Kingsbury Courier Rosh Hashanah 2012

Kingsbury Synagogue
Editorial
Welcome
to
the
second edition of
our
community
magazine, The
Kingsbury
Courier. As you
can see, the
enhancement of
colour on our
front page is a pleasing addition.
We, the editors, are trying hard to
make a success of this publication,
with your active participation.
We have introduced pictorial
columns for Simchas and events
that the Shul organised between
Pesach and Rosh HaShanah.
Please send us your photos for
publication. A new feature of
cartoons and jokes is launched to
lighten the contents of the
magazine.
There was no response to Rev.
Gershon Glausiusz’s competition
column in spite of the fact that we
have a fair number of Hebrew
speakers in our midst, so Rev.
Glausiusz translated the poem
himself, and being an optimist,
submitted a new poem for the
competition.
Please let us know what you think
of the new Kingsbury Courier and
send us your comments. You
have seen our colourful front
page. Imagine how it would look
if we were able to show more
photos in colour, but alas, cost is
the determining factor.
We take this opportunity to wish
all our readers a Happy and
Peaceful New Year.
Irene Glausiusz and Leslie Rubner
Co-Editors
Rosh Hashanah Message from Rabbi Cohen
I am not the greatest follower of sports events but I was sitting at a Siyum – a
celebration on completing the learning of a Tractate of Talmud – last week and it got
me thinking.
The phrase that I noticed
was, - we run and they run…’
This got me thinking about the Olympics, because even if you did not follow the
actual events there was no way you could not have been aware that it was going on.
The first thing I noticed was the change in atmosphere. There was a feeling of Simcha
in the air. Normally when you travel around on public transport people tend to keep
themselves to themselves, but during those couple of weeks people were talking to
each other. There was something that united them that brought them together creating
a feeling of joy. Whilst not with sports as our goal, this is what we pray for towards
the beginning of every Amida on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. ‘Let them all
become a single society, to do Your will wholeheartedly.’
Then there is the dedication, effort and perseverance of the participants. But why do
they do it? Of the 10,500 participants only 302 went home with a gold medal, 90%
with no medal at all. In an article in the Daf Hashavua Yisroel Binstock suggested
that each person is trying to beat their personal best. If each person puts in the effort
and accomplishes the best that they can then everyone is a winner. What a wonderful
lesson, life is about us becoming the best individual one can be. In the famous words
of the great Chassidic Rebbe, Reb Zusha of Anipoli, ‘I am not worried that in heaven
I will be asked why I was not as great as Moses but I am worried that they will ask me
why I am not as great as Zusha – that I have not fulfilled my own potential.’
Then there were the few moments that I did see. The joy at end of the gymnasts when
the British team were awarded a silver medal. To then be downgraded to a bronze as
the points were recalculated and the disappointment on their faces. On Rosh Hashana
and Yom Kippur we stand and re-evaluate our lives. They are moments of seeing the
reality of our lives, we are not meant to be disappointed but we do need to look at
ourselves honestly to see how we can retrain and improve in the year to come.
‘We run and they run.’ We may have enjoyed their running and activities and learnt
lessons from them but our running, the full active life of a committed Jewish person
leads us to life in the world to come. May we merit to live lives of true fulfilment in
health and happiness in the coming new year.
On behalf of Rivky, our children and myself, I wish you
Chief Rabbi’s Rosh Hashanah Message – 5773
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are times for stock-taking, individually and collectively. As
we pray for God’s blessings for the future, we reflect on the past: where we have come from,
how far we have travelled, and what remains to be done.
As I think back personally to the day 21 years ago when I became Chief Rabbi, my
overwhelming feeling is one of thanks and indebtedness to a community that has renewed
itself beyond expectation.
Most spectacular has been the growth in education. There have been more new Jewish day
schools opened in the past two decades than in any comparable period in the 356-year history
of Anglo-Jewry. The percentage of Jewish children at Jewish day schools has moved from
some 25 per cent to almost 70 per cent. This is an immense achievement on the part of many
people: builders, funders, governors, teachers, parents and children. Together they have given
us a future to be proud of.
Nor has the growth in education been confmed to schools. There has been an explosion of
adult, family and informal education. Never before has there been so much learning taking
place in our community. We are better Jewishly educated than we were, and our children and
grandchildren will be yet more so.
Then there has been the creativity and exuberance of Jewish life in general. I think of the new
London Jewish Cultural Centre, the London Jewish Community Centre currently being built,
and events like Jewish Book Week that attract ever larger crowds. Most of our synagogues are
no longer simply houses of prayer. They have become community centres with active and
dynamic programmes of all kinds.
Jewish welfare organisations like Jewish Care, JBD, Norwood, Nightingale House, Langdon
and others throughout the country have achieved unparalleled standards of excellence. Chessed
activities thread through almost all of our organisations and schools, and Mitzvah Day has
inspired other faith communities, becoming this year a national project backed by the
government.
The Jewish voice has become a significant part of the national conversation on moral and
social issues, listened to respectfully by people of all faiths or none. Even the demography of
AngloJewry has changed. Having declined year-on-year for 60 years, in 2005 the tide began to
turn, largely thanks to the growth of the Haredi community. We are now growing, albeit
slowly.
And yes, there are negatives: the growth of antisemitism and the various campaigns against
Israel. But Britain remains, for the most part, a tolerant society. Jews and Judaism are admired,
and in the fight against prejudice we have good and often courageous friends. Were our
Victorian predecessors 150 years ago to see us now, they would be frankly astonished at the
richness and exuberance of Jewish life.
Lo alecha ha-melakhah ligmor: It is not for us to complete the task, but neither have we
desisted from it, and together we have achieved great things. Our children and grandchildren
will have new challenges to face, but they will do so with more knowledge and confidence
than any AngloJewish generation in the past.
So let us give collective thanks to God shehecheyanu ve-kiyemanu ve-higiyanu lazman
hazeh, who has brought us safely to this day. May the shofar of Rosh Hashanah summon us to
yet greater achievements. May we remain true to our faith and a blessing to others regardless
of their faith. May God write us and our families in the Book of Life.
Bebirkat ketivah vechatimah tovah,
CST: Working Together With Jewish Communities
CST is the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security for Jewish
communities throughout Britain; ensuring that we are all able to lead the Jewish
life of our choice. CST is also available - 24 hours a day - for those of us who are
unfortunate enough to suffer, or witness, antisemitism.
We are part and parcel of our communities, drawing upon a long and proud
tradition of British Jewish self-defence. Security can only be done with the help,
cooperation and participation of the members of our community, its leaders and
institutions and the need to share responsibility. This means contacting your local
CST and asking what role you can play with our local security teams. It means
understanding why we do security and cooperating with our local teams. It means
contacting CST if you happen to have information that you think may be of use to
us, or to the Police.
Sharing responsibility also means trying to keep a healthy balance between keeping
calm and being aware of the physical threats that unfortunately do exist.
Since last Rosh HaShana, three separate terrorist plots against British Jews have
been revealed. These concerned Golders Green, Stamford Hill and Broughton
Park, in Greater Manchester; and the other regarding
two British synagogues. Keep in mind the dreadful shootings at a Jewish school in
Toulouse; and from Iran, appalling state-sponsored antisemitism and terrorism
against Jews worldwide, particularly Israel.
Our enemies do not distinguish one type of Jew from another; and they are
targeting both large and small communities. CST’s work is therefore sadly
necessary, but we should be determined to keep a sense of perspective about the
situation.
Today, our community is largely able to express its Jewishness in whatever way it
wishes. These can be religious, cultural, political, charitable or sporting activities.
Our community is, on the whole, successful and well integrated into the rest of
society. We have come a very long way indeed since the newly arrived
immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Antisemitism and the threat of terrorism most certainly do not define our lives as
British Jews. At CST, we want to keep it that way. This is why we work so
closely with synagogues from across our Jewish communities; and it is why
Police and Government encourage our efforts.
Thank you and Shana Tova.
