A Busy Month at the Synagogue Celebrate Shavuot Saturday evening, 19 May Service at 7.30 pm, followed by Tikkun Leyl (study session) with cheesecake! Festival service, At the Communal Seder the Rabbi presented prizes to the finders of the Sunday 20 May, hidden afikomen 10.30 am
In This Month’s Highlight View from the Chair...... 2 Jewish Farming Week...... 2 Inheritors and Creators...... 3 RJ distance learning for conversion classes...... 3 The meaning of Shavuot...... 3 Cheder News...... 4 Social Centre News...... 4 AJEX film show...... 5 On the last day of the Cheder term the children of the Gan made afikomen SE10 and Beyond...... 5 covers in preparation for their Pesach sedarim Remembering Bob Harmes...... 5 Social and Personal...... 6 Bromley Three Faiths Forum...... 6 Leaving Party for the Rabbi...... 6 Shemesh Summer Camp...... 6 Holocaust Survivor Centre Project.....6 Surviving in Warsaw...... 7 Lehrhaus at Leo Baeck College...... 8 We were there too...... 8 Services...... 8 Bromley Beit Midrash...... 8 CCJ Anniversary Event...... 8 Dates for Your Diary...... 9 During the Yom Hashoah service on the first day of the new Cheder term Chagigah 2018...... 9 the children of each class kindled memorial lights in turn Eleanor Marx play...... 10
May 2018 - Shavuot 5778 Advertisements...... 10 A Catalogue of Chairs - View from the Chair Sadeh by Michelle Brooks Evans The field and all that are in it will hen I was asked to write “View Another chair recently enjoyed by a lot rejoice Wfrom the Chair” this month I of us was at the Communal Seder at shul on thought, “What am I going to write 31 March. Once again the organisation by Jewish farming week about?” However I decided to take a Harriet Posner and her many helpers was 14 - 20 May 2018 literal approach and tell you about the impressive. Rabbi Jason led the service and views from a few chairs in my life, and we were lucky to have Vicki leading us in hence a bit about me. song. I found myself sitting in a shul that One of the first chairs I ever remember I first visited when I was 15. However, was in the garden of my grandparents’ as I looked around I was sitting with my courtyard in Tehran, Iran. During the long husband and four children: Lili, Esther, summer months that we used to spend Lloyd and Ezra. I reflect on Judaism’s there much of our time was spent outside. positive perspective on the unending circle My grandparents lived in a house with of life and the continuity of generations. Would you love to try out farming, a courtyard that was shared with mostly Even at the close of a period of mourning, growing vegetables and getting your Muslim neighbours. As my brother and one Jew says to another, “Af simchas” – let hands dirty? Are you interested in I were the youngest grandchildren there us come together again at times of joy. Just finding out what Jewish farming means we had our own little chairs. These were after a baby boy undergoes circumcision, and how Sadeh can nourish your mind, always placed under the tree for shade, the tension in the room is often released in body and soul? and the view was of a water fountain and laughter as the mohel wishes his parents What will I learn? jasmine growing everywhere. We spent the joy of bringing their son to the wedding In the field: Sadeh farm is based on many magical times with our family in Iran. canopy. permaculture and no dig systems. Get The beginning of Jewish history in What might be seen as a silly blessing ready to get muddy, learn how to feed Iran dates back to late biblical times. The for an eight-day-old infant actually reflects the soil and grow veggies. books of Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah a communal orientation filled with hope. Jewish education: Learn about earth- all contain references to the life and The ritual belongs not only to the child’s based Judaism, our agricultural experiences of Jews in Iran. In the book of family, but also reminds others present of traditions and the spirituality of Ezra, the Persian kings were credited with farming. Our Jewish educator, Rachel similar ceremonies held, so this moment allowing and helping the Jews to return to Rose Reid, Kohenet, will be leading links them to other Jews across time, tying Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. This this journey. took place in the late 6th century BCE and, their personal history with that of the Jewish people. Land and food preservation education: by this time, there was a well-established explore land ownership, our current Jewish community in what was then called My son Lloyd celebrated his bar systems and how to preserve and keep Persia. The number of Jews in Iran has mitzvah on 14 April. This was the Shabbat the food we grow. dwindled and some put it as low as 8,500. corresponding to Israel’s 70th year of its Shavuot The majority now live in either Israel or independence. It was wonderful to see the This week will conclude with a Shavuot- Los Angeles. Being of Persian Jewish shul filled to bursting point, with family, focused Shabbat, where we will be heritage has certainly greatly influenced friends and community coming together. inviting others to join us. my life, especially with food and music. Yom Ha’Atzmaut commemorates when Many of the Ashkenazi traditions in this David Ben-Gurion, who was Israel’s first This programme is sponsored by Moishe House. country were alien to me and, until I came prime minister, publicly read Israel’s to Bromley shul, I had never