Boundary Road Shul - A sign of things to come in Britain.

My parents have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. For this great occasion they rented out the beautiful hall in Boundary Road shul.

We had the great pleasure of travelling to Britain and being part of my parent's simcha. We also had the honour of visiting this lovely old shul in Leyton, London which everyone calls Boundary Road shul despite its official name being the "Waltham Forest Hebrew Congregation". It actually has an older name, that being the "Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue".

The shul was founded in 1902 by a community that moved into the area from the East End. What immediately strikes you about the outside of the building is that it looks like a church and indeed that is exactly what it was. The inside however is typical of English shuls of the early 20th century. Wood panelled walls and benches and stained glass windows. You could just imagine the Jews of the early 20th century in shul with their coattails and top hats.

The shul is looked after by a dedicated caretaker called Tom. Although not Jewish, he wears a kippa while on guard outside the shul and talks with love and pride of his 30 years plus service to the shul. He showed me the Magen-David symbols he chiselled into the walls of the building all around the outside. I asked him why he wears a kippa if he isn't Jewish? He laughed and replied that in his opinion, he's a lot more Jewish than some of the people that come here. How could I reply to such a comment?

Unfortunately the once vibrant community has long since moved away from the area. The shul has no Rabbi but the acting reverend, Rev Stewart Myers, told me that they do get a minyan for Shabbos although he says in order for this to happen he needs to act like Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. When I asked what he meant by this he embarrassingly explained that like Nelson who looked through his telescope with his blind eye, so he turns a blind eye to how the minyan gets to the shul on Shabbos morning.

We asked Tom if he could open the shul for us so that we could daven Maariv and take some photos. He was more than happy to show off "his" shul. Just outside the shul, in the corridor, was a photo on the wall of the founding Rabbi, Rev. Dr. Gollancz (seen in the top right hand corner of the following photo). The strange thing was that he had no head covering!?

When the mix dancing began I told my parents that we would go for a walk around the area and come back in an hour. They frowned and told us that the area was now predominantly Asian and they were afraid that we would be in danger looking so openly Jewish. I instead asked Tom if he could open the Beis Midrash for us. He gladly opened it and my kids and I spent a couple of hours looking though the seferim on the shelves. There were rows and rows of machzorim, gemoros and other books of halacha that were all printed in Vilna around the 1860s. They were in a terrible state of disrepair. As we turned the pages, the corners of the pages were crumbling in our hands. I was amazed to see in this massive machzor for Pesach, Vilna 1862, where I found actual matzah crumbs inside. I wonder how old those crumbs were or when the last time that machzor had been used?

There was also a row of little booklets written for soldiers of His/Her Majesty's Armed Forces during the First and Second World War. Some dated 1915, others 1941. Inside these booklets we found articles giving chizuk to the Jewish soldiers at war, as well as patriotic essays and poems written by British Jews. We left Boundary Road shul with a feeling of great sadness. Almost all the shuls that we visited in Britain had a similar story to tell; that of past grandeur and now a community in the process of collapse.

I consider Boundary Road shul a sign of things to come in most of Britain. When we spent a Shabbos in Giffnock, Glasgow, we were told that most of the shuls and cheders in Scotland had closed or are in the process of closing. Clarkston shul closes next month apparantly. Giffnock itself, once a strong community gets a Shabbos minyan of mostly elderly men despite the valient magnificent efforts of the amazing "larger than life" Rabbi Rubin. I asked where all the kids were? Maybe they were in summer camp I inquired? The answer I received was that there were hardly any children left. The families had either moved to Manchester, London and Israel or had assimilated. Giffnock had recently spent huge sums of money moving with great care, the beautiful stain glass windows of the now closed Queens Park shul to their building. I asked where they thought the glass would we moved to next? I was answered with a sad look and total silence.

Originally in Queens Park Shul. Now in Giffnock, Scotland. Where to next?

Dwindling attendance at Wanstead and Woodford Shul cheder. Redbridge.

