All posts by Harvey Kurzfield

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Passover 2014

Our Communal Passover Seder night for 2014 took place  on Monday 14th April. We were scheduled to begin at 6.30pm but, as usual, our event began some time later when everyone was settled, the eggs safely boiled and the Seder plates distributed.

Anne Hearle at the Pesach Seder at Trelissick Gardens
Anne Hearle at the Pesach Seder

We used the MR J’s newly refurbished Haggadot, which, all agreed, now worked really well. All members present had the opportunity to take part in one form or another and those guests (including some of our very youngest Kehillat Kernow members) read appropriate passages with great gusto.

Highlights of the evening included an interesting version of “Dayeinu” where the well-known chorus was sung to the usual well-known tune (unlike the rest of the song – which Harvey seemed to be making up on the spot!); together with the tasty and many-varied foods available during the Seder meal. In the latter part of the Seder, Adam Feldman introduced us to new and exciting tunes for Adir Hu and Chad Gadya and these were well-received by the appreciative congregation.

Our guests came from many different parts of Cornwall as well as other parts of the country. We even had guests from the United States of America.

The evening went well, we became re-acquainted with our wonderful history and heritage and we hope that our guests returned to their places of residence suitably uplifted.

Thanks go to all those splendid people who helped to organise this wonderful event and I include in this those members of the  staff who always do their best to make us feel so comfortable.

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Our New Website

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These are among the first posts going out on our New Look website which has been updated and revamped in glorious technicolour by Noah Hearle at Design Extreme. As the programme is in its first experimental stages we apologise for any blips that may occur, but as we get used to working our way through the system we should be able to update items and bring you fresh news on a much more regular basis (he wrote hopefully!).

Let us know what you think!! We’ll be delighted to receive your comments.

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Torah Scroll Celebration & Procession

After a good deal of perseverance and dogged determination Leslie Lipert our treasurer has finally succeeded in persuading the Royal Cornwall Museum to part with a Torah Scroll which was last used over a hundred years ago by members of the Falmouth synagogue.

Following an anonymous donation the scroll has been rehabilitated by a well-known scribe from London and will be officially handed over to Kehillat Kernow on May 28th 2014.

We hope to make a short parade from the museum in Truro to the City Hall where Elkan Levy will conduct an appropriate service followed no doubt by a speech from HK, and possibly one or two others and then a celebration lunch will follow.

Due to the limited seating available members of Kehillat Kernow are urged to apply for tickets as soon as possible as those available will be granted on a ‘first-come — first served’ basis.

The parade will be proceeded by a Cornish piper who will play appropriate music as we wend our way through the busy streets of Truro on this extraordinary occasion.

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MRJ’s AGM

Have very recently returned from my first AGM with the Movement for Reform Judaism. It’s a bit of a schlep to London but luckily the weather was great, the trains were running to schedule and I found very reasonably priced student lodgings right in the heart of London.
David Jacobs kindly collected me from Edgware Station and I arrived in good time on Sunday 30th June – which is why I sadly missed Louise Garcia’s leaving do. I hear it all went well and we shall certainly miss Louise’s unique talents.
Meanwhile, our morning meetings began at 10.30am and I was but one chair person amongst many. We held discussions about how to conduct ‘good’ committee meetings, so be prepared, committee members, to be shaken, though not necessarily stirred!
After lunch we participated in the AGM and the anticipated computer-led meeting was slightly let down by the computer not co-operating at all!! Well, Noah wasn’t there! Still we went ahead and we looked at the past year and the year to come. In some ways Kehillat Kernow is still somewhat adrift of the mainstream largely due to where we are and the spread of our members, but also, largely due to the fact that we prepare and run services ourselves and have no synagogue (and the associated costs that go with such a building) and no rabbi. THis means that we are still able to keep our annual subscription far below what almost every other community has to pay. I do think, therefore that we are very fortunate to have so many services available for such reasonable rates and would, therefore urge members to make every effort to support our activities.
I was greeted most warmly by all the delegates who attended the AGM and hope that many of them will be persuaded to visit us here in Cornwall should they ever come down on Holiday.
We have had a really full calendar recently and I thoroughly enjoyed Ze’ev’s bar mitzvah and look forward to helping all those youngsters who are slowly working their way towards that big event themselves. As always my thanks to all those members of the community who are the unsung heroes who help at every function. I look forward to seeing lots of you at the High Holy Day events in September.

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Passover 2014/5774

Our first seder night for Pesach is on Monday 14th April and once again will take place near Truro, so if you haven’t booked up yet with Anne Hearle please do so as soon as possible as these occasions are always very popular. Members can attend for £17.50 and for non-members the price is £40 per person. For this you get the service, all the appropriate foods, the main meal and kosher wine. We look forward to welcoming everyone on the night which starts at 6.30pm.