Israelis Together in Scotland

From Powerbase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

SCoJeC lottery-funded project (2013-14) to connect people from "Israel" living in Scotland, also known as YaCHaS

Israelis Together in Scotland

Type Project of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities
Founded 2013
Status Funded project ended August 2014
Headquarters 222 Fenwick Road, Giffnock, Glasgow, G46 6UE[1]
Area served Scotland

Israelis Together in Scotland (YaCHaS) was a one-year project of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) to connect people from "Israel" — settler colonists in occupied Palestine — and people of that heritage living in Scotland.[1][2] The National Lottery Community Fund recorded a £10,000 Awards for All grant to SCoJeC, dated 3 July 2013, under the title "Linkup: Israelis Together in Scotland", for the period August 2013 to August 2014.[3] SCoJeC announced the project on 8 September 2013. It said YaCHaS was an abbreviation of "Yisraelim b'Chibbur b'Scotland" ("Israelis linked up in Scotland") and also means "relationship" or "connection" in Hebrew.[1] A later SCoJeC report described the name as meaning "LinkUp" in Hebrew, and as "the acronym of 'Israelis together in Scotland'".[2]

The project was run from SCoJeC's office at 222 Fenwick Road, Giffnock, Glasgow, G46 6UE. It was not separately registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator or at Companies House. SCoJeC, now the Jewish Council of Scotland, is the registered charity (OSCR SC029438).[3][4] The intern named on the project was Shani Zour.[1]

SCoJeC gathering for Yom HaAtzmaut, 21 April 2013, at which the planned project was discussed. Photograph published by SCoJeC.[5]

History

SCoJeC's Scottish Government-funded inquiry Being Jewish in Scotland (findings published August 2013) recorded isolation and insecurity among respondents from "Israel" living in Scotland. Some said they were wary of speaking Hebrew in public or of saying that they were from "Israel". One woman in Edinburgh described walking with her children past banners reading "ban Israel, boycott Israel". Another had found "boycott Israel" stickers on water coolers at her workplace.[6][7] In an article of 11 April 2013 SCoJeC said that in the second half of 2012 its intern, Shani Zour, "an Israeli who has lived for many years in Scotland", had held several focus groups and discussions in Hebrew. Participants asked for Hebrew-language information, cultural events, and help with housing, work and British bureaucracy, and SCoJeC said it was seeking funding for a project modelled on that inquiry.[7]

The same concerns appeared in the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council's Community Futures research report of April 2013, written by Fiona Frank with Conrad Cohen and Zour. Zour, a native Hebrew speaker, conducted two open meetings in Ivrit. Fourteen people from "Israel" attended, with partners and nine children; four of those present had come from outside Glasgow. Attendees asked for a Hebrew newsletter, a liaison person, and cultural rather than religious events, including better information about Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom HaZikaron. Two said they had previously worked for the Jewish Agency as shlichim and that, since that programme ended, there had been "very little organisation involving Israelis". The report said the names of two people willing to act as liaison would be passed separately to the Representative Council; those names were not published.[8] The Jewish Chronicle had earlier reported (27 December 2012) that Zour was a Scottish Government-funded intern for three months, assisting Frank on the Community Futures consultation, with a brief "to ensure that young people's voices are heard".[9]

On 21 April 2013, a few days after Yom HaAtzmaut, SCoJeC hosted a Scotland-wide gathering at which, it said, more than 40 people, including children and partners, marked "Israel's" 65th Independence Day with food, folk dancing, a quiz and a screening of the film Mivtza Savta. Zour led a discussion of SCoJeC's planned project. The Jewish Chronicle carried SCoJeC's account of the event on 5 May 2013.[5][10]

Folk dancing at the April 2013 Yom HaAtzmaut gathering. Photograph published by SCoJeC.[5]

SCoJeC announced the lottery grant and the YaCHaS name on 8 September 2013. It said Zour would work with people from "Israel" across Scotland on issues raised by Being Jewish in Scotland and Community Futures, including culture, food, literature and language, and support with housing and immigration bureaucracy, "in partnership with a range of communal organisations". It also said it planned a Hebrew newsletter and a Hebrew section on its new SCoJeC CoNNeCT online forum, which would "complement existing social media groups run by and for Israelis in Scotland".[1] Those groups were not named, and it is not clear from the sources opened here whether the newsletter or the forum section was produced.

