Pioneered by The Samaritans and brought to faith communities by Mitzvah Day, Brew Monday aims to dispel the myth that the third Monday in January is the most depressing of the year.

The goals of the day are to give people the chance to connect over a hot (or cold) drink, to combat the loneliness and isolation that many feel at this time, and to reduce stigma around mental health.

Mitzvah Day Chair Laura Marks CBE – who shared her brew with actress Louisa Clein – explained: “Even something as simple as a quick chat or phone call, over a favourite drink, can mean a great deal to someone who may be going through a difficult time.

“Brew Monday is another opportunity for us to remind the world that a good deed, no matter how big or small, can change someone’s day.”

Taking on board the call of ‘out with the blue, in with the brew’, communal organisations taking part included the Board of Deputies, Jewish Representative Council, Progressive Judaism and Leo Baeck College. They were joined by clergy of all faiths from Neasden Hindu Temple, Christ Church Hendon, Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue and other places of worship.

The entire team at Work Avenue – the community’s leading employment and business support organisation – joined in, and also provided a blog on supporting mental health in the workplace.

On a national level, major institutions supporting the initiative included the NHS, Network Rail, Freemasons, Three and Cambridge University.

Mitzvah Day CEO Stuart Diamond said that the spirit of Brew Monday is something that should be embraced all year round.

He added: “At Mitzvah Day, we believe every day is a good day for a cuppa and a catch-up with someone you care about. A conversation can make a huge difference. Let’s always show kindness and support to those around us.”

The post Communal leaders put the kettle on to support Brew Monday appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

Chabad of Buckhurst Hill is also pleased to announce that Cteen is back. Part of a large international network of teen clubs around the world, Cteen has two sets of programmes and events designed for secondary school children in years 7-10 and then an older division for years 11-13.

This year’s programme and set of events launched in November, with more than 30 teenagers enjoying a Saturday night of games, burgers and chips and a tie dye activity. The teens also got to take advantage of Chabad’s games room with pool table, football table, computer games and couches to chill out.

The club runs monthly, so look out for the next event. Parents can follow @chabadonthehill on Instagram, with teens able to follow the @cteenessex account.

The post Chabad caters for all ages appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

Neil Rebak, Jewish Care community hub manager, told the Essex Jewish News: “The Memory Way Cafés bring people living with dementia and their families together in a unique and special way.

“The cafés are run by our specialist staff and supported by our trained, dedicated and caring volunteers who lead the activities. Carers who attend really benefit from the support of other families they meet who are in a similar position to themselves.”

Activities at the Memory Way Café range from reminiscence with memory boxes, talks, music, exercise to presentations from museums and art galleries.

If you would like to find out more information about the new Memory Way Café in Redbridge, and other activities that support people living with dementia to live well, please call the Jewish Care Direct helpline on 020 8922 2222 or contact helpline@jcare.org.

The post <strong><em>New help for people and families living with dementia</em></strong> appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

LEYTONSTONE and Wanstead Synagogue (LAWS) are delighted to be organising a Leytonstone Menorah street party and candle lighting on Sunday 18 December at 5:30pm.

Free latkes, doughnuts and hot chocolate will be served as Leytonstone rocks to foot-tapping live Klezmer music and the Mayor of Waltham Forest lights the first Chanukah candle.

All are welcome at the event, which will take place just opposite Leytonstone underground station at the junction of Fillebrook Road and Grove Green Road.

The Leytonstone Menorah was made using funds granted by Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture 2019 and with support from the Highways Agency. The street party is supported by the London Borough of Waltham Forest’s Leaders Fund.

For further information, please email info@lawsynagogue.org.

Chabad will be hosting their popular Chanukah lightings all across North East London and Essex throughout the festival – with everyone invited to come and take part.

The dates and times are below:

Sunday 18 December – Buckhurst Hill – Lighting ceremony at 6pm

Monday 19 December – Barkingside – Lighting ceremony at 3.45pm

Monday 19 December – Epping – Children’s entertainment at Epping Town Hall at 4pm
Lighting ceremony on Epping High Street at 5.30pm

Tuesday 20 December – Loughton – Lighting ceremony at 6pm

Wednesday 21 December – Woodford – Lighting ceremony at 6pm

Thursday 22 December – Chigwell – Lighting ceremony at 6pm

Saturday 24 December – Gants Hill – Lighting ceremony at 6.45pm

In Southend, the entire Jewish community and wider public are invited to the lightings at the Cliffs Pavilion Plaza – with free doughnuts for all!

The dates/times are:

Sunday 18 December – 5.30pm

Monday 19 December – 6.45pm (Gala Night)

Tuesday 20 December – 6.45pm

Wednesday 21 December – 6.45pm

Thursday 22 December – 6.45pm

Friday 23 December – 2.15pm

Saturday 24 December – 6.45pm

Sunday 25 December – 5.30pm

The post Essex Menorah Lightings – dates and details appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

The competition, which received hundreds of votes from across the community, saw Rebbetzen Blima Wollenberg of Woodford Forest United Synagogue being named as the winner. Her winning S’mores Cheesecake, which draws on her American roots, is currently on sale at the North London bakery ahead of Shavuot on Sunday.

Being told that she had won the Choose Your Own Cheesecake competition was ‘very exciting’ for the Rebbetzen, ‘especially as I never usually win anything!’ She also gave credit to her son, Mendel, who was responsible for entering her into the competition, and described it as ‘a win for both of us!’

