Essay Competition

Jewish Historical Society launch inaugural Essay Competition

The Jewish Historical Society of England Leeds branch have launched their inaugural essay competition.

Intended to be annual event, focussing on a different theme each year, and with the aim of encouraging widespread interest in all aspects of Jewish history, this year's competition takes as its theme The Jews of Yorkshire.

Entries, which should be between 1500 and 2500 words, can cover topics such as immigration to Yorkshire, family history, the history of individual synagogues or organisations and oral history. Essays from young and old are welcome, with prizes to be distributed in Teenager (under 18) and Adult categories.

Nigel Grizzard President of the Leeds Branch of the JHSE said ’I am grateful to our sponsors The Burton Trust and Five Leaves Books’ who have agreed to sponsor the competition. We know many people young and old are researching the Jews of Yorkshire and we hope the competition will stimulate that research’

For further details, please see www.jhse.org/contents/events or contact Simon Phillips on 07931 370791 or simonphillips90@hotmail.com

Jewish Volunteer Network

Dear Colleague/s

• Do you rely on volunteers for the continued success of your organisation?
• Do you find it difficult recruiting new volunteers?
• Would you like to enhance your organisation’s profile within the Leeds Jewish Community?

If you have answered yes to any or all of the above questions, then we are delighted to introduce the Jewish Volunteering Network (JVN) which aims to become the “One Stop Shop” for Jewish volunteering in the UK.

JVN currently works with over 140 Jewish charities large and small from across the community and our innovative work is recognised by the government, Volunteering England and a recent award as best international charity in the Jewish Choice Awards.

Following a recent successful visit to Leeds we are now aiming to bring all the advantages of our network to the Leeds Jewish Community. The JVN recently attended Limmud in Leeds and also held meetings with members of UJIA’s Leadership Development programme, Rabbi Kleiman, Bernice Pearlman, The Zone and Leeds JSoc. We were delighted by the positive support we received from these meetings and the overwhelming response was “Why can’t we include Leeds in the JVN?”

It’s so easy – we are a bit like a recruitment agency. Prospective volunteers go onto our website, key in the areas they would like to volunteer in, key in their skills and choose from a list of possible positions. It’s perfect for all those people with free time on their hands who have never quite got round to volunteering and perfect for your organisation – the volunteers come to you!

Currently, the website www.jvn.org.uk has over 1,000 registered volunteers aged from 13 to 83 and receives hundreds of hits each week. Have a look at the website and I am sure you will agree that it is time that Leeds was included. There are so many Leeds organisations who can add their details and opportunities to the site – have a look how many London has – let’s get Leeds on the map too!

Please do sign up to the JVN website and list your volunteer requirements. It’s a FREE service, so by contacting JVN you can provide further opportunities to increase the supply of possible volunteers in Leeds.

We are also on Facebook and Twitter too – great for young people today who are realising the importance of volunteering - now everyone can keep up to date with our active online social networking channels.

To sum up, the JVN:

· Promotes the concept and Jewish values of volunteering

· Connects volunteers with the right opportunities by fitting their interest and skills

· Has hundreds of charities on our network from trusteeship and fundraising to event planning, office support and hospital clowning - you can specify when you register whether you want volunteers either on an ongoing, permanent basis or for a one-off event

· Aims to make a difference to the lives of individuals seeking to volunteer

· The JVN is not designed to replace the current work of charities and organisations in recruiting their own volunteers.

JVN would also like to thank the Leeds Jewish Representative Council for seeing the value in our work, and agreeing to send this letter out on JVN's behalf.

For further information please contact ourselves or reply with your details attached below direct to Esmond Rosen on esmond@jvn.org.uk.

With Kind regards

Esmond Rosen, JVN Regional Development Manager

Sarah Goldstone, Leeds JVN Coordinator

David Israel