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Jump before you’re pushed, Abbott urged

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Love conquers division

Friends tell Labour MP to quit after claiming Jews don’t suffer racism

was the disgraced and marginalised Jewish Voice For Labour, which called for her to be reinstated.

Jewish News has learned there are now growing moves to persuade Senior Labour Party figures last Abbott, who was first elected to parnight warned that PR disasters liament in 1987, to announce her caused by veteran MP Diane retirement as an MP as early as posAbbott “have gone on for too long”, sible. Her local Labour Party is schedafter she sparked fury by claiming uled to meet on Thursday evening, with Jews don’t suffer racism. her political future set to be discussed. The Abbott, 69, was suspended as a Labour MP Diane on Sunday by leader Keir Starmer after the Abbott MP has spoken previously in a newspaper about being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes comments were published by The Observer which suggested Jews, Irish people and the Trav- in 2015, which can cause dizziness and confusion.

Some friends are suggesting Abbott recogeller community experienced only “prejudice” and nises that the anger caused by her letter sig“do not experience racism every day”.

As the outcry over the Hackney North and Stoke nals the right time to announce she is standing Newington MP’s remarks grew, even MPs linked down as an MP ahead of the next election. One with former leader Jeremy Corbyn failed to come ally told Jewish News: “At this point standing to her defence. One senior Labour MP told Jewish down on health grounds would save face all News on Wednesday evening: “This has gone on for round.” Abbott did not respond to Jewish News asking if she is considering quitting. too long now with Diane Abbott.”

Rabbi Herschel Gluck, who has known the MP Another MP said: “She has achieved many things in career over the past three decades, but the for three decades, is scheduled to meet with Abbott in an attempt to heal relations with the community. truth is in recent years she has become a liability.”

The only group to attempt to defend her letter • Editorial comment, page 18

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

Grave political differences gave way to Yom Ha’atzmaut parties yesterday as Israel celebrated its landmark 75th Independence Day. Israelis flocked to parks, beaches and other open spaces for barbecues and festivities. Meanwhile, British fighter jets took part in an Israeli Air Force flyover that entertained thousands, from Eilat all the way to Tiberias.

BREAK-IN AT ISRAEL CHARITY’S LONDON OFFICE

Candle placed beside a t-shirt

The London headquarters of a pro-Israel educational charity was broken into on Tuesday evening, with a lit yahrzeit memorial candle placed next to one of the organisation’s t-shirts, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

StandWithUs, based in north London, reported the crime to the police and Community Security Trust (CST), who have launched investi-

gations using the premise’s CCTV footage. The organisation has interpreted the placing of the lit memorial candle beside an item of its branded clothing as “a violent and threatening message aimed at our staff ”.

StandWithUS said: “On the morning of Israel Independence Day, staff at StandWithUs UK arrived at the office to find it had been broken into. In a calculated attack, the perpe-

trators broke through the ceiling into the office and left a lit memorial candle placed next to a StandWithUs t-shirt.

“The implication of this is clear – they are sending a violent and threatening message aimed at our organisation and staff. We want to reassure our community that we take this threat seriously. We have reached out to the Police and the Community Security Trust (CST) and are working closely

with them as they investigate.”

StandWithUs UK executive director, Isaac Zarfati said: “Our staff are shaken but determined. We remain committed to our mission, of working tirelessly towards countering antisemitism and misinformation about Israel, regardless of this hateful attempt to intimidate us. This intimidation is indicative of what Jewish and Zionist students regularly face.”

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Jewish News 27 April 2023

News / Yom HaZikaron / Birthday wishes

‘Shame!’: Families heckle and boo Ben-Gvir on Memorial Day Several Israeli ministers were heckled and booed during their speeches at military cemeteries as the nation mourned fallen soldiers on its Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, writes Jotam Confino.

Sirens blasted across Israel at 11am on Tuesday to remember the 24,213 fallen soldiers and 4,255 victims of terrorism since 1860.

This year’s event was tainted by the divisions over the government’s judicial reforms.

In Be’ersheva, heavy security was deployed at the military cemetery ahead of national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s arrival, with authorities allowing only grieving families to enter. Clashes erupted outside the cemetery

Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a ceremony at the military cemetery in Be’ersheva President Isaac Herzog lays a wreath at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Tuesday

between families as Ben-Gvir made his speech, with police trying to restore order.

Ben-Gvir, who has a history of making racist remarks, had been asked by the organisation of bereaved families to stay away. Unlike other ministers, who respected the families’ wishes, Ben-Gvir refused to cancel his appearance.

Families were heard yelling “shame” and “you are not worthy” as he spoke at the cemetery.

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Other families were clapping at Ben-Gvir and cheering him on.

Transport minister Miri Regev was heckled during her speech at Holon’s military cemetery, with bereaved families arguing with each other.

In the city of Ra’anana, some families began singing the national anthem Hatikva to interrupt a speech by deputy finance minister and Religious Zionism party MK Michal Woldiger.

Similar scenes broke out at the cemetery in Rehovot, where Shas party MK and health and interior minister Moshe Arbel’s speech was interrupted by shouts as well as singing of the national anthem. Environment minister Idit Silman (Likud) was booed in Kiryat Anavim.

In the Druze town of Isfiya, intelligence minister Gila Gamliel was blocked by protestors from entering the military cemetery. She returned two hours later when the ceremony was over, saying: “Their cry must be heard.

There are people who are in real pain.”

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the state Memorial Day ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, urging unity at a time when the nation has been torn apart.

“Today, more than ever, on the day we remember the heroes of the nation, we must remember that we are brothers: Jews, Druze, Muslims, Bedouins, Christians, Circassians.

Brothers in service, brothers in arms, brothers in blood,” the prime minister said.

President Isaac Herzog also spoke of the need for unity in Israel as he held a speech at the Western Wall on Monday night.

“The siren this year, the intensely Israeli signature call, is a wake-up call for all of us,” he said.

“I ask myself, I ask us: what other country in the world has such a special sound? It is the sound of pain and of hope; of grief and of pride. It is the sound of the State of Israel.”

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The UK has wished Israel happy 75th Independence Day, stating that the “extremely close” allies stand together against the threat of Iran and the “wider scourge of antisemitism”, writes Jotam Confino.

The British embassy in Tel Aviv issued a statement, saying the UK is “proud to be linked to Israel’s thriving technology industry – from cybersecurity, fintech and healthcare to energy and climate tech. UK companies have established partnerships and collaborations with Israeli companies in the tech sector.”

The embassy noted that more than 400 Israeli technology firms have set up offices and operations in the UK, more than in any other European country. Trade between the two countries reached more than £7bn in 2022, making Israel one of the Britain’s most important trading partners.

“For the past 75 years, the UK has been clear about Israel’s right to exist and is unequivocal in supporting Israeli security and right to selfdefence, in the face of threats from its neighbours, particularly Iran.

“The UK has often stood at the UN defending

Israel against unwarranted and disproportionate criticism,” the embassy said.

Touching on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which his spiralled in recent months, the embassy repeated the UK’s support of the twostate solution, with Israel and a future Palestinian state “living side by side in peace and security”.

“This policy is a fulfilment of the Balfour Declaration but also results from a sincere belief that lasting security for Israel – preserving its Jewish and democratic character – requires a solution that offers equal rights and dignity for both Israelis and Palestinians,” the statement said.

The UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, also issued a statement saying the “strong ties between the UK and Israel over the past 75 years are a testament to the strength of our close and historic relationship”.

As for the future of the relationship, UK and Israel signed the 2030 roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relation last month, which includes a new £20m Scientific and Innovation programme, funded by both governments.

27 April 2023 Jewish News

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Faith consultation / News

Charedi ‘forced’ marriage misunderstood in government faith engagement report A public consultation on how the government should engage with faith groups has fallen short in understanding “forced” Jewish strictlyOrthodox marriage, say some communal bodies, writesMichelleRosenberg.

More than 21,000 people responded to the landmark the Bloom Review consultation launched in 2019, by independent faith engagement adviser Colin Bloom.

While its key messages are that faith is an “overriding force for good”, the 60,000-word report finds that government should improve its engagement with faith groups, and that a better understanding of faith could help it to tackle forced marriage, child safeguarding and faithbased extremism, among other issues.

The Bloom Review sets out 22 recommendations for government.

It examined engagement with faith in a broad range of public institutions – from the Civil Service and the Armed Forces, to schools and prisons – and has called on ministers to bring in a new programme of faith literacy training for all public sector

staff, ensuring public servants understand those they are helping, and to increase partnership opportunities with faith groups who are already playing a valuable role in the social fabric of our society.

Bloom noted that a better understanding of faith would help government to tackle forced marriage, of which there are estimated to be thousands a year in the UK; radicalisation in prison; and faith-based extremism, including the ongoing challenge of Islamist extremism, and the small but growing trends of Sikh extremism and Hindu nationalism.

Bloom also calls for appropriate regulation of out-of-school settings, including the faith-based sector, to safeguard the physical safety and wellbeing of children.

Joel Friedman, public affairs director for Charedi outreach organisation Pinter Trust, told Jewish News: “We strongly welcome the overriding sentiment of the Bloom Review that government should maintain more in-depth and meaningful relationships with faith communities.

“It is only by engaging with communities and establishing a twoway dialogue that the government can properly understand specific needs and find appropriate ways of addressing them. The Pinter Trust... looks forward to working with government departments as they take the recommendations forward.”

The organisation went on to say: “Despite the depth of the report, some of the more detailed evidence and recommendations are not sufficiently well-informed and more work is needed to fill the gaps when this is carried forward.”

Friedman notes that the report refers to forced marriages in the Charedi community and “does not appear aware that marriages where either party feels under duress are not permitted in Jewish law and rabbis officiating must ensure that both parties fully consent to the marriage”.

Yehudis Fletcher, co-founder of Nahamu, a think-tank countering extremism and culturally specific harm in the Jewish community, told Jewish News it supports the recom-

The report ‘appears unaware’ that Judaism rejects forced marriage

mendations in relation to schools, coercion in marriage and faith-based extremism and exploitation.

In particular, she was pleased that recommendations for public servants to benefit from “quality faith literacy training”, were made, as it is “difficult to craft such policies without a proper understanding of how members of such communities see the world”.

Fletcher says: “Colin Bloom has emphasised that when an individual is coerced into marriage, it follows that they are also coerced into any subsequent sexual activity. A proper understanding of the manner in which practices relating to arranged marriages manifest in the Charedi community is essential if a proper policy response is to be implemented.”

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Special Report / Local elections

All to play for as crucial battle for the Jewish vote takes off Boroughs with significant Jewish populations will have a vital role in next week’s local elections Local elections in parts of England next week will give a high proportion of the community living outside London the chance to cast their votes and select councillors, writes Lee Harpin.

On 4 May, more than 8,000 seats will be contested at 230 councils across England, including every seat on the borough council of Hertsmere, with its high Jewish population, and in Epping Forest, Brighton, elsewhere in Bury and in Salford, in the north west, and on Leeds city council in Yorkshire, all with significant communal representation.

Marc Levy, chief executive of Manchester’s Jewish Rep Council, said council elections such as these are “critically important, as local authority decisions have a profound impact on our charities, organisations and wider community”.

The polling expert and Conservative peer Lord Hayward also noted the elections would provide further proof on how successful Labour leader Keir Starmer had been in erasing the stain of antisemitism that had dogged the party last time similar council elections were held in 2019.

Hayward cited the results of Labour’s victory in the Barnet council election in May 2022 (London councils are not contested next month), and positive results for the Conservative candidate in a recent Golders Green local poll as evidence issues other than antisemitism will be more relevant.

In Hertsmere, elections take place in every single borough seat. The constituency includes some of the most highly-populated Jewish wards in the country, including Bushey Heath (40 percent Jewish), Elstree

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Jewish voters will be key to many results. Inset: Borehamwood

(39.3 percent), Aldenham East (36 percent), Bushey Park (30.2 percent) and Aldenham West (27.9 percent).

The council – which covers Borehamwood, Bushey, Potters Bar and Radlett – is currently controlled by the Conservative group, with 28 councillors on the authority benches. The Labour group is the largest party in opposition, with seven authority members.

As noted, with every seat in contention next week, Hertsmere will be a crucial indicator of Jewish opinion in the first election in which voters will have to show IDs. In January Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders in the constituency promised “no personal attacks”, in recognition that tensions had become too great during previous elections.

Council leader Maurice Bright said at the time: “In some parts of Hertsmere at election time, the temperature rises and passions overtake principles in a sometimes ungainly scrabble for votes.

“The three party leaders, along with Hertsmere police chief Mark Bilsdon, have met regularly in recent months to see what we can do to make these elections more conducive and less hostile.”

Bright added there needed to be “buy-in” from all candidates and parties – including those not currently represented on the council – if the promises are to hold.

Labour group leader Jeremy Newmark said he was “pleased to be part of parallel processes” to lower the temperature of debate in the council chamber and at election time.

He also noted Keir Starmer and not Jeremy Corbyn was now party leader, adding: “Finally, in Hertsmere, we’re going to have a set of elections in which Jewish voters can vote for mainstream parties of their choice by expressing their preference on local issues.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Paul Richards also said: “There has been a work in progress, a good start. It would be good to see that applied from now on. We do have the eyes of

the residents on us all the time and we do have to remember that. We shouldn’t be drawn into personal attacks.”

