CTJC Bulletin Pesach 2015 by CTJC

Communal Information Shul services Friday evening In term: In vacations:

Winter, Ma’ariv at 6pm Summer, Minchah and Ma’ariv at 7:30pm Winter, Minchah and Ma’ariv just before Shabbat June-August, Minchah and Ma’ariv at 7:30pm September, Minchah and Ma’ariv just before Shabbat 9:30am. 8:00am (most weeks).

Shabbat morning Sunday morning Learning For more information about the Lehrhaus, visit www.thelehrhaus.org or call 07830160994. Mikvah To book an appointment at the Cambridge Mikvah, please call Mrs. Rochel Leigh on 07825 126724 at least 48 hours in advance. For more information about the Mikvah please call Rochel or email at rochel@cuchabad.org. Hospital Visiting Contact Sarah Schechter, Tirzah Bleehen or Barry Landy if you need to organise visits, or would like to volunteer to help. Rabbi Reuven Leigh (354603) and Barry Landy can attend hospitals to read prayers. Due to concerns for personal privacy the hospital no longer informs us when Jewish patients are admitted, so if you or someone you know would like to be visited, please contact us. Chevra Kadisha Contact Barry Landy, Brendel Lang or Trevor Marcuson in the first instance. Bar Mitzvahs, Weddings, Brit Milah and other religious services Contact Rabbi Reuven Leigh or Barry Landy to organise. Children’s activities For information about the Lehrhaus for Kids, the After School Club, or Ganeinu Child Care Service, contact Rochel Leigh at rochel@cuchabad.org CTJC email list CTJC has an email list. To join and receive regular updates about services, events, Shabbat times etc, please email Barry Landy at bl10@cam.ac.uk or Jonathan Allin at jonathan@jonathanallin.com CTJC Officers Rabbi Reuven Leigh Chairman Rosalind Landy Treasurer Jonathan Allin Secretary Barry Landy Synagogue officer Barry Landy Education officer Welfare officer Bulletin/website officer Helen Goldrein Board of Deputies Jonathan Goldman Anyone wishing to volunteer for the vacant posts of Education and Welfare officers, or just wanting to find out more about the roles, should contact Ros Landy by emailing chair@ctjc.org.uk

Welcome to the CTJC Pesach Bulletin Bulletin Number 113.

Spring is in the air! The weather is getting warmer, flowers are beginning to bloom, and CTJC roused itself after the winter with a wonderful celebration upon the receipt of a new Sefer Torah. Read about the event on page 12. As always, our contributors have been busy. Mark Harris reports back from Nuremberg, while Julian Landy’s contribution comes all the way from Antarctica! You can also read about Helen Goldrein’s new Pesach cook book, and sample one of the recipes. We are always looking for new bulletin contributors, and would be delighted to hear from you with your articles or ideas. For instance, if you’ve read a book of Jewish interest why not write up a review for the Chanukah issue? To submit material, please email bulletin@ctjc.org.uk The bulletin, like all aspects of CTJC, is produced entirely by volunteers. If you would like to get involved, please contact our Chairman Ros by emailing chair@ctjc.org.uk You can read the bulletin online in full colour at http://issuu.com/ctjc/docs/pesach2015 Wishing you and yours a Pesach kasher v’sameach, from all at the Bulletin. Small print… Views expressed in the bulletin are the views of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or of the committee of the CTJC.

In this Issue… 1 – Communal information 2 – Welcome to the CTJC Pesach bulletin 4 – Community news 5 – From the Chairman… 6 – Chabad Antarctica by Julian Landy 8 – Keeping abreast of the law by Helen Goldrein 12 – A new Sefer Torah by Jane Liddell King 16 – Return to Nuremberg by Mark Harris 22 – Banker, traitor, scapegoat, spy? The troublesome case of Sir Edgar Speyer. Book review by Jonathan Allin 27 – A truly delicious Pesach by Helen Goldrein 30 – Matza jigsaw 31 – Calendar 32 – Diary dates

Community news Welcome to… Vivy Sadan and her daughters. David and Rachel Greenberg and children, who are here on Sabbatical from Israel. Mazeltov to… Sam and Alec Corio, on the birth of a son, Nathaniel. David and Rachel Greenberg, on the forthcoming marriage of their daughter. Chaim Aruchim to… The family of Priscilla Gee. Refuah shelema to… Jonathan Goldman

From the Chairman… Pesach is here. It is that time of year. The house is slowly getting cleaned; the kitchen too. But what does Pesach mean? It comes from the root of the Hebrew word Pasach, to pass over. It is a nice idea to think of Pesach as a time of springing into a fresh start. We pass over the dark of winter into the brightness of the new, Spring season. In recent months there have been horrendous outbreaks of anti-Semitism; several attacks on Jewish targets in Brussels, Toulouse, Paris and Copenhagen. There is a recurrent trope of the victim or the scapegoat. Jews can be blamed for anything and they are. Some political observers say that the focus of hatred on Israel and the Jewish people is designed to divert the mind from any bad political situation at home. There are, too, those who are driven by the Jew-hatred that is found in the Koran and the Hadith. We have our own home-grown people with anti-Semitic opinions, some MPs and some broadcasters at the BBC and a large number of people who are influenced by biased rhetoric. As a nation we have suffered in evil times. We lived through oppression as in the times of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Somehow we always celebrate our survival from programmes of destruction and hate fests. At this time of year we put aside the current anti-Semitism and read the Haggadah telling us the long-ago tale of bondage, the ten Plagues and the flight from Egypt. In this way we pick out the positive. We salute the spring festival and we link ourselves into our history going back millennia; feeling the Exodus as if we ourselves were taking part in it. It is excellent to have traditions which carry on from generation to generation. This is the beacon of hope for the future. Wishing you all an enjoyable, kosher Pesach with its message of freedom. Rosalind Landy

Chabad Antarctica (With apologies to Rabbi Leigh) By Julian Landy

At a recent Shabbat kiddush in Cambridge shul Rabbi Reuven suggested that Jo and I should start a Chabad House on our trip to the Antarctic. Maybe it was the whisky talking or perhaps delirium brought on by a growing family. In any event the idea is absurd, and not just because neither Jo nor I are Chabadniks. There is a major flaw in the request. For while Antarctica is stunningly beautiful and has hugely varied flora and fauna, the one thing it absolutely lacks is permanent residents.

