Limmud Scotland Day 25 Nov 2012

LIMMUD SCOTLAND EDINBURGH 23rd to 25th November 2012

We are having a number of events in Edinburgh, building up to Limmud Scotland Day in Glasgow on Sunday 25th November. If you haven’t booked already, please go to http://www.limmud.org/day/scotland/ where you will find out all about the main event, including programme and speakers, as well as the application form. Speakers include some you may recognise, including our Rabbi Mark Solomon and our newsletter editor Hannah Holtschneider.  For a  list, as of now,  see here. If you wish to join the Limmud Bus, which will take you directly from the corner of Salisbury and Dalkeith Road (and a few joining stops on the way) to the event, please indicate the number of seats that you wish to reserve on the application form. See below for arrangements.

1. Friday night dinner: Friday 23rd November courtesy of Sukkat Shalom. At our pot luck Friday night meal at the Columcille Centre at 7pm, we will be joined by people who will be attending Limmud Scotland. Everyone will be bringing a dish to contribute, excluding any meat or sea-food. Soft drinks and a bottle of wine are also very welcome.  Rabbi Mark Solomon will be there and there will be other Limmud speakers including Lydia Aisenberg. Lydia has worked tirelessly over the past 25 years for the Givat Haviva Institute of the Kibbutz Artzi Movement (Mapam) to build “an inclusive, socially cohesive society in Israel.” A member of Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’emek, Lydia has been invited by Limmud Scotland to speak at the main event. So we are really pleased that she has agreed to speak to us in Edinburgh about the work of Givat Haviva. For a taster, see: http://www.givathaviva.org.il/english/info/about.htm. You will find out a little more about the Lydia herself at http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/column88h.html

2.  Saturday night ceilidh klezmerdance: Saturday 24th November

The Klatsh Klezmer Band (with 'callers) will be playing (and calling you to dance) at the Blue Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street, Leith at 7.30 pm. £5 for Limmud ticket holders, £6 for others.  It is advised that people buy tickets in advance by contacting Andrew Gardiner:    email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., also mobile 07767 398237

There is also a dance workshop and song workshop, with opportunities for musicians to play for the dancers, at Pilrig Church Hall, 1B Pilrig Street, off Leith Walk from 2-5pm. Cost £5 per workshop or £8 for both - the workshops will run one after the other.  (Since this takes place on Shabbat, I am assuming that this is not an ‘official’ Limmud event).

3. The Limmud bus. Everyone who submits an application to Limmud Scotland and ticks the Edinburgh bus box will be put in contact with Anna Duncan by the Limmud Scotland office. Anna will contact you to confirm your seat(s) on the bus, as well as take details of where you wish to alight. She will also take your mobile number and give you hers, so she can check that you are on your way if you are late! Anna’s email address is: 'Anna Duncan' ‎[This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]‎. The bus is being heavily subsidised by Limmud Scotland. However, there is a suggested contribution of £8 for the round journey (free for children), to defray some of Limmud’s expenditure. It will be collected on the bus, if you have not already sent it to Limmud Scotland on line or by cheque.

Proselytes

Proselyte page - under construction

Human Rights Tour Itinerary

(Back to main Human Rights Tour page)

Outline of activities in the ELJC Israel Human Rights Trip

(9th May: becoming final at last, still waiting for details on some activities)

Friday 17th May:

Late morning: orientation meeting.

Afternoon: E. Jerusalem, Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah, Wall, house demolitions (half-day ICAHD tour).

Evening:  erev Shabbat service (optional)

Saturday 18th May: 

All day: accompany PHR-I mobile clinic in the West Bank, escorted by Sharon Barnett of PHR-I.

Sunday 19th May: 

All day: Hebron, escorted by Nadav Bigelman, of Breaking the Silence. Haaretz published an interview with Nadav about Hebron just over a year ago.