KINGSBURY SYNAGOGUE LADIES'
GUILD
Since April, the Kingsbury Synagogue
Ladies' Guild has started running a
coffee/social morning once a month.
This caters for both men and
women, and takes place
from 10.30 a.m. until
12.00 noon in the
new Louis Domb
Hall.
In April, we
also held an
informal
supper, and
in May we
had
a
breakfast to
celebrate
Yom
Yerushalayim.
On
both
occasions we had
a speaker, and
these events were
well attended. We also
hold a Kiddush every week.
We were also delighted that KKW5
were able to hold three lectures given
by Rabbi Stephen Phillips in our new
facilities, and it is hoped that KKW5
will hold many more lectures at
Kingsbury.
Our next coffee morning will take
place on Monday 3rd September,
thereafter on 15th October, 12th
November and 3rd December. We will
also be holding a supper on Sunday 9th
December to celebrate Chanuka.
If anybody is interested
in joining us for
either the coffee
mornings, or our
supper
in
December, or
for us to
arrange
a
Kiddush for
you, please
get in touch
with either
myself
or
Cynthia.
May we take
this
opportunity to
wish
Rabbi
Cohen, Rebbetzin
Cohen and family, the
Honorary Officers, and all
the Kehilla a very Happy and Peaceful
New Year, and well over the fast.
Sharon Linderman - Chairlady
Tel: 020 8204 8051
e-mail: [email protected]
Cynthia Jacobs - Treasurer
Tel: 020 8205 1310
e-mail: [email protected]
KKW5
On Monday 16th July 2012, KKW5 had their end of
term quiz. Kingsbury sent in a team consisting of
Ruth
Aharoni,
Rayner
Barnett, Stanley, Pat and
Jonathan Brody, Henry and Sharon
Linderman, Martin and Fiona
Robinson, and Stephen and Roz
Phillips. Kingsbury came joint
first with a team from Kenton
Shul.
If anyone would like
more information about KKW5, or
would like to come along to any of
our lectures (which are held on a Monday evening) please contact:
Mrs. Sharon Linderman - tel: 0208 204 8051, or e-mail:
[email protected]
Rabbi Phillips will be giving two more lectures in the new Louis Domb Hall on
Monday 14th and 21st January 2013. If anyone would like any information
regarding KKW5 please contact
Mrs. Sharon Linderman, tel: 0208 204 8051 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting
FREE
0208
204
8051
end_of_the_skype_highlighting:
e-mail
[email protected]
Letters to the Editor
Thank you to the Kingsbury Synagogue Ladies Guild for arranging
Coffee Mornings once a month. I look forward to going and meeting
everyone at this nice social event.
And to Rabbi Stephen Phillips - Thank you for your lectures which I
have found very interesting and inspiring. These were especially
pleasant in our lovely new Louis Domb Hall upstairs. I enjoyed
meeting people from other shuls and socialising afterwards. We hope
next year you will be able to continue your lectures on other topics. I
look forward to coming.
Della Brown
Events from Pesach to Rosh Hashana
22 April
Shul Dinner.
Guest speaker Rabbi
Reuven Stepsky
9 May
The First Shul Coffee
Morning. Mrs and Mr
Tobias were present.
20 May
Yom Yerushalayim
Guest speaker Rabbi
Aubrey Hirsh
11 June Second Coffee
Morning Mrs Anne
Freeman was present.
11th, 18th and 25 June
HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO
THE LAWS OF SHABBOS
The lectures were by Rabbi
Stephen Phillips
2 July
Third Shul Coffee Morning with
Mrs Nathan present
KINGSBURY JEWISH AID
SOCIETY
From Pat Goodman
On Sunday 15 July we held our annual Walkabout. This began many
years ago as a kind of mystery car rally. But as this was deemed rather
unsafe (to other road users) plus not being very enjoyable for the
drivers, it has developed into the present format,
th
As we can no longer use Kingsbury shul hall, we now start and finish at
the Bushey Centre. People come to the car park, are given a route to the
previously unknown destination, with instructions where they can park,
plus a list of about 55 questions relating to the destination.
This year our destination was Ware in Hertfordshire, which is a
delightful, small town with many interesting historic features. The walk
took people in a circular tour around differing areas, old and new, plus a
short stretch of the canal towpath.
Fortunately the weather was good on that day as we had a total of 18
cars with some 75 passengers. Once their question sheets were
completed, people returned to Bushey Centre to have some
refreshments while their answers were marked.
All those participating seemed to thoroughly enjoy the outing, even
though nobody managed to answer all the questions correctly!
Thankfully we managed to make a profit of approximately £550 which
will go towards buying something for one of the Jewish Care homes.
Our next function will be a Supper Quiz on Sunday 2nd December and
will be held at the Bushey Centre. For any further information please
contact either Marcus Mann 020 8952 6822 or Pat Goodman 020 8958
3566.
A Petunia in an Onion Patch
By Naomi Landy
It is over a year since I was elected,
together with Doreen Samuels, as a
Women’s Representative at the US
Trustee table. I have been asked to
write about this and about how it feels
to be ‘a petunia in an onion patch’! In
opening, I must say that the Trustees
and professional
team
at
the
Centre
(Head
Office) have all
been extremely
welcoming and
supportive.
As an Honorary
Officer
and
Board Member of Hendon Synagogue,
one of the US’s largest synagogues, I
was involved in almost every aspect of
synagogue life where women are able
to participate. Between 2004 and 2010
I served the maximum six year term as
Vice Chair of Hendon, which included
a few months as Acting Chair. Having
been out on parole for a year I decided
to seek election as a Women’s
Representative as a way of continuing
my involvement in the US. It has been
fascinating to be involved with the US
at its centre and to see its work from a
different perspective.
Each of the Trustees and Women
Representatives has been assigned
several ‘portfolios’ i.e. areas of US
activities, and we meet from time to
time with the professional personnel in
charge of those areas. In addition, we
have all been allocated half a dozen US
communities
to
liaise with and
indeed
I
am
delighted that one
of the ones I am
‘championing’
is
Kingsbury. Thank
you for your warm
welcome when I
attended your AGM
in May.
Trustees meetings are held monthly
and a wide variety of items are
discussed. Ahead of each meeting we
receive plenty of paperwork! Although
the Women Representatives do not
have a vote at Trustee meetings our
status is much more than observers.
There are in fact four women at
Trustee meetings as Doreen and I are
joined by Dalia Cramer and Irene
Leeman co-chairs of US Women. Once
every three months the Trustees and
Women Representatives meet with the
Chief Rabbi.
As I am sure everyone is aware, Lord
Sacks is retiring in September 2013
and the process of selecting his
successor is well underway. Together
with Doreen, I am privileged to be a
member of the Working Group which
is sifting applications and interviewing
candidates. The process is a fascinating
one but as all involved in this selection
have signed confidentiality agreements
I am unable to say more. I can however
assure you that it is a process that is
being properly conducted, and the fact
that for the first time women are
involved is very pleasing – on the
interview panel, not as candidates, I
hasten to add!
Aside from choosing a worthy
successor for Lord Sacks, my
aspirations are that US membership
should grow; relations between the
Centre, the Synagogues and the
Rabbonim should be nurtured, as
should the relationships between the
US and other Anglo Jewish
organizations; and that the US should
continue to promote authentic,
inclusive and modern orthodoxy and
remain at the heart of Anglo Jewry.
I believe that women have a vital role
to play in the future of the US and that
they should be able to take on the same
lay leadership roles as men, of both the
US and its constituent synagogues. If
younger members are not to be
deterred from joining the US, it must
be seen as an organisation fit for today,
whilst not abandoning in any way its
core orthodox principles. I see my role
as the same as that of the male
Trustees, whilst hoping at the same
time to be able to give women more of
a voice in the US, by offering a
woman’s perspective on issues both
centrally and locally. I believe the role
of women in terms of lay leadership of
the US will involve a gradual process
of change, and I feel this movement is
now underway.