Yet Reuven is our communal Rav and one must respect and cogitate on even his most outrageous ideas. Thus we formulated a plan. If you wonder where we are this Pesach it is all to do with the wise words of our Rav. For there is an area in the Deep South Atlantic that IS populated and till now had lacked any Lubavitchers. That is the Falkland Islands, (or if you are Argentinian, the Malvinas). (I can't help thinking that Malvinas makes it sound like a bad place, a place to leave, certainly not somewhere for a Jewish settlement. But this could be blind prejudice

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or bad Latin). On reaching the islands recently Jo and I conducted an extensive survey on the inhabited areas for Jews, hidden or otherwise. We did find a plentiful supply of small people all wearing kippot, but they seemed to be entirely penguins. Otherwise the islands are extremely sparcely occupied by Jews or anybody else. But Jo and I are confident, based on the precedents of the Chabad houses in the Amazon and Lapland that there must be Jews here and more to be attracted here. After all, this place has huge advantages for frummers. The obvious one is Shabbat. In winter it starts in May and ends in August. So winter is one four month long Shabbat. With one maariv, one shacharit and one mincha. Conversely, in summer it never starts. It stays light from November till the end of February. Loads of time for studying, schmoozing and kiddushim. There are some basic needs with which need your assistance. Clearly kashrut is not a problem. We just call Titanics. But we lack tallisim, chumashim, siddurim and seforim. As Cambridge shul now has a surfeit of seforim we were wondering if perhaps we could borrow one. Oh, and as neither Jo nor I can lein, we need a semi-permanent "volunteer" for this job. Someone who doesn't feel the cold would be good. Yoav? As we are both lawyers, we have established our minyan with a proper trust deed which I drafted. Unfortunately Jo has also drafted her own trust deed. We have yet to agree which is better. So to start, my minyan is the Chabad House of the Falklands and Jo's is the Falkland's Chabad House. In the interests of marital harmony we have agreed to co-operate till more people arrive. Shabbat morning service will begin next Shabbat at 10am. We anticipate it will end at about 10-30 to be followed by kiddush of herring and whisky. As we are a sociable couple we are inviting all the islanders to join us for this first kiddush, with the promise of a choice of single malts, in the hope that this will root out the existing Jewish community. So if you are passing this vicinity do pop in to see us. You are sure of a warm welcome.

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Keeping abreast of the law By Helen Goldrein

We are blessed as a community to have welcomed several new babies in the last few months, and another is on the way. As such, this seemed like an opportune time to finally write this article about Jewish approaches to infant feeding, which has been bubbling away in the back of my mind for some time. I breastfed my daughter Laila till a couple of months after her 4th birthday, when she weaned naturally. My experience of feeding Laila in shuls, kosher restaurants, and other Jewish environments was not universally positive, to say the least. I have been directed to the Bride’s room, the Rabbi’s office, and disappointingly, the ladies toilets. On one occasion someone even ‘helpfully’ erected a screen around me! Given that a mother’s right to breastfeed her baby in public is enshrined in British law (The Equality Act 2010), I decided to investigate the Jewish position on infant feeding. I felt certain that our ancestors, in their wisdom, would have something to say on the subject. Would it be in line with current legislation, or should we, as a community, be seeking an exemption from the law? Hannah Katsman, an Israeli lactation consultant and mother of six, outlined her thoughts about the importance of breastfeeding in Jewish history. She wrote the following on her blog, A Mother in Israel: “The Torah doesn’t talk much about breastfeeding, as it was taken for granted in ancient times. Moses’ mother doesn’t put bottles into the ark of bulrushes she sends down the Nile to save him from Pharaoh’s evil decree (Exodus 2). According to the midrashic commentary Moses refused to nurse from an Egyptian nursemaid, so the biblical text has Pharaoh’s daughter sending for a Jewish one. The nursemaid turns out to be none other than Yocheved, Moses’ own mother. If the Torah and Midrash saw breastfeeding as merely a feeding method, Moses would have nursed from an Egyptian woman and the story would

have ended. The rabbis recognized that without the early influence of Yocheved, Moses could not grow up to become the modest, compassionate, and dedicated leader who rescued the Jews from slavery and turned them into a nation that rejected Egyptian immorality.” Thus, it seems that the importance of breastfeeding beyond simply a method of nutrition is recognised in the Torah. Marilyn Tokayer expands on this idea, explaining that, “The Gemara in Brachot teaches us that a child’s education begins when he nurses at his mother’s breasts (Brachot 3:1).” The Talmud considers a mother to be a “meineket” or nursing mother, until her child reaches two years of age, suggesting that this is the minimum expected duration of breastfeeding. The breastfeeding period is expected to end by four or five years, and there is concern that babies weaned from the breast before two years will be put at undue risk. For this reason, the Talmud states that a mother who is widowed should not remarry until her first child is at least 24 months old, so that there is no likelihood of becoming pregnant and diminishing the milk supply for the infant. (Incidentally, this tallies nicely with the current recommendations from the World Health Organisation, that babies be exclusively breastfed for the