A hustings supported by Jewish News, the Board of Deputies and JLC was held at Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue last week.

Hertsmere however is not the only region to boast significant numbers of Jewish voters.

Bury council, whose Sedgley ward is home to a population that is 33.8 percent Jewish, and Pilkington Park (23 percent) will be among constituencies electing a more limited number of councillors than Hertsmere.

Iin the case of Salford city council, locals in Kersal & Broughton Park (46.6 percent Jewish) will also be asked to cast their votes next month.

Manchester Jewish Rep Council chief exec Levy added: “The JRC holds excellent relationships with local government across Greater Manchester. I encourage everyone to utilise their democratic right and vote.”

Back down south, key wards on Epping Forest borough council include Buckhurst Hill West (six percent Jewish) and Grange Hill (9.4 percent Jewish). Other elections to watch include those involving Brighton & Hove city council, St Albans city council, Three Rivers borough council and Welwyn Hatfield borough council.

While local issues will be important in influencing how some cast their votes, the national political picture will probably determine which party others decide to back.

The last time similar elections took place was back in 2019, with the Conservatives taking more than 3,300 seats, leaving the then-Corbyn-led Labour Party trailing badly in second place with just over 2,100 seats.

The Lib Dems came third with just over 1,200, and the Greens slotted in behind them with 240 seats.

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News / Local elections / Israel inspiration / MP expelled

Two Tory candidates suspended

A Conservative local election candidate has been suspended after sharing a post on social media that linked deportation of Jews under the Nazis with criticism of gun control, writes Lee Harpin.

Stanley Murphy, Tory hopeful in the Ivybridge West seat in south Devon, had shared an image on his Facebook page of Jews being forced on to trains during the Grossaktion in 1942.

Victims loaded on to trains were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto before being sent to the extermination camp in Treblinka.

The post has the words: “Why gun control? Because armed people will NOT willingly load themselves into railroad boxcars.”

The implication that Jews would have been less likely to have been killed in the Holocaust was backed by a further claim on Murphy’s personal Facebook page that if parents spent time with their children at rifle ranges it would be “quality family time and gun control all in one”.

The Tory candidate also reposted a YouTube video in which a British man in the United States aggressively criticises a school programme to improve the attainment of black students.

He also displayed support for rightwing American ideology associated with former US president Donald Trump, while claiming that the Covid vaccination programme was an experi-

MP BRIDGEN OUSTED FOR Devon Conservative Association said SHOAH SLUR it had taken the decision to suspend

Stanley Murphy: cattle truck claim

ment on the population and that some equality programmes in schools are “communism”. His comments were unearthed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A spokesperson for South West

Murphy, pending an investigation into his comments on social media.

Despite the suspension, Murphy’s name will remain on the ballot for local elections on 4 May. Ashley Sykes, standing for the Tories in the Ashby Lakeside ward of North Lincolnshire Council, has been suspended from the party for sharing jokes about the Holocaust online.

The posts on his Facebook page, which date back to 2016, also included racist and homophobic memes.

A party spokesperson said it had “acted swiftly” to suspend Sykes once the material came to light.

Labour looks to Israel ‘economic miracle’

Rachel Reeves at the UJIA breakfast

Rachel Reeves has said a Labour government would look to the example of Israel’s “economic miracle” to provide an alternative to “managed decline” under prime minister Rishi Sunak.

The shadow chancellor told the United Jewish Israel Appeal ‘Israel 75’ business breakfast: “Israel’s lesson is instructive.

Their strategic public invest-

ment has unlocked massive private sector funding.

“It’s all about giving Britain hope. For too long Britain has failed to invest in its future. It is right therefore to look to Israel’s economy at the age of 75, and ask ‘what can we learn?’

“David Ben -Gurion said that ‘In Israel to be a realist you must believe in miracles’. He was

right. To visit Israel today is to see the fruits of a very modern economic miracle.

“I’d like to pay tribute to that spirit of optimism and hope.

Here in Britain we have much to learn from it. With Labour in government, I assure you we will.”

Reeves also used her speech to condemn Diane Abbott’s letter published in the Observer

on Sunday. She said the party needed “no reminder of the task remaining ahead of us” in fighting antisemitism in Labour, but “Diane Abbott provided us with one last weekend.”

Reeves continued: “Let’s be in no doubt, her words were abhorrent and antisemitic. We condemn them wholeheartedly.”

Andrew Bridgen has been expelled from the Conservatives after comparing Covid vaccines to the Holocaust.

A party spokesperson said he had been expelled on 12 April, adding: “He has 28 days from this date to appeal.”

Bridgen had the whip removed after tweeting: “As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.” The tweet included a graph shared by a far-right conspiracy website.

Rishi Sunak called the North West Leicestershire MP’s remarks “utterly unacceptable”. Following his suspension, Holocaust Educational Trust chief Karen Pollock said: “Inappropriate comparisons to the Holocaust have no place in politics... it is right clear action has been taken.”

Bridgen has previously sparked anger by referring during a parliamentary debate to an alleged “Jewish lobby” .

27 April 2023 Jewish News

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Cover star / Shawarma prize / News

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• • • Ellie Goldstein is the first model with Down’s Syndrome to be on the cover of British Vogue

A 21-year old from Ilford has realised her dream to become the first model with Down’s Syndrome to grace the cover of British Vogue.

Ellie Goldstein is one of five cover stars featured in the fashion bible’s May 2023 Dynamic, Daring and Disabled edition.

She told Vogue: “My disability has taught me to be ‘me’ – and not to be scared of doing things louder in the world. [It’s about] following your hopes and dreams. Never give up, be who you are and smile all the way.”

In 2020, Goldstein made the headlines after an Instagram post for Gucci Beauty in conjunction with Vogue Italia went viral. As the Italian fashion house’s first Down Syn-

drome model, her picture racked up 800,000 ‘likes’, its most liked post ever.

Goldstein began her modelling career in 2017, signing to the Zebedee talent agency, which largely works with models with disabilities. She has since worked on campaigns for Adidas and Victoria’s Secret and is an ambassador for the learning disability charity Mencap.

She told Vogue: “Everyone should be seen and not hidden. [People with disabilities] can be easily overlooked and written off. We are the same as everyone else, sometimes a bit slower in things, but we need to be given a chance.”

She lives with her mother Yvonne, father Mark, sister Amy and nephew Blake.

‘JN award has beefed up shawarma sales!’ bens is famous for its salt beef, adding: “That is still the most popular item on the menu, but the increase in shawarma sales has been great. It’s a new revenue stream and the margins are very good.”

The 30 percent increase in sales “says it all”, he continued. “The new shawarma crowd have been leaving amazing reviews and spreading the word. It’s great to know we don’t just sell salt beef but also the best kosher shawarma.

“Since we were presented with the award at a national event, we’ve been exposed to a lot of new clients. It’s very rewarding that all the team’s hard work is paying off.”

Britain’s kebab industry contributes £2.9bn a year to the economy and Reubens had stiff competition from Pita in Golders Green, Bricky’s in Shenley, Balagan in Borehamwood, Balady Alaesh in Temple Fortune, Sami’s Restaurant in Hendon, Sami’s in Edgware, Sababa in Borehamwood and Shefa Mehadrin in Prestwich.

Other awards included best restaurant and best kebab house by region, best kebab van, best fine dining, best Lebanese, and best chef.

Reubens owner Lee Landau with his award-winning shawarma Reubens restaurant in London has enjoyed a 30 percent jump in shawarma sales since the business won the Jewish News kosher kebab of the year award, according to owner Lee Landau.

The famous Baker Street deli, which opened 50 years ago, beat tough competition to land the best kosher shawarma restaurant prize at the British Kebab Awards event, held at the Plaza Hotel.

Journalists and politicians including Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer supported the awards, with Reubens, the only kosher restaurant in the West End, becoming the first ever winner of the new kosher category, partnered by Jewish News.

Landau noted that Reu-

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Jewish News 27 April 2023

News / Forgotten synagogue

Haunting pictures of shul left abandoned for 15 years A bimah coated in graffiti, rusty plaques, piles of dust, dirt and pigeon feathers. This is the eerie scene captured in a series of haunting images of what was one of the UK’s most historic synagogues, abandoned for the last 15 years, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

These stark pictures, taken by a photographer spotlighting abandoned buildings, reveal the shell of the former shul, known as Greenbank Synagogue, near Sefton Park in Liverpool.

Once the centre of the city’s thriving Jewish community, developers have been struggling to complete its redevelopment.

The main prayer hall is hauntingly deserted, the wooden seats decayed and covered in bird faeces, the floor ruined by mould and damp. Paint is chipped and peeling off the walls, floorboards destroyed, the bimah defaced with graffiti declaring ‘Death 2 Nazis’ scrawled over a scribbled black painted swastika.

The ceiling plaster is ruined, glass panes are broken and metalwork bent out of shape.

While the images show abandoned furniture, debris, mould, fallen plaster and detritus filling the once beautiful building, the last senior warden of Greenbank doesn’t feel the building should be described as ‘abandoned’.

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Jeff Shulkind told Jewish News: “The shul closed because financially it had to and it was sold to a developer 10 years ago to be converted into flats, while satisfying the requirements of its listed status. At the time the developer’s plans were agreed by all.”

Since then, Shulkind continued, the developer “has had all kinds of problems with planning permission and other issues with the city council which has sadly seriously delayed the project, totally out of control of the ex trustees.

“There are signs that things have started to get moving again and we hope this will lead to a successful completion of the project in the near future.”

Shulkind told Jewish News that “all the kosher sefarim (sacred books) were sold 15 years ago and the posul (invalid) ones were buried, with the exception of one, which if I remember rightly was stolen. No sefarim have been in that building since we sold it to the

Echoes of the past: The main hall and side rooms of Greenbank Synagogue have been abandoned for the last 15 years

developers.” Built around 1936/1937 and designed by architect Ernest Alfred Shennan, the foundation stone was laid on 14 June 1936 by Baron Tobias Globe, attended by the then Chief Rabbi, Dr J H Hertz. With seating for 700 people, it opened in 1937.

Membership grew to 340 by 1938, increasing to 582 in 1955 and then declining to 120 in 1999. It eventually closed in 2008 following a sharp drop in the city’s Jewish population.

In 2019, so-called ‘urban explorers’ fell through the roof of the shul building.

Gillian Baum, originally from Liverpool, told Jewish News: “Greenbank was a gorgeous synagogue but location and a decline

in members meant changes had to be made. The other two remaining shuls are Childwall (which backs on to the Jewish school, King David) and Princess Road, which is also listed but based in Toxteth. However, they don’t have a daily or weekly service there. Most of my generation moved to Manchester or London where there is more of a Jewish scene.”

In 2010 the site was put on the ‘at risk’ register by Historic England. Planning permission was given to company NC Architecture in 2017 to convert the building into 22 apartments and 36 further apartments within the grounds. The scheme failed and in 2021 it was listed for sale for just under £5 million.

27 April 2023 Jewish News

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Hate exposed / Holocaust memorial / Survivor’s story / News

NHS Trust director quits after JN exposes his toxic tweets the gas chambers. It had many things that Zionism is today, to a degree.”

The post, shared by Ahmad on 20 April, added: “They wail ‘never again’ – but never is A director of an NHS Founhappening again. Don’t take dation Trust has “stepped my word for it. The decent down with immediate Jewish are even saying it.” effect” from his role after It then had a quote from Jewish News raised conDaniel Blatman, a Holocerns about social media caust historian, condemning posts comparing Israel’s the presence of far-right mintreatment of the Palestinians isters in the current Israel coaliwith the Holocaust, and comtion government. ments about “real Jews”.

On its website, the Maqsood Ahmad, a Maqsood Ahmad Trust, in the north-west non-executive director of the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, had of England, confirms that Ahmad had previposted and shared a succession of inflammatory ously been “director for equality and inclusion posts on Twitter. One message he circulated at NHS England”. While at the Home Office he claimed: “The Holocaust and Nazism wasn’t just had also been head of equalities for policing.

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

In a further post, again uncovered

by JN and later deleted by Ahmad, he shared a video image of ultra-orthodox Jews burning an Israeli flag.

Ahmad, who is chief executive at the British Muslim Heritage Centre, himself wrote on the post, in November: “Respect, these are the real Jews.”

Other posts he shared included further Israel/Nazi comparisons, along with a claim that Labour leader Sir Keir Some of the former diversity ambassador’s posts Starmer was controlled by “Zionists”.

After being shown Ahmad’s posts by JN, Lord OBE in 2010 and the Home Office equality and Mann, the government’s antisemitism adviser, diversity ambassador of the year award in 2009.

A British Muslim Heritage Centre spokessaid that his conduct raised “significant concerns” and that he would be looking to “take this person said of its CEO: “We can assure you that matter further”. The Pennine Care NHS Foun- his views are not consistent with the views of the dation Trust confirmed on Tuesday that Ahmad British Muslim Heritage Centre. These are the CEO’S private Twitter responses, expressed on had stepped down “with immediate effect”.

Ahmad’s LinkedIn page says he received an his personal Twitter account.”

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SHOAH MEMORIAL AT BUSHEY Nazi hunter, 96, shares CEMETERY IS CONSECRATED his extraordinary story The United Synagogue has unveiled a new Holocaust memorial and garden in Bushey New Cemetery in Hertfordshire.

More than a dozen survivors and their families were among 160 people who attended a consecration service led by the Chief Rabbi.