SCoJeC later described the 17 August 2014 celebration of "Israeli" culture in Edinburgh as "the final event of SCoJeC's year long Lottery-funded 'YaCHaS' project".[11] In What's Changed About Being Jewish in Scotland (June 2016), SCoJeC said the project had given it "an opportunity to pilot a range of activities for Israelis and people of Israeli heritage living in Scotland in order to combat the feelings of alienation and isolation expressed by Israeli respondents" to the 2012 inquiry, and that "Israelis continue to meet both online and in person."[2] No separately named successor body, and no later activity under the title Israelis Together in Scotland, was found in the sources opened here.

Activities

The first event SCoJeC placed under the YaCHaS name was a Succot gathering at Chatelherault Country Park, near Hamilton, on 22 September 2013. SCoJeC said people from "Israel" living in Scotland and their families ate falafel, salads, a mangal (barbecue) and homemade desserts, and that Forestry Commission staff ran Succot-themed outdoor activities, including the building of five natural shelters. One participant put the attendance at "nearly 50 Israelis".[12]

Building a shelter at the first YaCHaS event, a Succot gathering at Chatelherault Country Park, 22 September 2013. Photograph published by SCoJeC.[12]

On 1 December 2013 more than 60 people gathered at Bridge of Allan, near Stirling, for Chanukah. SCoJeC called this "the first ever event for Israelis in Stirlingshire". The afternoon included candle-lighting, the singing of Maoz Tzur, food, folk dancing (rikudei-am), children's crafts and a quiz.[13]

Four Corners 41 (March 2014) also reported that, at a SCoJeC event during Interfaith Week, which it said coincided with Chanukah, Fiona Frank presented findings from Being Jewish in Scotland and Shani Zour, described there as "SCoJeC's YaCHaS project worker", "led a discussion in Ivrit with the Israelis".[14] The same issue said "SCoJeC's YaCHaS group" had met to share memories of the "iconic Israeli singer" Arik Einstein, who had died in November 2013, at a gathering 30 days after his death, with food, a musical quiz and the lighting of candles.[14]

On 23 March 2014 YaCHaS held what SCoJeC called its first Purim party in Edinburgh, with fancy dress, face-painting, a telling of the Purim story, mishloach manot and a buffet. SCoJeC said the occasion also allowed those present to meet members of the local community and to hear about the Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue, which it described as "a joint initiative between the Orthodox and Liberal communities, supported by SCoJeC".[15]

Participants at the closing YaCHaS event, a celebration of "Israeli" culture in Edinburgh, 17 August 2014. Photograph published by SCoJeC.[11]

The closing event, on 17 August 2014, was a celebration of "Israeli" culture at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh. SCoJeC said more than 140 people took part, including people from "Israel" living in Scotland and members of Jewish communities "from across Scotland", some travelling from Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Stirling. The programme was a screening of Amos Gitai's 2013 film Ana Arabia, set in Jaffa; an improvised performance by the comedy group Lamabati; and The City, a hip-hop opera by the Jerusalem company Incubator Theatre, which had had its Edinburgh Festival Fringe run cancelled after protests against "Israel". SCoJeC said "friends of the Jewish community and of Israel" also attended. After a kosher buffet the day ended with the singing of Am Israel Chai.[11][16]

People

Sources name the following people in connection with YaCHaS, the inquiries that led to it, or the Edinburgh event at which it was introduced to the local community. Where a source identifies someone as an "Israeli", that is stated; otherwise the sources do not say. Nationality is not inferred from a name. No adult attendee is named in the event reports, and no child's name appears in the sources.

Project intern and worker

  • Shani Zour — intern, and later described as the YaCHaS project worker. The sources identify her as an "Israeli". In April 2013 SCoJeC wrote that she was "an Israeli who has lived for many years in Scotland" and a native Hebrew speaker; the September 2013 launch announcement called her "Our Israeli intern".[7][1] Four Corners 41 (March 2014) called her "SCoJeC's YaCHaS project worker".[14] The sources do not name a town or settlement in "Israel"; residence there is that of a settler colonist in occupied Palestine. She ran Hebrew focus groups in the second half of 2012, worked on the Glasgow Community Futures consultation, led the discussion of the planned project at the April 2013 Yom HaAtzmaut gathering, and led an Ivrit discussion with people from "Israel" at the Interfaith Week event reported in Four Corners 41.[7][8][9][5][1][14]

