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UK News

The latest news stories about Chabad Lubavitch from around the UK.

Thousands Converge on UK Chabad Centres over the Holiday Period

jcrh.jpgThousands of people descended on Chabad centres across the UK to enjoy meals, services and classes over the High Holiday period.

In Central London, Rabbi Yisroel Lew, director of Chabad of Bloomsbury, ran a programme of explanatory Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in conjunction with West End Great and Western Marble Arch congregations.

"We experienced a large number of people - young and old - participating in our services," said Rabbi Lew.

Over 250 people also turned out to festive meals at Chabad of Bloomsbury over Rosh Hashanah. When not serving meals and leading services, Rabbi Lew was kept busy blowing shofar for the ill and bedbound at University College Hospital and Great Olmond Hospital for Children.

In West London, more than 60 students and young professionals attended a pre-Yom Kippur meal at Chabad of South Kensington, with explanatory services held over the fast day, organised by Rabbi Mendy and Sara Loewenthal.

"You have allowed people to do a Yom Kippur as it should be done," said one of those in attendance.

Whitefield Chabad in Manchester welcomed over 180 people in the run up to the New Year for a shofar making workshop.

The event, organised in conjunction with Tzivos Hashem, saw parents and children constructing their own shofars from a raw ram’s horn.

"Adults worked alongside their kids... It was very interactive," said Rabbi Shmuli Jaffe, director of Whitefield Chabad director.

l5.jpgLeeds Jewish Women's Circle welcomed a capacity crowd of over 50 women who filled the Lubavitch Centre for a 'Knead a Break' event where women learned how to braid challahs in preparation for Rosh Hashanah.

JWC organiser Dabrushy Pink explained the significance of challah and showed the women how to make traditional challah dough. Help was on hand with local Rebbetzins Mrs Refson, Mrs Angyalfi, Mrs Cohen, Mrs Bell as well as Shellie Lester, Adina Graham and Rochel Cohen all showing their favourite braiding techniques.

Further north, Jews are preparing to brave the Scottish weather for Sukkot.

“This time of year can be really difficult. It’s either cold or raining, and when it’s not, we get wasps,” said Sora Jacobs, co-director of Chabad of Scotland in Glasgow.

However, the adverse weather won't put the Jacobs off as they prepare to welcome people to the sukkah they share with a local synagogue which can accommodate 300 people standing, or 150 sitting.

 

Founding Member of the UK Lubavitch Community Passes Away

schrtroks.jpgThe UK Lubavitch community is mourning one of its founding members, Rabbi Ovadiah Schtroks, who passed away last week. He is survived by his wife and children, many of whom are Chabad emissaries around the world.

Born in Uman, now in modern-day Ukraine, to Rabbi Nachman Zeev Schtroks, Rabbi Ovadiah Schrtroks studied in the Lubavitch yeshiva in Kremenchug. He left Russia after the war as a refugee, travelling through Europe to Paris. He came to London in the 1950s having worked as a shochet (kosher slaughterer) in Dublin, Ireland.

As one of the founders of the Lubavitch community in London, Rabbi Schtroks was tireless in taking on many communal responsibilities such as fundraising, teaching and serving as chazzan on High Holidays.

In a letter dated 25 Tevet 5720 (1960) the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson of blessed memory, encouraged him in his endeavours, saying “nothing should stand in your way.”

“He carried out his work day to day in the most devoted and special way, not for money, but to help others. Such people you don’t see anymore,” said Rabbi Nachman Sudak OBE, head emissary to the United Kingdom.

Many will remember Rabbi Schtroks for the unique way in which he taught hundreds of boys the alef-beis and how to read Hebrew at the Lubavitch Boys School in Stamford Hill - an activity which he continute until recently.

“I had the privilege amongst hundreds of others to be taught alef beis by Rabbi Schtrocks,” said one former pupil. “He taught using the really old fashioned method. We all learned how to read fluently.”

He is survived by his wife Musia, sons Rabbis Yosef Yitzchok (London, England), Avrohom Yeshayah (Morristown, NJ), Nochum (Crown Heights), Yonason Falik (Surrey, BC) Mendel (Cologne, Germany) and daughters Mrs. Bluma Perl (Long Island, NY) Mrs. Fruma Weg (Crown Heights) Mrs. Sheindel Levertov (Crown Heights) and Mrs. Nechama Dina Reinitz (Crown
Heights).

He is also survived by his siblings Mr. Sholom Schtroks (London, England), Mrs. Rochel Hershkovich (Holon, Israel/Chicago, IL) and Ita (Israel).

 

Shofars and power tools

jcrh.jpgOver 180 people got ready for Rosh Hashanah by making their own shofar through a Whitefield Chabad workshop on Sunday.

Parents were encouraged to bring their own power tools but children also got the chance to construct a shofar from a raw horn.

They were told why it is sounded and about Rosh Hashanah and its customs.

Whitefield Chabad director Rabbi Shmuli Jaffe said the idea was to have "adults working alongside their kids and helping each other. It was very interactive."

The event was organised in conjunction with the London branch of Lubavitch educational organisation Tvios Hashem.

[From theJC.com

 

UK Chabad Centres Welcome Influx of Tourists over the Summer

weinman.jpgWith over 29.9 million overseas visitors to United Kingdom per year, the summer period has seen hundreds of tourists flock to Chabad centres around the country.

The annual Edinburgh Festival draws thousands of performers and hundreds of thousands of spectators to Scotland's capital city where Rabbi Pinny and Gitty Weinman greet them with Shabbat hospitality and a dose of Jewish spirituality.

Rabbi Weinman, together with rabbinical students, Yaakov and Hershy Hecht (pictured), set up a table on Edinburgh's Royal Mile where performers and visitors gather.

"We get hundreds of people stopping at the stall every day and around 30 people put on tefillin. We have also handed out around 150 Shabbat candles every week," Rabbi Weinman told the Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

"We did this on a smaller scale last year but we saw the influence of more than one million tourists in Edinburgh and now we have a much bigger presence."

With attractions such as Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, London draws the bulk of tourists visiting the United Kingdom.

In Bloomsbury, central London, Rabbi Yisroel and Devora Lew have welcomed many Jewish visitors to the capital from countries as diverse as Israel, Morocco and Iran.

Equipped with a new centre right in the bustling heart of the city, Chabad of Bloomsbury has welcomed increased numbers of tourists as well as the usual crowd of students and young professionals.

bloomsbury.jpg"Our new centre has allowed us to accommodate over 100 people - many of whom are visiting the capital on holiday or business - for Friday night meals. In the past we had to limit numbers and squeeze shoulder-to-shoulder into a much a smaller space," said Rabbi Yisroel Lew.

"We've never been to such a large Friday night meal with so many people from all over the world. The food was great, the atmosphere was very welcoming and we got to listen to an American diplomat speaking about his work in Israel," said New Yorker Beth Sussman, a resident of Kew Gardens, Queens, on holiday in the capital with her husband.

Although students in the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge go home during the summer vacation, they are replaced by throngs of tourists as well as visiting students and scholars.

"Chabad is a primary port of call for Jewish visitors to Oxford during the summer months. Although our regular student crowd has gone home, the influx of many tourists and visiting students and academics ensures that we still have large numbers coming through the door," said Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of Chabad of Oxford.

"Many visiting students are in their teens and it is their first time away from their families, so we are keen to provide a welcoming Jewish home-away-from-home for them," added Freida Brackman.

 

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