first six months, with breastfeeding continuing alongside complementary foods for at least the first two years. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/infantfeeding_recommendation/en/.) So, the expectation of two or more years of nursing is set out, but what of the practicalities? Can a mother leave her home without worrying about having to nurse? What if she wishes to nurse inside shul, during a service? Should we ask her to leave? In January 2011, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim published a ruling that nursing in the women’s section of shul is permissible and does not violate the sanctity of the women’s section. And according to Hannah Katsman, “In Jewish texts, a discussion of women’s modesty centers around whether a man can pray in the presence of a woman with various body parts exposed. According to the Ben Ish Hai, a rabbi from the late 18th century in Baghdad, while a woman is breastfeeding her exposed breasts are not considered erotic. The function of the breasts, feeding a baby, trumps considerations of modesty.” Personally, I always voluntarily went out of the main ‘shul’ to nurse - usually for considerations of space and comfort. However, if a mother wishes to nurse in shul, it seems clear that she is perfectly entitled to do so, and

is not transgressing Jewish law. Furthermore, asking a mother to nurse in a toilet - which in my opinion is disgusting - is frowned upon by rabbinic authorities. In October 2010, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu answered a question about nursing in a public toilet by stating that, “It’s preferable to cover yourself well and nurse in a place with passersby.” So where does this leave us as a community? I believe that Jewish texts and rabbinic opinions agree on the importance of breastfeeding and support British law in enabling mothers to feed their babies in public, regardless of where they happen to be. Breastfeeding should be supported and encouraged within the Jewish community, and nursing mothers and their babies made to feel unconditionally welcome at shul and at community events. Mothers have enough to worry about without the added burden of wondering whether and where they will be able to feed their baby. More than simply complying with the law, I think that a return to traditional Jewish attitudes around this important subject would benefit us all – creating an inclusive and welcoming community for families, and protecting the health of the next generation of Jewish children, and their mothers. ---An overview of the Equality Act is available here: www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/equlity_act_2010_overview.pdf If you would like to read more about Jewish approaches to birth, breastfeeding and parenting in general, I recommend these: Hannah Katsman’s blog http://www.amotherinisrael.com Marilyn Tokayer “Created in Wisdom - The Symbiotic Relationship Between Mother and Child: A Jewish Perspective” (1995) For breastfeeding support, please contact: In Cambridge, La Leche League Cambridge http://lllcambridge.weebly.com In the rest of the UK, LLL GB has a list of local groups http://www.laleche.org.uk There are also LLL groups all around the world http://www.llli.org

A new Sefer Torah By Jane Liddell-King Presentation of Sefer Torah to the Cambridge Synagogue by Sandy Colb and Family in honour of his father Frank Colb, 22 February 2015; 3 Adar 5775 On Sunday, 22nd February, the Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation received a magnificent gift. In honour of 95 year old Holocaust survivor Frank Colb, his son Sandy Colb and his family presented us with a new Sefer Torah. Sandy’s deep attachment to Cambridge began when he was a Law student. Although the Sofer had inscribed the last letter of the Sefer Torah in Israel, Chief Rabbi Efraim Mirvis arrived at the Cambridge Lehrhaus early on Sunday morning and the Torah was attached to the Atzei Chayyim. And then the 50 or so people who had gathered at the Lehrhaus witnessed and participated in a unique event as Rabbi Mirvis, members of the Colb family and other members of the Synagogue processed dancing and singing along Trinity Street. As the joyful procession reached the Synagogue, in Thompson’s Lane, the current Sefarim were carried out and the celebrations continued beneath a Tallit. Inside the synagogue, the packed congregation of more than 100 people, including the Lady Mayor and her consort, together with Julian Huppert MP, Jonathan Djanogly MP and members of the diverse Jewish community, took part in a brief service. The Chief Rabbi and Sandy Colb addressed the congregation and Rabbi Reuven Leigh responded. The Chief Rabbi spoke of the huge happiness of the day saying that it was a wonderful thing that a new Sefer Torah was being dedicated. He praised the Lehrhaus for offering outstanding opportunity for Jewish study in Cambridge and recognised Cambridge itself as a wonderful centre for Judaism. He and his wife had come to appreciate this on regular visits to their daughter who had been an undergraduate here. He singled out Rosalind and Barry Landy who have welcomed generations of Jewish students to their home. Turning to next week’s Parashah, T’tzavveh, he noted the absence of Moses’ name. He pointed out that because God is instructing Moses the use of the second person communicates the

closeness and immediacy of the encounter Â 13 Â more fully than the more

conventionally used third person. He turned repeatedly to the importance of Jews as individuals: echad echad echad. Why are there four differentiated sons in the Haggadah? And asserted that each and every Jew is dear to us, whatever his or her level of conviction or perplexity. The Sefer Torah addresses itself to one and all. Adding a dazzling message from Gematria, Rabbi Mirvis observed that to send a letter you need a stamp, the Hebrew for which is bul. The Torah is a message for a way of life. To travel through life people need guidance, a stamp to get them to the right destination. The first letter of Torah is beth, the middle letter, vav and the last letter, lamed which reads: bul: the stamp to take us to the right place. Put lamed with vav and you have lev and what is heartfelt matters more than what is thought. He concluded with a plea that the Jewish people be a people of good heart, good citizens who ensure that their children internalise Torah - which remarkably, we begin to re read as soon as we reach the end of the yearly cycle. On behalf of his family, Sandy Colb spoke of his father. “Imagine surviving the Holocaust, imagine having children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, some of whom were present on this wonderful occasion.” In response, Rabbi Reuven Leigh told how that morning he had gone to buy flowers at the market. When he explained that he didn’t have quite enough money, the stall holder asked if the flowers were for a Church. Seeing that this was no joke, the Rabbi said they were needed for a synagogue. “Put the money into your collection box,” said the stall holder. Rabbi Leigh lamented the fact that as Jews we have continuously to explain who we are but the day’s procession had given people the chance to be unapologetic about their Judaism. Illustrating the key mitzvah to love one’s neighbour as oneself, he spoke compellingly of Moses’ willingness to erase himself from the entire Torah for the sake of the Jewish people. Finally, he reminded us all that having danced through the centre of Cambridge in the procession, walking down Trinity Street would never be the same again. The Chazan, Colin Dworkin and the entire choir were all in fine voice sustaining the joy of a remarkable occasion which concluded with a reception in the synagogue.

