The Queen and I—The Celebration of the Queens’ Platinum Jubilee

By Hazel Broch

“Hazel, Hazel” yells Jaques. Gosh what’s happened now I said to myself. “Hurry, hurry” says Jaques. I rushed from the bedroom into the lounge area. There he sits with the Jerusalem Post in his hand pointing, “Look, look” he says. “The Queen has almost the same dress as you”.

Having got over the actual fright and the fact that Jaques noticed such a thing I sat down to read the article by Rabbi Raymond Apple who was the emeritus Rabbi of the Great Synagogue in Sydney, and whom I have met on a few occasions.

In his article he writes that during his Rabbinical career in Britain and Australia, he recited a prayer for the Queen and the Royal family every Shabbat and Festival, investing sincereity and meaning in every word.

I had a similar experience on one of my two visits to meet the Queen. One was a Garden Party at Buckingham Place and the second was an invitation to St. James Palace.

The Queen, who is the Patron of the Council of Christians and Jews, was hosting a gathering of all Branches of the C.C.J. an Ecumenical event throughout Great Britain. Four people were to be chosen from each Council. In my Branch in Leeds the Council chose the Chairperson who was Jewish, one Roman Catholic Priest, on Presbyterian Minister and me. The Chairperson offered to drive us from Leeds to London. On arrival outside St. James Palace there was a sight to behold! There were Archbishops, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Rabbis, Clergy, Nuns, men and women. Their canonicals were a sea of colours, a splendid array from head covering to shoes.

As we gathered inside the Palace and waited for the arrival of the Queen, I was standing, ready in my hand, on a white card, the “bracha” on seeing Royalty. A lady close by said to me “What is that writing on the card?”. “Oh”, I said, “that is Hebrew writing, it’s a blessing we Jewish People recite on seeing Royalty.” “Well I never”, she replied. So I took the opportunity to tell her that every Shabbat and Festival in our Synagogues, throughout Great Britain and the Commonwealth we say “The Royal Prayer for the Queen and family”. The lady was speechless till she eventually said to me. “It’s more than we do”.

The Queen entered the room, I said the bracha, Amen!

The late afternoon reception was catered by Oberlander the Kosher Caterers under the Beth Din of London so that all of us could eat, which I thought was so thoughtful of the Queen. The food consisted of dips of various

kinds with fish balls on sticks, small pieces of cake—so can you imagine the Archbishop of Canterbury holding a fish ball on a cocktail stick!!!

The Roman Catholic Priest from our Group was a Monsignor and he asked me if I would like to meet Cardinal Hume, the head of the Roman Catholic Church. I said I would be honoured and off we went to find him among the thousands! We reached him, and Father Heskin said to Cardinal Hume, “I would like you to meet Mrs Hazel Broch, who is both Irish and Jewish” and he shook my hand, said, “The best kind”. We had a further chat and that made my day.

Now we have to drive 250 miles up the M1 to Leeds. We were feeling a bit peckish so I whispered to my chairperson, “we better go to Blooms in Golders Green, and have a snack meal before the journey and you and I will pay for it”. Off we went to Golders Green with two priests dressed in the canonicals!! --- the rest is another story!!

So the great excitement of the Platinum Reign of Queen Elizabeth II brought to our T.V. Screens, pomp and ceremony and all the personal thoughts throughout her reign; this one I share with you.

There are two wonderful scenes I could watch again and again they are with Paddington Bear, the Queen wearing “that dress” and the other when the Queen stood on the balcony, together with Prince Charles, Prince William and young Prince George. She could see the three future Kings of Britain. It might have been for her a feeling of pride and a future for a successful continuity of the British Monarchy.

I am linking the Queen’s Platinum Celebrations with the coming of Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur.

The Queen has many crowns to wear for different occasions, so have we. The Jewish People have three crowns: the crown of the Torah, the crown of the Priesthood, and the crown of the Kingdom.

(Rambam in Pirke Avot, chap 4, v13” “A good name is above them all.”)

We also have three times the Blowing of the Shofar, Remembrance and Kingdom.

How do we wear our crowns and hear our Shofar and visualise our Kingdom?

All of these are with our Sefer Torah, which we adorn. The crown represents the Kingdom. The bells represent the High Priest, who wore a tunic and on the hem was the design of a pomegranate and bell. The chosen represents the Breast Plate worn by the High Priest on which the twelve tribes are named. To this very day we have the Blessing from the Kohanim every day in Israel.

The Shofar is our clarion call, today as it was in our Torah the sound of the Shofar at Mount Sinai. The sound of the Shofar in the seventh month as a remembrance of the holy convocation, You shall sound a broken blast in the seventh month and on the tenth of the month (Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur); and finally in Numbers 29, VI—It shall be a day of shofar sounding. It was also used to call the Children of Israel to war. In many of our Psalms the trumpet is stated.

In 1967 it was blown by the Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Armed Forces, Rabbi Goren ל”ז, when the I.D.F. reached the Wall in Jerusalem and the shofar sounded loud and clear; we are privileged in our life-time that Jerusalem is the Capital City of Israel.

We too have Royalty, Pomp and Ceremony.

With this New Year, with our crowns and with our shofarim we will pray together for a New Year filled with peace, good health and togetherness.

Shana Tovah to you all. P.S. I bought my dress in Bonmarch, Bury, Manchester. I do not know where the Queen bought hers!!! A