The ladies of the Womens Inter Faith group in Manchester visited the Jewish Heritage Museum in Cheetham Hill for their last faith building visit, as this source of funding from Faith in Action comes to an end. With our guided tour we experienced an insight into the normal worshipping lives of the Jewish community. The Sabbath starts on a Friday evening and we were shown the usual customs, of the father blessing his children and thanking his wife for all she has done during the week. Working (including housework) is forbidden on the Sabbath. For each of the 3 Abrahamic faiths there on the day - we discussed the importance of having a time of rest and reflection in the week, honouring our parents and praying for our children. The particular synagogue, now a Museum, is a beautiful example of Portugese and Spanish architecture. Some of the cloth traders of these countries came to settle in 'King Cotton' Manchester in the 1800's, and built their own synagogue. The Jewish community is trying to keep it open as a beautiful example of this era. As you can see from the window, it is a very pretty building.
After the tour we had a kosher lunch of split pea soup, salmon and cream cheese bagel and cream cakes at the Jewish bakery and cafe, Brackmans, in Lower Broughton.
We will end (well hopefully we will all carry on meeting as friends) on a high note with an inter faith banner of the 10 Commandments and 5 pillars of Islam, which is being prepared by Stephen Raw, a renowned professional calligrapher-artist. |
