Do we have a Jewish community in Sheffield?

[Nagel]

Why is it ?

 

Because it's a bit of local atmosphere and colour lost forever.

[crookesey]

Jew is just a description of a people. I think it's favoured by the State of Israel and it's also used by the BBC. People who are shy of using it are just being wimps about their own language.

 

Wrong, might I quote my mate Leon.

 

"I am an Englishman who supports everything English along with Sheffield Wednesday, I also happen to be a Jew, none of these things give me cause for concern".

[alex3659]

My mother is Jewish and doesn't take offence to being call a Jew, actually she is proud of it.

[crookesey]

My mother is Jewish and doesn't take offence to being call a Jew, actually she is proud of it.

 

Which makes you a Jew, due to the maternal line, you will automatically qualify for dual UK/Israeli citizenship.

[alex3659]

Which makes you a Jew, due to the maternal line, you will automatically qualify for dual UK/Israeli citizenship.

 

I had all that when I was a youth, they tried the lot, if I had stayed in Isreal when I was there I looked like having to do national service.

 

I can also say I have seen some of the most beautiful women in the world kitted out in army uniform and armed to the teeth.

Edited December 21, 2010 by alex3659

[crookesey]

I had all that when I was a youth, they tried the lot, if I had stayed in Isreal when I was there I looked like having to do national service.

 

You should be safe now, I shouldn't imagine that the Israeli armed forces are actively recruiting middle aged blades.

[alex3659]

You should be safe now, I shouldn't imagine that the Israeli armed forces are actively recruiting middle aged blades.

 

That's a relief. :roll:..

[pinner]

Now that they have moved to the Psalter Lane Jewish centre they are a lot less visible, in fact almost invisible. I think it's a loss.

So it seems that you did not come along to the public lighting of the Chanukah Menora in the Peace Gardens (2-9 December)!

[Nagel]

So it seems that you did not come along to the public lighting of the Chanukah Menora in the Peace Gardens (2-9 December)!

 

Nope. I was in Denmark then. I doubt I would have come along anyway as I wouldn't have had a reason to.

 

Denmark has a good history regarding Jews. They were the only country occupied by the Nazis who didn't cooperate in the deportation of Jews to the concentration camps and ensured that the vast majority escaped to neutral Sweden just over the water. The Danes even looked after the Danish Jews property so that everything was intact when they returned after the end of the Second World War.

 

For this the whole country was honoured at Yad Vashem (the Isreali Holocaust institution) as being part of the "Righteous Among the Nations". Something for the Danes to be proud of.

[Nagel]

Horatio Bright was another Jewish Victorian industrialist. His story is a very strange one...

 

"On 3rd February 1906, one of Sheffield’s most eccentric characters died. Horatio Bright was interred,without fuss or religious ceremony, in a mausoleum that he had constructed some years previously to house the remains of his first wife and son. In the early hours of the morning, Bright’s remains were carried, in a cab, from the family home at Lydgate Hall, Crosspool to his resting place at Hollow Meadows. There were no mourners, only the undertaker and the mausoleum’s caretaker witnessed the interment. His estate was valued at £137,000, but his will shocked Sheffield as not a single penny was left to good causes in the city. The trustees of the will were specifically instructed to give nothing to Sheffield charities.

 

Horatio Bright came from a wealthy family of Jewish jewellers and had been a prominent figure in the iron and steel industry. He started out as a representative for Turton Bros & Mappin and was so successful that he married the daughter of Thomas B Turton. Bright’s firm of Turton, Bright & Co made high quality dies for the Royal Mint. He exhibited a stubborn streak and was reputed to be a harsh taskmaster, although his employees were paid higher than average wages. He lived up to his wealth and indulged his passion for horses. He often took the reins of a splendidly turned-out coach and four, accompanied by out-riders in livery, to welcome guests to Lydgate Hall.

 

A double tragedy struck the family in 1891, when in the space of five months, both Bright’s wife and only son died. Both were interred, without religious ceremony, in a specially built mausoleum, the interior of which was sumptuously furnished and contained a small organ. Bright had been determined to carry out the last rites himself and this gave rise to gossip and speculation that he had abandoned all his religious beliefs. Bright visited the mausoleum regularly;playing the organ while his groom dusted the coffins and other furniture. Remarkably, his wife’s coffin contained a glass window so that Bright could gaze on her face. The tragedy took away all his interest in outside affairs and for the last ten years of his life he devoted little time to his business.

 

His death and burial attracted little interest in the local press, indeed Bright had left strict instructions that neither his life, career nor burial were to be given publicity.

 

The story took another strange twist. In1983 a report in the Sheffield Star highlighted the plight of the Bright Mausoleums at Hollow Meadows.In January there had been a break-in; grave robbers smashed their way through a half-inch thick steel door and ransacked the coffins inside.The police were working on the theory that the vandals believed there were valuables interred with the deceased. The trustees who looked after the Mausoleum and its surroundings were unsure if anything had been taken. The City Council wanted to deter further such attacks and asked the Home Office for permission to remove the human remains – this was refused. After a number of other attempted desecrations permission was finally given for the bodies to be exhumed and they were re-buried in Crookes Cemetery where a simple headstone marks the final resting place of one of Sheffield’s great eccentrics"

 

And some sad pictures here - http://www.chrishobbs.com/horatiobright4.htm