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CCJ Newsletter 24/04/2020

Dear Members and Friends,

It is challenging to commemorate Yom HaShoah or any major event online, and Iwasn’t sure what to expect when the evening approached this past week. I wasmoved to be in the audience at Methodist Central Hall for the National HolocaustMemorial Day Ceremony in January; would it be the same locked down at home?

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I got under a blanket on the sofa with my iPad, candle nearby, and tuned in. Slightlyto my surprise, I found myself profoundly drawn into the story of pain and hope whichunfolded. I was inspired to see survivors lifting their candles to the camera. I wascheered to see other Christians at the service – including Central London branch Co-chair Canon Anthony Ball. I lit my candle and joined in. Evening turned into night,and the room grew dark around the candle’s light, but I felt connected to thecommunity appearing in little boxes on the screen. In the next day's programming, Iwas proud to hear CCJ’s story and to watch two Christians, introduced andorganised by Senior Programme Manager Rob Thompson, share their thoughts onHolocaust education. I was reminded of the power of remembering: the solidarity itcreates and the energy it generates. The act of remembering even triumphed overthe isolation of lockdown this year, at least in my case.

As with new ways of marking Yom HaShoah, so with all CCJ’s work at the moment. Ilook forward to appearing on Zoom in a meeting with CCJ Birmingham this comingweek. Director Liz Harris-Sawczenko has had conversations with Jewish andChristian leaders about larger CCJ online events. Thanks to our team’s creativity, weare trialling new ways of strengthening our community through Facebook and othermedia (please see below for full details). All at once, and not just at CCJ, we arerecreating the way we work and relate. But this week, at least, I sensed that we werenot just coping, but finding the resources to take us forward. The way forward will notjust be a return to the way things were, but will be, I hope, a time of renewal.

We are more aware than ever of the importance of CCJ community. Please do findus on Facebook, if you haven’t already. And continue to be in touch by email andthrough social media (please send us, for example, your pictures of your paintedfoundation stones, or recipes, or the views from your window, or anything else).

Wishing you a restful and joyful weekend,

Nathan EddyDeputy Director

If you use social media, the best way to keep up to date with CCJ news is by liking us on

facebook or following us on twitter and Instagram

News

Obituary - Norman Sofier

Earlier this week we heard the sad news that former Co-chair of the CCJ Radlettbranch, Norman Sofier, had passed away aged 89. Our thoughts and prayers are

with his friends and family in these difficult times.

His daughter Debbie has written an obituary in the Guardian, if you wish to read this

in full please click here.

CCJ presents learning session for Yom HaShoahThis week we were privileged to participate in Yom HaShoah UK’s nationalcommemoration ‘Remember Together – We are One’ by delivering a learning sessionon Christian-Jewish Relations in the Aftermath of the Shoah. On Tuesday a numberof Holocaust Education and community organisations presented different sessions ina whole day of learning and commemoration of the Holocaust. Senior ProgrammeManager Rob Thompson shared a short history of CCJ’s founding during theHolocaust and reflected on the different ways in which CCJ’s founders—includingArchbishop William Temple and the Revd James Parkes—campaigned to raiseawareness of the Holocaust and to persuade the British government to supportJewish refugees. Rob was then joined by two alumni of CCJ’s Yad Vashem seminarsfor church leaders: Jackie Holderness, Education Officer at Christ Church Cathedral,Oxford, and Megan Cox, Youth Development Officer in the Catholic Archdiocese ofBirmingham. We were delighted that Jackie and Megan were able to reflect on theirexperiences at Yad Vashem with CCJ and some of the inspiring ways in which theyare encouraging their Christian communities to remember the Holocaust and engagein positive and meaningful Jewish-Christian relations. Rob concluded withArchbishop Temple’s famous assertion in the House of Lords in March 1943, callingon the British government to respond to the mass murder of the Jews, with the words‘We stand at the bar of history, of humanity, and of God’. Rob suggested that this canbe a powerful motivation in our own continuing Holocaust commemoration as weremember for the sake of the truth of history, our relations as human beings, and ourcommitment as people of faith.

