Focus on the community

We at Jackson's Row are a varied and talented community.  Please use the blog to tell us a little about yourself or your family, or what you're up to.  Contact Mandy at the shul office and she can give you an email address for articles, or put you in touch with the blog editor, who can interview you.

To get you started, here's some news about our own Noam David Wright, who has a new single - NOW 79 - available for download ...

1.  What inspired your new single?

NOW 79 is what you might call a burst of 'melodic frustration'. I have always considered myself politically and socially a left-wing liberal, but am increasingly dismayed at how fellow liberals (not least organisations) have seemingly lost the plot in recent years, and have become so obsessed with political correctness that reasonable disagreement on certain social issues (from feminism, to religion, to multiculturalism etc) has now become taboo. Liberals are now stifling political discussion, rather than promoting it. 

2.  How would you describe your musical style?

 

I listen to various kinds of music all the time (everything from Dusty Springfield to Steve Reich), but at the moment I am mostly interested in late 70's new wave/pop-rock luminaries like Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. Great songwriters, who had great-sounding bands. 

3.  How long has singing/songwriting been part of your life?

I started songwriting as a teenager, not least for my first band Breather, but then in my early 20's basically lost my confidence and gave it up. I finally committed myself to writing and performing again when I returned to Britain (after living abroad) in 2012. 

4.  How important is your Jewish identity to the nature of your music?

It's always there in the background and I would actually love to record some of my own versions of Jewish liturgical songs, like our friend David Hoffman, whom I play with in the shul band Shir Chadash, but at the moment all my resources are going into my secular music, to see if I can get that off the ground. 

5. Where can we get hold of your new single?

NOW 79 (and my previous) tracks are all available for downloading/streaming at Bandcamp.com:  https://darkbloom.bandcamp.com/track/now-79

The video for the single is on Youtube here:  http://youtu.be/I5Sh_7HPKLg

If people like what they hear, I would be very thankful for any support they can give - for just 49p they can buy a download, or simply 'like' the Darkbloom Facebook page (link below) and kindly share my music with friends. 

https://www.facebook.com/darkbloommusic

 

Here are some Purim memories ...

See you soon!

Happy Purim!

A message from Rabbi Silverman:

Purim is pure fantasy. The Megillah lends itself to parody, pantomime, fancy dress and fun.
But it is not a kids’ festival. It's for everyone. In our terrible times post Paris and Copenhagen, remember the Jewish secret weapon – humour - and give a show of strength to your shul to show that our spirit won't be beaten!
One of my colleagues tweeted this: my phone autocorrects 'Purim' to 'Putin'! Maybe it's a cue for a shpiel?
Laura Janner Klausner hit the nail on the head (see the previous blog entry) with a serious message.
There's another one: Haman (blotted out be his name) told the king: there are people scattered among your provinces who don't conform. Therefore the king should not suffer them to exist.
Bear that in mind this week. The EDL will be marching in Manchester next Monday. Everything they stand for we stand against.
Keep the Purim Spirit alive! 

On Thursday afternoon - Purim day itself - outside Manchester Town Hall, ‘We Stand Together’  is a gathering intended to be a show of strength to promote community cohesion.  We Stand Together has been organised by Greater Manchester Police. It starts at 5.30 pm and lasts till 7. Please come along and forestall and counteract the EDL. There will be refreshments – or you can bring your own hamantaschen!

Just before that on Thursday morning at 10.30 am at shul, there will be a Megillah reading with discussion – please come along.

And at Friday’s shiur at 5pm at shul, Rabbi Michael Hilton will be introducing his new book, Bar Mitzvah; a History. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bar-Mitzvah-History-Michael-Hilton/dp/0827609477/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 All are welcome.

A big thank you and sh' coyach to Rabbi Laura, who has sent us the script for her wonderful Pause for Thought aired this morning on Radio 4 Breakfast. Read and be inspired ....

Good morning!

I’ve just returned from Belfast, visiting the Shades Programme which is training Israeli and Palestinian civil servants and NGO employees in conflict resolution and negotiation skills.

We were at Stormont, now the seat of the Northern Irish Assembly. Politicians from across the political spectrum, many of them once sworn enemies who had been at the crucible of the conflict, shared their experiences of the Troubles. They told us that they had all believed they had God on their side and their side only.

It was fascinating watching Palestinians and Israelis listening to parliamentarians who included ex-prisoners. They heard stories of transformation from terrorist activity to accountable parliamentary roles.

I was particularly affected by hearing Monica McWilliams, from the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition. Every evening during the Good Friday talks, the participants were set homework by the leading negotiators. Monica explained that she would gather colleagues around her kitchen table to deliberate over potential clauses of the suggested agreement. The next morning, the women explained their deliberations. It was this willingness to share ideas that brought others along with them and modelled new ways of collaboration and power sharing.

This was a timely visit for me as next week Jews will revisit our own history, celebrating the festival of Purim, when the risk-taking negotiation by another woman leader, the Biblical Queen Esther, paid off. Esther invited the King of Persia to her banquet table and persuaded him to reverse a plot to kill all Jews in his Empire.

It’s surprising that the name of God doesn’t appear anywhere in the Book of Esther. Sometimes it’s better not to invoke God’s name or wait for God to intervene, to be delicate with the use of the divine.

In Belfast, the politicians talked about a watershed moment when a delegation visited South Africa to hear about the negotiations that ended apartheid.  Nelson Mandela told them: “You, and no one else, have got to change this situation.” By revisiting someone else’s history, they saw a possibility for accommodation in their own struggle. They knew they couldn’t leave the work to anyone else.

Dehumanisation of the other side means negotiation often appears impossible. Self-perpetuating and self-destructive narratives on either side means it takes fierce courage to get round the negotiating table. It takes a Queen Esther or a Monica McWilliams to help change the narrative and challenge situations that seem as bleak, as they do unique.

...

And here's an appropriate tipple for Purim!