Finchley

Morasha pupils love home comforts

Mon, 27 May 2013 10:17:28 +0100

Sacks Morasha Jewish Primary pupils moved to the school’s new premises in Stanhope Road, Finchley, on Monday.

The seven classrooms feature state-of-the-art technology and the multi-purpose school hall can accommodate assemblies, school lunches, physical education and presentations.

Governors chair Jason Marantz said: “We are deeply grateful for the hard work of all the trustees and donors who made this possible, especially Jeremy Newman, who led the building project with such diligence and attention to detail.”

Enjoying the new surroundings, seven-year-old Jonah Marks observed: “We have so much space in each classroom and the playground is huge. And now I get to be in the same building as my younger brother.”

Sacks Morasha was established as an inclusive Modern Orthodox school. Since opening its doors to its first seven pupils in 2008, the primary has operated out of temporary premises in Moss Hall Grove and Finchley Synagogue.

Now state-funded, it has 113 pupils from reception to year four and is oversubscribed for the next academic year.

Seaton Jewellers attacked in armed robbery

Anna Sheinman — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:49:50 +0100

A jewellers in North Finchley was attacked in an armed robbery on Tuesday morning.

Police were called to Seaton Jewellers on North Finchley’s High Road at 9.15 on Tuesday morning after the owner and a staff member were attacked by a man in a balaclava holding a knife.

It is believed that the suspect entered the shop through the rear of the premises, the Metropolitan Police said.

Two members of staff were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

Helen Michael, who owns a café two doors away, called the police and saw much of what happened. She said: “The robber had made a hole in the back wall and was obviously waiting for the owner because he had the key to the safe. One of the staff collapsed and the robber clearly thought he had killed him, and he escaped back through the hole in the wall.”

The man ran down they alley behind the shop pausing only to dispose of his knife, which Ms Michael described as “large”, in a bin, from where is has since been retrieved.

The jewellers has been owned by the Seaton family since the 1960s. Former owner Solly Seaton, who died in 1995, was once described by the JC as an “ambassador for the Jewish community” in the area.

Good Guy's Nepal legacy

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:14:50 +0100

Thirty-one friends and family of an East Finchley 25-year-old who died in a paragliding accident two years ago travelled to Nepal to help lay the foundations of one of three early childhood development centres being built in his memory.

Guy Joseph was a keen adventurer who worked as a scuba-diving instructor in East Timor and the remote island of Flores, where he learned to speak Indonesian and was a popular figure with the locals. His fatal accident was in the Spanish Pyrenees.

The Guy’s Trust set up in his name has raised £100,000 in just a year.

NGO Action Aid and local Nepalese builders who knew Mr Joseph from the time he spent there learning how to paraglide were also involved in the construction launch.

Mr Joseph’s mother, Vicky, said that watching the group, “all in Guy’s Trust T-shirts, I was struck by the paradoxes of the situation, such as how much Guy would have loved the experience and that none of us would have been here had he still been with us.

“As I handed the memorial plaque with Guy’s name to the team that will finish work on the school, the tears flowed. But they were accompanied by an enormous sense of pride.”

Close friend Hannah Weisfeld said there had been “a real understanding of who Guy was”.

Thatcher, Alan Clark and Finchley

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:25:03 +0100

Margaret Thatcher's former parliamentary private secretary has recalled how commitment to her Jewish constituents in Finchley led to the collapse of a plan to discourage the use of animal fur.

Speaking during a Westminster session in memory of the late prime minister, Lord Hamilton recalled how Alan Clark, the politician and diarist who was then the trade minister, went to see Baroness Thatcher to discuss the issue.

"His pitch to the Prime Minister was that he considered it a very good idea if labels were to be put on furs saying, "The fur being sold here has been caught in an extremely inhumane trap"," said Lord Hamilton, who assisted her from 1987 to 1988. "Rather like having a health warning on cigarettes."

But according to the peer, Baroness Thatcher was "absolutely appalled" by the suggestion.

"Needless to say, the pleas got nowhere because the calculation that Alan Clark had not made was that because the Prime Minister was MP for Finchley, many of her Jewish constituents were furriers and the last thing she was going to do was ruin their business."