You can watch again all of the learning sessions for Yom HaShoah here. The CCJsession begins after 48 minutes.

Rob ThompsonSenior Programme Manager

Job 14:7-9

:כי יש לעץ תקוה אם-יכרת, ועוד יחליף וינקתו לא תחדל:אם-יזקין בארץ שרשו ובעפרימות גזעו:מריח מים יפרח ועשה קציר כמו-נטע

For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down it can still renew itself, and itsbranching will not cease; though its root may grow old in the ground and itstrunk may die in the dirt; where there is a scent of water it will blossom and

generate branches like a sapling.

I have always felt there is much we can learn from the rhythm of nature. Itspeacefulness. Its endurance. Its synchrony. And I believe that embodied in thispassage from Job is a subtext no less profound. Coupled with Deuteronomy’scomparison of a tree to humankind (Deut 20:19), this passage’s declaration, ‘for

there is hope for a tree’, can be seen to carry much contemporary salience.

We are living in challenging times. And these circumstances can stimulate feelings ofdeflation and of being ‘cut down’. During such moments it is the prospect of hopewhich can carry the promise of a better future. And in turn bring healing andopportunity for regrowth.

Like a tree, whose ‘branching will not cease’, and which at the ‘scent of water…willblossom’, our society too has within it a resilience. An ability to restore. To find a newpeace. And just as this passage outlines how it is the mere ‘scent of water’ whichcatalyses such transformation, I believe that during this time our society is baring itsown metaphorical ‘stream’ which is nurturing our capacity to rebloom. Giving ushope.

Simply reflecting on the past few weeks, the poignancy of this reading from Job hasbecome ever more significant. And the forms in which this ‘stream’ manifests intoday’s context…more apparent. As many have, during this time of crisis, I haveborne witness to neighbours; communities; organisations; all coming togetheroffering their care and support. I have borne witness to people of different faithbackgrounds; all standing together and uniting in solidarity and prayer. I have bornewitness to bus drivers, teachers, NHS staff and many others; each puttingthemselves on the front line to bravely enable the continued functioning of essentialservices.

And I believe that it is the ripples of these acts of kindness, unity and selflessnesswhich are enabling this source of hope to transpire at this time when we so need it.Nourishing our branches in these moments when our roots and trunk seem fracturedand limp, and subsequently enabling the tree to flourish once more. And flourish itcan.

Esther SillsJewish Programme Manager

Hope for a Tree: Jewish-Christians Relations for This MomentLike everyone, we at CCJ have been reflecting on how we can best continue ourwork at a time such as this, when face-to-face encounter is not possible and dialogueis therefore a challenge. How best to promote Jewish-Christian relations for thismoment? Well, we hope that expressing friendship with our faith neighbours, andlearning more about each other, is not wholly dependent on the ability to travel.Imperfect though it may be, for most of us, the digital age brings a privileged accessto many ways in which we can engage, share, learn, dialogue, even without leavingthe safety of our homes.

So we are proud to introduce ‘Hope for a Tree’—the message on which Esther hasreflected above—our developed approach to providing Jewish-Christian relations forthis moment. Over the coming weeks our newsletter, website, and social mediachannels will be updated with new content to enable you to continue engaging inJewish-Christian relations. We will be providing scripture reflections, book reviews,and resources for further study on particular topics. We will tie in with upcomingspecial anniversaries and national campaigns, such as the 75th anniversary of VEDay, Pride Month, and Refugee Week. We are also planning some new initiativesand online events for our different networks.

We would like to encourage you to join in with the conversation from home, and sowe will be posting questions and content for discussion on our Facebook page,beginning today. This week we are inviting you to share what scripture is sustainingyou during lockdown. You can find our Facebook page here. If you don’t have accessto Facebook, please do email us and share your comments on our newslettercontent or share what issues relating to Jewish-Christian relations you are reflectingon this week (click here to send us an email). Until we can meet again in person, wecan still find ways to explore our commitment to learning more about each other’sfaith traditions, and grow in friendship together.

