Harry Potter and the Chamber of Hamentachen: Youth Purim Party

Tribe bring you a Purim Party for those of Secondary School Age. Youth Megillah reading followed by dinner, part, magic and entertainment.

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JHSE Schedule

JHSE Schedule for the rest of the year:

March Monday 2nd- Samuel Kassow- Warsaw Ghetto in conjunction with the Jewish Book Week

April Monday 6th- Gavin Schaffer- Jewish Intelligence are Jews clever

May Monday 11th- Rory Miller- British Anti Zionist Jews Then & Now.

June Monday 1st- Dr Sarah Rees Jones- Jews of Medieval York

July Monday 6th- David Graham- Jewish Demography

September Monday 7th- Julia Gottlieb- Women and British Fascism

October Monday 5th- Ben Barkow- Work of the Wiener Library

November Monday 2nd- Ross Bradshaw- Jews in the Spanish Civil War.

December Monday 7th- Prof. Michael Alpert- Secret Jews & The Spanish Inquisition

Organisations of the Community: UJIA

UJIA are a national charity with strong links in the Leeds community. Through the money raised by generous contributions of local people, UJIA are able to ensure a positive future for communities across the UK and in Northern Israel.

In the north of Israel UJIA is developing Galil-wide initiatives, for the benefit of all the citizens of the region, such as community transformation programmes and upgrading
of schools, as well as many individual programmes. These are strengthening the social infrastructure and providing a significant boost to the local economy. UJIA are committed to investing in education, community development and new business.

In the UK, UJIA is committed to providing formal and informal educational programmes and activities that inspire and engage our young people. UJIA Israel Experience is their flagship programme connecting young Jewish people to their heritage. They fund Summer Tour, Gap Year and birthright. Every year more than 2,500 young people visit Israel on a dedicated educational programme. Amongst these are many from Leeds.

A large percentage of money that is raised locally is reinvested in the Leeds community. Contributions are made to the Brodetsky Primary School, The Zone Youth Centre, the Leeds Community Shaliach and Makor Jewish Life Educational Centre. Adult education education initiatives such as Torah l’Am and Adult Bat Chayil also benefit. UJIA is looking to the future through the training of lay leaders and professionals across the Leeds community.

For more information about to get involved in UJIA's activities in Leeds email howard.foreman@ujia.org or call 0113 269 3136

ABBA Tribute Night

Tickets are £20 including canapes and cocktails. Great raffle prizes. All proceeds in support of the Manny Cussins Family Project.

For tickets and more info, contact Meirav on 0113 218 5848 or Victoria on 0113 218 5893

Youth Service

Tribe Youth Worker- Leah Mintz- is putting on a youth service with an ice cream kiddush afterwards. She needs some boys to volunteer to take the service and some girl to write a dvar Torah.

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New dates for 'Crash Course'

BHH Synagogue are re-running their "Crash Course in Judaism". See their poster below (click to enlarge):

Leeds Judean Reunion

By all accounts, yesterday reunion was a magnificent success with around 800 people coming to reminise about the past and look to the future of 'The Zone'. From my statistics, I can see many of you come to the blog after searching for Leeds Judean Reunion on google (don't worry I can't see who or where you are!) and so will try to put up more about it.

In the meantime check out some of the old photos of the Leeds Judean by clicking here. Below is a selection of examples:

Anne Frank WIZO supper evening

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Access to the Countryside

You might think of Leeds as a big urban area- and you would be right- but you might be surprised to know that Leeds has more public green spaces per child than any other city in the UK (Children's Society 2008). This ensures an enhanced quality of life in Leeds. However, for those who are more adventurous, Leeds has the Yorkshire Dales National Park on its doorstep. Covering an area of 680 square miles, this is a favourite destination for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders as well as those interested in exploring its idyllic villages and industrial past. The Yorkshire Dales straddles the counties of North Yorkshire and Cumbria but is only 20 miles away from Leeds. As such, Leeds is an ideal location as it balances all the advantages of living in a big city with easy access to the countryside.