SCoJeC staff and the inquiries that led to the project

  • Fiona Frank — SCoJeC outreach and projects worker, styled in March 2014 as Projects and Outreach Manager. The sources do not state whether she is an "Israeli". She led the Being Jewish in Scotland inquiry, was seconded to coordinate the Glasgow Community Futures consultation, and, during the YaCHaS year, led the CoNNeCT team (the online forum on which SCoJeC had said YaCHaS would have a Hebrew section) and presented at the Interfaith Week event at which Zour ran the YaCHaS Ivrit discussion.[8][9][17][14]
  • Ephraim Borowski — Director of SCoJeC, and co-author of Being Jewish in Scotland and of the 2016 follow-up report that described YaCHaS. The sources do not state whether he is an "Israeli".[6][2]
  • Leah Granat — Deputy Director of SCoJeC, and co-author of the same reports. The sources do not state whether she is an "Israeli".[6][2][18]
  • Conrad Cohen — intern, with Zour, on the Community Futures consultation. Four Corners 37 said funding from the Scottish Government's Adopt-an-Intern scheme, the Jewish Youth Fund (Scotland) and the Netherlee and Clarkston Trust "enabled us to recruit two interns, Shani Zour and Conrad Cohen". The sources do not state whether he is an "Israeli", and they do not name him as a YaCHaS intern.[17][8]
  • Rebecca Hounsom — named with Frank, Borowski and Granat as an author of the June 2016 report that described YaCHaS after the funded year. The sources do not state whether she is an "Israeli".[2]

CoNNeCT (the forum on which YaCHaS was to have a Hebrew section)

  • Ranit Edgar — CoNNeCT project worker. Four Corners 41 describes her as a "Glasgow-based Israeli" and gives her as the Ivrit contact for the forum. The sources do not name a town or settlement in "Israel"; residence there is that of a settler colonist in occupied Palestine. The same report places her in Glasgow at the time.[14]
  • Linda Martin and Sharon Mail — CoNNeCT online outreach workers for English-language work, under Frank. The sources do not state whether they are "Israeli". Martin is also named in Four Corners 43 as SCoJeC's volunteer Highland Ambassador, a separate role.[14][16]

Glasgow Community Futures

  • Paul Morron — asked in 2011 to coordinate and lead the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council's Community Futures process; the April 2013 research report says Frank "worked closely with Paul Morron in the design and implementation of the consultation" that informed YaCHaS. The sources do not state whether he is an "Israeli".[8]

Closing event: film and performers

  • Amos Gitai — director of the 2013 film Ana Arabia, which was screened at the August 2014 Filmhouse event. The YaCHaS write-ups do not state whether he is an "Israeli", and they do not say that he was present.[11][16]
  • Lamabati — comedy group which performed at the closing event. Four Corners 43 calls it "an Israeli comedy group". Individual members are not named.[11][16]
  • Incubator Theatre (Incubator Theater Company) — performed The City at the closing event. SCoJeC referred to "The Israeli artists" at the event but did not name individual members.[11][16]

Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue

SCoJeC said the March 2014 Purim party was also an opportunity for those present to hear about the Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue, "a joint initiative between the Orthodox and Liberal communities, supported by SCoJeC". The Purim write-up does not name who represented the Dialogue that day.[15] Other published accounts of the Dialogue name:

Frank later spoke at a Dialogue event on 11 May 2014 about volunteering with SCoJeC.[21]

Attendees

SCoJeC's event reports quote participants anonymously and do not name adult attendees. The Community Futures report said the names of two people willing to act as liaison for the community from "Israel" in Glasgow would be passed privately to the Representative Council; those names were not published.[8] No child's name appears in the sources used here.

Affiliations

YaCHaS was a project of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, not an independent organisation. SCoJeC registered as a SCIO in 1999 (OSCR SC029438) and, in January 2025, joined with the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council and EJOG and was rebranded the Jewish Council of Scotland.[3][4] The project's listed address, 222 Fenwick Road, Giffnock, is the same building used by SCoJeC and by a number of other Glasgow Jewish and Zionist organisations.