had a fish ball Declaration of Independence. So happy The programme takes place over or gefilte fish in my life. anniversary to Israel and l’chaim as you Shavuot and, though we will wrap the The view from the chairs at my celebrate life. The festivities of Lloyd’s programme up Sunday night, there will grandparents’ house in Florida played a bar mitzvah were continued in the evening be an option to stay an extra day for those who would like to keep second big part of my life. When my grandparents when he was carried high on a chair to Hava day Shavuot. Food, peace, company left Tehran they settled in Florida with Nagila. I think his view from the chair and good walks will all be available. the rest of my uncles, aunts and cousins. might have been a bit scary, for those of They were split with other cousins going you who know Lloyd, this was a great feat No experience needed! to Los Angeles. Still the family stuck to of strength as he is a 6 foot rugby player! Cost of the programme is £120, though its sacrosanct Friday night Shabbat dinners, Lifting the chair is all about singling the bar no-one will be turned away for lack where my grandma would cook all week. mitvah out for celebration and having fun. of funds. Her house and many chairs were open to Please email talia.chain@sadehfarm. everyone and her cooking was famous, The final chair I am going to mention is co.uk for an application form if you with up to 25 of us at the dinner table. The the one at the AGM in March. Here I was would like to apply. typical Shabbat dinner was rice, chicken honoured to become joint Vice Chair. So I and gondi, which is like a dumpling made look forward to sharing many views from You have to be over 18 to attend this from ground chicken or veal with chickpea many chairs with many of you. programme. flour. Michelle Brooks Evans
Copy date for June Highlight: Monday 14 May 2 Inheritors and Creators by Rabbi Jason Holtz Reform Judaism enhances his is my penultimate Highlight article, and use it to craft conversion classes with Tand I am writing it knowing that when Jewish life now and distance learning my final column is printed for the June for the future. Torah eform Judaism has just launched an Highlight, I will have already said goodbye. shouldn’t be seen as Rinnovative online learning programme Jodi and I are sad to be leaving, and we a finished product, for conversion candidates. couldn’t have asked for a better synagogue meant to be locked The online sessions, led by Rabbi Sybil over the past five years. But this is not my away and stunted. We Sheridan, are intended to complement last Highlight column, so onwards to an say, “Etz Chayim Hi – regular classes arranged and taught in otherwise “regular” column. It is a Tree of Life — a Living tree”. We synagogue communities. They will benefit must nurture Torah to grow into the future. This month is Shavuot, the festival that students living in remote areas or smaller In that way, Jewish life will be all the better celebrates the giving of the Torah, so I’d communities and those who might be for new expressions, and so will we, as we like to share with you my favourite story constrained by illness or disability. Students allow our creative impulses to flourish. about the Torah. It comes from a midrashic will have the support of a sponsoring work called Seder Eliyahu Rabbah. Reform Judaism recognizes the truth of rabbi and it is expected that all candidates Once there was a king who had two this story better than anyone. Reform isn’t participate in some form of local Jewish subjects that he loved. Each subject, in something to apologize for, it’s something community activities and services. to be celebrated and be overjoyed about. turn, loved the king. The king decided Before the candidates appear before the Judaism isn’t the National Trust—trying to give each subject a gift. They both Beit Din they must have attended in person so hard to preserve the past of a house received an identical amount of gold, a number of Shabbat services and all the that it can no longer be lived in and that silver, wool, wood, yarn, fabric, you main festivals at an established Reform the furniture has signs that say, “Keep name it. congregation. off!” Rather, it is the deepest creative The first subject decided that the gift expression of Jews, inspired by our Torah Watching and participating in streamed was so valuable and precious that he inheritance, but not limited by preserving services, especially with a local group, created a space to store and preserve it in its current form. is also beneficial; however, except for in it. He often went to look at and admire exceptional circumstances, this cannot be May we all be both inheritors of the all the precious materials gifted to seen as a substitute for personal attendance. him, but did nothing more with them. Jewish past as well as creators of the Jewish future. Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick, Convenor of the The second subject also loved the gift, Rabbi Jason Holtz Reform Beit Din said: “Reform Judaism yet he took a different approach. He welcomes potential converts to Judaism took the gold, silver, wool, wood, yarn, Tikkun Leyl - The Jewish with compassion, combining modernity fabric, etc. and used them to create All-Nighter at Sadeh, with Jewish tradition. In the past we have new sculptures and works of art. By exceptionally conducted Beit Din hearings Sat - Sun, 19 - 20 May the time he finished, nothing of the gift by Skype and I am delighted that we are was left in its original form. The Tikkun Leyl will start at 9 pm able to expand the boundaries of inclusion One day the king decided to visit each and we will make Havdalah in this innovative way. of the subjects. He went to the first together. Nevertheless, Judaism is a communal and asked what he had done with the Shavuot is one of the three main Jewish tradition and it is vital that candidates gift. That subject took the king and harvest festivals. The tradition is to stay can also be present in a community to showed him how he had preserved experience the reading of the Torah, hear the gift and told him how he regularly up all night learning, talking, singing and eating to remember the ancient story of the shofar, feel the changing atmosphere went to appreciate and look at all the of the services through the day on Yom how the Jewish people gathered at Sinai fine materials given to him. The king Kippur, wave a lulav and experience a to receive the Torah was disappointed. Next, the king went Passover Seder.” to the second subject and asked him Snacks, drinks and other refreshments will also what he had done with the gift. be provided to keep our spirits high. The Meaning of Shavuot The second subject showed him new Shavuot day will consist of walks, meals, The Kotzker Rabbi gave two reasons for works of art and new sculptures. The singing, alternative services, peace and our naming the Feast of Shavuot ‘The Time king was overjoyed to see how his gift parades. There is also an option to stay of the Giving of our Torah’, and not ‘The fuelled his subject’s creativity. Time of Our Receiving the Torah.’ an extra day if you keep two days of Yom I see this story as a great metaphor Tov. For those who are Shomer Shabbat, The first reason is that while the Torah was for Torah and Jewish tradition. We have there is also the option to come on Friday given us in the time of Moses, we continue to receive the Torah all the time since then. inherited thousands of years of Jewish and share our Shabbat with us. tradition and teaching. This inheritance The second reason is that, while the is like the gold, silver, etc. given by the For booking details see the article on page Torah was given to every Jew alike, it was king to his beloved subjects. For some, 3 of this Highlight. not received by everyone in equal propor- they take that inheritance and appreciate We will be providing food, snacks, sessions, tion, since the receiving depends upon the it, but otherwise don’t do anything with beds and fun! We will send packing lists power of understanding in each individual. it. For us, I hope, we take that inheritance nearer the time. Hasidic
Highlight, May 2018 - Iyar/Sivan 5778 3 Cheder News Social Centre News Hello, all of you interested in our t the meeting of the Social Cheder News! All parents please note: ACentre on Wednesday, 28 March, We are entering a part of our calendar a delicious lunch of salmon and full of bank holidays and half terms. fruit salad in celebration of Bernie This means that the Cheder’s “opening Citron’s birthday (thanks Bernie!) hours” can become a bit unpredictable- was followed by a talk from Faye please check the calendar or the website Routledge of Deaf Access on coping if you’re unsure whether or not Cheder with hearing loss. Profoundly deaf is open on any given Sunday. from infancy, Faye gave the talk in 1. Cheder began with a very moving sign language expertly interpreted by memorial service for Yom Hashoah. Vicki Ashmore. She impressed us I was so pleased to see so many par- by telling of her earlier life at school ents stay and take part in the service, and university and how she copes so and I’m sure your children noticed magnificently with her lack of hearing. too. Unfortunately our speaker, a We learnt the anatomy of the ear, the survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, was Enjoying the Communal Seder on 31 March minerals we should include in our diet unwell and could not join us. Many July, at Sadeh Farm! We’ll organ- to combat or delay hearing loss and thanks to Ruth Rolle for reading how to be good communicators with ise transport from the Cheder, but if her story to us, and putting a human those of reduced hearing. Tinnitus, face to this part of our history for the you live around Orpington you may which can be a distressing aspect of children. be better off meeting us there. We’ll hearing impairment, was also dealt 2. We also celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut be spending the morning learning with. - Israeli Independence Day with a about working the farm and all about We learned how and where to seek day of food and activities centered advice, obtain helpful equipment and around Israel. The children had a bees, all under the theme of Olam how to manage a visit to the theatre fantastic time celebrating all things Chesed Yibaneh (“A World of Kind- or cinema. I had never heard of Israeli! ness will be Built”). Keep your eyes Stagetext, a charity which provides 3. Congratulations are in order: Last open for emails to follow shortly. captioning and live subtitling services term, your children and their Tzeda- to theatres and arts venues. We also kah money managed to raise £240 Last but not least, please check the Security heard that our local cinema may be for Bliss, a charity which supports ill Rota on this page to see if we are expecting able to show accessible subtitled films and premature