The Rebbetzen is a keen baker and cook who ‘loves creating new things with food’. Her S’mores cheesecake, which contains a combination of toasted marshmallows, Graham crackers and chocolate is a firm favourite amongst regulars to the synagogue’s Shavuot kiddish where there are often over 20 flavours of cheesecake on offer – all baked by the Rebbetzen herself!

For those looking wanting to make the journey North to taste Rebbetzen’s Wollenberg’s winning creation, as well as other prize-worthy cheesecakes, COCO Bakery on Russell Parade in Golders Green is open until late every evening, apart from Fridays and Saturdays. For every S’mores Cheesecake sold COCO Bakery will make a donation to the US Chesed which does vital work supporting vulnerable members within the community.

The Rebbetzen will be waiting until Shavuout before sampling her winning cheesecake as made by COCO Bakery, adding that she ‘cannot wait’ to taste it!

The post A Winning Shavuot Treat appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

All pupils worked on a ‘Bake, Make and Create’ project whereby they selected a different task to complete each day. 

There were over 30 activities to choose from, including baking challah, moulding Havdalah candles, creating a ‘Shabbat in a Box’ for a friend and designing paper flowers. 

One evening after school, 60 families then joined together virtually for a Chocolate Cake Bake.  fter decorating their cakes with a Shabbat or Parasha theme, pupils had the opportunity to enter them into the WIJPS cake decorating competition. 

There was also a Kabbalat Shabbat led by Tribe’s Rabbi Cobi Ebrahimoff, as well as the school teaming up with Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue to host the United Synagogue’s ‘Kabbalat Shabba  Live’. 

Deborah Harris, the school’s Jewish Studies lead, said:

We unfortunately had to cancel all our informal Shabbat related events this year due to Covid – our Friday night dinner for Years 3 and 4, our Shabbaton for Years 1 and 2 and our Year 5 residential Shabbaton. “

We didn’t want the children to miss out completely so decided to organise a virtual Shabbat programme to bring our WIJPS community together and we have been completely overwhelmed by its success with every family engaged in the activities.”

The post WIJPS Virtual Shabbat has all the right ingredients appeared first on Essex Jewish News.

MICAELA BLITZ takes a look at some of the organisations and individuals coming together to help the community in these uncertain times.

MADE WITH LOVE CHICKEN SOUP RUN

WHEN Yochy Davis made a bowl of chicken soup for her elderly, non-Jewish neighbours during lockdown, she never imagined it would lead to a regular weekly delivery for more than 100 people in the local area… but that is exactly what happened.

As she explains:

I was concerned about my neighbours being unable to get food or cook for themselves, so I took them round some soup and challah so they had something healthy and nourishing to eat, after all they do call it Jewish Penicillin don’t they?

As people started to hear about what Yochy was doing, she received more requests to deliver food to other elderly and isolated people within the Essex Jewish community – and the Made With Love Chicken Soup Run began.

Yochy soon enlisted her good friend, Lesley Adams, to help deal with organising the deliveries. She was happy to use some of her previous event organising experience to help manage the 12 volunteer drivers who deliver across the Essex area, often stopping for a socially distanced chat on the doorstep with those they visited.

Lesley told us: Many of the recipients were really pleased to have someone to chat to whilst in isolation, and their faces really lit up when the drivers arrived. It really made their day!

Blanche, 93, from Loughton, has been a recipient of the service since it started. She was in isolation from March, even before lockdown and really appreciated her weekly visits. Blanche said:

It was always so lovely to see someone, and the goodies that they brought as well as the soup were always very welcome. I think everyone involved has made a great effort, and I hope that it continues.

Cooking for so many people on a weekly basis was very much a military procedure requiring a lot of planning. Photos posted on the Made with Love Chicken Soup Run Facebook page showed the huge saucepans Yochy used to make the soup, despite being a vegetarian herself. Above her stove can be seen a Hebrew sign, which Yochy roughly translates as ‘You open your hand and sustain all life’, which she feels is “very relevant to the work that we have been doing”.

Yochy had help from a small army of volunteers, who all helped out in their own way to get things done. Her ‘Kneidle Queens’, Sarah Bradley and Stacey Goodman, produced over 600 kneidles each week; and Tamara and Sandra Waldman, as well as Joanne Burns, made ‘mountains of latkes’.

Many others helped make fruit salads, challahs and cakes’ all from their own homes. Local businesses also got involved; Trevor Shulton supplied fruit and Hardel donated fruit and vegetables, Shalom Bakery in Gants Hill offered challahs, as did another local deli. La Boucherie in Barkingside gave away chicken and carcasses to help make the gallons of soup produced.

Yochy has been overwhelmed with how the project grew, and the amount of people who got involved. She said: “The community has been unbelievable, and we definitely couldn’t have done it without them. People have been so generous, not only with their time but with produce; and it has been a truly amazing group effort from the whole community.”

The service also delivered to those isolating within the wider Essex community who were not Jewish. All were very appreciative of their deliveries. In July, the project started being run out of Loughton Synagogue and chef Andrew Kennard became involved.

Lesley took over the running of the project, along with help from Rochelle Orgel, Sandra Waldman and Rabbi Abrams. As she explains: “The whole thing is growing each week, and we have a fantastic team of volunteers who have all been amazing. I can’t thank them enough for their help, especially Rabbi and Rebbetzin Abrams!”

Yochy and Lesley’s own hard work and commitment have also been recognised and both have been given the honour of Ayshet Chayil, which they are both very pleased to receive.

With so many people within the community now involved in the project through volunteering and making donations, Lesley hopes that the Made with Love Chicken Soup Run will be able to continue for a very long time. She added:

Out of little acorns, we have an incredible project that will run and run.

The post Food glorious lockdown food appeared first on Essex Jewish News.