Murray Brown made his debut as a Sh’liach Tsibbur on Shabbat R’eih, 3 September, co-leading the service with his mentor, Harvey Kurzfield. A crowd of visitors and members of the Kehillat Kernow congregation were on hand to take part in this special Shabbat service which was also Murray’s farewell gift to his community before he leaves to attend Exeter University. Murray and his family have been active members of our community since their arrival here from Manchester ten years ago.
The service itself was wonderful with poignant speeches from Murray about the importance of the KK community to his life as well as a good sermon from Harvey Kurzfield on the parsha. Mazel tov, Murray on a job well done! All good wishes in your new life as a university student.
A video of actress Maureen Lipman being shown around Penzance Jewish Cemetery by Keith Pearce is now available. She found the inscriptions on some of the gravestones heart warming.
Taken in July 2015, extracts filmed by Reef Television & Channel 4, courtesy of Maureen Lipman. View the video now at the bottom of the Penzance Jewish Cemetery page.
“The arms of the Duchy are blazoned sable, fifteen bezants. These arms were designed in the 15th century, based on the arms of Richard, Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272). The bezants in Richard’s arms were intended to represent peas, known in French as pois, as a punning reference to the French region of Poitou, of which he was count.” – From Wikipedia
At the recent Seder, a good time was had by all, despite the absence of esteemed Newsletter Editor and stalwart Seder chef Pat Lipert, and Treasurer and general logistics wizard Leslie Lipert, who crossed the Atlantic to sample an American Pesach. The potential imbalance of populations was restored by the movement the other way of Rachel Brown’s parents , who travelled from New York to Cornwall to spend Pesach with daughter and grandchildren. Kehillat Kernow Chair Harvey Kurtzfield and Vice-Chair Adam Feldman led the service with great verve. The food was carefully and tastefully prepared by members of the community and the afikomen was found by Isaac Feldman, the last time he will qualify to take part in the search. Once again, we experienced the moving yet joyful story of the Exodus.
The restoration was completed in August 2105. For more details of this and of the cemetery in general go to Penzance Cemetery on this site and to Friends of Penzance Jewish Cemetery. A great deal of credit for the restoration rests with Leslie Lipert, Treasurer of both Kehillat Kernow and the Friends of the Cemetery, in raising the funds, and with Jon Pender, former Planning Officer and Chairman of the Friends, in processing the listed building applications and overseeing the restoration itself.
Two ceremonies are scheduled to mark the restoration. The first of these will be a re-sanctification, which will take place on 13 March, to be attended by the Jewish community in Cornwall and to be led by David Jacobs.
The second ceremony will take place on 18 May and will be attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Bolitho OBE, Colin Spanjar, of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, local dignitaries, significant donors and friends of the cemetery. Please note that attendance at the civic ceremony is strictly by invitation.