babies. Thank you so you to show up for security. If you realize for hearing loss sufferers. Our thanks much for supporting your children’s you cannot attend on the day you’ve been efforts to raise money for this worthy to Faye for a very interesting and allocated, please contact Katia Pisetzky: cause. Our next charity chosen by informative session and to Vicki for Kittah Chet is called the Eagle [email protected] arranging it for us. Heights Wildlife Foundation. Enjoy a happy and healthy May, Barbara Kurtz Dianne Mathews adds: 4. It’s time for our next Children’s Vicki, Cheder Head Teacher Service, this time on Sunday, 20 We met again on 11 April, which was a Cheder Security Rota May in honour of Shavuot! The rather dull day, but Andreas’ exercises whole community will be invited to Kayitz/Summer Term wakened us and the day was spiced up watch the children sing and recite Sundays with a very tasty vegetable tagine for poems and prayers, with Kittah Chet 6 May Judy/David Taylor lunch. taking a leading role. Please do join 13 May Michael Abrahams We had been expecting a musical your children and show them why entertainment by David Coronel and Danielle/David synagogue is important to you too. 20 May Tom Shiels but, unfortunately, David Woodward Hooray Cheder (our parent group) was unwell. However Tom carried on leader Michelle Brooks Evans will 27 May Michelle Brooks Evans and played some recordings, telling be in touch to let you know what to 3 June Half term us about the musicians and vocalists bring to our Bring and Share Kid- Sune Shulman/Aaron and reminding us all of our youth. As 10 June dush, which will feature cheesecake Markowitz always, this was really enjoyable and heavily, I’m sure. If you’d like to Gary Brown/Chiara we thank Tom, wish David well and contact her first, just email her at 17 June Messineo look forward to them coming again [email protected] 24 June Philip/Joanna Burchill later in the year. 5. And now save the date: Our next Social Centre Diary Dates for May Cheder School Trip will take place 1 July Benjie/Kerry Butler Wednesdays, 9 and 23, 10.30 am – on the last day of Cheder, Sunday, 8 8 July Janine/Len Campling 2.30 pm in the Garden Room.
Copy date for June Highlight: Monday 14 May 4 AJEX film show Remembering Bob Harmes by his son, David Harmes
Sunday, 6 May, at 2.30 pm time to share one from a few years ago Wimbledon Synagogue, 1 Queensmere now… Road, Wimbledon, SW19 Price £8 per person There’s something for all at Bromley Shul South West London & Surrey branch of AJEX invites you to a showing of the video Don’t mope at home, come alive ‘Partners in this Great Enterprise’ With a ramble and pub lunch with BR5. But if your yearning is for study and 2 November 2017 was the centenary of learning, the Balfour Declaration. There were Forget the walks, forget the pubs, many celebrations, including a major There’s Torah Study and the two book event at the Albert Hall organised by a clubs. group of Christian leaders and attended by 3,500 people, including the Israeli There’s education and fun for the kids Ambassador. The evening’s programme at Cheder. consisted of entertainment and a recounting All sorts of activities – even a model of the years and events that led up to the Seder. Whilst the Social Centre is for a more British government’s declaration in 1917 Bob Harmes at the Communal Seder in mature bunch, supporting the establishment of a home for 2014 With interesting talks and a jolly good the Jewish people in Palestine. Robert (Bob) Harmes died peacefully lunch. on Wednesday, 4 April, aged 83, at This DVD was recorded live at the Albert Of course, you could always decide to Nightingale Care Home, where he lived Hall event. Time restraints mean that only go with his wife Madeleine. the first part of the evening’s programme To view the occasional Israeli Film can be shown. Bob grew up from humble Show. All are invited beginnings in Teddington, his father a It caters for Jewish film-lovers’ needs. milkman and his mother a housewife. Film to be followed by the usual excellent It’s organised so efficiently by the He had an older sister, Vi, and brother, Frieds. AJEX tea! Peter, who both predeceased him. If you are interested in attending the Editor To find out what’s on, it’s Highlight For his National Service, he went to you’ll need. of Highlight ([email protected]) will Malaya and served in the Intelligence be pleased to email you a booking form. Barbara’s ‘View From The Chair’ is Department. When his time was up and always a good read. he came home, he had somewhat lost his There’s something on almost every day. SE10 and Beyond appetite for further education and instead Discover whose family has increased; got a job in motor insurance, with a who has sadly passed away. On Friday, 6 April we met in Lloyds syndicate. Whilst travelling into Or why not join the service on Saturday Blackheath. We shared a delicious the city for work, he met Madeleine morn? Passover meal with contributions and this meeting turned into a devoted It will restore the spirit if you’re feeling marriage lasting more than 57 years. from all who attended. We managed forlorn. to squeeze a dozen of us around the In the latter part of the 1970s, There’s no pressure and no need to career advancement led to a move to pine. table, and we enjoyed sharing our Hayes in Bromley, where they joined Taste the sweetness of life in the family Passover stories and customs. Bromley Reform Synagogue, feeling Kiddush wine! We were