Popular Post mjmooney Posted June 1, 2014 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2014 I am also an English Jew and we are under a constant threat here and abroad, you all no who from and it will not stop with just us and there i will leave it. Bradford synagogue saved by city's Muslims Faced with closure a year ago, today Bradford's synagogue's future is bright, a model of cross-cultural co-operation Zulfi Karim, secretary of Bradford Council of Mosques, and Rabi Rudi Leavor inside Bradford Synagogue. Photograph: Gary Calton Helen Pidd Friday 20 December 2013 15.25 GMT It was around this time last year that the trustees of Bradford's final remaining synagogue faced a tough choice. The roof of the Grade II-listed Moorish building was leaking; there was serious damage to the eastern wall, where the ark held the Torah scrolls; and there was no way the modest subscriptions paid annually by the temple's 45 members could cover the cost. Rudi Leavor, the synagogue's 87-year-old chairman, reluctantly proposed the nuclear option: to sell the beautiful 132-year-old building, forcing the congregation to go 10 miles to Leeds to worship. It was a terrible proposition, coming just after the city's only Orthodox synagogue had shut its doors in November 2012, unable to regularly gather 10 men for the Minyan, the quorum of 10 Jewish male adults required for certain religious obligations. But rather than close, Bradford Reform Synagogue's future is brighter than ever after the intervention of Bradford's Muslim community, which according to the 2011 census outnumbers the city's Jews by 129,041 to 299. A fundraising effort – led by the secretary of a nearby mosque, together with the owner of a popular curry house and a local textile magnate – has secured the long-term future of the synagogue and forged a friendship between Bradfordian followers of Islam and Judaism. All things being well, by Christmas the first tranche of £103,000 of lottery money will have reached the synagogue's bank account after some of Bradford's most influential Muslims helped Leavor and other Jews to mount a bid. This burgeoning relationship is perhaps unexpected. When David Ward, one of the city's MPs, had the Liberal Democrat whip withdrawn over disparaging remarks about "the Jews" and Israel as an "apartheid state", he was publicly supported by many of his Muslim constituents. George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bradford West and an open opponent of Israel, has organised convoys to Gaza and was praised by many of his voters after refusing to engage in a debate with an Israeli student at Oxford University earlier this year. The cross-cultural co-operation is warmly welcomed by Leavor, who moved to the city from Berlin as a refugee in 1937. "It's fantastic," he said this week, in a joint interview with Zulfi Karim, secretary of Bradford Council of Mosques. "Rudi is my new found big brother," said Karim, who is on the board at the central Westgate mosque a few hundred metres up the road from the synagogue. "It makes me proud that we can protect our neighbours and at the same time preserve an important part of Bradford's cultural heritage." Now the two men get on so well that when Leavor goes on holiday he gives the synagogue keys to Karim, as well as the alarm code. They have begun what they hope will be a lasting tradition, whereby the Jewish community invites local Muslims and Christians to an oneg shabbat (Friday night dinner) and Muslims return the invitation for a Ramadan feast and Christians during the harvest festival. For the latter, Karim provided halal mince for the shepherd's pie. At the start of December, Karim and other Muslims attended a hanukah service at the synagogue. Yet until a year ago, Karim didn't even realise the synagogue existed. "The Jewish community kept themselves to themselves," he said. Since the last race riots in the city in 2001, there has been no sign to mark the building. "We didn't want to be the cause of potential trouble, so we took the plaque down over 10 years ago," said Leavor, who said there was an incident a few years ago when one man left the synagogue wearing his kippah, or skull cap, and was spat at by two Pakistani men passing in a car. The Muslims only started to help the synagogue by chance, explains Leavor. He had been approached by Zulficar Ali, owner of Bradford's popular Sweet Centre restaurant, which is just a few doors away from the synagogue. Ali wanted Leavor to help oppose a planning permission for yet another curry house in the area. Leavor agreed and together managed to block the application. Ali then introduced Leavor to a local social enterprise, the Carlisle Business Centre, which awards grants to worthy causes. They gave several hundred pounds for emergency roof repairs, and a local businessman, Khalid Pervais, donated a further £1,400. It was only after getting involved that Karim learned that the mill where his father worked after emigrating from Pakistan in the 1960s was run by a Jewish descendant of Joseph Strauss, the rabbi who founded the synagogue in 1880. Once all of the lottery funding comes through, together with £25,000 pledged by Bradford Council, work will begin to renovate the synagogue. The kitchen will be cleared up, disabled access will be improved and it will open for educational visits from school groups throughout the week. Karim is convinced such initiatives will help build tolerance. "You look at those who killed Lee Rigby, supposedly in the name of Islam. The question is: what makes these young men so radicalised, so angry, so intolerant? I really, really deeply, strongly feel that the way forward is interfaith dialogue – perhaps through food, perhaps through visiting a synagogue or other places of worship." Guardian 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 as we know im wary of islam but its nice to read stuff like that. id never believe anything like that would happen unless it was put infront of me which it has. I think that's the only positive muslim story ive read, as everyone knows the papers and news paint a bad picture of muslims but yeah there is hope yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post chrisp65 Posted June 1, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2014 (edited) I am also an English Jew and we are under a constant threat here and abroad, you all no who from and it will not stop with just us and there i will leave it. It takes some doing, but you've managed to write one of the most frustrating and annoying posts in 39 pages of UKIP garbage. That's quite an achievement. Why would you choose to claim a threat to yourself and others, tell us we know about it, then announce you're not saying any more? I for one, have no idea who you are talking about. General muslims? Radical Islam? Capitalism? UKIP? BNP? The