The service was conducted by Dayan Menachem Gelley, the Rosh Beth Din of the London Beth Din, Rabbi Pinchas Hackenbroch, chair of the Rabbinical Council of the US, Dayan Ivan Binstock, senior rabbi of St John’s Wood shul and Chazan Jonny Turgel of Stanmore and Canons Park synagogue.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said: “What makes this matzeva (tombstone) different to all other matzevas? On all others matzevas, the key feature is a name, the person who passed away. But on

Memorial is built around a grave

this matzeva there are no names. On all other matzevas, there are names of relatives who mourn the loss of a loved one. But on this matzeva, the entire Jewish people mourns the loss of the people buried here: six precious individuals, five adults and one child whom we buried four years ago and for whom we are unveiling a matzeva today, some three generations after they were

brutally murdered. It could have been any of our relatives.”

The memorial has been built around the grave of the six kedoshim (Holocaust victims) buried by the United Synagogue in a funeral conducted by the Chief Rabbi at Bushey New Cemetery in January 2019.

The victims – whom DNA testing revealed to be five adults and one child – were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Their remains had been collected from Birkenau by a Holocaust survivor who returned there some years ago and entrusted them to the Imperial War Museum.

Chief Rabbi Mirvis thanked the Holocaust survivors present “for the ongoing inspiration they provide to us all and of British society”.

The memorial is open to the public during cemetery opening hours.

A 96-year-old Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter has shared his story of survival and pursuit of justice.

Josef Lewkowicz addressed 200 guests at the launch in London of his autobiography, The Survivor, on the evening of Yom HaShoah.

The event, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, was organised by JRoots along with Penguin Random House and the Blair Partnership.

JRoots’ film, The Survivor’s Revenge, telling his story, was also screened.

Rabbi Naftali Schiff, founder of JRoots said:

“Having interviewed hundreds of survivors, Josef’s story both during and after the Holocaust is a truly unique and remarkable one.”

The screening was followed by a conversation between Lewkowicz and the rabbi, about how the rabbi had discovered him and persuaded him to tell his story to the world. Lewkowicz also shared his thoughts about the value of educating younger generations on the Holocaust.

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, he and his father were separated from their family and taken to Kraków-

Plaszów camp.

He was held in five others, including Mauthausen, Auschwitz and Ebensee.

By the end of the war, he was the sole survivor from an extended family of 150. From a Displaced Persons’ camp he volunteered to join the Jewish police and was recruited as an intelligence officer for the US army who gave him a team to search for Nazis in hiding. He helped to bring to justice his greatest tormentor, the Butcher of Plaszow, Amon Göth, and to repatriate hundreds of the Shoah’s orphaned Jewish children, helping them to rebuild their lives.

10 Jewish News 27 April 2023

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News / Family’s campaign

Dees launch memorial campaign The surviving members of the Dee family have launched a £1.45m fundraising project in memory of murdered mother Lucy, 48 and her two daughters, Maia, 20, and Rina, 15.

The three British-Israeli women were shot by Palestinian terrorists on 7 April on their way to a family hiking trip near the Jordan Valley.

The two daughters were killed instantly. Rebbetzen Lucy Dee was seriously wounded and died of her injuries three days later at the Hadassah Medical Centre.

The women were buried in the West Bank settlement of

was deeply involved and Kfar Ezion. significant in the commuDuring the week of the nity in Efrat. shiva, rabbi Leo Dee and Leo Dee, a former his three surviving chilRadlett United Synadren decided that, with gogue rabbi, left his home the assistance of the Efrat in Hertfordshire in 2014 Foundation, they would with his family to settle in launch a crowdfunding Efrat, on the West Bank. campaign with three A statement announcing main goals to personally the crowdfunding said: honour and commemo“They immigrated to rate their loved ones – the Israel together, they Rina Dee Youth Centre, chose Efrat together, they as Rina was an active were murdered together, participant and counsellor in the Ezra youth The Dee family at this week’s Memorial Day ceremony in Gush Etzion and they commemorate together.” movement; Maia Dee’s To date, some 2,523 donors Spring, a “maayan” (spring) for nature and water, and the Hall, in memory of rebbetzen to commemorate Maia’s love communal Lucy Dee Simcha Lucy, a wife and mother who have supported the campaign,

raising just over £150,000.

Efrat mayor Oded Revivi said: “Since the disaster happened, the Efrat community embraced the Dee family.

“I was amazed to see the family chose to launch three commemorative projects, since Lucy, Maia and Rina were each special in their own way. I thank the Dee family for choosing to establish the projects in Efrat.

“The living spirit of Lucy Maya and Rina will pass on through the ventures, our pain together, and together we will remember them.”  Tali Dee, page 21

MINISTER HAILS ‘NOBLE’ DECISION TO GIVE ORGANS

UK government minister Andrew Mitchell has praised the “extraordinary and noble decision” taken by the family of rabbi Leo Dee to “donate Lucy’s organs, saving five lives so far, and possibly more”, writes Lee Harpin.

In a statement in the Commons after the killings, Mitchell said this “act of compassion and generosity at a moment of tragedy stands in vivid contrast to the senseless and

abhorrent violence that robbed a family of its mother and two sisters”.

The minister for development and Africa added that the UK “unequivocally condemns” the murder of Lucy and her two daughters Maia and Rina as an “act of terror”.

He said: “I know the whole house will join me in condemning the horrific murder of Lucy, Maia and Rina by terrorists just over a

week ago, and offer our deepest condolences to rabbi Leo Dee and the rest of the family in their pain and grief.”

Also referencing the terror attack in Tel Aviv that same day, Mitchell said these acts had “plagued the lives of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians for too long”.

The minister added: “The people of Israel deserve to live free from the scourge of ter-

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rorism and antisemitic incitement which greatly undermine the prospects of a two state solution.”

Elsewhere in his statement, Mitchell also described how there had been “numerous” terror attacks in Israel and also “indiscriminate rocket, missile and drone attacks from groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza”.

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Jewish News 27 April 2023

News / UOHC letter

JCC founder told his actions are ‘harmful’ to Stamford Hill The UK’s most influential Charedi organisation has told the PR executive founder of the Jewish Community Council in Stamford Hill he “does not have the mandate” to represent Britain’s strictly-Orthodox community, writes Adam Decker.

In a rare and stinging public rebuke, the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC) published a letter telling Levi Schapiro that his actions were “inappropriate and harmful to the interests of our community”.

It was signed by Union president Binyomin Stern and treasurer Shlome Sinitsky, two of the biggest names in Orthodox circles, who said they had “been asked by the rabbinate” to write to him.

“It has come to our attention that you have been purporting to represent our community on matters of critical significance such as Shechita, Milah, K’vod HaMes (coroner issues), health, and other significant communal concerns,” they said.

“We cannot emphasise enough the

gravity of such matters and the need for the utmost sensitivity and discretion when dealing with them.

“We are also in receipt of a growing number of complaints from a range of bodies with regards to some of your words and tactics. We are increasingly concerned about these actions, as we believe that they are inappropriate and harmful to the interests of our community.

“While we may appreciate your intentions, we want to firmly state that communal activism is to be undertaken only by experienced and competent organisations or individuals and in accordance with the advice and guidance of senior rabbonim.

“To avoid any confusion, we would like to assert that you do not have the mandate to represent our Kehilla or its members in any way, nor should you portray yourself as a representative of the Charedi community in our opinion.”

This is not the first time that the Union has had to disavow Schapiro.

The letter sent by the UOHC to the founder of the JCC in Stamford Hill

In 2020, it told the Royal London Hospital that Schapiro “does not have the credentials to undertake communal advocacy, especially in sensitive areas such as health”.

Following concerns raised by the chaplain, Rabbi Eli Kernkraut,

the Union then wrote to the head of chaplaincy, Imam Yunus Dudhwala, to say it was “deeply distressed” to hear of his recent experiences “with regard to Mr Schapiro”.

The rabbinate said Schapiro “does not have the credentials to under-

take communal advocacy, especially in sensitive areas such as health… He does not represent the UOHC or any other group in the Orthodox Jewish community in any form.”

Schapiro, 30, is the sole director and shareholder of Sparrow PR, which claims to use “exceptionally high-skilled consultants, political operatives, and lobbyists”.

He founded the JCC, which says it “represents the greater London Orthodox Jewish community”.

Although he is not a trained rabbi, Schapiro has been quoted as ‘Rabbi Schapiro’ in several news outlets.

A JCC spokesman told Jewish News: “We have never received any such letter or information from the UOHC whatsoever, so you can understand why people are questioning the authenticity because in the past many of these claims turned out to be fake. We have a very close working relationship with the UOHC. It’s always important to encourage young community leaders a path to lead.”

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Claims Conference / Survivors honoured / IHRC opposition / News

Holocaust memories in new video campaign for families The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) has launched a new global digital campaign, Our Holocaust Story: A Pledge to Remember.

It features Holocaust survivors from across the US and worldwide with their second- and third-generation family members and illustrates the importance of passing on the stories of the Holocaust so future generations can learn from past atrocities.

Our Holocaust Story features videos of survivors and their families sharing testimonies of persecution and survival with family members in closing pledging to remember to ensure the stories continue.

At least 50 institutions, organisations and museums are participating, including Yad Vashem, the International Holocaust One of the videos from the campaign Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), USC Shoah Foundation, American Jewish Joint DistribuIt is the first campaign where both survivors tion Committee (JDC), Jewish Agency for Israel and second, third and in some cases fourth genand World Jewish Relief. erations are together to carry on the stories.

Others include the Durban Holocaust Claims Conference president Gideon Taylor and Genocide Centre, Melbourne Holocaust said: “Each survivor has a poignant and unique Museum, Anne Frank Huis Amsterdam, Vienna story to tell. Passing on these stories ensures the Wiesenthal Institute, Cape Town Holocaust lessons of the Holocaust are not forgotten. and Genocide Centre, Holocaust Educational “Collectively, these stories tell the history Trust UK, the Jewish Museum of Greece and of the Shoah, a history we must preserve and Sydney Jewish Museum. share. Only then can we truly say ‘never again’.”

Conference executive vice-president Greg Schneider added: “When we see Holocaust survivors with family members, it sends a powerful message – they didn’t just survive the Holocaust, they went on to live, to build a family that would not exist if they had not survived. Each survivor has a profound impact on the world, and it is our responsibility to carry forward the torch of their testimony. We should all make a pledge to remember.”

More than 100 survivors and families are participating in the campaign, all to be featured in posts across the Claims Conference’s social media platforms every week.

Jehuda, George and Robert Lindenblatt, three survivor brothers from Hungary now living in New York, joined their families to create a video in which Jehuda talks of his responsibility to share the story and also the difficulty in telling it, saying, “I survived the Holocaust and I have to tell the story again and again…I was so hungry. If you never experienced hunger, you cannot explain to anyone what it is.”

Survivor stories will be shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, using the hashtag #OurHolocaustStory. The Claims Conference will permanently house all videos and additional content on the campaign website, www.PledgetoRemember.org.

AMNESTY IS CONDEMNED Amnesty International signed an open letter this week urging the United Nations not to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, claiming it has been used to suppress criticism of rights violations by the Israeli authorities, writes Lee Harpin.

The letter, backed by 104 organisations including Human Rights Watch and Israeli organisations B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence, said it was vital that efforts to combat antisemitism do not embolden or endorse policies and laws that undermine human rights.

Addressed to UN secretary-general António Guterres and under-secretary-general Miguel Ángel Moratinos, the letter is also signed by Jewish Voice for Peace and Jewish Network for Palestine.

It says the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel antisemitic.

It added: “If the UN endorses the IHRA definition in any shape or form, UN officials working on issues related to Israel and Palestine may find themselves unjustly accused of antisemitism based on the IHRA definition.”

The Board of Deputies responded to the letter by saying: “The idea that Amnesty has inserted itself into a discussion as to how Jewish people identify anti-Jewish racism demonstrates just how far it has fallen as an organisation.”

Survivors honoured at Israeli president’s home Jewish-Israeli philanthropist Eitan Neishlos, founder of the Neishlos Foundation and grandson of a Holocaust survivor, addressed guests at the home of Israel president Isaac Herzog during Yom HaShoah events.

He was speaking as part of the first Zikaron BaSalon (Shoah commemorative social gatherings at private homes) event marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. As part of the evening, the album Third Soundtrack, commemorating the stories of Holocaust survivors through songs created by some of Israel’s top performers, was announced.

Herzog, accompanied by his wife Michal, said: “It is a great honour to host Holocaust survivors and Zikaron BaSalon today. The songs of our lives are our soundtrack, and we enrich the younger generation by remembering through words and music. The album symbolises transgenerational continuity and the responsibility and commitment to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.”

Eitan Neishlos, right, with Michal and Isaac Herzog (Photo: Neishlos Foundation)

Neishlos, born in Israel, brought up in South Africa and later a Jewish community leader while living in Australia, was pivotal in both the production and promotion of the album. He said: “Third Soundtrack is an initiative that addresses the most critical point of Holocaust remembrance, connecting future generations to the personal stories, collective memory and shared future.”

Mayor sorry for blood libel The lord mayor of Norwich has apologised to the city’s Jewish community for religious persecution in the 12th century after false claims about the murder of a boy.

Dr Kevin Maguire referenced the impact the blood libel allegations had on the community after Jews were

falsely accused of murdering the 12-year-old, called William, in 1144.

