UK News

It’s back to university across the United Kingdom as students return to classes for the beginning of their summer term. Among them are an estimated 10,000 Jewish students, who last weekend began filling Shabbat tables at campus-based Chabad-Lubavitch centers on every major university in the country.

Each of the 10 Chabad Houses, having just emerged from the largest collection of Passover celebrations in recent memory, have formulated an array of programming with something for everyone, from relaxed get-to-togethers over shwarma to film screenings and one-on-one study sessions.   Continue...

A record number of over 2,000 attended Passover seders with Chabad in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland following a coordinated publicity campaign.

As well as the interactive and content-laden PassoverUK megasite, which was available for the third year running, Chabad emissaries throughout the United Kingdom joined together to create an advertising campaign in the lead up to the festival.

The advertisement, with the tagline "There’s a Place for You at Our Seder Table," provided readers with a link to the PassoverUK website and telephone hotline through which they could find a seder nearby and reserve a seat.

In London, large crowds of close to 1,000 people in total packed communal seders in Hendon, Ilford, Wimbledon, Kensington and Bloomsbury.

"We set places for 180 people", says Rabbi Dovid Katz, educational director of Chabad of Hendon, who led a seder for Hebrew speakers. "On the night, more and more guests kept coming through the door."

"In the end, we had over 220 Israelis from all walks of life," says Rabbi Katz. "It was one of the most successful seders we’ve ever had. Everyone had a good time and they ended up staying until after 1:30am singing, dancing and talking."

For the second year, Chabad of Buckhurst Hill held a communal seder. "We worked closely with Chabad of Ilford to provide as many people as possible with a place at a seder table on both nights," says Rabbi Odom Brandman. "We had close to 50 people squeeze into our house."

Outside the capital, communal seders took place throughout United Kingdom attracting in excess of 1,000 people in locations as diverse as Edinburgh, Brighton, Oxford and Belfast.

"I hadn’t been to a Passover seder in some years," admits Erica Steinhauer who attended Chabad of Oxford’s communal seder. "It was heart-warming to see so many Jews celebrating together in a family environment. I met a lot of new people and the whole experience was thought-provoking. The food was also delicious!"

In both Manchester and Birmingham, seders were organised in old age homes allowing the elderly and immobile the opportunity to share in the Passover experience. At Andrew Cohen House, a sheltered housing project for the elderly in Birmingham, two yeshiva students, Pesach Klein and Michoel Rose, ran seders and festival services for residents.

"About 45 people had their seder with us," says Rabbi Yonoson Golomb, director of Chabad of Sheffield. "It was a very mixed crowd from the Orthodox, Reform or no affiliation at all, and from England, USA, Israel, South Africa and Germany."

With no kosher bakery, Rabbi Golomb came up with an innovative idea to provide the community with fresh bread in time for Shabbat. "My wife and mother-in-law stay up into the night baking a mountain of challas. We sold them in the local community with the proceeds going to Laniado Hospital in Israel. We called it a Challathon," exclaims Rabbi Golomb.

Three new Chabad centres in Bristol, Edinburgh and South Kensington offered students, local community members and tourists the opportunity to experience traditional Passover seders.

In Edinburgh, the UK’s second most visited tourist destination, Rabbi Pinchus and Gitty Weinman welcomed around 70 people to their seder table. "This was the first communal seder of its kind in the city and we hosted students, tourists, Israeli backpackers as well as people from the local area," says Rabbi Weinman

Rabbi Dovid and Leah Usiskin, directors of Chabad of Bristol, held their first communal seder in city. "We managed to attract an eclectic crowd from very different backgrounds who would have otherwise had nowhere to go," says Rabbi Usiskin.

Although Passover fell outside universities’ class schedules this year, campus-based Chabad-Lubavitch centres throughout the United Kingdom still had overflowing tables for the traditional Seders, with approximately 800 British Jews and Jewish visitors attending communal gatherings from Edinburgh to Leeds.

Large crowds descended on festive meals in London, where international students had their pick of community Seders. Chabad of Bloomsbury had more than 140 people on the first night of Passover, while Chabad of South Kensington hosted 90 people at Boston University’s satellite campus in the British capital.   Continue...

Heavy clouds and rain looked set to dash the hopes of Jews gathering in London and Leeds wishing to celebrate the once-in-28-years mitzvah of birkat hachama - thanking G-d for the sun as it returns to the position it occupied when it was created.

However, by 8am on April 8th, the skies had cleared leaving London "basking in sunshine," says Rabbi Levi Sudak, director of Lubavitch of Edgware.

The London ceremony, which took place in the grounds of London’s historic Kenwood House, attracted Jews of all ages and backgrounds from the immediate area and across the capital. The proceedings were led by Rabbi Levi Sudak and accompanied by the cantorial talents of Chazzan Avromi Freilich of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue.