Return to Nuremberg By Mark Harris

About eight years ago, a few years before settling in Cambridge, I visited a particular German metropolis for the first time. One of my main reasons for staying in Nuremberg, a name forever to be associated with Nazi party rallies, infamous race laws and war crimes trials, was to meet Chabad director Rabbi Eliezer Chitrik. It was part of my then extensive journeying around Germany to make contact with various Jewish communities. Rabbi Chitrik (who in his home town of Sfat had taught a son of Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin, the director of Chabad North-East London and Essex, whom I knew very well) had relatively recently arrived in the town with his rebbetzin, Esther. Last December, this time with my family, I returned to Nuremberg to learn more about the Chabad couple’s remarkable progress in helping to restore traditional Jewish life in the city. But back in late January 2007 I also had other motivations for my sojourn in the picturesquely restored “medieval” Bavarian town. One of them came forcefully to mind after the tragically murderous attack on the kosher supermarket in Paris in January of this year (the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz) when the declaration “Je suis Juif” was echoed around the world … January 2007: The ultimate irony of this extraordinary moment felt almost palpable. It was also intellectually equivocal, though undeniably emotional. I climbed the deep and uneven, grey stone steps of the monolithic grandstand, ignoring warning notices in German that I was doing so at my own risk. I shivered involuntarily, despite the January afternoon being abnormally mild for Bavaria. And I murmured to myself: “Should I be doing this?” The question had little connect with the minor bodily peril of stumbling over worn granite. Reaching the level rostrum, I glanced at the monumental limestone-clad, once multi-column-flanked backdrop, modelled on the Pergamon Altar by National Socialist architect Albert Speer. After a few final paces I was standing on the small, iron-railed balcony which projected from the centre of the lofty podium. My heart pounded as I scanned the vast unnerving emptiness of the banked, square-shaped arena (the size of eight football pitches) extending before me. I was now surveying one of the former principal Nazi Party rally grounds. In the 1930s, on the exact spot where I now stood, Adolf Hitler reviewed up to 200,000 black-helmeted and jackbooted storm troopers, arrayed in massive phalanxes beneath eagle-crowned, swastika banners. On this lakeside “Zeppelin Field” (so named because one of the huge airships landed there in 1909) Speer, the Führer’s protégé, created and stage-managed manipulative, meticulously choreographed, pseudo-religious experiences for the thousands of credulous

participants, spellbound and subordinated by the atmospheric power-package of their hypnotic environment. I was overcome by the astonishing paradox invoked by my occupation of these few square metres of concrete: the (albeit) time-lapsed juxtaposition of a proud Jew (representing, in a sense, the survival of our people) and the murderer of six million Jews. Had my personal experience taken place in late January 2015, I might’ve cried out “Je suis Juif” … or perhaps its equivalent in German! January 2007: Earlier in the week of my arrival in Nuremberg there had been a particularly heavy snowfall. On Friday morning the city of castles, churches and vertiginously sloping roofs lay under a thick white blanket. But by Saturday morning, seemingly, global warming had kicked in, rapidly thawing the city, save its higher areas, with amazingly mild temperatures. Having previously emailed Rabbi Chitrik, I attended his Shabbat morning service at a house in Feldgasse, a 20minute walk from downtown. The rabbi welcomed me warmly. Davening in the smallish, underground room (with a single Sefer Torah in a simple, white-veiled and free-standing cupboard) were 11 men, including me, and one woman, the rebbetzin (originally from Jerusalem), behind the mechitzah. Later, the rabbi explained that he’d been occupying the premises for just two months; and that (the quite evident) renovation works were ongoing. Not unexpectedly, the minyan comprised men of Russian origin [the vast majority of the more than 200,000 Jews in Germany hail from the Russian Federation or the former Soviet Union]. Several of the worshippers followed the service from numbered sheets containing the Hebrew prayers in phonetic Cyrillic. As he led, Rabbi Chitrik would flip pages of large black numbers, printed in a raised folder on his reading desk and corresponding to pages in the distributed sheets. After Shacharit, we enjoyed a sit-down Kiddush/meal (with challah baked by the rebbetzin) and sang hearty Shabbat zemirot. Rabbi Chitrik informed me that he travelled regularly to Strasbourg in France (a four-hour drive) to buy kosher products. I heard from one of the congregants, a student speaking good English, that there were possibly up to 10,000 Jews living in greater Nuremberg. During the leyning I’d noticed that the rabbi wasn’t using a yad. After my return home, I acquired a silver one at Golders Green’s “Jerusalem the Golden” and despatched it to him. Jews have inhabited Nuremberg, straddling the River Pegnitz and dominated by the Kaiserburg fortress, since the mid-12th century. Unsurprisingly, persecutions and expulsions were regular occurrences during the Middle-Ages. The 16th century Frauenkirche, in the sympathetically restored Altstadt’s Hauptmarkt, stands on the site of the town’s first synagogue (built in 1296). Nearby, on Hans Sachs Platz, is a memorial marking the former location of the grandiose, Moorishstyle Reform Hauptsynagoge, which was set ablaze by the Nazis on Kristallnacht in November 1938. The pogrom led also to the destruction of the beautiful Adas

