The Welcome Of A Broad Church
On Friday evening, we took the twins to a Shabbat service. According to Jewish religious law, Shabbat begins from a few minutes before sunset every Friday. On a grey, wet midwinter day in rural West Cork, this would place it at, more or less, lunchtime.
However, the Munster Jewish Community ordained that things would kick off long after nightfall, viz. at 5.30pm in Cox’s Hall, Dunmanway, which is a pretty little town, famous for being the birthplace of Sam Maguire, a Gaelic footballer, as well as for the manufacture of linen, the brewing of beer and an annual 1,000-year-old horse fair. According to the census, the neighbourhood’s Jewish population is zero, so the band of worshippers that foregathered there must presumably, like us, have travelled some distance.
The service was short, just 40 minutes, and conducted by two visiting rabbis, one from the UK and one from the USA, in a rather chilly back room illuminated by fluorescent strip lighting. It was so cold that most of the congregation, which numbered about 40, kept their coats on. During the quieter moments, we could hear freezing rain smacking loudly against the windows.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