On a personal note I grew up in
Hendon (davening at Hendon Adath,
not the US!) and am married to David,
son of the late Rabbi Landy z’l and we
have three children. I studied Law at
LSE, have a Masters degree from UCL
and was admitted as a Solicitor.
However, for the last twelve years I
have
been
working
as
the
Administrator and Admissions Officer
of North West London Jewish Day
School, where I am also a Governor
and a member of the Leadership Team.
Wishing you and your families a
happy, healthy and peaceful New Year,
A snapshot of Jewish family life in Bombay
Mavis Hallegua and Isaac Hallegua
In conversation with Irene Glausiusz and Leslie Rubner
Isaac and Mavis (born 1927 and 1928 Pomegranate, lovingly tended by teams
respectively) are two of four siblings of gardeners. There was no problem in
born to Abraham and Florrie Hallegua obtaining Arba Minim – all the four
who
lived
in
species grew in
Bombay.
Their
the garden.
mothertongue
was
most
Like
Jews
emphatically
worldwide, Isaac
English.
Father
and Mavis can
was a manager at
trace their roots
one of Sir Victor
back to several
Sassoon’s textile
different countries.
mills whilst mother
They believe that
ran the home with
the name Hallegua
the help of no less
originates from a
than three servants,
Spanish town with
a butler, male
a similar name and
cleaner and cook,
their ancestors on
with an Ayah
their father’s side
(nanny) to look
were
amongst
Family photo in Bombey
after the babies.
those expelled in
(Incidentally, Mrs Hallegua always had 1492, possibly settling in Aleppo
to ask new staff “Have you worked for (Syria) whilst their mother’s family
a Jewish people before”? otherwise a hailed from Baghdad.
training session was the order of the
day) Together with Grandmother, they Religious life centred around the
lived in a block of apartments for the Magen David Synagogue that boasted
Sassoon employees, surrounded by a large membership, perhaps 500
beautiful gardens where exotic fruit families or more, presided over by
trees grew in abundance, Banana, Chazan Zaki Soloman who conducted
Coconut, Papaya, Cherry, Guava and services and attended to all spiritual
concerns. He was also shochet, mohel
and a scribe for the community. In the
Fort area, there were other synagogues,
Knesset Eliahou, following Iraqi
minhagim, also B’nei Israel and
Cochin kehillot.
Isaac recalls his Bar Mitzvah - a
minyan at home followed by a
celebratory breakfast, which he termed
“a low key affair”. On Shabbat, he
read Maftir and Haphtorah and a party
was held that afternoon.
produced either from coconut or
sesame seed. A week before Passover
commenced until Yom Tov ended, a
Buffalo was hired and stabled in a shed
within the residential compound, so
that supervised milk was available.
The girls had new outfits for
yomtovim, dresses made individually
from selected materials and the boys
wore tailor-made suits with cotton
jackets for the hot weather.
What of their education? Although
there was a Jewish Free School
How did the family and wider provided by the Sassoons, both brother
and sister attended a Jesuit academy
community prepare for Pesach?
Shemura matzot were prepared at considered to have superior standards.
home. Special wheat was purchased Before school commenced, they had
which was ground in a thoroughly daily Hebrew lessons at home with a
washed
milling
private tutor. Mavis
machine, supervised
added that each erev
by
grandmother.
Shabbat, they would
Dates were the main
recite Shir haShirim.
ingredient
for
At age 17, they took
Charoset,
sieved
the
Cambridge
many times until it
School
Leaving
really did resemble
Certificate exam and
The young Mavis playing the
mortar. Floors in the
the papers were sent
piano
house were cleaned
back to Cambridge to
with many buckets of water splashed be marked.
all over, which the children thought Whilst growing up, music was not
was great fun and one room was neglected. Mavis studied piano and
reserved for all rigorously prepared sang with the Bombay Madrigal
Pesach food. Grandmother also took Singers. Isaac learned to play the violin
charge of making wine.
Regular and they both passed exams under the
matzot for the whole community were auspices of the Trinity College of
baked in the shul kitchen and oil was
Music, London.
joined Habonim.
As teenagers they
added to which there was also violence
between Hindus and Muslims. To
quote Mavis “an extensive area of the
Careers:
garden and lawn was converted to
Mavis thought that teacher training underground shelters. In the early
would stand her in good
days of the war there
stead. However, after one
were air raid warnings
year she changed her mind,
and drills. The entire
left college and enrolled at
city was in darkness at
the YWCA for a secretarial
nightfall. Circa 1942/43
course - shorthand, typing
four ammunition ships
and book-keeping, passing
blew up in Bombay
with flying colours and
harbour. Nobody knew
winning the Challenge
if this was an accident
Cup. Mavis never did go
or sabotage”
back to teacher training, Issac, on his graduation “What happened in
much to her father’s disapproval. She 1947 after the Indian partition”?
found work with an Advertising Isaac and Mavis concurred. There was
Agency until the Indian partition. a lot of unrest, people were very
Mavis then spent one year at Kibbutz worried and a vast emigration of the
Kfar Darom that specialised in dairy Jewish community ensued. To make
farming, before deciding that the life matters worse, Victor Sassoon sold all
was not for her.
his mills in Bombay so his mostly
Isaac attended Bombay University Jewish employees were concerned for
attaining a BSc in Electrical and their livelihood. Sir Victor had lost all
Communications Engineering, at that his property in Shanghai, seized by the
time principally radio transmissions. Communists and feared that the same
With high unemployment, it was very might happen in India. Later their
hard to obtain a job, but he found work father lost his job and the family had
repairing radios.
no choice but to leave their company
flat. Subsequently the Halleguas and
“How were the Indian people grandmother said goodbye to India.
affected by World War Two?” Isaac came first to the UK and a few
There was a real fear that India would years later bought a home in St Albans.
be over-run by the Japanese, so It was essential to have family in the
preparations were made for defence, UK and Isaac stood guarantee. He
Isa
worked for Elliot Automation (and
later for EMI Medical and GE
Healthcare in Milwaukee, USA).
Happily they all adapted well to British
life, later on moving to Colindale.
Mavis was employed as a secretary by
Amp of Gt. Britain Ltd. and was
seconded by them
to work for the
International Staff
Office of the
American parent
company
AMP
Incorporated.
Mavis continued
singing with the
Zemel and Kinor
Choirs,
the
Harrow
Choral
Society and the
Malcom Sargent
Festival Choir in London.
What do Isaac and Mavis do now as
retired people?
Isaac volunteers three days a week at
UCL in the English Dept. concerned
with a survey of English usage which
analyses the usage of every word in the
English dictionary.
He has also
worked for UCH in quality assurance
on MRI for neo natal scanners.
Mavis does voluntary work at Jewish
Care in their Fundraising Dept dealing
with appeals, data inputting and gift
aid.
“What of present day life in Jewish
Bombay”? Sadly the shuls are empty
although
the
beautiful
Cochin
synagogue (built in 1568, the oldest
The Halleguas today
surviving in the Commonwealth)
continues as a tourist attraction. In
1952, Isaac went back for a
sentimental journey, Mavis never did.
Their cousin Florence Hallegua refused
to leave and still resides in Bombay.
In conclusion, both Isaac and Mavis
can look back on a delightful
childhood in a remarkably vibrant
Jewish community and a working life
in Britain before retirement, where
both pursued highly successful careers.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
By Irene Glausiusz
Neighbours in Shirehall
Gardens,
Hendon
clubbed
together to celebrate the 60th
Anniversary of the accession to
the throne of Queen Elizabeth
II with a kosher street party. Happily
the sun decided to shine
that day.
I went to the party held in
nearby
Haslemere
Avenue (off Shirehall
Lane) the previous day not so lucky weatherwise.
Yes, cold and rainy but spirits were not
dampened, nor were the jam
sandwiches. One of the
mothers
brought
out a
keyboard and then there was a
jolly sing-a-long of every
patriotic song we knew – our
version of ‘Last Night at the
Proms’.
I, for one, remember clearly
what I did on the actual Coronation
Day. As luck would have it,
together with my best friend,
we won tickets in a raffle at
the Stamford Hill Jewish
Youth Club which entitled us to seats
in the stands near Buckingham Palace,
along with dozens of other teenagers.