The National Park is not only a series of nice views but contain many features of importance. It contains a number of species (such as Yellow Wagtail Skylark and Atlantic White-Clawed Crayfish) and habitats (such as its limestone habitats) that are important for the UK's biodiversity and are being conserved. Equally the park is a rich tapestry of history, showing traces of its industrial past. For example, the park is scattered with the remains of former mineral extraction and processing sites. Moreover, it contains areas of natural beauty with features unparalleled in the United Kingdom. The south of the park, for instance, displays one of the best examples in Britain of classic limestone (Karst) scenery, with its crags, pavements, and extensive cave systems. More information on the National Park can be found at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk

Being only 20 miles away from Leeds, the Yorkshire Dales is within easy reach by car, bus and train. The train from Leeds to Skipton- The Gateway to the Dales- leaves every half an hour and takes only 40 minutes. From here you can get public transport to most other parts of the Dales. Alternatively, you can get a bus from Leeds City Bus Station straight to your destination. There is a regular service from the bus station in the summer months. To plan your journey there visit: www.metrojourneyplanner.info

Communal diary 15th-21st February

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WIZO's Cookery Event- Denise Phillips

WIZO's Cookery Event
Tuesday 17th March 7:30pm

Shadwell Lane Synagogue are hosting Hannah Senesh WIZO's Cookery Event with expert chef and writer DENISE PHILLIPS.

- Denise will be cooking a 3-course meal - The audience gets to sample all the food! - Guests of Honour will be Adele Goldberg and Mandy Port - Creative Catering has kindly agreed to sponsor take- home treats too - Great raffle prizes including signed copies of Denise's new cookbook

Tickets are only £10 and can be bought from me anyone from the committe or from the Kosherie.

Organisations of the community: Habonim Dror

Habonim Dror aim to inspire and be inspired by their values through a structure of empowering Jewish youth, reciprocal learning and social action. They informally educate their members and provide a vehicle for youth to develop leadership skills and put their ideals into practice. Habonim Dror creates a unique atmosphere in all its activities with an emphasis on relationships, creativity and fun.

Here in Leeds, Habo Ken runs fortnightly at the Zone Youth Centre for years 4 and 5. It takes place on Sunday afternoons where trained madrichim run fun activities for all involved. They also help the Zone with their youth leadership training course for year 10’s and will be running sessions for it.

If you have any queries regarding the ken; if you want to find out whether Habo Israel Tour is the right tour for you; whether your son or daughter is fit for our gap-year in Israel (shnat); or simply if you want to know what Habonim do in Leeds for your age group, then feel free to contact our Northern Fieldworker, Marc Fink on 0161 795 9447 or email: marc@habodror.org.uk.

"Eye for an Eye"

There is an exciting 'white collar boxing' event coming up on the 2nd April. You can see the flyer below and there is a new website to go with it: http://www.eye4neye.co.uk/. All proceeds to The Zone and Deborah Taylor Nursery.

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The Zone January Activities Report

January 2009 Activities Report
by Raina Sheaf

Club Nights
January got off to a really enthusiastic start but unfortunately some of our members had been hit with “the bug” that was going around over the December Holidays! However, where we lacked in numbers we gained in great participation and quality nights.

There was however a serious side to club nights in January as we spoke to our members about the Israeli/Gaza situation and the experiences of the children of Sderot and some of our members put pen to paper and wrote to the children in Sderot. We also held an Israel/Gaza awareness evening for High School pupils during which our community Shaliach Asaf Segev, Philip Margolis from The Zionist Federation and Emma Cohen from CST gave presentations and answered questions.

Sports and Keep Fit
Football, basketball, gymnastics, karate and general keep fit continue to prove popular activities as well as other sessions of Bench Ball and Wii Keep fit.

The Wii has been a very popular way of enticing young people to participate in sport that doesn’t like sport!! And as you will have read in previous reports Karate is a popular class and the karate club are thinking of offering a second session every week. We will keep you informed.

Culture/Chagim
Poland trip leaves February 15th. More children than we could actually offer places to showed interest in the trip so we hope to offer another trip in the not so distant future. In the meantime the participants have been preparing by discussion groups, meeting survivors and watching movies such as Schindler’s List.

