Author: Ben Soffa

Members of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community helped lead the civic commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, hosted by the Mayor of Lancaster. Kaddish was said in remembrance of our six million dead, together with the El Malei Rachamim. Together with members of other communities targeted by the Nazi regime, we recommitted ourselves to seeking […]

We were proud to host a night of Jewish song and Klezmer dancing, featuring Rabbi Danny Bergson and the Ey Up Klezmer Band. Joined by a range of local community partners, councillors and others, the night saw a positive and vibrant celebration of Jewish identity and culture.

Members and friends gathered for a Communal Seder to celebrate the festival of Passover.

Please join us in commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day at 6pm on Thursday 30th January in the Memorial Garden to the side of Lancaster Town Hall. Community members will say Kaddish and El Maleh Rahamim in remembrance of our six million dead and be joined by civic and other community leaders in memory of the Jewish […]

We have had a busy year, with many activities and events, participation in the local community and developing our membership of the Board of Deputies. We sadly lost several members of our community this year, including Wendy Bellany, Ruth Henig, and of course Malcolm Weisman.  Last year’s AGM was on 21st September, between Rosh Hashana […]

In response to the recent far-right gatherings in the area, our newly-elected Chair Ben Soffa spoke of the need for anti-racist unity alongside representatives of other faith communities, political parties, trade unions and others at a meeting of Stand Up To Racism at Lancaster Town Hall on September 12 2024.

In light of recent events both locally and nationally, we have written to our local Muslim community as follows: Dear members of the Lancaster Muslim community, As the leaders of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community we wish to express our support and solidarity, given the extremely worrying events of the past week. It is […]

The Community will be hosting services for Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur during October 2024. Details of all services will be sent to those on our mailing list and all are welcome. As in previous years, we will be following Liberal Judaism’s Machzor Ruach Chadashah, copies of which will be available for everyone.

From a talk by Fiona Frank The Holocaust was an extreme example of dividing people and breeding hatred between peoples who should be natural allies against oppressive governments and oppressive economic and judicial systems. There are so many examples of ‘righteous gentiles’ that we can be assured that the strategy isn’t always successful. In turn many […]

Members of Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community were understandably very concerned by the events in Texas over the weekend, when four Jewish synagogue congregants were taken hostage during the Shabbat service at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. The hostages were eventually freed. The perpetrator was a Muslim man from Blackburn who was shot […]