The following is reproduced by kind permission of the Jewish Chronicle:

Small communities fulfil quest to meet and learn

THE CANON of Rochester Cathedral, Jonathan Meyrick, and the minister to small Jewish communities, the Rev Malcolm Weisman, welcomed guests from the South-East to the 13th Quest conference.

The gathering, organised by the Rev Weisman and co-sponsored by the Jewish Memorial Council and B’nai B’rith, brings together members of small communities to ex-change ideas and make contacts with others in a similar position.

Held in Chatham’s Orthodox Memorial Synagogue and hosted jointly with Kent Liberal Jewish Community, it united representatives from Rochester, St Albans, Canterbury, Tonbridge Wells, Margate, Reading and Guildford, Eastbourne and Southampton, among others.

“We packed a lot in,” said the Rev Weisman later. “It was an opportunity to hear from people who would probably never go to the smaller communities, because of their size.”

Speakers included Marlena Schmool of the Board of Deputies, giving a statistical analysis of Anglo-Jewry, based on recently published census figures. The board’s vice-president, Flo Kaufmann, highlighted issues of growing anti-Semitism worldwide, and senior vice-president Jerry Lewis spoke about the organisation’s aims.

Other speakers included Alex Fai-man of B’nai B’rith Europe on humanitarian work in Eastern Eur-ope, JC regional editor Lorraine Kirk and graphologist Allan Conway.

Chatham synagogue chairman Jon Weiner said afterwards: “It was an excellent day with a well-balanced programme.

“The talks were useful but equally important was the opportunity to talk to people informally and find out that the small communities have similar concerns and problems and ideas for solving things.”