Review

October 2016
West London Synagogue
Review
ק"ק שער ציון
Celebrating 176 Years of Reform Judaism in Central London
Shanah Tovah
Wishing you a happy New Year and well over the fast
Please note that, for reasons of security, the Synagogue is
operating a strict ‘NO TICKET NO ENTRY’ policy to High Holy
Day services. Please do ensure you bring your tickets to gain
entry to our services at Upper Berkeley Street and Kensington
Town Hall. May we also remind you that no rucksacks or large
bags will be permitted.
Thank you for your understanding.

Rayne Tea Party
For the fourth year running, and on
a beautiful July day, Lady Jane
Rayne Lacey and her husband
Robert Lacey hosted a tea party for
West London Synagogue members
in their magnificent gardens. Every
year the weather has been kind to
us. This year was no exception so
Lady Jane and Robert were able to
take groups of guests for tours of
their exquisite garden.
Around 40 members, a few
volunteers, Jo Michaels and Tirza
Waisel from the Social Care team,
plus Rabbis David, Neil and Sybil
enjoyed a scrumptious traditional
tea with far too much delicious cake
for the waistline! There was a never
ending supply of tea and coffee and
much animated conversation.
Everyone looked very smart in their
summer finery and there was an
atmosphere of warmth and
friendship inside the marquee. It
looked beautiful, with the tables
adorned with summer flowers.
Guests had been asked to bring
items of West London Synagogue
memorabilia to share with one
another. A few people brought
items dating back to the sixties and
seventies which were passed
around. Lady Jane showed us all a
photo of a reunion of the six women
who had attended the Queen at her
coronation in 1953, herself
included!
The Rabbis gave a vote of thanks to
Lady Jane and Robert for their
incredible hospitality and then asked
how long everyone had been
associated with WLS. One lady had
been a member for an incredulous
88 years! Can anyone beat that?
All too soon it was time to go and all
the guests went home in the WLS
minibus or in private hire cars
organised by our hosts. We can't
thank Lady Jane Rayne Lacey and
Robert Lacey enough for organising
and hosting this lovely event once
again. I am sure everyone who was
present is eagerly looking forward
to next year's tea in perfect
weather!!
Vivien Feather
Joint Vice Chair Social Care

The Movement for Reform Judaism: Adult Social Care Initiative
“Show respect to the aged; honour the
presence of an elder; fear your God.
I am God” (Leviticus 19:32)
The project we are launching in 5777 addresses our core
values of honouring our elderly or those who are
physically restricted at any age by fundraising, in
partnership with our synagogues, for two wheelchair
accessible minibuses to cover all of our UK communities.
They will provide essential access to those who are most
vulnerable, enabling them to maintain their Jewish way
of living and alleviate their sense of isolation.
These minibuses are a fabulous and practical means to
fulfil the mitzvah of respecting the aged.
מפני שיבה תקום והדרת
פני זקן ויראת מאלהיך אני יהוה
This coming year, 5777, in a partnership of synagogues,
lay leaders, clergy and the team at Reform Judaism, we
are shifting our focus to all ages and life stages. The
jewel in our crown is, in many ways, our emphasis on
youth. With RSY Netzer, we have the largest youth
movement in the Jewish community, with 1,000 young
people taking part in activities this summer. This is
brilliant, but now is the time to redress an imbalance
and to focus on all ages.
Many in our communities are worried about how we can
respond to the social and physical needs of our older
members, respecting, nourishing and responding to one
another properly. We have a population which has a
growing number of people living independently and, on
the whole, we are living longer. A quarter of our
members are over the age of 70.
Many of our older members have time and energy and
would love to be more involved in our communities.
Those are the members we see, especially if they
volunteer and are active in synagogue life, but the often
unseen need for many members of our communities is a
response to their isolation and loneliness.
They are our founding generation. Isolation and
loneliness are the very opposite of what our synagogues
are about and so our communities have identified this as
a vital and pressing concern. Adult social care concerns
affect so many of us – older people; their children and
grandchildren; carers and the cared for.
At our biennial Chagigah (celebration) in July, we
launched an initiative dedicated to adult social care. One
practical and potentially immensely impactful idea
emerged. It pinpoints the feeling, and reality for many,
of being cut off from the world, being unable to come to
synagogue, go shopping, connect with the world outside
and socialise with others owing to physical or emotional
restrictions.
Rashi, the 12th century French commentator, teaches
that there should not be such a thing as defining a
person by their age. Instead, we should refer to those
who have “acquired wisdom”. He adds that the
honourable way to treat older people (and, I would say,
everyone of every age) is that we don’t usurp their place
in society, nor their ideas, or speak instead of them. We
should not interrupt older people when it might take
longer for them to express themselves, or be
patronising about what other people think or need.
Rashi continues his explanation of the Torah verse
above stating that often people do not really see one
other. It is our role, our mitzvah, our duty, to make
anyone who may be invisible to be visible.
Those involved in our adult social care initiative
highlighted our many members who are physically
restricted and cannot come to synagogue, which
exacerbates feelings of loneliness and isolation. Rashi
compares this to a person consciously closing their eyes
to others, shutting people out of their heart. He draws a
fascinating parallel to our relationship with God.
Disrespecting those whom we might prefer not to see,
or are just not conscious of, is equal to disrespecting
God.
I believe that the meaning of why we live and should
live is to partner God in the repair of the world. This is
not an abstract theological claim, it is practical. This can
be measured, whether by a phone call, a visit, or even
by enabling our members to come to synagogue by
means of our two national Reform Movement minibuses!
טובה ו מתוקה
שנה u'metukah. Shanah tovah
May we all have a good and sweet New Year.
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner
Do you have any WLS memorabilia that you
would like to share with Review readers?
We’d love to hear from you.
Please email editor@wls.org.uk