joined by a few new faces, very much at home with the warmth All are welcome at Bromley Shul, rich which was lovely, and of course, the and friendliness of the congregation. or stony broke. regulars boosted our numbers. When my parents initially married, Our treasure is our Rabbi – that super the ceremony was held in a registry Tony bloke! We will next meet in Greenwich on office as Mum was Jewish and Dad There’s something for all at Bromley Wednesday, 23 May for an evening was Christian. A few years later, Dad Shul. decided he felt the time was right to of Jewish jokes and humour. Dad has left this world a richer place for convert. In latter times this allowed my his part in it. Our group is a friendly informal parents to renew their vows in Bromley The above is an abridged version of the group, open to all Jewish affiliations Reform Synagogue, surrounded by all eulogy read at Bob’s funeral. or none at all, with a shared Jewish their friends – a celebration they both Madeleine and David would like to identity. So if you would like to cherished. thank everyone for their kind wishes One last thing to mention about Dad know more or feel like coming along, and express the hope that the memory was his love (and considerable skill) at just contact Michelle Brooks Evans of Bob’s name will be a blessing for writing poems. This seems the perfect through the synagogue. others…
Highlight, May 2018 - Iyar/Sivan 5778 5 Machane Shemesh Social and Personal (Shemesh Summer Camp 5778) BIRTH - Proud grandparents Suzanne and Leaving party for the Ian Burgess are delighted to announce the Rabbi, Jodi and Asher Shemesh is the summer camp for RSY- safe arrival of Caitlin Noa, a daughter for Netzer! Shemesh is a chance for your child We are having a very British to spend two weeks (or 10 days if on Briyah Emma (née Burgess) and Joel. afternoon tea party with tea/ – age 10-11) in a Reform community. On DEATHS - We are very sad to announce coffee, finger sandwiches, scones, each camp there is a range of fun activities the death of our member Robert (Bob) Victoria sponge, cakes, and jelly to join in with, as well as space to chill out Harmes in Nightingale House on 4 April and relax! and extend sincere condolences to his widow (vegetarian) and ice cream on Our volunteer leaders were themselves Madeleine and son David and his family. A Sunday, 6 May from 3 to 5 pm eulogy to Bob appears on p. 6 of Highlight. participants on Shemesh and have been in the Garden Room involved in RSY-Netzer for a number of We were also very sad to learn of the death So come and wish the Rabbi and years. Our leaders provide a friendly face of our member Bertha Sokoloff at her his family farewell and good luck. to educate, inspire and encourage your residential home in Pinner on 16 April and children. All this while being part of an Please contact Michelle Brooks extend sincere condolences to her daughters, active, friendly and supportive RSY-Netzer Sally and Ruth, and their families. Evans if you can help her make Community. this an afternoon to remember on Just before going to press we learned of It’s not yet too late to sign up and have the death of our founder member, Bernice [email protected] or an incredible summer with RSY-Netzer! Kingsley, widow of the late Bobby 07956 234309. To apply and for more information go Kingsley, in Nottingham. We extend sincere Also please let to: rsy-netzer.org.uk/shemesh-summer- condolences to Bernice and Bobby’s sons, Michelle know if camp, or pick up an application form in Paul and John, and their families. the synagogue. May the memories of Bob, Bertha and you will be coming. Bernice all be for a blessing. Thanks to the congregation Education Committee News GET WELL SOON - Pauline Jeffree writes: Get well soon to: Michelle Brooks A Date for your Diary Evans, Rosalind Clayton, Renee Gertski, Annual Jubilee Lecture Jean Sheldon and others known to us for Sunday, 15 July whom this is a challenging time. Thanks for condolences - Madeleine We look forward to welcoming and David Harmes would like to thank Elizabeth Harris-Sawczenko everyone who attended the funeral of the Director of CCJ late Bob Harmes, visited Nightingale or ‘One woman’s story after living sent their kind wishes of condolence. Their in Jerusalem for 23 years’ kind thoughts and good wishes have been Lloyd Evans with his parents after his bar greatly appreciated. Further details nearer the date mitzvah on Saturday, 14 April. LEAVING US - We wish Bon Voyage Heartfelt thanks to our family, friends Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivor and God Speed to Rabbi Jason Holtz, and community who came to celebrate Centre’s Testimony Project Jodi and Asher, who are returning to the Lloyd’s bar mitzvah with us on Saturday United States after nearly five years of The Testimony Project of the Holocaust 14 April. Special thanks go to Matthew Survivor Centre, which is run by Jewish serving our congregation. Jason is taking de Lange for his learned teaching, to the up a new post with a Reform congregation Care, has now been in existence for over Rabbi, choir and kiddush helpers, and to sixteen years. in Atlanta, Georgia. We look forward to Bob for his amazing photos. hearing from him and how he and his family It has a small but dedicated group of are progressing from time to time. Michelle, Bill, Lili, Esther, Lloyd and volunteers, who are trained to carry out Ezra. interviews for the Project, usually at the Bromley 3 Faiths Forum interviewee’s home and recorded onto a Join Rabbi Jason Holtz, Rev. digital recording machine. Andrew McClellan and Dr Omar The centre is keen to interview people Taha at the Al-Emaan Centre who can give these eye witness accounts, Lots of our members, from young children whether they came to Britain before or after on Wednesday, 9 May from the Second World War. 7:30 pm as the panel discuss to older adults, participate in interesting the faith and teachings of their events, but only a handful tell us about For more information, please contact Lesley Urbach [email protected], them before it is too late for others to respective traditions. 020 8346 2257 or Helen Norman at the For more details, contact Rabbi enjoy them too. Tell everyone at Holocaust Survivor Centre - Holtz through the synagogue. [email protected] [email protected]
