ESTMINSTER UARTERLY Volume XI No.2 April 2020

A Ukrainian 19th-century print representing the Seder table

Beasts of the Bible Charles the Great and his Jewish subjects Jewish Dynasties - Polack Isaiah Berlin

From the Rabbi

the day before Pesach, and you do no pretending that it was extinguished long searching after burning, because Pesach ago. Find ways to enjoy bringing to light

is starting. You search in order to burn. what is, for lack of a better word, ‘bad’, or

The rest of the sages, however, give a destructive. For this checking, as well as potentially counter-intuitive teaching. bringing things to light, is a process that They say that ideally you search the night happens with light, with that candle.

before, or the day before, but if you Take on this checking, which is persistent

haven’t, then you should check for but less judgemental than burning. You chametz during the festival itself. They see chametz and see the slightest even say that if you haven’t yet difference of just seventeen minutes of

sufficiently checked for chametz you fermentation. You recognise your anger,

should still check for it after the festival. and in your persistent checking, find in it As we approach Pesach, I encourage us One can imagine Rabbi Yehuda’s passion. You check your frustrations and to combine committed resolution with consternation with this view that one disappointments and find in them high patient work. I suggest that each of us should be actively looking on Pesach for standards, great belief in others and in supplement our passionate desire to do that which you cannot eat on Pesach! yourself. You find in tiredness, love. In better, with a more patient, persistent Were I to look for pizza on Pesach my bringing something to light, it may be and gentle approach to bringing change next step might be to eat that pizza, at transformed. in ourselves and in the world. There is an least a nibble, or to suffer some serious Structure writing, or praying, or talking ancient practice, set down in the discomfort. Yet our Rabbis teach us to with someone, or reading and discussing mishnah almost two thousand years ago, recognise chametz, to check for our bad the papers, and look for questions, before of searching for chametz, for all your inclinations, and to check for bad in the you assume statements. Bedikah, bread and other prohibited food, and world, and if necessary, to do so checking, means asking questions; then burning it the day before Pesach. repeatedly and persistently. exploring, warmly probing, interrogating. Indeed, the Mishnah on Pesach begins It is used elsewhere in Jewish law this with the instruction to search for term, bedikah, to cross-examine chametz by candlelight the night before May we find the witnesses. The judgement comes later; it Pesach. The word for searching is is the burning which offers the hope of a bedikah, the word for the subsequent opportunities in our world and a self exactly as it could be, but burning is biur. community at we need to search first - and, as we have I want to be more conscientious about found so often, - we need to search after observing the practice this year; partly Westminster to the burning too. May we find the because it sounds fun, especially the develop with joy. opportunities in our community at searching, and indeed over the years it Westminster to develop with joy. has become something of a game, with somebody hiding ten little pieces of bread or pizza, or whatever, in various parts of the house, so that they or others The chametz is still there. We may be can then seek them out, guided by a rightly disappointed, frustrated - furious candle or a torch late at night. The biur, even - with ourselves and with the burning, does however bring with it a developments in our world. There are Rabbi Benji Stanley serious sentiment; some recite a line, situations that require our persistent along with the burning, which declares checking, such as climate change, anti- May it Be Your Will, Eternal my God, Semitism and violent xenophobia, and that just as I have burnt the chametz we check in too with the hurt that feeds from my house and my possession, so such violence. too may I merit to burn my bad So, combine the burning desire to inclination from my heart, and so too eradicate bad, with persistent, gentle may You burn all that is bad from the checking by candlelight. Bring this world. checking to your life. Explore yourself Pesach is a time for change. There is a and your tendencies. Interrogate your disagreement in the Mishnah about how world and what concerns you. This to respond to the chametz that is still checking brings to light that which you there. Rabbi Yehuda says that you should have buried, that from which you have do all your checking, all your bedikah, sometimes preferred to avert your eyes ,

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Jewish History Beasts of the Bible it is unlikely that the cat played a part in the lives of the inhabitants. Problems of

translation lead to confusion as to what form the animals actually took. Were there, for instance, crocodiles in the Holy Considering that chickens Land in ancient times? There were and their eggs play such an certainly crocodiles in the Nile, so the important part in the Jewish diet, it is Israelites would have been familiar with rather odd that the domesticated fowl them while they were in Egypt, but some never appears in the Old Testament. The scholars sometimes translate ‘behemoth’ hen, as we know it today, is probably – the great mystical beast – as crocodile. descended from the red jungle fowl, a Others use the same word for rhinoceros common bird in India dating back at least or hippopotamus, though it seems to 3,000 BCE. But nowhere in the Old unlikely that hippos ever reared up out of Testament is there a reference to a the Jordan to confront the local chicken, kept by the Israelites to eat - or inhabitants. for its eggs. However, many birds are mentioned, once God had created ‘every Many of the animals Noah’s Ark (1966) - Marc Chagall winged fowl after his kind’. Noah is mentioned are no longer expressly told to take birds into the Ark, to be found in Palestine: In the order in which God created the ‘every bird of every sort’. The first bird lions or bears, for inhabitants of the earth, the fish came mentioned by name was the raven, soon example, are not to be first, followed by the birds, the animals followed by the dove which came first to seen today though they and ‘creeping things’ and finally man. We Noah to explain that the waters were still are mentioned in the are told precisely which creatures are in place, and had to be sent out again, Bible for their fierceness, and occasionally suitable to eat and which are not. But returning this time to say that floods had as symbols – the Lion of Judah, for there is much more in the Old Testament gone down and it was safe to leave the example. We do not read about elephants than simply the Hebrew diet. We learn Ark. Peace was on the way. until the Maccabean times. The Book of about the qualities of animals, how they Kings speaks of ivory, or elephants’ teeth When in Leviticus we read about what is can be useful to man, and which were a imported from Ophir. In the post-exile fit to eat and what is not, birds are part of the lives of the Israelites in times, especially in the books of the specifically listed, some with Canaan, so many centuries ago. Maccabees, elephants are frequently extraordinary names. Particularly mentioned; they were an important Instructions in forbidden is the ossifrage (vulture), glede element in the armies of the Seleucids, Leviticus about eating (kite), and gier (eagle) and other birds of imported either from India or from Africa. fish are very explicit. prey (buzzard, osprey, hawk and owl), ‘Everything in the even the cuckoo. The list is endless. It The majority of animals mentioned are waters that has fins and scales, whether in includes pelicans, storks, cormorants and those domesticated by the Israelites for the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But herons. These birds are common to the food or for use. The horse is never anything in the seas or the rivers that does Middle East even today and would have mentioned in Scripture in connection with not have fins and scales, of the swarming been a regular sight in ancient times. The the Patriarchs; the first time the Bible creatures in the waters and of the living instructions concerning which birds are speaks of it is in reference to the Egyptian creatures that are in the waters, is permitted sound a little strange. ‘Every army pursuing the Jews in their escape. detestable to you.’ No fish are mentioned flying creeping thing that goeth upon all The hilly country inhabited by the by name in the Bible, but fish are so fours with legs above their feet.’ Israelites was not favourable to the use of plentiful in the Mediterranean and in the Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that the horse; this is why the Bible speaks of rivers of the Middle East that they formed it is permitted to eat dove, pheasant, horses only in connection with war. a large part of the diet, and still do. In pigeon, quail, and turkey. Dogs are usually spoken of in terms of fact, recipes for fish are abundant in every Apart from man, contempt. The dog was known for its Jewish cookery book. Cold fried fish is a beasts of the earth voracious appetites, its fierceness, or its dish common to English speaking were the last creatures loathsomeness; it was regarded as the countries, originally, it is believed, created by God. emblem of lust, and of uncleanness. Often brought here by Ashkenazi Jews from Animals of the Bible running in packs, it was feared by the Eastern Europe. Following the injunction are many and various, though one people and regarded with horror. Like in Leviticus, many Jews will not partake of common animal is never mentioned. This Muslims, Jews used the word as an insult. other seafood of any kind, even when they is the cat. There may well have been wild It was sometimes domesticated enough to stretch the rules a little as far as certain cats common to the countryside, but the guard flocks but seldom looked on with fish are concerned. early Jews seldom kept animals as pets, so affection. The greyhound, according to the