Ambassador Supreme of Music Dvora Lewis speaks
to The Seymour Group
Music lovers the world over may
have been blessed, excited,
enamoured, entertained, inspired,
or simply gladdened by having
experienced great works of music
played by highly talented musicians
and led by outstanding conductors.
But what occurs behind the scenes
is seldom, if ever, a consideration. I
suspect that those of us at the
Seymour Group luncheon in July
would have given it no thought
before we were privileged to share
some of the experiences of our
member, Dvora Lewis, our guest
speaker.
It is tempting to fill this space by
listing the names of those who form
a part of her life story. As an
‘ambassador’ – the term 'Public
Relations and Communications
O f f i c e r ' s e e m s s o m e w h a t
inadequate – she has worked with a
goodly number of outstanding
musicians, orchestras and musical
events in the UK and worldwide.
Dvora started by explaining the
nature of public relations, musicwise,
‘delivering the broadest
messages about great music and
the musicians who create those
performances, the ensembles which
perform and the events which
present them…via the widest
possible media’.
It was in 1978 that Dvora was
asked if she would do some work
for André Previn, then Principal
Conductor of the London Symphony
Orchestra. That was when the seeds
were sown. Over three decades
later, they remain ‘dear friends’ and
he still conducts the orchestra every
year. The LSO Chairman then asked
Dvora to 'take the Orchestra on' and
her unique, usually invisible,
relationship with the LSO continued
for 37 years.
The LSO, founded in 1904, has an
outstanding global profile. It is a
'musical collective', owned by the
musicians with a mission to ‘bring
the richest music making to LSO
audiences here and around the
world’. It is, we were told, the most
successful Orchestra-owned CD
label with a catalogue of more than
100 recordings distributed in over
40 countries. It has recorded music
for hundreds of films including Star
Wars and Harry Potter.
Dvora described her relationship
with Mstislav Rostropovich, the
extraordinary Russian ‘cellist and
conductor, as one of her 'greatest
life experiences'. Despite his
experience of Soviet Union
repressive policies, he was able to
come to London in 1965 and play
31 concertos with the LSO in just
three weeks, He called her
'Dvorachka' and she found ‘his
music, personality, humour and
generous spirit’ a great blessing.
Dvora recounted that on one
occasion at the Royal Festival Hall,
Rostropovich was with the Queen
Mother, an ardent fan. He had
arranged for a crate of champagne
as a celebratory gift for the
Orchestra but was told he would
have to pay ‘corkage’. None the
wiser, he turned to the Queen
Mother and asked in all innocence
what that meant.
In addition to the LSO, Dvora has
also handled PR for the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra and for
Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra. This is a
combination of Israeli and Arab
musicians and an example of the
power of music in bonding people.
Alas, they have yet to be able to
play in Israel.
Perhaps the most moving story
which Dvora related was about a
post-concert party for the ECO's
25th anniversary. ‘Cellist Anita
Lasker, an Auschwitz survivor, was
there, having survived the death
march to Belsen with her sister
Renata. They were the great-nieces
of world chess champion Emanuel
Lasker. Also at the party was Joe
Wolhandler, an ex-American Field
Services member who had helped
to release the inmates in 1945. He
asked if she was related to the
Emanuel Lasker. What an emotional
moment it must have been when
Anita exclaimed, "Renata is my
sister, and Anita, that's me!".
Dvora was enticed back to London
from New York by a well-known and
loved member of WLS, Michael
Lewis, whom she married in 1971.
Of course, he is her ‘Number One’'
but, after listening to her, I had the
distinct impression that she defies
the adage that one can count the
number of one's friends on one
hand. Perhaps, in her case, it could
well be extended to the number of
keys on a piano keyboard. And so
many of her friends are at the heart
of the world of music. It is
inconceivable that her retirement
will not signpost her to more
musical PR. WLS, watch this space!
Date for your diary
Jack Lynes
Thursday 17 November
Dr. Edie Friedman-Founder and
Director of the Jewish Council for
Racial Equality
Thursday 15 December
Derek and Ruth Scott – Schmaltz
and Champagne
Thursday 19 January
Jane Greenfield – ‘On Being a
Jewish Farmer’s Daughter’
To book, call Hermy Jankel on
020 7722 8489, if she is
unavailable please leave a clear
message. Early bookings will be
appreciated, to facilitate catering
arrangements. Please advise
Hermy by 10.00am on the Friday
before the lunch. Cancellations
can only be accepted by that
time, or you will be charged.
Parking Problem? We aim to
finish our meetings by 2.30pm.

WLS Monthly Review mail out
Dear Members
Last month we piloted an initiative to test the effectiveness and desirability of communicating electronically
rather than by traditional post with members of the Synagogue. The response from the community was
overwhelmingly positive and, as a result, on a trial basis in the first instance and except in those cases where it
is not practicable to do so, we shall be extending this initiative to our Review which, with effect from the next
edition, will be sent to you via email.
Do be assured that those members who do not have access to email will continue to receive the Review by post.
Please contact Clare Allen on 020 7535 0298 or email clare.allen@wls.org.uk if you would
still like to receive the Review by post.
With our thanks for your understanding and support.
Yours sincerely
David Dowdles, Executive Director
Book Club Review: “Beware of Pity” by Stefan Zweig, tr. Anthea Bell
Many people consider Stefan Zweig
to be one of the finest Jewish
writers of the 20th century. He is
best remembered for his only
completed novel. A new translation
of the German novel “Undeguld des
Herzens” was published in 2011.
The translator, Anthea Bell, does
not translate the title literally but
calls the novel “Beware of Pity”. As I
understand it, the strict English
translation would be “Impatience of
the Heart”. Actually, there is an
even more recent translation, which
does revert to the literal title.
Interestingly, that is what quite a
large part of our Book Club
discussion was about. Was the novel
about the dangers of misplaced
pity? Or was it really a psychological
drama about a number of rather
inadequate people?
Those in the group who finished the
book (60% of those present) were
very interested by the character of
our hero, a young cavalry officer
living just before the outbreak of
the First World War. Those who
didn’t finish the book found it quite
slow and dull.
I was particularly enthusiastic about
it since I had read it three times
before (including for another Jewish
book group a few years ago). I’ve
gained more out of each reading.
We discussed whether the novel
was in any way autobiographical
(the life of Stefan Zweig is a book
on its own) and we also analysed
the method which Zweig used to tell
the story. It is presented as the
author coming across a man who
interested him and that man telling
him his life story. It was a clever
device.
Why did the author write about
events which happened just before
the outbreak of the First World War
when the outbreak of the Second
World War was on everybody’s
mind?
All of us agreed that the author was
very well able to describe life in a
cavalry regiment and life in the
countryside. He had done his
research well and that came across.
His novel within the novel describing
the life of the heroine’s father was
worthy of a novel of its own.
May I end this review by saying how
pleased I am to have come across
this reading group? To be able to
consider such wonderful literature in
the company of like-minded people
is very stimulating. Also I find it a
healthy discipline to read books
which I would not otherwise choose
– although on this occasion I was
delighted with the opportunity to
revisit a novel with which I was
already familiar.
The WLS Book Club is open to
members of all ages. Our next
meeting will be on Monday 24
October at 6:15pm. We shall
discuss the late historian David
Cesarani’s “Disraeli: The Novel
Politician”. Our discussions take
place at The Prince Regent pub and
are followed by dinner at a local
establishment.
For further information please
e-mail victorlesk@hotmail.com or
just show up.
Michael Romain