It was England’s first recorded instance of a ‘blood libel’, in which Jews were wrongly accused of murdering Christian boys to use their blood in religious rituals.

Maguire said: “William’s

murder is a story for today.

We apportion blame for any harms and seek to punish those who are not like us; those who do and say things differently to the way that we say or do things.

“Medieval Norwich blamed the Jews and we see the horrendous events that followed.”

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News / Shoah testimony

Natasha: Our duty to the survivors Natasha Kaplinsky has stressed the importance of having a duty of care as an interviewer of Holocaust survivors, writes Michelle Rosenberg.

The journalist was part of a panel alongside historian Rosalyn Livshin and survivors Eva Clarke, Jackie Young and Kurt Marx at a two-day symposium on survivor testimony to discuss producing Holocaust evidence from the perspectives of interviewers and interviewees.

Chaired by Dr Bea Lewkowicz of the Association of Jewish Refugees’ (AJR) Refugee Voices, the conference was an initiative by the AJR, partnered with Jewish News.

The presenter and newsreader interviewed 112 Holocaust survivors and liberators in 2016 and was

awarded an OBE for services to Holocaust commemoration.

She told guests: “Once you receive the interview, you are seared by it.

There is a sense of responsibility, of bearing witness. I can recall almost every word of every interview. It was so emotional. It was so important to do. It is amazing how you can connect so deeply with someone over such traumatic circumstances.”

She stressed how important it felt to stay in touch with survivors and their families after each interview. “A lot of interviewees felt it was really important to do this [the interview] before they died,” she said.

The last question she asked survivors she interviewed was whether they felt lessons had been learned.

Natasha with survivors and (right) with AJR’s chief Michael Newman

“The most horrifying answer was given to me then,” she said. “It was no.

Despite all the horror they had shared with me and the absolute depths of

humanity that they had explored in their testimony, almost the worst part was that lessons had not been learned. With what has happened

with Russia and Ukraine, there are so many examples, that we have not learnt the lessons of the past. That for me was the saddest answer.”

Kaplinsky visited Slonim in 2007 for the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered her own paternal great-grandparents were among 2,524 Jews massacred there in the Holocaust.

FIRST STEPS TOWARD HOLOCAUST TESTIMONY PORTAL The formation of a group to explore how to create a UK Holocaust Testimony Portal was announced on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation co-chair Lord Pickles made the announcement at the testimonies conference (above).

The proposed working group will bring together community partners including the Wiener Holocaust Library, the Imperial War Museum, British Library, Fortunoff Archive, AJR Refugee Voices and the University Southern California

Shoah Foundation, to explore how to gather together some of the UK’s collections of Holocaust testimonies into a portal.

AJR CEO Michael Newman said: “We come together at a momentous time. An alignment of increasing Holocaust distortion combined with diminishing numbers of refugees and survivors, who can testify through lived experience, makes it more crucial than ever before that eyewitness accounts are collected, preserved and disseminated.

“This critical resource will enable the dissemination of Holocaust testimony and will harness and future proof

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The UK assumes the presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) next March for a year.

Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive Karen Pollock said: “Testimony is crucial to the future of Holocaust education and remembrance, so a central point to access and research these unique voices is an important step in protecting the truth of the past, at a time when the Holocaust is denied or distorted.”

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Student attacked / President’s plan / News briefs / World News Polish Jews release antisemitism report A Jewish association has released what is being called the first report on antisemitism conducted with direct input from Polish Jewish community organisations, counting 488 incidents in 2022 submitted via an online portal and collected through extensive interviews with community members.

The incident total released by the Czulent Jewish Association is more than four times the number reported for 2021 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Lionel Richie’s daughter marries Sofia Richie, a model and the daughter of musician Lionel Richie, married Jewish music executive Elliot Grainge on Saturday, less than a month after she said she completed her conversion to Judaism.

Richie, 24, and Grainge, 29, were married at a hotel in Antibes, France, by Rabbi Dr Thomas Salamon, who is rabbi emeritus at Westminster Synagogue, according to a report in Vogue.

They also held a private ceremony to sign the ketubah.

TO Swastika carved on BRIDGE DIASPORA autistic pupil’s back A 17-year-old autistic Jewish student had a swastika carved on to his back while at school.

The boy, who is nonverbal, returned from Clark High School in Las Vegas last month with the swastika carved on him, causing his mother to file a report with the local police.

“My son is the only student I know of who wears a kippah at the school,” the mother was quoted as saying by the Jewish website, COLlive.com, adding that she had pulled her son out of the school “because it’s an unsafe environment”.

The FBI said in a statement that it was “aware of the incident” and that the agency is in “regular contact with local authorities”.

It added: “If during the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate.”

The regional director of ADL (Anti-Defamation League) Nevada, Jolie Brislin, condemned the incident, saying: “Not only was this

The boy’s mother found this symbol cut into the 17-year-old’s skin

student targeted for his identifiable faith, but he was particularly vulnerable due to his disability. This incident illustrates points of intersectionality in how hate can show itself across marginalised communities.”

Brislin also said she had been in contact with local law enforcement to provide antisemitism education.

“Schools should be no place for

hate, and no student should be made to feel unsafe or threatened,” Brislin said.

Karen Bar-Or, senior national director of activism for the IsraeliAmerican Council, told Las Vegas Review-Journal that it receives four reports on antisemitism a week nationwide, calling that number “very disturbing”.

President Isaac Herzog has announced the launch of a ‘Jewish Davos’ to bridge the gap between the diaspora and Israel.

He told 3,000 people at the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly that Kol Ha’am – Voice of the People – would be an “initiative for worldwide Jewish dialogue”.

The body is a “first-of-its-kind global council for Jewish dialogue” and will remain “nonpartisan and apolitical”, he added.

Diaspora Jews have been at odds with Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition on several issues in recent months, such as proposed changes to the Law of Return and the judicial reforms.

“Voice of the People will be a collaborative forum. One that can hold and reflect the full and diverse range of Jewish voices. It will be a place where we can engage in serious, sensitive and strategic discussions on the most complex and pressing issues facing our people,” Herzog said. “A place where we formulate concrete proposals and action items to address them. But, most importantly, a place to cultivate the next generation of Jewish leaders.”

Herzog also said the biggest threast to the Jewish people “come from within: our own polarisation and alienation from one another”.

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THIS WEEKEND'S SHABBAT TIMES...

Shabbat comes in Friday night 8.04pm

Shabbat goes out Saturday night 9.14pm

Sedra: AchareiKedoshim

Reich, whose daily propaganda output indoctrinates children from a young age to murder Jews, lauds terrorists and has a “pay to slay” policy of rewarding them so that the greater the crime, the larger the pension. These are always more than salaries in normal employment.

The public celebrations of murder are the mark of a depraved society, with “President” Mahmoud Abbas the most recent leader to continue the fascist legacy of Haj Amin al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, who formed a pact with Hitler to include Palestine’s Jews in the Final Solution.

The open hatred of parts of the Jewish press for the so-called “settlers” and certain members of Israel’s coalition government, while remaining silent about the PA’s crimes, is not lost on Israel’s enemies. Your fine words in praise of Rabbi Dee’s humanity are a masterclass in hypocrisy.

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2 March 2023

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9 Adar 5783

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Issue No.1304

IDF’s dire verdict after Jewish mob sets West Bank village ablaze

•

@JewishNewsUK

A woman in Huwara outside her destroyed home and (main image) burned-out cars in the town

The funerals of brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv, who were killed in Huwara on Sunday

by Jotam Confino in Israel jotam@jewishnews.co.uk

In addition to setting homes @mrconfino and cars ablaze, a 37-yearold Palestinian man was killed and two others were shot The Israeli army has and wounded. Another condemned what it person was stabbed and called a beaten with ‘pogrom’ carried out one was a metal bar. More than by rioting Jewish settlers 100 Palestinians were in a injured in total.

Palestinian West Bank Video shows settlers davening town. after the More than 300 vigilantes took part in a revenge rampage riot, as flames engulf cars and buildings. on the town of Huwara, “This was a pogrom by setting fire to 75 homes outlaws, said Maj-Gen and more Fuchs, commanding than 100 cars in response Yehuda to a Palestinian terrorist officer of the IDF Central attack “We were not Command. that killed two Israelis prepared for that amount the same day in the town. of people and the Video documentation extent and intensity of showed large parts of the violence they demonstrated.

Huwara This was a bad burning, with Israeli soldiers incident that was not meant having to rescue a Palestinian to happen. I was family whose house had meant to have prevented been set on fire while it.” they were inside. The IDF said it treated According to Israeli journalists the attacks as terrorism. on the ground, it took Continued on pages 2&3

D Rosenthhal, NW4

UNFAIR ON THE BOARD

STAYING SILENT

I have to protest at the word ‘contempt’ used by letter writer Warren S Grossman (13 April). I respond as a new member of the Board, two-thirds through my first threeyear term, and completely without the knowledge or the authority of the Board president or senior officers.

While the jury may be out on whether the Board is an expensive ‘talking shop’ or an effective and influential organisation, to me it most represents the widest cross-section of Anglo-Jewry. Our president reaches out to individuals and diverse organisations in the UK and internationally.

The Board has affirmed its support of Israel while expressing concern at the direction the new right-wing government might be going.

As the Board restarts face-to-face meetings, I have been pleasantly surprised by the high standard of debate from young and old, and believe that opinions expressed have been devoid of political propaganda.

Members of our community have a right to criticise the Board. But I see no justification for holding it in contempt.

In 1939, Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann ,pledged that world Jewry would come down on the side of the world’s democracies. In 2023, Ukraine’s President Zelensky has witnessed more than 420 days of Israeli refusal to join sanctions against Russia.

Matt McLaughlin, By email

IGNORING GOD I write regarding your recent review of David Baddiel’s new book (14 April), in which the author explains away God and the afterlife.

Baddiel wants to cancel God because that allows him to live without accountability, even though he knows this won’t help him either before or after death.

Michael Leaver, Stanmore

Ann Cohen, Golders Green

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27 May 2020

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Community Editor Michelle Rosenberg

No one could fail to notice the difference between your reporting of the riots the young “settlers” visited upon Huwara, a terror nest of a town, after the cold-blooded murder of the two brothers stuck in traffic, and the murders of the three members of the British-Israeli Dee family.

In the former you had the word ‘Pogrom’ screaming across your front page, even though the main object of the rioters’ pent-up fury was a parking lot of derelict cars owned by a terrorist who’d spent five years in an Israeli prison.

The Dee murders, deliberately timed for Passover, were just the latest in the real ongoing pogrom against Israel’s Jews, perpetrated randomly to make them feel insecure wherever they are.

Yet not a word of condemnation from you on the ruling Palestinian Authority, whose antisemitic agenda of incitement faithfully mirrors the Third

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Impressive words, but a masterclass in hypocrisy

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Th e pa ch pe os r en

The legacy of Britain’s first black female MP should be one of progress and positive change. Sadly, recent years have led to self-inflicted wounds marring Diane Abbott’s career to the point where her moral judgment has – time and again – been called into serious question.

The former shadow home secretary could have been expelled from the Labour Party on a number of occasions, not least last year after casting doubt on Nato’s legitimacy in opposing Vladamir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

This time, after writing a frankly unhinged a letter to a Sunday newspaper claiming that Jewish, Irish and Traveller communities don’t suffer real racism, the curtain must surely fall on her chequered career.

Abbott wrote: “It is true many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience prejudice.

But they are not all their lives subject to racism.”

Sir Keir Starmer swiftly responded by removing the whip, while an investigation (into precisely what, we might ask) takes place, but disappointingly fell short of calling for her expulsion over comments he said could never be accepted in his party.

Abbott is rightly most moved by the vile racism inflicted on black people. She has bravely faced down unspeakable prejudice during her 36 years in Westminster. But her latest obtuse outburst surely brings to an end a political career of missed opportunities and one that will be remembered more for her thoughtlessness than for her achievements.

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27 April 2023 Jewish News

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19

Editorial comment and letters

DECISION FOR PALESTINE STANDBY ANDREX OUR POLISH TRIP

Correspondent Gerry Solomons (5 April) tells us that Bezalel Smotrich is right in saying “there is no such thing as the Palestinian people”.

As proof, Solomons quotes from two Arab sources, activist Zuhir Muhsin and scholar Phillip Hitti. A web search shows both quotes appear accurate, but Hitti and Muhsin are also both opposed to Zionism.

If Mr Solomons accepts Hitti’s argument that there are no Palestinian people, why does he not also accept Hitti’s other opinions – including his opposition to Zionism?

Essentially, Mr Solomons has just cherry-picked what is convenient.

Another search could throw up the names of many Arabs who do accept Palestinian existence, not to mention the position of the PLO. The clue is in the name. Presumably the PLO believes in the existence of Palestine, and Israel recognised the PLO at the start of the Oslo process, so notionally it also agreed with the idea Palestine exists.

The idea of saying to anyone “you don’t exist” is ridiculous, not to say insulting. Who is Smotrich to say to Palestinian Arabs, “You don’t exist as a people or nation”? That decision is for the Palestinians and nobody else.

Fraser Michaelson, Southgate

SNP’S NEW LEADER ISN’T AN ALLY I refer to your special report of 14 April on new SNP leader Yousaf Humza. How can anyone think Yousaf Humza is in any way a friend or ally of our Jewish community in any shape or form? A quick background check reveals many interesting facts to the contrary.