UJIA
I was extremely happy to be given the opportunity to thank UJIA publicly for the support we receive when I was asked to give a vote of thanks to Daniella Lerner who gave a talk about her life and her book, Four More Tears for an audience in Leeds. It was an insightful evening and I was able to speak a little about how we use our UJIA sponsorship and thank donors directly.

Judean Reunited
This month has been full of memories, as we have all been working very hard to ensure the Judean Reunited evening is as big a success as it deserves to be. Celebrating 80 years of Jewish social life in Leeds, everyone is invited to join us. Those who were Judean members and those who weren’t, and those who are simply interested in the future of Jewish life in Leeds. We have had 100’s of requests for tickets and have been swamped with memorabilia. We are delighted that guests will be joining us from all over the UK as well as the USA, Hong Kong and Canada.

Leadership
Guest speaker Lynda Groiser joined us for an activity exploring Child Protection this month. The activity went very well and was as much thought provoking as it was educational. We also have a new Leader; Emma Charlton has joined the Leadership team to develop girl’s leadership programming.

Fashion & Culture
How to make new clothes out of old and throw away garments was explored in January with the discussion always geared to why we get so caught up in fashion and how to try to be “green” when it comes to fashion.

Café Chai
A great hit with our members and since September we have been really busy. We aim to offer a healthy menu at extremely subsidised costs and have started cookery sessions on some club nights.

Outreach and Development
Simon is working with LJWB to offer a joint Summer Programme this year as well as developing new activities in-house to offer an even more diverse programme for our members. His music work-shops are proving very popular. Adam is working with LJWB (a different dept) to plan a new community volunteer course. We hope to start this Sept 09 and will keep you updated. Adam has also been into Jewish assemblies in schools showing power point presentations about Jewish life now and in the future.

DanceAthon
The forthcoming Dance-a-thon event is planned to take place on the 25th and 26th April. We will keep you updated.

Congratulations
I would like to formerly congratulate Stanley Cundle who works tirelessly for The Zone and many other organisations in Leeds. Our community is always top of his priority list (after his grand children of course) and we are delighted for him on his recent MBE achievement.

Finally
There is much concern at this time about the rise in anti Semitic crime and violence and we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our children. Foreign Secretary David Milliband recently assured me that this is on the top of Governments agenda and we work on the advice of CST. However, can I ask you all to be extra vigilant at this time? Park away from the entrance, as we need to keep it clear and make sure you identify yourself if asked to do so. Many thanks.

Organisations of the Community: Mums4Kids

Mums4Kids was started in September 2004 by six local Jewish mums, Amanda Newdall, Bev Sacks, Debra Samuel, Tracey Badkin, Natalie Klineberg and Caroline Giness to raise money for local children. Rather than be aligned with any particular charity, the Mums4Kids committee decided to remain independent, thereby allowing them to select where the money could be donated for each event. To date, they have raised money towards buying a syringe pump for the Children’s Oncology Ward (Ward 10) at St. James’, donated money to St. Martin’s House Hospice, LJWB Family Project specifically to assist abused children, the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and Destination: Florida!, a charity that sends ill children to Florida.

Their events have been varied and well attended – from a children’s Halloween Party to a Race Night, from a workshop on bringing up children to a Comedy Night and from a Movie night to a Valentine’s dance – and each occasion has been fun and has raised lots of money.

So the next time you hear of an event being held by the Mums4Kids committee, come along – we’re sure you won’t be disappointed!

Bulletin Newsletter

--> I have updated the newsletter archive that can be found by clicking here

--> If you want to receive the newsletter by email every Friday, email me at neil@ljrc.org and I will add you to the list.

--> In future weeks, I will add a limited text-only version of the newsletter to the blog so that people can see some of the information without having to download a graphics file.

Israel Election Event

Israel election event tomorrow (click to enlarge):

Communal diary 8th - 14th February

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Organisations of the community: Talmud Torah

The Talmud Torah in Leeds!

The Talmud Torah is the Cheder for Leeds providing for the three Orthodox shuls. Every Sunday morning, from 10.00am to 12.30, you will find a warm atmosphere, where Jewish children are learning together. At the Talmud Torah the children discover Jewish history and traditions in a fun and informative way, mixing with other Jewish children at the same time. It is open to children from Reception class right up to Bar and Bat-Mitzvah.