Sydney Fixman (1932-2016) and WLS (1968-2010)
On behalf of my brother and our families, I should like to
thank Rabbi Neuberger, Rabbi Freeman, Christopher
Bowers Broadbent, the WLS choir and the WLS
community for honouring our father by dedicating this
year’s Selichot service to his memory.
My father became one of the leading authorities and
executants of Jewish liturgical music in this country by
way of his association with WLS. He was among the first
to feel that there was a need for serious discussion
about it in the UK. Searching through his papers, I came
across his introduction to a symposium he chaired at
WLS. “Synagogue music”, he said, “was not an end in
itself but a means of religious experience. Its function
was to help us live through a moment of confrontation
in the presence of the Almighty and to expose ourselves
to Him in praise, in self-scrutiny and in hope”. My father
strove to attain this spirituality at the highest musical
level for every religious and ceremonial occasion. The
Selichot service and the solemn and moving Kol Nidrei
service are a testament to all these endeavours.
Sydney benefited considerably from the support of his
great friend Rabbi Hugo Gryn who was, himself, a
devotee of the performance of Jewish music. It was
Rabbi Gryn who was instrumental in encouraging
Sydney to present innovative concert programmes in
the Synagogue. Within a few years of their
collaboration, WLS became the leading place for Jewish
music at the time and the catalyst for musical growth
within the wider Reform community.
It must not be forgotten that in 1970 Sydney (in
association with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) gave
the first UK synagogue performance of Ernest Bloch's,
‘Avadath Hakodesh’. This collaboration was repeated in
1980 in honour of Bloch’s Centenary. In 1972, again
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney
conducted the first UK performance of Darius Milhaud’s
‘Service Sacre’. This performance was also its first
broadcast performance on BBC Radio 3. Sydney was a
champion of the 17th century Mantuan composer
Salamone de’ Rossi. In 1995 he performed and
subsequently recorded Rossi’s ‘Songs of Solomon’ with
the Pro Cantione Antiqua at WLS.
These are merely highlights of Sydney’s 42 years at
WLS. There were many, many other concerts
showcasing the works of celebrated Jewish composers
as well as some occasional Mozart or Haydn!
Sydney was born into a religious Yiddish-speaking family
in Manchester, where he attended Reverend Balkind’s
legendary Hebrew School daily. The family appreciated
the fine chazzanut traditions and my father grew up with
the privilege of being able to witness the beautiful choirs
and great chazans of Manchester.
Having established himself in London, Sydney was
appointed choirmaster to several of the leading
synagogue choirs under the auspices of the United
Synagogue but they were, at that time, unappreciative
of his musical foresight. Therefore, he enthusiastically
accepted the position of Director of Music at WLS
because of the opportunity of working with professional
choristers. It allowed him to pursue his ambition to
re-introduce the rich and extensive tradition of
synagogue choral music at the highest level into
synagogue services; choral music which had once been
performed in the great synagogues of Europe and the
UK before the war and which was seemingly
disappearing. It gave him, too, the opportunity to
introduce the congregation to new works by
contemporary Jewish composers.
It should be remembered that in 1982 Sydney formed
the Institute for Jewish Music Studies and Performance,
based at WLS. His goal was to create an intellectual
legacy for Jewish music and to foster deeper
understanding of Jewish musical heritage. For 12 years,
the Institute presented musical performances, recitals,
symposiums and lectures on many diverse subjects
given by leading Jewish musicians and academics. He
was a pioneer in this field.
So we feel it is entirely appropriate and are honoured
that this year’s Selichot service has been dedicated to
Sydney’s memory. He devoted 42 years of his life to
WLS by educating, defending, enhancing and creating
liturgical music traditions which continue today and, we
hope, for generations to come. This is his legacy and he
would be proud.
Linda Packe

Kabbalat Torah Graduates
BEN PHILIPPS:
I never really saw WLS as a “school”. It was always just
something that I did on Sundays, with no concrete aim, no
GCSES to pass or league tables to come top of. When you’re
five and watching Prince of Egypt on the top floor, you don’t
stop to consider what Judaism means, and what West London
Synagogue means. But give it three years, and eventually the
significance and import of this building will hit, and then you’ll
be connected with a global community in a way that only religion
offers. That’s what I’m most grateful for – being involved
in something ancient but modern, close-knit but with links
across the world. The title of this speech was “Growing up at
Religion School”, so I started by thinking about how WLS has
helped me mature and develop through lessons and trips. But
it hasn’t been that clear-cut. What really happens is maturity
sneaks up on you, Sunday morning by Sunday morning, and
all of a sudden you find yourself with a breadth and depth of
knowledge and understanding that no weekday school really
offers.
CARLA HALLGARTEN:
I only joined the religion school at 11 in BM1 and within two
weeks of starting, we went on the BM residential weekend. I
distinctly remember walking in, hardly knowing anyone, and
being met by Rebecca on a sugar rush. A full on
welcome. Those two years leading up to our Bar and Bat
mitzvah celebrations was an intense but amazing experience
which made me really want to connect to my Jewishness in a
way I’d never considered before. Having the AMAZING Debs
and Rabbi David as our teachers was an absolute dream
although we might not have been their 'dream' class. There
was no question here at WLS that us girls wouldn't be treated
as equals to the boys in our bat mitzvah experiences. Rabbi
David was very keen that the girls, like the boys, could wear
tallit or kippot. I remember, the day before my bat mitzvah,
him taking me to show me his extensive tallit collection, and
with expert advice, helping me pick one to match my
dress. There were lots of special moments at our actual bar/
bat mitzvah services. I think the most memorable one for me
must have been when Rebecca got the giggles on the bimah
during a certain line of the 10 Commandments.
ALEXI REICH:
During our second year of the Tripod program we had the
opportunity to take part in the Peace By Piece program, a
course that we took in tandem with a group of teenagers from
a mosque in Wembley. The program allowed for us to discuss
what our religious identities mean within the context of our
lives and how this affects who we are in the wider community.
It was also a precursor to the annual trip to morocco, which, to
be fair, was a big part of our excitement. Whilst in Morocco we
had the opportunity to experience a culture that was new to
us, we visited Mosques, we enjoyed the local markets, and ate
delicious tagines. The Piece By Peace trip to Morocco was an
important trip as it was one in which we were not only looking
at our Jewish identities within the sphere of our own
community but out in the world with people who were from
different backgrounds. We got to learn from each other about
each other whilst simultaneously learning more about
ourselves.
ERIC OCH:
In November of 2013, at the beginning of our Tripod journey,
we took a trip to Amsterdam to learn about the roots of
Ashkenazi Jewry and begin forging the close friendships we’ve
formed during this course. We spent the weekend learning
about some of the oldest and largest synagogues in European
history as well as what happened to the city during World War
II. We also got the chance to experience a little bit of Dutch
culture. Throughout the weekend we had dozens of orders of
Amsterdam’s classic French fries and enjoyed the food of the
various markets we got to visit. A highlight of the trip was
when a fellow tourist joined us at the memorial for members of
the LGBT+ community who perished during the holocaust for
Havdalah and told us her heart-warming story of being a
relatively isolated Jew where she lived. This followed our visit
to the Anne Frank museum and really reinforced our sense of
connection to the Jewish community at home - our friends and
family - as well as the Jews around the world with whom we
shared a common faith.
ETHAN REICH:
The summer New York City trip for tripod 2 with WLS was
phenomenal. With the help of Rabbi David, Peter and Ronit we
were able to explore many topics within NYC. We explored
immigration in both a historical and modern context, historical
Jewish assimilation in New York City and what it means to be a
modern Jew both practicing and non-practicing in a modern
major metropolitan city. Visiting Ellis island was essential in
order to understand what some of our Jewish ancestors must
have experienced when coming to America from Europe or
elsewhere, and we were able to put ourselves in their living
conditions when visiting the tenement museum which is a
series of preserved living quarters which were used by newly
immigrated Jewish families decades ago. One of the most
interesting experiences and the most powerful symbols of both
historical and modern jewellery as well as well as immigrants
assimilating to a new area was the Eldridge Street Synagogue
which was created in 1887 and was in a traditional Jewish
neighbourhood. It remains in the same neighbourhood open as
a museum however the neighbour has changed and now the
Eldridge Street Synagogue is currently located in New York's
bustling China town. I think we all really felt that the Eldridge
street synagogue summed up the themes of the trip.
REBECCA SONIN:
To say the least our class is…memorable. Amazingly, after all
the years we made it. Though we weren’t the easiest of classes
we were always driven but just had our own way of doing
things and is probably why we were able to persevere to the
point where we are now actually madrichim, I bet some of our
old teachers would think you were lying if you told them.
Through our journey we have gleaned a lot including being
able to give back to the community through our help in the
religion school, which allows us to understand why our
teachers ought to have gotten just a little bit frustrated with
our behaviour as younger pupils. These past years, in
particular through our Tripod years, have been packed with
laughter and memories from mugs in New York, plane rides all
over the world and hats OFF in Amsterdam, which will stay
with me and the rest of us, I’m sure for the rest of our lives.