In 2008, when working as a parliamentary assistant, he arranged a high-level meeting at the Scottish parliament for talks with Hamas leader Mohammad Sawalha.

Sawalha’s nom de guerre is Abu Obada, the mastermind of Hamas political and military strategy.

The Scottish Herald reported on a ‘Lunchgate’ scandal where Humza collaborated in raising funds, distrib-

uting about half million dollars to local Hamas operatives.

Additionally, he is constantly voicing biased criticism against Israel, supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and has spoken out in favour of an arms embargo against Israel.

His aim is to place the Scottish government at the forefront of the BDS campaign against Israel.

Jewish News needs to rethink who it employs if this is the level of journalistic nonsense it is peddling.

Your newspaper is sliding down a very slippery left-wing slope, especially in your own stance against the political situation in Israel.

Name withheld on request

Regarding letter writer Zoe Trinkle’s condemnation of The Guardian’s coverage of the Dee family murders, she might like to know the only use I have for The Guardian is as a replacement when I run out of Andrex. Indeed, Andrex contains more sense than The Guardian ever could.

WITH SIR MARTIN

Well, I wondered if we would ever see the day when common-sense might prevail.

Even if this is not a wholesale merger of the Reform and Liberal synagogues, they have surely sufficient in common to present a unified presence to their members, now numbering a significant proportion of UK shul affiliates.

It may also make good financial sense in time regarding administration of both movements. There is no need for either to change individual practices.

United and Federation, feel free to copy.

In 2005 my wife and I joined an Imperial War Museumsponsored Holocaust pilgrimage to Poland and Hungary, because it was being led by our great friend, the late Sir Martin Gilbert. It was a mixed religion group of about 35 people.

On the first morning in Warsaw, we were waiting for the group to assemble by the coach when I saw Martin, redfaced and angry.

I asked him what had happened and he said the male Polish translator who accompanied us asked to allow him to speak to the group and explain how the Jews brought the Holocaust on themselves.

Enraged, Martin instructed the rep from the British travel company that organised the trip to order the antisemitic Polish guide away and obtain a replacement at once. After 15 minutes, this was done.

I’m not sure whether we should object too strongly to Polish guides who wish to show that Poles also suffered during the Nazi occupation (Jewish News, 14 April), because they undoubtedly did, as did Roma/Sinti people.

When visiting Auschwitz, we went not just to Birkenau, where the main slaughter of Jews occurred, but also to the main camp where many anti-Nazis from many nations were tortured and murdered, alongside Jews.

The visit also included Monowitz, where slave workers, including all kinds of dissidents as well as Jews, were worked to death.

What we must object to, however, is a Polish revisionist rewrite of what actually happened and an admission by Polish guides that as well as some Poles who risked and even gave their lives to help Jews, there were others.

There were far more Poles, including whole resistance groups and collaborators, who hunted Jews and betrayed them to the Nazis, stole Jewish homes and properties and murdered Jews in pogroms, even after the war ended, for example at Katowitz in 1946.

Barry Hyman, Bushey Heath

Martin Sugarman, AJEX archivist

John Harris, Hendon

THE BRITISH STORY Last week’s articles on Israel at 75 did not mention the thousands of British volunteers in Israel in 1967. Most of us ended up working on kibbutzim which had lost members in the Six Day War. My kibbutz arranged tours of the West Bank, Golan, Gaza and Sinai so we could see them before the anticipated return of those areas to Jordan, Syria and Egypt, once they had made peace with Israel. Of course, this never happened.

Mark Drukker, Reading

A GREAT MATCH

20 Jewish News 27 April 2023

www.jewishnews.co.uk

Opinion

Danker: The workplace is now a battleground ALEX BRUMMER

CITY EDITOR, THE DAILY MAIL

S

hortly before Tony Danker started his job as CBI director-general in November 2023, he called me at the Daily Mail. He wanted to explain he would be ushering in a new era at the home of British business.

Under his predecessor Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI had become too associated with the Remainer cause and relations between Downing Street and the CBI were at a low ebb. The standoff was illustrated by Boris Johnson’s famous put-down, ‘F*** business’.

Danker wanted to repair relationships and refocus the CBI on the things Britain does best, including the high-tech, cyber, aerospace and science-based economy.

There would be an intense focus on skills and training. I saw an opportunity for the paper, with its strained relationship with the ‘politically correct’ CBI, to repair bridges.

There was another thought too. As an established economic commentator, I had

first come across Danker when he worked in the office of the Chief Rabbi and again when he moved to consulting giant McKinsey. We shared lunch at the then upmarket kosher restaurant 6-13, long since defunct.

As CBI boss, Danker had crashed through one of the great glass ceilings. He came from a minority within a minority, from the dwindling Belfast Jewish community. The CBI was establishment and had never had anyone Jewish at its helm. There had been McKinsey alumni Sir Howard Davis (now chairman of RBS) and Lord Adair Turner, but no one of our faith. It occurred to me he would make a good profile for Jewish News, which I never

❝

THE SUGGESTION ANYTHING WRONG AT THE CBI SOMEHOW STARTED AT THE TOP IS UNTRUE

did, but I believe one subsequently appeared.

The higher the climb, the greater the fall.

As CBI boss, Danker did make a real difference. Lines of communications reopened with Whitehall and Boris Johnson, who had been so disparaging of business.

Danker was sacked as CBI directorgeneral on 11 April after a short investigation after allegations of misconduct. The swift way he was disposed of is in stark contrast to a series of separate investigations (some involving the police) of sex and drugs at the CBI that pre-date his arrival there.

Among those are charges of a different order including a rape allegation at a CBI boat party and an alleged rape on an overseas junket.

The unfortunate aspect from Danker’s viewpoint was media coverage suggested something deeply wrong at the enterprise and it somehow started at the top. That is untrue. As Danker told the BBC, he became the ‘fall guy’ wrongly associated with separate misconduct claims since his dismissal.

He acknowledged there was an incident, a omplaint of “unwanted contact, which was verbal contact. There was never physical

contact… I’ve never used sexual language. I have never propositioned anyone.”

Most allegations against Danker, which have cost him his job (without compensation) and more importantly his good name could be put in the careless category, reflecting what a battleground the workplace now is over issues of language, colonial oppression, race, sex and much else. Indeed, some might see Danker as victim rather than sinner.

It is a misfortune the prestige job he gained at the CBI has proved the ultimate poisoned chalice. The serious nature of the separate charges are an existential threat to the organisation. Danker’s illustrious career (including his sterling work on kashrut for the Jewish community of Belfast) may take years to put together again and is a terrible personal blow to him and his family.

It has been a long time, but I can still hear the words of my head teacher (no longer able to say master) ringing in my ears when I was appointed head boy many decades ago: “You are the school’s first Jew to be head boy and that brings with it special responsibilities.”

Antisemitic? Maybe, but good advice.

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27 April 2023 Jewish News

www.jewishnews.co.uk

21

Opinion

Celebrate the Coronation with the Big Help Out ZAKI COOPER & NICKY GOLDMAN

H

ave you heard the one about the Chief Rabbi, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Buddhist monk? It sounds like the start of a joke, but actually relates to an event last week at The Passage homelessness charity in central London to draw attention to the Big Help Out. This is one of the official projects for the upcoming Coronation weekend of King Charles III and the Queen Consort.

The Big Help Out, as part of the Coronation festivities, is a huge public engagement campaign to promote, champion and showcase volunteering on Monday 8 May. It is organised by the Together coalition and partners include some of the biggest UK charities including NCVO, Royal Voluntary Service, Scouts, Girl Guiding, NSPCC and many others.

The weekend is not just about the Coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, impor-

tant as that is, but also gives the opportunity for everyone be active citizens and come together as a nation.

Our community and faith communities more generally already play an outsized role in the country’s volunteering efforts and are set to be a pivotal part of the Big Help Out. The Jewish community in particular is steeped in volunteering both in the community and the wider charity sector. All our communal charities rely on volunteers to support their essential services and to engage people in their cause. JVN connects volunteers to volunteering opportunities and supports charities throughout the year and Mitzvah Day is the UK’s largest faith-led day of social action. JLGB-evolve connects youth to opportunities and Project ImpACT runs youth volunteering programmes.

In total, 28 million people volunteer every year in some way and at least 19 million do it every month. While these are big figures, there are still many who don’t volunteer because they don’t know how to give help.

The current climate is not easy for volunteering. There has been a decline in recent

years, partly due to the cost-of-living crisis and also the aftermath of Covid (which curbed some volunteering, particularly from the elderly, who haven’t returned).

The Big Help Out is working to make it easy for volunteers to recognise opportunities and get involved. It aims to get more people to consider volunteering, especially those who have never volunteered before.

This campaign is important because, ultimately, volunteering has a triple benefit.

It’s positive for the charities and beneficiaries who receive the support – many of the 168,000 charities in England and Wales are heavily dependent on volunteers.

It’s also good for the volunteers – research repeatedly shows there are health and social benefits in giving your time to help others.

We are confident when Coronation Champions are announced there will be a good number from faith communities. The third reason why the Big Help Out is so relevant to faith communities is due to the wider context; the king has a long-standing interest in multi-faith engagement and of course, the Coronation itself is a faith-based event.

For all these reasons, faith organisations look set to play a significant role in The Big Help Out. Jewish Care, West London Synagogue, Norwood and other Jewish organisations are holding events around the day, while JVN is organising an online event this Sunday on ‘how to find your ideal volunteer role’, to help those who are not sure where or how to volunteer. Meanwhile, the Church in Wales is organising a beach clean in Wales and the Central Gurdwara London will be preparing food for those in need. This gives a flavour of just a few of the events that faith communities are organising. It’s not too late to organise something yourself.

The Coronation will be an historic occasion. We have not had such a momentous event for 70 years.

Faith communities can be part of leaving an enduring and exciting legacy through encouraging even more volunteering.  Zaki Cooper is co-founder of Integra which is working on the Big Help Out and Nicky Goldman is chief executive of Jewish Volunteering Network

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22 Jewish News 27 April 2023

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Opinion

The house is empty – it screams their absence TALI DEE

DAUGHTER OF RABBI LEO DEE AND LUCY DEE, Z”L

I

remember standing at the siren, closing my eyes and shedding a tear over an emotional passage or a sad song. I’ve always connected to Memorial Day ceremonies. At least that’s what I thought.

That this is how you feel when you connect.

But I never thought it would be my family – the one for whom the ceremony was written. I see the pictures: in the news, around me, in the slide show at the ceremony. And it’s still hard for me to digest that it’s them. That it’s me.

For the last few days, I’ve felt sort of OK. We went out – Daddy, Keren, Yehuda and I. We went to a restaurant. And they’re bringing us the most delicious food, and I have the car any time I want. And then suddenly, I realise things will never be good again. There is a black hole inside me all the time.

Even when things are good for me, they’re not really good. And even in another five years or another 10 years – even at my wedding – this hole will be there.

These days the house is empty. Everything screams their absence. Someone put a bag of salad in the fridge. My mother would never

let that happen. I went to fill up the car. It was complicated and I couldn’t call Mummy to explain it to me. I found myself asking for help from someone I didn’t know.

I find little notes that Rina wrote in the bedroom. I see the box of notes I kept from Mummy. Her wedding ring on my hand.

In Maia’s closet, all her clothes are neatly arranged, just waiting.

Recently, I was sent a recording of Mummy singing Modeh Ani, the morning praise. How is it possible to understand this is all I have left?

I don’t have Rina to talk to, or Maia to guide me, or Mummy to wake me up in the morning.

To sing Modeh Ani to me.

I’ve always connected to Memorial Day ceremonies. At least that’s what I thought.

That this is how you feel when you connect.

But nobody can relate to this pain. Not really.

It is impossible to understand what it is to lose a loved one without experiencing it. I’ve never had such emptiness as this. I never knew what loss was.

I thought I understood, but I didn’t understand. And even now I don’t understand – I can’t come to terms with the fact that this is truly my reality. From a family of seven, we became a family of four. It’s impossible to digest. And it’s so scary to be so sad.

I want to jump ahead, to press the fast-

Lucy with daughters Rina, 15, and Maia, 20

forward button on my life, when all this will supposedly be behind me. I am waiting for the day when I will think about Rina and about Maia and about Mummy, and I will be able to breathe. And not cry. But can that be? I know this pain will not go away. That it won’t become easier for me.

I’ve always connected to Memorial Day ceremonies. At least that’s what I thought.

That this is how you feel when you connect.

And I always knew that the transition from Memorial Day to Independence Day was extreme but strong. Full of power. And now, now I don’t understand how it can be that Independence Day has arrived. I haven’t the strength to celebrate. How do you make this transition from grief to joy?

Rina was so excited about Independence Day. She was responsible for the flag march with her youth group girls in the ceremony, in front of the entire community. She shared the difficulties with us along the way, her concerns and her enthusiasm.

Sometimes what happened to us hits me, and then I can’t function. And then at other times I’m sort of removed from it, not believing that this is really my life. And there is no solace for this. This hole cannot be fixed.

It’s hard to believe in the resurrection of the dead. Everyone continues. The sun carries on shining, and people post normal statuses about normal things. But I stay behind. I don’t want photos that will document the fact that I’m growing up, but Maia and Rina aren’t. In three years I will be older than Maia. How is this even possible?