Monday 20th May:

All day ICAHD tour:

Beit Arabiya (ICAHD Peace Center)

Jordan valley

Tuesday 21st May:

Morning: Jerusalem Old City (tourist half-day)

Afternoon: optionally, walk in the Wadi Elqult, with a guide from the Siraj Center

Evening: meeting with Combatants for Peace. Two ex-fighters, an Israeli and a Palestinian, will tell us their personal stories and how they came to choose non-violence as the way forward.

Wednesday 22nd May:

Negev tour with Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights.

Thursday 23rd May:

Morning: Tel-Aviv, tour with Amnesty learning about the situation of refugees in Israel

Afternoon: PHR Israel open clinic in Tel Aviv, details tbc

Friday 24th May:

Bethlehem area: Battir (UNESCO world heritage village), Al-Masara and Al-Walaja to see the effect of the separation wall round Bethlehem, Bethlehem itself, Aidaa camp, guided by Aaron Garcia (student of Rabbi Mark's, on six-month EAPPI tour). 

Saturday 25th May:

Neve Shalom (unconfirmed).

Time off in Tel Aviv.

Party! Social mixer, (before dinner, meet some youth, and then open social time with all the other partner organizations invited) 5-7pm, with music(?), refreshments .

 

Minutes 1st May 2012

Sukkat Shalom Council meeting Tuesday 1st May 2012 7:30pm

At 10 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh

Present

Gillian Raab, Nick Silk, Ricky Hogg, Maureen Mackinnon, Claudette Hudes, Norman Crane, Rebecca Wober, Helen Ford (minutes)

Apologies

Phil Wadler, Maurice Naftalin, Sue Lieberman

1. Minutes of meeting on 6th March were approved

2. Matters Arising (not covered below)

Phil has paid for a year’s subscription for the new emergency phone and will claim this back on expenses. The previous account has been cancelled.

There has been no progress on the erev Shabbat booklet due to the b’nei mitzvah of Adam and Leora

There was some discussion on the subject of announcements that can go into the newsletter. While it was agreed that this had been discussed at the previous meeting, it was confirmed that all non-ELJC related meetings should go in a section at the end of the newsletter with a general ‘disclaimer’, along the lines of “the following events have been notified to ELJC. They are reproduced here for the benefit of members who may wish to attend them.”

3. Composition of Council

Maureen was standing down as a member of the council but will carry on with the catering. There is a need for a catering team. Rebecca to be council liaison for Catering and Kate, Wendy, Claire Hogg and Anna Duncan to be approached to be members of the team. Action Maureen

4. Reports

a) Treasurers Report

Everything now online. The Pesach Caterers will accept a Bank Transfer for Payment. Reminder letters being sent out regarding unpaid subs. Three quarters have been paid. Kol Nidre appeal cheques are still to be sent off. Action Gillian and Claudette

b) Religious Affairs

Things going well. Shavuot – 26 May, service will be followed by cheesecake and discussion. Borders service 9 June. Friday Erev Shabbat service o 13thn July will be addressed by an American Education Director from New Mexico and followed by a Chavurah Supper.

c) Cheder and adult education

We may be gaining another child or two in the cheder. Norman to sort 2012/13 Academic Year session dates for bookings as soon as possible.

We seem to be having more Spinoza meetings than Tea and Talmud, so we need to see if balance can be redressed. Action Nick: When planning Mark’s next visits

Sunday Morning Hebrew Group has a new member. Norman responded to a request to do an Education session at Oaklands School (learning disability) on the topic Pesach. The children appeared to concentrate for 25 minutes. We recorded our thanks to Norman for doing this.

d) Membership

New Member – Helen Sherbourne formally welcomed to the community. There are a few more potential members. Rebecca to design a welcome to the community card.

5. SCIO Application Update

The application was formally submitted and we have had a request for some small changes as well as a detailed list of our assets. Gillian will submit this shortly.

6. Quiz

Intercommunity Quiz. Sunday 4th November. Wait how many people sign up before deciding venue, St Marks to be asked if they have the facilities needed to have the quiz there. Action Nick Reply to be sent stating interest and Kristi to be asked if she is willing to organise. Action Gillian

7. Facebook

Helen Sherbourne has volunteered to set up a Facebook page for us so we have a better social media Social Media presence. We will monitor how this is going. Action everyone.