Shoshana Angyalfi, the Head teacher for over 30 years, has created an exciting curriculum for the weekly sessions, incorporating morning prayers, sedra of the week and of course, the Festivals. These are an opportunity for baking, arts and crafts and educational workshops. Mrs.Angyalfi also provides teaching midweek for small groups, to concentrate purely on Hebrew reading.

Teaching the children to read Hebrew is a priority so that they can read prayers and follow a service. The brilliant new reading scheme, Aleph Champ has proved a success and the children’s progress under this new scheme has been remarkable. They all enjoyed receiving their medals on Prize Day.

A newly formed group of young parents is keen to develop the potential of the Cheder by eventually bringing all Jewish education under the auspices of the Talmud Torah. Another initiative is the collaboration of the Talmud Torah with The Zone for special occasions, such as the ‘Who Wants to be a Chanukah Millionaire’ event.

The Talmud Torah has a long history in Leeds and are fortunate to have one of its most ardent supporters as the President at the moment. Reverend Gilbert has taken on this role, which rotates between the Rabbonim each year. The Talmud Torah is proud of the reputation of the Bat-Chayil course, led by Ruth Cohen. We also have superb Bar-Mitzvah tuition and a GCSE Jewish Studies course, where students achieve excellent results. They are always ready to welcome new children to the Talmud Torah, especially those who attend non-Jewish schools, so that the continuity of our special Jewish community in Leeds can be ensured.

February Edition of JLife

The February edition of JLife can be picked up from Donisthorpe, The Kosherie, David Lloyd, Chalutz, Headfirst, The Zone, MAZ Centre, Street Lane Dental and Bagel Nash.

This issue contains:

• All You Needs is Love- JLife tells you everything you need for a fairytale wedding and Valentines Day celebration.
  -Honeymoon Hotspots
  -Blushing Brides & Wedding Bellies
  -Wedding Guide 09
  -Say it with roses
  
  Also:
  
• All the latest news, photos and events from around the community
• Voyage of Discovery- The Jewish History of Naples
• Business Boost- Simon Gray, managing director of energy drink brand 'Boost' talks about defying the economic gloom.
• Tu Bishvat: A Time to Grow- Rabbi Garber explains how Tu Bishvat s a time to grow and adopt a positive outlook.
• Awesome activities- Guide to what's on this half term
• Regular columns including Richard Williams, Neil Clarke and Jonathan Winston
  

BA- one-off change of time

Message from Sagi Yechezkel

This week BA times have changed as a one off to 4 - 6 (3.45 at gourmet) - please spread the word.

Next week BA will be back to the usual time of 3 - 5 (2.45 at gourmet).

Tu beshvat Supper Quiz

A joint venture between Tribe Youth Director Leah Mintz, BA and FZY (click to enlarge):

UPDATE: Now confirmed as taking place at UHC

Mums4Kids: Race Night

Mums4Kids have charity Race Night is on Sunday 15th March at 7:45pm and costs £15 per person. This will include a light meal and the first bet free.

Each of their events raise money for a different charity. This time, they have chosen the Destination Florida! charity which takes terminally and very ill children to Florida for the holiday of a lifetime. We hope that you can come - if you want to make up a table, we can make up tables of 8, 10 or 12 - the more the merrier!!

International Womans Day: Anneli Project

The organising group ‘the ladies who launch’ are delighted to announce the launch of:

The Anneli Project
in memory of Anneli Alderton

Anneli Alderton was a young woman from West Yorkshire murdered in Ipswich by Steve Wright, along with four other women who had been forced to work in the sex industry.
This year’s International Women’s Day 2009 lunch is taking place at a very exciting time. Later this year, thanks to your help and the promised support of statutory funders, Leeds will have its own safe house for women who have been trafficked into the sex industry (both internationally trafficked and within the UK).

The Anneli Project will provide a safe haven for up to 8 trafficked women each year and will offer specialist support and access to a range of services including interpreting, legal, immigration, mental heath, sexual health, drugs, alcohol, training and specialist counselling for post traumatic stress disorder.

Some of the funding for The Anneli Project has been secured, but we are still short of our target of the £65,000 needed each year. All of the money raised at this year’s IWD lunch will go to the Anneli Project.