The event, which falls in a Hakhel year (a year of Jewish unity), was recorded for Chabad.org as part of a live broadcast uniting Jewish communities all over the globe.

The broadcast began in Christchurch, New Zealand, which was among the first Jewish communities in the world to say the blessing. It then progressed from New Zealand through different time zones encompassing seven locations, including Brisbane, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, London, New York, Coloarado, and finally Honolulu in Hawaii.

Millions worldwide participated in similar ceremonies with more than 1,000 gathered at Sydney’s Yeshiva Centre.

"It was a special event," says Adina Bernstein, a local Hampstead Garden Suburb resident. "It was great that Jews came together from all over the world for this unique occasion."

Meanwhile, some 200 miles north in Leeds, over 400 Jews gathered to thank G-d for the sun in a cross-communal ceremony held at the Untied Hebrew Congregation synagogue. The event, which united Jews from the city's five Orthodox synagogues, was facilitated and planned by Rabbi Eli Pink, director of education at the Lubavitch Centre of Leeds.

"Our idea was to bring Jews together from all of Leeds' different synagogues for birkat hachama,” explains Rabbi Pink. “There was a communal shacharit service and birkat hachama, followed by a siyum for firstborns with a little something to eat."

To watch the London ceremony, click here.

[Top photo by Howard Barnett]

Students from South London took an exciting trip this week to learn how shmurah matza is made in the heart of North London’s orthodox Jewish community.

The outing to the Belzer chassidic matza bakery in Stamford Hill was the idea of Rabbi Dovid Cohen who, with his wife Sora, established Chabad of South London Campuses in 2008 to serve the needs of Jewish students on seven campuses in the south of the capital.

“I worked in a matza bakery when I was a yeshiva student in New York,” explains Rabbi Cohen. “Most people eat their matza on Passover and don’t give much thought to how it is made. When I spoke to the students about it, they were interested to see how it is done. So, I thought why not show them the real thing.”

Water is added to flour, mixed into a dough, kneaded thoroughly, rolled into circles, perforated to prevent air pockets, and baked – all by hand, and all in the space of 18 minutes so as not to become leaven. Students had the chance to witness an army of chassidic yeshiva students carrying out this frantic process from beginning to end while experiencing the sights, smells and sounds of the bakery.

“It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before,” exclaims Michael Amior, a PhD student residing in Wimbledon. “It is really interesting to see the process from start to finish. It has given me a greater appreciation for the effort that goes into making matza.”

“I had always thought that matza was square and made by a machine,” says one student from Kingston University. “I had heard that people make matza by hand and it had to be done all in the space of 18 minutes, but I had to see it to believe it!”

Having finished making one batch of matzas, some of the yeshiva students took time out to talk with the visitors explaining the different parts of the matza baking process. “We get a lot of visitors from local chassidic schools, but it is really great when people are interested enough to come from other places,” said one yeshiva student.

After learning about matza and how it is made, students took a walk through Stamford Hill. “It was interesting to see the Jewish community here for myself. It was a bit of a culture shock, but I enjoyed it,” said one student.

Students also took the opportunity to do some shopping for essential Passover supplies, visit a Jewish bookshop and have something to eat in a kosher restaurant.

Tomorrow Jews around the world will undertake the once-in-28-years mitzva of Birkat Hachama - thanking G-d for the sun as it returns to the position it occupied when it was created.

To mark this rare occasion, Lubavitch of Edgware will bring together Jews from across the capital to observe the mitzva of Birkat Hachama at London's historic Kenwood House.

This won’t just be a gathering restricted to Jews in London. The London gathering will be beamed live around the world as part of a live broadcast uniting Jewish communities from East to West.

The live broadcast will begin in Christchurch, New Zealand, which will one of the first Jewish communities in the world to say the blessing at 20:00 GMT.

"To be the first to bless the sun is quite a privilege," says Sara Goldstein, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of New Zealand.

The broadcast will progress from New Zealand round the globe through different time zones stopping off at seven locations, including Brisbane, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, London, New York, Coloarado, and finally Honolulu in Hawaii.

The London event will take place in the morning at 8am (BST) in the grounds of Kenwood House, a former stately home dating back to the 17th century located on the northern boundary of Hampstead Heath. The ceremony has been organised with the help of the Iveagh Bequest and Harvey Goldsmith.

Large crowds are anticipated for this novel event which falls in a Hakhel year - a year of Jewish unity.

"We have permission for up to 200 people to participate in the ceremony," says Rabbi Levi Sudak, director of Lubavitch of Edgware. “The live broadcast is exciting as it gives us the opportunity to join with tens of thousands of other Jews worldwide to bless G-d for his kindness and wonders.”