Jack Lynes Profiles Jim Fletcher: A Man “Altogether for Dance
We may have forgotten the very
first sound we heard when, or
perhaps even before, we were born.
No, it wasn’t the voice of the
midwife calling, “Push, push, you're
doing well”. Rather it was the
rhythm of our mother's heartbeat.
And according to Jim Fletcher, the
subject of my Profile this month,
that ‘boom, boom, boom’ is the first
episode in our lives to which we
react.
Jim was born in Glasgow and, on his
mother's side, “everyone was
musical in one form or another”. He
went to Israel when he was 19 and
lived and worked there for four
years, doing so again during many
university vacations. He taught
himself modern Hebrew. Much later,
he was active in the J-Soc at
Glasgow University, after which he
contacted WLS for an opportunity to
practise conversational Hebrew.
How Jim met his husband Martin,
was surely Bashert (a Yiddish word
meaning ‘fated’). Jim's take on what
was to be the beginning of a
romance, now as strong as ever
after 20 years, is that it was a “coup
de foudre”, a ‘thunderbolt’, but, in
this context, ‘love at first sight’. Jim
and Martin were both working in
London for organisations of which
Diana, Princess of Wales was patron
and, on one occasion, they met at
the same function. Each
immediately recognised a soulmate.
Jim had known the Princess
of Wales. Her death was the ‘loss of
a friend’ and, at her funeral, he
walked behind her coffin.
While Jim clearly enjoys every
aspect of the music and dance
industry, his eyes light up when
talking about his input in managing
Scottish Opera’s small scale tours,
taking ‘music to the people’. As
Project Manager, with a pianist,
tenor, bass, contralto and soprano,
they toured from their Glasgow
base, playing to ‘the locals’ in village
halls as far as the Shetlands and
surroundings.
At Glasgow University he read
Modern Romance Languages,
gaining a Master’s degree with
Literature and Fine Art. A qualified
teacher, he obtained an education
of a different kind working part time
both front of house and behind the
scenes at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal.
It was here that he was introduced
to ballet and gained his love of
dance. Were this a CV rather than a
Profile, I could fill my space with the
prestigious positions held and
qualifications which Jim has
achieved in the field, including being
Development Manager for The
Royal Ballet School.
Away from dance – and it is
incredibly difficult to spend time
with Jim and escape that world – he
was, for a year, fundraising
manager for the Reform Movement.
Closer still to home, at WLS he is
Chairman of our Eretz programme,
which includes the regular film
series, concerts, play readings,
exhibitions, political briefings, and
lately, Israel tours. As Vice-Chair of
our ‘External Affairs’, he mentors
staff and advises on marketing, PR
and communications.
Jim was recently a Warden, a
position he found very rewarding, in
particular he enjoyed engaging with
fellow congregants and visitors.
Somewhat controversially he allows
me to put on record his personal
belief that wearing top hat and tails
is, to put it mildly, ‘disturbing’,
saying that, as a Scot, he needed
an ‘inner brave heart’ to wear them.
That said, he proclaims himself
proud of our glorious heritage.
Jim cares about people, all people.
He is particularly proud of our
Synagogue’s active involvement
with (among others) the London
Gay Men’s Chorus and World Aids
Day (next on 1 December). His
current charitable project is outside
of WLS, for One Dance UK, which
speaks for the industry and
encourages people of all ages and
backgrounds to participate in
dancing at every level. On 9
October, Jim will present ‘Together
for Dance’, a charity gala for One
Dance UK at the beautiful Novello
Theatre. It is, he says, ‘the dance
event of the season’.
Jim remains heavily involved in the
world of Scotland, of Israel, and of
dance. If only I could somehow
dance off this page as I conclude
this profile, I would do so. Jim
hopes to retire soon but, make no
mistake, that will give him more
time to carry on his ‘dance through
life’.
Tickets for 'Together for Dance' may
still be available. Phone: 0844 482
5172 or book online at
www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk

Limmud in the Woods
I’ve heard about Limmud in the
Woods from friends and Facebook
posts so, this year, I decided that I
was going to attend.
Limmud in the Woods is a Jewish
festival of creativity, learning and
community. Over a period of five
days, participants have the
opportunity to attend sessions led
by a range of speakers, help out by
volunteering, relax, meet new
people and sleep under canvas.
Now I’m sure that many would be
put off by the thought of camping,
as I was, but a friend reminded me
that it’s ‘glamping’ and not
camping. This is because there are
washroom facilities, and lunch and
dinner are fully catered.
This year’s programme included a
global collective of musicians. We
enjoyed Nechama Goldman Barash
from Pardes Institute in Jerusalem,
Elya Steinberg (Co-Director of the
C e n t r e f o r B i o d y n a m i c
Psychotherapy), singer-songwriters
Jen Charlton and Lilac Sheer,
Jumana Moon (a storyteller inspired
by stories from Islamic folklore and
sacred tradition) and Mountain
Spring Music, to name a few.
I opted to be a YAD which meant
volunteering for about four hours a
day. My tasks included pitching
tents, serving meals, and
participant care. This kept me super
-busy and provided me with an
opportunity to meet a variety of
people. There were moments where
stories were shared with kids and
moments which involved serious
conversations about all sorts. Oh,
and let’s not forget the countless
number of laughs. This is what
helped make Limmud in the Woods
so special for me because I got to
meet so many wonderful people.
Havdallah at Limmud in the Woods
was a truly magical experience. The
community rejoiced with singing,
candles and wine. An additional
highlight was helping to barbeque
burgers on the Sunday night. Being
a South African, it’s second nature
to me. Speaking of fire, there’s
nothing more relaxing than sitting
around a campfire and sipping wine
and chatting late into the night.
There’s no end time to certain
activities and one I really enjoyed
was the silent disco; dancing around
in the venue and in the woods until
the early hours of the morning.
Limmud in the Woods truly was an
uplifting experience. I bonded with
old friends and made so many new
ones. Despite my initial camping
anxieties, which I was told were a
rite of passage, I can say that
Limmud in the Woods was
awesome. Will I be going next year?
Most definitely…Why not join me?
Shiraaz Sidat
SUKKAH BUILDING
This year’s theme is ‘Temporary Shelters’ and we only have two days to get the sukkah up
and decorated, so please come along and help us build our WLS temporary shelter.
Saturday 15 October, 7.00pm: Havdalah followed by music, chat and refreshments while
you build – ALL WELCOME
Sunday 16 October, 12.30-3.00pm: Community Sukkah Decorating -
ALL WELCOME
Please bring donations of flowers, pot plants and fruit with you.