4

Book of Proverbs, is ‘comely in going’, animal plays a vital part in the everyday jointed legs above their feet, with which to welcomed for its speed. life of early Jews, and the reciprocal hop on the ground. Of them you may eat: arrangement between man and beast of the locust of any kind, the bald locust of Deer are often mentioned, burden seems to work well for both. any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the for their speed or their grasshopper of any kind. But all other beauty, sometimes likened Goats and camels were equally important winged insects that have four feet are to the love of a man for a as domestic animals. Herds of cattle and detestable to you.’ The permissible insects woman; ‘Let her be as the flocks of sheep were a means of assessing may not sound very attractive to the loving hind or the roe,’ also a man’s wealth and formed valuable gifts. modern Jew (‘I’m a Celebrity – Get me out appears in Proverbs. The gazelle, in Jacob’s present to his brother Esau of Here!’ owes much to the Bible), but in particular, though not often mentioned consisted of 200 female goats and twenty view of frequent famine in the ancient specifically, was known for its grace and male goats, 200 female sheep and twenty Middle East, they may well have saved its athletic form. male sheep, thirty female camels with lives. their young, forty cows and ten bulls, It is the animals which played an everyday twenty female donkeys and ten male The plagues recited at the part in the lives of the Israelites, of which donkeys - quite a menagerie. Seder table include locusts we hear most often. The commonest were and lice, a reminder that probably the sheep, which are the subject Ever since the serpent’s these early Israelites were of so many stories in the Bible. The lamb temptation of Eve, liable at any time to infestations of locusts has become the representative of much of reptiles have had a bad or hornets, which might devastate their the tradition of the Jews. It is often press. The serpent, crops and beset their families. Some offered for sacrifice, is part of the Jewish according to Genesis, was craftier than insects are hailed as heroic. ‘Go to the ant, diet, must be cared for and nurtured. any other beast of the field. As a result of you sluggard; consider her ways, and be Eve’s fall, God’s instruction was, The Paschal Lamb is an wise’, says Proverbs. ‘Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and important part of religious whatsoever goeth upon all fours, or From the time of God’s creation, Jews services, in both Jewish and whatsoever hath more feet among all have looked on their four-footed Christian belief. It marks the creeping things, them shall ye not eat, for neighbours with a degree of affection. commemoration of the they are an abomination.’ This included They have learned to live with the animals deliverance from slavery in Egypt, when lizards and snails. Snakes in the Bible in some harmony - more so than some of Jews were commanded to sacrifice a lamb, represent evil and fiery serpents are used their contemporaries. Today, when we still a most important part of the Seder as impending punishments for those who keep so many beasts as part of our home service. Among the many allusions to stray from the narrow path. lives, we no longer use them as sacrifices, sheep in the Bible, is perhaps the best though we are tending more and more to loved story of the akeda, about Abraham There are specific abandon them as food. Perhaps Isaiah and Isaac, when the ram caught in a instructions in the Bible was a vegan, for he tells us, ‘I have had thicket is substituted for the child who about insects. ‘All winged enough of burnt offerings of rams and the was to be sacrificed. The Israelites are insects that go on all fours are detestable fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in clearly fond of their animals, in spite of to you. Yet among the winged insects that the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.’ using the lamb as a sacrifice, and are go on all fours you may eat those that have instructed by Moses, ‘You shall not see your neighbour’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you shall help to lift it up.’ At the very beginning when God ordains a day of rest, he includes the ox and the Philippa Bernard ass in the instruction.

When it comes to using animals for man’s purpose, the ass comes into her own. For there are many stories of man and the beast of burden, more than 130 instances, from the commandment not to covet your neighbour’s ass, Moses putting his wife and children on to the ass while he walks beside them, and Balaam and his ass. The Noah’s Ark by Edward Hicks (1780-1849) 5 Jewish History Charles the Great & Although we don’t have reliable data for oath, he did so on the Torah. Jews living the number of Jews living in Frankish in the Carolingian Empire, particularly in His Jewish Subjects lands in 800 CE, the fact that Charles France, facilitated trade with the Orient, passed legislation to control their conduct and Charles employed Jewish merchants A Frank View suggests that they were regarded as a to extend trade with the East. One such significant minority. It should be merchant, Isaac, was sent in 797 CE remembered France was an important together with two ambassadors, to the centre of Jewish learning in the Middle fabulously rich Abbasid Caliph, Harun al-

Ages, and one of her greatest sons, Rashi, Rashid. It is the opulence of the court of the renowned Talmudist, flourished in Harun in Baghdad that is described in The Troyes in the eleventh century. As early as Thousand and One Nights. It is believed

the sixth century there were well- this same Isaac brought back a very special established Jewish communities. Charles, gift for the Emperor: an elephant called like other medieval potentates, realised Abul-Abbas! It was exhibited on various

that the Jews were useful to the economy occasions at the Frankish court in Aachen, of his Empire. His attitude toward his and was later removed to Augsburg in 810

Jewish subjects was not determined by CE, where at the age of forty it died from

liberal sentiments but rather by pneumonia. expediency, as one would expect from a

Charles the Great by skilful politician. Under Charles, Jews had Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier considerable freedom to conduct business. They traded in pearls, horses, cattle, spices

and paper, and, ironically, they often Harun al -Rashid Charles the Great, the Carolingian King provided fabrics and incense for Christian and Emperor, dominated European affairs religious rites. However, Jews were not in the early Middle Ages; and contrary to allowed to trade in wine, grain or currency. popular belief he was not known by the The capitularies (ordinances) of Charles French epithet Charlemagne during his set down the relationship between the lifetime. He was born on 2nd April 748 in State and the Jewish population. These the palace at Quierzy, south of St. Quentin laws make it clear that the Jews were So although Jews were permitted - within in France. effectively owned by the Emperor and a Carolingian legal code - to trade successfully, their political status remained According to Einhard, one of Charles’ early could only be tried by him; this afforded almost the same under Charles as under biographers, and from the examination of his mortal remains at Aachen (Aix la When a Jew took an his predecessors. Even when Jews were given prominent positions at court, as for Chapelle), the King was six foot three example, Farragut of Girgenti, who was inches tall, well above average for that oath, he did so on the period. He must have cut an impressive physician to Charles, they were figure in his military attire; and we know Torah marginalised in Christian society. We know that popes had Jewish doctors who Charles spent a significant part of his long were no doubt respected for their learning, reign of forty-six years in warfare, battling some protection from the hostility of the but were not counted among God’s people; against, among others, Saxons, Avars, nobility and the Church. But it also meant that role had been assumed by followers of Slavs and Lombards. security was dependent on the caprices of the new religion (Christianity), bolstered the Ruler; there are many examples in In her recent biography of Charles the by Church dogma. What the Jews provided European history that illustrate the double Great, Janet Nelson gives a new to monarchs like Charles was an standards by which monarchs ran their perspective on Charles, evaluating the independent source of finance and affairs. What has been described as primary and secondary sources for his life, connections with overseas developments, Charles’ ‘fixed formula’ defined Jewish and she teases out new insights into his mainly because Jews were international obligations to their Christian brethren. personality, revealing a softer side to a traders. In return, since Jews were, for all They were allowed to enter into lawsuits ruler who was intent upon crushing intents and purposes, the property of the with Christians, but they were rebellion, using the full force of military Emperor, they expected a degree of disadvantaged by having to provide four, might to smash Saxon opposition. protection from anti-Semitic clerics and seven or nine witnesses as opposed to the However, she doesn’t make reference to the easily-manipulated mob. This ‘special Christians being required to produce the Jews living in the Carolingian Empire; relationship’ between ruler and Jewish three. Jews were not allowed to engage a and this is a little surprising since there is subjects caused friction; neither the Christian workman on Sundays, and no evidence of the Emperor’s attitude toward ecclesiastics nor the nobility were happy Jew was to force a Christian to go to prison his Jewish subjects and his employment of with what they perceived as an unholy them in furthering his influence abroad. as pledge for a Jew. When a Jew took an

6 Community

Jewish Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen Notker the and Women - AJEX. This was to avoid Stammerer Organisations - AJEX confusion with the British Legion, which now became the Royal British Legion. The aims of the Association are to continue remembrance of the part played by Jews in the fighting forces; to fight against anti-Semitism through education; to provide welfare for Jewish veterans and their families. The events of the Second World War - when 60,000 alliance; but at the end of the day, the Jews served and three were awarded the sovereign could and very often did ditch Victoria Cross - and of the tragedy of the his erstwhile bankers, leaving the Jews to Holocaust, made growing demands on fend for themselves. The Annual Remembrance Parade the Association, and the work was I want to round off this brief exploration in Whitehall strengthened to deal with the increasing of the status of Jews living in the Frankish needs of the Jewish community. Empire in the ninth century by quoting Today, AJEX funds an annuity scheme two references to Jews; one in the Vita During the First World War some disbursing financial assistance on the Karoli Magni by the Frankish courtier 50,000 Jewish men and women served main Jewish festivals during the year to and scholar Einhard, who was a in the armed services from countries enable recipients to enjoy traditional contemporary of Charles; and the other across the world. When the fighting was holiday observance. The Education quoted by Notker the Stammerer, a monk over, ex-service organisations offered to Forum involves a team of veterans of Saint Gall who lived some thirty years those who had participated, somewhere acting as speakers who visit schools to after Charles had died. Notker’s style is they could meet friends and find some deliver a short but powerful message to hagiographic where he relates eulogistic help in their post-war lives. the students. A number of mobile anecdotes regarding the Emperor In January 1920, the Jewish branch of exhibitions also tour the country. In Charlemagne. It is Einhard, in his short the Federation of Discharged Soldiers recent years the Jewish Military Life of the Emperor, who mentions the met in Leeds to discuss forming their Museum, now a part of the Jewish saga of the elephant sent to Charles by the own association, and when the Museum in Camden Town, was set up to Caliph of Baghdad. This ‘jumbo’ gesture Armistice was celebrated in 1921, a honour and perpetuate the memory of made a statement about relative power; group of men of the Judeans (the group Jews who have died serving their Charles is not the Caliph’s equal, and of Jews who fought under their own country. The Annual Remembrance although relations between the two men banner during the war), laid a wreath at Parade and Ceremony at the Cenotaph is were cordial, it is Harun who makes the Cenotaph. This small gesture attended by UK Jewish veterans and generous territorial grants to Charles, became very important to the Jewish those from around the world. It is demonstrating the Western Emperor’s community, a physical statement that conducted by the Chief Rabbi and has subordination to the Eastern magnate. they had made their contribution to the been graced over the years by many Notker relates the story of ships being defence of their country. They distinguished reviewing officers, among spotted off the coast of Southern Gaul. organised an annual dinner, and in 1926 them HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Observers speculated upon whose ships the Jewish Chronicle reported a parade HRH The Duke of Kent, The Countess were approaching; some said that they of 250 men of the Judean Battalions Mountbatten of Burma, HRH Princess were Jewish merchants, others that they and the Menorah Club founded by Alexandra, HRH Prince Michael of Kent were Africans or traders from Britain, but Jewish ex-soldiers. and many high-ranking Officers of the wise Charles knew from the design of the Armed Forces. vessels that they were manned by Vikings! Trouble in Palestine led to a rise in anti- Semitism as fascism grew in Europe, AJEX has set up a Record of Honour, Peter Beyfus and when a meeting was held in the which lists over 60,000 names of Jewish East End to form the Jewish Ex- members of the Armed Forces, who have servicemen’s Legion, some 200 served since 1939. It can be accessed via members joined. The movement grew the website www.ajex.org.uk. in popularity, and the first of the Annual Remembrance Parades was formed on Horse Guards Parade in November

