A wry smile might have crossed the lips of anyone who read the JC letters page last week. Not often do you find the chairman of the Reform movement jumping to the defence of the Chief Rabbi, after he had been attacked for opposing government plans to introduce civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

When an Israeli friend visited the Sephardi Synagogue in Lauderdale Road, she was shocked. “We were brought up viewing the Sephardim as the down- trodden, second-class citizens of Israel,” she said, “but here were Sephardim elegantly dressed in top hats, holding decorous services accompanied by a melodious choir. These were Sephardi aristocrats, something I never dreamed possible.”

She is more than a year shy of her batmitzvah and not yet five foot tall, but pre-teen strongwoman Naomi Kutin can lift twice her own body weight.

The 10-year-old from New Jersey came to the world’s attention earlier this year when she broke an international record for female weight-lifters in her weight class — previously held by a 44-year-old — and lifted 215lb.

The now clean-shaven reggae superstar Matisyahu has written a letter to fans explaining his decision to cut off his signature beard and revealing the Jewish influences behind his latest record.

Unorthodox is an account of Deborah Feldman’s Chasidic upbringing in New York, her unhappiness at what she sees as her oppression, and ultimately her escape into secular society. Inevitably, the Satmar community in which Feldman grew up has responded aggressively, accusing her of mistakes, omissions and outright lies.