Registerd as a Charity in the UK.
Reg No. is: X20677

Cent - May 2005

"is a remarkable survival...
and is all the more exceptional
for continuing in use
as a synagogue"

English Heritage

This motley crew is the delightful congregation at my local synagogue
in Stepney! It is the `Congregation of Jacob Synagogue' Purim party -
Purim commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination. The VITAL SPARK is David Brandes who lives for keeping this tiny community going - his energy in firing everyone up is tireless. He glows with the pride that it is owned and managed by members of the community. That's me coming out of the room at the back after sneaking a 'Hamentasch Cookie that my sister bought for everyone after the service. Hamen is the baddie, so whenever his name is mentioned, everyone stamps there feet, and shakes their 'groggers' which is a rattleyou can see one on the lady in the wheelchair's lap. Eating Hamentaschen symbolises eliminating wicked opinions as they are supposed to be his ears! It is likely that this congregation, which consisted of first generation immigrants from Lithuania, Russia and Poland, Orthodox Jews from small shtetls (villages) such as Stetziver, Kalisz and Vikaviskis, met in the front room of the founder's family house on Commercial Road, around 1903.