Selichot
Rosh Hashanah Prayer Book
For the past couple of years, we have had two sittings
for Rosh Hashanah morning services in the Synagogue,
which the majority of our members really love. What
people dislike – and the rabbis agree – is the flipping of
pages as we shorten the service to manage two
sequential sittings and still allow people to get home for
lunch.
So next year, as a result of a very generous donation by
WLS members, we shall have our very own Rosh
Hashanah prayer book. It will be beautifully produced; it
will be easy to use; it will mean no unnecessary flipping
of pages.
Selichot, the prayers in which we say ‘sorry’ and ask
forgiveness, serve as a preparation to get us into the
right mood and attitude for the High Holydays. They are
traditionally said daily throughout the month of Elul –
the month which precedes Rosh Hashanah. I remember,
in my first year of study in Jerusalem, being woken up
daily at around 7am by the sound of the shofar coming
from a tiny synagogue located somewhere in my
apartment building. The shofar is blown at these
services as an alarm to call us to repentance. For me, it
was an alarm which got me out of bed each morning.
There is a custom of holding a special Selichot service at
night, on the Saturday before Rosh Hashanah. For the
choir, it is something of a dress rehearsal for the High
Holydays; for me, it is my favourite service of the entire
year, largely because of its music. It is extremely
moving, evoking the melodies of the Yamim Noraim,
and much of its liturgy – High Holydays’ greatest hits as
it were. The mood is one of expectation, in preparation
for the great days to come. Some synagogues are
candle-lit on this night. Some ceremonially change the
mantles on the Torah scrolls to white ones during the
service. The silver is newly polished and gleaming.
There is the chance of experimentation, both musically
and liturgically. There is the opportunity for creative
poems, and unusual pieces. One synagogue, which does
not allow instrumental music in its services, plays the
whole of Bloch’s ‘Kol Nidrei’ in its Selichot service, for
example. One year I heard Leonard Bernstein’s
‘Chichester Psalms’. The shul in question was not sure
how it would go down and piloted it in the Selichot
service before making a decision whether to include
them in their Yom Kippur service.
West London Synagogue has its own distinctive music
tradition, the result of a handful of extraordinary,
talented and visionary music directors. This year, the
Selichot service will be preceded by a tribute to Sidney
Fixman z”l, who served 42 years as music director of the
Synagogue. The service itself is not to be missed. It is a
real opportunity to sit in quiet reflection amid the beauty
of this wonderful shul, surrounded by glorious music,
reading words old and new to the greatness of God.
Some people say that “of the making of prayer books
there is no end…”. And that is true. Although much
liturgy is traditional, in every generation people change
their views, and language changes. God is addressed in
the second person, gender neutral, these days, when
‘He’ was undoubtedly read as ‘male’ a generation ago.
Some post-Holocaust material we read in the 1970s and
1980s has not stood the test of time. Though raw and
immediate then, some of it reads somewhat
sentimentally now, and we no longer respond. Our use
of traditional rabbinic material has changed too, with
many people more comfortable with it than they would
have been a generation or so ago. And so new prayer
books are needed.
The Movement for Reform Judaism is working on a new
High Holy Day liturgy for all synagogues. Given our
shortened service, theirs won’t work for us at Rosh
Hashanah, though we shall be using their material. It
will be different when they get as far as Yom Kippur,
when we shall use their book. But next year, at this
time, we shall have our own book for Rosh Hashanah.
And it will be wonderful.
Rabbi Julia Neuberger
Rabbi Sybil Sheridan

Kol Nidrei: A Night Like No Other
If you had to pick the moment when you felt most
connected to this community, I wonder when it would
be? Perhaps a key life-cycle occasion such as your
child’s bar/bat mitzvah, or maybe saying Kaddish with
other mourners just days after having buried a loved
one? You might have been to a brilliant study session
where everyone was deeply engaged, or even a
significant service, such as Remembrance Shabbat,
when everyone's attention was focused on the roll of
honour?
For me, that moment came last year in the middle of an
experimental service. Five years ago, just as I was
moving pulpits to WLS, I was warned that “they don't
like to join in during services”. Certainly, there have
been times when this was the case but I can think of
many other moments when people read/sang out with
gusto. Yet never with the intensity of my key moment.
That precious experience occurred last year when we
experimented with a Shabbat Shira service during Kol
Nidrei at Friends’ House. Preparing for an intimate
gathering of 30-40 people, it was overwhelming when
congregants kept arriving. Eventually, the small room
was packed out with over 120 people gathered together
to pray and sing their way through the liturgy of the
holiest night of the year. As I led the Shema, I closed
my eyes. Shema means ‘listen’ and that is precisely
what I did, as 120 voices sang out together.
The Rosh Hashanah
Explanatory Service
One of the hardest aspects of the High Holydays is that
we are supposed to be at our peak of connection to
Jewish life and ritual. We look around and it feels as if
we are the only ones not quite able to appreciate what is
happening in the service. The themes of Rosh Hashanah
are even more complex than those of Yom Kippur. On
Yom Kippur, we know we are focussed on atonement,
forgiveness, pardon – whether we hold that to be an expression
of the transcendent relationship with God or a
self-scrutiny. Yom Kippur, though the liturgy is dense,
seems to make sense.
Rosh Hashanah, on the other hand, is full of many ideas.
For a start, the Torah reading is complex and disturbing
with the ‘Binding of Isaac’. How do we understand the
command of Abraham by God to sacrifice his son? Then
we have the shofar blowing, the sections of liturgy on
‘Kingship’, ‘Remembrance’ and ‘Shofar’. What is the
meaning of these themes and why are they core
components of our Rosh Hashanah liturgy?
Many of the famous rabbis from the past write movingly
about their prayers being carried to heaven by the
strength of the kavannah (heartfelt intensity) of their
congregants. Hearing 120 voices fervently singing the
Shema brought tears to my eyes, especially at the power
of participative communal prayer; I was not alone in
that feeling. It was a defining moment for me and one
that I look forward to repeating this year at Kensington
Town Hall.
Do join us at 7pm for a complete Kol Nidrei service,
including a bespoke sermon and study session. Starting
with Bruch’s haunting Kol Nidrei melody, led by our
Shira ‘cellist and sung by Maya Levy, we shall work our
way into the spiritual depths of Yom Kippur. It will be a
unique chance to pray, shoulder to shoulder and voice
to voice, so if you're looking to find your moment of
communal connection, you know where to come.
Rabbi David Mitchell
In an innovation for this year, Rabbi Helen and I will lead
explanatory services on Rosh Hashanah morning. We
will have a slightly reduced liturgy to allow us to explain
and discuss some of the major prayers and the Torah
reading. At the same time, we will introduce some of the
main musical themes. The service will last the same
amount of time but we will have space to talk and
reflect. We particularly have in mind JPREP students, but
all are welcome to join us in the Room of Prayer.
Rabbi Neil Janes