Copy date for June Highlight: Monday 14 May 6 Surviving in Warsaw – my Wartime Experiences by Wlodka Blit Robertson y twin sister Nelly and I were born More and more people were caught and in Warsaw in 1931. In August 1939, taken in cattle trucks to the concentration weM were with my parents near Zakopane. and extermination camps, mainly to Rumours of a German invasion meant that Treblinka which was near Warsaw. we had to cut short our holiday and hurry Occasionally, someone would escape and home to Warsaw where we lived in a small tell terrible stories of gassings. We knew not apartment. Within days war broke out, to bother to take belongings with us if we and Warsaw was subjected to incendiary were caught. We knew we would be killed. bomb raids. My mother’s family was still together. My parents decided that they had to As the Ghetto was emptied, we moved leave Warsaw because of their known to other abandoned apartments and our political activities. My father was a uncles and grandfather built other bunkers. leading member of the Jewish socialist My father’s parents and sister had already Bund organisation and my mother was been taken away to be murdered. Because headmistress of a Yiddish primary school The Blit family remembered on the 45 Aid of my parents’ connection with the Jewish and active in Poale Zion. They thought Society Holocaust Survivors quilt underground organisation ZOB through that taking young children on foot to the Poale Zion and the Bund, Michael Russian frontier, along with thousands hostage-taking, typhus, overcrowding, Klepfisz, who was a Bundist courier on of other fleeing people, would be too homelessness, people dead from hunger in the Aryan side (outside the Ghetto), found dangerous. We were therefore left with the streets. Hungry children used to snatch a Polish Catholic family who for payment our grandparents, aunts and uncle, and parcels from passers-by and immediately agreed to shelter my sister and myself at cousins Jerzy and Pavel aged fifteen and stuff the contents in their mouths, hoping great risk to themselves. four. When my parents were leaving, my that it was food. But there were also secret At night, we were smuggled out of the uncle Jakob cried; I knew then that awful self-help committees, secret schools, secret Ghetto, climbing a ladder over the Ghetto things were happening. libraries, synagogues and clandestine wall. The policemen and Ukrainian soldiers Then, following the Russo-German political organisations. My mother was in were bribed . Other people were smuggling pact, Soviet troops invaded Poland from charge of one the few soup kitchens for food and arms at the same time. We were the east and my parents found themselves starving children. There I saw many of my dressed in double clothes and told that now in Russian-occupied Poland. My mother school friends, swollen from hunger. My we had new documents and new names and managed to smuggle herself back to sister and I spent most days playing with were never to mention to anyone who we Warsaw to be with us. My father, Lucjan other children in our courtyard. really were. The decision that we should Blit, also tried to get back to Warsaw to help Then posters appeared in the Ghetto leave the Ghetto was taken so quickly that I with the underground organisation of the announcing the evacuation of everyone cannot remember saying goodbye properly Bund. But he was caught by the Russians to ‘work camps’ somewhere in the east, to my family. and imprisoned in a labour camp until with only those who were working for The Polish family, Dubiel, were kind to 1942, when he was released and joined the Germans being exempted. We soon us and very devoted to Michael Klepfisz, the Polish army and eventually came to knew that these were extermination camps. whom they knew from before the war. England in 1943. After my mother’s return People were obviously terrified. My family From the window of their apartment we to Warsaw, we moved in with my paternal built a bunker in the cellar with a hidden could see over the Ghetto wall and often grandparents. They had a large apartment entry and we used to run there and hide when our mother would come in the evenings and but we all lived in one room because the the raids began. We could hear the Germans walk discreetly on the other side of the wall. winter of 1940 was very cold and fuel was and Ukrainians shouting for everyone to For a short time, Michael Klepfisz shared in short supply. assemble in the courtyard or be shot. My the same apartment and talked to us about As soon as the Germans occupied mother first had exemption papers from the his smuggling of arms into the Ghetto and