News archives

September 2009

Rosh Hasahanah Newsletter

Our Rosh Hashanah newsletter is now available for download from our Newsletters page

The service times for the High Holidays and Succot are now on our High Holydays page.

Kent CCJ annual Meeting

On Wednesday, 9 Septemeber 2009, the Kent branch of the Council of Christians and Jews held their annual meeting at Chatham Memorial Synagogue. An address was given by the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, entitled “Can the Spiritual and the Moral be Accommodated in Public Life?” We were extremely fortunate that Bishop Michael was able to join us, just 3 days before his Farewell Service in Rochester Cathedral. Bishop Michael has been a good friend to the local Jewish community during his tenure in the Rochester Diocese and we wish him and his family well for the future.

Open Days

Chatham Memorial Synagogue was open to the public on the European Day of Jewish Culture on Sunday 6 September and the English Heritage Open day on Sunday 13 September 2009. To coincide with the opendays 2 intervies with synagogue members were included in the Sunday programme on BBC Radio Kent on 13 September.

October 2008

Children’s group - Atid


	We would like to thank Karen Connolly who has run our children’s group Atid for the last 4 years. Atid has operated in the Centenary Hall during our Shabbat and Yom Tov services. We are looking for a volunteer to look after the children and keep them occupied during the services. Please email jon@chathamshul.org.uk if you are able to help. We regret that Atid will not be able to operate until we find a successor to Karen.

	September 2008 Happy New Year

	Wishing all our members, friends and anyone who browses this web site a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year and well over the fast. Our Rosh Hashanah newsletter is now available to download from our Newsletters page.

	Synagogue Open Days

	Chatham Memorial Synagogue was open to the public on the European Day of Jewish Culture on Sunday 7 September and the English Heritage Open day on Sunday 14 September 2008.

August 2008

The Magic of Chatham Synagogue

On Sunday 31 August 2008, at the annual garden party, the members of Chatham Memorial Synagogue and their families and guests were treated to a magic show from Ari Phillips, a synagogue member who is a professional magician and children’s entertainer.

Ari’s wife Ismini entertained everyone to two beautiful arias from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and two Israeli folk songs.

June 2008

Kosher Stag Weekend

On Friday 6 and Saturday 7 June 2008, the congregation at the Friday evening and Shabbat morning services at Chatham Memorial Synagogue were joined by 9 Orthodox young men who were celebrating the forthcoming marriage of one of their number, Jonathan Gilmour. Jonathan, who is a trained chazan, conducted the services, assisted by his friends who also formed an impromptu choir.

The congregation then enjoyed a Kiddush and Shabbat Lunch in honour of the occasion and also in celbration of the 80th birthday of the Chairman of the Synagogue Trustees, Hilary Halpern.

March 2008

Magnus 150th Anniversary service

The Mayors of Queenborough, Medway and Ramsgate and consorts with Jon Weiner and Gabriel Lancaster from the synagogue at the civic service to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the election of Lazarus Magnus as Mayor of Queenborough.

The Mayor of Ramsgate can be seen wearing the chain of office presented by Sir Moses Monefiore who incidentally was a member of the Magnus family.

The service was conducted by Revd Malcolm Weisman OBE, Minister for Small Communities together with Rabbi Cliff Cohen of Thanet and District Reform Synagogue and Jon Weiner, David Herling and Gabriel Lancaster from the Chatham Memorial Synagogue.

Irina Shub, a member of the synagogue and a Medway archivist spoke about the life of Lazarus Magnus - click here for the full text.

The synagogue was built by Simon Magnus in memory of his son Lazarus (photo on left) who died tragically at the age of 39.

For further details, please visit our Magnus page.

January 2008

Holocaust Memorial Day


	Once again Chatham Memorial Synagogue had a central role in the organistion and planning of the 2008 Holocaust Memorial Day event. The 2009 event will be at the synagogue.


	This year’s event was held in Rochester Caththedral on Sunday 27 January and was attended by over 200m people. As in previous years, the event was organised in partnership with Medway Council and the Medway Inter-Faith Action Forum.

A powerful poem read by a Holocaust survivor and written by her late brother was followed by various contributions from students of local schools and music from the Cathedral Special Choir. Prayers were read by representatives of Chatham Memorial Synagogue, Kent Liberal Jewish Community and Medway Inter Faith Action.

Please visit our Holocaust Memorial Day page for further details.


	News Archive- September 2007 Rosh Hashanah Newsletter The Rosh Hashanah newsletter is now available to download from our newsletter page. We apologise for the deley in publishing the ewsletter but this was due to broadband connection problems at the home of the editor.