Israel (Orthodox) Synagoge on Essenweinstrasse, near the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station). The magnificence of Nuremberg’s shuls attested to the success attained by its Jewish community by the time Hitler came to power in 1933. Between 1941 and 1944, 1,631 Jews were transported from the city to Nazi concentration camps. Sadly, only 72 of them survived the Holocaust. But the town’s community was one of the first to be reconstituted in Germany after the war, drawing on inmates of neighbouring displaced persons camps. In 1984, a new Jewish community centre and synagogue were inaugurated in the suburbs. And in 1995, Nuremberg was twinned with Hadera in Israel. One of the main areas where Jews reside is the adjoining compact town of Fürth (just 15 minutes by U-Bahn Above: Memorial commemorating the from central Nuremberg). Hauptsynagoge. Coincidentally, the year 2007 was its 1,000th anniversary. It had been home to a prosperous Jewish community for much of that period. By 1933 some 2,000 Jews (2.6% of the population) lived in the municipality, but comprised 50% of its wholesalers, 14.5% of its retailers and 23.1% of its manufacturers. On Kristallnacht the Nazis demolished Fürth’s seven synagogues, and many Jewish businesses and homes. In June 1943, its last 38 Jews were deported to Auschwitz. At the end of the war, a mere 40 survivors of the Shoah returned. In 1967, what had been Fürth’s largest synagogue was restored and rededicated. January 2007: From behind the reception desk in Fürth’s Jewish museum and café/bookshop (Königstrasse 89) the first thing that Daniella (an American who’d lived in Germany for 20 years) asked me was, “Did your family come from Fürth?” Apparently not an unusual question, as Jews from the town scattered over many parts of the world, and hundreds of their descendents revisit annually. Amongst its famous sons is Henry Kissinger, who was born there in 1923 and left for the USA with his parents in 1938. The fascinating exhibition is housed in a building that, incredibly, had been occupied by members of the same Jewish family for almost 300 years. Afterwards I strolled through the town, noting several other places of Jewish interest. These include the distinctive “flaming” monument,

commemorating the main shul destroyed on Kristallnacht, and the Jewish cemetery (one of Germany’s oldest and largest, some of whose ancient memorial headstones are preserved in Nuremberg’s modernistic German National Museum). December 2014: Before returning to Nuremberg, and now being a Cambridge resident, I’d made mention in an email communication with Rabbi Chitrik of Rabbi Reuven and Rochel Leigh and their successful developments in the city, including the Lehrhaus. And I’d been intrigued to discover from Rabbi Leigh that he’d learned with Rabbi Chitrik some while ago. I gathered that Nuremberg Chabad had been somewhat peripatetic since my previous visit, but that it had now settled into a permanent home (with the support of Nuremberg’s publicly-funded Jewish Community Council and the Rohr Family Foundation) on the broad Regensburger Strasse, to the south-east of the city centre. I’d arranged to meet with Rabbi Chitrik at Chabad House (right) on a Thursday afternoon. When I arrived outside the stone-faced villa (one of the few in the neighbourhood to have survived the devastating Allied bombing of the city) I was a trifle surprised to see some significant structural work in progress. I walked to the rear of the substantial house, opened the gate in a low fence and entered what looked like a children’s playground (it was, I soon learned … for the Chabad kindergarten). The spacious yard separated the villa from a low-rise modern building. This, I discovered, contained the synagogue. At last I found the rabbi in his office in the older premises, and we enjoyed a long chat. Having seen on its website numerous photographs of Chabad’s present and much-grown “Russian” community enjoying Purim, Chanucah and Succot events, and having read about its learning and summer programmes, I couldn’t restrain myself from offering the rabbi a heartfelt mazeltov on the wonderful results he and his rebbetzin had achieved. He informed me that the construction activity I’d seen was due to the establishment of a mikvah. And I mentioned that, coincidentally, a mikvah had been installed at Cambridge’s Chabad House a few years back. On Shabbat there were between 30 and 40 people in the roomy synagogue, including several women (my wife and daughter amongst them) on the other side

of the mechitzah. I heard Russian, Yiddish and German being spoken variously by those present. Rabbi Chitrik’s drosha, delivered in German, was translated into Russian by a congregant. As the minister had promised during our Thursday conversation, I was re-acquainted with the “Golders Green” yad during the leyning, when I was honoured with an aliyah, and I believe the Aron Ha’Kodesh held three Sifrei Torah. After the service, we repaired to a modest-sized hall for the customary, sit-down Kiddush/meal of cholent and liberal shots of vodka (followed by some arm-linked swaying for the Shabbat zemirot). I was sitting opposite the rabbi at a long table for the men, whilst the women sat around the rebbetzin at a couple of small tables. I was fortunate to be placed next to an amiable PhD student at Nuremberg University. There was no point in using my basic German; he spoke English fluently. He told me that he was specialising in mathematics, and hoped to obtain an actuarial position in due course. But I was stunned that he knew, and even pre-empted, the punch-line of the joke (about actuaries) that I was telling him! January 2007: I felt that Nuremberg would never eradicate the dark stain of National Socialist associations, which had tarnished its 20th century history. On my visit to the city’s impressive Palace of Justice (left), where 21 leaders of the Nazi regime had sat in the dock of Courtroom 600 (below) at the end of 1945, I reflected that justice had been denied to six million Jews by these evil men. The International Military Tribunal sat for 218 days to hear cases against the accused for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, its Judgments setting landmark precedents in worldwide jurisprudence. Many defendants were sentenced to be hanged in this the first of the post-war genocide trials.

