On Thursday 6th December Kehillat Kernow held its annual Chanukah Party. This year’s party was tinged with sadness as we were also saying farewell to our good friend Arnie who will shortly be returning to the United States after a tour of duty over here. Arnie was presented with a beautiful, pewter Kiddush Cup along with a large custom-made card signed by all those present at the party.
Also in attendance were a number of guests previously unknown to the group and we look forward to welcoming them to future services and other events.
Members and guests brought in some delicious food and after lighting the candles and singing Moatz Zur we ate, had cups of tea and, eventually were persuaded to dance the Hora!
Everyone agreed that it was a great night, especially the children who received presents from Booba Bonnie!
Our next Sabbath service is on 14th December in Truro when Ben will be leading the proceedings. We look forward to seeing a good turnout.
On Saturday 12th October, Arnie Oskin and I visited Exeter Synagogue for a traditional service. Although I have lived in the south west for 30 years I am astonished to admit that I had never previously visited this beautiful synagogue. Arnie, an American currently living and working in Cornwall for the last year, was able to direct me straight to Synagogue Place in Exeter. Here we were greeted with enthusiasm by Frank Gent who also took the service. Gradually the little synagogue hall filled and the service began at 10.30am. Frank explained everything very carefully so that we all knew which page to follow. Everyone felt as if he or she was being addressed personally. It was a most memorable service. As visitors Arnie and I were both called up to perform various functions and I had the pleasure and honour of reading the Haftorah, a particularly beautiful poem from the book of Isiah.
After the service there was a light lunch upstairs.
We hope that visitors from Devon will visit our services if they are ever down this way. In the meantime I would recommend that if you have the opportunity that you pay a visit to Exeter Synagogue. You can check the Exeter Synagogue website for details of dates when services are held.
On 13th October Kehillat Kernow held its Annual General Meeting. Below is a copy of the Chairman’s remarks for the past year. I would like to begin with some words of thanks or praise to several people in the community. As always, and I think I speak on behalf of everyone in Kehillat Kernow, I would like to thank David Hampshire for his hard work and spiritual inspiration in leading many of our services, both for Shabbat and for festivals. Indeed, it is through his
On 6th October 2002, Mr Anthony Fagin, a recent member of Kehillat Kernow, gave a most impressive illustrated lecture on his experiences at the dig at Masada in Israel, which took place in the early 1960s under the direction of Yigael Yadin. This lecture, held in Carnon Downs village hall, was open to the public and was our first such event, so we were completely in the dark as to how many people would turn up. We were allowed up to 104 seats under fire regulations and initially set out fifty chairs as we thought we might get somewhere around that number. To our surprise and delight over 80 people turned up for the event. As chairman of Kehillat Kernow, I was pleased to tell the audience a little about our community, some details of the charity we were supporting (the UJIA), and a brief outline of our guest speaker. Anthony then proceeded to tell us the enthralling story of Masada through his experiences, first as a volunteer
