Sheffield: Klezmer, cutlery and a new Jewish culture app

Practically all of the detail about Sheffield’s Jewish history comes from Professor Judy Simons, whose recently-published book, From Shtetl to Steel City, uses Sheffield’s historical archives to trace the plight of Jews in the city between 1780 and 1980.

Today, the city has a 757,000-strong population, with just 649 Jews, according to the 2021 census. Judy tells me that “the more accurate figure for Jewish community life is around 400”.

Synagogues

There are two synagogues in Sheffield — a United and a Reform congregation. Kingfield Synagogue, which joined the US in 2016, opened in 2000 after its 970-seater predecessor became unviable as the population depleted. It is headed by Rabbi Yonosan Golomb, who leads weekly minyans and regular Friday night and Saturday morning services.

Seven Hills Shul was formed in 1989, originally as the Sheffield and District Reform Jewish Congregation. It runs three services per month, typically two erev Shabbat services and one Shabbat service. It doesn’t have its own building or an official rabbi, so a student rabbi often joins on the High Holy Days. Informally, it runs activities like Torah study, Hebrew shiurim, a book group, film nights, and activities for young children, plus gatherings to celebrate festivals throughout the year.

Jane Ginsborg, Seven Hills’ chair, said the community is “diverse and inclusive”, a fact that is “very important to us”. They have two forthcoming b’nei mitzvot to celebrate in January, including one “second bar mitzvah for a longstanding member of the congregation to celebrate his 80th birthday”.

United Synagogue Sheffield, also known as Kingfield Synagogue (Photo: Jewish Small Communities Network)[Missing Credit]

Student life

The Sheffield JSoc is small, with 40 to 50 members. President Abbie Hass, 21, a third-year biochemistry student at the University of Sheffield, says they host events such as “Friday night dinners, pub socials, parties for different festivals, and interfaith events”.

She described Sheffield as a “safe and welcoming space for Jewish students”, and commended their “great relationships with both the SU (student union) and the university, who help to not only keep us safe on campus but also are amazing at supporting us to run as best as we can”.

“Growing up in the north London bubble, I wanted to experience a different type of Jewish community”, said Abbie. “Sheffield is small but welcoming. The size of our community makes us really get to know each other and learn from each other’s Jewish experiences”.

Sheffield JSoc football team (Photo: Sheffield JSoc)[Missing Credit]

Kashrut

Keeping kosher in Sheffield does not appear to be an easy task.

Abbie says that with the help of the “lovely and welcoming” Golombs, the JSoc hosts a kosher Friday night dinner “every three-ish weeks”, which attracts 20 to 30 of their members each time. The food is prepared in one of the UK’s original Hillel Houses, which also contains some self-catered kosher apartments.

Otherwise, locals’ best bet is a small kosher section in one Waitrose in the city – about a third of an aisle, according to a Reddit post – or a kosher butcher who visits Kingfield Synagogue weekly. They can also order food in from the bigger Jewish communities in Leeds or Manchester.

Culture

An exciting and novel development in the city is an immersive app which directs self-led walking tours around points of interest for Sheffield’s Jewish history.

It has recently been launched by Dr. Carmen Levick of the University of Sheffield, in tandem with a Sheffield-based app developer, Llama Digital.

The Sheffield Jewish Heritage Walking Trail takes around half an hour to complete and traverses Jewish contributions to the city from the 18th century to the First World War.

Levick said: “I wanted something that makes people look up, take in the buildings and think about the past of an area, to imagine what kind of people lived there, and where they lived. I found that the best way of doing this in places where you don't actually have a lot of original sites is by using immersive technologies to almost recreate an area of a city through stories and music”.

Aside from this, both synagogues also belong to the Jewish Small Communities Network, whose endeavours to connect communities all over the UK can be a fruitful way for those in Sheffield to access Jewish culture further afield.

Sheffield Jewish Heritage Walking Trail app (Photo: Dr Carmen Levick)[Missing Credit]

Judy Simons, 80

“I was born and grew up in Sheffield. My family were very central in community affairs. I was a cheder teacher at the age of 17. After I got married, I chaired the education committee of the Hebrew Education Board, which was full of the great and the good. I was a member of the Zionist society of Sheffield and went to Bnei Akiva.

“The Sheffield Jewish Journal was started and edited by my father in January 1945, just at the end of the war. It has had many editors over the years, and I was the last. It started out as a community newsletter but developed into a much more ambitious community magazine. It was very deliberately objective and independent in its views.

“I would say that [the Sheffield Jewish community] is very vibrant still. It is very active, [albeit] with a dwindling number of people. The average age of the community is probably about my age [80]. There are no children at the cheder now because younger people have moved away. Having said all that, there is a wonderful shul council who hold regular events – coffee mornings, friendship club, external speakers, Chanukah parties, Purim events – all the things that you’d expect in a larger community.”

Judy Simons (right) with archivist Frankie Drummond Charig and John Cohen, chair of the Jane Goodman Trust, at the launch of Judy's book, From Shtetl to Steel City (Photo: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

David Hayes, 79

“Despite Sheffield having a small affiliated Jewish population compared to our neighbours, such as Manchester and Leeds, we can claim to be leaders in promoting klezmer-related music. We have been fortunate in having not only good musicians but also good music teachers.

“So Sheffield –  not London – organised the first klezmer festival workshops here and in Leeds many years ago, followed by a European klezmer band competition and many other events.

“A key to our success is the links forged with musicians in Leeds and Greater Manchester. Recently, we formed the Taybelekh (Little Doves) band of musicians from Sheffield, Manchester, and London that presented concerts in Porto, including one in the Porto Holocaust Museum.

“Jewish music – be it klezmer, Ladino, and Hebrew songs – plays a vital part in Chai, life, that gives a vibrancy and openness to our Seven Hills Shul”.

Sheffield resident David Hayes (third from left), with Sheffield and Derbyshire Klezmer Band, and Jane Ginsborg (third from right) Photo: courtesy[Missing Credit]