	News Archive- August 2007 Open Days and Inter-faith pilgrimage The synagogue was open on Sunday 2 September 2007 as part of the European Day of Jewish Heritage & Culture and on Sunday 9 September 2007 as part of the English Heritage Open Day. We were very encouyraged by the number of visitors on both days.. On Sunday 9 September, an Inter-faith pilgramage from Gillingham to Rochester called at the synagogue as one of a number of places of worship where they stopped for refreshment and reflection in the spirit of comradeship and solidarity between the different faiths.

News Archive - June 2007

The Value of Prayer

On Sunday June 10th, Chatham Synagogue hosted a discussion with Rev. Malcolm Weisman, the Minister for Small Communities, on the sbject “The Value of Prayer”. This was a Jewish Kent event and so the discussion covered traditional and progressive forms of Jewish prayer.

For further details please visit our events page.

News Archive - April 2007

Jewish Life in the Medway Towns Exhibition

This highly successful exhibition is now at the Visitor Information Centre on Rochester High Street until June. Opening times are: Weekdays 9-5, Saturdays 9-1, (Sundays closed).

Our Passover newsletter is now available for download from our newsletter page. We wish all visitors to this website Chag Sameach and a very Happy Passover.

News Archive - January 2007

Holocaust Memorial Day

This year, once again, Chatham Memorial Synagogue was proud to have been involved with our partner organisations in a very successful commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day at the Chapter school in Strood.

On January 27 2007, the staff and students put togeher a most moving and inspiring programme of poetry, readings, drama and dance together with powerful audio-visual presentations.

It was particluarly pleasing, in view of the bad press that young people often get these days, to see a group of students showimg such genuine feeling for a subject that related to events which occurred before their parents were born.

As well as focusing on the Holocaust itself, the event also referred to other recent attrocities in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia and Cambodia. The theme for this year’s event was ‘The Dignity of Difference’ - a powerful message for the students to take back with them into their everyday lives.

News Archive - November 2006

Jewish soldier remembered


	As we approach Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, perhaps we should spare a thought for the memory of Rifleman Lazarus Jacobs who is buried in the cemetary at the rear of Chatham Memorial Synagogue.



A closer look at the inscription on the grave shows that he was a member of King’s Royal Rifle Corps and he died on 10th May 1917. Please let us know if you have any further information about Rifleman Jacobs.

News Archive - October 2006

Launch of Jewish Kent Heritage Trail

The launch of the Jewish Kent Heritage Trail took place on Sunday 29 October 2006 with visits to 3 historic sites of Jewish interest in the area. Please visit the Jewsih Kent web site to see photos of the 3 sites.

For previous news items, please visit our “News” page.

News Archive - May 2006

Shabbaton - 5th and 6th May

We held a very successful Shabbaton on Friday 5 May and Saturday 6 may 2006 in conjunction with the members of Croydon Synagogue. The services were conducted by the minsiter of Croydon Synagogue, Revd. Mark Daniels, assisted by members of both communities.

The Friday evening service and Kiddush was held at the home of Gabriel Lancaster. The Sghabbat morning service at teh Synagogue was followed by a Kiddush and a lunceon provided by the family of Manny Penner in honour of his birthday. After lunch there were two short talks which were followed by an afternoon service.

News Archive - March 2006

Jonah and the Whale - a Jewish Kent drama workshop

20 children from 4 Kent communities took part in a drama workshop at Chatham Memorial Synagogue on Sunday 26 March 2006. The children helped paint the set which was designed and built by Colin Rutter of Kent Liberal Jewish Community and then took part in the play, directed by TV actress Juliette Kaplan, a member of Margate Hebrew Congregation.






	Please click here to see more pictures of this very successful event

News Archive - January 2006

Holocaust Memorial Service at Chatham Memorial Synagogue

Organised in partnership with Medway Council, Rochester Cathedral and Medway Inter-Faith Action Forum, a service for Holocaust Memorial Day was held at the synagogue on Friday 27 January at 7pm. Speakers included the Mayor of Medway and the Bishop of Tonbridge. There was a Kiddush after the service.

The Mayor read the Holocaust Memorial Day - Medway Statement of Commitment which has been signed by the Mayor of Medway, the Dean of Rochester Cathedral and the chairmen of Chatham memorial Synagogue and medway Inter-Faith Action Forum. Click here to see a copy of the signed statement.