1930. The Legion appointed the first Jewish chaplain to HM Forces, Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz, and by 1936 the

organisation had become the

7 Jewish History Shadows in the Bible 2. Gideon This is the second in our series on shadowy Biblical figures.

From the first description of Gideon as ‘a mighty man of valour’ the reader is introduced to the hero of the story, and knows that this is going to be a tale of courage and honour - perhaps what the script writer had in mind when he introduced another hero as, ‘The name is

Bond, James Bond.’ Yet again the people of Israel had misbehaved ‘in the sight of the Lord’, and yet again they needed a saviour to get them out of another tricky situation. The Battle of Gideon against the Midianites by Poussin It was a time of war. The Midianites, across the Jordan, far outnumbering the dealing with the destroyer of his altar lap the water with their tongues as a dog Israelites, were raiding their cattle, himself. laps, from those who kneel down to destroying their corn supplies and drink.’ Those who lapped were chosen to capturing their goods, ‘leaving no Meanwhile the Midianite army, go with Gideon to fight the Midianites, sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor strengthened by other tribes, crossed the because they were less vulnerable to ox nor ass.’ They needed help. Gideon, Jordan ready for a full attack on the attack. He and his men surrounded the the son of Joash the Abiezrite, had been much smaller Israelite forces. Gideon enemy camp, blowing trumpets and appointed as a judge and it was to him, too was summoning fellow tribesmen carrying torches - appearing a far bigger as usually happened when help was prepared for battle. But again, he force than they were. The Midianites needed, that an angel appeared. Gideon wanted the reassurance of God’s help to fled and victory was Gideon’s. was threshing wheat, keeping a low achieve victory. He suggested that he profile by the wine press so that the would lay a fleece on the ground, and if enemy couldn’t see him. He asked the by morning it was wet with dew while all angel why God had not saved his people around it was dry, then he would accept, as he had promised and asked for a sign with God’s help, the task before him. By of the Lord’s presence in a time of morning the fleece was soaking wet while trouble. the ground was dry. In fact, Gideon had to wring it out, getting a whole bowlful of A sacrifice was prepared - a young goat water out of it! But this sceptical judge and some unleavened bread - and Gideons International is an evangelical was still not satisfied. This time he Gideon was instructed to place the meat Christian association founded in 1899 in wanted the fleece to be dry while all on the altar and pour the broth over it. Wisconsin. The organization began in around was wet. God obliged, and all And then came the long-awaited sign: 1898, when two travelling salesmen met the Angel struck it with his rod and it was set for the battle. in a hotel room that they shared in burst into flame. The Angel vanished. Boscobel, Wisconsin, where they he wanted the discussed the formation of an The next instruction was to bring down association. The Gideons' primary the altar of Baal, the God worshipped by reassurance of God’s activity is the distribution of copies of the the Midianites, which the Israelites had help to achieve victory Bible, free of charge. A Gideon Bible in their folly constructed. Nervous of his may be found in most hotel bedrooms, father’s renegade followers, Gideon stole though guests who read them may not out under cover of darkness with ten of With thousands of men ready to fight, know the history of the original Gideon. his own men and destroyed the altar. Gideon was told to take only three When morning came the townsfolk set hundred, so he dismissed all those afraid up an inquiry to find the culprit. to join battle. Some 22,000 left, but it Philippa Bernard Gideon’s father came to his defence, still seemed too many, so Gideon was suggesting that if Baal really was a God, told to take the rest down to the water, he would be perfectly capable of where he separated ‘those who

8 Jewish History

Mary the Jewess used to make the tubes should be the Like other alchemists Mary, too, sought to thickness of a frying pan and that the find gold from base metals; the creation joints between the tubes and the still-head of pure gold was considered a should be sealed with flour paste. transmutation towards heaven. It was rumoured that she had found the answer. Another invention was the kerotakis, a device used to heat substances used in References to Mary as ‘the Hebrew’ or ‘the alchemy and to collect vapours. It is an Jewess’ confirm that she was indeed of airtight container with a sheet of copper Jewish stock. It is mentioned that she on its upper side. When working believed that only she, as one of the properly, all its joints form a tight chosen people, could receive knowledge vacuum. The use of such sealed containers from God. She is reported to have told her in the hermetic arts led to the term fellow alchemists not to touch the ‘hermetically sealed’. The kerotakis was ‘philosopher’s stone’, as ‘you are not of the said to be a replication of the process of race of Abraham’. Mary the Jewess, the formation of gold that was occurring from Michael Maier’s This mysterious woman from ancient in the bowels of the earth. Symbola aurea mensae, 1617 times appears in several pseudo-scientific Perhaps the invention most familiar to us treatises. We know little about her, but was the bain-marie, named after her, the whenever we make use of a bain-marie in double boiler, used in cookery today, the kitchen we should perhaps give a Alchemy was an ancient branch of natural which limits the maximum temperature of thought to Mary the Jewess. philosophy, a philosophical and scientific a container and its contents. tradition believed to have originated in Egypt and taken up by the Greeks, although there were similar practices in Philippa Bernard the Far East. Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials, often with the aim of turning base metals into gold. One of the earliest alchemists known was a woman, known usually as Mary the Jewess.

Little is known of Mary, sometimes referred to as Mary the Prophetess, who lived around the first or second century CE in Egypt. What we do know of her comes from the works of the author of the first book on alchemy, Zosimos of Panopolis, who referred to her as the ‘sister of Moses’, to emphasize her scholarship and her importance. She wrote in Greek, but An alchemical balneum Mariæ, none of her writings exist, though she has or Maria’s Bath been referred to as the first Jewish woman writer. A few of her aphorisms have been Some of Mary’s sayings have been passed quoted by other authors. down. ‘Mary’s axiom’ stated that ‘One becomes two, two becomes three and out Mary was certainly a gifted alchemist, of the third comes the one as the fourth’ – perhaps the first, and some of her a phrase used by Carl Jung to express his experiments and discoveries are still used notion of individuation - how a thing is today. She was the first to make use of identified as an individual that is not hydrochloric acid, and her construction of something else. She expressed other ideas certain glass and metal equipment led to connected with alchemy, such as: ‘Just as similar utensils still being used in a man is composed of four elements, laboratories today. Her tribikos was a likewise is copper; and as a man results kind of alembic (an alchemical still from the association of liquids, of solids, consisting of two vessels connected by a and of the spirit, so does copper.’ It was tube, for distilling) with three arms, often A modern Bain Marie set an early belief that man was composed of used in chemical experiments. She earth, fire, air and water. recommended that the copper or bronze

9 Anglo-Jewish History Jewish Dynasties fame - was also a Polackian. In 1903 Lord Mayor of London in 1960. On the Robert Waley Cohen invited Polack’s occasion of Albert and Betty’s retirement 2. The Polacks House to become involved with the in 1949, a splendid dinner in their Victoria Working Boys’ Club which had honour was presided over by Sir Robert been created to provide unemployed Waley Cohen.

Jewish refugees with a place to meet and to take part in sport and social activities. Albert (known as A I) was a quietly The suggestion was taken up with spoken, rather self-effacing man who had alacrity and the House and its pupils been a teacher at Taunton College. He remained supporters and contributors and Betty were Founder Members of until the Club moved to Stamford Hill in Westminster Synagogue, and Albert’s 1945. occasional sermons at Kent House were always profound, interesting and Joseph Polack and his wife lost their first delivered in his gentle but very clear child - a daughter - in 1981 but they went schoolmaster’s voice. I was always on to have three sons, Benjamin, Albert amused, as were many of us, that he and Ernest. Tragically, Benjamin & would often preface a section of his talk Ernest were both killed in the war in with ‘As you know…’ and then go on to

1916. For obvious reasons, these first recite a sentence or two in Latin or names have been repeated through the Greek, as if his audience were totally Rev. Joseph Polack generations, making for some confusion familiar with those languages! He would when studying the history of the family! arrive on a Shabbat morning by Public It is interesting to calculate the immense Transport from their home in influence that this quiet, modest family Northwood, wearing a brown trilby and has had since the arrival on the academic carrying a small battered leather attaché scene of the Rev. Joseph Polack in 1890. case. Whilst at the School he had been a Joseph was thirty-four years of age and prominent member of the Council of had been Junior Minister at Liverpool’s Christians and Jews and when he retired Princes Road Synagogue when he was he became their Education Officer - a approached to take on the duties of post he held from 1949 to 1968. Housemaster of the Jewish House at