Even people who have experienced loss have not experienced this triple loss at once.

And I’m afraid of this loss. Afraid of the longing. Afraid of the sadness. Afraid to give birth without my mother.

I’ve always connected to Memorial Day ceremonies. At least that’s what I thought.

That this is how you feel when you connect.  Republished courtesy of our partner Times of Israel

We stand on the edge of the promised land RABBI CHARLEY BAGINSKY & RABBI JOSH LEVY

T

he uniting of Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism into one Progressive movement is a change to over 100 years of history and yet feels like the most natural step in the world.

As a unified movement, we will be stronger and our voice will be clearer and louder. We will be able to make an even bigger contribution to the wider Jewish community both in the UK and beyond our shores.

We can better support our communities and enable our rabbis and cantors to work more sustainably and powerfully.

We can raise up each other’s voices, promote our shared values and help more people live rich and vibrant Jewish lives.

And, most importantly of all, we will leave this inheritance to our children, grandchildren and future generations of Progressive Jews.

So, as we’ve been asked countless times this week, why didn’t it happen sooner?

It’s true that since Progressive Judaism first emerged in the 19th century, Britain has been one of the only countries in the world without one united movement.

Things could have been different when both movements were established or as our communities grew side by side throughout the country. Unsuccessful talks were held throughout the 1970s and 1980s about coming together. An ‘Alliance’ was formed a decade ago, but was limited to a few areas such as student chaplaincy and social justice.

The truth is that in the past there were some substantial differences between our movements and there was also a lack of urgency and will.

The personal arguments of yesteryear are long gone and, most importantly, so too are many of the theological and cultural ones.

Our two movements share the same values – for example the welcome of mixed faith families and services being fully egalitarian.

We have worked in partnership on everything from campaigning for same-sex marriage to

training rabbis and educators.

The last major difference fell in 2015.

Since that date both our movements have been able to recognise the Jewish status of those with one Jewish parent, without asking them to undergo conversion, irrespective of the gender of the parent.

“What is the difference between Liberal and Reform Judaism” has therefore become a question that our rabbis, cantors, lay leaders and even PR people struggle to answer. But, as with everything, a spark was needed to set things in motion – and that spark was the pandemic, or rather how we felt afterwards.

This is an idea whose time has come. Both movements feel like truly equal partners and we can finally put in place the move that people have talked about for decades.

Led by our Boards and our rabbinates, this isn’t a merger or a takeover but the formation of a brand new movement, Progressive Judaism. Together we have 40,000 members – around 30% of those who are affiliated to synagogues in the UK – and know there are many more unaffiliated people we can now reach. Key to our vision is not only what will

change, but what will stay the same. Our 80+ Progressive communities up and down the country will retain their individual identities, names, services, prayer books and practices.

No two Liberal or Reform synagogues or services are the same… and long may that continue, we embrace the diversity.

Likewise our two youth movements, LJYNetzer and RSY-Netzer, will currently stay separate, offering different experiences to cater to different audiences. Going forward they will now benefit from an overarching movement that will provide better resources and stronger support to improve the lifechanging experiences our children and young people enjoy.

So as we stand on the edge of our promised land, and with it having taken us three times longer than it did Moses, we can look back with pride at our past and look forward with excitement towards Progressive Judaism’s future.  Rabbi Josh Levy is chief excutive of The Movement for Reform Judaism and Rabbi Charley Baginsky is chief executive of Liberal Judaism

27 April 2023 Jewish News

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Opinion

We hope testimony portal will preserve and inspire SIR ERIC PICKLES UK SPECIAL ENVOY FOR POST-HOLOCAUST ISSUES

I

t is remembrance season in the Jewish calendar. As well as marking Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaShoah, this year we also commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.

As well as being an example of a civilian Polish revolt, the rebellion against the deportation of Jews to the Treblinka death camp also led to the creation of the first testimonies of eyewitnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust.

The Oneg Shabbat archive, buried in milk churns in the ruins of the ghetto, give us a unique lens into the brutality of the Nazis and the desperation of those fighting for their lives.

It also dispels the myth of the lambs-to-theslaughter narrative.

Yet, eight decades on, there is a pernicious and growing threat as to how that history is preserved and remembered. Whereas we consider it unimaginable that such terror could ever be questioned, there are those

who seek to deny, to trivialise, diminish and distort. Testimonies, the word of those who were there and provide a contemporaneous account of what happened, act as the antidote to this falsification.

As part of this year’s remembrance of the uprising, the AJR together with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Miguel Berger, the German Ambassador to the UK, staged the International Forum on Holocaust testimonies. Our two-day conference explored the ways in which testimonies are collected, preserved and disseminated, and brought together academics, educators and archivists to analyse, assess and evaluate how best to use these compelling accounts. Critically, also present were some Holocaust refugees and survivors; those who came on the Kindertransport and those hidden as children or who miraculously survived the concentration camps. Reflecting the shifting demography, participants also included member of the second, third and fourth generations.

We were excited to announce the

creation of a working group that will explore and oversee the establishment of the UK Holocaust Testimony Portal.

It is in our power to make the estimated 2,500 UK Holocaust testimonies more available. The AJR has captured almost 300 testimonies for our Refugee Voices Testimony Archive in the last 20 years and having created a database driven website (ajrrefugee voices.org.uk), which enables users to search digitally through the archive and find specific interviewees and specific experiences, we know that it is of utmost importance to map these UK Holocaust memories on a broader, cross institutional scale. Among other collections, the 112 interviews carried out by Natasha Kaplinsky for the Holocaust Commission (now the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation) will also be accessible.

Through a comprehensive database, the portal will enable family members of interviewees, researchers and the wider public to cross-reference interviewees by name and find out when and by which archive they have been interviewed. It will enable a user to find a theme, topic or even a place, such as Berlin

or Auschwitz, for specific areas of research or interest, and it will allow the sharing of documents relating to an interviewee’s life story.

As custodians of these precious testimonies of survivors and refugees who made new lives in the UK, we hope the portal will facilitate better access and dissemination of UK Holocaust testimonies and help us to fulfil the wish expressed by most interviewees, to use their testimonies in order to learn from the past, so that history does not repeat again.

In the fight against current Holocaust distortion and false equivalence, the portal can play a vital role in helping us to learn as much as we can about the lives of all the survivors and refugees from Nazism, who had the courage to share their story. Above all, the portal will ensure that their stories will be heard in the present and in the future and reflects our collective determination to pass on these stories for future generations.  This piece was also written by Michael Newman, chief executive, Association of Jewish Refugees and Dr Bea Lewkowicz, director, AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive

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Scene & Be Seen / Community

You’re all run-derful!

Sunday’s London Marathon saw a fantastic turnout from the Jewish community.

On behalf of charities including Chai Cancer Care, Jewish Care, Camp Simcha, British Emunah, Young Lives vs Cancer, World Jewish Relief, Kisharon and Norwood, heroes of all ages and running experience took on the gruelling 26.2 miles in typical London weather: rain with bursts of sunshine.

Nine dedicated runners for Team Chai’s marathon efforts raised more than £54,300, while Camp Simcha’s runners Ana Caplan and Netanel Rosen both finished in 3hr 53min, raising more than £7,000 between them.

Afterwards, Rosen said: “The atmosphere was beyond amazing, and it was an honour to run for Camp Simcha – to support their work providing critical help to members of the community coping with great hardship.”

Sara Spindle raised £3,000 for Young Lives vs Cancer and completed the feat on antibiotics. Her first marathon, she finished in 6hr 20min “way longer than planned but I was totally congested and didn’t want to die!”

She later described the experience as “incredible, nothing like it, so tough, so emotional, mega proud, but never again!”

Six Jewish Care supporters showed their dedication by pounding the streets of the capital, raising more than £14,000. Rikki Lewis, who ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon in 2018 and the London Marathon in 2019 for Jewish Care, said: “My poppa spent the last two years of

his life at Jewish Care’s Rosetrees care home, a place that enabled him to receive the care, respect and dignity that all people living with dementia deserve.”

British Emunah’s four runners took on the challenge to help fund the charity’s work supporting 10,000 vulnerable and at-risk children and families in Israel.

Flora Frank, still running marathons in her 80s, completed the course in just over seven hours.

Norwood raised £75,000 and counting from the 26 runners, including Dominic Coleman who said: “Norwood has a special place in my heart because up until very recently they had been supporting my cousin, and friend, Max, who unfortunately passed away very recently due to Covid-19. This race will be even more special as it will be run in his memory.”

World Jewish Relief’s 11 participants raised £22,000 for people in crisis around the world, including Ukraine, Turkey and Syria.

While 10 runners followed the official route through London’s famous landmarks, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg of Masorti Judaism woke at the crack of dawn to complete a virtual marathon in 4hr 52min.

Kisharon’s Ezra Faig said: “Running the marathon was such a great thrill. To do it while supporting a wonderful organisation made the experience so much better and carried me to the finish line.

“It was a great way to tour the beautiful city of London, and we covered the 26 miles in a little over three hours.”

Theo (right) and Zev running for Kisharon

Darren and Sonny Gayer for Chai

Claire Gothelf for British Emunah Flora Frank for Norwood

Lucy Cohen for Chai

Jason Rosen for British Emunah

Lydia Seager for Jewish Care

Dominic Coleman for Norwood

27 April 2023 Jewish News

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25

Community / Scene & Be Seen

Cat Matthews for Norwood

Victor Arotsky for Chai

Aryeh Richman for Chai

Danny Tricot for Chai

Rikki Lewis ran for Jewish Care in tribute to care given to his grandfather Harold Lewis

Michael Pearl for Kisharon

Raphael Rose completing the London Marathon for Kisharon

Richard Garnham ran for Jewish Care Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg ran a ‘virtual’ marathon the same day as the London marathon

Lewis Walker-Brannon for Norwood

Shlomi running for Kisharon

Ben Horn for Chai

Netanel Rosen and medal for Camp Simcha

Oscar Spalter for Jewish Care

Sara Spindle for Young Lives vs Cancer

Ricki Stone for Chai

Alec Bryant for Norwood Roni Hahitti for World Jewish Relief

26 Jewish News 27 April 2023

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A look

Inside Anne Frank drama WIZO Commitment Awards

Sarah Miller chats to the writer and stars of a new play about the complex dynamics of a Romanian-Jewish family

Photo by Claire Griffiths

generation immigrants at that time – had “an absolute feeling of needing to belong”.

Wolf explains: “Edith felt different and wanted to belong, to be British.

She didn’t want to be foreign or have parents with accents. She wanted to belong so much she thought about becoming a Christian at one point.

She never did convert, but she almost went through with the process. When the war came, she had a chance to join up and fight for a country that she loved and wanted to be part of.”

Edith enjoyed a successful military career and later remarked how the war years were “the most wonderful time of her life”, having proven to others – but more importantly herself – that she was capable of greater things.

After the war she was offered, like all officers, a place at Cambridge or Oxford, but turned it down and married a Christian pilot in France,

Photo by Claire Griffiths

A

three girls – and those three girls, Jewish woman surviving one of whom was my mother, Isabel, the German occupation were very important in my life. My in Guernsey during the grandparents brought me up from Second World War. A babyhood and hearing stories of political theorist facing death Romania and my aunts’ and mother’s after being deemed ‘undesirable’ lives is something I suppose I’ve been by the Nazis. A Jewish matriarch processing most of my life.” forced to confront discomforting Through these memories she truths around the Israeli-Palesnarrates the stories of her matriarchs tinian conflict. Through her and uses “their voices in my head” to provocative body of work, which construct their conversations. includes The Holocaust Pascal acknowledges Trilogy, As Happy that in telling her as God in France own family story, and Crossing there’s little room Jerusalem, for objectivity playwright and the story and director she relates is Julia Pascal ultimately “my has shown version of it, her adeptness because I was at shining a the daughter or light on Jewish the niece of these women and women”. bringing stories to She speaks the stage that might candidly too about otherwise disappear Rosie Yadid her strained relationfrom history. ship with her mother. Pascal relates But never has Pascal, who was how she was brought up largely by the first woman to direct a play at her grandparents and describes the National Theatre, turned the Isabel, who wanted to be an actress, spotlight on herself – until now. as “a dreamer, a luftmensch with her The prolific 73-year-old’s latest head in the clouds and quite a narciswork, A Manchester Girlhood, which sistic personality”. explores the complex dynamics Her memories of her aunts between three sisters and their are contrastingly different. Pascal Romanian-Jewish parents, is her smiles and there’s a sense of pride most autobiographical to date and as she relates how Edith, who was inspired entirely by the lives of the second eldest, joined the British Pascal’s mother, aunts and grandArmy during the Second World parents. Having opened last week War, gained authority as a soldier in Blackpool and Manchester, the and became the first female muniproduction is moving to London for tions officer. Meanwhile, Pearl, the further performances next month in youngest of the sisters, went on a Hampstead. blind date just before D-Day and The narrative begins in Buchaended up marrying an Americanrest in 1910, as a young Esther Jewish soldier before going to live in Goldenberg – Pascal’s maternal the United States after the war. grandmother – enters an arranged “All of them find their own way marriage with Emanuel Jacobs to escape from this stifling Jewish before the couple leave their homeprovincial family,” Pascal notes. land for a new life in Manchester.

