Rabbi’s ‘idol worship’ warning
V THE RABBI of the New West End Synagogue has said those attending private minyanim during the coronavirus lockdown are “idol worshippers” and will no longer be called upon to read Torah in his synagogue.
Moshe Freedman said on Tuesday afternoon: “If you have taken part in a private minyan during the lockdown, you will not receive an aliyah in my shul.
“We cannot offer an honour to idol worshippers,” he tweeted, adding: “You think that you’re praying to God, but you’re actually worshipping the minyan, and that is idol worship.” Rabbi Freedman has been the minister at New West End in Bayswater since 2015.
On March 17, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis ordered the closure of all United Synagogue shuls, including the New West End Synagogue.
He wrote: “We have a halachic imperative to suspend all activity at all of our synagogues until further notice. This includes on-site and off-site prayer”.
Last week, Rabbi Joseph Dweck, the senior rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community, urged congregants not to attend “black market” minyanim.
V KOSHER RESTAURANTS are battling to survive amid the government’s coronavirus lockdown.
Daniel Urinov, the owner of Aviv in Edgware, said 80 per cent of his business relied on dining in.
“As a business, we have to do our best to adapt to the situation we are faced with. In this case, we started our own delivery service, and started doing meals for Shabbat,” Mr Urinov said.
The take-away will operate alongside Aviv’s offerings on online delivery services such as Deliveroo.
“There’s no way it’s going to make up for the loss. There are two sides to it. We are still providing a service to our customers who aren’t getting out. We’ve also got a responsibility to our staff,” he said, “so we are doing our best to keep them all employed.”
Aviv has taken on six drivers to deliver meals throughout the week, and Shabbat meals on Friday morning. They had seen a “better than expected” uptake, Mr Urinov said.
Delivery drivers are classed as “essential workers” by the government and people have been encouraged to order food where possible.
Meanwhile, Carmelli’s bakery in Golders Green has been switching between “the shop being extra busy and one day empty”, according to
There’s no way we are going to make up for the loss’