Jewish Community Centre

Declining demand forces the closure of Hull’s welfare home

Marcus Dysch — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:08:03 +0100

Rising costs and diminishing community numbers have forced the closure of Hull’s Jewish care home for the elderly.

Run by Hull Jewish Community Care, Menorah House had operated as east Yorkshire’s only strictly kosher care facility since 1957 and provided accommodation for up to 25 residents.

But following a decline in the number of Jewish pensioners living at the home and a substantial increase in the costs of staffing, food and maintenance, committee members took the decision to sell up.

“It is sad to see it go,” said former chairman Michael Bott.“Menorah House had a long and successful history, catering for many members of our community over the years. Some time ago we realised that with our diminishing community Menorah House could remain viable only if it were to take in non-Jewish residents to fill the empty rooms.

“This change took place and enabled us to continue for a while. We soon found we were losing money and our reserves were depleting rapidly. In spite of several efforts to improve our resources, the trustees failed to find a solution.”

Despite donations from community members, Charity Commission rules meant HJCC had no option but to sell before the home became insolvent.

Following local newspaper coverage of the home’s plight, a couple bought it and will run it as a non-Jewish home.

“The transfer was not without a multitude of technical problems, which had to be faced by chairman Harold Flasher,” Dr Bott added. “Over the months of negotiations he spent many hours in meetings with social services, solicitors, the prospective buyers, staff and other trustees. Hull Jewish Community Care continues. It needs support and still has useful functions to perform.”

Proceeds from the sale will be used by HJCC to support elderly and infirm Jewish community members in the future. It is anticipated that anyone requiring kosher residential or nursing care will go to Donisthorpe Hall — home to more than 180 Jewish elderly in Leeds.

Jewish identity project will stand the test of time

Raymond Simonson — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday March 6 I attended a Jewish burial. It wasn’t at Bushey, Willesden or Waltham Abbey, and no, I wasn’t consigning a sefer Torah to its final resting place either.

It was, in fact, a joyous occasion; the burial of a time capsule under the piazza on the site of the new JW3 Jewish Community Centre on London’s Finchley Road.

In true old-school Blue Peter-style, we gathered a range of items that represented who we are today, and buried them with an instruction not to be opened until March 2113.

As part of this project, regular readers will have been following the progress of the Jewish identity campaign that JW3 has been running with the Jewish Chronicle since December last year.

Our aim was to spark a community-wide conversation about what being Jewish means to us all, and to provide future generations with an insight into what it was like to be Jewish in London in 2013.

Each week since the launch of the campaign you’ve been able to read the responses of a broad range of people – a few in the public eye and most who are not – in answer to the question: “What does being Jewish mean to me?” It’s been a real eye-opener and the reactions published in the JC represent but a fraction of the responses that will be found when someone unscrews the cap of the time capsule in 100 years.

Amazingly, the testimonies are still coming, which is great, as in addition to their burial for posterity, the JW3 programming team will be using them as the inspiration for exhibitions and events on Jewish identity which will feature in the centre during our launch season this autumn.

It’s been my privilege to read almost all of your submissions and I have to say it’s been great fun as well. While this wasn’t designed as a scientific piece of research, there are definite patterns which emerged (and for the record we did devise a way of ensuring that any one Jew could express only a single opinion!).

We learned for example that:

● Purveyors of shawarma and salt beef, and bakers of challot and bagels can be confident that their legacies (if not their recipes) are assured. It won’t be a surprise to anyone to hear that many a Jewish identity is forged from the stomach outwards.

● Primary school children have clearly been paying attention in their Jewish studies classes or at cheder. Their liberal references to God will warm the hearts of rabbis of every denomination.

● Tevye would be delighted too to hear that we continue to define ourselves by our traditions – even for many who don’t actually keep them! From Friday night dinners to celebrating festivals, to recreating memories from our former years, traditions still form a key component of many people’s Jewish identities.