Clifton College in Bristol. He took up the He and Betty eventually went back to live post in 1890. The House, founded in in Clifton and their front door was always 1878, was the first Jewish boarding open in the expectation that old boys or house at an English Public School. their parents would ‘pop in’. We visited

them whenever we went to Bristol and The first families whose sons were sent to were always welcomed with open arms the House were all members of what Albert (A I) Polack and a cup of tea. Albert and Betty had Chaim Bermant chose to call ‘The two sons and two daughters. When in Cousinhood’ in his book of that name. Albert had decided to become a solicitor 1949, Albert retired it was thought Among these first boys who went on to but with the loss of his brothers, he perhaps that his elder son Bennie would great success were Arthur Stiebel -later agreed to follow his father into Polack’s take his place in the House, but he was Sir Arthur - an eminent bankruptcy House in 1923 on Joseph’s retirement. only in his early twenties and would not barrister; Charlie Enoch who made his He was married to Betty Cohen. Betty’s

career in the army; Rex & Harold Cohen two brothers Harold and Richard had

who became prominently successful been pupils at Clifton College. Betty was

businessmen in Liverpool and Mark a warm and motherly Housemaster’s

Gubbay who became Financial Secretary wife and contributed greatly to the well-

in the Indian Civil Service and a director being of ‘their’ boys.

of the Chartered Bank. Even more well-

known names were those of Jacob and In December 1940, bombs fell on Bristol,

Robert Waley Cohen. Robert went on to and Polack’s House was among the

be adviser on petroleum to the UK buildings which were damaged. It was

Government in World War I and was decided to evacuate the whole School to

knighted in 1931. They were followed in Bude in Cornwall, where it stayed from

the House by Samuel Montagu’s two 1941 to 1945.

younger sons Edwin and Gerald, who One of the pupils during Albert’s tenure were later joined by their brother Lionel. was Bernard Waley Cohen who became Philip Polack Leslie Hore-Belisha - of Belisha Beacon

10

considering taking up the post in a Public Establishment over the last Century.’ Of School. He was also an ardent worker in course it was an excellent talk. It was also

the struggle against the apartheid policies a source of pleasure for many of us that of South Africa, and he was a member of here too, he had followed in his father’s Amnesty International. One of the boys, footsteps. Douglas Blausten, encouraged by Ernest and Pat, created a House Branch of In our Quarterly of January 2015, David Amnesty. The House Drama competition Bezem wrote: …hundreds and hundreds was also high on Ernest’s list of of non-Jewish boys, mainly from the importance and he encouraged all the West Country, would come into Clifton as boys of the House to take part. Polack’s thirteen- year olds having encountered had many successes in this field. few, if any, Jews before and would leave Ernest Polack five years later having interacted with Several of the present membership of the Polack’s boys, along with all their have had sufficient experience. So, Westminster Synagogue were boys at the other peers of course, in all school Albert’s cousin, Philip, took on the job. House when Ernest was in charge. Among activities with the exception only of them were Howard (now Lord) Leigh - our religious worship: everything from Philip’s tenure saw a list of boys whose President; David Connick - our Senior academic classes, to sport, to music and names are now well-known. To mention Warden; Jonathan Golden; Robert drama, and all in the particularly but a few, there were Brian Marber, who Laurance and David Bezem. Also the late intense, intimate environment of a was President of The Cambridge Roger Stone, who composed the beautiful boarding school. It is very hard to Footlights and then went on to be one of tune for Yigdal, which we sing every Kol imagine that any of those boys, even the City of London's best-known Nidre. those who might have arrived at the forecasters of share prices and currency school with some ingrained prejudices, movements; Nick Tarsh, who became the left with any vestiges of anti-Semitism. At first Jewish Head of School. A Rugby Blue The Polack family had some point along their journey they all at Cambridge, he qualified as a barrister, had an enormous effect realised that the 'other' was actually the ran major travel companies and was on the Jewish scene 'same'. That to my mind is perhaps the awarded an OBE for services to charity; greatest legacy of Clifton College’s John & Francis Mocatta; Trevor Chinn Polack’s House. who was Knighted in 1990 for political In his book Dynasty, Derek Winterbottom Of one thing there is no doubt - the Polack services; David Wolfson, made a Life Peer writes of Ernest, ‘He was a Housemaster family had had an enormous effect on the in 1991, and Clive Swift, the Royal who could read boys and situations with Jewish scene right from the time that Shakespeare actor who also regularly uncanny accuracy, who took just the right Polack’s House was established, to the end appeared on television. kind of action, who said just the right sort of that influential era. of thing, who acted drastically when he

When Philip took over as Housemaster, felt the need, who did nothing at all on Nick Tarsh who was Chairman of the there were about fifty boys in the House, other occasions. … he could light up your Polack‘s House Education Trust and Vice- but this had risen to seventy by the time day with praise and flashes of the wide Chairman of the Clifton College Council, that his term of office ended in 1964. His grin.’ wrote, in the Preface to Winterbottom’s retirement was due to the School having book:- Each of the four Polacks…saw the adopted the policy of a maximum tenure With Ernest due to retire, the problem of House through changing times, including of fifteen years for its Housemasters. his successor arose. It had been hoped the two world wars and evacuation from that Michael - Philip and Joanna’s son - Bristol to Bude. Each was an outstanding Immediately following Philip (or Phil, as would take up the reins but he decided success. The contribution of Polackians, he was always known) came Albert’s that it was not what he wanted to do. both to the Jewish Community and to the second son, Ernest who never married. Sadly, therefore when Ernest’s term of nation at large, has been very significant. His sister Pat, also single, took on the role office came to an end in 1979, so did the of House ‘Mother’. They carried on the close involvement of the Polack dynasty. Claire Connick Polack tradition of ensuring that there was The House was then 101 years old and the great integration between the Jewish Polacks had been in charge of it for eighty- House and the other boarding Houses. nine years. In September 2019, two pupils - children They were, like their parents, warm and of a third generation Old Polackian - hospitable. Ernest was a friendly and In 1994, Ernest delivered the Annual celebrated their Bar & Bat Mitzvah in the engaging character with a broad smile. Reinhart Lecture at Westminster College’s Polack Centre Synagogue, with a Highly principled, he was a staunch Synagogue. His subject was ‘One of Us? capacity congregation of the College’s Socialist - which must have caused him a The relationship between the Anglo- twenty-six Jewish pupils and invited great deal of soul-searching when he was Jewish Community and the British guests.

11

Anglo-Jewish History

The Home Guard rushed out to capture German, with whom the nation was at Amersham in the crew, who seemed only too pleased war, it is perhaps surprising that most

World War II that their war was over. Several of the were welcomed into English households German airmen remained in the district with friendship and affection.

when the war was over, settling down In the early years the Jewish families happily to an English agricultural life. worshipped either in private houses, or in One report of enemy activity said, ‘27 a hall in Chesham Bois (pronounced September 1940 - six bombs landed in Boys), the small hamlet between Amersham Common. The assumed target Amersham and Chesham. As more was the railway station. Most landed on Jewish families began arriving, a open ground, some in fields and one synagogue was constructed in a pre- damaged a footpath and sewer cover. fabricated hut in Woodside Road, one of Apart from craters, no other property was the main streets of the town. The little damaged’. Most households constructed building represented the first sign of an The small town of Amersham in the an air raid shelter in the back garden, but element of safety for the Jewish Chiltern Hills, some thirty miles from apart from one direct hit by a V2 bomb on community, a symbol of hope, especially London, was the ideal place for Jewish an empty house, there was little damage. people to move themselves and their families to safety at the outbreak of war in There were very few Jews living in the 1939. For those who continued working area before the war: no synagogues or in the city, Amersham had good transport rabbis and no chance of the children facilities – trains on the Metropolitan learning Hebrew or Jewish studies, except Line running above ground until they by correspondence lessons. However it joined the tube lines at Finchley Road – was not only the English Jews who came and easy roads (if petrol was available) at to the countryside seeking sanctuary. a time when traffic was minimal. The Many of the refugees from Nazi-occupied area was reasonably safe from aerial Europe who were able to leave came too. bombing as there were few factories or Work permits were difficult to obtain, but airfields to command the attention of the domestic work was available, and some highly educated women became enemy. There was plenty of housing for those who had come from occupied household workers in order to be able to available, from large houses to tiny territories. The congregation, the stay. Amersham welcomed them all, and cottages, good schools and shopping Amersham Hebrew Congregation, was very few instances of anti-Semitism or facilities, though of course no Ashkenazi, affiliated – though not detrimental behaviour were observed. supermarkets. Shopping in Amersham in officially - to the United Synagogue. The The worst racialism was probably from those days was a friendly family affair, people of Amersham, and surrounding the Jews themselves towards the black US each shopkeeper knowing his customers, areas, regardless of their religion and servicemen who arrived there later in the and they knowing him (or her if the owner beliefs were welcomed in to share in war, some of whom were befriended by was away at the war). The farms in the prayers, social events and public talks. outlying countryside offered plenty of Jewish families. Considering that the eggs, butter and milk, with many majority of the early foreign visitors were During the war years, three ministers householders growing their own produce were appointed: Rev. Sonnie (Sebastian) for the table. Many Jewish families who Bloch, Rev. Izaak Rapaport, and Rev. had previously not known what a spade Jonah Indech. Rabbi Bloch was known as looked like, turned over their gardens to ‘the Rabbi in the green jacket’ who rode a grow potatoes, beans and other green motorcycle except on Shabbat. Sunday vegetables, or even kept a few hens for School classes for the children and fresh eggs – there were no kosher services on Shabbat and the Festivals, facilities for killing the birds, but this did were soon established, together with the not seem to worry most householders who usual Jewish traditions: a Seder on were prepared to wring the hens’ necks Passover, a Women’s Guild and live themselves. entertainment for all (before the advent of television). Amersham was able to In spite of its proximity to London, provide plenty of interesting spare time Amersham and its surrounding villages fun. It had a small cinema and the Home saw little of the war. One German plane, Guard and Scout troop came into their having dropped its stick of bombs, was own with many Jewish members. They damaged by anti-aircraft gunfire and had The arch which led to the offered home-made shows (Ralph Synagogue still stands to crash land in a field on Amersham hill. Reader, the celebrated writer and