Above: The Palace of Justice. Below: Courtroom 600

But I perceived the city had strived to ensure that its contribution to Hitler’s

retention of power is neither forgotten nor revised; and that future generations will not repeat the inhuman actions of the past. Hanging in the foyer of the Documentation Centre (a museum built into the surviving shell of what would’ve been the Nazis’ 50,000-seat Congress Hall on the NSDAP rally grounds) is a framed certificate from UNESCO awarding that organisation’s year 2000 prize for Human Rights Education to Nuremberg. On the evening prior to my visit to the rally grounds, I attended a concert at the museum to mark the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The performance comprised poetry and songs written and composed by Jews in ghettos and concentration camps. The musical works included pieces by Jizchak Katzenelson, Pavel Hass and Viktor Ullman, all of whom perished in Auschwitz. I was struck by the irony of the moment: Jewish verse by Jewish artists being played for Jewish people in a building intended by the Nazis to promote anti-Semitism and race hatred. Poetic justice in Nuremberg! December 2014: I learned that, at Chanucah time, Rabbi Chitrik has organised, alongside the mayor of Nuremberg, public menorah-lightings proximate to the city building where the notorious Nazi race laws were promulgated in 1935. Maybe this can be seen as a Chanucah miracle, as well as the triumph of good over evil.

Banker, traitor, scapegoat, spy? The troublesome case of Sir Edgar Speyer, by Antony Lentin Reviewed by Jonathan Allin Professor Antony Lentin is a Senior Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge, a barrister, and formerly a Professor of History and law tutor at the Open University. Professor Lentin writes with a light and straightforward touch that brings the story of Sir Edgar, and his trial by a Committee of Enquiry, to life. He presents a balanced view that brings out Sir Edgar's enormous strengths and achievements, but also his weaknesses. Professor Lentin's goal was "an impartial reconsideration of the facts. Whatever might be the outcome, the challenge was to appeal both to the lawyer and to the historian ... to ascertain where the truth might lie." Using files released by the Home Office and the Treasury Solicitor's Department in 2003, Professor Lentin succeeds admirably. Sir Edgar Speyer What connects the London Underground, the BBC Proms, and the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge? The answer is Sir Edgar Speyer. Below: Sir Edgar Speyer, by Sir William Orpen in 1914

Banker, philanthropist, and patron of music and the arts, Sir Edgar Speyer did voluntary work in the Toynbee Hall in the East End, was President of the Poplar Hospital and was on the board of the King Edward VII Hospital to which he donated £25,000. He financed the Whitechapel Art Gallery and entertained and sponsored many well-known musical figures including Percy Grainger, Grieg, and Faure. In 1904, on learning of the of the collapse of a penny savings bank at Needham Market in Suffolk, Edgar at once wrote a cheque for the £5,700 necessary to restore the funds to the 180 depositors whose life savings had been wiped out. At the end of the 19th century the Speyers, a family of wealthy and successful German-

Jewish bankers, would have been as well known as the Rothschilds. But Speyer was almost certainly a scapegoat for British politics and the British public in the dark years of the Great War. Edgar Speyer's trial was a minor tragedy of the war, but unlike Alfred Dreyfus some twenty years earlier, Speyer was never acquitted. So while the infamy of the Dreyfus affair lives on, and the Rothschilds remain a well-known and well-respected family, very few today would recognise the name of Sir Edgar Speyer or know of his legacy. In its own way, the story of Sir Edgar tells us as much about England in the First World War as the Dreyfus affair tells us about France at the end of the 19th century. Edgar Speyer was born in New York in 1862, though he spent his early years in Germany. He became a naturalised British citizen in 1892 and was created a baronet in 1906. He was sworn to the Privy Council in 1909. Speyer Brothers was an international finance house with offices in Frankfurt, New York, and London. Edgar took over the London office in 1887, specialising in financing railway projects. His elder brother, James, ran the New York office. Trial by committee Speyer was a man of his time. In the years before 1914 his German-British affinities were more or less in balance and he was a patron for a number of German causes. In 1912 he wrote an article entitled "Germany and England as Citizens of the World" and was not alone in believing that these two great civilisations could never go to war. However when war came, Edgar cut all ties with the enemy, though his brother, James, continued to trade with Germany. Meanwhile Edgar's American wife, Leonora, spoke freely in support of Germany: views which didn't help Edgar's case. As the naval arms race between Britain and Germany escalated, distrust of Above: Sir Edgar Speyer & Lady Germans and those of German origin was Leonora Speyer, circa 1921. stirred-up by press warnings of the rising military threat from Germany. Novels such as Erskine Childers' "The Riddle of the Sands" reflected these concerns, and Leanne Langley even proposed that Appleton, a villainous stockbroker in John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps, may have been based on Speyer. Germany's unprovoked attacks on civilian targets and