● Family is perhaps the strongest pillar of Jewish identity and seems inextricably bound up with our national sport — arguing. One anonymous contributor summed it up beautifully: “For Jews, life is an endless argument -- with ourselves, with our families, even with God. We argue because we disagree; and we disagree because we care”.

I was delighted to see the extent to which a strong sense of community endures and how it is bound up with caring, a strong ethical code and a sense of collective responsibility for one another. For some, community is a sense of belonging to a tribe, for others it’s about rolling up their sleeves and doing their bit for the collective good.

Many of you expressed a desire to be part of what Adele, a community worker in her 30s, described as: “Communities which learn and aspire together, challenge and cradle each other; bound by Jewish ritual which anchors us to our histories.”

Part of what being Jewish means to me is never being alone; always being connected through time and space to a vast, unified, diverse, colourful, noisy, thoughtful, ever-questioning, arguing, loving, global family. Where, like in any family, there are those who I feel closer to and who bring me most joy, and those who frustrate, or upset me; yet we remain unified by our family bonds.

Encapsulated: UK Jews for future reference

Jenni Frazer — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:45:54 +0000

Sir Trevor Chinn put it simply. “As a community, we have a decision to make. Do we accept decline as inevitable, or do we challenge it?”

There seemed no doubt that, on a cold but sunny morning in the grounds of JW3, the new Jewish Community Centre for London, the decision had been taken to take the challenge to the barricades.

At the conclusion of a three-month-long campaign on Jewish identity, jointly run by the Jewish Chronicle and JW3, it was time to bury a time capsule, inscribed with Theodor Herzl’s fierce dictum, “If you will it, it is no dream.” Inside the capsule, due to be opened in March 2113, are hundreds of testimonies of what being Jewish means in today’s Britain. Responses range from little children to nonagenarians, from the well-known and privileged to the low-key private person.

Three winning pieces of art, the work of London Jewish schoolchildren, have also gone in the capsule, together with Prince Charles’s speech to the 250th anniversary of the Board of Deputies, a copy of The Boys by Sir Martin Gilbert, signed by Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott, and copies of the JC. The JC’s round table debate from Rosh Hashana 2011 is included, and a piece of parchment, inscribed with the Hebrew word “Shalom”, and signed by rabbis from across the religious spectrum — Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, Sephardi leader Rabbi Abraham Levy, Masorti’s Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, Reform rabbis Laura Janner-Klausner and Julia Neuberger, and the Liberal movement’s Rabbi Danny Rich. Israeli ambassador Daniel Taub also signed the parchment.

Sir Trevor, a board member of JW3, buried the capsule with Nick Viner, outgoing chief executive of the charity.

His successor, Ray Simonson, who will be in place when the centre opens in September, said: “We are building something unique, transforming the physical landscape of the London Jewish community, and a catalyst for revitalising it.”

In a century’s time, it is hoped, our descendants will open the time capsule and understand something of the forces driving Anglo-Jewry, on a cold sunny morning in March 2013.

Jewish Community Centre gets rebranding

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 22:00:14 +0000

London’s new Jewish Community Centre, currently nearing completion on Finchley Road’s Swiss Cottage, is set to open formally in autumn 2013.

But, before that, the project’s leaders have decided on a name change for the building: JW3, to reflect the postcode location of the centre.

Jewish community centres have traditionally been a North American concept that has not translated to the UK.

Dame Vivien Duffield was inspired by the JCC in New York to launch the scheme in London, and it was New York’s Y on 92nd Street, known as 92Y, which inspired the name-change.

Debbie Klein, chair of the JCC board, said: “I love the name. It reflects our aspiration for the building to be a home from home and a cultural destination.”

Limmud leader Simonson heads for the JCC

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:39:22 +0100

A prominent British community educator has been appointed to take the reins at the new Jewish Community Centre for London.

Limmud’s Raymond Simonson will start as the Finchley Road centre’s chief executive when the JCC opens in autumn next year, and work side-by-side on its programme and development with its present chief executive, Nick Viner.

Mr Simonson, 39, has been in charge at Limmud, the community’s leading informal education organisation, since becoming its first full-time executive director in 2006.