The Jewish Calendar and
Second Day Rosh Hashanah
Our calendar can sometimes be a little confusing. We
have neither the solar calendar of Christianity, where
Christmas is predictable decades in advance, nor the
lunar calendar of Islam when Ramadan can be any time
of the year. Instead we have a compromise between the
two, so the date of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur can
vary, but only by about a month.
It is a beautiful, meditative and
thought-provoking service,
enhanced by Maya’s lovely voice
and with a study session in place
of a sermon. All the elements of
Rosh Hashanah are there, the
singing of Avinu Malkeynu, the
sounding of the shofar, but the
addition of modern readings
and poetry challenges the
worshipper in a way which is
moving and spiritually
meaningful. It wouldn’t be going too far to say that for
me the SECOND DAY OF ROSH HASHANAH is one of the
highlights of the High Holyday season. It is personally
challenging in a way which helps one to prepare for the
Days of Awe and Yom Kippur, perhaps because of the
marvellous mixture of ancient and modern, of Torah text
and modern poems.
So, do come and join the ever-growing congregation for
second day Rosh Hashanah. This year it takes place on
Tuesday 4 October, starting at 11am.
On a Lighter Note…
Rabbi Helen Freeman
When a fast day happens is important. More than 2,000
years ago, the Dead Sea Scrolls reported a dispute
between their leader, the Teacher of Righteousness, who
kept to a solar calendar, and his opponent, known in the
scrolls as the “wicked priest”. He kept the luni-solar
calendar and so deliberately came before his rival on the
day he celebrated as Yom Kippur, forcing the Teacher of
Righteousness to profane the holiest day of the year.
Not nice at all, and the scrolls are full of subtle digs at
their opponents. For example, the Pharisees, the early
rabbis, were known as the “dor’sheihalakot”, which
means something like “those who seek the easy option”,
while rabbinic Judaism liked to underline the Pharisees’
relationship with halakhotor Jewish laws.
So the calendar was the focus of a lot of strong feeling
and the rabbis ordained two days for several festivals,
including Rosh Hashanah, to try to make sure that all
the Jewish people celebrated the special occasion at the
right time.
Early Reform Judaism distanced itself from this ancient
‘catch-up’ option and decreed that we would only have
ONE day Rosh Hashanah, just as we would only have
ONE day festival at the beginning of Pesach.
So how is it, all these years later, we celebrate TWO
days Rosh Hashanah and have TWO Sedarim for those
who wish to attend them? Even more personally, how is
it that I, who grew up in the classical Reform tradition,
so enjoy the SECOND day of Rosh Hashanah?
My daughter and I went on a climbing holiday together
in Scotland a couple of weeks ago and found this sign. It
is nice to know that the middle of deepest rural Scotland
is planning for the Jewish calendar!
There really is a village called “Succoth” that is the
starting point for climbs up Ben Nairnan and Ben Arthur.
We climbed Ben Nairnan, but never got a satisfactory
answer from the locals as to checking the pronunciation
and how on earth a tiny village in Scotland ended up
being named after a city in the land of Goshen (as
“Succoth appears in Exodus”), let alone the name of a
festival (as the words appears in Genesis).
Mark Fox

St John’s Hospice
My sister Shirley Korel passed away in November 2014. She had been wonderfully cared for, both at St John’s
Hospice and at home for the preceding 18 months.
I visited whenever I could from Norwich but her three children devotedly managed the day-to-day changes in her
condition and organised the care, which was coordinated by Westminster Social Services and the Hospice itself. This
meant that when urgent medical care was needed, Shirley was cared for in the Hospice but, when she was stable for
any period of time, she was cared for at home.
The urgent care in the Hospice varied from barrier nursing to respiratory care in a variety of wards. The ground floor
ward, with a view of the garden, was a particular joy for her. I can only say that at all times she felt secure and safe,
which meant that visiting her was a delight. Her sunny and kind nature shone through. The medical care and, indeed,
the pastoral care were excellent.
When it was clear that now the care was entirely palliative, her day-to-day care at home was gentle and kind. One of
her highlights was Rabbi David playing the shofar/ram’s horn on our New Year.
Her passing leaves a huge gap in our lives. The only consolation is knowing that she was cared for to the best of
everyone’s ability. It makes it a little less hard to bear. Thank you to St John’s Hospice. We are grateful.
Jillian Brahams
Rotary Club of St Marylebone presents
Magic And Music
Charity Concert in aid of St John’s Hospice
World renowned pianist
Sam Haywood
The young and brilliant
A Sharp Trio
Jazz Piano by
‘Boogie Boy’ Cody Lee
With magic by Nathan Penlington - Writer, Performer and Magician
Sunday 20 November 2016 at 3.00pm
at The American School in London, 1 Waverley Place, St John’s Wood NW8 0NP
Tickets - £15.00 (which will include one child under 16 with an adult)
available from Jill Leuw at jill.leuw@googlemail.com or call 020 7262 0420