Celebrate the birth of The Anneli Project here in Leeds at the International Women’s Day Luncheon on Monday 2nd March 2009 at the Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Community Centre, 311, Stonegate Road, Leeds LS17 6AZ.

In order to save both money and the environment for further details please contact by e-mail: Contact Danielle Firth or Sheila Saunders on danielle.firth@ljha.co.uk or sheila.saunders@ljha.co.uk

The Anneli Project will be run by Leeds Women’s Aid. For further information about how you, your friends or your organisation can continue to support The Anneli Project will be available at the International Women’s Day lunch.

From Russia with love

A story from Louis Teeman about his father illustrating how Jewish immigrants ended up in Leeds:

"My father left his town, Mariempol, Russia (now in Lithuania, the birthplace of most of the Jews who came to Leeds), to escape conscription. They were taking boys aged 15 and16 - he was reaching that age and they had to get him away - for the period of army service was as long as 25 years. He and many others crossed the frontier into Prussia at night and made their way to Hamburg. They took the boat to England. The journey was several days - they slept on deck in all sorts of terrible weather as they didn't have the money to go below - and eventually they reached Hull. At Hull, they were assembled and interrogated.

He went on to Leeds, he had been told to as there were Jewish slipper makers there and he might find a job - Leeds was the only word of English he knew. If he found a job then he would make enough money to end for his parents. When the train drew into Leeds, the porters shouted 'Leeds, Leeds!' and of course the doors were thrown open, and the passengers' bundles of belongings were seized by a man with a handcart. His name was Jimmy Gilmour and he was a fighting Irishman who when drunk used to fight lamp posts with his bare fists. He would pile all these bundles on the hand cart and take them along Boar Lane to point out the sights. Jimmy was very proud of his knowledge of Yiddish which he'd picked up in the Leylands. It was a Sunday and the churchgoers would eye this group of men following a handcart, dressed in Russian peaked caps, long thigh boots and long overcoats to their ankles, very bedraggled after the journey.

All of them were unhappy, miserable, homesick; they would reach Kirkgate and pass the open market and then they were in the Leylands. At last they recognized something - the smells of fried fish, chicken feathers burning - and Jimmy Gilmour would shout out loud in Yiddish 'mir zanen do' (we are here)! And the doors and windows would fly open, men, women and children would rush out and scan the faces to see if they recognized relatives and friends. My father got a job as a slipper maker, which was his trade. They couldn't find him accommodation so, like many others, he slept under his bench, beneath the treadle machines. People typically lived in tiny houses, many of the rooms were no more than 12 or 14 feet square. They crowded in as many people as possible. They not only let out rooms, they let corners of rooms and in some rooms there were four couples each with a blanket spread over the corner".

Our Local M.P.s

Leeds East- Mr. George Mudie M.P. - george@gmudie.fsnet.co.uk
Leeds North East- Mr. Fabian Hamilton M.P.- fabian@leedsne.co.uk
Leeds North West- Mr. Greg Mulholland M.P.- mullhollandg@parliament.uk
Leeds Central- Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn M.P.- bennh@parliament.uk
Leeds West- Rt. Hon. John D. Battle M.P.- johnbattle@leedswest.freeserve.co.uk
Morley and Rothwell- Mr. Colin Challen M.P.- collinchallenmp@parliament.uk
Pudsey- Mr. Paul Truswell M.P.- truswellp@parliament.uk
Elmet- Mr. Colin Burgon M.P.- burgonc@parliament.uk

UJIA Super Sunday

A message from Howard Foreman for all those who helped last Sunday:

Thank you so much for volunteering your time at Leeds UJIA Super Sunday telethon.

I am delighted to tell you that thanks to your hard work we raised an impressive £123,000 across the 5 UJIA Super Sunday telethons. In Leeds we raised over £9,200

This money will benefit the lives of young people both in the UK and Israel.

If you’ve caught the fundraising bug, don’t be shy to tell people about the work of UJIA. You can read more by visiting http://www.ujia.org/ and people can donate online at www.ujia.org/donate.

Thanks again – every pound you helped to raise really will make a difference.