In his six years at Limmud it has gone from strength to strength, with several thousand British Jews attending its annual conference and events throughout the year.

Before joining Limmud, Mr Simonson was director of UJIA Makor’s centre for informal Jewish education. The father-of-two, who grew up in Redbridge and now lives in Finchley, studied Jewish history as an undergraduate and has an MA in community and youth work.

The JCC, which has been in the planning for a decade, is based on similar centres in North America — it will be the first such venture in the UK — and will include a kosher café, school, nursery and conference and lecture-theatre facilities as well as areas for arts workshops and rehearsal studios. The intention is that it will cater for Jews from every background.

Mr Simonson expressed sadness about leaving Limmud but said he was thrilled by the opportunity to run the JCC.

“I’m inspired by what the organisation has achieved to date and I strongly identify with its vision,” he added.

“We couldn’t be more fortunate in having such a magnificent new community centre building — it’s truly exceptional and I want to make sure that what goes on inside it is just as exceptional in terms of creativity, quality and variety.”

The appointment was welcomed by Mr Viner, who said that the JCC and Limmud “have a great deal in common, not least inclusiveness and the fundamental importance of cross-communal values. “

Debbie Klein, chairman of the JCC board, described Mr Simonson as a “home-grown talent” who would help transform Jewish life in London.

Finchley Road community centre starts to take shape

Jessica Elgot — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:30:59 +0100

The topping out ceremony at the Jewish Community Centre building on London’s Finchley Road afforded supporters the opportunity to take a tour of its colossal shell, which will eventually house a kindergarten, cinema, restaurant, bar, community space and art, drama and music facilities.

Dame Vivien Duffield, whose Clore Duffield Foundation contributed £25 million to the project, officiated at the ceremony, staged just over a year before the intended opening. The centre would be “a catalyst for the reinvigoration of London’s Jewish community”, she said. “The building and what takes place within it will attract Jews of every stripe and firmly establish the Jewish Community Centre as a key landmark on the cultural map of the capital.”

A large oak will be among the trees planted in the spacious piazza in the centre of the building, currently the workspace of men in hard hats. A café and meeting place will open out on to the piazza, offering space for freelancers to work and for community members to socialise. It will also host markets, entertainment and sporting activities.

There will be a bridge connecting the mezzanine level with Finchley Road. A 60-seat cinema, meeting rooms and offices are additionally beginning to take shape.

Wearing the obligatory security jackets, those taking the tour were guided by orange signs and descriptive boards, explaining what the spaces they were viewing would become. Chief executive Nick Viner highlighted the building’s green credentials. Plans for the centre include timber walls and floors in the main hall, a natural ventilation system, rainwater collection, bat and bird boxes and solar panels.

Head of development for the project, Naomi Nevies, looked forward “to having a place where my own teenage children can come, a place which is inspiring and safe for them to be.

“The building will have the word ‘Jewish’ emblazoned on it, so London Jews can walk a little taller.”

Board member Sir Trevor Chinn complimented the vision of the architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. “They absolutely got what we were trying to achieve.

“It has taken a lot of courage by Dame Vivien to see this through,” he added.

“This is going to be something very special — we’re going to wonder how we managed without it.”
West London Synagogue rabbi Dame Julia Neuberger ended the tour by reciting a blessing on the roof of the centre.

Guests were asked to detail their aspirations for the building on slips of paper for placement in the JCC time capsule — which is due to be opened in 250 years' time.

Wanted: high fliers to lead Jewish Community Centre

Jenni Frazer — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:10:27 +0100

The Jewish Community Centre for London's announcement that it is seeking a new chief executive means that three high-profile Jewish community posts are now up for grabs.

Aside from the JCC job, the chief executive position at Bicom, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, until recently held by Lorna Fitzsimons; and the chief executive role at the United Jewish Israel Appeal, whose outgoing CEO is Doug Krikler, are both being vacated.

The new chief executive of the JCC will initially work alongside incumbent Nick Viner, who joined the organisation in 2005.

