A video of actress Maureen Lipman being shown around Penzance Jewish Cemetery by Keith Pearce is now available. She found the inscriptions on some of the gravestones heart warming.
Taken in July 2015, extracts filmed by Reef Television & Channel 4, courtesy of Maureen Lipman. View the video now at the bottom of the Penzance Jewish Cemetery page.
“The arms of the Duchy are blazoned sable, fifteen bezants. These arms were designed in the 15th century, based on the arms of Richard, Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272). The bezants in Richard’s arms were intended to represent peas, known in French as pois, as a punning reference to the French region of Poitou, of which he was count.” – From Wikipedia
Purchase from the Kehillat Kernow Shop.
At the recent Seder, a good time was had by all, despite the absence of esteemed Newsletter Editor and stalwart Seder chef Pat Lipert, and Treasurer and general logistics wizard Leslie Lipert, who crossed the Atlantic to sample an American Pesach. The potential imbalance of populations was restored by the movement the other way of Rachel Brown’s parents , who travelled from New York to Cornwall to spend Pesach with daughter and grandchildren. Kehillat Kernow Chair Harvey Kurtzfield and Vice-Chair Adam Feldman led the service with great verve. The food was carefully and tastefully prepared by members of the community and the afikomen was found by Isaac Feldman, the last time he will qualify to take part in the search. Once again, we experienced the moving yet joyful story of the Exodus.
The restoration was completed in August 2105. For more details of this and of the cemetery in general go to Penzance Cemetery on this site and to Friends of Penzance Jewish Cemetery. A great deal of credit for the restoration rests with Leslie Lipert, Treasurer of both Kehillat Kernow and the Friends of the Cemetery, in raising the funds, and with Jon Pender, former Planning Officer and Chairman of the Friends, in processing the listed building applications and overseeing the restoration itself.
Two ceremonies are scheduled to mark the restoration. The first of these will be a re-sanctification, which will take place on 13 March, to be attended by the Jewish community in Cornwall and to be led by David Jacobs.
The second ceremony will take place on 18 May and will be attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Bolitho OBE, Colin Spanjar, of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, local dignitaries, significant donors and friends of the cemetery. Please note that attendance at the civic ceremony is strictly by invitation.
Saturday 13 February saw a very special event for Kehillat Kernow, that is the Bat Mitzvah of Liz Berg. Liz is an accomplished shaliach tzibbur (prayer leader), so one might have asked why has she decided to be Bat Mitzvah as an adult. Before the service began, she gave a moving account of what had led her to this moment. Liz has spent her life fighting with determination, but also with tact and respect for the elders of the congregations she has belonged to, for the right of women to take a full part in the Jewish service. She feels she has achieved this right here in Cornwall and so decided to mark her sixtieth birthday with the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony. The parsha (Torah portion) for the week was Terumah, from the Book of Exodus. Terumah means offering, or lifting-up, and tells how the Israelites freely offered up gifts to God to enable the building of the desert sanctuary which they were to carry around with them for forty years. They were wanderers but God dwelt amongst them.
Liz certainly lifted up her voice as she intoned the Hebrew text with great skill and melody. There to offer her gentle support was Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, who travelled down to Cornwall to lead the service. The congregation were treated to a great Shabbat gift, as Rabbi Laura offered up her own voice and wisdom to everyone there and we all followed, recited and sung the songs and prayers of the service with renewed understanding and feeling.
After the service, Liz put on a tasty lunch for the congregation which was enlivened with much conversation. Is there anything new under the sun? It seems so each time.