The project was informed by the Representative Council's Community Futures research as well as by SCoJeC's own inquiry.[1][8] The March 2014 Purim party was used to introduce the Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue, a SCoJeC-supported initiative of Edinburgh's Orthodox and Liberal communities.[15] The September 2013 Succot event was held with activity support from Forestry Commission staff at Chatelherault Country Park.[12]

The closing Edinburgh event included a performance by Incubator Theatre after that company's Fringe run had been cancelled, and SCoJeC said "friends of the Jewish community and of Israel" attended.[11] Those guests were not named, and no organisational link was found in the sources opened here to the Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland, Friends of Israel groups, StandWithUs, UJIA Scotland, the Jewish National Fund, or the embassy or honorary consul of "Israel".

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "Israelis Together in Scotland", 8 September 2013, archived 11 February 2024, accessed 12 November 2026. The original URL, https://www.scojec.org/news/2013/13ix_yachas/yachas.html, now redirects to the Jewish Council of Scotland website.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Fiona Frank, Ephraim Borowski and Leah Granat, with Rebecca Hounsom, What's Changed About Being Jewish in Scotland (SCoJeC, June 2016), Appendix 1, accessed 12 November 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Jewish Council of Scotland", Find that Charity (GB-SC-SC029438), grants table, accessed 12 November 2026. The table lists a National Lottery Community Fund Awards for All grant of £10,000 dated 3 July 2013, titled "Linkup: Israelis Together in Scotland", for August 2013 to August 2014, and a further National Lottery Community Fund line of the same amount and title dated 11 July 2013. These appear to be two database records of the same award. SCoJeC's 8 September 2013 announcement attributed the £10,000 grant to the Heritage Lottery Fund; the official grant data name the National Lottery Community Fund.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jewish Council of Scotland, "Our story", accessed 12 November 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "Yom HaAtzma'ut", 21 April 2013, archived copy, accessed 12 November 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Fiona Frank, Ephraim Borowski and Leah Granat, Being Jewish in Scotland: Project Findings (SCoJeC, August 2013), section 6, accessed 12 November 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "Israelis in Scotland", 11 April 2013, archived copy, accessed 12 November 2026. A shorter version appeared as "Israelis in Scotland", The Jewish Chronicle, 11 April 2013, accessed 12 November 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Fiona Frank, with Conrad Cohen and Shani Zour, Research Report and Recommendations to the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council Community Futures Project (April 2013), pp. 5, 32–34, accessed 12 November 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Cathy Forman, "Giving Glasgow a voice on its future", The Jewish Chronicle, 27 December 2012, accessed 12 November 2026.
  10. ↑ Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "Yom HaAtzma'ut event", The Jewish Chronicle, 5 May 2013, accessed 12 November 2026.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "YaCHaS celebrates Israeli culture together", 17 August 2014, archived 19 January 2021, accessed 12 November 2026.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "Succot with YaCHaS at Chatelherault", 22 September 2013, archived 24 January 2021, accessed 12 November 2026.
  13. ↑ Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "Chanukah with YaCHaS in Bridge of Allan", 1 December 2013, archived 10 February 2024, accessed 12 November 2026.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, Four Corners 41 (March 2014), archived PDF, 9 August 2014, accessed 12 November 2026. The issue reports the Interfaith Week discussion led by Zour as "SCoJeC's YaCHaS project worker", the YaCHaS gathering in memory of Arik Einstein, and the CoNNeCT team (Fiona Frank, Linda Martin, Sharon Mail, and "Glasgow-based Israeli" Ranit Edgar).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "YaCHaS Purim Party in Edinburgh", 23 March 2014, archived 23 January 2021, accessed 12 November 2026.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, "YaCHaS: Israelis together in Scotland", Four Corners 43 (September 2014), archived PDF, 24 August 2016, accessed 12 November 2026. The original URL, https://scojec.org/4cs/4cs/14ix_4c43.pdf, now redirects to the Jewish Council of Scotland website.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, Four Corners 37 (March 2013), archived PDF, 22 June 2013, accessed 12 November 2026.
  18. ↑ "She's promotional material", The Jewish Chronicle, 14 January 2011, accessed 12 November 2026. The article reports Granat's promotion to deputy director of SCoJeC.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre, "History", accessed 12 November 2026. The page says the Centre "began as The Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue, founded by Jane Ansell and Janet Mundy and chaired by Professor Joe Goldblatt".
  20. ↑ Janet Mundy, "Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue", The Edinburgh Star 71, PDF, accessed 12 November 2026.
  21. ↑ "Edinburgh Jewish Dialogue Event", The Edinburgh Star, event of 11 May 2014, accessed 12 November 2026.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Israelis_Together_in_Scotland&oldid=309176"