SSUSSEUSSExx 1 JJEEwiwiSShh NNEEwwSS what’S iNSidE.... pESaCh | MEMOriES rEKiNdlEd | thE FlYiNG FORTRESS | rEalitY iS WARPEd | WHAT’S ON | aNd MOrE Whats april 2017 • NiSaN / iYYar 5777 • iSSUE 273 2 3 ISSUE 273 | APRIL 2017 2 3 ISSUE 273 | APRIL 2017 Contents EDITORIAL BOARD Hazel Coppins, Doris Levinson, Stephanie Megitt, Michael Rich, David Seidel TECHNICAL ADVISOR Brian Megitt ADMINISTRATOR Bernard Swithern Administrative Assistants Ivor Sorokin, Lydia Swithern COMMUNAL DIARY [email protected] 4 COVER IMAGE Brian Megitt 5 PRODUCTION/LAYOUT Anand Day Sussex Jewish News PO Box 2178 • Hove BN3 3SZ Telephone: 07906 955 404 FEATURES 1 A LOAF OF MATZO, A JUG OF WINE AND PRAYER Brian Megitt highlights Pesach tradition 2 PAUSES FOR THOUGHT Pesach messages from the Board of Deputies and the Chief Rabbi 10 MEMORIES REKINDLED Malcolm Sharpe on his father Sydney 11 LUCK OF THE DEVIL? From Elmer Bendiner’s The Fall of the Fortresses 12 COMMENTARY Reality is warped REGULARS 5 SUSSEX AND THE CITY Your news, views and stories from across the county 13 CULTURE Books, recipes and history 19 WHAT’S ON Regular and special events in your community YOUR COMMUNITY 15 BRIGHTON & HOVE REFORM SYNAGOGUE 16 HOVE HEBREW Congregation 17 BRIGHTON & HOVE PROGRESSIVE SYNAGOGUE 18 BRIGHTON & HOVE HEBREW Congregation SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 7 APRIL 2017 Email address for submissions and correspondence: [email protected] or [email protected] Full page (A4 size) £170 Sussex Jewish News (‘SJN’), its Editor and Editorial Board: • are not allied to any synagogue or group and the views expressed by writers Half page (A5 size) £100 are not necessarily those of SJN; Quarter page (A6 size) £65 • accept advertisements in good faith but do not endorse any products or services and do not accept liability for any aspect of any advertisements; 1/9 page (credit card size) £40 and Personal Announcements in a box (up to 6 lines): £25 • welcome readers’ contributions but reserve the right to edit, cut, decline or submit the content to others for comment. To ensure that we receive your Flyers: Price on application submissions by email, please send them ONLY to sjneditor@sussexjewishnews. Local Jewish charities will not be charged, subject to com, otherwise we cannot guarantee their consideration for publication. To assist the Editorial Board, submissions should be in Word format using Times editorial decision. New Roman font, size 12. Receipt of submissions may not be acknowledged, unless specifically requested. As the Editorial Board is made up entirely of BOOK NOW! 07906 955 404 GUIDELINES volunteers, any response may be subject to delay. ADVERTISING ADVERTISING IN SJN ISSUE 273 | APRIL 2017 4 Sussex and the City 5 Your News Naomi Cooperman MA by Sidney Lipman Special birthdays Whilst you are Mazel tov to Shirley Becker, Eileen Berlis, Daniel Breuer, munching or Barrie Lyons, Ivan Lyons, Pat Moss, Estelle Simon, Julian crunching your Lazarus and all who are celebrating special birthdays this Matzo, please month. cogitate on this latest achievement Special Anniversaries from the “brains Mazel tov to: dept” i.e., the academic world, by • Anne and David Pincus on the celebration of their Golden Naomi Cooperman Wedding anniversary. who, knowing • Edna and Cyril Sugarman on the celebration of their Golden my interest in Wedding Anniversary. photography, invited me to read her dissertation, which was submitted to the Academics Achievements at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for a Masters Degree in Mazel tov to: Photography. I was quite chuffed at this invitation, for my education finished at 14 and like many others, I have been • Adam Firsht, who won learning ever since! So, you will understand that I am not the Brighton Half Marathon Youth Race on Sunday 26 really able and competent to give a fair assessment on this February in his age group type of literary work. (13 - 14 years) against 27 The dissertation arrived, beautifully printed in book form other runners. He collected with embossed lettering on the spine, most impressive, £110, at short notice, for with more to follow. The title: The Semiotics of Orthodox the Martlets Hospice in Jewishness in Photography. The first page included three memory of Mike Ansell unfamiliar words. In what followed, I was constantly who passed away on 16 referring to my dictionary for an explanation and meaning. February. • Ivan Lyons, who on 1 April celebrated the culmination of Nonetheless, I pressed on to fully appreciate and completing 100 Marathons and his 50th Birthday. understand the author’s interpretation and meaning between each group of photographs. Get Well To me, this dissertation was a great surprise in more We wish a refuah sheleimah to Alan Glynn, Alan Bass, Shirley ways than one. In consequence, when Naomi called to Moss, Gweni Sorokin, Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah and all