In the News
Our Community in the news ....
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Reading Council for Racial Equality held its annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration on Thursday 31 January in the Council Chamber at the Civic Centre in Reading.
More than 150 people listened to a Welcome Address by the Right Worshipful The Mayor of Reading Cllr Chris Maskell. The key speaker was Mr Steven Frank a holocaust survivor, born in Amsterdam in 1935, and sent to Thierienstad in 1943 with his brother who gave a moving account of his childhood in Amsterdam and the camps.
Also taking part were representatives of all faiths in Reading, and a candle lighting ceremony was performed by Cllr Maskell, Mr Steven Frank and five children including one from Reading Hebrew Congregation together with four other children representing Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs.
The Act of Remembrance and Memorial Prayers were led by Rabbi Adrian Jesner and Rev Nigel Hardcastle.
Mr Harish Raichura of RCRE chaired the meeting, and the closing remarks and vote of thanks were given by Mr Rajinder Sohpal a director of RCRE.
Refreshments were provided by Reading Hebrew Congregation and a group representing the other communities.
Reading University Jewish Society
under the new chair Jonny Phillips held its first main event recently at the University.
Members from Brighton and Bristol J Socs were invited, and in all 30 people sat down to a specially catered Chinese banquet brought down from London.
After the meal the guest speaker Mr Alan Abrahams from Edgware led a discussion about Free Will.
The whole evening was an unqualified success, and Reading J Soc is growing fast.
Under the new chairmanship it hopes to hold many more events and looks forward to maintaining and extending links with other Jewish Societies at universities in the South and East.
WIZO UK held its third annual nationwide Quiz last night in which Reading WIZO participated. The evening was held at one of our member's homes, and an enthusiastic crowd of people sat down to a delicious buffet supper prepared by the WIZO committee.
After the first course, the serious business of the Quiz commenced. This took the form of seven rounds of fiendish questions, some word puzzles as well as picture and music rounds.
Last year we came 4th out of nearly 150 teams and were hoping to do better this time. Alas it was not to be. We trailed in at 27th out of 147 teams, but consoled ourselves with the fact that only 10 points separated us from the winners. It was one of the picture rounds that got us. This consisted of a series of split photos of two personalities. However, not only were the pictures very small, they were also contorted like looking into a mirror in a funfair.
The quiz had to be submitted on line before 10.30 pm, and one of our members, an excellent IT person, completed everything in time. Also his son, was an amazing help in the music round, getting almost all the questions right. Without his help we would probably have come 97th!!
Once the questions had been submitted, dessert was served and we waited another hour for the results. Although disappointed with the outcome, it was agreed that a splendid evening had been enjoyed by all, and a magnificent £280.00 had been raised for WIZO projects in Israel.
Thanks were given to the hosts for their splendid hospitality, and we look forward to next year's event.
RHC held its third Burns Night Supper at the Hermann Gollancz Hall in Reading on Sunday 20 January.
Nearly 70 people sat down to a traditional meal of Cock-a-Leekie soup, followed by haggis (of the strictly vegetarian variety), with neeps and tatties. This was rounded off with a Highland Flummery, followed by tea, coffee and Scottish shortbread.
The haggis was piped in by Lloyd Faber, a member of Giffnock synagogue in Glasgow, who made the journey south especially for the event.
Master of Ceremonies, and President of RHC, Dr Jack Kay, resplendent in kilt, kept the evening moving smoothly. This included several readings, including a Toast to the Lassies a whisky tasting competition.
At the end of the evening a presentation was made to Rabbi Adrian Jesner and his wife Pamela who will be leaving the community in February to take up a post with Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation.
A raffle helped to swell the coffers and a grand total of £1,100 was made which is to be used for maintenance work to our beautiful 108 year old synagogue building.
He told how his great-grandfather had made aliyah from Lithuania in the 19th century and settled in Petach Tikva.
He built the first house in the town and together with other pioneers had helped to turn the "valley of trouble into a gateway of hope", quoting the prophet Hosea.
He talked about the many miracles surrounding the return of
the Jews, not least being the miracle of the renewal of Hebrew as a living language.
One comment affected the audience deeply when he said that "even when Jews did not live in the land, the land
still lived in the Jews".
He ended by saying how we must be proud of Israel and its
achievements.