12

performer of musical comedy, was much naturally welcomed such a first-class loved for his Gang Shows) and many of education, and competition for entry was the Jews in the town were encouraged to fierce. Roger Moore, the actor, was a exercise their theatrical skills. The pupil there, as was the MP Dominic Raab. professional entertainment was the Among the Jewish pupils were Chanoch Playhouse Theatre near the station. This Ehrentreu, who later became head of the repertory company put on live plays and United Synagogue’s Beth Din. One head musicals throughout the war, the boy at Dr Challoner’s was Maurice Bloch, programme changing every week, and who qualified as a doctor and worked in many an international star began their London. Dr Bloch belonged to the more careers there. Dirk Bogarde (who lived in orthodox Chesham Jewish Community, the town), Jill Bennett, Denholm Elliott, part of the Federation Synagogue. He was armed forces) to Amersham when his Glyn Houston, Peter Sallis, Robert the younger brother of Rev. Sonnie Bloch. factory in London was bombed. Stevens, Patrick Troughton and many David Stamler was another classmate; he The community was happy to play a other household names cut their went on to become the Head of Carmel considerable part in local activities; they professional acting teeth at Amersham. College. There were other good schools volunteered at Amersham General Jewish people have always enjoyed the for girls and boys, some preparatory, Hospital (which housed part of St. Mary’s theatre and gave their support before the pupils went on to public Paddington), where one German refugee unstintingly. Sadly the Playhouse had to schools, such as Berkhamsted (two was a senior nurse. Several joined the close after the war and the building excellent schools for boys and girls, Women’s Voluntary Service, others acted became an auction house. though the two never met!). as Air Raid Wardens and Fire Service The Jewish community of Amersham volunteers, or made barrage balloons at were a close-knit group, who met together The Maltings (a large old house in

frequently outside the synagogue Amersham, now a restaurant). There congregational activities. They numbered were also many Jewish servicemen from among them many who achieved the Allied forces (including German,

distinction in several different spheres. Polish, Palestinian and American) Maurice Edelman became MP for stationed in the area at army camps, Coventry and was a prolific journalist and Bovingdon Air Force Base nearby or

author of several works of fiction and non- working for British Intelligence at Latimer fiction. His wife, Tilli, was a historian, House. The Amersham community and his daughter, Professor Sonia provided them with a social club and

Jackson, is Head of the Department of kosher canteen and invited them into Social Studies at the University of Wales, their homes for Pesach, Shabbat and the Swansea. She was married at the High Holydays.

Woodside Road synagogue, the only When the war was over most of the wedding ever to take place there. community returned to London, but some stayed on, enjoying the country life they The community was had learned to love. The congregation

happy to play a amalgamated with the Chesham congregation for a while but closed in considerable part in 1968. There is now a Liberal Amersham also had an ancient and highly local activities congregation, the South Bucks Liberal successful school, Dr. Challoner’s Jewish Community, which meets in Grammar School. It was founded in 1624 Other distinguished Jewish authors, Amersham, but there is no Jewish in accordance with the last will and artists and musicians made their home in cemetery in or near Amersham. testament of Robert Chaloner (spelt with Amersham during the war. The writer, one ‘l’). Chaloner, a Doctor of Divinity, Elias Canetti, who lived in Chesham Bois, was Rector of Amersham from 1576 to won the Nobel Prize for literature for his Philippa Bernard 1584. In 1905, the school became co- novel Auto-da-Fé, the Goehr family , educational for the first time which, Walter the conductor, his wife Leila, the according to the school’s first prospectus photographer and their son Alexander, in 1906, was ‘practically universal in the composer, all lived there. Sir Michael America’. It later reverted to boys only, Sobell, the industrialist and with girls in the sixth form in recent years. philanthropist, moved his business (which The Jews in war-time Amersham provided electrical equipment to the

13 Anglo-Jewish History Penzance Jewish served as a mohel and as the shochet to At the same time, several headstones in the Community. He is buried in the the section of the cemetery which had Cemetery cemetery. been reserved by the Congregation for the poor were irreparably damaged. The burial ground was established in Repairs to the wall were carried out, about 1740 in what was then an open probably by the Penzance Council and, in wooded valley; its location overlooks St spite of the fact that there had not been a Michael’s Mount Bay, and this must Jewish community in the town for over make it one of the most beautiful fifty years, the headstones which had cemeteries in the UK. The land on which been damaged beyond repair were this original burial plot stood was owned replaced with miniature ones. by a Canon John Rogers, a distinguished scholar of Hebrew and Syriac who, it In March 2016 Cornwall’s Jews appears, wanted to encourage Jews to celebrated the completion of restoration settle in Penzance. The Jewish work, after a £13,000 grant from the community later purchased leases to Heritage Lottery Fund helped them to

adjacent plots, to prevent the rebuild the high stone granite walls and Nationally, there are only about twenty- encroachment of houses being built close revive an important site in the country’s five existing Georgian Jewish burial by. In 1844, they bought the freehold to most western town. The Lottery Fund grounds pre-dating the early nineteenth the whole of the present area, and matched the contributions made by century. Seven of these are to be found in completely enclosed the cemetery. visitors to the cemetery and the the South West, and, collectively, they donations from the descendants of those form the best-preserved regional group interred in the cemetery - as well as from outside London. This is the story of one local and Jewish grant-making of them. organisations and local traders.

The Penzance cemetery has been Leslie Lipert, treasurer of Friends of recognised as by far the best preserved of Penzance Cemetery, said, ‘The these old burial grounds. It is now owned restoration has revived Jewish and by the Board of Deputies. Classified as Cornish history and strengthened links ‘closed’, the English Heritage Grade II between the new Jewish community and listed cemetery is regarded as one of the the wider Cornish population. It finest. In a lane once known as connects both with a shared past.’ Jerusalem Road, it is enclosed by a substantial high wall dating from 1845 and it has, at its entrance, a complete Bet Rabbi Barnett Asher Simmons Tohorah, or ‘Cleansing House’ – an by Richard Thomas Pentreath - extremely rare feature to survive from portrait in Penlee House Gallery & Museum this period. The entrance porch, which may originally have been roofed over, contains a wedge-shaped alcove which Sad to say, the headstones installed could accommodate a coffin. At one stage before 1791 have disappeared, but thanks small streams ran through the valley and to the protection of its enclosing walls, they would have provided the fresh there are over fifty remaining in almost running water essential for the ritual perfect condition, with their Hebrew and cleansing of bodies. English inscriptions being of an The Penzance Jewish Cemetery remains Jews first came to Penzance from the exceptional quality. The Penzance Jewish as evidence of a once thriving Rhineland area of Germany and from community declined in the nineteenth community. It can be visited by Holland in the early part of the century as more families left for the appointment by contacting eighteenth century. The size of the industrial cities in the North and the Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Jewish population of the town at this market for tin and copper fell, affecting [email protected] time is unknown, and - as the first the town’s prosperity. which is open daily, except Sunday, all Synagogue was not built until 1768 - to year round. The walls, mainly constructed in 1845, begin with, they probably conducted were so well built that they remained their Services in private homes. intact until the 1940s. However, during Claire Connick Rabbi Barnett Asher Simmons (1784- World War II, German bombs fell in the 1860) was the longest-serving minister; area and one bomb destroyed part of the he arrived in December 1811. He also lower wall near the cemetery entrance.

14 Community

The Peace of Mind This is what one of the veterans had to report:- Project When my teammates and I first heard of the POM programme, we were sceptical. A bunch of tough guys, ex- combat soldiers, most of us are

married, some with children. Why do A fleeing ISIS terrorist, desperate for we need to reflect back on the past? We water, was plodding through the did what we needed to do to protect our Afghan desert when he saw something country. far off in the distance. Hoping to find water, he hurried towards it, only to We almost never stopped thinking find a very frail little old Jewish man, about those men that didn’t return from standing at a small makeshift display the war, or the physically injured ones, rack – selling ties. Despite the popular image of the not to mention the mentally injured. If The ISIS terrorist asked, ‘Do you have fearless and resilient Israeli soldier, the we did, it was mostly by cynical private water?’ The old man replied, ‘I have long-term effects of veterans’ exposure jokes among ourselves. When we no water. Would you like to buy a tie? to stress from combat are very much started the programme, it almost They are only $5’. part of their lives and the lives of their immediately peeled those layers of families. The Peace of Mind Project has repression that shielded us all those The Taliban shouted hysterically, been created to counter this damage. years. In intimate conversations, each ‘Idiot Infidel! I do not need such an of us opened up like never before. We over-priced western adornment. I spit It involves parties of fifteen or so cried, laughed, shared our deepest on your ties. I need water!’. veterans undergoing nine months of feelings and, above all, we were there intensive therapy, including group and for each other. We realized how deeply ‘Sorry, I have none - just ties - pure one-on-one counselling sessions. Also, rooted those feelings were within us silk - and only $5!’. as part of the treatment, the men are and how they affect our day-to-day ‘Pahh! A curse on your ties! I should entertained by Jewish families in the lives. Whether at work, with our wrap one around your scrawny little Diaspora, giving them a feeling of caring partners, friends and family, the neck and choke the life out of you - and support in gratitude for their military and our shared experiences but I must conserve my energy and defence of Israel. shaped who we are and how we react find water!’. Through Peace of Mind, host Jewish to most of our life’s endeavours. ‘Okay’ said the little old man, ‘it communities play an active role in We also had a chance to get to know a doesn’t matter that you don’t want to helping the recovery of these soldiers, wonderful community in London, who buy a tie from me, or that you hate and in the process create long-lasting hosted us with such courtesy we never me, threaten my life and call me relationships. thought we deserved. It was a Infidel. I will show you that I am In November last year, some wonderful experience to realize how bigger than that. If you continue over Westminster Synagogue members had Jews in the diaspora think of us and that hill to the east for about two the privilege of caring for these men – care for us, and how important it is to miles, you will find a restaurant. It Thomas and Renee Salamon hosted two preserve that connection to Israel. has the finest food and all the ice-cold of the eighteen who came to London. water you need. Go in Peace!’. I truly hope this programme will The WS effort was organised by Sarah continue to grow and reach new Cursing him again, the desperate Derriey. During their stay here the communities to strengthen their fugitive staggered away over the hill. soldiers took part in the Scrolls connections to IDF veterans and Israel Memorial evening and six of them each as a whole, while helping those ex- lit a memorial candle. soldiers get the support they deserve. Several hours later, he crawled back, almost dead and gasped ‘They won’t let me in without a tie!’.

