Turn on and tune into a Yomtov service

Reform synagogues have reported an encouraging response to moves to put High Holy-Day services online.

The web initiative was meant to be in preparation for a swine flu epidemic.

However, Finchley Reform Synagogue and Glasgow New Synagogue were among shuls that went ahead and streamed their Rosh Hashanah services over the web, linking to viewers across the world, including patients at the Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem.

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£10m windfall boosts welfare campus fund

A £10 million donation from the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Philanthropic Foundation has brought Jewish Care close to its £44 million target for its new Golders Green campus.

The campus, with facilities including a care home, day centre, living apartments and offices, will be dedicated to the late philanthropists.

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Postal strikes hit New Year charity appeals

Communal charities have blamed postal strikes in the capital for reduced donations to their Rosh Hashanah appeals.

Organisations large and small report that appeal letters have not reached their destinations. Supporters are worried that donations have got lost in the post.

Wizo executive director Alison Rosen said that its appeal for children at risk had been badly affected by the strike action.

“We’re very concerned our appeal has not reached everybody it was meant to. We haven’t had the volume of post back that we expected.

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Scottish messianic community hit by flood of abuse

A Messianic community in East Kilbride, near Glasgow, has reported an “alarming” rise in antisemitism.

The Beit Rehovot Messianic Jewish Congregation meet weekly at a community hall and has experienced a flood of verbal abuse and threatening behaviour from youths.

The group formerly met at the Mossneuk Community Hall, which last weekend was daubed in graffiti, including the words “Jews’ night tonight lads, get your Jew cap on.”

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Charity shops are feeling the pinch

Educational charity Ort has closed its only fundraising store as reduced donations, high rents and cash-strapped customers have taken their toll on Jewish charity shops.

Ort’s Finchley shop was shut down because of rising rent. “It was never really making that much money,” explained British Ort chairman Simon Alberga.

“We had a disagreement with the landlord over what the rent should be and have been planning the closure since then. In the current environment, it’s not the best time to relocate.”

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MP admires Charedi housing

Political praise for the Agudas Israel Housing Association’s recession-busting work for the Charedi community in Stamford Hill and beyond was expressed at its AGM.

Hackney North Labour MP Diane Abbott wished “all the social housing in Hackney was kept as nicely as Agudas [sites]. If you have Agudas as a neighbour, you will have beautiful properties, beautifully designed and beautifully maintained.”

London’s Deputy Mayor Sir Simon Milton hailed the association as “a credit to the Jewish community, to Hackney and to London”.

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Cash boost for hate crime fight

The Community Security Trust has been awarded more than £50,000 by the Home Office to back the fight against antisemitism.

CST is one of 10 organisations working on behalf of hate crime victims to receive government support.

It will spend the £54,354 on specialist training for staff and volunteers who deal directly with hate crime victims — and to increase awareness of the importance of reporting hate crimes to the police and the CST.

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Arsenal sets yomtov goal for absent supporters

Arsenal is asking its Jewish season ticket-holders to make a Rosh Hashanah gift to the less fortunate.

The club wants fans who will not be taking up their seats on festival days to give them up to Arsenal’s community programme. They will then be distributed to supporters such as children in care, the homeless, or the disabled.

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Bus stop requests for hate crime details

Posters are going up at Golders Green bus stops encouraging locals to report antisemitic incidents during the High Holy-Days.

An initiative of the Community Security Trust, in conjunction with the police, the posters provide emergency contact details for reporting by witnesses to, or indeed victims of, racist activity.

A CST spokesman said: “We are starting this initiative because

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Inquest: brit not to blame in baby death

The baby who died shortly after his brit, died of natural causes totally unrelated to his circumcision, a coroner has ruled.

Amitai Moshe was circumcised by Rabbi Moshe Perry on February 1 2007 in Golders Green Synagogue, north-west London, but about 35 minutes after the ceremony, while his mother was breastfeeding him, he began to turn blue and blood was seen around his mouth and nose. Two medically trained guests and the mohel attempted to resuscitate him.

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Circumcision baby may have died in shul

Amitai Moshe, the baby who died eight days after his brit in Golders Green Synagogue, may have clinically died at the shul itself, a London inquest heard.

Amitai was circumcised on February 1 2007 but shortly after the ceremony he began to turn blue and blood was seen around his mouth and nose.

Two medically trained guests and the mohel attempted to resuscitate him.

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