3 September 2014, Hale Synagogue visit


Visit to Hale Synagogue by Altrincham Interfaith Group

On the evening of September 3rd, about 80 members of Altrincham Interfaith Group visited the synagogue of the Hale and District Hebrew Congregation in Shay Lane. This beautiful and distinctive building was opened in 2003, replacing an earlier one that was built in 1978, and has striking stained glass windows all around depicting the various festivals and other themes connected with Judaism, as well as a wall built of stone from Jerusalem, a copy of the Western Wall. We were given a warm welcome by past Presidents of the congregation and then Rabbi Portnoy arrived and introduced many of the features of the synagogue including the Torah scrolls (the five books of Moses) housed in the special Ark, and explained aspects of Judaism and the various different types of community – Orthodox, Reform and Liberal. Following his address there were many questions – people were interested in the Tefillin, small boxes containing miniature scrolls that are strapped to the arm and head during prayer, and the rabbi demonstrated their use, as well as the wearing of prayer shawls.  There were questions on aspects of Jewish law in relation to civil matters and the role of the Rabbi as arbitrator in family disputes, as well as deeper issues on Jewish ideas on the nature of God. It was a most interesting and lively session, and then we were invited to partake of refreshments served by the Ladies Guild, a delicious selection of both sweet and savoury foods.  It was wonderful to see representatives of all the various faith communities there and such visits can only help to improve mutual understanding and tolerance between the different faiths in these difficult times.Carolyn Jones ( Secretary AIG)

 

Entertainment Evening

Nearly 100 people of all ages and faiths gathered on a wet evening to have their spirits lifted. Altrincham Interfaith Group’s annual Entertainment Evening this year was held at Timperley Methodist Church. The evening was compared by Gwyneth Roper who between the acts caused much merriment by reading out things that children had said about marriage. The evening started with the children’s drama group from Timperley Methodist Church who enacted a modern version of the Good Samaritan, this required audience participation and was warmly contributed too.

Katy Allan sang “Annie’s Song” and the popular Catherine Jenkins song “The Prayer”. Katy is Head Chorister at Christ Church, Timperley and sings with the Halle Youth Choir. Last year she performed at the Royal Albert Hall in The First Night of The Proms concert. She is now recording with the Halle. All this experience ensured her performance was beautifully moving and accomplished.

Vipasha and Krishna

Vipasha and Krishna performed a dance from Northern India, Bringing grace in motion Bollywood style to Altrincham. Their dance told a story in the manor of temple dance, every motion and gesture having significance. Their beautiful costumes reacted to each twirl and turn of their dance.

A break for tea and biscuits may not normally be worthy of comment at a performance event but on this occasion it was significant because it gave neighbours the opportunity to meet each other, congratulate the performers and admire the costumes.

Hafsah Bashir

Hafsah Bashir is a local published poet who writes about love, life, and justice and everything in between, she says her inspiration comes from all that happens around her as she juggles all the her experience with the aid of an over active imagination. This was demonstrated with her first poem “The Cake Gallery” telling stories of her daytime job in Bowdon; this was received with giggles and laughter as the audience recognised some typical reactions to her cakes. Later she silenced the laughter with her thought provoking poem “The Runners” which describes of the life of refugees caught up in the violence in Syria.

ACT II : Drama Matters brought the evening to a close. Muriel Cohen, Joan Sherman and David Mort gave us a look at Jewish culture through tears and laughter. David read his own amusing piece called “Oxford Blues” telling the story of his entry to Oxford University in 1964. Joan and Muriel read extracts from “How to be a Jewish Mother” which ensured everyone went home with a smile on their face.

This years Entertainment Evening was a great success and Ann Angel and her team deserve our thanks and congratulations in organising it so well.

 

Visit to Shiri Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara

  

Over 50 people from Altrincham Interfaith Group visited the Shiri Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara in Moss Side. The Sikh temple opened in November 2011 and now has a thriving attendance of several hundred each Sunday. The group were taken, with their shoes off, heads covered and hands washed, into the prayer hall. Prakash and Pargash told them about the Guru Granth Sahib and the 10 gurus. The principles of the Sikh beliefs and practices were explained including the “5 Ks”.

Sikhs can be recognised by the “5Ks”. The Kesh or uncut hair. The Kangha or comb which is always worn under a turban. The Kara steel bracelet, Kacha underwear and the Kirpan sword or more commonly a small dagger.

Later the group were taken to the Langer, a dinning hall, and were given food and drink including some excellent onion bahjis. During a question and answer session a wide range of topics were openly talked about.

Shared Meal 2012

About 200 people gathered at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys on a wintery Saturday evening. Tables had been arranged so that people from different faith groups would sit together during the evening.

We were greeted by the AIG Chair person Dr Poonam Kakkar who introduced the Mayor of Trafford, Councillor Mrs Jane Baugh. The mayor said that she was happy to be at another AIG dinner as she had attended last year and that she considers interfaith dialogue an important part of developing the local community.

 Meanwhile the children were sitting at their own table with a variety of activities for them to do. 

We then had the dinner; the Jewish ladies had prepared kosher food, the Muslim ladies hallal, and the Indian ladies and gentlemen wonderful curries. As usual everyone wanted to try some of everything from this magnificent collection of home cooking.

Vegetarian curry being served

Indian food being served

The Chair person then introduced Tommy Nagra, Executive Producer, BBC Religion and Ethics Department, our guest speaker. He told us of how happy he and his family are to be living in Altrincham. He told us of the wide range of religious programmes produced by the BBC covering the special interests of many communities.

Tommy Nagra

We then had deserts provided by the Christian ladies – again a wide range of homemade sweets of all types.

Dr Kakkar thanked everyone who helped prepare for this excellent event. At the end of the evening there were so many questions being asked about how to make the food, someone suggested that we should collect the recipes together.

This is our largest event each year and will surely continue to be popular for many years to come.

Sukkot ‘L’Chayim’

Members of Altrincham Interfaith Group were invited to attend a Sukkot ‘L’Chayim’ (drinks and nibbles) in the home and sukkah of Lucille Cohen, President of The Jewish Representative Council.

Sukkot is the Jewish harvest festival of Tabernacles and the sukkah (booth/tabernacle) commemorates the biblical temporary dwellings used by the Children of Israel following their Exodus from Egypt.)

The significance of the festival was explained to us by Lucille’s granddaughter Hannah who said :-

“The word Sukkot means huts. Building a hut is the way we celebrate this festival. It says in Leviticus in the Bible “You shall live in booths 7 days. All citizens in Israel shall live in booths in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt”. On top of the sukkah is sechach; sechach is (made of) leaves or bamboo sticks woven together and then put on the roof. You have to be able to see stars through the sechach. A lot of people decorate the sukkah by making pictures and dangling paper chains from wall to wall to make it feel like home. Boys over 13 have to try, if the weather is okay, to sleep in the sukkah with sleeping bags to also make it feel like home. If it starts raining we have to do the blessing on the wine and blessing on the bread and if it is still raining by the time we want to start the meal then we may go inside the house to eat it. I hope that gives you an idea all about the sukkah and Sukkot.”

We gathered in the sukkah where Lucille said the blessings on wine and food and we all enjoyed these. Later, a Hindu lady from Mumbai, Anupama,  sang some songs for us and the Jewish participants sang a Hebrew  biblical verse which translated as : “Behold, how goodly and pleasant it is to sit as brothers together”.

The whole event was a delight and gave people from several faiths and interfaith groups the chance to meet and enjoy this Jewish festival.