I hope that despite the difficult circumstances that we are all in, you were able to find moments of joy in your Pesach and Easter celebrations. This is such an important time of year for both our communities and it was heart-warming to see so many connecting online to celebrate Pesach and Easter.
This coming week is a very important in Holocaust commemoration as we mark the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. I have written previously about my great uncle, Revd Dr. Isaac Levy, one of the leading Jewish chaplains at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. In 1995, my great uncle published Witness to Evil: Bergen-Belsen, 1945 based on heart breaking letters he wrote at the time, to my great aunt, Tonie. Isaac was a formidable spiritual force within our family, the Jewish community and also the wider world, as a result of his deep commitment to interfaith work, mainly through the Council of Christians and Jews following World War II. His response to his own terrible experience at Belsen was to reach out to others with compassion and build bridges of understanding. Please do join us next week in marking this important anniversary through the online Yom HaShoah ceremony, through stone painting or hearing from our Yad Vashem Alumni in the online Yom HaShoah educational experience at 09.45 on Tuesday 21 April. Details below. Holocaust education is such a central part of CCJ’s work and we are very proud to play a leading role in this online commemoration, so please tune in.
Below you can find a moving Easter message from our Chair Bishop Michael Ipgrave on the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Also below is a piece on experiencing a Zoom Shabbat by Ann Conway-Jones and an article for Yom HaShoah by Yad Vashem alumnus Canon Edward Jarosz, reflecting on the life of Edith Stein. We also have another recipe and 'Your Window View' submission to share.
Last week I learnt (Talmud p. 33, tractate Shabbat) about one of the most famous Rabbis in Jewish mysticism; Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who was in ‘lockdown ‘in a cave with his son for 12 years, hiding from threat of death by the Roman Empire. Father and son study Torah for the duration, but when they emerge they have become overly judgmental and as a result, God sends them back for a further year into the cave. When they emerge again the father has learned a profound truth. He says to his son: ‘My son, you and I are enough for this world.’ He has learned deep gratitude for those close to him and that human relationships are the glue that binds society together. Thank you to all our members for all you are doing for your communities during this difficult time, no matter what and for all you do at CCJ.
‘Daring to do what is right’: A message from our Chair
Our Chair, the Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave OBE, has written a message for Easter and Pesach, reflecting on the life and writing of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
"Jews have been celebrating Passover this year, and Christians Easter, in the most unusual and testing of circumstances. It would have been easy in all this to miss one anniversary that fell in the middle of these festivals. On Thursday 9 April, I was pleased to receive an invitation to participate that night in an international Zoom memorial seminar to mark the 75th anniversary of the execution in Flossenburg concentration camp of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on 9 April 1945.
Bonhoeffer is widely revered for his courageous witness against the evils of National Socialism, and cited as a modern Christian martyr. The question of his attitude to Jewish people is more ambiguous…
To continue reading Bishop Michael’s message, please click here.
Pictured: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
‘We are going for our people’: the life of Edith Stein
For Yom HaShoah, Canon Edward Jarosz, priest of the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham, and alumnus of CCJ’s Yad Vashem seminar writes:
"In talking about the Shoah we often talk in numbers, for example 6 million Jewish lives taken across Europe or some 1 million Jewish lives taken in Auschwitz/Birkenau alone. However, if we only think in terms of numbers we risk losing sight of the fact that each victim was a unique person with their own life story, gifts, talents, problems etc.
One such person who might be of particular interest to members of CCJ is Edith Stein who in her own words was ‘a child of the Jewish people and also a child of the Catholic Church’. However even that self-description will not sit comfortably with everyone and will already make us aware that any discussion about her life and death will present potential challenges to the dialogue between Jews and Christians that CCJ seeks to foster…
To continue reading Canon Jarosz’s blog please click here
Pictured: Edith Stein
Interfaith Inspiration
Rabbi Margaret Jacobi invited me to attend Birmingham Progressive Synagogue’s Shabbat morning service, conducted over Zoom. Not only did I enjoy it for the service for its own sake, but it inspired me to take action. Having seen what could be done, my husband and I volunteered to host a series of Holy Week Compline services for our church. Using the liturgy which had already been emailed out to all church members, with the rear view camera focussed on a candle and icon, and everyone else’s microphone muted, I recited the words, and Michael provided the singing. We recruited volunteers to unmute and do the readings and prayers. It was simple but effective, and now our clergy are picking up the baton for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. So thank you Margaret for that interfaith inspiration!
Ann Conway-Jones
CCJ Birmingham Branch Chair
Sharing Recipes and Building Communities: Simnel Cake
Campus Leadership Manager Katharine Crew has shared a recipe for Simnel Cake and explains its significance below. If you have any recipes you'd like to share please email cjrelations@ccj.org.uk.
Many Christians observe Lent by giving something up, to mark the time Jesus fasted in the Wilderness. Some Christians will choose to give up a food that they enjoy, others may choose to progressively fast: giving up more types of food throughout Lent, and some will fast on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday Christians are once more able to enjoy the food they have been refraining from. Hence Easter is celebrated as a feast day and there are many special foods associated with the festival.
Simnel cake is one of my favourite Easter foods. Although this fruit cake was traditionally associated with Lent and Mother’s Day, it is now eaten at Easter and has a distinctive decoration of 11 balls of marzipan. These represent the remaining disciples after Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. Easter marks an unusual time for the disciples when there are only 11 of them. After Jesus ascended to heaven the disciples drew lots to appoint another disciple, bringing the number back to the Biblically significant 12.
I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe which has a layer of marzipan in the centre of the cake, but it can also be made just using the marzipan on the top of the cake. You can read the recipe here.
Your Window View
Many thanks to Rev Derek McLean for his submission:
"Like most, I’m spending more time in my office, working from home. The Methodist manse garden is blessed with this magnificent view. This tree is bare for most of the winter, but at this time of year it is bursting with life. It is visited daily by a wide variety of birds.
Despite the bleak times we are living in, this gives me a real sense of hope."
It's been pointed out we left a few important details off Jemma's Challah recipe. Please see the recipe in full below:
Ingredients:
Tablespoon of quick yeast
5 ½ cups plain flour
1/3 cup of oil
1/4 cup of sugar
Tablespoon salt
2 eggs
Cup of warm water.
Mix together, leave to rise for half hour
Kneed and plait
Once plaited, brush with egg, cover with cling film and leave for 20-30 minutes, preferably in a warm room. Then peel off cling film, brush with egg again, then bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
Applications for 2020 Yad Vashem Seminar extended until
1 June
The application window for CCJ’s annual seminar at the International School of Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem has been extended until 1 June. The seminar—which will take place Monday 12 to Thursday 22 October 2020—is open to ordained Christian clergy and lay church leaders. Now in its 14th year, the seminar is a unique opportunity for church leaders to learn about the Holocaust, pre-war Jewish European life, and post-Holocaust theology from the world’s leading experts. In doing so, participants will become part of our active network of over 250 "alumni" across the UK, committed to passing on Holocaust learning in their churches and communities, championing Christian-Jewish relations, and challenging antisemitism.
For more information on the programme and how to apply, please contact Senior Programme Manager, Rob Thompson, at rob.thompson@ccj.org.uk
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