LJS honours survivor with special Shabbat

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR Ann Kirk celebrated her 90th birthday at a special Shabbat service at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue St John’s Wood.

Mrs Kirk read the haftarah and cut a birthday cake with husband Bob at the subsequent kiddush.

Born in Berlin, she arrived in England on the Kindertransport. Sisters Sophie and Millie Levy took her in, inspired to help by the credo

Ann and Bob Kirk of Rabbi Israel Mattuck, the first LJS rabbi and a founder of Liberal Judaism. She met Bob at a club for young Jewish refugees. They married in 1950 and are now great-grandparents.

The Kirks, who live in Northwood, have been significantly involved in both LJS and Liberal Judaism as a whole. They also continue to raise awareness of the Shoah as speakers for the Jewish Museum, the Holocaust Educational Trust and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Leading the Shabbat service, Rabbi Alexandra Wright recalled a moving interview she had conducted with the couple, during which Mrs Kirk had recalled the horrors of being a Jewish child in Nazi Germany, her Kindertransport experience, the family she lost in the Holocaust and the life she had built in Britain.

“Thank you for all you continue to bring to the LJS,” Rabbi Wright added. “You care deeply for every aspect of this community — its worship, its classes and community care and each and every congregant and visitor with whom you come in touch. We are full of gratitude.”