Four Corners 3
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The triumph of the human spirit over adversity can Aberdeen’s be extremely humbling... Pride & Joy Recently I helped organise an event for MARK TAYLOR people in the West of Scotland who had David Taylor recently celebrated his benefitted from organ transplants to Bar Mitzvah in Aberdeen Synagogue pay tribute to the organ donors and their families. on 10 July 2004. Both David’s grandfathers took the service, It was an intensely moving occasion, attended by many hundreds of people. something of a tradition in the Muriel Gray, not often given to family as David’s grandfather also emotional display, had a catch in her took the Bar Mitzvah service of voice as she spoke of how a kidney David’s uncle, in Dundee, almost transplant had changed her mother’s twenty five years ago. David’s life. Sam Galbraith told us with his usual grandmother baked her “secret wry wit just how close to death he’d recipe”, extremely moreish strudel been, and how someone else’s misfortune had given him many extra for the Kiddush, just as she had years of political and personal success. done twenty five years ago for the Hundreds of recipients and their Kiddush in Dundee. families came forward with bunches of flowers to be handed out later to the Welcome... families of the donors. ...to the growing newsletter for the scattered But what was even more moving Jews of Scotland. The fringes on the Arba Kanfot because it was so unexpected was the seem to be made of elastic – in this issue we message from the donors. Marsha welcome London as a suburb of Scotland… and Gladstone, mother of the Glasgow Four Corners wings its way to Shetland, teenager murdered in a terrorist Findhorn, Beersheva (Israel) and Co. Cork (Eire) bombing in Tel Aviv, and Ellen Burns, as well as the length and breadth Scotland. whose daughter had been killed in a road accident, both spoke movingly of Thanks to all who gave us valuable feed-back and their loss, and of the hard decision they contributions. If you don’t see what you want in were asked to take at the most awful these pages, please submit alternative material! of times – but what was so remarkable was that both found it in them to We would be delighted to start an ‘ask the Rabbi’ express not resentment but gratitude section for queries of halachic, spiritual, for the opportunity to turn intellectual or community nature, from whatever hopelessness into hope, death into a viewpoint. Our wide range of Rabbinic and other new life for someone else. David started studying for his Bar knowledgeable contacts will be called upon for Acts of charity are important in Judaism Mitzvah in Leicester and completed their specialist advice. No question is silly or as in many other faiths, and the his studies at the “yeshivah” in irrelevant, no job too big or too small for our medieval rabbi Maimonides taught that Alford, Aberdeenshire. At one point capable team! different types of charitable deed have David was so inspired by his Cheder different moral value. Giving in public, PLEASE SEND COMMENTS & CONTRIBUTIONS TO lessons with Rabbi Kanterovitz that for example, ranks very low, for the SCOTTISH COUNCIL OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES he said he wanted to become a motive is suspect, whereas helping JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE, someone to help himself ranks highest. Rabbi. This ambition has since faded 222 FENWICK ROAD, GIFFNOCK, GLASGOW G46 6UE and David now wants to be the next TEL: 0141-577 8208 FAX : 0141-577 8202 Second only to this is charity in which Frank Lloyd Wright. E-MAIL: [email protected] the donor and the recipient don’t know CONTACT: LEAH GRANAT 07887 488 100 one another, for in that case there can David was joined by family, friends FOUR CORNERS IS PRODUCED BY SCoJeC, be no ulterior motive, not even the and members of the local THE UMBRELLA REPRESENTATIVE ORGANISATION OF desire for gratitude. That is the level community. Guests travelled from ALL THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN SCOTLAND. that the transplant donor families have near and far including London, THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS, NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF SCoJeC. attained: they do not know who will Glasgow, Dundee, Beersheva, receive the organs, nor do the Houston and Watford. The gathering FOUR CORNERS IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB recipients know from whom they came. of the clans started on the Friday, www.j-scot.org.uk That is what was symbolised by this and celebrations continued through anonymous exchange of flowers, and I a hectic weekend concluding on knew we