Wax works for Neshama Shul and mosquein dialogue
WITH THE experience of years spent battling depression, Ruby Wax told Leeds Jewish Welfare Board supporters that society needed to end the stigma of mental health.
Ms Wax — whose Sane New World showisbasedonherbookaboutneuroscience — addressed LJWB’s gala appeal dinner, which raised £100,000 for its Neshama mental health project.
Information overload was a problem in today’s world, she said. “I want to wave a white flag and say ‘please, that’s enough, I can’t take it’. I can just about take in the weather then I’m exhausted.” She added that “as far as understanding how our minds work, we are in the dark ages. Our brain is driving us, we are not driving it.”
Neshama helps those with mental health problems to re-establish control of their lives.
BRONDESBURY PARK Synagogue members shared details of Jewish life in an exchange programme with Muslims from a neighbouring mosque.
The shul-goers were told how the Imam Khoei Centre in north-west London had been converted into a mosque in the 1980s after being used for synagogue services a decade earlier.
A Muslim calligrapher wrote the Jewish visitors’ names in traditional Islamic styles during the session, which was followed by members of the Al Khoei community making a reciprocal visit to the shul.
Rabbi Baruch Levin said: “Events of this kind are hugely important as they break down perceived barriers between faith communities at a local level, thereby enriching the sense of social cohesion and highlighting the range of common interests we share.”