stopped o for lunch at a restaurant in Polis that has its own herb garden and ploughed our way through a huge vegetarian mezze. As we waited for our food, we walked around the garden, sni ing and reading about the healing properties of the herbs. Fruit trees are in abundance in this part of Cyprus, especially citrus ones, and we spotted pomelos growing in people’s front gardens!

A er our physical exertions, we spent time in the beautiful spa. We loved the pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, but the pièce de résistance was The Dead Sea pool. I thought it might be just a little bit salty but, no, this was the full floating extravaganza. Massages and pampering treatments are available on request.

Our long weekend passed very quickly and we had not found time to do a glassbottomed boat trip to the Blue Lagoon, a jeep tour or rent quad bikes. We did, however, manage to have a kosher shawarma at Sabba, Israeli chef Meir Adoni’s restaurant in Paphos where we spent a few hours en route to the airport for our return flight.

We both loved our time at The Caprice Kosher Hotel and Spa in Latchi. We loved the serenity, the food and the warmth of the sta . Next time, please God, we’ll stay for longer. Rooms at Caprice Kosher Spa Resort start at around £150. caprice-resort.com

The outdoor dining area at Caprice

Caprice Kosher Spa Resort

Village of Latchi

Herb garden in Polis

Meze at the herb garden restaurant Sabba in Paphos

AS COMFORTING AS A BOWL OF CHICKEN SOUP

KKL, JNF UK’s legacy department, has been serving the Jewish community for over 70 years. Our highly qualified team combines first-rate executorship and trustee services with personalised pastoral care. We can support you in the way that close family would, keeping in regular contact with you and taking care of any Jewish needs (such as saying kaddish for you) in accordance with your wishes. For a no-obligation and confidential consultation, and to find out more about supporting JNF UK’s vital work in Israel, please get in touch.

Call 020 8732 6101 or email enquiries@kkl.org.uk

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

Spring Forward

Jewish charities are full of energy and initiatives for the new season

us, Keshet means inclusion. It is the di erence between staying home and Rocco being able to access wheelchair-accessible fun activities with peers.” campsimcha.org.uk

Spring Food

A er Danni Franks made aliyah, she became aware of some of the hardships which, as holidaymakers, we never see. She set up Myisrael, a charity to impact remarkable underthe-radar causes in Israel – ones without the resources or knowhow to reach a UK audience.

Over the past 15 years, Myisrael has raised more than £10 million and reached thousands of people through more than 65 grassroots causes.

Spring Joy

Spring is a hopeful and happy time, but not always for parents with a seriously ill child. The upli ing activities provided by Camp Simcha, which supports families in this situation, can

be as important as the charity’s practical and therapeutic support services.

Daniel Gillis, head of services, explains that “powerful positive experiences” are a crucial part of supporting families emotionally.

“The aim is that today’s treat feels more important than tomorrow’s treatment,” he says. This spring and summer, Camp Simcha is running a family residential retreat, a sibling retreat and mums’ spa days in London and Manchester.

“We really notice the di erence in mums when they leave a spa day. It is rare they have a day o from being a carer, where they have a chance to be pampered – but also they benefit from being with other mums who truly understand what they are going through,” says Daniel. “Our family retreats have medical sta and carers on site – they are key for respite – but they are also packed full of activities. For some families, it is the only way they can go away together.

rare they have a day o from says Daniel. “Our family of their peers enjoy – and also summer holidays di icult,

“Our Keshet Summer Day scheme is important for both the children we support – who o en miss out on the fun their peers enjoy – and also for parents, who can find the summer holidays di icult, juggling their child’s complex

needs with the demands of their other children.”

Kimberley, mum to Rocco, five, who has spinal muscular atrophy type 1, sums it up: “For

Myisrael

Over the past 15 years, Myisrael has helped more than 65 grassroots causes

This Pesach, Myisrael is supporting three causes that provide food parcels: the Lemonade Fund, which supports women struggling with the financial burden of breast cancer; Pesia’s Kitchen, which provides

Camp Simcha provides bespoke, unconditional, practical and emotional support to Jewish families with seriously ill children

Camp Simcha

Camp Simcha hosts respite opportunities for the whole family

one million meals each year to people in poverty; and Family Nest, where women and children at risk find a safe haven from abuse. Every penny raised will go directly to feeding families over the holiday period. myisraelcharity.org

Spring Cafe

If you were missing the best cappuccino on Golders Green Road, there is good news –Head Room by Jami, the charity’s mental health café, has fully reopened, following major expansion and a revamp.

It’s good news for other reasons too: this social enterprise, providing an extensive free programme of daily activities and groups to improve mental wellbeing, alongside a vibrant kosher food and drinks menu, is “more than a café, it’s a place to connect”, says Jami’s chief executive Laurie Rackind. “It’s a real community hub on the high street; a place where people can walk in to get mental health support, while others sit down to eat shakshuka,” he explains.

Head Room by Jami is changing the way the Jewish and wider community think about mental illness by taking mental health support from an institutional setting to the high street. One of the primary objectives of the café is to reduce isolation and loneliness by bringing people together, to build a community around what the charity does and to develop new groups for people to attend, such as music, games, creative writing, poetry and open mic sessions. There are also plans to set up a book-swap facility and community library on the premises. headroomcafe.org

Spring Jobs

Spring may just be the best time to find a

job. This is a period when businesses regularly look to recruit, because they want new employees in place before The summer holidays begin or are in an industry gearing up for a seasonal rush.

