Glen Berd – Page 45 – St Annes Hebrew Congregation

HMD at St. Annes Synagogue 2022

30th January 202230th January 2022 By Glen Berd1 Comment

Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 This year, due to Covid restrictions, our annual Holocaust Memorial Day was streamed live from the synagogue with limited numbers of guests and attendees, along with pre-recorded sections. The recording is available by clicking the link below : https://vimeo.com/671260445 The access password is 4624. It can be viewed online and also downloaded as an MP4 video file (you will find a download button underneath the video window). Please note however that whilst it can be downloaded to any computer or laptop, it cannot be downloaded to a mobile device or tablet etc....

Mishpatim

28th January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

Mishpatim The name of this weeks Parshah translates as "ordinances" or "laws" or " judgements". Have you switched off already!? Yep so many of us do when we get to this weeks Parsha which deals with the nitty gritty details of life: An ox or other animal gores and kills another person or another animal- what is the law? A paid custodian looking after an article claims it was stolen. Is he liable? It depends whether he was a paid or unpaid custodian. Reuven is fighting violently with Shimon (yes Jews fight too) and accidently strikes a pregnant women causing her to miscarry or even kills her. what is the law? I borrow an article from a friend and look after it carefully and an unavoidable unforeseen accident occurs and the object is destroyed or broken. Am I liable? My ox enters another persons field and eats the produce am I liable? and what if this occurred in the public domain? All these questions are about real...

This film is dedicated to all the victims of the Shoah

27th January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

For Holocaust Memorial Day, Mosaic Voices has released a very special film. It's a musical setting of the last letter written by our conductor's Great Grandmother, Kamilla, before she was murdered at Auschwitz. It was 1942 and Kamilla was in Vienna, writing to her daughter who'd escaped Austria and been rescued by Quakers in Glossop. The film accompanying the music features the luminous deaf Jewish actress, Tina Kelberman who signs the words from the letter. By 1942, letter-writing had been forbidden, so we wanted to work with Tina to express the defiance of Kamilla, who, against the odds, made herself heard, despite being silenced by the Nazis. This film is dedicated to all the victims of the Shoah. https://youtu.be/70OcCenl8Dw A picture into the past that just breaks your heart and illustrates the heartbreak and trauma the Jewish people endured during the Second World War. This portrayal of a mother's yearning for her children she is unsure she will ever see again is displayed so authentically...

“In Israel where “bilkelach” grew on trees”

25th January 202225th January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

Every year on January 18th, Holocaust survivor David “Dugo” Leitner invites everyone to eat falafel with him and hold up a sign that says “Am Yisrael Chai.” Why does he do this? It’s his private revenge. Born in Nyíregyháza, Hungary in 1930, Dugo was just 14 when the Nazis invaded his hometown. He and his family were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where Dugo was tattooed with two numbers, B12042 and B14671. The first was “erased,” but never went away. Dugo was assigned sewage duty and narrowly escaped the gas chamber numerous times. On January 18, 1945, Dugo, along with 60,000 other Auschwitz prisoners, was forced on a Death March to Mauthausen. Exhausted, freezing, and starving, Dugo dreamt of “bilkelach,” or mini challah rolls. His mother always told him that they would go live in Israel where “bilkelach” grew on trees. Miraculously, Dugo survived the war and immigrated to Israel in 1949. On his first visit to the Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, he...

Was it chance—or did God ride the Brooklyn subway that afternoon

24th January 202224th January 2022 By Glen Berd2 Comments

~ B'shert on a Brooklyn train~ Marcel Sternberger was a methodical man of nearly 50, with bushy white hair, guileless brown eyes, and the bouncing enthusiasm of a czardas dancer of his native Hungary. He always took the 9:09 Long Island Railroad train from his suburban home to Woodside, N.Y.., where he caught a subway into the city. On the morning of January 10, 1948, Sternberger boarded the 9:09 as usual. En route, he suddenly decided to visit Laszlo Victor, a Hungarian friend who lived in Brooklyn and was ill. Accordingly, at Ozone Park, Sternberger changed to the subway for Brooklyn, went to his friend’s house, and stayed until mid afternoon. He then boarded a Manhattan-bound subway for his Fifth Avenue office. Here is Marcel’s incredible story: The car was crowded, and there seemed to be no chance of a seat. But just as I entered, a man sitting by the door suddenly jumped up to leave, and I slipped into the empty place....