Warsaw, they began issuing anti-Jewish Jewish Council because of her work. But making incendiary bottles for the Jewish laws. I remember being chased by gangs as we watched our neighbours being taken underground. away, some quietly, some struggling, we of Polish hooligans, organised by the From We Remember: Child Survivors of Germans. A high brick wall topped with understood that these bits of paper would not save us for long. the Holocaust Speak barbed wire was constructed around a https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Remember- My grandfather gave away his small quarter of Warsaw, which became the Child-Survivors-Holocaust/dp/1848767870 Ghetto. We had to move there. My mother’s metal factory to the German industrialist family, my grandparents, aunts and uncles Toebbens, hoping to get in return some This text was delivered on behalf of and two cousins, already lived in that part protection from the raids and some food Wlodka Blit Robertson by Ruth Rolle at of Warsaw, and we moved in with them. for the family grown-ups who worked the Yom Hashoah service on 15 April and My father’s parents found a room in another there. The factory repaired arms and reproduced in Highlight with her kind part of the Ghetto. mended helmets brought back from the permission. Conditions in the Ghetto were Russian front. To be continued in the June issue of appalling – random shootings, beatings, Highlight.
Highlight, May 2018 - Iyar/Sivan 5778 7 LEHRHAUS The Leo Baeck College Lehrhaus SERVICES programme is designed to promote the May 2017 – Iyar/Sivan 5778 development and growth of adult Jewish Fridays at 7 pm, unless otherwise stated. learning for 21st Century Jews. Saturdays at 10.30 am, unless otherwise stated All our courses are taught by our outstand- ing faculty, which we hope will entice you Thursday 3 May Lag B’Omer (18 Iyar) to join us. Friday 4 May Courses at Leo Baeck College: Saturday 5 May Behar (20 Iyar) Rabbi Dr Frank Dabba Smith: Jews and Photography - 4-week course, Friday 11 May Thursdays, 3-24 May. Saturday 12 May Bechukotai (27 Iyar) Susannah Alexander: Tuesday 15 May Rosh Chodesh Sivan It’s Not All Lox & Bagels: A Historical, Cultural and Gastronomic Overview of Friday 18 May Jewish Culinary Traditions - 4-week Saturday 19 May Bamidbar (5 Sivan) course, Mondays, 2-25 June Saturday 19 May Erev Shavuot - Service at 7.30 pm, If you have any questions, please contact followed by Tikkun Leyl Jarek: [email protected], 020 8349 5600. Sunday 20 May SHAVUOT - Festival service at 10.30 am in the Synagogue We very much look forward to having you study with us. Friday 25 May Dr Jo-Ann Myers Saturday 26 May Naso (12 Sivan) Director of Jewish Education All details of the courses, including start dates, prices and registration, can be Bromley Beit Midrash – Council of Christians and Jews found on our website at: www.lbc.ac.uk Adult Learning South East London Branch Leo Baeck College, Sunday, 13 May, The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, Special Event for 75th 10 am in the synagogue 80 East End Road, London N3 2SY Anniversary of CCJ [email protected] 020 8349 5600 Modern (and Postmodern) Jewish Thought Tuesday, 8 May at 8.00 pm We were there too: We often say that Judaism is more Refreshments from 7.45 pm London Jews in the First about what we do than what we think at St Stephen’s Church, or believe. But that’s not entirely fair College Road, SE21 World War to the role of Jewish philosophy and (beside Sydenham Hill railway We are aiming to create a permanent theology, which helps to explain the station) significance of Jewish life—the reason record of the lives of London’s Jewish “75 years of thinking in men and women and their families, both why sometimes being as important as how the UK on how to deliver in the military and on the Home Front, the explanation of . For thousands of years, Jewish teachers have tried to religious education during 1914-1919, ensuring that their explain what they believe, why they – Challenges and stories are not lost for future generations. believe it and why it’s important. That Possibilities” Whatever your age, knowledge of the tradition has continued in the modern Lesley Prior, Senior Lecturer in (and what some call the post-modern) First World War, research experience or Religious Education at University period. Over two weeks, we’ll look at a understanding of computers, if you have of Roehampton, London a family member who lived in London small handful of significant, influential Rabbi Dr Michael Shire, Dean during the war, or are interested to and diverse Jewish thinkers and discuss their ideas. and Professor of Jewish Education, research a name on the Book of Honour, a Shoolman Graduate School of Synagogue Board, a gravestone or a host Judaism Today and Tomorrow: Why be Jewish and do Jewish in 2018 Jewish Education and Jewish of other memorials then we will help you and beyond? We’ll look at what a few Studies, Hebrew College Boston, to find out more about them and build a others have had to say, but be prepared to who will be participating online personal record. share your own thoughts as well. Also, For further If you would like more information ask Rabbi Holtz in his final Bromley details, please about the project or the website, please Beit Midrash session anything and contact Stephen email [email protected] and everything before he heads out home Weil through the one of the team will be in touch. Sunday, 13 May from 10:00 am. synagogue.