EU? East European Nazis? If it was supposed to be enigmatic I'm afraid it just left me confused. Edited June 1, 2014 by chrisp65 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I don't see what being Jewish has to do with anything tbh. Where is relevancy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I am also an English Jew and we are under a constant threat here and abroad, you all no who from and it will not stop with just us and there i will leave it. Same in sweden, Most jews are moving away from our third largest city cause they no longer feel safe living their, due to constant attacks from young muslim gangs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 at the end of the day you've got to take these fears into consideration when people post stuff. ok you might not agree or it might be border line racism but everyone has their view wether it be wrong or right. no doubt people have lived along side muslims and have had pleasant experiences but for some it just is not like that. but its the same for every religion or race, for as intimidated id feel if I went to live in a big muslim area, they would feel the same if they lived in an all white rough arse council estate. my views on the muslim world are ill informed and misguided but I have no doubt there is a lot of bad in the muslim world. as ive said before I hope I can trust islam one day because I just want a peaceful world man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 but Ermie hasn't mentioned 'muslims' that's just guess work you've been deliberately lead into by somebody you don't know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 true, he should have gave us more. but im just commenting on how we all have different experiences, take ikantcpell for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I've met more arsehole white people than I have arsehole "brown" people (Brown as in Asian ) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I've met more arsehole white people than I have arsehole "brown" people (Brown as in Asian ) With 87% or so of the population being white I'd be surprised if you hadn't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Yes, it was kinda my point If I'd have said "proportionally" on the other hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 at the end of the day you've got to take these fears into consideration when people post stuff. ok you might not agree or it might be border line racism but everyone has their view wether it be wrong or right. no doubt people have lived along side muslims and have had pleasant experiences but for some it just is not like that. but its the same for every religion or race, for as intimidated id feel if I went to live in a big muslim area, they would feel the same if they lived in an all white rough arse council estate. my views on the muslim world are ill informed and misguided but I have no doubt there is a lot of bad in the muslim world. as ive said before I hope I can trust islam one day because I just want a peaceful world man. There's a lot of bad in the Christian world. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Yeah of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 OT I know, but IMO the issue with Islam is that its a "young" religion and like all teenagers it is more than capable of behaving like a bit of a dick. Judaism and Christianity all went threw it, kicking the snot out of their kid brother and each other along the route but they have now, for the most part, grown up and got on with it. Islam is angry because it had a rough few formative years, especially at Christianities hands, but it will grow out of it eventually. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 610 AD , they've only had just over 1400 years to get it right ... sadly some of their laws haven't been updated since that time like I say though , people seem to be confusing "extremists" with normal people .. I've yet to meet a Muslim who wanted to kill me , other than some bloke who insisted I drank some dodgy looking home-brew with him in Lebanon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 610 AD , they've only had just over 1400 years to get it right ... sadly some of their laws haven't been updated since that time like I say though , people seem to be confusing "extremists" with normal people .. I've yet to meet a Muslim who wanted to kill me , other than some bloke who insisted I drank some dodgy looking home-brew with him in Lebanon 100% agree. But I'd argue its that last 500 years thats made the difference to Christianity. Its a tiny minority who are massive dicks. If in doubt, its the one with the tactical vest and the AK47. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I know, why don't all the civilised Christians and Jews got and educate these radical, boisterous, non-civilised religions? I'm sure that'll work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetrees Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Its a tiny minority who are massive dicks. If in doubt, its the one with the tactical vest and the AK47. I know a muslim guy who is a massive dick, largely because of his faith and his view of the world outside of his faith, and I doubt whether he has seen an AK47 in his life. But then I know another muslim guy who is a lovely man, undoubtedly one of the nicest human beings that I have ever met, with a tremendous sense of humour and kindness, largely because of his faith and his view of the world outside of his faith. Interpretation appears to be the key with Islam, which is pretty much the same for those outside of Islam. We are all capable of choosing the type of person that we would like to be, how we wish to live life, and how we wish to treat others. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Every Muslim I've met were thoroughly nice people, wishing to impress nothing more on me than how good their tea was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 yep Trees is right it's your own interpretation of whatever you choose to believe in To chip in with my own anecdotes, on my way into work I regularly pass some christian fundies shouting the odds about abortion and gay marriage and trying to impose how they want to live on other people. By the same token I'm currently working with some gentle people that are setting up a community garden and coffee shop in the hope the local community will take it up and run it all themselves so they can wander off and do another project. It's all about gangs and power and education and prospects and flags and all that jazz. Elsewhere in the world it's reds against blues or russian speakers against non-russian speakers or whatever the crazies can find as a divide. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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