He then took questions from the floor, and what had originally been planned as a 15 minute talk and 15 minutes
of questions stretched to more than an hour.
The evening ended with a spirited rendering of Adon Olam.
Photocall with the Chief Rabbi and the President & Vice- President of the Synagogue
Community Supports Brain Research Trust
'Our thanks must also go to the other church and
Reading Interfaith Group
The second speaker, Stephen Mark Clubley had battled against Hodgkins Disease for several years after being diagnosed when he left the Army. He is now officially cured, but sadly his daughter contracted the same cancer in her 20's but is now in remission. His story was equally moving and showed his strength during his illness.
The last two speakers were Swami Ambikananda, a charismatic Hindu who spoke of the Hindu approach to suffering, and Rabbi Zvi Solomons of RHC who gave a Jewish perspective.
The meeting was chaired by Sarah Griffin who is the current Chairman of the group, and is herself a Quaker.
Reading WIZO
held a most and successful supper and concert at the home of WIZO vice-chairman Adrienne Jackson and her husband David.
A buffet supper prepared by the committee was served during a break in the concert and tea and cakes were served at the end.
A most enjoyable evening raised more than £570 for WIZO projects in Israel
Reading Seder Go
Reading Hebrew Congregation in conjunction with the Office for Small Communities held a Pre Pesach Preparation Day which was attended by participants from small communities across the region, including St Albans, Canterbury, Cheltenham and Swindon.
Mrs Sue Clarke, President of RHC welcomed the guests together with Rabbi Zvi Solomons, and Lady Jacobovits was introduced by Rev Malcolm Weisman. Other speakers included Rev Elkan Levy, Minister for Small Communities, Mrs Maureen Kendler and Mr Michael Pollack from the London School of Jewish Studies, and a master class in painting your own Afikoman cover was led by Mr Eli LeJeune of RHC.
The day ended with an open forum led by Mrs Clarke with Rabbi Solomons, Rev Weisman and Rev Levy, and a bookshop was open during the day, which proved to be very popular.
Nearly 50 people enjoyed a day full of events with speakers including addresses by Lady Jacobovits and Mrs Talya Lador-Fresher, deputy Ambassador at the Israeli Embassy. Lady J spoke emotively of her experiences as a child, and Mrs Lador-Fresher gave an up-to-date perspective of Operation Cast-Lead, One Year On.
Reading Joint 1st in National Quiz
Wizo UK have put on a National Quiz marked through the Internet for the past four years. It is a great concept, every one of the (this year) 122 teams in the country tearing open the questions at exactly 7.30 and getting to work in earnest.
In the instructions that are sent to the leader of the quiz is a marvellous sentence that says "the quiz will close at 10.30pm. The winners will be telephoned at 11.30pm."
This year, the phone rang for Reading!
Reading Wizo took joint First Place with Leeds and the excitement was terrific.
Every year the atmosphere has been electric. The meal that has been lovingly prepared is appreciated but soon put aside. Richard plugs in his computer and computer knowledge, Alan fixes up the plugs and CD players, and with the help of Quality Street and crisps, Wizo members and their friends put their heads to work.
Annual Shul Quiz a Great Success
The 'Annual' Shul Quiz was held on Saturday evening, 22 January and was thoroughly enjoyed by the sixty people attending. The quiz itself was smoothly run by Paul, our visiting quizmaster ably supported by community members Richard and Harry. The range of questions kept everybody guessing and in spite of the usual competitive spirit always to be found on such occasions, I think it is true to say that everybody enjoyed themselves.
Refreshments were created and served by a wonderful team of ladies under the expert leadership of Val, and tidying up at the end was done by everybody.
Thanks to all those who came, helped and took part and so made the evening such a success.
The event raised a significant amount for Shul funds.
Whilst this is noisily going on, other Wizo members are doing practical things in the kitchen, and when answers have finally been carved out of the clever brains of our community and sent by Richard (and Robert assisting a lot, this year) we relax with
coffee and desserts. The answers come through quite quickly on the Web and everyone clusters round to hear these and congratulate themselves or castigate themselves depending on whether they were right or wrong.
Nothing much wrong this year! Everyone stays for ages afterwards - much clearing up is done but the best of all is the talking and the sense of being together in a good cause. We have been 4th. We have been 12th. We have been joint second. And now look where we've got!
What do we do next year?
Reading Wizo thanks everyone who came. It was a great night.