Copy date for June Highlight: Monday 14 May 8 Dates for Your Diary May June T 1 F 1 W 2 S 2 Beha’alotecha S 3 Th 3 Talmud Study Group, 10.30-11.45 am at the Shul M 4 F 4 T 5 S 5 Behar W 6 S 6 Farewell Tea Party for Rabbi Jason Th 7 Holtz and his family, 3-5 pm at the Shul F 8 M 7 Jewish Women’s Week coffee morning S 9 Shelach Lecha from 10.30 am at Marilyn’s in Beckenham S 10 T 8 CCJ anniversary event, 7.30 for 8 pm at M 11 St Stephen’s Church, College Road, SE21 T 12 W 9 Social Centre, 10.30 am to 2.30 pm at W 13 Social Centre, 10.30 am to 2.30 pm at the Shul the Shul 3 Faiths Forum - Discussion, 7.30 pm Th 14 Rosh Chodesh Tammuz at the Al-Emaan Centre F 15 Th 10 S 16 Korach F 11 S 17 S 12 Bechukotai M 18 S 13 Beit Midrash - 10 am at the Shul T 19 M 14 Jewish Farming Week begins at Sadeh W 20 T 15 Rosh Chodesh Sivan Th 21 W 16 F 22 Chagigah 2018 begins at Eastwood Hall, Nottingham Th 17 Knit & Natter, 10 to 12 noon at Pauline’s Talmud Study, 10.30-11.45 am at the Shul S 23 Chukkat F 18 S 24 25 S 19 Bamidbar M Erev Shavuot - Service at 7.30 pm T 26 followed by Tikkun Leyl W 27 Social Centre, 10.30 am to 2.30 pm at S 20 SHAVUOT - Festival service at 10.30 am the Shul M 21 Th 28 T 22 F 29 W 23 Social Centre, 10.30 am to 2.30 pm at S 30 Balak the Shul SE10 and beyond - Meeting in Greenwich on Jewish humour Th 24 F 25 S 26 Naso Chagigah is our biennial celebration of Reform Judaism. S 27 WIZO Bridge/Games/Cards afternoon, Chagigah means just that: a celebration. It reflects the special 3-6 pm in Beckenham atmosphere we will create over a weekend away, celebrating M 28 Reform Judaism and being part of something bigger. We look forward to welcoming you as one big community for Chagigah T 29 2018, 22-24 June at Eastwood Hall near Nottingham. W 30 For more information or any questions about Chagigah 2018 Th 31 please email [email protected]
Highlight, May 2018 - Iyar/Sivan 5778 9 A constituent of Reform Judaism – www.reformjudaism.org.uk
SPONTANEOUS PRODUCTIONS In association with Kirkdale Bookshop presents ELEANOR MARX The Jewess of Jews Walk BACK PAIN? An original drama by Lucy Kaufman We offer effective treatment for Produced and directed by Jonathan Kaufman back and neck problems, Starring Sarah Whitehouse and Oliver Messenger, sciatica, Simeon Oakes, Kirsten Moore and Robert Maskell sports injuries and much more. 8pm Wed-Sat*, 18 APRIL - 12 MAY Andreas Jochim DO MSc (*not Thurs 3 May. Extra show Tues 1 May) Charlotte Parker M.Ost UPSTAIRS AT THE SYDENHAM CENTRE Michele McBain M. Ost 44a Sydenham Rd, SE26 5QX 12 Station Approach Hayes Bromley BR2 7EH Tickets: £16 full price, £12 concessions Book online at spontaneousproductions.co.uk/marx 020 8650 0509 www.strawberryhouseclinic.co.uk or in person at Kirkdale Bookshop, 272 Kirkdale, SE26
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