What a June day! Chilly and
showery.
All were strictly
instructed to be in place by
7.00am (yawn) and naturally our
mothers made sure we were well
provided with sandwiches, fruit and
nosh to while away the
hours
until
the
proceedings were under
way. (Has v’shalom that
we might feel hungry
during our long sojourn).
We witnessed the Royal
carriage, all the Heads of
State and dignitaries on their way to
Westminster Abbey and back to the
Palace. The Queen of Tonga
was particulary awe-inspiring - a
huge lady sitting bolt upright in
her coach, and no doubt able to
see for miles around.
When the procession was over, I
made my way home to an empty
house where I found a note saying my
parents had gone to visit
friends who were the proud
possessors
of
an
8”
television.
Together they
were able to view this historic
occasion from the comfort of cosy
armchairs no doubt fortified with nice
hot cups of tea throughout the day.
Rabenu Tam’s Tefillin
By Leslie Rubner
Rabenu Tam (1100-1171) was born in the village of Ramerupt, France to Rabbi Meir
ben Shmuel, the RaM and Yochevet, Rashi’s second daughter.
It is suggested that, when Rashi was holding his baby grandson, he reached out for
the tefilah resting on the great man’s head and so Rashi predicted that his grandson
would later disagree with him about the order of the four parshiot placed in the tefillin
shel rosh and shel yad. This prediction came true. Today, both the “Rashi” and the
“Rabbeinu Tam” tefillin are in use, but the Shulchan Aruch rules in favour of Rashi’s
versions. However, some of the Hassidim put on, briefly, Rabenu Tams too.
JOKES
I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the
airport.
Someone stole all my credit cards but I won’t be reporting it. The thief
spends less than my wife did.
The Doctor called Mrs Cohen saying “Mrs Cohen your cheque came
back”. Mrs Cohen answered “So did my arthritis”!
A Jewish boy comes home from school and tells his mother he has a
part in the play. She asks “What part is it?” The boy says “I play the
part of the Jewish husband”. The mother scowls and says “Go back and
tell the teacher you want a speaking part”.
Patient: “I have a ringing in my ears”
Doctor: “Don’t answer”!
Q: Why don’t Jewish mothers drink?
A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.
Q: Why do Jewish mothers make great parole officers?
A: They never let anyone finish a sentence!
Q: How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: (Sigh) “Don’t bother. I’ll sit in the dark. I don’t want to be a
nuisance to anybody.”
With thanks and recognition to the Jewish Catskill comics of Vaudeville
days.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY
RELIGION
Aspects of Jewish Law, By Hal Acha
A Guide to Kashrut, by Dai Ettrilors
A Primer on Judaism, by T. Chemyung
A Hebrew Primer, by Al F. Bayes
Blessings for All Occasions, by Dov N. Daeley
Tales of the Prophets, by Eli Jarr
The Book of Lamentations, by Gerry Meier
Tales of Purim, by Meg Illah
Why Wales Needs its Own Beth Din, by Dai Anim
GENERAL
In Blessed Memory, by Al Vasholem
Tales My Grandmother Told Me, by Bob Amisa
The Way to a Man’s Heart, by Hymie Sherfood
Y. Knott, BA
Regular Reader
We wish Dr Malnik a Happy Retirement
A Celebration of the Life of my late Father z’l
Sidney Goldberg Legion d’Honneur
By Rachelle Goldberg
Sidney was born on March 20th 1923 in
Leipzig. He often spoke about family
life at home with his grandparents and
in particular his grandmother who was
a marvellous cook.
His relatives were
closely involved with
the community; one
of his Uncles was a
Chazan. Life at the
end of the twenties
and early thirties
became
extremely
hard for the Jewish
community and in
1933 with the aid of
one of his uncles,
Sidney was able to
flee to England and
was
subsequently
educated over here at
the JFS and Boarding
school in Brighton.
It was also very difficult when he came
to England on his own and he told me
that at his Barmitzvah none of his
relatives were present.
It should be said that a number of his
relatives perished in Auschwitz. My
father never spoke about this and I
know that it was very painful for him.
He alluded to this subject when he was
interviewed by Fergal Keane of the
BBC following the Remembrance Day
Service
in
November 2004.
Sidney
attended
Pitman’s
College
and
subsequently
had a job in sales
with
a
City
company.
He volunteered for
the RAF in 1941.
Rejected for aircrew
training because of
his eyesight, he
served at a number
of
operational
Bomber
Stations.
Answering a request
for personnel with
German language qualifications, he
joined the RAF Y Signals Intelligence,
No. 381 Wireless Unit in 1942. It was
the task of this 50 strong unit (of whom
only three or four were linguists) to
intercept Luftwaffe aircraft radio
transmissions and gather intelligence.
He served in mobile field units in
Algeria/Tunisia (Operation Torch),
1942/3, arriving at Bone in Algeria
shortly after the landings, and using a
captured German Type FuGe 16VHR
receiver, he monitored the heavy
Luftwaffe fighter activity; his reports
were passed to Air headquarters,
contributing to many successful
engagements by Allied fighters as well
as Sicily (Husky) 1943., Neptune, DDay and Normandy Landings and
‘Overlord’, the Liberation of Europe
1944 and 1945 including Holland and
Belgium.
Regarding his work in Tunisia, his
Unit followed the Allied advance
which was based high in the Medjerda
Mountains, near the airfield complex at
Souk-el-Arba. Though the risk of
capture was lower for ground troops
behind the front line than it was for
German-Jewish aircrew volunteers, all
faced the same fate if taken prisoner. In
March and April 1943 the Germans
tried to reinforce their positions in
Tunisia using giant six engine
Messerschmitt
Me323
transport
aircraft. Signals intercepted by my
father and his small unit were credited
with helping Allied fighters to destroy
most of this transport fleet.
After the fall of Tunis, my father’s unit
moved to Cap Bon to cover the
invasion of Sicily and in August landed
at Catania. With the steep decline of
the Luftwaffe fighter force, radio
traffic had lessened considerably and
after a few months, my father and his
unit returned to England to prepare for
D- Day. On June 5th 1944 Sidney
embarked on HMS Hilary the HQ ship
for Force J to cover the 3rd Canadian
Infantry Division landings on Juno
Beach. He was the only representative
of RAF Y on board any of the
Headquarter Landing Ships on D-Day,
and the only airman aboard the
battleship HMS Rodney during the
landings. He landed at Arromanches
on August 8th and his unit moved
steadily eastwards with the frontline
ground forces as they advanced into
Holland.
Support was given for the airborne
landings at Arnhem and October 4th my
father and his unit made a critical
breakthrough when they realised from
their intercepts that the Messerschmitt
262 jet which posed a serious threat to
Allied bombers, had been switched
from its fighter role to bombing duties.
At the end of the war, Sidney was sent
to Lingen in Germany to be an
interpreter with the Air Disarmament
Wings gathering information about
science and technical information. In
late 1945 Sidney was released from the
RAF with the rank of Sergeant.
In 1942 Sidney met Sylvia in Swansea,
South Wales where she was doing
voluntary work at a monthly social for
local Jewish servicemen and the local
Jewish Army Chaplain Rev (later
Rabbi Dr) I K Cosgrove of Glasgow
thought that they should be introduced
because they shared the same surname.
Sidney was then stationed at RAF
Fairwood.
‘Fairwood’ became the
name of their house in Kenton where
they lived from 1953. Sylvia who
passed away on Shabbat Kodesh Ekev
Av18 5769 (August 8th 2009) and
Sidney had celebrated over 65 years of
marriage in 2009.
Sidney worked for a number of well
known textile firms such as Hebe
Sports, Jacqmar and latterly at Sunds
Velour as the UK Director. He was
well known throughout Britain in
companies such as Marks and
Spencers, Mothercare and British
Home Stores as well as in Europe
where he selected textile designs,
fabric and attended Trade Conventions.