A Genetic Study of Western Sephardic Jewish Men
The Technion university (Israel) has
launched a landmark study of the
history of the worldwide Sephardi
community through its DNA. It
seeks to obtain sample cheek swabs
from males who descend along their
direct paternal line from established
Sephardi families. One individual
from each lineage will be tested.
Detailed Y chromosome DNA
sequence signatures will be
obtained from the cohort. The Y
chromosome is passed on largely
unaltered from father to son,
although unique but genetically
insignificant mutations occur from
time to time making each lineage
distinguishable from all others and
hence genealogically useful.
This is the first genetic study of
descendants from this historically
important Jewish community. The
study may also offer insights into
the genetic origins of the medieval
Iberian community and possibly
reveal individuals and communities
around the world of Western
Sephardic descent.
The initial phase of the study is well
under way and includes families
whose ancestors migrated from
Iberia to London, Amsterdam,
Hamburg, the Caribbean, Aleppo,
Safed and Turkey/Rhodes.
Subsequent phases will focus on
families from North Africa and Asia.
No DNA of medical importance is
tested; only DNA which helps
illustrate a family’s history is
sought. Overall results will be
reported in a peer-reviewed study
to be co-authored by the Technion
and members of the Jewish
historical/genealogical community.
We expect that much will be learned
about the history of the Jewish
people and our connections to one
another. This is possible only with
the involvement of the community.
Please contact the project
administrators Adam Brown and
Michael Waas at
WestSephDNA@gmail.com to learn
how you can participate. There is no
cost to participants and the test
takes less than two minutes.
A full study protocol can be found at
http://www.avotaynuonline.com/agenetic-study-of-western-sephardicjewish-men.
Israel: The South – The New Frontier
Excitement is building following the
inaugural meeting of the 2017 Eretz
WLS Israel Tour group. ‘Israel: The
South – The New Frontier’, the
informal tailor-made tour, takes a
small group of no more than 20,
staying in boutique hotels and
carefully selected kibbutz guest
houses on a one week (7 days, 8
nights) journey of discovery along
the ‘less well trodden path’.
Exclusive access, bespoke talks and
walks and the opportunity to ask
questions of experts in various fields
( a s d i v e r s e a s e c o l o g y ,
sustainability, water engineering,
Holy Land history, social
development, the dairy industry,
and perhaps, musical themes)
makes this an Israeli adventure like
no other.
March weather is perfect for our
Negev experience, warm and sunny
during the day, with a refreshing
coolness at night. Over seven days,
we will travel in comfort and safety
by air conditioned minibus with our
own driver and guide from Tel Aviv,
via Jerusalem, to the fortress at
Masada, Ben Gurion's resting place
at Sde Boker, the natural wonder
that is the Ramon Crater, and the
site of the Dead Sea Scrolls at
Qumran, to the true site of the
giving of the Ten Commandments
at Mount Sinai, a 4000BCE copper
mine (King Solomon's Mine), the
Dead Sea oasis at En Gedi, and
conservation projects at Lotan and
Ketura, concluding in Eilat. Along
the way, we will eat and drink well,
enjoy free time for sunning or
strolling, and have the option where
possible to attend cultural
performances.
There has been keen interest so far
but there may still be a few places
left so, don't delay, get in touch
today (with tour leader, Rabbi Sybil,
or tour manager, Jim Fletcher) if
you are thinking of joining us.
Indicative prices: £150 flight
(arranged by yourself), plus £1,000
-£1,200 per sharer, £1,200-£1,450
per sole occupancy. The tour price
includes all accommodation,
breakfasts, some special dinners,
transport and expert guides, entry
fees, a glass of wine during our
rooftop daily reflection, informal
Shabbat services, and more.
Please contact Jim Fletcher at
eretz@wls.org.uk for more
information or to book your place.

Jewish London Bridges Gap for Asylum Seekers from
Muslim Countries by Jenni Frazer
LONDON — On a sunny Sunday
afternoon in a north London suburb,
two distinct populations throng to a
tiny primary school. One population
is white, and mainly Jewish. The
other is a mixed hodgepodge of
races and cultures from all the
world’s trouble spots: they are
asylum seekers.
between 100 and 120 families
arrive, usually having travelled long
distances into central London from
the outer suburbs.
a s t a g g e r i n g £ 9 4 4 , 0 0 0
($1,265,000) — its second biggest
ever fundraising campaign.
World Jewish Relief’s Richard Verber
says this appeal was noteworthy
“because the money didn’t come in
big chunks from rich donors, but in
tiny amounts from thousands of
members of the Jewish community
who felt they really wanted to do
something.”
For more than 10 years, alongside
volunteers from all walks of life,
London’s Jews have been quietly
getting on with helping asylum
seekers, through monthly drop-in
centres run by four separate
communities.
The drop-in centres help
hundreds of families caught in the
classic asylum-seeker’s bind in
Britain — they are not allowed to
work while awaiting assessment of
their bid to stay in Britain, nor can
they claim benefits. For some there
is a government allowance, but it is
just £5 a day.
Rabbi Neil Janes smiles wryly when
talking about the asylum-seekers
who stream into his congregation’s
beautiful 19th century building
every month.
“Our visitors are relatively
oblivious that they are being helped
by Jews,” he says. “We think it’s a
good mechanism whereby our
community reaches out to parts of
society who would never set foot
inside a synagogue.”
West London’s clientele, all of whom
must produce documentation to
show that they are “in the system,”
come from various countries
including Albania, Algeria, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka and Georgia. By far the
largest number, however, come
from the DRC, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Each month
Prince Charles met with some of the dropin
beneficiaries during a visit for the 175th
anniversary of WLS. (Elliott Franks)
The asylum seekers are in the
process of applying to stay in the
UK permanently, and thus be
reclassified as refugees. But
because the Home Office
decision-making process is so
questionable, those turned down
may reapply or appeal. It can be a
long, tedious and soul-crushing
process, and going to the drop-in
centres represents a little bit of
solace for people whose default
position is hopelessness.
Yazidi Kurdish women chant slogans
during a protest against the Islamic State
group’s invasion of Sinjar city, in Dohuk,
Iraq, August 3, 2015.
(AP/Seivan M. Salem)
Since the eruption of the Syrian civil
war more than five years ago,
asylum-seekers from Syria have
become among the top five
nationalities seeking to stay in
Britain.
In the wake of the tragic story of
Aylan Kurdi, the three year old
Syrian boy who drowned on a
Turkish beach as his family fled for
safety, Britain’s World Jewish Relief
launched an emergency appeal in
2015 to help with Europe’s
desperate refugee crisis and raised
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis visiting
Idomeni, a refugee camp in Greece (since
closed down by the authorities) on the
northern border with the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia. He made this visit
under the auspices of World Jewish Relief.
(Minos Alchanati/ World Jewish Relief)
“The government has committed to
allowing 20,000 of the most
vulnerable people from Syria enter
Britain by the year 2020. WJR is
going to commit to helping 1,000 of
that 20,000 by offering a pilot program
in which people will be taught
business English. The first 50 will
enrol on a course in Bradford and if
it is successful, we will roll it out to
West Yorkshire, the West Midlands
and Scotland. This course will be
funded separately from our
emergency appeal and the money is
coming from private donors,” he
says.
‘Body bags’ appear on Brighton beach in
southern England, on April 22, 2015, in a
display by Amnesty International to highlight
what they claim is Britain’s shameful
response to the refugee and migrant crisis
in the Mediterranean.
(Photo credit: Ben Stansall/AFP)