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poor progress by the British Expeditionary Forces meant paranoia against all things German was inevitable. The sinking in 1914 of three British cruisers by a single U-boat was attributed by the outspoken Lord Charles Beresford, without any evidence, to information provided by spies in England. Speyer was a member of the Reform Club and recommended tightening directors' liabilities for negligence. He was interested in Liberal politics and became an intimate friend of the Asquiths. His contribution to party funds and the landslide 1906 Liberal election no doubt helped him gain his baronetcy. Although Sir Edgar was Jewish, and undoubtedly much of the animosity he faced was anti-Semitic, his "crimes" were of being German and of being closely associated with the Liberal Government and with Asquith, who was reviled by the Conservatives for his weakness in prosecuting the war: revenge on the Liberal party and Asquith meant revenge on Speyer. The Conservative Government was elected in 1916 in "an orgy of antiGermanism". The normally mild Arthur James Balfour was incensed by Germany's behaviour: in response to the sinking of the mail-boat "Leinster" with the loss of four hundred lives he said, "brutes they were and brutes they remain." Perhaps it was for this reason that Balfour, as foreign secretary, was active in seeking evidence in the US against Speyer (reinforcing the idea that motivation against Speyer was not particularly anti-Semitic). Although Asquith and the King stood by Speyer, Balfour did not. Sir Edgar became the chief focus of The Status of Alien's Bill (discussed in the second half of 1918) and the associated anti-German campaign. In the Commons, Noel Billing denounced the "German Jew called Edgar Speyer who is now working out the damnation of this country in America". In 1921 Edgar was tried by a Committee of Enquiry, set up as a consequence of the Bill. The Committee was chaired by Mr Justice Salter, who was less than even handed. Speyer's good works counted for nothing. Sir Edgar's British citizenship was revoked and his membership of the Privy Council rescinded. Sir Edgar lived the remainder of his life in the US with his family, dying in 1932 at the age of 69. However his legacy lives with us in two marvellous institutions. King of the Underground It's not well known that Sir Edgar must be regarded as the father of the London Underground. In 1902 Speyer and American tycoon Charles Yerkes founded the Underground Electric Railways Co. of London (UERL), the forerunner of the London Underground. The UERL then financed and managed the construction of the three main deep tube lines which later became known as the Northern, Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines.

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Speyer became chairman of the UERL on Yerkes’ death in 1905. He was confronted with a huge financial shortfall and to avoid bankruptcy bailed out the UERL with funds from Speyer Bros. He continued to invest heavily, absorbing considerable losses. Although he saw the UERL as a source of profit which he must strive to keep solvent, he also saw it as a great public amenity and an agent of urban and social progress. To help keep the UERL afloat in 1910 he purchased the London General Omnibus Company, whose profits could offset the Underground's losses. By 1912 he had taken over the remaining underground lines to become "King of the Underground" and head of London’s public transport system. The Underground had become an end in itself, and together with the Omnibus Company, formed an integrated transport system. However the rapid growth in private motoring meant that the Underground was never to be profitable. Even so, despite his massive underwriting, Speyer's banking prowess ensured he remained an extremely rich man. In 1915, following attacks in the press, Sir Edgar Speyer resigned as chairman of the UERL. The Proms In 1895 Robert Newman, founder manager of the Queen's Hall Orchestra, and its conductor Sir Henry Wood, launched the Promenade Concerts. Speyer became a close friend of Sir Henry Wood, who remained loyal to him throughout. One of the performers for whom Newman acted as agent was the American violinist Leonora von Stosch. On 10 February 1902, in Hamburg, she and Speyer married. Speyer had invested some £26,000 in the Proms by 1914, rescuing them from an otherwise inevitable collapse and putting them on a sound financial footing. With tickets at fourpence a night, Speyer was "out to make music, not money". Today we think of the Times as being reasonably well balanced. However in the period of the Great War it was virulent in its attacks against Speyer and was instrumental in his downfall. William Boosey, managing director of Chappell & Co, had been a rival bidder for the Queen's Hall orchestra in 1902. Boosey's rancour spewed out. He wrote a poisonous letter, published in the Times "warning of the paramount position of many Germans in our world of finance ... with purchased titles ... and control over railways."

My dear Sir Edgar.... 79.50° South There's a fascinating local connection. Sir Edgar coordinated the financing of both of Scott's Antarctic expeditions, and at £4,000 made the largest donation to the 1901-4 Discovery expedition. Scott and Edgar became close friends, Scott naming Mount Edgar in Antarctica in recognition of his support. One of Scott's last letters, written from his tent and found with him on his body, was addressed to Sir Edgar. In it he acknowledged Edgar's generosity and contrasted the expedition's financial failure against the tragic grandeur of its achievements. Edgar supported a memorial fund, part of which provided support for the explorers' dependents, and part of which went to found the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. A lesson for today? Millions died in the First World War, millions more were impoverished, starving refugees. In comparison Sir Edgar's story cannot be considered a major tragedy. However Professor Lentin's account of Sir Edgar's trial by media leaves me with a question. Are we still driven by frenzy, by hysteria, by public outrage, by political machinations, or do we think we're now more educated, more objective, more willing to take a stand?

A truly delicious Pesach By Helen Goldrein

I was extremely excited in February this year to publish my first recipe book – Helen’s delicious Pesach. It contains 8 days worth of recipes for breakfasts, main & side dishes, potato dishes, cakes & desserts. All the recipes use fresh, healthy ingredients, & everything is naturally gluten-free. The book is available as an ebook or pdf from Blurb.com, or in softback from Amazon (more details below). Thrillingly, it has made it to number 4 in Amazon’s ‘kosher food’ best sellers list! Snuggled up with Evelyn Rose and Claudia Roden – fame at last! I think that breakfast is always one of the hardest meals at Pesach, because we are all so used to eating toast or cereal, however there are plenty of interesting options that don’t involve matza and cheese. The book offers two different sorts of pancakes, a breakfast smoothie so delicious I’ve been drinking it all year, and some interesting ways with eggs. Honestly, you won’t want to wait till next Pesach to eat some of these things again! More details about the book, including an online preview and links to retailers, are available at http://family-friends-food.com/helens-delicious-pesach/ To tempt you further, here are two recipes from the book. The Pesach breakfast pancakes first appeared on family-friends-food.com last year, & I was emailed by a Mum who said that her children had demanded these for breakfast every day of Pesach! Success! The second recipe is a simple way to elevate a fruit salad into something altogether more sophisticated! We enjoyed this Watermelon & berry salad a lot during the Spring & Summer last year.