He also became a member of the
Prince’s Trust as mentor helping young
textile designers to start up their own
businesses.
Sidney and Sylvia were members of
the Kingsbury Synagogue for fifty six
years. Regarding his contribution to the
community, he like Sylvia was Jewish
to the core, conversant in Yiddish and
committed Zionists. In the seventies,
eighties and nineties they were very
active in the Kingsbury JIA and JNF
Committees, visiting Israel on a
number of missions including one in
1987 where they contributed to a new
settlement in Israel, in memory of
Sylvia’s late parents Max and Polly
Goldberg. Sidney also took an active
role in Kingsbury’s Board of
Management as well as assisting with
security duties. In 1996 Sidney was
honoured by the Kingsbury community
- chosen as Chatan Beresits.
At a ceremony on 9th October 2009, at
Bletchley Park Museum, wartime
home of the Government Code and
Cypher School, Sidney was one of
thirty-five hand picked veterans out of
more than 2000, military and civilian
personnel, to be presented by the
Foreign Secretary with an award for
wartime services to Bletchley Park, on
behalf of HM Government.
In 2004, the 60th Anniversary of the DDay landings, he was honoured by the
French Government with the Legion
d’Honneur in the rank of Chevalier
(Knight). This is the highest honour
for military service in the gift of the
French President. Sidney held awards
from the Governments of Belgium and
Poland in exile.
From 1992 he was the Honorary Public
Relations Officer of the Normandy
Veterans Association. In 1994 he
sprang to national prominence when
the Government tried to take over the
running of the various commemorative
events and turn them into frivolous
activities.
Sidney was frequently
interviewed by the national press, TV
and Radio in this
country and abroad
including Germany
and Brazil. The
media discovered
that
Sidney
possessed a natural
talent
as
an
interviewee
especially
on
behalf
of
the
Normandy
Veterans.
For twelve years he
tended
the
Westminster
Abbey Garden of
Remembrance plot of the British 1st
Army Association Algeria and Tunisia.
In addition Sidney took on a pastoral
role with SSAFA visiting elderly exservicemen and helping take them
either for walks or helping them to
receive additional benefits.
Sidney served as a National Honorary
Officer of AJEX, as a member of the
National Executive Council.
He
organised the Shabbat Ajex Service in
Kingsbury for many years and one year
Rabbi Hool gave him the privilege of
addressing the community at the
service.
As can be seen Sidney and his beloved
wife
Sylvia
supported
each
other
in
their
tremendous
voluntary work for
numerous
organisations.
He was a born
leader
and
organiser, highly
respected,
and
extremely modest.
He possessed a
keen
and
substantial
knowledge
of
history with a
sharp intellect and enjoyed many
cultural activities attending classical
music
and
chazanut
concerts.
Throughout his life he was a tower of
strength to his family and many people
in the wider community and his
untimely passing is deeply mourned.
My School Years in Communist Hungary
By Leslie Rubner
In Hungary, formal schooling starts
after the child’s 6th birthday, on the
1st of September each year. I was born
in October 1937, so I was due to have
started 1st September 1944, but, due to
discrimination against Jews, I had to
wait until after the defeat of Nazism in
January 1945.
Following the Red Army’s liberation
of Pest, the Orthodox Jewish Primary
School opened its gates for business.
On an extremely cold January
morning, my mother took me, for the
first time, to school. In school, there
was no blackboard or even a single
bench to sit on. As we set on the cold
tiles, Uncle Speizer, our teacher, began
to introduce us to the mysteries of
ABC.
In June, the school broke up for the
summer vacation.
There was a famine following the War.
I remember my mother selling her
recently deceased father’s gold pocket
watch for food. Housewives were
searching for food in stores looted by
the Russian soldiers, to survive. One
day my mother managed to find a bag
of soy flour, she had no idea what to do
with it. She made some sort of
concoction and fed it to us. I found it
inedible.
My
mother
declared
If Hershi (my Yiddish name) does not
eat it, it’s not fit for human
consumption, and she threw it all out.
Winter of 1944/45 was bitterly cold, so
cold that the River Danube froze over
and we had no means of keeping
warm. Respectable, middle class
Jewish women were scouring the
streets for wooden scaffolding for
firewood.
The American Joint Distribution
Organisation arranged a summer
holiday, to relieve some of Budapest’s
starving
Jewish
children,
in Timisoara (Temesvár), Romania.
My brother, David and I qualified for
this. As there were only so-many
children they could take, only those in
very bad shape were accepted. As I
could easily have passed for one of
those children we can see on African
famine posters, I became the
benchmark. Post-war transportation on
the Continent was chaotic, infrequent
and inadequate. People clambered on
the roofs of trains, hung on to the door
handles like a bunch of grapes and
clustered on the buffers of cattle
trucks. Our party had a reserved goods
truck, so we travelled in comparative
luxury.
For the first time in two months we had
shoes on our feet.
Timisoara was historically Hungarian
therefore there was no language
barrier.
We travelled back the way we had
come, in cattle trucks. On arrival, we
were deposited on the platform and one
by one, parents came to take their
children home. Because we were
wearing ill-fitting, unfamiliar clothes
and were very filthy, our mother just
walked by, not recognising us.
Once we had alighted we were made to
form a neat little line. Like
merchandise, we were displayed and
people came to choose. My brother and
I were billeted with a Hassidic looking
couple. As soon as we entered their
house, the man rifled through our
belongings and took what he thought
would fit his absent boys. He even took
the shoes off our feet. In no time we
were booted out without our
belongings. There we were, two small
boys in a foreign town with nowhere to
go. We came across a shul, as it was
early afternoon; we just set down on
the steps and waited. Eventually people
started
to
gather
for
the afternoon service.
When
they
finished one of the men took us to an
orphanage where we waited for this
“holiday” to come to an end. On
occasions, we managed to get hold of
some loose change. 100 Lej paid for a
ride on the merry-go-round of a
travelling fair. It felt like going home.
Before departing for Budapest, all of
us were outfitted with new clothing.
This was the first of three holidays
organised by the American Joint. The
other two were happy occasions.
September 1946, was the start of my
second year of schooling, but
unfortunately learning and I did not
mix. Playing with bits of wood,
pretending to be a tram driver was
much more fun. We lived opposite a
covered market. I spent many a happy
morning there, playing truant. In the
afternoons we attended ‘Toras Emess’,
the Talmud Torah for limudei kodesh.
Every time the rebbe asked me a
question, I just simply went up to him
and showed the palm of my hand to
receive a couple of strokes for not
knowing. My parents were unaware of
my
extra
curricular
activities.
Obviously
there
was
no
communication between my parents
and teachers, or was there? One day I
decided to pretend that I was put up
into a more advanced class, so I asked
my
father
to
buy
me
a gemarah Betza (which they were
learning). One evening whenever my
father looked me there was thunder and
lightning in his eyes. It turned out;
my rebbe had been in touch with my
father enquiring about my absence. He
answered: but you put him in the
higher class. The truth came out and,
mainly for lying, I received a hiding,
I’ll never forget.
Hungary went through a cruel and
debilitating inflation between the end
of 1945 and July 1946. In 1944, the
highest monetary denomination was
1,000 pengő. By the end of 1945, it
was 10,000,000 pengő, by the mid1946
it
was
100,000,000,000,000,000,000 pengő
(20 zeros!). A special currency
the adópengő (tax pengő) for tax and
postal payments was introduced.
Inflation was peaking at 1.3 ×
1016 percent per month (prices doubled
every 15 hours). I remember, my
mother giving me money for the tram,
but by the time I boarded, the fares
went up and I was booted off.
Although it was against the law, most
businesses were quoting prices in
dollars, or goods simply were bartered.
The milpengő (1 milpengő was
1
million pengő) was replaced by
the bilpengő after just three months.
Following that was Hungary's highest
face value note ever issued the 100
million bilpengő (18
zeros).
The
government printed, but never put in
circulation the 1-billion-bilpengő note
(that is 21 zeros!). On 18 August 1946,
4×1029 pengő became 1 forint.