15 Anglo -Jewish History

The turbulence of Bolshevik rule becoming its founding President. He Isaiah Berlin eventually led the Berlins to emigrate to was knighted in 1957, and appointed to

(1909-1997) England in 1921, where he soon learned the Order of Merit in 1971. English. In addition to Russian and

English, Berlin was fluent in French,

German and Italian, and knew Hebrew, Latin, and Ancient Greek. He was

educated at St Paul's School, London.

He won a place at Corpus Christi College Oxford, and after lecturing at New

College, became the first Jew to be

awarded a prize fellowship to All Souls College.

Throughout the 1930s Berlin was deeply

involved in the development of

Philosophy at Oxford. It was a time when many of the greatest English

minds were there, often gathering in One of the greatest philosophers of Berlin’s rooms to discuss the subject. Cartoon by Niall Ferguson modern times, Isaiah Berlin had the gift, Among them were A.J. Ayer, Stuart not granted to many men of He was President of the British Academy Hampshire and J.L. Austin - all major extraordinary brainpower, of simplicity. from 1974 to 1978. He also received the philosophers - as well those who He once said, ‘Philosophers are adults 1979 Jerusalem Prize for his lifelong excelled in other fields, such as Maurice who persist in asking childish questions’. defence of civil liberties. Bowra, the classicist, Stephen Spender, In his essay The Fox and the Hedgehog the poet and Nicolas Nabokov, the Berlin’s political philosophy is generally he maintained that the fox knows many composer. Berlin’s interests turned to a concerned with the problem of liberty things but the hedgehog knows one big more historical approach to philosophy, and free will in increasingly totalitarian thing. Of that essay he wrote, ‘I never and to social and political theory, as and mechanistic societies. He laid out meant it very seriously. I meant it as a reflected in his intellectual biography of much of his idealism in Two Concepts of kind of enjoyable intellectual game, but Karl Marx (1939), still in print. Liberty, the inaugural lecture he it was taken seriously.’ In the essay he delivered before the University of divides the world’s thinkers into those When war broke out Berlin was turned Oxford on 31st October 1958. It was (the foxes) who, like Aristotle and down for National Service because of his subsequently published as a fifty-seven Shakespeare, knew many things, and foreign background. He also had a page pamphlet by Oxford at the those (the hedgehogs) who, like Plato damaged arm dating from his early Clarendon Press. His defence and and Dante, knew one big thing. childhood. He was offered a post in the refinement of what he saw as the most British Embassy in the Information Taking Isaiah Berlin seriously is not an essential conception of freedom has Service, first in New York, then easy exercise. Even as a child he was achieved classic status, and the presence Washington and - when the war ended - precociously intelligent, wondering and and character of this conception in the in Moscow. He was appointed a CBE in questioning what was happening around modern mind is due in no small measure the 1946 New Year Honours. While in him. His father and grandfather ran a to him. He also identified and Russia he visited the poet Anna prosperous timber business in Latvia, developed, with considerable originality, Akhmatova, some twenty years older and were prominent in the Jewish a pluralist view of ultimate human ideals than he was. They talked far into the community. that supports his liberal stance. night, and were both much influenced Born in 1909 in Riga (now capital of by the meeting, apparently falling in Latvia, then a part of the Russian love. Of that night Akhmatova wrote: Minorities are often a empire), he moved with his family to As on a borderland of clouds Petrograd (St. Petersburg), at the age of valuable stimulus to a I recall your conversation, six, where he witnessed the revolution of And my conversation with you majority, a leaven, a 1917. On a walk with his governess he When night stood as light as day. saw a policeman being dragged away by source of information a mob to his certain death. The memory After the war Berlin was appointed of this event, he said on the BBC Radio 4 Chichele Professor of Social and Political show Desert Island Discs in 1992, ‘gave Theory at Oxford. He was President of Berlin expressed himself best, perhaps, me a permanent horror of physical the Aristotelian Society from 1963 to in his essays and in his conversation. violence which has remained with me 1964, and in 1966 he played a critical ‘Why be clever?’ he once asked. ‘It is a for the rest of my life’. role in creating Wolfson College, Oxford, much overrated attribute’. His

16

distinctive deep, rapid voice was often Russian Jew from Riga, and all my years the leading liberal thinkers of the heard on the radio, and he led many to in England cannot change this. I love century. Philosopher, political theorist, explore his chosen subject – the history of England, I have been well treated here, historian of ideas; Russian, ideas. and I cherish many things about English Englishman, Jew; essayist, critic, life, but I am a Russian Jew; that is how I teacher; he was a man of formidable Much of Berlin's thought was linked to his was born and that is who I will be to the intellectual power with a rare gift for philosophy of ‘value pluralism’, which end of my life.’ When asked further about understanding a wide range of human holds that moral values can be equally his Jewish background he replied, ‘As for motives, hopes and fears, and a valid and yet mutually incompatible, prodigiously energetic capacity for creating conflicts that can only be enjoyment – of life, of people in all their reconciled pragmatically. Keeping a variety, of their ideas and promise may conflict with the pursuit of idiosyncrasies, of literature, of music, truth, for example; liberty may clash with of art.’ social justice; many things may clash with freedom. There can be no universal rules for reconciling such conflicts; the point is Philippa Bernard to find the best accommodation possible in each given case. He never produced a monolithic ‘great work’, and he scattered his writing and thoughts generously and widely - not only in his essays, lectures Isaiah and Aline Berlin in 1955 and journalism, but also in his letters, which are still in the process of being my Jewish roots, they are so deep, so published. native to me, that it is idle for me to try to His views on equality were important to identify them, let alone analyse them.’ his ethical thinking. He, as usual, put the While in America Berlin became a good subject simply, agreeing with the often friend of Chaim Weitzmann. A lifelong A Special Memorial quoted formula ‘Every man to count for Zionist, Berlin never settled in Israel. In one and no one to count for more than 1951, he turned down Ben-Gurion's offer one.’ His chapter on equality in his book to become head of the Foreign Ministry; of essays, Concepts and Categories (1978) Abba Eban and Teddy Kollek, close uses simple analogies to express complex acquaintances both, also urged him to opinions. ‘If I own property, it is unfair move. Berlin, a Zionist who believed in that others (situated in relevant respects the Diaspora, stayed in Oxford. ‘I don't as I am) should not do so too, and if I am want Jews to stop living where they live. If allowed to leave it to my children in my they don't mind being a minority, that's in will it is unfair that others should not have order’ he commented. ‘Minorities are a similar opportunity.’ often a valuable stimulus to a majority, a leaven, a source of information. But nobody should be forced to be a minority.’ At the end of last year, The Times In 1956 Berlin married Aline Halban, née published a piece praising Westminster de Gunzbourg (1915–2014) who was the Synagogue member David Linsey for former wife of an Oxford colleague and a raising an amazing £350,000 to reform previous winner of the Ladies' Golf the trauma care system in Sri Lanka, in Championship of France. She was from an memory of his brother Daniel and his exiled half Russian-aristocratic and half sister Amelie who were so tragically ennobled Jewish banking and petroleum killed in the explosions at the Shangri-La family. She had three children from her Hotel there in October. first marriage but she and Isaiah did not David has set up the Amelie and Daniel have children together. Linsey Foundation and was able to Isaiah Berlin died on 5th November 1997, Berlin was not an observant Jew, but he donate 100 trolley beds as his first aged 88. He is buried in Wolvercote valued his Jewishness deeply. Whenever delivery. The Foundation is planning to Cemetery in Oxford. In its obituary The he was described as an English send ventilators and other equipment as Independent said, philosopher, Berlin always insisted that he part of the next instalment. What a was not an English philosopher, but ‘Isaiah Berlin was one of the most remarkable way to help to overcome would forever be a Russian Jew: ‘I am a remarkable men of his time, and one of such a terrible loss.