Mr Viner will stay on until the opening of the JCC's newly-built community centre, scheduled to open in autumn 2013.

Debbie Klein, chairman of the JCC board, said: "We're very excited to be recruiting for this crucial role. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone to stamp their imprint on the future of London Jewry by transforming Jewish life in the capital."

Mr Viner said: "Programmming and running a thriving community building requires an entirely different set of skills. It has been an immense privilege to lead the JCC to this point, but now it's time to begin the handover to the person who will take the organisation forward and enable it to fulfil its potential."

Jewish Community Centre in hunt for new chief exec

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:36:52 +0100

The Jewish Community Centre for London is to seek a chief executive to work alongside incumbent Nick Viner, it has been announced. Mr Viner, who joined the JCC in 2005, will stay on with the organisation until the opening of the newly-built community centre, scheduled to open in autumn 2013.

The surprise announcement means now that three high-profile Jewish community posts are up for grabs: the chief executive position at Bicom, the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre, until recently held by Lorna Fitzsimons; the chief executive of the United Jewish Israel Appeal, whose outgoing CEO is Doug Krikler; and now Mr Viner.

Debbie Klein, chairman of the JCC board, said: "We're very excited to be recruiting for this crucial role. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone to stamp their imprint on the future of London Jewry by transforming Jewish life in the capital."

Mr Viner joined the JCC after 20 years at the Boston Consulting Group where he was a senior partner. He has overseen the transition of the organisation - the brainchild of Dame Vivien Duffield - from social and cultural "cuckoo", whose widely varying programmes take place at a number of venues across the capital, to the planning and delivery of the new building on Swiss Cottage's Finchley Road. He said: "Programmming and running a thriving community building requires an entirely different set of skills. It has been an immense privilege to lead the JCC to this point, but now it's time to begin the handover to the person who will take the organisation forward and enable it to fulfil its potential."

It is now intended to start an 18-month handover with the new appointee working side-by-side with Mr Viner.

Boris Johnson helps to start work on the JCC in London

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:48:07 +0100

Mayor of London Boris Johnson took part in the ground-breaking ceremony for the £50 million Jewish Comunity Centre for London. The idea for the 35,000 square-foot centre in Hampstead was conceived by Dame Vivien Duffield.

Photos: Jeremy Coleman

Boris Johnson joins groundbreaking ceremony for Jewish Community Centre

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:44:53 +0100

The long-awaited Jewish Community Centre on the Finchley Road in north London moved a step closer to completion today as a groundbreaking ceremony was held.

The centre, designed by architects, Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, is set to open in 2013, ten years after it was first discussed.

Dame Vivien Duffield, the philanthropist behind the plans, was joined at the 35,000 square foot site for the ceremony by London Mayor Boris Johnson and representatives from across the Jewish spectrum.

Dame Vivien and Mr Johnson launched proceedings by shovelling earth into the building's foundations, on the site of a former Mercedes showroom.

Based on centres used across North America, the new JCC will include a kosher café, school, nursery and conference and lecture theatre facilities.

There will also be areas for arts and crafts, workshops and rehearsal studios, as well as 14 flats for residential use.

The intention is for a centre that can be used by Jews from every background, for both educational and cultural purposes. Last month's Rosh Hashanah edition of the JC, with a supplement looking at the nature of Jewish identity, has been placed in a time capsule at the site.

Dame Vivien said at the ceremony that her ambition was for the centre to be inspirational and "a place where Jewish culture is made as well as enjoyed".

Mr Johnson, describing the project as "wonderful," said it would become a "fitting home for London's Jewish community, as well as an excellent new centre for Londoners of all faiths.

"An outstanding example of a community coming together to make things better for the whole city, this is Team London in action and I hope it will inspire other Londoners.

"What's more, it's being built without a penny of public funds."

The chief executive of JCC Ventures, Nick Viner, added that he was confident the JCC would become "the hub of Jewish life in the capital and a catalyst for renaissance in our community".