Pfizer CEO awarded Genesis Prize

21st January 202221st January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

Pfizer CEO awarded Genesis Prize for efforts to combat COVID-19 The $1 million Genesis Prize, launched in 2013, honours extraordinary people for their professional achievements. Dr. Albert Bourla was chosen as this year's Genesis Prize Laureate. By JERUSALEM POST STAFF Pfizer CEO and Chairman Dr. Albert Bourla (photo credit: Joshua Jordan) Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla was announced as the 2022 Genesis Prize Laureate on Wednesday morning by the Genesis Prize Foundation. "I never could have imagined that I might one day receive the profound honor of the Genesis Prize and stand alongside my extraordinary fellow nominees," Bourla said of his award. "I was brought up in a Jewish family who believed that each of us is only as strong as the bonds of our community; and that we are all called upon by God to repair the world." The Genesis Prize Selection Committee recognized his "leadership, determination and especially his willingness to assume great risks," according to the foundation. Bourla, a Jewish man who heads one of the largest medical companies in the...

Yisro

21st January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

Yisro The Midrash teaches that the Patriarchs and Matriarchs kept the entire Torah before the Torah was given! How are we to understand this? Surely there are commandments which they could not possibly keep? For example the Exodus had not happened so how would they know to eat Matza? And even if they did eat Matzah surely its meaningless as at the end of the day it reminds us of the actual Matzah they ate in Egypt and upon Exodus? Furthermore if they kept the Torah prior to the giving of the Torah then what is the purpose of the revelation at Sinai!? This question is addressed in most elaborate form by the mystics and contains some of the deepest secrets of our Torah. But I will attempt to give a very brief answer in broad brush strokes. When we say the Patriarchs/Matriarchs kept the Torah we mean that they perceived and recognised the spiritual root of each Mitzvah and based on this they were...

Invitation to ‘A Jewish Woman’s Journey to Success’

14th January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

You are warmly invited to 'A Jewish Woman's Journey to Success' an online Jewish Women's networking event with Dr Janét Aizenstros, Chairwoman and CEO of Ahava Group Global. CJWN is a network of remarkable Jewish women who come together to share experiences, positively impact on the wider world, provide a platform and support structure and we are delighted to partner with the National Council of Jewish Women Canada to invite you to a rare opportunity to meet with Janét Aizenstros and network with Jewish women from across the Commonwealth. Dr Janét Aizenstros is the Founder and CEO of Ahava Digital Group -- a women-led digital consultancy working with Fortune companies to help them connect with women consumers using data and technology. She is an award-winning Canadian businesswoman with several leadership awards - making her the first Black-Jewish Canadian woman in history to scale a nine-figure organisation. We hope you are able to join us on the 1st February 2022 (timings on the flyer below) and come along and network with Jewish women from across the Commonwealth! We aim to include women from every country in...

Connection to the Parshah

14th January 2022 By Glen BerdNo Comments

Click here to listen to Rabbi Bergson 4 min thought for Shabbat "Choosing how we seeing things" Connection to the Parshah: Can we hear the song of life? Can we perceive the music of our existence? Can we look at life as coming from an infinite God that we cannot wrap our minds around? When we choose to see life as an invitation to connect to our Creator then our only response is to sing with unadulterated joy. When every moment of "being" is seen as pregnant with depth of purpose - then we become enthralled by life, "dancing" with joy and enthusiasm. Hashem is Haya Hoveh and Yihyeh (Was,Is and Will Be)- transcending time. When we connect to Him through the Torah and Mitzvot we too connect to eternity! This is the deepest Joy that exists. This is the concept of Shabbat Shira. When Hashem split the sea this was more than just saving the Israelites on the one hand and destroying the Egyptian enemy on...

The Kindness of Strangers

13th January 202213th January 2022 By Glen Berd3 Comments

The Kindness of Strangers by Rebbetzen Anna Bergson 'Anna with Firdosh (left) and Zubin (right) (Photo taken after Shabbos!) As you know, (or perhaps didn't) we live during the week in Manchester so that our children can be in school and then pack up and re-locate to St Anne's for Yom Tov and Shabbos every week to be with our lovely community over there! My husband also commutes to St Anne's two/three times a week and on a Friday will get there before me with all the Shabbos food (which I cook in Manchester and package up!), set everything up for Shabbos so that when I arrive in time for Shabbos with the children, everything is ready! This routine has worked well for over three years, it's only an hour's drive away, although I give two and a half hours lea-way, there's never much traffic as you are travelling to a quieter part of the UK…. A couple of weeks ago (I write this at Channukah...