David and I made paper bags from old
newspapers stuck together with dough
which we took across the road to the
market. Installing ourselves in one of
the many empty stalls, we were open
for business. Interestingly, both the
public and the stallholders were buying
them, we even had forward orders.
Presumably they were just playing
along with us, but nevertheless we still
made some money! One day a man in
uniform stopped by “our” stall and
informed us that we needed a permit to
conduct business and we also had to
pay rent. That was the end of that.
After returning from Germany, my
father, in common with some other fit
Jewish men, was approached to join
the State Police. They were told in the
police there was a possibility to repay
the Nazis for their brutality. But soon
enough, it became their official duty to
beat up their “reactionary Zionist”
relations and friends too. My father
refused to join. He opened a shop in
the middle of the Jewish Quarter,
diagonally opposite the Orthodox Main
Synagogue, where he sold cloth; a
cousin provided the accessories needed
for sewing (cotton, needles, buttons,
zips and the like). When the cousin
went on aliyah, the shop closed down.
Next, my father and his brother, started
a wholesale textile business, but
gradually they returned to their own
expertise - feathers. They were feather
wholesalers and exporters.
Our mother had a housemaid to help
around the flat and occasionally she
took us to the Municipal Park where in
an ornamental pool we splashed about
trying to cool ourselves in the searing
heat of the Hungarian summer. This is
where we learnt to swim; later we went
on to take part in competitions. My
father employed two private tutors to
help with our education, one
for limmudei kodesh and the other for
secular studies. The secular tutor was
teaching us English. He kept on trying
to escape to the West. Each time on
nearing the Austrian border, he
developed cold feet. However, one
evening he did not turn up for lessons.
A few weeks later we received a letter
from him postmarked Buenos Aires.
On 18 August 1949, Hungary became
a People’s Republic in other words a
Communist state and a satellite of the
Soviet Union. Unfortunately, most of
the Hungarian Communist leaders,
including
the
party
chairman, Mátyás Rákosi and
his
deputy Ernö Gerö, were Jewish and as
such, more anti-Semitic than their non
Jewish comrades!
There
were
posters,
pictures
of Stalin and Rákosi and red flags
everywhere. Statues of different
Communist leaders and monuments
depicting the Red Army’s heroism
sprung up all over the place. The most
important was a bronze sculpture
of Stalin in Budapest. The monument
was erected on the edge of
the Municipal Park (Varosliget)
of Budapest; a Catholic Church had
been demolished to make way for this
obscenity. The monument was
completed in December 1951 a
birthday
gift
to Stalin, from
a
“grateful” Hungarian people, on his
seventieth birthday (December 21,
1949). This monument soared 25
metres high in the air. Just the statue
itself was eight metres tall standing on
a four-meter high limestone base.
Stalin was portrayed delivering a
speech, standing tall and rigid with his
right hand on his chest. The sides of
the tribune were decorated with relief
works depicting the Hungarian people
welcoming their leader. This edifice
overlooked a huge parade ground. Of
course, the statue was created in the
style of Socialist Realism, which meant
that all works of art had to depict the
class struggle and the superiority of
workers and peasants. Abstract art was
frowned upon, art for the sake of art
was not allowed. Art had to have a
useful purpose in the class struggle.
Modern art was not considered art at
all.
Every 1st May there was a march past
of the Hungarian Army and on the 7th
November, the anniversary of the
October Revolution, we had to march
past the statue under which the Party
leadership waved us by. Personality
cult knew no bounds.
As a matter course, all commercial
undertakings were nationalised, our
family
business
included.
The
authorities were disappointed with the
level of stock and the liquidity of the
company. My father and uncle as
proprietors were accused of emptying
the company coffers and unlawfully
smuggling feathers to Israel! For a
while they had gone underground, but
eventually gave themselves up at a
Police station and were arrested there
and then. For nine months, they were
locked up. Our mother, with a new
baby, could not look after us and my
brother and I went into daycare at the
Orthodox
Jewish
Orphanage.
Eventually our father and uncle were
found not guilty and were released.
My Bar Mitzvah was an embarrassing
affair. As I never bothered with
learning, to my father’s disbelief, my
Hebrew reading was very inadequate.
He decided, in order that I should learn
it; my brother David would also learn
my Haftara with me. Eventually I
simply learnt it all by heart.
My Orthodox Jewish school was
closed down by the authorities; I had to
attend my last, the 8th year at the
nearest state school. As we lived in the
Seventh
District, Elizabeth
Town, Budapest’s Stamford Hill, some
of the pupils in my class were religious
Jewish boys from my old school. The
school week in Hungary, in those days,
was six days; thus we had to attend
school on Shabbat. Luckily, our nonJewish teacher was an understanding
person and appointed Christian boys to
carry our bags and in the evening to
come to our flats or we theirs to copy
out the day’s work. All this happened
in Communist Hungary! In June 1952,
by the skin of my teeth, I just about
scraped through.
When Stalin initiated a vicious antiSemitic campaign a few months before
his death, his self-declared best pupil
in Hungary, the Jew, Matthias Rákosi,
in 1953 ordered the A.V.H. (political
police)
to
investigate
the Wallenberg disappearance.
(Raoul Wallenberg a
Swedish
diplomat during the War in Budapest
was instrumental in saving literally
thousands of Jewish lives. After the
Russian occupation, he was abducted
by the Red Army and disappeared in
the maze
of
the Soviet
gulag
system.) They were going to prove that
he was the victim of a cosmopolitan
Zionist
plot
and
furthermore,
reactionary Jews were trying to put the
blame on a Zionist plot, not the
‘squeaky clean’ Soviet Union. The
accused Miksa Domonkos, László Ben
edek and Lajos Stöckler (all prominent
Jews
in
the Neolog Movement)
underwent extensive torture. The show
trial
was
to
be
held
in Moscow. However, on 5th March
1953, Stalin had the good sense to drop
dead. All preparations for the trial were
abandoned
and
the
prisoners
released. Domonkos, after his release,
spent a week in the hospital and died of
injuries at home shortly afterwards.
on Shabbatot,
where
we
were
socialising with other boys, were
listening to Jewish stories and partook
in seudat shlishit.
Our Madrich, Shlomo Grossberger, a
newly married man was also arrested,
his offence - Zionism. Apparently they
found a map of Israel in his flat and
this
was
the
compelling
evidence against him.
This
was considered a serious crime and he
would have lost his life, if it was not
for Stalin’s sudden demise. He escaped
during the revolution of 1956 and
settled in B'nei B'rak in Israel.
In a Communist country, there was
always full employment. Being out of
work carried a prison sentence.
Workers were tied to their jobs. Only
an employer had the right to transfer
workers from one job to another. There
were
well
publicised ‘work
competitions’, but
despite
this,
productivity level was very low. The
employees were told that they owned
their work places. Pilfering was
common practise. (Can you steal from
yourself?). Unless one was working for
the State Police, or one was a highranking Party functionary, the take
home pay was not enough for survival.
You HAD to thieve.
David
and
I
were attending Pirchei Agudat Yisrael
Budapest was destroyed by the war,
creating serious housing shortages, but
instead of building new homes, single
rooms had to be shared by families.
Setting up a new heavy industry was
the first ideological priority. Following
the
Soviet
economic
template, Rákosi declared
that Hungary would
become a “country of iron and steel”,
even though Hungary lacked iron ore
completely and produced a very lowgrade brown coal barely good enough
to heat a home. Enormous amounts of
the country’s resources were spent on
building industrial cities and plants
from scratch, while much of the
country remained in ruins. Traditional
economic strengths of Hungary, such
as agriculture, food and textile
industries, were neglected.
By 1950, the state controlled most of
the economy, industrial concerns, large
agricultural estates, mines, banks as
well as all retailers and exporters were
nationalised with no compensation.