17 Book Review would appear that Jacques Bizet was not. Genius & Anxiety engenders pride in our

Jewish heritage and provides a bulwark Lebrecht recounts stories about such against the present tide of pernicious and Genius & Anxiety luminaries as Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, pervasive anti-Semitism. by Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud Norman whose names are well known - but he also I would not describe this as a page-turner Lebrecht gives us insight into some others whose as, although it is an easy read, it is a large names may be unfamiliar and whose book. It is in fact a great big soup of a input has had an enormous impact on our book. Not chicken, as might be ONEWORLD daily lives. appropriate, but more of a minestrone - 2019 with many delicious titbits to discover He gives us Nobel Prize winners Karl and enjoy. Landsteiner, the inventor of blood transfusion and Paul Erlich, the Norman Lebrecht catalogues a century of originator of chemotherapy. He points out Claire Connick important Jewish lives in this slightly that without Rosalind Franklin we would disjointed book - which helpfully contains not have a model of DNA; without a glossary of Jewish terms together with Emanuel Deutsch there would be no State

their origins - mainly Hebrew, Aramaic of Israel. and Yiddish. He begins with the Communist Manifesto Genius & Anxiety in 1847 and ends with the foundation of the State of Israel in 1947. engenders pride in our Each chapter is devoted to a few years and Jewish heritage and includes various anecdotes and details of provides a bulwark the lives of the characters he has chosen. against the present tide There is no straight narrative; within the chapters he flips easily between anecdotes of pernicious and and their dates, but the stories are pervasive anti- fascinating and the prose often amusing. Semitism Paul Erlich

The book’s subtitle, How Jews Changed the World 1847-1947, seems understated. There are some brilliant tales about The world wasn’t changed, it was people whose lives have been lost in the completely revolutionised. According to mists of time. The enigmatic musician, Lebrecht, Psychotherapy, the Pill, the Charles-Valentin Alkan; self-taught Theory of Relativity, the Great American engineer, Siegfried Leipmann Marcus; Songbook, historical materialism, the physician, Magnus Hirschfeld and cure for syphilis, Broadway, blood Charles Dickens’ friend, Eliza Davis are transfusions, atonal music, critical theory, just a few of the people whose names and the pioneers of European modernism and stories we discover between the pages of investment banking all owe their Lebrecht’s book. Scientists, politicians, existence to Jews. writers, painters, musicians appear and We learn that Marcel Proust and Jacques are described in interesting detail. Rosalind Franklin Bizet (son of Georges) both had Jewish The huge bibliography bears witness to mothers - and were therefore technically the enormous amount of research that Jewish - and that they were friends, was undertaken to produce this book. although Proust was homosexual and it But whilst being scholarly, it is still very entertaining and full of interesting information. Lebrecht has a light touch -

this little gem is from the Introduction:-

Five Jews wrote the rules of society:- Moses said the Law is everything Jesus said Love is everything

Marx said Money is everything Freud said Sex is everything Einstein said Everything is Relative Karl Landsteiner Magnus Hirschfeld

1 8 Poetry Page

The River Time: A Metaphor

I went up the river Time in my dream A river not mentioned on maps The only river which flows from past to future Its waters transient yet the river permanent Struggling against its pre-ordained course Flowing across the vastness of unknown Eternity Eternity where beginning and end merge Eternity twinned with infinity: the mind’s last frontier Infinity beyond the space of life Life the miracle which transcends Time

I wanted to rediscover its forgotten origin The river I came into contact with at birth Aware that this river is like no other Not bridgeable, never discharging itself Its waters colourless, noiseless, invisible And yet the only waters which sustain life A circular flow which takes me onward toward my past As I circle in Space and go forward in Time Time/Life: God’s spirit transcends

Colette Littman

19 Jewish History Heinz Heydrich believed to have been of Jewish origin, Heinz left a wife and five children, of whom Richard converting to Protestantism to the eldest, Peter, was a well-known further his career, though the Nazi German cabaret singer, and wrote a book investigations of the background of their about his childhood, his father, and his leaders would surely have discovered this uncle. In the book, Peter Heydrich

in the case of the Heydrichs. Heinz describes how, as a youth, he enjoyed the Heydrich, too, was an active member of the fame of being the nephew of Reinhard SS, reaching the rank of lieutenant Heydrich. During boyhood, he thought of

(Obersturmführer); he was a journalist his uncle as a successful sportsman and a and publisher of the soldiers' newspaper, sensitive musician. In Prague, Peter Die Panzerfaust. He was at first a fervent observed that his uncle had become a

admirer of Hitler. ‘bigwig.’ Peter derived many privileges from being Reinhard Heydrich's nephew, After the assassination of his brother, but finally, Peter Heydrich had to admit Heinz was handed a large box containing that Reinhard Heydrich was a schemer, Reinhart’s papers, previously stored in who planned and executed the Holocaust Gestapo headquarters in Berlin. He took and other crimes. the box home and sat up all night going through them and, according to his wife, After the war, Heinz Heydrich’s name was

burning much that he found. He appeared suggested as a recipient of Yad Vashem’s The infamous Reinhart Heydrich is often distraught and overwhelmed by what he ‘Righteous Among the Nations’. It is referred to as the author of the Final read. Clearly the papers were Reinhart’s possible that this may still happen, but one Solution. He was a high-ranking German personal files and Heinz had no idea of the of the criteria for the honour, is not being SS and police official and Chief of the Reich depth and horror of the Nazi plans for the involved in war crimes, which may be Main Security Office (including the extermination of the Jews. difficult to prove, in view of his brother’s Gestapo, Kripo, and SD). He was also career. Nevertheless the story is Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor extraordinary and adds some small part to (Deputy/Acting Reich-Protector) of the story is the history of the Holocaust and of the Bohemia and Moravia. He served as extraordinary and Second World War. president of the International Criminal

Police Commission (ICPC, later known as adds some small part Interpol) and chaired the January 1942 Philippa Bernard Wannsee Conference which formalised to the history of the plans for the ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question’ - the deportation and genocide of Holocaust and of the all Jews in German-occupied Europe. He Second World War was assassinated in 1942, an event which was followed by the extermination of the entire village of Lidice - an article about which was featured in our Quarterly of After his discovery he began to help Jews October,2011. What is not so well known is to escape from Germany and the occupied that his younger brother Heinz later helped countries by using the printing presses of to save Jews from the concentration the Panzerfaust to forge passes and camps. identity documents. Little is known of the names of those who managed to leave The Heydrich family were talented Germany, nor of the numbers of Jews he musicians. The father, Richard Bruno helped. Heydrich, was a contrabassist in the Meiningen Court Orchestra where he Two years later an economic commission began his career as a singer. His wife investigated the editorial staff of Elizabeth came from a wealthy family and Panzerfaust. Heinz Heydrich thought he was the daughter of the head of the Royal had been discovered and in order to Conservatory of Dresden. Richard turned protect his family from the Gestapo he took The Heydrich brothers to composing choral works, songs, his own life. In reality, the commission orchestral works and operas in the style of knew nothing about the forgeries, and was Richard Wagner, which were performed in only trying to find out the reason for Cologne and Leipzig. The family were shortages in paper supplies.

20

Community

Pioneers of Kent accountant. She went on to play an that everything moved according to plan. important role as one of the few women in She became the congregation’s first

House the City at that time to have achieved Honorary Secretary, working diligently eminence in the world of finance. She and efficiently while still putting in a full 2. Constance Stuart became the first woman company day’s work in the City. She didn’t hesitate secretary. to put Touche’s stationery, communications and even staff at the At some time in the thirties Constance disposal of the Synagogue, all of which met a French Jew (we don’t even know his were given with willingness and name) and they became engaged to be generosity. There was no part of the married. However, he was taken by the community at Kent House to which she Nazis and executed. One of her few did not devote her attention: the running remembrances of him was his yellow of the office, the care of the house, the armband inscribed ‘Juif’, which she later conduct of the Services, as well as the donated to the Memorial Scrolls Museum welfare of the members. at Kent House. Following the tragedy, she decided to become Jewish herself. She Constance had a great love for music, and approached Rabbi Reinhart at the West was involved for many years with the London Synagogue, and he guided her Aldeburgh Music Festival. She knew through her conversion to Judaism, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears becoming a friend in the process. personally, as well most of the inhabitants Together with his wife Flora they of the little town, which she was to make remained close all their lives, and her home when she retired from the City. Constance’s knowledge of Judaism and Even after moving into a charming little Jewish history equalled that of anyone house near the seafront at Aldeburgh, she Constance Stuart was a founder member born Jewish. continued to keep up her allegiance to the and indeed an instigator of Westminster Synagogue, frequently attending services, Synagogue, but we know surprisingly While at Touche’s, she acquired, through and helping with all the arrangements at little about her. She gave out few details her friendship with the partners, a love of Kent House. Visitors were always of her private life, though good friends wine, with which she became very welcome in her new home, with a fine gathered some information over the knowledgeable, visiting vineyards in wine on the table, tickets for the Festival, years. France and building a small but fine and often an introduction to the world- collection of wines, shared with special Constance came from a long line of famous contributors to the music friends. She visited some of the French strong, intelligent Scots women. Her performances. monasteries and would talk about Cluny mother was a Suffragette, her sister the and the Benedictines, or the Cistercians Like the famous flautist James Galway, Headmistress of a girls’ school, though and Bernard of Clairvaux with an she had the condition which causes the neither girl married. She had a brother informed love for a religion that was not eyes to be in perpetual motion – but seemed not to know much about him, her own. Nystagmus. Like James Galway, it did though she liked to tell the story of not harm her career in any way. meeting a man on a train. She looked at him and said, ‘I think you are my brother.’ There was no part of Sadly, as time went on, her mind began to ‘I rather think I am,’ he replied, and that the community at Kent fade, and the woman who had achieved so apparently ended the conversation. Her House to which she did much in her life, found it impossible to Scottish ancestry was of much importance keep her home as she wished it to be, and to her; she always claimed to be a direct not devote her she had to move into a nursing home descendant of Mary Stuart, Mary Queen attention nearby. Strangely, she had provided for of Scots. Her family was strict her funeral to be a non-Jewish one, and Presbyterian. She recalled never being she was buried near her sister, in a little She loved the City of London, and would allowed even to laugh on Sundays. village near Aldeburgh. Those of us who walk through the streets, particularly on a had the privilege of knowing this After leaving school she took a secretarial Sunday afternoon, with friends, pointing remarkable woman miss her still. course and obtained a post as a secretary out every church they passed and every at the important accountancy firm of landmark that meant something to her. Touche, Ross & Co. in the City. While When in 1957 Westminster Synagogue Philippa Bernard there she studied accountancy, qualified was founded, Constance took a vital part as a Chartered Accountant and remained in establishing the congregation. Her at Touche’s as their own in-house accountant’s mind was ideal for ensuring