Sharing recipes - My Grandmother and Borscht SoupOne of my abiding memories of my paternal grandmother is her famous Borschtsoup.

Borscht soup (beetroot soup) was a traditional and popular dish for generations inpre-WW2 Jewish communities across Eastern Europe, adapted from localcommunities. My grandma was born in Lodz and was lucky to escape Nazipersecution together with her family, shortly after the rise of national socialism. Buther family, like many others, missed what they had considered their ‘homeland’ forgenerations, after arrival in the UK. Hence many of the dishes she continued to cookwhere those that reminded her of her previous life in Poland.

For my grandmother that was Borscht, among other dishes. We would visit her everySunday for her famous Borscht soup. But I was too young to appreciate that this was

her way of sharing part of our family and Polish Jewish heritage. However I wasaware, in the then 70’s, that Borscht wasn’t a popular soup with other families. Iloved the aroma of the beets and the deep purple colour of the soup and the way inwhich she garnished it with sour cream and dill, just like in ‘the homeland’.

The first time I visited Poland was in the 90’s to run a Holocaust EducationalProgramme. After only a day in Poland I began to realise how much of mygrandmother was a reflection of her Polish Jewish heritage. Every restaurant I visitedserved a form of Borscht and her other signature dish, sweet and sour cucumbersalad. It all felt so familiar. By that time my grandmother had passed away, but I stillfelt a connection with her and her life in Poland, through these culinary delights.

Many years later, I married the son of a Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor. It quicklybecame evident that his favourite soup was unsurprisingly Borscht. I realised I had tolearn quickly how to make it and to make it well!

So here is my Borscht recipe made with love and memories:

Ingredients1 medium size onion

1 small potato

450g Raw Beetroot

25g Butter

2 pts Vegetable stock

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

I tspn yeast extract

Ground nutmeg to taste

Sour cream and dill to garnish

MethodUse a big cooking pot (preferably one your grandmother brought with her from theShtetl)

Chop the beets up. Melt the butter and saute the onion. Add potato, beets and stockand bring to the boil. Reduce hear, cover and simmer for ½ hour. Add remainingingredients and season. Stir in soured cream just before serving and sprinkle withdill. This soup can be served hot or cold. Enjoy!

Elizabeth Harris-SawczenkoCCJ Director

Your Window ViewMany thanks to Beryl Cooke for her submission:

The top photo - "The view from my little Juliet balcony facing east"

The bottom photo - "Spot the cowslip organised for me by my daughter in Montrealand delivered by the Garden Centre opposite, just before it had to close. It has beenplanted in one of the large troughs outside the front entrance to our apartment block,so that everyone can enjoy it, when venturing outside for “exercise”."

Beryl Cooke (St. Peter’s, Dorchester)

If you have a view you would like to share, please email cjrelations@ccj.org.uk

mailto:afjagger64@gmail.com?subject=Link%20to%20CCJ%20Leicester%20Branch%20Zoom%20Meeting

Applications for 2020 Yad Vashem Seminar extended until1 June

The application window for CCJ’s annual seminar at the International School ofHolocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem has been extended until 1 June. Theseminar—which will take place Monday 12 to Thursday 22 October 2020—is open toordained Christian clergy and lay church leaders. Now in its 14th year, the seminar isa unique opportunity for church leaders to learn about the Holocaust, pre-war JewishEuropean life, and post-Holocaust theology from the world’s leading experts. In doingso, participants will become part of our active network of over 250 "alumni" acrossthe UK, committed to passing on Holocaust learning in their churches andcommunities, championing Christian-Jewish relations, and challenging antisemitism. For more information on the programme and how to apply, please contact SeniorProgramme Manager, Rob Thompson, at rob.thompson@ccj.org.uk

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