The government tried to force the land
owning peasantry to enter cooperatives, but there was stiff
resistance. The government retaliated
with ever-higher compulsory food
quotas imposed on produce. Small land
owners, the ‘kulaks’ (Russian for
snake), were declared ‘class enemies’
and were discriminated against,
holdings were confiscated. They were
imprisoned and their children were
barred from secondary and tertiary
education. By removing them,
agricultural output greatly reduced and
what was actually produced was sent to
the Soviet Union as part of reparations.
This led to a constant scarcity of food.
People spent many hours queueing for
staples like potatoes or bread. When
we heard through the grapevine that
apples were available at a certain shop,
half of Budapest was there forming a
queue. People spent almost all their
spare time standing in line. We forgot
the
taste
of
meat. Hungary, Central Europe’s bread
basket turned into a basket case.
In the cities, the situation was just as
bad. The authorities nationalised all
properties. In 1951, class aliens i.e. ex
factory owners, bankers, business men
and the like who lived in wellappointed flats or houses were booted
out, their properties were given to
Party functionaries. These dispossessed
people were exiled to remote country
villages where local farmers who had
more than about 20 acres of land and
were not members of the co-operative
had
to
provide
them
with
accommodation. Some had to reside in
small kitchens, in barns or even caves.
These exiles were not allowed to leave
their new abode. Although none of
these were directed especially against
Jews, about 20,000 (most of them
from Budapest) were exiled. In 1953,
the situation eased and they were
allowed to move to the outskirts
of Budapest. To be a Budapest resident
required a special licence not given to
‘class aliens’.
For reasons beyond me, the Jewish
Secondary
School,
run
by
the Neolog Community, was allowed
to operate throughout Communist rule.
In order to enable me to keep Shabbat,
my parents enrolled me there. This
wonderful institution totally changed
my attitude to learning. Suddenly I
became interested. In no time at all, I
caught up with the class. In new
subjects like Illustrating Geometry, I
was way ahead. Not everything went
my way though; there was a negative
attitude toward religious students. For
example, during PE, the teacher kept
on throwing a ball at my bald head (my
hair was clipped with a zero clipper
and I sported tiny peot on either side of
my face). It seemed ironic that when I
had attended the state school, no one
made fun of me; it had to happen in a
Jewish school! I still remember the
astonished Jewish barber’s face when I
told him ‘Short back and sides’.
One of my classmates was playing
water polo for one of the sporting clubs
and invited me to join. Unfortunately, I
had little ball-sense so I was told to try
swimming. My brother David also
joined. We were soon engaged in
competitive swimming. We trained
every morning before school and every
evening afterwards except Saturdays
and competed on Sundays. We swam
3000 metres on each session.
Although this was a Jewish school,
religious education was confined to
just half an hour a week, but we
attended Toras Emess every afternoon
bar Fridays.
The Budapest mikveh was something
special. Built on a natural hot spring, it
had ladies and gents sections. In the
men’s there was a choice of different
classes of mikvehs. The first class had
a private bathroom with a mikveh, the
second had a private bathroom and a
communal mikveh, the third class,
where my friends and I spent many
happy Friday afternoons, was a large
pool with banks of showers before
entering. One had to go under the
showers to enter the actual pool. For
school boys admittance was free, but
we had to dump our clothes in a
corner. The cabins were reserved for
paying patrons.
On Shabbat mornings we attended the
School Synagogue, where on one side
the girls were seated and on the other
earnings were not enough to feed one
person let alone a family of five. I
remember one cold winter when I
needed an overcoat; my
mother sold hers to buy me
one.
One day my parents had a
visit from a Party member.
He warned my parents that
The writer’s class in 1955
unless they transfer me to
Leslie is in the back,the
another school, my chances
fourth from the right
of gaining entry to a
university were nil.
we boys. As it was customary
in Neolog Synagogues, the bima was
In May 1956, I matriculated with a
in front of the Ark and the Torah was
good university pass.
read facing the congregation.
The School regularly put on plays at
the Neolog community Goldmark Hall.
I played Othello and numerous other
characters. A neighbour of ours was an
actress and she coached me. She also
found me summer jobs in the movies
as an extra. On these occasions, I
earned considerably more money than
my father did and it enabled us to buy
little luxuries like a radio set.
My parents, like others, were
struggling to make ends meet. My
father found a job in a co-operative
company making egg trays. My mother
was an outworker sewing second-hand
potato bags for re-use. Their combined
and Today
Life in Hungary became unbearable for
most people. Something was bound to
happen. In 23 October 1956, there was
a student demonstration against the
Soviet occupation and the government,
followed by an armed uprising. This
gave us a window of opportunity to
escape and I, like the rest of the class
bar two, took this opportunity.
Competition
The poem below was submitted by Rev Gershon Glausiusz. The best
translation will be published in the Pesach edition.
There was no response to the previous poem and Rev. Glausiusz submitted his own
translation:
Grandfather’s Yerushalayim
By Zerach Halevi
Yerushalayim, City of my gentle Grandfather
His lips had so intensely praised you
All his life he believed with a perfect faith
To see our redeemer, within you awake
Beauty of our homeland, my grandfather so loved,
With a love that enveloped all his soul
Therefore you charmed me beyond his blue eyes
And so she appears to me every hour
Yerushalayim, in you the balm of consolation
He found if sadness his being enveloped
Or at evenings, times of twilight, or relaxation
He set out on his path and within you he strolled
He would glance at your horizon, at the heavenly glow
And its holy vistas his eyes sought to see
His lips saying; “The Heavens tell”
“And may my eyes see”, he spoke to me
Yerushalayim, for your sake grandfather
In the prayers of the fasts afflicted his soul
His being touching its stones, next to the Kotel
Each Shabbos and Yom Tov as seen by all
You, beauty of the universe, my grandfather was your lover
He saw you in the Zohar’s every page
Therefore are you precious to me above any city or flower
And to you I too will sing in my fiery age
AJEX VETERANS VISIT TO THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM
AT ALREWAS, STAFFORDSHIRE
By Irene Glausiusz
To mark Armed Forces Week, a coach party of AJEX members
set off bright and early from Stanmore on the morning of 27 th
June en route for the National Memorial Arboretum, to attend
their annual Service of Remembrance.
Together with veterans from the Provinces, they gathered at the
AJEX memorial. Set on a two stepped base, the threedimensional Magen David can be viewed from any direction. The service was conducted
by Rabbi Yossi Jacobs from the Leeds community with other clergy participating. The
wreath was laid by AJEX National Chairman Jeffrey Fox with poppy posies contributed
by teenagers from Hagley Park Academy, Lichfield Cathedral School and other local
colleges whose students had studied the history of World War Two.
From there the group moved on to the newly installed Falklands Memorial where Kaddish
was recited in memory of Jason Burt z’l, a Jewish serviceman lost in the Falklands
campaign. During the sociable lunch break, the incoming AJEX President Lord Sterling of
Plaistow GCVO CBE was introduced and spoke of his pleasure in taking on this new role.
There are other Jewish memorials in the Arboretum and although the “Shot at Dawn”
monument is non-denominational, it was with sadness that I learned from the AJEX
Archivist Martin Sugarman, that amongst the 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers
who were executed for supposed misdemeanours, there were three Jewish lads who
suffered this tragic fate.
Long may AJEX ex-servicemen and women continue to uphold the memory of their
comrades, many of whom paid the supreme sacrifice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dedicatory inscription on the AJEX memorial:.
Zachor
Erected by the Association of Jewish ExServicemen and Women– AJEX –
– to commemorate three centuries of service to
the Crown by Jewish Men and Women.
FINGS AIN’T WOT THEY USED T’BE
The Lionel Bart Story by David & Caroline Stafford
Reviewed by Irene Glausiusz
Is there anyone who hasn’t seen either the
musical show or film of Oliver! or even
has an old LP tucked away somewhere?
Thought not. Such is the fame that came to
Lionel Bart with Oliver! as the pinnacle of
his achievements. He could have lived on
the royalties for ever, but life’s not like
that. In this captivating biography, David
and Caroline Stafford tell Lionel’s story,
warts and all.