The first tell-tail sign of a shul and its community in collapse is the closing of their shul cheder. Isn't it obvious to anyone that no children means no future even if membership figures are strong? Unfortunately, most English Jews I spoke to were in a state of denial. For example, when I commented about this to a relative of mine he indignantly insisted that when a shul ceases to be active it only means that the Jews have moved to other areas. One shul closes and another opens up he told me. I respectfully disagreed. I told him that from what I see, these communities died because the majority of the community assimilated and no longer identified themselves as Jews. The remainder moved to more vibrant communities. It was a case of constant retreat in the face of assimilation and regrouping in those communities that are still left.

Gants Hill, Redbridge, once the largest Jewish community in Europe and the place where I grew up has seen its Jewish facilities almost completely disappear as Jewish families have moved out to North London. When I was growing up there were kosher restaurants and many delis, butchers and bakers. Today in Gants Hill, all that remains is a single kosher bakeries run by non-Jewish Indians. The last deli in Gants Hill, "Brownstein's" closed two years ago. The kosher butcher, Norman Goldberg, on Claybury Broadway, Clayhall, some 3 miles from Gants Hill, is still open. It tries to sell other kosher items as well such as cakes and bread. On Sunday it sells fresh hot salt beef sandwiches up to 8:00pm. Another kosher butchers, "La Boucherie" in Barkingside, also acts as a small mekolet selling what kosher items are available, mainly imported from Israel to the dwindling Jewish community.

The last Gants Hill Kosher butcher closed in April 2008

Norman Goldberg kosher butcher, Clayhall

The only Kosher shop in Barkingside.

(The kosher Bakers in the same high street closed last year)

Where as 20 years ago it was not uncommon to see women wearing sheitles in the streets of Gants Hill, today you see a good percentage of women in the streets wearing burkas and even a few completely masked with only their eyes peeking through the black material. Doesn't anyone else find it comically tragic to see some of these women wearing their glasses over their masks?

I grabbed this photo (taken in Florida) off of Google Images but it’s the same image all over London.

Lest you think that moving to North London is the answer I'd like to suggest otherwise. I was talking to a lovely frum young guy in Chigwell and Hainault shul last Shabbos (the only shul in the area as far as I am aware that seems to have a healthy vibrant community with Bar/Bat Mitzvas almost every Shabbos! thanks in large part to the incredible Rabbi there, Rabbi Davis). Both he and his wife are Ba'alei Teshuva. He told me that they would love to move to North London but they simply cannot afford the house prices, some four times what they are in the Ilford area. He told me that he'll have to hire someone to take his children to and from school in Stamford Hill when they get older. When visiting North London, it is true that you can find many kosher places there but even in Golders Green there are signs of decay. It's true that if you walk down many streets in Golders Green/Edgware/Hendon, most of the homes have mezuzos. However, many kosher restaurants have closed in the last few years including what was the world famous "Bloom's" which served salt beef and latkas to its last customer in June of this year. I walked past the restaurant, the menu still sitting in the window, now covered in dust.

I used to go for lunch every week in their original Whitechapel branch back in the 1980s

The other thing of course is the huge invasion of Muslims into the area as there is in all of London. Golders Green/Hendon/Edgware will be Anglo Jewry's last stand, at least in the South. Manchester may last slightly longer? The shear numbers of Muslims coming into Britain, bringing their unique brand of blatant anti-Semitism with them, are making Jews feel more and more uncomfortable and fearful in their own homes. I could be wrong but I see the demise of Anglo Jewry as inevitable and unavoidable. Anglo Jewry doesn't stand a chance.

If I had the money and resources I'd move these old beautiful shul buildings and their contents to Eretz Yisrael where they can be admired and would be used in the service of Hashem once again.

As for Anglo Jewry. yes, there are some who are emigrating to Australia and the USA but I do hope, be'ezras Hashem that most will realise that their future is of course in Eretz Yisrael.

Shana Haba beYerushalayim

Anglo Jewry, please come home..

The inside story of a Messianic Jew who returned to Torah: Penina Taylor

I've just finished listening to a fascinating Israel National Radio recorded broadcast hosted by Rabbi Tovia Singer where he interviewed what sounded like a very sweet and sincere women by the name of Penina Taylor.