	News Archive - September 2005

The Deputy Mayor of Medway, Cllr Stephen Kearney, and the Senior Vice President of the Board of Deputies, Jerry Lewis, with Gabriel Lancaster of Chatham Memorial Synagogue at the opening of the Jewish Way of Life Exhibition at Woodlands Primary School Sports and Community Arts Centre in Gillingham on Monday, 5 September 2005.

The entertainment for the opening event was provided by the Jewish Youth Choir, conducted by Vivienne Bellos. The choir sang songs by British, American and Israeli composers.

The exhibition is open for the whole of September. Further information and photos can be found on the events page.

News Archive - July 2005

A service in memory of Pearl Lancaster was held at the synagogue on Sunday 10 July. The service which was conducted by Rev. Malcolm Weisman was very well attended by family, friends and past and present members of the community.

A memorial plaque was presented by the Ladies’ Guild

News Archive - January 2005

Holocaust Memorial Day, 27 January 2005

The Holocaust Memorial Event took place at the Corn Exchange, Rochester on Thursday 27 January 2005. This event was jointly organised by representatives of Chatham Memorial Synagogue, Medway Council, Medway Inter Faith Action forum, Rochester Cathedral and the Royal School of Military Engineering. As this year’s event fell on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the theme was liberation. Introduced by Judith Armitt, chief executive of Medway Council, the event included recollections of the Holocaust and of peace-keeping in Bosnia. There was also a section entitled “the Hope of Liberation” by Canon Jonathan Meyrick of Rochester Cathedral. Music was provided by the Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

December 2004

Transliteration in Australia

The small Jewish community in Australia’s capital has turned to the even smaller community in Chatham for help in building up its educational facilities. The ACT Jewish Community in Canberra has decided to adopt the transliterated Shabbat service prepared by Chatham Memorial Synagogue’s David Herling and plans to use it in its adult education programme. Daniel Cohen, Jewish Chaplain at the Australian National University, commented that the community was now in a position to develop beginners’ services on the basis of the Chatham transliteration

October 2004

Jewish Kent Community Day

More than 70 members of all the Kent communities enjoyed an interesting and entertaining day at Chatham Memorial Synagogue on Sunday 31 December 2004, as well as a mouth-watering lunch of chicken soup, viennas and latkes. Visit the Jewish kent Website at www.jewishkent.org.uk

June 2004

New monthly learners’ services

Following a successful trial session in June 2004 we will now hold a learners’ Shabbat morning service on the third Saturday of each month. These are informal, participatory hour-long sessions which give a guided tour of the synagogue service. They aim to make the music, liturgy, customs and spirit of Jewish prayer familiar, and gradually to equip participants with the skills needed to find meaning in traditional Jewish worship.

The Learner’s Service is primarily intended for young people of around bar/batmitzvah age, though anybody who wants to feel more at home in the shul environment is very welcome to attend. We make full use of our new transliterated Shabbat morning service, so that fluency in reading Hebrew is not required. The Service starts promptly at 11.00am. For more details, contact David Herling at d.a.herling@city.ac.uk..

April 2004

Transliterated service will help everyone join Shabbat prayers

A TRANSLITERATED prayerbook is being put together by Chatham Memorial Synagogue in anticipation of a boost in numbers from a housing boom in the Medway and Thames Gateway region and to help new congregants.

The work is being carried out by the synagogue secretary, David Herling, and is being supplied to congregants in a loose-leaf folder interleaved with the appropriate section in the Shabbat-morning prayerbook.

The pages are being illustrated by a member of the congregation, Thea Selby, who is a professional artist.

Eventually the transliteration will be put on the synagogue’s website —
www.chathamshul.fsnet.co.uk — so that other communities can use it.

Chairman Jon Weiner said: “We have had a number of people contact us through the website who say they would like to attend but haven’t been to a service for years.

“We want to maintain a traditional service which is mostly in Hebrew but we want them to be able to follow it.

“We’re also anticipating more people joining as the new housing goes up in the area, so we’ve started this project, which Mr Herling volunteered to carry out.”

The congregation has also been in discussion with Kent Liberal Jewish Community and has agreed to produce a leaflet which can been given to new arrivals to the county, telling them about Judaism in Kent.

“When you move to a new area, finding a synagogue is not necessarily priority for some people,” added Mr Weiner, “so we hope if this leaflet can be put in site offices where new homes are being built, people will know what is available straight away.” He said he hoped other Jewish communities in the area would join in producing the leaflet.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Jewish Chronicle.

Further details can be found on our Transliteration page and details of our Shabbat services can be found on our Services page.


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	Chatham Memorial Synagogue is a registered charity - No. 800902 Website last updated 02 February 2012