The seventh child of Morris and Yetta
Begleiter, Lionel was born into a working
class family living in the
Jewish East End, in every
sense the baby brother. His
early taste for drama came as
a child taken to the Yiddish
Theatre in the Commercial
Road, surely sparking off his
love of showbiz. His primary
education started at Dempsey
Street Infants School, where
he could give the teachers a
quick answer back, in other words a
cheeky ‘show-off’. Evacuated more than
once during WW2, then returning to post
war London, Lionel wins a scholarship to
St Martin’s School of Art, develops his
talent for painting, but that is interrupted
by the dreaded 18 months National Service
at RAF Padgate.
En route to his
enlistment, he meets another East Ender,
John Gorman who became his lifelong
friend. Some time later, back in London,
they set up in business together as graphic
designers.
Thus the authors of the Lionel Bart
biography introduce us to the formidable
life that unfolds for Lionel. Work during
the day and evenings spent composing
shows at the Unity Theatre where he
evolved as a songwriter and lyricist. He
knew he was talented, no doubt about it.
Night life soon becomes exciting in West
End coffee bars, (the
favoured drink Cappuccino
or frothy coffee). He meets
Tommy Steele and co-writes
many of his pop songs, as
well as ‘Living Doll’ for Cliff
Richards. Lionel is now so
busy that he ditches his
partnership in the graphic
design business.
Between 1959 and 1960 Lionel toyed with
the idea of a musical based on the Charles
Dickens novel, Oliver Twist, but nobody
was interested. Meantime he joined forces
with Joan Littlewood and they worked on a
new show “Fings Ain’t Wot They Used
T’Be. Cast member Barbara Windsor sings
Lionel’s song “Where do little birds go”,
which she said was the making of her
career. It was just a little risqué - naturally
the Lord Chamberlain’s office objected.
Back to “Oliver!” Initially Bart’s ideas
were turned down by twelve managements;
they thought the story too grim, orphans
and workhouses, a depressing scenario.
Eventually, it was staged and opened for a
trial two week run at the Wimbledon
Theatre then transferred to the New
Theatre in St Martin’s Lane, but advance
bookings were disappointing. On opening
night, the show was going well, but the
tension was too much and Lionel fled. He
pops into the Garrick where Fings ain’t
Wot They Used T’Be is still playing and he
catches Barbara Windsor between acts –
she manages to calm him down. He takes
heart and returns St Martin’s Lane and
hears tumultuous applause, the cast has
taken 23 curtain calls and the rest, as they
say, is history. The show opens on
Broadway in 1963 and runs for two years,
with an 11 city tour and wins three Tony
awards,
Lionel moves on “always wanting
something bigger and better” and his next
show
is
“Blitz!”
somewhat
autobiographical; the central character of
this WW2 epic is Mrs Blitzstein partly
based on his mother. The show ran for 18
months. Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the
hugely successful British theatrical
producer, who had seen most of the big
West End shows (including “Blitz!”) said
of Bart, “he was absolutely the giant of
musical theatre at that time”.
Next comes a folk opera set in Liverpool
“Maggie May” credited by his biographers
as his most accomplished score. It opened
at the Adelphi Theatre in September 1964
and ran for more than a year. All through
this time Oliver! ran and ran.
An idea for a new musical show, based on
the legends of Robin Hood is composed by
Lionel – its title Twang!! To say it was a
flop is putting it mildly and to pile on the
agony, he was so sure it would be a
success that he ignored the warning from
Noel Coward “Never back your own
show”, and sold the royalties from Oliver!
To pay for it. The day that Twang!!
Folded,
the authors write
“Oliver!
th
celebrated its 2,284 performance and
went into the record books as British
theatre’s longest running musical” It
seems that Lionel never really recovered
from the failure of Twang!! and found that
his talent for writing and composing had
become elusive, although he kept on
trying. He appeared to have lost the vital
spark.
The Lionel Bart Story tells us of his
associations with glitzy stars, Alma Cogan
his special girl-friend (who pre-deceased
him), Georgia Brown (nee Lilian Klot) his
East End playmate, Judy Garland, Noel
Coward and The Beatles - a world we love
to read about in the tabloids. His end came
in 1999 and we can only mourn the loss of
this enormously multi-talented man.
To Helen Drucker on the engagement of her granddaughter Matel.
To Dr Gerald Green on his 90th birthday.
To Yitzi and Rachel Landaw, and
their families on their mariage.
To Pat Goodman on the Bat Mitzvah of her granddaughter Elisheva.
To Roshelle and Stephen Chevern on grandson, Avraham Yona Harris’ brit.
To Roz and Stephen Phillips on grandson, Achiya Cohen’s brit.
To Rabbi Zvi and Rebbetzen
Rivki Cohen on Yecheskiel
Shraga’s brit.
To Helen Drucker on the birth of a great grandson.
To Irene and Gershon Glausiusz on the Bat
Mitzvah of their grand-daughter Odelia,
picured here with “little” brother Avi.
To Ruth and Wayne Birnbaum
on the birth of a grandson,
Yaakov Yosef. The grandperants
are pictured here with the Myers’.
To Jonathan Brody, our
previous editor, on his
part in the Olympics.
From Rabbi and Mrs Cohen and family.
Pat and Stanley Brody and family in London and Jerusalem wish all our friends in
Kingsbury a Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year.
Mignonette & Stanley Aarons wish everyone Chasiva V’Chatima Tovah.
Henry and Sylvia Malnick together with Hannah and Avi Friedwald and Ruth,
Avraham, Dina Malka and Yehoshua Klein wish everyone Shana Tova.
The Aziz family wishes all a Shanah Tovah. Eli, we are so looking forward to seeing
you on Succot.
New Year wishes and greetings from Jonathan and Mary-Ann Landaw, Jacob,
Raphy, Asher and Rochelle, Yitzi and Rachel, Rachel and Naomi.
Deborah and Leslie Rubner wish all the kehilah Shanah Tova U’Metukah.
Irene and Gershon Glausiusz wish the Rabbi and Rebbetzin, Honorary Officers and
all members of the Kingsbury community a Happy and Peaceful New Year.
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year from Rayner and Michael
Barnett and family.
Kesiva Vechasima Tovah from Wayne and Ruth with Sami and Doron Birnbaum;
Rabbi Yoni and Elisheva with Nechama, Shimi, Tobi and Sara in Hadley Wood; Dov
and Tehilla with Gavriel, Chaya, Shmuel and Yaacov Yosef in Yerushalyim; Ben
and Abi Kurzer in New York.
Gerald Green, Janice and Ian Donoff wish all members of the Kingsbury Kehilla a
Happy and healthy New Year.
Doreen and Marcus Mann together with their family, wish the Kingsbury
Community a healthy, happy and peaceful New Year.
Best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year – Cynthia Green and
family.
Shannah Tovah to all the community, from Pat Goodman and family in London and
Israel.
Ruth Aharoni extends New Year Greetings to Rabbi and Rebbetzin Cohen, to all the
Kingsbury kehillah, to her brothers and their families and relatives.
Reuven, Jeanne and Joseph Lavi and Gabriella, David, Tehillah Shimon and
Yonatan Berrebi wish all the community a Shana Tova.
Julian and Rosalind Mann, Stefanie, Daniel and Shirele. Michael, Chana and Tuvia
and Rabbi Benjamin Mann wishing all the community a Shana Tova.
Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year and Well Over the Fast, from
Tony, Della and Vivienne Brown.
Greta and Lawrence Myers, together with all of their family in Israel, wish Rabbi
and Rivki Cohen, all of the community and all of their friends, everything they wish
themselves, for a healthy and prosperous New Year. We look forward to seeing you
all here soon.
Roz, Stephen, Tammi and Abigail Phillips together with Rochel, Chagai, Refael
Yosef, Moriah, Uriel Moshe, Chana and Achiya Cohen and Samantha, Daniel and
Shemaya Phillips join in wishing you all a Shana Tova uMetuka.
Cyntyhia and Harvey Jacobs together with their family wish the whole kehilla a very
happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.
Shanah Tova from Simon Levy to all readers.