Your blogs

SCoJeC was welcomed back to Oban Library, where local Jewish, ‘Jew-ish’, and other interested people came to discuss the findings of our "Being Jewish in Scotland" project, and hear a talk from author J David Simons.
http://www.scojec.org/news/2013/13iii_oban/oban.html

At the age of about 10 I was addicted to the ‘Just William’ stories written by Richmal Crompton. William Brown is an eleven-year-old boy, eternally scruffy and frowning. William and his friends (Ginger, Henry and Douglas) call themselves “The Outlaws”, and meet at the old barn in Farmer Jenks' field, with William being the leader of the gang.

In those stories there’s a girl called Violet Elizabeth Bott. She’s the lisping, spoiled daughter of the local nouveau riche millionaire. She’s dying to be a member of the gang and William reluctantly endures her company in order to prevent her carrying out her constant threat of

"I'll thcream and thcream 'till I'm thick"

This Shabbat, our 3 newest Graduates of Liberal Judaism's Baalei Tefillah (lay readers) programme, Lily Aarons, Stephen Herman and Leo Hodes led our Civic Service at Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, They were presented their graduation certificates by Lucian Hudson and Rabbi Danny Rich, chairman and chied executive of Liberal Judaism. Following is the D'var Torah delivered by Leo:

http://www.npls.org.uk/Sermons/New/CivicService2013LH.html

This morning, we’re reading from the Book of Exodus. We’ve had a series of big-hitting portions over the past few weeks. The Ten Plagues. The Exodus. The Golden Calf. The Ten Commandments.
But now we’re dealing with the nitty-gritty of the detail of the building of the Sanctuary, its utensils and the priestly robes. What, for example, are we to make of the list of building materials and the manner of construction of the Tent of Meeting?

Not my words but my father's Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein, Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue's Emeritus Rabbi at our Civic Service this Shabbat
http://www.npls.org.uk/Sermons/New/CivicService2013AG.html

A repeated refrain in our Bible readings was "Every one who excels in ability and everybody whose spirit and heart moves them...." but what about the people who had no ability, even though keen? Was their contribution to the work of building the sanctuary or the Temple no less worthy? Of course it needed a Betzalel or a Hiram to produce a beautiful structure, fitting to be the House of God, inspiring in the people the urge to worship God. But what about those with no artistic ability?

I suspect it is a modern question, although I have no doubt that, way back then, there were always individuals frustrated by the desire to be involved in the higher tasks of life, be it in artistic endeavour, leadership roles or place in society, but seemingly lacking the talent. But maybe only in modern times do we ask what is fair and how can we help those with less obvious ability achieve in life the same as the geniuses or, to use a yiddish phrase, the mazaldik, the lucky ones. The past two or three or four generations it has bothered educationalists, political theorists and socially aware questioners. The vocabulary of earnest discourse includes words and concepts such as equality, dumbing down, positive discrimination and competition.

MEMO 343 A weekly overview of information of interest to minority ethnic communities in Scotland, including parliamentary activity at Holyrood and Westminster, new publications, consultations, forthcoming conferences and news reports.
http://www.scojec.org/memo/2013/memo_343_11_march_2013.pdf

The Pesach issue of SCoJeC's quarterly newsletter "Four Corners" is now out!
http://www.scojec.org/4cs/4cs.html

SCoJeC has submitted a response to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service consultation on their Equality Oucomes.
http://www.scojec.org/consultations/2013/13iii_copfs.pdf

Nightingale Hammerson, one of the community’s leading charities, is entering into one of its most exciting periods. The 1st anniversary of the merger of Nightingale House and Hammerson House will be celebrated in April. One year in to the merger there are extensive development works either in hand or being planned. We will be talking a little bit more about these plans in the coming weeks in relation to Hammerson House.

Although I have made the point previously that the physical environment and care are closely interlinked, ultimately our purpose in life is to provide care for those older members of our community in need.

I was interested to read in the news this week that life expectancy in the UK at just under 80 for men is marginally less than it is with many other comparable Western countries. Whilst that may be an unpalatable fact, it clearly is true. From where I sit, however, running two care homes those figures are difficult for me to identify with. The average age of residents at both Nightingale House and Hammerson House is 90. We have many residents who are in their mid-90s. At Nightingale House we have 15 residents aged between 100 and 106. Hammerson House has one resident who is 109 One could say so much for life expectancy of 79! However, the truth of course is that we are only seeing those older people whose health has deteriorated to the extent that they do need support and care. The average age of people entering care homes has also increased very considerably. Most people today coming into a care home are not making a life-style choice but are there out of necessity and often in circumstances which have been pre-empted by a crisis of some kind.