UK News

Oxford University's Vice Chancellor Speaks at Chabad Shabbat Dinner

Sunday, October 31, 2010 - 11:26 AM

Oxford University’s vice chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton, spoke to Jewish students over Friday night dinner at the Chabad Society.

Hamilton, a former provost of Yale University who was considered by many as an ‘outsider’ for the post of Oxford vice chancellor, replaced Dr. John Hood in October 2009.

Close to 100 students and faculty members attended the event in which the vice chancellor spoke about the burdens imposed by the institution’s 900 year-old bureaucracy, and the impact of current economic difficulties upon the university.

He spoke sympathetically about the difficult choices faced by the recent Browne Review on Higher Education Funding. However, student sentiment was less sympathetic. He challenged over the paucity of housing available to families with children, the paltry wages paid to tutors and inadequate university supervision of lecturers.

"It was a privelege to hear the vice chancellor speak at the Chabad Society," said one student. "The event really shows how central the society is to university life as well as Jewish life."

The vice chancellor was full of praise for the dynamic and warm atmosphere of the Oxford University Chabad Society under the directorship of Rabbi Eli and Freidy Brackman.

[Photo taken after Shabbat]

New JLI Course Gains Approval from Three UK Professional Organisations

Friday, October 29, 2010 - 6:05 AM

medicine+morals.jpg A new session of the Rohr Jewish Learning Initiative (JLI) focusing on medical ethics got under way this week with the backing of the Royal College of Physicians, the Bar Standards Agency and the Law Society (in cooperation UK Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists).

Medicine and Morals examines contemporary case studies and compares secular and Jewish approaches as a means of developing an understanding of medical and legal ethical dilemmas. Solicitors, barristers and medical professionals enrolled on the course will be eligible for Continuing Professional Development credit.

“We are very excited about these developments which we feel speak for the high standards of the course,” said Rabbi Eli Pink, education director at Lubavitch Centre in Leeds where the course began this weeks

The course is also taking place in Hendon and Edgware, starting in early November, under the direction of Rabbi Dovid Katz and Rabbi Yaron Jacobs.

“As medicine advances and life expectancy increases, almost all of us will encounter an ethical dilemma in dealing with our own health or that of a loved one,” said Rabbi Zalman Abraham of the JLI’s Brooklyn headquarters. “But Jewish law creatively draws analogies with ancient paradigms to provide guidance through the maze of medical decision-making.”

The six lessons will include Choosing Life: The Obligation to Seek Healing; Flesh of My Flesh: Organ Transplants in Jewish Law; Rolling the Dice: Risky and Experimental Treatments; New Beginnings: The Ethics of Reproductive Technologies; With You In Mind: Ethical Treatment of the Mentally Disabled; Secret Code: Genetics and the Ethics of Patient Confidentiality.

For more information or to enroll, click here.

UK's First Jewish Heritage Centre

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - 4:08 PM

IMG_0831 - Copy.JPG The UK's first Jewish Heritage Centre for Children opened its doors to the public this weekend. The Leeds centre has been made possible by a £275,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant and will focus on the fascinating heritage of the Jewish.

Created as an extension of the Lubavitch Centre, the Jewish Heritage Centre for Children is a unique project which aims to teach children from different backgrounds about how Jewish traditions, heritage and culture have survived through the ages until the present day.

Key attractions and education resources in the new building include a recreated 19th century Eastern European farm village where Jewish festivals are brought to life in a fun, "hands on" way, as well as a children's kosher supermarket and kids' kosher kitchen. Other displays include a series of mini films depicting Jewish traditions, food and festivals in which children from the local Brodetsky Primary School took part.

“We've consulted with schools, faith groups, after school clubs and women's groups and the response has been very enthusiastic,” says Ruth Bell, project co-ordinator.

"We already have quite a few bookings, and are looking forward to many more. The centre is educational on many levels and although it's primarily for children, there is something of interest for everyone."

