Challah bread, bagels and a Kosher Chinese lunch
 
In the midst of our hectic daily rigmarole North London offered us not only a haven of peace and tranquillity but also a day of enrichment in the subject we have so keenly studied for the past 2 years. Whilst it may sound like a cliché, initiated by our teachers, to say that this trip brought a religion off the pages of our textbooks and into our lives, it is truly not an exaggeration. For those of us who live South of the river it is often easy to forget about what the other side has to offer (Challah bread and bagels being only a few such things).
 
On a crisp, March day we set out to rediscover what the rest of our big city has to offer. We started with a visit to a Jewish care home called The Sage in Golders Green. This was certainly not your average home for the elderly, (such as the delightful Rachel who enthralled us with her inquisitiveness), but also something of a treasure-trove for many of the aspects of Jewish life we have learnt about. Its not in every residential home (not that we’ve been to many), in which you find a mini  Beth Ha’knesset (Synagogue) fitted with glass roof for the festival of Sukkot (temporary dwellings), a kosher kitchen complete with separate sections and sets of utensils for meat and dairy, and spices to mark the end of Shabbat (Havdallah). We left our guide at the Sage in a state of awe at our thorough and extensive knowledge of the Jewish faith (thanks to Mrs. Lewis).
 
We then went on to a special Passover (Pesach) shop, called Kosher Kay’s Supermarket selling Passover goods to fill your heart’s desire, where Mrs Lewis wasted no time in stocking up with everything she needed for her Passover meal, and a bakery (where no one could possibly resist the lures of the endless shelves full to the brim with Challah, bagels and donuts).
 
After this we headed off to a Jewish Cemetery where, after a brief and enlightening talk by our tour guide (Richard, who came all the way from Hong Kong just for us) in the prayer hall, we walked around the vast expanse of headstones reaching virtually as far as the eye could see. One of the most interesting things was noting the many differences between a Christian cemetery (often beautified by colourful sprays of flowers) and a Jewish cemetery (left stark with nothing to distract you from the realities of where you were). It was also explained to us that the flat gravestones on one side of the graveyard belonged to Jews from Spain, Iran and Portugal whilst the vertical ones on the other side were those of European Jews and indeed this was clearly reflected in the names inscribed on the headstones. Among the many memorable and moving graves which were there, we saw that of Jacqueline du Pre (a French cellist), Jack Rosenthal (prolific British scriptwriter and producer) and survivors of both the Titanic and the Holocaust.
 
While we were warned against writing solely about the Kosher Chinese lunch, we couldn’t resist the temptation to feature it as a significant part of our article as it was so worthy of our praise. By the time we left Chopstix, we could barely waddle our way back to the coach, having consumed the array of Chinese delicacies which were laid out in front of us.
 
To end our day we visited Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue where we had an extensive tour of the Sefer Torah scrolls (both in the Ark and on the Bimah), and the gallery where the women sit in the synagogue. Although it is difficult to describe in words many of the things we experienced in terms of enrichment of our education, I hope we have come some way towards sharing with you how much we all enjoyed our day.
 
Verity Reynolds and Sophie Pattison, Year 11