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| JCORE Newsletter
March 2010 / 5770
'Bumper' Pesach Edition ! |
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Dear Friends and Supporters,
First, thank you for your fantastic response to our SOS for the Old Barn - 160 people signed the on-line petition within the first 36 hours! We'll keep you posted with developments.
We also made waves with our letter to the Guardian about child detention, and as a result have ensured a Jewish presence in this important national campaign. Sanctuary is very much on our minds just now, so we've produced a downloadable supplement of Four Questions on this topic. We hope you will incorporate them into your own Seder, and wish you a very happy Pesach.
Edie Friedman
Executive Director
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 Edie and our new Deputy Director, Neil Levitan (pictured, right, with Ed Fordham) took part in the Hampstead and Kilburn hustings organised on March 4th by the Jewish Social Action Forum to launch their General Election Manifesto. Answering questions were Glenda Jackson, MP, and prospective candidates Chris Philip (Conservative) and Ed Fordham (Lib Dems).
JCORE brought along a copy of the Sanctuary Pledge for the candidates to sign. The Pledge, produced by Citizens for Sanctuary, of which JCORE is a member, commits candidates to campaigning responsibly on asylum issues, safeguarding the right to sanctuary and helping to end the detention of child asylum seekers.
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| Campaigning - end child detention now
 The campaign to stop child detention is gaining momentum, with growing support from faith and community leaders, the medical establishment, writers and actors, and thousands of ordinary citizens. This campaign is winnable but we must keep up the pressure. If you haven't already done so, please write to your MP now, expressing your concern. For stories and updates, including quotes from JCORE, see the ECDN website.
If you are a doctor, you can also sign a medical petition. Click here for details.
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 Four questions on sanctuary for Passover
 We've had a terrific response from across the board to our new Pesach resource - a supplement of Four Questions on sanctuary.
This is JCORE's contribution to the Sanctuary Pledge campaign, and the questions explore our own history of asylum in the UK and our responsibilities to those seeking sanctuary here today. Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner of North Western Reform Synagogue said: "These are excellent, clear, usable sources for adults and children which will enhance any Seder and renew our understanding of the meaning of freedom."
Similar praise has come from rabbis from the Orthodox, Masorti and Liberal movements, as well as from the Board of Deputies. Download your copy here.
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 Antonia Cohen writes: "I often look back as I leave the day centre and see huddles of children over Usborne's illustrated First 1000 Words. We hand out about three or four dictionaries each week and they are hugely appreciated". The main languages continue to be Pashtu and Dari but we have also recently supplied Tamil dictionaries to newly-arrived refugees from Sri Lanka. Susan Hahn now provides invaluable help in distributing the dictionaries. Susan is the granddaughter of Lola Hahn Walberg, who was one of the organisers of the Kindertransport.
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 Alyth Synagogue children had lots of fun customising their nappy bank (right), which has been brimming with donations. We now have nappy and wipes banks in six local nurseries from which we have collected hundreds of nappies for asylum-seeking and refugee families. Generous parents have been buying new packets as well as giving us their unwanted opened packets after potty training is over or when the size is outgrown.
At Gan Alon nursery they also presented us with £45 from their Tzedakah collection. The cost of a packet of nappies often exceeds what many asylum seekers live on for a week. The nappies have been most gratefully received at the NNLS drop in, the Helen Bamber Foundation and our new mother and toddlers group.
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Forthcoming events
Book now for these events in association with the newly-reopened Jewish Museum.
29 April - Black and White on Television: Race Relations and the BBC in the 60s and 70s
Dr Gavin Schaffer, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, will explore racial attitudes at the BBC in the generation of Enoch Powell and the Race Relations Acts. Uncovering the roots of the Immigrants Programmes Unit and considering the representation of Black, Asian and Jewish people on TV and radio, he will look at controversial drama, comedy and news broadcasting. Click here for more details and
13 May - Exiled Poetries
How can you learn to sing when your tongue is not your own? How do you tell a story no one can understand? Join international poets Linton Kwesi Johnson, Yang Lian and Mahdad Majdian who will read from their work and share their stories of migration, longing and new life. Presented by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg. Curated by Siofra McSherry. Click here for more details and tickets.
Tickets for these two events: £10 Box office: 020 7284 7384
The Jewish Museum is at 129-131 Albert Street, London NW1 7NB |
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 The Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Registered Charity 281236
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