Today, attitudes toward the use of animal fur have changed, including among the Jewish community. But furrier was a common occupation for immigrant Jews around the turn of the century, both in the East End and in Manchester, which continued to be the case for decades afterward.

Parliamentary tributes were also offered by Conservative MP Michael Ellis, and one of her successors as MP for Finchley, Mike Freer.

"She recognised the tremendous force for good and for international democracy that the United States is in the world and the leadership that it still gives to the oppressed around the world," said Mr Ellis. "It should not be forgotten that she was also a true friend to the Jewish people and to Israel."

Mr Freer spoke of "the woman who represented Finchley for 33 years" and said that the constituency was her touchstone.

An unlikely tribute came from Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, who is a staunch critic of Israel in parliament. He said of Baroness Thatcher: "She was also much more far-sighted than most United Kingdom prime ministers about rightward trends in Israel and in the M iddle E ast."

He also told of how as shadow foreign secretary, he had visited Morocco. "I was told by the United Kingdom ambassador there that she had given him a direct instruction to approach the leaders of the then substantial Moroccan Jewish community and urge them to exhort the sizeable number of Moroccan Jewish immigrants in Israel to vote Labour-Shimon Peres-in a forthcoming election."

The Chief Rabbi is considering attending Baroness Thatcher's funeral next week, while Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is also likely to be present.

Morasha dines out on its latest achievements

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:50:00 +0000

The annual dinner of the Morasha Jewish Primary raised £125,000 towards the renovation and development of the school’s new premises in Stanhope Road, Finchley.

More than 200 people attended the dinner at Finchley Synagogue, where honorary principal and Chief Rabbi elect Ephraim Mirvis was thanked for his contribution to the school over the past five years.

It also celebrated the recent award of voluntary aided status from Barnet Council. Governors’ chair Jason Marantz said: “It is an historic time for Morasha, achieving voluntary aided status and moving to our new premises soon. We will be welcoming our sixth intake of pupils in September and although there will, of course, be challenges ahead, I really look forward to the next stage in Morasha’s development”.

The guest speaker was Marsha Gladstone, mother of Yoni Jesner, the young Glaswegian killed in a Tel Aviv suicide bombing in 2002. The night’s theme was Foundations for our Future, highlighting the importance of strong Jewish values.

Hammerson unveils £16m expansion scheme

Barry Toberman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:43:14 +0000

The Hammerson House care home in East Finchley has unveiled plans for a £16.5 million expansion and redevelopment project.

Hammerson — which last year merged with the Nightingale home in Clapham — will complete the scheme in two parts. A refurbishment of the property in The Bishops Avenue starts in May and is expected to take a year. The main building work will be from 2016-18.

The delay between the phases will help the fundraising drive as the second element will require the vast majority of funding, around £15 million. The charity will be approaching major donors.

Nightingale Hammerson chief executive Leon Smith reported that the money for the first phase had
been raised.

For part two, “we might be in a position to use some of our existing funds. But we don’t want to deplete funds. We don’t get a penny from central or local government for any capital project.”

The home currently has 75 residents and tenants with a capacity of 85. There will be a restriction on numbers during the redevelopment, which will eventually increase capacity by 20 per cent and provide bedrooms with modern facilities, plus dining and social areas for smaller groups.

“People with dementia are more comfortable in smaller clusters,” Mr Smith pointed out. “The accommodation has served its purpose admirably. But because of the increasing frailty of residents, the rooms are no longer suitable.” The “medical profile” of those entering care homes had changed considerably from past generations when “people used to come in more as a lifestyle choice. Now they come for the care. The building is extremely important but the care model is equally so. It continues to matter to people that they come into a Jewish environment and be with other Jews.

“We are creating a state-of-the-art home and anticipate a lengthy waiting list.”

Hammerson House chief executive Andrew Leigh said every effort would be made to minimise the impact on residents during the rebuilding. “The average age is 91 and the oldest person is 109. At times we have had a minyan of people over 100.”

Prior to joining Hammerson, Mr Leigh was Mr Smith’s deputy at Nightingale. He observed that “what made the merger so easy was that the philosophy of the homes was identical. The merger has strengthened things.”

Mr Smith has this month celebrated a personal milestone — working for Nightingale for 40 years. He was “deeply proud to be associated for so long with what I consider to be a shining example of quality care to those in need”.

