Speaker Report for 10 January 2013 - Peter Henry on 'What is it like to be Jewish'

MEETING SPEAKER REPORT 10 JANUARY 2013

'What's it Like to be Jewish' by Peter Henry

In his talk  'What's it Like to be Jewish?, Peter Henry professed to be not a devout Jew, but nonetheless he took members through a bewildering array of facts about the Jewish Religion.

Starting with the world demographics of Jewish populations (under % of mankind) he traced their movements from Abraham's travels through the Crusades and hence to modern Europe. A brief survey of the 4 main languages:- Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew, and Yiddish was followed by a review of the Jewish Calendar.

Then members were shown the plan of an Orthodox Synagogue, together with its services and the hiring by their congregations of their Rabbi.  A run through the Torah (the 5 books of Moses) lead to a 'fashion show' of hats shawls and ornaments, and a summary of some of the ceremonies: Bar Mitzvah, the Ketubah, and Chuppah.

He finally highlighted two 20^th Century events which had a profound impact, the cashiering of Dreyfus which ignited the Zionist cause in Europe, and the Holocaust which wiped out a third of the Jewish population. Both gave an unstoppable momentum to the birth of modern Israel.

We all went away more knowledgeable.

Report Prepared by Rtn George Chapman