I have just added the latest additon of the newsletter for this April: Kol Kehillat Kernow to the Newsletter page.
To view the full version, you’ll need to be a Kehillat Kernow member. Please apply to become a friend of the community if you don’t have access.
Thirteen members of Kehillat Kernow took a trip to the Courney Library at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro on Sunday, the 25th of March, to see their collection of Jewish manuscripts. The various scrolls, sedurim and related documents of the Jews of Cornwall, were arranged especially for private exhibition for the community by Angela Broome, librarian.
Of special interest were three Torah scrolls once used by the Falmouth Jewish Community until the end of the 19th century. A fourth scroll, now in Kehillat Kernow’s possession having been donated to our community from the Museum, is used in special services. A minute Megillah, a scroll of The Book of Esther, written in impeccable handwriting by a very gifted sofer, was remarkable for its condition and almost microscopic perfectly lettered script. In addition, an 18th century Italian Haggadah for Pesach, along with a personal prayerbook of Alfred De Pass, a major donor to the museum’s art and cereamic collection, was seen.
Many other items of historical interest were also on display.
Following the visit, members were given a tea in the adjacent café courtesy of Kehillat Kernow. Arrangements for this special visit were done by Chairman Jeremy Jacobson, Secretary Rachel Brown and Angela Broome.
The two parshas which come immediately after the episode of the golden calf and which, this year, form a double parashiyot, are marked by their brightness and serenity. They begin with Moses asking the people to contribute to the building of the Tabernacle. From then on, everything that happens is good, with the people giving either of their possessions or of their labour. They bring bracelets, earrings, ornaments, sky blue, dark red and crimson wool, fine linen, skins and leathers, silver, copper, and acacia wood. As for the tribal leaders, they bring precious stones, fragrances and their best olive oil. Such is the enthusiasm and generous energy of the people that Moses has to tell them not to bring more. Now, with all necessary materials assembled, it seems that everyone is busy, as craftsmen and workers hammer and mould, carry and carve. The camp is filled with the noise of busy, happy work. The step-by-step description, first of the building, sculpting, weaving and sewing, followed by the assembly of the Tabernacle, with all its parts – Ark, Table, Lamp. Incense Altar, Drape and Altar, Washstand, and Enclosure – has a mesmerising effect. The narration is imbued with a kind of tenderness springing from a people joyful in God’s work. It is a tenderness which, despite all the setbacks and backsliding which will characterise our history, is realised in the Psalms of David and Songs of Solomon and even in the words of the Prophets, when they remember that God will remember His people. In more modern times we continue to add to this store with new songs and prayers, particularly during Shabbat.
It is good that the Book of Shemot, which starts with the fight to leave Egypt, should end on such a positive note, made most patent by the maftir describing the cloud covering the Communion Tent and God’s glory filling the Tabernacle.
And so on to Va-yikra, God calling to Moses and, through him, to the people. We start with the laws of sacrifice, and who better to introduce these than Pat Lipert, who is deep in her thoughts and her books in order to give you a service to remember this Saturday at 10.30.
The value of KK’s Arnold and Leatrice Levine Library was more than amply verified on Saturday, 10th of March when members of the community, armed with their reading fare, mostly borrowed from the KK Library, convened at Malpas Village Hall. A four-hour discussion of the books we had read not only provided vast amounts of Jewish information we didn’t know before, but also provoked much thought and lively discussion while feasting over a vast array of gourmet goodies.
All subjects from Jewish history, anecdotes, archaeology, fiction and non-fiction to commentary on man’s relationship to God through the ages were covered.
We began with the musical adaptation of liturgical music composed by Isaac Feldman and went into the intricacies of Abraham’s affect on Christianity and Islam,, the Jewish position in a myriad of societies from 1492 to 1900, heard about some of the more fascinating finds at Masada, spoke of Amoz Oz and Herman Wouk, and ended up with a multitude of examples of cultic and non-cultic deific worship in human beings search for spirituality.
If you are missing out on our Film-Book-Food Club, make sure you re-arrange your schedules because the next event is already in the process of being organised.