Former ‘Messianic Jew’ Helps Jews in the Church Return

She has an incredible story of being brought up in secular Jewish home, being converted to Xtianity at University, gradually moving into "Messianic Judaism" (sic) and serious missionary activity, only to come full circle and returning to Judaism as a Shomrei Mitzvos Torah Jew. Indeed, her new book is called "Coming full circle".

A lot of what she said I had heard before such as the intentional deceptive attempts of Messianic Xtian leaders to hide Xtianity behind a mask of superficial Jewish practice. For instance, she explained how Messianic Churches were designed to look like synagogues.

But what struck me most was that in Penina's opinion, 99% of Jews who convert to Xtianity do not do so because of a verse or a revelation but because a regular person, a roommate, a work colleague or person on the street showed kindness or compassion and appeared happy. They tell the potential convert incredibly simplistic and shallow things that sound so profound that they are taken in. The next stage is to go to their church where they are surrounded by smiling warm faces who bend over backwards to offer any assistance. The convert finds an instant social network amongst fellow believers and a warm feeling inside that satisfies their emotional need for spirituality.

The vast majority of these converts never feel the need to question anything they are told. If any doubts do creep in then the Ace in hand is played; the "Hell" card. The logic goes like this. If the Xtians are wrong then the worst that will happen is you'll die and decompose after you lose consciousness. However if you have doubts or even reject their belief and the Xtian doctrine is the truth after all then you will burn in hell for eternity. Pretty frightening stuff! She explained that this keeps all but the strongest in line.

This might possibly explain why even after a Jew has seemingly won an argument against a missionary and successfully disproved a Xtian proof text, the Xtian pretends that the event never happened and just goes on to the next so called "proof text". They don't seem to comprehend that any one of the many facts that prove Yoski Poski was not the Jewish Messiah means that in fact, the game is over. There is no second round.

Coming back to her main point about Jews who convert, Penina explains that virtually all anti-missionaries who attempt to bring these lost Jews back in the fold use confrontational techniques such as intellectual discussions of verses that disprove their Xtian faith. However, they ignore the strongest motivation keeping these lost soles in the church or in their messianic synagogues and that is the love and support they get from that group.

Torah Judaism may have the Emes on its side and perhaps is the only religion that can actually be proved by logic and intellect. However, perhaps, due to 2,000 years of persecution and Golus, we sometimes find it difficult to be warm and welcoming to strangers in our community and do not pay enough attention to fellow daveners.

Take a simple example. Someone is given a kavod of say opening the Aron Kodesh or Hagba'ah or even an Aliyah. When they return to their seats, how many of us make that effort to wish the guy a "yashar koach" and shake his hand? Some shuls make an effort. Most don't. When strangers appear in shul, how much effort is made to give them a smile, a simple Shabbat Shalom / Goot Shabbos or ask them where they are from? If someone does speak to them it's more than often to inform them that they are in someone's seat and that they should move!

I know people are tired on Shabbos and prefer to have a shmooze with their friend or concentrate on perfecting their davening and I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that. What I am saying is that we must make a greater effort to acknowledge others in shul. To warmly shake the guy's hand as he passes by and wish him a yashar koach is not going to kill you and may even keep that Jewish family alive for another generation. Am I exaggerating or being over dramatic? I don't think so. If you believe that talking should be kept to a bare minimum in shul then wait until after the tephila or at the Kiddush to greet a new face.

This applies perhaps even more when it comes to the youth. If a teenager has just finished leining the Parsha or reading Haftorah or has received any kavod, I believe that the minyan should make a big fuss of him. We must send all the youth the message that they are not only welcome and appreciated but that they are very very precious and important to us. They after all are our future.

I admit that I got annoyed with one of the gabaim a few weeks ago who I notice repeatedly neglects to wish people "yashar koach". I find the lack of effort to shake people's hands very frustrating. One of the gabbai's responsibilities ought to be to make people feel welcome.

Again, I know that I am generalising and that there are some very friendly shuls out there. Anyone who knows me should not take this as a criticism of my own shul which I believe is pretty good when it comes to welcoming guests. However I unfortunately have experienced too many very unfriendly shuls to realise that this is a real problem.