As the Jewish community’s leading employment and business support

organisation, Work Avenue can help with everything from spring cleaning your CV to bursaries for retraining, plus it runs free courses on all aspects of the job hunt, such as a CV workshop, interview preparation masterclass, LinkedIn training and/or sessions on networking and transferable skills. The team also o ers free one-to-one career advice and interview preparation sessions.

If you want to change career, the Richard Mintz Bursary Fund and WAGE social enterprise training courses o er funding for vocational courses to develop the essential skills needed in today’s competitive marketplace. theworkavenue.org.uk

Spring Connections

Norwood ensures that children and families facing challenges, and adults with learning disabilities and autism, lead their best possible lives.

Joe, who has been supported by the charity since he was a child, was feeling isolated because his complex needs and challenging behaviours were hard for some people to understand. He felt frustrated and would sit in a corner of his room and rock.

He moved into a Norwood home and his whole world opened up – he has new-found confidence and enjoys singing and painting.

His mother Diana says: “We never could have dreamt of the massive change in Joe. He has even had his art displayed at the Royal Academy. That simply wouldn’t

have been possible without Norwood.”

For people with learning disabilities and autism, the rhythm and routine of the Jewish year helps lessen challenging behaviours. For those with dementia, it can trigger long-standing personal memories. Norwood residents are part of their community, joining together to celebrate Jewish festivals and community events. Schools, synagogues and community groups come into the homes to lead singing, games and cra activities, or just to chat, bringing life and laughter to residents. norwood.org.uk

To build a meaningful connection with a Norwood home near you, email volunteering@norwood.org.uk

Not only does Head Room by Jami provide tasty kosher food (right), it is also a community hub

Work Avenue’s mission is to help members of the community become financially independent and provides training and bursaries

Joe has become more confident since being been supported by Norwood

Head Room

Norwood

Work Avenue

TO HIS LIFE!

Chaim Topol 9 September 1935 – 8 March 2023

Rosalind Harris lit a yahrzeit candle. The actress who was Tzeitel in the 1971 film felt she had to, as the ‘eldest daughter’ then sent a photo of the flame to her screen sisters, each of whom cried when they heard that Chaim Topol had died.

“It doesn’t seem real,” said Rosalind, as Michele Marsh, who played Hodol, wrote: “I am so saddened by the loss of my Fiddler [ On The Roof] papa.” Neva Small, the movie’s Chava, knew Topol would be greatly missed and thanked him for “creating a beloved performance that helped the world to understand Sholem Aleichem’s concept of a Jewish dairyman and father of five daughters as universal.”

Although Zero Mostel originated the stage role of Tevye the milkman for his film, director Norman Jewison wanted the lesser-known Chaim Topol, whom he felt was closer to the reality of the character. And Jewison was right. Other actors have played the part, and delivered, but pale beside Topol, who was Tevye.

Born in Tel Aviv to parents who fled Poland in the 1930s, Topol was a star

in Israel by 1964, as his first film Sallah Shabati, a comedy about immigration, was a huge hit and won an Oscar for best foreign film. But Topol, like many Israeli men, was also a soldier in waiting, so left the London production of Fiddler to serve in the Six-Day War in 1967 and had just made the movie that would define his career when he served in the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

After Fiddler was released, Topol told The New York Times that he hoped it would help minorities to “understand they have rights and not to be pushed around by majorities that hopefully someday will understand it too”.

“He was a force of nature,” texted Rosalind on the WhatsApp group created for Jewish News’ Fiddler 50th anniversary celebration in 2021.

“Topol will always be remembered for his dynamism and belief in Israel, which gave him a lifetime achievement award. I was lucky enough to not only play his daughter, but also his wife Golda on the Fiddler US tour.”

Topol’s youngest daughter, Adi, played Tevye’s youngest, Chava, at the Palladium in 1994, and remembered the nightly ritual of being shouted at

by her dad for marrying Fyedka, being followed by a huge hug from her dad after the show. ”He needed that hug just as much as me,” she told Life, and it was the hug she longed for when she flew to Israel for her father’s funeral this month to be with her mother, Galia, brother Omer and sister Anat.

“The amount of stories we heard during the shiva but can’t repeat is astounding,” said Adi, overwhelmed at the number of visitors paying their respects. As one of Israel’s most famous citizens and biggest talent exports, this was to be expected, and global obituaries cited his performances in Cast a Giant Shadow with Kirk Douglas and opposite Roger Moore’s Bond in For Your Eyes Only. He even played Othello at the Chichester Festival and bought a London home, but Israel had his heart and drove his charity commitments.

“My father didn’t think about himself,” noted Adi. “There was an army of people, including his family, that had to look after him. Clothes didn’t interest him, he never read reviews and if he went to parties, it was because there was something to achieve

outside of his career. Being an actor was just the tip of the iceberg as he founded Variety Israel and the Jordan River Village, a holiday camp for children with terminal, chronic and life-threatening illnesses.”

Adi sent a photo of Topol with her daughter Darya, then aged six, visiting the village (pictured, above left) and admitted that as her father’s health deteriorated, he was unable to help with raising funds for Jordan River, which is now facing financial issues.

Shew wrote: “I think that if anyone loved and appreciated my dad, it would be amazing if they helped keep this children’s life-changing, soulsaving village open in honour of Topol and his selflessness and to remind us that the individual is part of the whole, and when we make life better for everyone, we are all included within the whole.”

Adi is staying on in Israel to be with her mother – “to help her adjust to the vacuum that’s left behind”.

“Fiddler was on TV yesterday and I cried all the way through,” wrote Rosalind, signing off to her screen sisters. Topol may have left the stage, but his Tevye lives on forever.

CRAFTED FOR ALL

EVERY PALATE | EVERY TABLE | EVERY OCCASION

VARIETAL DRIVEN QUALITY