IMG_0877 - Copy.jpg Fiona Spiers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "This is a remarkable project delivered by a voluntary group exploring and offering educational resources on the heritage that is important to them. What is really special about it however, and the reason HLF has supported the venture, is the fantastic permanent resource that now exists in the UK for children and people of all ages and backgrounds who want to learn more about the heritage of Judaism."

The centre, run by Bnos Chabad - the Jewish voluntary organisation behind the project and based at the Lubavitch Centre in Leeds - will utilise arts & crafts, cookery, music and drama to bring Judaism and its heritage to life for the general public. Open to the public on Sundays from 12noon until 4pm it will also be available for group bookings from Mondays to Thursdays.

Among some of the volunteers who have helped with the project to date, Susy, who helped with the art-work, said: "I am incredibly impressed with the centre - it is an amazing teaching facility and an incredible insight into our past." And Yanina, mother of 4 year old Josh, said,"You feel when walking into the village that you are stepping right back into the past. It looks so real and authentic and Josh doesn't want to leave.”

Manchester Chabad-Lubavitch Emissary, a Young Mother of Six, Passes Away

Monday, October 4, 2010 - 12:01 PM

A Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Manchester, England, lost a month-long battle for her life Sunday, leaving family and friends straining for answers just six weeks after celebrating the birth of her son. A mother of six children, Esther Aidel Cohen was 33 years old when she passed away.

Born and raised in Albany, N.Y., Cohen’s middle name was given to her in memory of her great aunt, who perished as a young girl in Slonim, Belarus, during the Holocaust. Her parents, Rabbi Israel and Rochel Rubin, directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Capital District in Albany, said that the name reflected their daughter’s character.

“Like the Yiddish word aidel, Esty was refined and sensitive, genuine and very modest,” said Israel Rubin. “Bright and learned, she loved deeply appreciated learning both in school and in her married years.”

In Manchester, Cohen was known for her dedicated support to her husband, Beis Menachem Chabad director Rabbi Mendel Cohen, and their shared communal work, and for her constant devotion and care in raising their children in the proper ways of Torah and Chasidic life. Her passing struck both her local Jewish community and the wider family of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries particularly hard.

People around the world, many who didn’t know Cohen or her family, rallied to her support, reciting Psalms and donating money to help her husband with childrearing costs.

“This is a terrible tragedy,” said Rabbi Yitschok Sholom Klyne, a spiritual adviser of the Lubavitch yeshiva in Manchester who worked with Cohen’s husband.

Sara Rosenfeld, a Manchester native and friend of the Cohen family who co-directs Chabad-Lubavitch of Eastern Shores in North Miami Beach, Fla., said that going into last week’s holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, people were hopeful that Cohen would recover.

Rosenfeld’s husband, Rabbi Eli Rosenfeld collected donations on behalf of the Cohens through a charity he established 18 months ago, The Shluchim Fund. He said that the news of her passing was unexpected.

“There’s a newborn son who will never know his mother,” sighed Rosenfeld. “It’s such a sudden, tragic thing.”

According to the Rubins, whose sons operate Chabad Houses in New York, their daughter shined from an early age. As a young teenager, they noted, she addressed the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries.

“I’m just a young girl, but I’m old enough to know that shlichus is not just a bed of roses,” a 13-year-old Cohen said at the time, using the Yiddish word referring to the institution of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries stationed in communities across the globe. “It isn’t all that easy, and there are always new, hard challenges every step of the way.”

The statement revealed a wisdom admired by those who knew Cohen.

“As a student, Esty kept detailed diaries and notebooks, which the family hopes to eventually publish in her memory and as a legacy,” said her father. “Her lively sense of humor and practical, perceptive insight are expressed through her fascinating anecdotes and descriptions [of life] in Albany, Brooklyn and Israel.”

Esther Aidel Cohen will be buried in Manchester. She leaves behind her husband, Rabbi Mendel Cohen, director of Bais Menachem Chabad in Manchester; and their six children: Moishe, 10, Mushka, 9, Rivka, 7, Chana, 4, Yechiel, 2, and six-week-old Avraham Tzvi.