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Welcome to Kehillat Kernow!
As the first chairman of Kehillat Kernow
I am pleased to welcome you to our own website.
 Our
title, Kehillat Kernow, is Cornish for "The Jewish Community
of Cornwall." We began as a small group about two years ago,
brought together in the home of David Hampshire (RE Advisor
to Cornwall County Council) and his wife, Kathleen. They inspired
a motley crew of disparate Jewish folk of varied backgrounds
to form what was to become Kehillat Kernow. After some time
of getting to know one another and deciding on our needs and
wants we held our first Annual General Meeting in October
2000. By then we had already established a regular Shabbat
service (held every fortnight in the entrance hall of a Baptist
Church in Truro, Cornwall) and had begun a cheder for a small,
but growing (!) number of children.
At the AGM I was honoured to be elected
the first chairman of Kehillat Kernow. Our deputy chairperson is Bonnie
Rockley. For quite a few years we had lived within a mile of each other
; yet neither of us knew of the other's existence. The formation of
Kehillat Kernow has brought together and, we hope, united almost fifty
Jewish people living here in Cornwall.
Since that first AGM much has happened.
We have a constitution (thanks to Leslie Lipert, our publicity and public
relations officer). We have regular services for all the festivals as
well as the Shabbat services mentioned earlier. We celebrated our first
BatMitzvah with Leah Rockley in late July. One of our group celebrated
her Batmitzvah in Exeter at the ripe young age of 70. Elisha Hearle
celebrated his Barmitzvah at Plymouth synagogue and many of our group
travelled there especially for the occasion. We have recently become
associated with the RSGB and received much help and support from David
Jacobs, the director of the RSGB's synagogue support services. Bonnie
and I were also pleased to meet Sir Sigmund Sternberg (President of
the RSGB) when he recently visited the County with his wife. He left
us with many good suggestions. We are acting on one of those at this
moment having written to the Director of the Royal Institution of Cornwall
Museum to see if we can make use of the Torah Scroll which once belonged
to a Jewish Community in Cornwall early in the last century. We are
even in contact with a local council to see if we can acquire a section
of a municipal burial ground for Jewish burials.
As we are such an attractive county
we also receive numbers of Jewish holidaymakers who have been visiting
Cornwall for years but were sad that no place of worship was available
in Cornwall itself. Now, however, thanks to Kehillat Kernow, there is
a place for Jewish worship and friendship in Cornwall and during the
last two years we have been pleased to welcome visitors from London,
Brighton, Nottingham, Copenhagen and the United States.
It is clear that Kehillat Kernow is
a growing and developing organisation. We exist for the benefit of all
Jewish people living in Cornwall. Our members include those who have
been brought up in orthodox, reform, liberal and secular homes. We want
to embrace all who wish to participate in what we have to offer - including
a regular adults-only monthly meeting to discuss important Jewish issues.
Members who wish to join are asked
to subscribe at the very modest rate of £5 per month or £60 per year;
a real bargain! Anyone who wishes to contact me
can do so via this website. You can be assured of a warm welcome.
SHALOM
Harvey
Kurzfield
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