And for those who succeed in
achieving refugee status, a
helping hand is still needed.
For some, the answer has been the
lifeline offered by Nina Kaye and her
husband Timothy Nathan, who, with
Timothy’s sister, Sara, have
l a u n c h e d a r e m a r k a b l e
organization, Refugees at Home.
Nina Kaye, a tall, imposing
businesswoman, was motivated to
begin her work in the summer of
2015 when she saw the Aylan Kurdi
pictures.
The Children of the Kindertransport
sculpture, outside Liverpool Street Station
in London (John Chase, 2006)
Kaye, whose mother was on the
Kindertransport just prior to World
War II, lost patience with the
existing organizations, and slightly
under a year ago she, her husband
and her sister-in-law, launched their
own venture.
Familiar with social media, they set
up a website and a Facebook page.
Kaye says that after posting the
page, someone contacted them
saying, “I’ve met this fantastic guy,
he’s in Middlesborough, but he
needs to be in London, can you find
him somewhere to stay?”
Nina Kaye (pictured) and her husband
Timothy Nathan, who, with Timothy’s
sister, Sara, took matters into their own
hands and launched Refugees at Home.
(courtesy)
The trio could not have been more
fortunate. Their first guest, who
ended up staying with them for four
months in their home in Epsom, 13
miles south-west of London, has
become something of a refugee
superstar in Britain.
He is a wonderfully articulate young
Syrian from Aleppo who was
studying English literature and
whose life has effectively been
saved by his passionate embrace of
the English language.
Jwan, as he has asked to be known
because of fears for the safety of his
family who remain in Syria, is a
Kurd.
Only weeks after he became their
guest, the family was due to hold its
annual Chanukah party. Nina Kaye
asked Jwan whether or not he
wanted to stay, wondering whether
he would be uncomfortable.
“In Syria I was brought up with the
idea of hatred of Israelis and Jews,
that they were our enemy, that we
must kill them,” Jwan says. “You
see this on the media, TV, everywhere,
and no one questions it.”
This was his first encounter with
Jews — and for him, it was
eye-opening.
Kids play at a monthly drop-in day at West
London Synagogue
“Lots of Jews have helped me,” he
says. “And I saw how these people
donate food and money to Syrian
refugees, how they opened their
arms to help. And I realized we had
a lot in common.”
Nina Kaye says that Refugees At
Home is deliberately “religion-blind”
in that neither hosts nor guests are
asked about their faith.
But, she acknowledges, “The
parallels with Jews in Nazi
Germany are extraordinary. The
educated, cultured, middle classes,
they’re the ones who have got out,
or at least the ones who have had
the foresight. The ones who have
been smuggled all over Europe, that
takes money.”
“My grandmother came here and
was a cook and bottle washer
because it was the only way she
could get a job. She came to Britain
on a domestic visa. She couldn’t
bring her daughter, my mother,
with her — my mother went on the
Kindertransport to Sweden when
she was 13 and didn’t manage to
get here until she was 17. So it very
much resonates with me,” Kaye
says.
Street artist Bansky’s ‘London Calling’ wall
at the front of the Calais camp, with
refugees sheltering beneath, February 8,
2015. (Alex Goldberg)
Jwan has been reunited with his
wife and two little girls. He has been
offered a place at SOAS, part of
London University, to study postconflict
development, and plans one
day to go back to the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Refugees at Home has
become one of the vital parts of the
asylum and refugee infrastructure in
Britain.
As for Jwan, she says, “He has
become a very dear friend. He has
been so helpful — he gives back.”
Reproduced with grateful thanks, courtesy of
the Times of Israel and Jenni Frazer

Hilary Schuman’s Kitchen - Have a Sweet One…
Rosh Hashanah: at this time of year, it is symbolic to eat sweet foods to bring in a New Year with the hope of
goodness and sweetness to be forthcoming in the months to come.
My recipes this month are to help you attain this, so enjoy apples and honey in their various baked forms.
100g clear honey (I love using
lavender honey)
115g self raising flour – I
have made this using gluten
free flour and it works well
1 beaten egg
100g melted butter
Topping:
2 tbs honey
25g finely chopped walnuts
2tbs demerara sugar
Honey and Ginger
Biscuits
Ingredients:
450g plain flour
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
185g butter or margarine
200g brown sugar
20g demerara sugar
1 egg
¼ cup honey
Method:
Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda,
salt, ginger and cinnamon
Beat butter or margarine until
soft and creamy
Add sugar and beat again
Add egg and honey and mix
well until well combined
Fold in flour etc to form a
dough
Put into a bowl and cover with
cling film and chill for approximately
an hour. This will enable
the dough to firm up
Put oven on at 180ºC
Roll out the dough (which is
easier done in two halves) on
a floured surface to a finger
nail thickness
Cut out rounds with a biscuit
cutter or, as I always do, with
the top of a glass to the
desired size of biscuit
Bake for 10-15 minutes until
just brown and firm to the
touch
They will be soft when first
out of the oven so leave them
for a few minutes and then
transfer to a rack to cool and
harden
If you feel decorative, you can
dribble icing sugar mixed with
lemon juice or orange juice
over them.
I am not giving a recipe for a honey
cake this year but the following two
recipes are representative.
The honey tea cake/bread is
excellent at tea time, served sliced
and spread with butter or just on its
own, and the apple charlotte is a
light, easy to eat dessert
Honey Tea Cake
Ingredients:
75g sultanas
75g raisins
75g dried cranberries
150ml green tea
Method:
Soak the dried fruit, tea and
honey in a bowl either overnight
or for at least four hours
Put oven on at 150ºC
Line a 2 lb loaf tin or two 1lb
loaf tins
Mix the flour into the fruit
mixture
Add the beaten egg and melted
butter. Beat well until well
mixed together
Pour into the prepared loaf tin
[ s ] a n d b a k e f o r
approximately 45/50 minutes
Meanwhile prepare the
topping. Mix the topping
ingredients together and just
when the cake comes out of
the oven, heat the topping
mixture gently and sprinkle
over the top of the cake and
return to the oven for a
further 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and
leave to cool.

Apple Charlotte
Ingredients:
Method:
3 or 4 Bramley cooking apples
4 oz sugar (granulated or
brown)
1 lemon
4 oz breadcrumbs
2 oz butter or margarine
Peel, core and slice the
apples. Add a little water and
the sugar and stew gently
until soft
Add the grated rind and the
juice of the lemon
Grease a fireproof dish and
thickly layer with the breadcrumbs,
then half the cooked
apple
Repeat the layers, finishing
with a top layer of
breadcrumbs
Dot with the butter or
margarine and bake in a hot
oven at 190ºC until the top is
brown and crispy
You can easily double up the
ingredients to make a larger
dessert or make individual
ones by layering up ramekin
dishes and baking at 180ºC
Yom Tovim Food
Titbits
It is usual to eat a pomegranate at
this time of year because hopefully
our good deeds in the forthcoming
year will be as plentiful as the many
seeds.
Here are a couple of ideas to use
them:
Cut a pomegranate into slices
and serve with apple slices
drizzled with honey to toast in
the New Year
Scatter pomegranate seeds
over salads or desserts
Make a salad dressing by
whisking together ¼ cup of
each pomegranate molasses,
balsamic vinegar, olive oil and
honey together with 1tbs of
Dijon mustard and lemon
juice
Round cholas are eaten, rather than
the long braided ones, to hope and
wish for a full round year ahead.
These are often baked with raisins
for added sweetness