"Victorian Style" 150th Anniversary Shabbat Service & Lunch -
23rd June 2007
 

This was truly a day remarkable for its festivity. Approximately one hundred and fifty members of the holy congregation attended, dashing in their finery, for this commemorative order of service, followed by luncheon, to mark the founding of the Manchester Congregation of British Jews in the year Eighteen Hundred and Fifty Seven, in the reign of our Sovereign Lady, Queen Victoria.

The service was conducted with verve and gusto by Rabbi Dr Robert Silverman giving the impression of a service of days gone by with full verisimilitude. The Bimah party were attired suitably for the solemnity of the occasion.

Our Reverend Doctor was given every assistance by a number of the junior members of the congregation, of ages between ten and twelve. It was necessary however to avert from attendance a small number of potentially disruptive elements of the lower sort, appearing to be chimney sweep boys, and not at all suitable for solemn worship.

It should further be emphasised that not all of the younger persons in attendance were so inappropriately attired. Some of the young ladies present even had the good taste to cover their hair.

It was to the good fortune of the congregation that the incidence of attendance by the less desirable element was deterred by the presence of that famed private investigator, Mr Sherlock Holmes.