8. Jewish Leadership Council

We have received an invitation from this group. It is self-appointed. We shouldn't feel obliged to send someone. Email to be forwarded to Nick.

9. Funeral Directors

Gordon Barclay is looking in to changing Funeral Directors from the Co-op in liaison with Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation who are planning to change. Jonathan and Marjory Brodie expressed some disquiet since co-op relations had been good. 

10. Seder

The communal seder was very successful, with over 90 people, only 16 of whom were guests from elsewhereAction Maureen to check if this is correct. Two last minute people away. Appears to have made a small profit, but details currently unavailable to allow for post deadline cheques to clear. Details to be confirmed later Action Claudette to bring to next meeting.

11, Biennial Weekend

Claudette, Robbert and Gillian attended this very enjoyable weekend and would encourage others to go in 2 years time. Gillian and Nick won Chairman's Awards.

12. Birthday Cards

Thanks to Ricky for volunteering to organise this. Cards will go out to Children, until Bar/Bat Mitzvah age and then potentially for special occasions after 13.

Options for adult birthdays include Sponsoring a Kiddush either by bringing along some food (eg Cake or similar) and Mitzvot but needs flexibility. Ricky will draft and send letters each month to those with birthdays to ask about an Aliyah and a contribution to Kiddush. Rebekah agreed to design some cards that would be suitable to send out.

13. Edinburgh Star

Claudette has asked to become a proof reader for the next issue. There are plenty of articles from us that will feature there. Council members agreed that Sukkat Shalom would become a Patron for £100.

14. Other business Security

Marjory reported a problem with security in May. We need a bigger pool of people willing to do it. It was proposed to rename to Meeting and Greeting and to ask for volunteers in the newsletter. Action: Gillian or Marjory  to pass text text to Hannah

 

The meeting concluded with thanks to the chair.

 

Israel Human Rights Trip 2013

Introduction

You can read an article about the trip in the Newsletter for July 2013 on pages . Link to it here

For three years our Kol Nidre Appeal has benefited “Physicians for Human Rights — Israel” (PHR-I).  To find out more about their work, we had a visit last year from Miri Weingarten, who spoke to us at a chavurah supper.  After her presentation—disturbing and inspiring in equal measure—we asked what we ourselves could do about the situation in Israel/Palestine.  Her reply: “go and see for yourselves”.  In that spirit, I propose a Sukkat Shalom trip to Israel on which we will be hosted by PHR-I and other human-rights-oriented NGOs; they will show us what's going on, and we will learn from them directly.  And though I hope we would do more than merely visit, even by the act of going we would be helping—human rights organisations tell us that they take great strength from supportive visits such as this. Comments from our correspondents in Israel include

...a very interesting and important program
Wish you a great success for this important tour.
We are looking forward to having your group with us.
exceedingly encouraged that you wish to facilitate a trip for your community to visit Israel and the OPT 

itinerary (last update 9th May)

What it Will Cost 

Latest estimate (sent out by e-mail, 25th January) is from £750 plus meals and extras, from Edinburgh, depending on the standard of accommodation you prefer. Without travel, it will be about £400. The message is here.

Travel from Edinburgh

Everyone is making their own arrangements, of course. This is the cheapest way that I've found of getting from Edinburgh.

EJ = easyJet
A = Aegean Airlines

Outward, 16th-17th May

Edinburgh Athens Athens Tel Aviv Price at 25th January
EJ6965, dep 14:35 arr 20:40     £79.49
    A3928, dep 22:40 arr 00:30+1 €125

 

Return, 26th May

Tel Aviv Athens Athens Edinburgh Price at 25th January
A3929, dep 07:00 arr 09:00     €87
    EJ6966, dep 14:00 arr 16:20 £46.66

Accommodation

See my e-mail and the e-mail from House 57.