For actress Giselle Wolf, who Speaking from rehearsals via portrays Edith, the play highlights Zoom, Pascal, who was an actress not only how all three sisters desired and journalist before turning her to forge their own paths in life, but hand to writing plays, explains: also how they – like many second“They had four children, a son and

“My grandfather wanted them to leave school and earn money, because they didn’t have much,” reveals Pascal. “But Esther, who didn’t receive an education, really stood up to him for the first time in her life and said ‘No, they will stay until they’re Julia Pascal 16 so that they get enough education to become secretaries and therefore have some job.’”

Esther’s act of defiance was a first step towards the women receiving the education she felt they deserved, but Pascal believes that her mother and her aunts did not entirely fulfil their potential because of the times in which they lived. “I feel a kind of fury on their behalf that they weren’t given the access to this life of the mind,” she tells me.

Actress Rosie Yadid (recently seen in Bad Jews at the Arts Theatre), who plays Esther, sees her character as wanting to “empower” her daughters, but “only up to a point. Esther insists upon having her daughters educated, but ultimately still wishes for them to become housewives.

Given a different context, she would have wanted more for them, but this was all she knew and she didn’t want her daughters to stray too far away from that.”

The point around education is one felt keenly by Pascal and lies at the heart of which ended in A Manchester divorce. She then Girlhood, which married a Jewish drives home man, who sadly how without died 10 years education later. She had two women are sons with him, was a “denied a voice” good mother and went – and without it are on to become a public essentially erased from speaker and teacher at history.

Giselle Wolf Manchester University.

“I think Jewish Pascal says: “She found some women have been silenced,” she says. fulfilment in teaching, but did say “Doubly so because British society years later, ‘I was foolish, I should is patriarchal and Jewish society is have taken the offer to go to Oxford patriarchal. Women have not been or Cambridge.’ So she pushed me heard. So it’s my duty to write the when I was in two minds about doing complexity and roughages of our my English degree. When, later, I did lives and to represent the nuances my PhD, by which time she was dead, of the lives of our mothers and our I had her voice in my head telling me, grandmothers.”

‘Go on, do it, you must do it.’”

Edith’s personal feelings about  A Manchester Girlhood is education are unsurprising given that at Burgh House, Hampstead, her mother, Esther, actively encouron 17 May; and at JW3, West aged her daughters to keep learning.

Hampstead, from 21 to 23 May

28 Jewish News 27 April 2023

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JN LIFE

Nicole Lampert speaks to Bel Powley and Liev Schreiber about their roles in a new drama about Anne Frank

I

t’s extraordinary that nearly 80 years after she was murdered at the age of just 16 by the Nazis, Anne Frank has become a totem fought over in the culture wars, especially in America.

The religious right in certain states has for years attempted to ban her Diary of a Young Girl. Although for many it has been for decades an educational tool to teach about what the Nazis did to a very ordinary Jewish family, it has been on a banned book list for years because of its ‘sexual content and homosexual themes’ – the ordinary desires of a teenage girl – and because of its ‘tragic story’. One school in Alabama rejected it from its library because, as they put it: “It was a real downer.”

For the left, meanwhile, Anne has – astonishingly – become a symbol of ‘white privilege’, simply because her story is told.

So it is perhaps an apt time for a new version of her story, this time not from her lens but that from that of Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s former secretary, who was one of a tiny handful of people trusted with hiding the Frank family and five others, and keeping them alive.

“I think it is important to make people

connect to the story,” says British Jewish actress Bel Powley, who plays the non-Jewish Miep in A Small Light, a series premiering on Disney+ next month. “We all know the facts, we know the numbers, we know the diary. What we’re trying to do here is to make people connect to this part of history, to humanise this part of history.

“Because Anne Frank has become so immortalised by her diary, it’s important to remind people she was just a young teenager going through what other teenagers were going through – as were her parents.

“Everyone can relate to having an argument with their boss, with their husband; everyone can relate to trying to parent their kids or even just needing to do a pee.”

Powley, 31, leapt at the chance to play someone as quietly brave as Miep. “Her mantra for the rest of her life was, ‘I am not special, don’t put me on a pedestal, don’t call me a hero,’’’ says the actress. “The show is named after her quote, which said, ‘Even an ordinary secretary

or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.’

“At a time when we are all so insular and individualistic, it’s easy to be a passive bystander. But we should all be hardwired to know what is the right thing to do. She had no hesitation. She was incredibly brave but she didn’t want people to make her saintly because it would make others feel like they couldn’t do the same thing.”

The Disney+ series is the idea of husbandand-wife writing team Joan Rater and Tony Phelan, who read about Miep, who was the same age as their son, when they visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

It made them curious about her life, the sacrifices she made and the stress she must

From left: : The Frank House, Bel as Miep and a scene from the programme

The real Miep Gies: ‘Anyone can turn on a small light’

have been under. They discovered a story of quiet resistance. Like Miep, her husband Jan, played by Joe Cole, helped to feed the family.

A social worker, he was also a member of the Dutch resistance and altogether Miep and Jan helped to protect many Jews even if, tragically, the hiding place of the Franks was eventually betrayed.

The writers knew they needed someone with gravitas to play Anne’s dad, Otto Frank,

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29

JN LIFE

Bel and Liev at the official launch of the series

whose friendship with Miep was one of the few things to survive the war. Having seen all his family wiped out in the Holocaust, he went to live with Miep and Jan for seven years. Miep had also found Anne’s diary and encouraged its publication.

American Jewish actor Liev Schreiber admits that, having just ended his awardwinning show Ray Donovan, he had considered turning down the script until he realised its contemporary relevance. “When I got this

TECH REVIEW

script, I had just finished eight years of a television show and wasn’t particularly eager to work. I was enjoying having the time to spend with my kids,” recalls the father of three.

“But then, of course, the war in Ukraine broke out and I’m sitting on the couch with them watching the news and trying to figure out how to explain that.

“In terms of Jewish idenLiev and Bel as Otto Frank and Miep Gies tity – and I am not particuBel leapt at the chance to play someone as quietly brave as Miep Two members of the larly religious but we do things like seders struck me in that story that being defined BlueCheck Ukraine board also happen to be – one of the things I’m proudest of, and feel board members of the Anne Frank House and by others as Jewish, even though he wasn’t connected to, is the Jewish freedom riders in a religious person, prevented him from the Civil Rights Movement. So many Jews got were able to help Schreiber as he researched being German. It prevented him from being Otto Frank. on those buses and had the sh*t kicked out Although exteriors were filmed outside the anything but Jewish.” of them for something that was important For Schreiber, this is a story of the Anne Frank House and the Franks’ former because of something they’d been through personal but also one of humanity and apartment in Amsterdam, most of the filming – either with the Holocaust or the pogroms. helping each other. “One of the things that was done in Prague, where the secret annexe And I felt like I had to engage somehow, if I really struggle with as a Jewish person is was carefully recreated. nothing else for my kids’ sake. So that they this narrative about the Holocaust – that we “I was able to see things that hadn’t been would understand this is about them too.” went like lambs to the slaughter. There were made public before and one of the things that Schreiber, 55, who runs a charity, Bluepartisans, and people fought back, and then I found particularly interesting was the stuff Check Ukraine, giving aid directly to NGOs in you have someone like Miep who was willing the country, says he is aiming in his own small that Otto didn’t want published in Anne’s diary. I also got a sense of him as a person who to risk her life for a Jewish family. way to follow Miep’s example.

“That’s why the Anne Frank story needs to was, ironically, very proud to be German. He “I think it is hardwired into us as humans really enjoyed being German,” Schreiber said. be told again and again. Things have a way of to care about each other and it is easy for me repeating themselves, but trying to get a new “I remember when my mother told me to support BlueCheck Ukraine,” he noted. generation interested and engaged in history “It was not easy for Miep – it was hard. But about the Holocaust, when I was small. I is increasingly difficult. We need to look for remember just thinking to myself ‘Couldn’t helping someone else doesn’t have to be a big patterns and fight them together.”

I just say I wasn’t Jewish? I have green eyes thing. It can be small mitzvah – just being and (at that time) very light hair.’ And it kind to someone.”

• A Small Light airs on Disney+ from 2 May

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30 Jewish News 27 April 2023

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JN LIFE

David Dangoor tells Stephen Oryszczuk about his commitment to WIZO UK and its awards initiative David Dangoor

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or one of WIZO UK’s principal donors, there are a many reasons to support the organisation, only one of which is that his mother did.

David Dangoor, 74, a well-known Jewish philanthropist like his father, Naim, has supported the charity and its Commitment Awards for several years, and is excited that a new round of nominations will open shortly.

“It’s a personal story for me because my mum was involved for many years,” he says. “I feel like I’m carrying on something that she had done. For me, that’s important. I feel like I’m her deputy, as if I’ve been handed the baton.”

Dangoor’s philanthropy touches on a range of Jewish areas and organisations, including the chaplaincy and the Union of Jewish Students, where his younger son, Daniel, has just been voted chair of the board of trustees from September.

“Family continuity is very much part of our methodology,” says Dangoor Sr. “It’s an aspiration. In the end, things will happen as they happen, but it’s nice to have the association.

We’re conscious that the actual work is done by others.”

it is noticeable that this year’s awards have a more specifically female focus than in previous years, with eight of the past 11 winners having been men.

An original point of the awards, says Fisher, was for people to see that WIZO’s work “goes far beyond women and babies”, but she explains that this year’s return of focus back to women stems from Covid-19.

“Rewind to the pandemic and lockdown, and the global focus on the intensified violence and abuse of women, we felt that now was the right time to shine a light on all WIZO’s work with women over the years,” she says.

“From campaigning in the Knesset [Israeli parliament] for rules to improve the lives of women, to equality in the workplace and safety on the streets and in the home… it led us to develop a campaign – Women Leading the Way – to educate on this area of our work.”

Although the categories in this year’s awards are female-focused, the winners don’t necessarily need to be women. For instance, it is not only women who contribute towards equality in the workplace, Fisher says. It all impresses Dangoor.

“WIZO has a huge Further number of discussion dedicated about his volunteers, and children one day you can tell there’s taking over from still a huge need for him brings a chuckle. its work,” he says, “I’m not a spent force David with his wife Judy speaking about the yet,” he says with a projects in Israel, smile. “But yes, the such as sheltered housing for abused day will come.” wives, which he recently visited.

The day for nominations for WIZO is Israel’s largest social WIZO’s Commitment Awards is welfare organisation and Dancoming, too. The organisation wants to recognise inspiring women leading goor has sponsored several of its initiatives, including the Olive Tree the way, equality in the workplace, girls’ and women’s education, women exhibit, where 35 Israeli women from Jewish, Muslim, Christian in leadership, inclusion and diversity and Circassian backgrounds came in the media, and innovation that has together through art. Having chosen changed women’s lives. the olive tree as their theme, the Maureen Fisher, chief executive artists created an environment of of WIZO UK, says the awards are tolerance, friendship and sharing for “people who are committed to in which to paint. Their exhibimaking the world a better place in tion travelled around the world, some way”. It’s not about money and including to the European Parliadonors but about using one’s “skills, ment and the United Nations. flair, connections, professions, or Dangoor’s Israel philanthropy passion. It may be that they’ve creis certainly not limited to WIZO. ated an app or volunteer with people Partly because of northern Israel’s with learning difficulties,” she says, diversity, it is an evident joy of his giving just two examples. that the Dangoor Centre for PerGiven that this is the Women’s sonalised Medicine at Bar-Ilan UniInternational Zionist Organisation,

versity has had such success around Galilee, where the university’s faculty of medicine is based. The area around Sfat has a high Israeli Arab population, he says. “That area had a dearth of medical practitioners.

By educating medics in Galilee, the result has been that many Jewish and Arab doctors qualify there – and stay there.”

Furthermore, Bar-Ilan is “a synthesis of the two sides of Israel, between those focused on religious traditions and those with a more modern secular outlook, between Jewish learning and the study of science and technology,” he says. This is increasingly important.

“Medicine speaks to everybody,” he explains. “For instance, cancer is the same whether you’re Jewish or Arab.” What differs, he has learned, can be a community’s approach to illness and medicine. “Some are reluctant to have vaccinations, or intimate examinations, or for their daughters or wives to have treatment, or even to keep taking antibiotics until the course is finished,” he explains.

“These can be big cultural challenges. Bar-Ilan is well placed to deal with all that.” In this way, he says, “personalised medicine” can mean different drugs working for different people, or it can mean different approaches for different cultures.

Dangoor describes someone’s faith or belief as “their cultural fountain and a source of their identity” and loves working with people from different religions and cultures, including through his chairmanship of the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London’s Council on Faith, a role in which he met the late Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

The ethnic and religious diversity of Israel is also something to be cherished for Dangoor, yet the counDavid meets the late Queen at Buckingham Palace

try’s growing divisions are a worry.

What does he think of the protests and claims that Israeli ministers are trying to strip power from judges and hand it to themselves? He knows that other big British Jewish philanthropists have threatened to pull their money over the issue, and while Dangoor accepts that most Israelis see a need for some reform, he thinks Israeli ministers also need a “buy-in by the majority” if they are to make such controversial changes without risking a terrible rupture.

“In a similar vein to what Golda Meir said about the Israelis and the Arabs, Israel can only survive if most of its polarised voters love Israel more than they mistrust each other,” he says. “It’s about respecting others who have a different opinion to yourself. Unity is more important that the specific outcome on which we disagree.” Amen.