21 Editorial

Although it is some time since Chanukah, it is never too late to report with pride, that our own talented singer Yoav Oved performed with pianist Achinoam Keisar in a Chanukah concert for the Nightingale Hammerson home. The concert was arranged by The Jewish Music Institute (JMI). The performance included such Chanukah items as Maoz Tsur, Sevivon Sov- Sov-Sov and many other festival favourites, along with other traditional Jewish and Hebrew songs. The whole evening entertained and uplifted the residents, their families, friends and staff who gathered to hear this outstanding recital,

with the residents singing, clapping along and enjoying the lighting of the first candle of Chanukah.

And on the subject of Music did you hear our Emeritus Rabbi Thomas Salamon on Classic FM?

As we all know, global warming is a threat that is coming closer all the time. We are urged to try to improve our life style by abandoning plastics, diminishing our carbon footprint and trying to become more organic. With this in mind, the Synagogue executive has decided to turn the Kent House garden into a small farm. A local gardener, Olaf Lipor, has been engaged to do the hard work. The flowerbeds will be emptied, to be refilled with vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and herbs, all of which can be used in the Synagogue kitchen. A small shed will be erected to house chickens. All produce will be turned into material for our superb meals and kiddushim. The first member of staff to arrive in the morning will collect eggs, and we are seeking offers from members to clean up daily after the livestock, the resulting detritus being put back into the soil as fertiliser. With everyone’s help we look forward to turning the congregation into a healthy, self-sufficient community.

Edward Glover writes:

David Connick mentioned that you were writing an article for the Quarterly about connections between Polack’s House and WS. As you know, I am not a Polackian. However I have fond memories of Albert Polack. He addressed me at my Bar Mitzvah, taking as his text the words of Hillel ‘If I am not…’ which I had not heard before. I was sufficiently moved by what he said, to write down the three full Hillel sayings on a piece of paper which was in a drawer in my bedside table for many years and is still in a drawer in the small writing table/desk of my father’s that I have. I also remember another address he gave on the subject of being an enthusiast, explaining the word’s derivation from Greek and leaving me with an additional sense of the word which, as will be apparent, I have never forgotten. But I digress…

Some years ago, I became aware that Clifton College had been evacuated to Bude in Cornwall during the Second World War when a memorial was placed on the downs between the two beaches - more or less overlooking the cricket ground as well as the sea and on a prime dog-walking route. The photos are of this stone - the wording has already become somewhat indistinct but the College crest is clearer. However it was only in the last two or three years that I learnt that Albert had been in charge of Polack’s at the time - and that the boarding houses of the School had taken over a row of houses on a road called Summerleaze Crescent. The third photo is of that row of houses - taken from the window of the sitting room of our family cottage! So whenever I am there, in a town with which I had always associated Juliet’s family - her grandmother and aunt lived there and there are a number of relations in the churchyard in Stratton, about a mile and a half away - I have an unexpected reminder of my Bar Mitzvah.

22

Community Matters

Yoav, led Oyfn Pripetchik as part of the and third, that ‘the way to the land is Education Report Scrolls Service, a poignant moment of through the wilderness.’ there is no way children singing about children. to get from here to there except by

joining together and marching. BM Process – We are working with a

group of parents to revise the BM In January, we studied this passage of process, especially social engagement for Walzer’s, alongside other great Jewish children and parents. We hosted a BM texts on justice work. What we noticed in th parents’ kiddush on 10 January. our study together was that one of the core texts on Jewish social justice work - Berlin Residential – The Residential You shall not oppress the stranger, will take place on 5th-7th June, 2020. because you were strangers in the land Vision and strategy – I am working of Egypt - is predicated on our personal on an ongoing basis with the rest of the experiences impacting how we treat

innovation team - Rabbi Benji, Gary others. What we experience on a Sakol and Jon Zecharia - on our strategy personal level is not so distant from that and vision as a community, as well as our which is experienced by entire peoples, values and culture. races, and ethnicities.

At the moment, I am identifying areas Adult learning – In addition to Or May this Passover allow us to experience for growth and development across the Chadash, we are working with a small our own personal liberation as well as community. All of this growth will take group to build weekday adult learning freedom for all of those who suffer time. For the next six months I am one evening a month, centred around a around us. May we be blessed with new focusing my efforts on Or Shabbat. We creative activity (e.g. make your own experiences of song, learning, and are continuing with our programme to tallit) with a focus on spirituality. This community. was launched on 3rd February. train teachers, with Rabbi Benji and Yael Roberts Dudi Appleton joining these training Education Committee - We are in the sessions. The sessions include reflection, process of rebuilding the education Jewish learning, and resourcing teachers committee. Starting with Or Shabbat, the in planning their lessons for the term. aim is to find a key leader from each age A SPECIAL EXHIBITION Three parents joined Rabbi Benji, Dudi group as we work closely in developing th and me for a meeting to consider the our different programmes. The plan is Commencing on March 20 , the future vision and strategy for Or that these leaders will come together to British Library will be presenting Shabbat. The plan is to begin to form a new education committee an exhibition of Hebrew Manuscripts: Journeys of the implement the strategy now with the aim As we approach the festival of Passover, I to create change at Or Shabbat from Written Word to discover the think of how, in every generation, each of history, culture and personal stories of September 2020. The Or Shabbat Vision us lives in a personal Egypt, a narrow team has met again to begin working Jewish people from all corners of the place. Mitzrayim, the Hebrew word for world through the ages. with all the parents towards a new Or Egypt, contains the word tzar, narrow Shabbat vision. This vision will inform place. For us as individuals, this may be work on the curriculum and structure of connected to our mental or physical Through rarely-seen treasures from as Or Shabbat that will take place during health, the daily stress of life, the far back as the 10th century, this the spring of 2020. situations of friends and family. exhibition covers relationships Westminster Synagogue Everyone’s struggles are different. But between Jews and their neighbours in Residential – the Residential was a collectively we experience the same the communities in which they lived; great success with thirteen attendees. challenges. Pesach can remind us of from an Italian rabbi’s reply to Henry Everyone had a fabulous weekend and what it means to live in ‘Egypt’ as a VIII, who sought advice on divorcing th one of the highlights was the B’nei people. his first wife, to a 13 -century Anglo- Jewish charter showing the passing of Mitzvah students leading parts of the As Professor Michael Walzer writes: Service on Friday evening. They had property between people of different We still believe, or many of us do, what faiths. been working on learning about the the Exodus first taught, or what it has Friday evening Service for some time commonly been taken to teach, about and took leadership, with teacher the meaning and possibility of politics support, over different prayers and and about its proper form: first, that moments during the Service wherever you live, it is probably Egypt; Scrolls service – the BM students, second, that there is a better place, a after a few weeks of preparation with world more attractive, a promised land;

23

WESTMINSTER SYNAGOGUE Kent House, Rutland Gardens, London SW7 1BX

Planning Your Diary Contacting the Synagogue

RABBI Rabbi Benji Stanley [email protected] T: 020 7052 9712 Seder Night CHAIRMAN OF THE Jeffrey Ohrenstein [email protected] Wednesday 8th April EXECUTIVE

EXECUTIVE Gary Sakol [email protected] Pesach First Day DIRECTOR T: 020 7052 9713

Thursday 9th April

EDUCATION Yael Roberts [email protected] Pesach Last Day T: 020 7052 9714 EVENTS & Jon Zecharia [email protected] th COMMUNICATIONS Wednesday 15 April T: 020 7052 9711 MANAGER

KIDDUSHIM Hilary Ashleigh [email protected] Erev Shavuot T: 020 7052 9717

Hilary Ashleigh [email protected] Thursday 28th May MITZVOT

MEMBERSHIP Darcy Goldstein [email protected] Shavuot LIFECYCLE Ben Shaw - PA to the [email protected] th Friday 29 May ENQUIRIES Rabbinic Team T: 020 7052 9701

CZECH SCROLLS Jeffrey Ohrenstein [email protected] Erev Rosh Hashana T: 020 7584 3740 MUSEUM

Friday 18th September GENERAL Nivi Chatterjee Duari [email protected] ENQUIRIES T: 020 7584 3953/020 7052 9700 Rosh Hashana

Saturday 19th September EMERGENCIES Monday to Friday:

In the first instance, please call Kol Nidre the Synagogue Office: 020 7052 9710 Evenings and weekends: Sunday 27th September please call +4420 7052 9710. Leave a message and a member of staff will promptly return your call.

Yom Kippur Please send letters, articles, photographs or other items of interest for Monday 28th September publication in the Westminster Synagogue Quarterly directly to the Synagogue office or e-mail to [email protected]

WESTMINSTER SYNAGOGUE Kent House Rutland Gardens London SW7 1BX