Hill start assists job seekers

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:36:30 +0000

Finchley-based employment advice centre Resource has established a free support service in Stamford Hill.

The launch follows a successful pilot seminar run by Resource at the Brenner Community Centre which also involved Jewish Care and Agudas Israel Community Services.

Resource will provide a comprehensive advice and training programme to help members of the strictly Orthodox community into employment. One-to-one sessions will be held with experienced consultants and there will also be training seminars.

Established 20 years ago, Resource and its team of over 40 volunteers helps more than 500 Jews into the workplace annually. Another satellite service has been operating in Redbridge.

Executive chair Emma May said: “The service in Stamford Hill is in response to a growing demand within the area. It reflects the increasing need for our service among the wider Jewish community — a demand that unfortunately shows no sign of diminishing.”

Morasha Primary gets aided status

Sandy Rashty — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:52:49 +0000

Barnet Council has awarded voluntary aided status to the Morasha Jewish Primary, which moves next month to a permanent home on the former Barnet College site in North Finchley.

The new premises can accommodate 210 pupils — almost double the current roll — and Morasha chair Jason Marantz said the move would coincide with the implementation of aided status. Mr Marantz — also the chief executive of the London School of Jewish Studies — said the news was “absolutely fantastic. We’re happy to join the Barnet family and the state funding will give us the opportunity to do more with full classes and better technology.”

The school’s honorary principal is Chief Rabbi elect Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who said: “Morasha has been a great credit to the Finchley Jewish community and this latest achievement is testament to the hard work and dedication of the school’s leadership.”

Headteacher Hayley Gross said that having opened with eight pupils four years ago, “to be in the position we are now is a huge achievement. We’re very excited and cannot wait to move into the new premises.”

Free school gets name

Simon Rocker — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:36:56 +0000

The cross-communal Jewish free school due to open in Finchley in September has chosen its name as well as its site for the first two years.

Alma Primary School will take over the premises of the existing Orthodox Morasha Primary in West Finchley, which is moving to a new home.

Explaining the choice of name, co-chairman of governors Natalie Grazin said: “In Aramaic, the language of the Gemara, alma means ‘world’. Alma Primary brings together children from across the Jewish community and from the wider local community. In Spanish, alma is ‘soul’ and in Latin, it means ‘nurturing’. The word really captures the essence of our school.”

The plan is for the one-form entry school to move to a permanent base in Finchley or Woodside Park in 2015.

Akiva admissions change 'will not alter Progressive ethos'

Simon Rocker — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:43:11 +0000

Governors of Akiva School in Finchley insist that proposed changes to its admissions policy next year will not affect its Progressive ethos.

The oversubscribed Reform day school, which takes in 60 children a year, is also popular with families from the New North London (Masorti) Synagogue, which is based on the same site at the Sternberg Centre for Judaism.

Under the current entry rules, children from Reform or Liberal synagogues are entitled to five places to every one for an NNLS child — once siblings and children of staff are taken into account.

But there would be no differentation between denominations in the proposed revision. Families who belong to or who attend services at Reform and Liberal synagogues or NNLS — or whose children attend a nursery at one of them — would be treated equally.

Akiva vice-chairman Kate Daniels, an NNLS member, claimed the new policy would “change nothing” in terms of school’s Progressive ethos or the religious balance of its intake.

“The proposed change is to make the admissions system easy to understand, which the Schools Admissions Code requires us to do,” she explained.

Governors believe that parents already play the system. For example, if a family belonging to NNLS attends a minimum of seven Shabbat services at a Reform synagogue during a year, they may be able to get their child into Akiva on a Reform, rather than a NNLS, place.

Finchley Reform rabbi and past Akiva pupil Miriam Berger feared that “Akiva is losing its unique identity as a Reform Jewish day school to become another cross-communal school”.

If the school was dispensing with the current ratio of Progressive to NNLS applicants, “we want it to assert its commitment to Reform Judaism in another way”.

Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk of Finchley Progressive noted that “Akiva was founded with Progressive Jewish principles and we believe strongly in that continuing with pride. This should continue to mean a school where children of Reform and Liberal synagogues are given priority for places.”