Pesach breakfast pancakes These are delicious plain or with butter, but even better drizzled with honey or syrup and served with some blueberries or fresh fruit. Serves 4. 2 medium bananas 2 eggs 40g ground almonds 1/4 tsp baking powder Oil, for frying Blend all the ingredients except the oil, until very smooth and frothy. The batter will be quite runny. Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan, and drop tablespoons of the mixture into the pan. Fry for a minute or two, until browning at the edges, and bubbling on the top. Flip over, and fry for a further minute or so on the other side. Drain for a moment on absorbent paper, then serve. Watermelon & berry salad with basil mint sugar The herb sugar is delicious on many other fruits, too. Try it over sliced pineapple or oranges, or with different kinds of melon. Serves 4. 450g strawberries 1/3 of a medium watermelon 150g raspberries 150g blueberries For the basil mint sugar 4 large basil leaves 1 large sprig mint 3 tsp golden caster sugar Hull the strawberries and cut in half vertically. Cut the rind off the watermelon and discard. Remove the seeds, and cut the flesh into bite-sized chunks. Place the strawberries and melon into a large bowl with the raspberries and blueberries. Mix gently to combine. Put the basil, mint and sugar into a mini-chopper and whizz to combine. Alternatively finely chop the herbs and mix with the sugar, or crush the ingredients together in a mortar and pestle. Spoon the fruit into bowls and serve the sugar separately for sprinkling, or mix the sugar into the fruit salad before serving.

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MATZAH PUZZLE

Color the matzah below. Then, cut out the matzah: first cut out the big square shape, and then cut into pieces along the dotted lines. See if you can put this matzah puzzle back together! (No need to just use brown—make this matzah as colorful as you want!)

Happy Passover from JewishBoston.com

Colour in the ‘matza’ below, then cut it out. Cut into along the dotted lines to break it into pieces, then see if you can put the matza puzzle back together!

Matza Jigsaw

Calendar Pesach 2015 Anyone who would like to attend a Seder, or who knows someone who would like to attend a Seder is invited to consult Barry Landy who will try to arrange a suitable host. See following page for details of Seder nights with Rabbi Reuven & Rochel Leigh. Friday April 3, Fast of the Firstborn Shacharit 7:00am Finish all Chametz by 10:33am Burning of Chametz by 11:51am Shabbat and Festival starts 7:21pm Minchah/Maariv 7:15pm Saturday April 4 Shacharit 10:00 am Sunday April 5 Shacharit 10:00 am Festival ends 8.27 pm

Thursday April 9 Festival Starts 7:32pm Minchah/Maariv 7:30pm Friday April 10 Shacharit 9:30am Saturday April 11 Shacharit 9:30am Shabbat and festival ends 8:38pm

Shavuot 2015 Shavuot is in University Term, so the services are organised by the students. Friday May 22 Shabbat starts 8:43pm Saturday May 23 Festival Starts as Shabbat ends 9:59pm Sunday May 24 Shacharit 9:30am Minchah/Maariv to be announced Monday May 25 Shacharit 9:30am Minchah/Maariv to be announced Festival Ends 10.03 pm Tisha B’Av 2015 Saturday July 25 Fast Commences 9:02pm Shabbat ends 10:01pm Maariv and Eichah 10:20pm Above: Shavuot (Pentecost) (Das Wochen- oder PfingstSunday July 26 Fest) by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1800-1882) Shacharit 8:00am (expected to finish about 10:00am) Minchah 1:45 / 6:00pm (TBC on the day) Fast ends 9:50pm

Diary dates Seder nights with Rabbi Reuven & Rochel Leigh & family 3 April 7:30pm 4 April 9:00pm “Join us for an enchanting Passover Seder. Relive the exodus, discover the eternal meaning of the Haggadah, and enjoy a Community Seder complete with hand-baked matzah, wine, and a wonderful dinner spiced with unique and traditional customs.” Details at http://www.cuchabad.org/#!pesach/clcr Matza ramble and Pesach picnic 6 April 10:30am, Wimpole Hall Estate, SG8 0BW Meet by the picnic tables at the back of the stable block, adjacent to the main car park. Put on your boots and pack your picnic blankets and matza sandwiches to join us for an invigorating walk around this beautiful country estate, followed by a Pesach picnic! Tikun leil Shavuot Seminar - Call for Papers The annual all night learning seminar in preparation for the giving of the Torah on Shavuot will be held on Saturday 23 May at The Cambridge Lehrhaus. The theme for this year's seminar will be the moments before, during and after the sin of the golden calf in Exodus 32-35. Please submit an abstract of less than 500 words to admin@thelehrhaus.org no later than Friday 1 May to be included in the programme. CTJC Shavuot Garden Party 24 May, 4:00pm, venue TBA. Featuring cream teas and a gourmet ice-cream bar – the perfect way to celebrate Shavuot and enjoy the start of summer. CTJC Family Shabbat – ‘down on the farm’ November 2015, Spixworth, Norfolk. Get involved now to make it a weekend to remember! We need help with programming, meal planning, accommodation, logistics - in fact just about everything! Email helengoldrein@gmail.com to find out more.