collect her thesis, I decided that this work warranted full who are unwell or in hospital at the present time. recognition and as such, awarded her 5 Gold Stars with a special mention in despatches. Deaths This award was later eclipsed by the Academics, We wish Long Life to the family of Suzanne Sissling z’l. who quite rightly awarded her a Masters Degree in Photography, with Distinction. Well done. SUSSEX JEWISH NEWS SUBSCRIPTION Name:_______________________________________________ Date:_________________________ Address:___________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Postcode:____________________ Email: _______________________________________________ Telephone:____________________ Subscription (tick one) I would like to receive electronic copies of SJN. £18 p/a I would like to receive printed copies of SJN. £24 p/a. I enclose my cheque payable to Sussex Jewish News at PO Box 2178, Hove BN3 3SZ I have made a bank transfer to the Sussex Jewish News at Lloyds Bank, Sort Code 30-98-74, Account No. 00289447 and I have included my name as a reference to ensure my subscription is noted. ISSUE 273 | APRIL 2017 6 Sussex and the City 7 Your views “I have a dream” I may not be forgiven by many for using Martin Luther King’s This target can only be reached by the continued monitoring opening words of his lyrical 1963 speech to introduce a of an already nearly perfect system in the fields of Health, theme of a very different inspiration. Defence, Education and Social Care. Nevertheless, my dream is as palpable as Dr. King’s, because It goes without saying that only scrupulously uncorrupted it springs from events of similar historical proportions to those governments can aspire to such high goals and that, in this that, rightly, inspired his life and teaching. process, some of the commonly known and much usurped My dream, alas, would sound more like a nightmare to those liberties will have to be curtailed. who believe in democracy, human rights and total freedom The governance that I advocate is one of so called ‘flawed of the individual, because its roots are steeped in the partial democracy’, where there are still general elections, but births negation of such luxuries. can be restricted by law, the protection of public order and Let us start with democracy, a form of government where the propriety are strictly enforced by the authorities and nepotism power is vested in the people, who are led to believe that they is not an alternative to meritocracy. rule through their freely elected representatives. Nothing, in In this imaginary State, crime has no space to breed, children fact, could be further from reality, as we know that politicians are responsible for the welfare of their ageing parents and often use their position unwisely and, sometimes, dishonestly, there is no exploitation of state benefits. In addition, property ignoring the needs and wishes of their constituents. ownership is widespread and taxation is always fairly Corruption, incompetence and misjudgement make a proportional to income. mockery of democracy, underlying the fact that this child of Human rights activists the world over would disagree with ancient Greece first, and Rome later, is only an illusion. me, but I still have my dream of a quasi-perfect Utopian land, No Magna Carta or ‘Social Contract’ of J.J. Rousseau’s inhabited by law abiding, hard-working citizens, who are well memory can correct the very nature and inclinations of Homo educated, expertly looked after in sickness and grateful to live Sapiens and make them noble. in a safe, orderly and prosperous environment. What nations need, instead, is guidance and identifiable parameters of conduct in the shape of rules and regulations Fausta Shelton that reflect, and protect at the same time, the necessities and priorities of society, as a whole. Helping Hands - Time for Tea by Jason Lever “There are few hours in life more agreeable What to expect at a Helping Hands tea? than the hour dedicated to the ceremony 1) Freshly made sandwiches (the best in town!) known as afternoon tea.” 2) Delicious Danish pastries from London (they are apparently So said the writer, Henry James, who was not Danish according to the Visit Denmark website!) an American to boot. The ritual of the English afternoon tea was one of many 3) As much Tea (or Coffee) as you can drink. Anglophile traits of which he partook in his 4) Catch up and chat with old friends across the community – 01273 747722 adopted country. and make new ones. By the way, it all started in the 1800s with Anna, the 7th 5) Entertainment – usually musical. Duchess of Bedford, who, at the time, was a close friend of Remember that you do not have to be a member of any Shul Queen Victoria and a prominent figure within London society. to come along. So, if you’ve never been, please give it a try She complained of “having that sinking feeling” during the along with our many regulars.