WIZO COMMITMENT AWARDS Nominations are now open. Closing date is 31 July 2023 Categories • WIZO Major Achievement Award for an Inspiring Woman Leading the Way • Equality in the Workplace • Girls and Women in Education • Women in Leadership • Inclusion and Diversity in the Media (sponsored by Jewish News) • Innovation that has Changed Women’s Lives Judging panel Claude Littner, Linda Plant, Andrew Bloch, John Ware, Sophie Eden For more information on the criteria for categories, and to nominate visit www. wizouk.org or email: emma@wizouk.org

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Iguazio / Business / With Candice Krieger

candicekrieger@googlemail.com

ISRAEL AI SPECIALIST HITS BIG TIME WITH MCKINSEY

M

The fast-growing world of artificial intelligence has lured the global management consulting firm to major investment in the start-up nation, writes Candice Krieger

more resources. cKinsey & ComMcKinsey’s pany bought experience and the AI specialist Iguazio earlier this QuantumBlack’s year, its first acquisition technology stack of an Israeli company. The and expertise, deal is not only testament now coupled with to the ‘start-up nation’s’ Somekh, left, and Ellencweig Iguazio, is the tech prowess but signals ultimate solution for enterprises looking the huge potential value of AI to scale AI initiatives in a way that directly for businesses. impacts their bottom line. We’re thrilled Based in Tel Aviv, Iguazio is a leader to join McKinsey and embark on this next in artificial intelligence and machine chapter for Iguazio.” learning, which is aimed at plugging the Ellencweig says the partnership is gap between potential and actual business “extremely meaningful” for McKinsey too: impact by helping companies to manage, “This is one of the first product companies accelerate and scale their AI deployments, we have acquired and our first acquisition something many have struggled with. in Israel, with more to come.

Ben Ellencweig, senior partner and “The deal pretty much doubles global leader of McKinsey & Company AnaMcKinsey’s presence in Israel from an lytics Alliances and Acquisitions, explains: employee perspective, with the opening of “According to McKinsey research, more a QuantumBlack Labs R&D centre – one than $490bn was invested in AI by organisaof now five global hubs. It shows the huge tions around the globe from 2012 to 2021.

But most business leaders are still struggling potential and talent of the start-up nation and we are very proud to be in Israel.” to translate these investments into concrete Ellencweig notes that to thrive in returns, with only 10 percent of AI projects today’s competitive market, it is essential actually emerging from the lab and sucto harness the power of AI, which is ceeding in real business environments.” transforming the way we live and work.

Enter Iguazio. With it, companies can Working with Iguazio, QuantumBlack run AI models in real time, deploy them anywill be able to provide clients immediately where and bring to life their most ambitious with industry-specific AI solutions five AI-driven strategies. times more productive, eight times faster Businesses across a range of sectors use from proof-of-concept to production and Iguazio to generate business value faster twice as reliable. with AI, by accelerating the path to producIguazio founders Somekh, who is CEO, tion and continuously rolling out new AI CTO Yaron Haviv, COO Yaron Segev and services in a fraction of the time.

VP architecture Orit Nissan-Messing McKinsey says it will use Iguazio’s techhave worked together since 2001, both in nology platform and 70 data scientists and their own start-ups and across multiple AI experts to bolster its AI arm, Quantumorganisations, and have developed some of Black, driving further impact for clients. the core technologies of enterprise analytics New York-based Ellencweig added: “We and AI. analysed more than 1,000 AI companies Somekh says: “AI has been a luxury of the worldwide and identified Iguazio as the best tech giants – Google, Facebook etc – but can fit to significantly accelerate our AI offering go far beyond, enabling enterprise level and – from the initial concept to production mid-market businesses to be more efficient – in a simplified, scalable and automated and offering huge potential to be used for manner.” tech for good, and other good causes.”

Iguazio was founded eight years ago by He is not alone in seeing the potential.

Israelis Asaf Somekh, Yaron Haviv, Yaron Iguazio is backed by prominent investors Segev and Orit Nissan-Messing. It has since including Pitango, JVP, Magma VC, added dozens of well-known companies to INcapital Ventures, Kensington Capital its portfolio, including NetApp, Ecolab and Partners, Verizon Ventures, CME Group, LATAM Airlines Group, which selected the Bosch, Samsung and Dell. The McKinsey Iguazio MLOps (machine learning operadeal is a further huge nod to it and the wider tions) platform to set up a large scale crosscompany successful AI innovation project as Israeli tech ecosystem, which had a difficult 2022 with investments dropping by nearly part of post-pandemic innovation strategy. half amid the economic slowdown.

Somekh says: “As a start-up, we had a “Israel is part of the global tech industry limited reach in terms of our availability and sees the same trends you see all over,” to get to the kind of clients and projects Somekh says. we wanted, but working with McKinsey “Last year was tough and 2023 started will mean access to a wider pool of clients tough. You can see some recovery but when than we could have ever dreamed of, and

Iguazio’s line-up of data scientists and AI experts is being kept on in under its new owner

you look at funding for start-ups, it’s still super tough. It’s not 2021, when people were standing in line to invest.” But Iguazio,

which managed to keep its entire team in the acquisition, is excited about the future.

“The potential is huge and we now have

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Orthodox Judaism

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

BY MA’AYAN SIOBHAN DANSKY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICER AT THE S&P SEPHARDI COMMUNITY

Are we really being told how to feel?

As part of the celebrations for the Coronation of King Charles, we are being encouraged to volunteer in local communities and join The Big Help Out on 8 May. Chesed (kindness) is a pillar of Judaism: “The world stands on three things – on Torah, on avodah (work/ service of Hashem/self sacrifice), and on kindness.” (Pirkei Avot 1:2). It is easy, enjoyable and rewarding to act charitably towards people and organisations that are close to our hearts, but

it can be harder to feel positively towards people with whom we are not connected or with whom we have conflicting views.

This week’s Torah reading, Acharei Mot – Kedoshim, reflects this issue in possibly the most misquoted verse in the Torah - “...love your neighbour as yourself…” (Vayikra 19:18). The whole verse reads: “Do not take revenge, do not bear a grudge, love your neighbour as yourself, I am Hashem.” People can’t turn their feelings on or off on demand. How can we be commanded to feel? Perhaps someone has severely wronged us and we feel that we need to act in retaliation. What if we can’t forgive and forget? Can we not hold a grudge against someone who has hurt us in the past? We might be able to feel love towards our friends and family, but the verse does not discriminate –

what if our neighbour is an unsavoury or rude character? And what does “I am Hashem” add to the verse?

All these statements can refer to our feelings, and to our actions.

While our actions are demonstrable, our feelings are internal. Humans, unlike animals, do not have to act on instinct and can control our feelings and behave in a way that is not in sync with our emotions. Without external manifestations of our feelings, others may not know how we feel towards them. However we feel internally, our actions can demonstrate how we relate to others, even if that is incongruent with our feelings. In addition, if we repeatedly act in positive ways towards someone and invest time in them, our feelings towards them may grow in a similarly positive way.

Sometimes it can be hard to find

Without us demonstrating our feelings, others may not know about them

redeeming qualities in others if their behaviour is offensive. Even so, everyone is created in the image of God and we all have a spark of godliness in us. Perhaps “I am Hashem” is a reminder that even if we are struggling to find positive feelings, every person was created for a reason and has a purpose in the world so, if all else fails, start by looking for that spark.

It may also be that “I am Hashem” reminds us that regardless of how we

act, only we and Hashem know our true thoughts and emotions. Even if we act kindly, we may still have some personal growth work to do. Finally, the verse contains three stages, listed from easiest to most difficult. It may be too much to ask for a person to love someone else if the relationship is toxic. Judaism is not an ‘all or nothing’ religion’; even if we are able to refrain from taking revenge, that is also a mitzvah in its own right.

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Progressive Judaism

LEAP OF FAITH

BY RABBI CHARLEY BAGINSKY

LIBERAL JUDAISM CEO ON BEHALF OF PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

God’s limited powers have given humans a purpose This week was one of the most nerve-wracking of my life. Not because Liberal Judaism and The Movement for Reform Judaism are working together to create a unified Progressive Jewish movement for the UK. No, it was because I was asked to water my neighbours’ plants.

My neighbours have the most beautiful garden, a prize possession.

From their window they can see that my trampoline-filled dog park does not match up, and yet they trusted me. I was left with explicit instructions but none more so than the ones for the new saplings that lined their entire dining table. Carefully, I had to

lift each pot and place the water into the saucer, not into the top, as I would have naturally done.

“Let the plant play a role in its growing,” I was told.

This made me think of our partnership with God. Hebrew is a brilliant language, telling us as much in the words it chooses not to use as in the words it does. Search the scripture from top to bottom and you will not find a word to describe God as allpowerful or all-knowing.

Of course, God is seen as having power and knowledge, but the totality of power and knowledge lies not with God alone but rather in partnership with creation.

A beautiful commentary on creation from the third century tells us that everything created by God in the first six days of creation needed further improvement: “The mustard seed has to be sweetened … wheat needs to be refined. Even the human being needs improvement.”

It is a radical idea to think that God’s powers are limited, but turn it on its head and it is incredibly empowering to think that the reason imperfection exists is simply that God could not create a perfect world; rather, we are the ones who get to work on perfecting it. That means we have a purpose – our actions matter.

Thankfully, my neighbours have returned and taken back responsibility for their beautiful garden, but I do feel I have been given a gift. Not only the knowledge that I managed not to kill their plants, but a timely reminder of how important partner-

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

‘My neighbours told me to let their plants play a role in their growing’

ship is for me. I cannot do everything on my own; I am watered by others,

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THE JEWISH NEWS CROSSWORD 1

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7

6

SUDOKU

ACROSS 1 Effigy of a god (4) 4 Device for slinging stones (8) 8 Human mental or spiritual faculty (6)

WORDSEARCH The listed words to do with essential oils can all be found in the grid. Words may run either forwards or backwards, in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction, but always in a straight, unbroken line.

D T T K D B T U P L

T D E

N P G N S E E A O C

I

T S

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

2

HILARIOUS HEBREW Word of the Week

3 5

Learning Hebrew can be fun and sometimes hilarious!

Join one of the WZO's Ulpan classes near you and find out for yourself!

The subsidised Ulpanim are based in North West and East London, Manchester, Brighton, Borehamwood and Bushy.

Contact- ulpanuk@wzo.org.il or call 020 83715336

4 2

J O J O B A T R R E E M S C S M E C C M C G D N U E A S N E H

I

Y A E A

I

O N

3 1 4

L Y D O L P T S D R M E C I

H U O R M U S K R S O E

L

L R E C C A T

I

A A T

I

E S L S E G S N L

J N M

N S O

I

I

2

K O R A S B O T Y

I

V B A A L

L

E

I

N U J

R E P

I

I

5

N A V H R L G E R

H T A R R A G O N M P E H ANISE

DAMASK

JOJOBA

MUSK

BALM

ESSENCE

JUNIPER

MYRRH

BERGAMOT

HIBISCUS

LEMON

NEROLI

CEDAR

HOLISTIC

LILAC

PATCHOULI

CLOVE

HYSSOP

LIME

TARRAGON

CYPRESS

JASMINE

MASSAGE

VANILLA

Last issue’s solutions Crossword ACROSS: 1 Winched, 5 Fit up, 9 As a last resort, 10 Traipses, 11 Gulf, 12 Tarnished, 16 File, 17 Licences, 19 Blandishments, 21 Tripe, 22 Instant.

DOWN: 2 Insert, 3 Cultivate, 4 Eases, 6 Ids, 7 Unruly, 8 Crusts, 11 Green belt, 13 Nellie, 14 Tiller, 15 Sexton, 18 Cohen, 20 Nip.

From the book Hilarious Hebrew- the Fun and Fast Way to Learn the Language, available on Amazon and in book and gift shops throughout London. www.hilarioushebrew.com

Sudoku 5 3 4 1 8 7 2 6 9 8 4 5 6 1 3 7 9 2 4 2 1 9 7 8 3 5 6

9 1 2 6 4 3 7 5 8 2 6 7 8 9 4 5 3 1 3 8 5 1 2 6 4 7 9

7 6 8 9 2 5 1 3 4 3 1 9 5 7 2 8 4 6 6 9 7 4 5 3 2 8 1

Suguru 1 4 2 1 5 1 2 3 5 3 4 3 4 1 4 1 5 2 3 2 5 2 3 1 1 4 1 4 5 2 3 2 5 3 1 4

See next issue for puzzle solutions.

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

Wordsearch

3 4 3 1 3 1 2 1 5 4 2 5 4 3 2 1 3 4 2 1 5 4 5 2 3 4 3 1 3 1 2 1 2 4 2 5

S E V A J R E N P T E Z N

G R A T S T L O D A L G B L I O B E D E G R N L O I A C D E I O T N R S U M O

N A E U S V N C E U E D E

A D A N O L L O T E R N T U A T E U E M N C S B S I V O I A E N U T R R T E P

P E S I R V I O C J R T A

Z S M S C R A B T I L O C A A P N B G S L A A O I L L M I L E A I E A D N B S R I R G I E A P D L M A C

27/04

40 Jewish News 27 April 2023

SCHOOLS | CAMPUS | YOUNG PROFESSIONALS | COMMUNITIES | ONLINE

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Registered charity number 1069048

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27 April 2023 Jewish News

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