had it right when, from the Monday. As David says “it was a bit balcony above, a tear fell on my sleeve. nerve racking but went well”. ISSUE 3 EPHRAIM BOROWSKI, SCoJeC DIRECTOR IS A REGULAR ROSH HASHANAH 5765 CONTRIBUTOR TO THOUGHT FOR THE DAY ON RADIO SEPT 2004 SCOTLAND, ABOVE WAS BROADCAST 13 AUG 2004 Mazal tov! Some useful definitions: THE CORNERS OF JEWDO: A traditional form of self defense based SCOTLAND on talking one’s way out of a tight spot. CONTACT THE FOLLOWING: Dundee CHUTZPAPA: A father who wakes his wife at 4am Paul Spicker: 01382 540 078 so she can change the baby’s diaper. Aberdeen DEJA NU: Having the feeling you’ve seen the Ehud Reiter: 01224 485 601 same exasperated look on your mother’s face Argyll & Highlands but not knowing exactly when. Frank House: 01445 712151 DISORIYENTA: When Aunt Sadie gets lost in a Students Dan Roeback 07951 070 730 department store and strikes up a DESIGN & LAYOUT: [email protected] DESIGN & LAYOUT: conversation with everyone she passes. Edinburgh’s Mikveh Restored What’s in a Name? DR PHILIP MASON: PRESIDENT, EDINBURGH HEBREW CONGREGATION My name is Simon Phillips. In the 1920s, plans were drawn up We were pleased to welcome I’ve been called that or some variant for over 50 years. by the Edinburgh Hebrew so many friends who had come What is a name anyway? An identifier, something your Congregation to build a Synagogue from Glasgow, Gateshead, parents liked, something picked in desperation from in Salisbury Road on the south side Leeds and London to share in a book of names, a random sequence of letters these of the city. Their aim was to build a the rededication and reception. days? Some people suggest that it becomes part of structure ‘of an imposing nature, For all the pride felt by those the character of the person named. What if the name and fit to be ranked among the present, the restoration could and the character don’t really match? beautiful houses of worship of the not have proceeded if it hadn’t Some time ago, I began to feel regret that my name, city’. Today all who approach and been for the grant received fine though it was, lacked continuity with my family. enter the Synagogue, whether local from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The name Phillips only dated from my father’s time although I have heard that my grandparents did use or visitors, never fail to remark how the very generous legacy the name in the later years of their lives. My paternal beautiful a building it is – especially received from the will of the grandfather was Myer Lipkowitz – born I believe following the extensive late Betty Franklin and the somewhere around the Russian/Polish border area. refurbishment that took place over guidance, assistance and All I ever knew with any degree of certainty was that the past year. generosity of a great number he arrived in England around 1910, married Lily White of people including Rabbi David (original name unreadable from a Russian birth Sedley, Dayan Gukovitzki, Rabbi certificate) in the East London Synagogue and as a Married women immerse Weiss, B Z Dunner, Mrs M. result, my father Isaac Philip Lipkowitz was born in in the mikveh – a pool of Whiteson, The Ten Trust, and Dr 1916. water – on a monthly basis, Ian Leifer – to whom we shall Here follows a “dark ages” period. I know nothing of whilst some Chassidic men always be very grateful. the intervening years except that my parents married dip daily. There are also and several days later, my father took ship for India smaller mikvaot for ADAPTED FROM AN ARTICLE IN THE where he spent the next 5 years in the required service EDINBURGH STAR FEBRUARY 2004 of His Majesty and having as good a time as was dipping cooking utensils possible under the circumstances. 1947 saw him before their first use. Anyone wishing to use return to England and in 1948, he formally renounced the Edinburgh Mikveh his name in favour of Philip Phillips. The Mikveh is a building to the rear please contact Valerie I was born in 1951 – Simon Phillips. Until about the age of the complex. Unused for a Simpson, 0131 667 1521. of 10 I remained in ignorance of the family name but eventually found out while attending my cousin’s Bar number of years it had fallen into a Glasgow also has a Mitzvah – the first time we ever met! Ten years later, we serious state of disrepair. Although met again, at his wedding and finally, a few years later, the ritual bath within the Mikveh Mikveh! Contact Margalit at his mother’s funeral. had been brought back into use a Borowski, 07831 104110 The years passed by, I won’t say placidly, until in 2003, few years ago, the building itself still ten years after my Father’s death, I discovered several required renovation.