Daniel’s incredible Ironman challenge

For some people the challenge of a marathon or even a simple triathlon is just not enough. Daniel Pearlman first got hooked on triathlon about eight years ago when as part of a fund raising challenge he took part in an Olympic distance triathlon in Eilat. Since making Aliyah in 2007 he has competed in quite a few more triathlons including a half Ironman in January 2012.

Daniel decided that he would attempt the full Ironman distance triathlon as he will be celebrating his 40th Birthday later this year. It is the ultimate challenge before he hits that major milestone!

About the Challenge:

Daniel will be taking part in Ironman Switzerland on 15 July 2012.

This involves an Open Water Swim: 3.8Km (2,4 mile), a Hilly Cycle: 180Km (112 mile) and Running a marathon: 42.2Km (26.2 mile). All of this needs to be completed within 17 hours – although Daniel hope to finish more quickly than that.

Daniel is raising money for Emunah and the funds raised will go to the Neve Landy residential village in Even Shmuel, southern Israel.

This centre , which opened in 2003 is home to 60 severely disturbed and dysfunctional boys who cannot be cared for in any other residential home. The Neve Landy village provides a home and therapeutic care for traumatised children from across the entire religious spectrum.

Here they learn how to heal the scars of their abusive past and set themselves on the road to recovery. Essential in their rehabilitation is the provision of a variety of therapy and sports activities.

Emunah are currently looking to buy a number of bicycles for the centre. Learning to cycle not only enhances balance and coordination it can promote confidence and provide a sense of independence. For the children of Neve Landy, cycling has real therapeutic benefit – it isn’t just for fun.

So much of the Ironman challenge is spent cycling so what better project could there be than helping to buy bikes for children who are facing their own challenges?

Help Daniel reach his target to be able to provide bicycle therapy for all the children in Neve Landy by clicking here and selecting his name from the drop down list.

Gentlemen’s Luncheon with Daniel Green

Eat, Network and Listen!

The next Emunah Gentlemen’s Luncheon will take place on Monday 14th May 2012 at 12.45pm prompt at La Fiesta, 239 Golders Green Road NW11.

Our guest speaker will be Daniel Green, the CEO of HomeSun. Daniel has a long pedigree of building successful businesses and a reputation for thinking outside the box. He founded his first business – Identikit – on leaving school and since then he has successfully developed, and sold, a number of ventures ranging from clothing to digital retail.

This promises to be a most interesting and entertaining talk and, as usual, there will be some time allowed for questions at the end.

The cost is £30 per person inclusive. As usual, we aim to finish by 2.15 pm and there will be no appeal.

We do hope that you will come and enjoy lunch with us and if you have any friends who may be interested in coming please let us know.

We always need to know numbers in advance and it is therefore imperative that you confirm and pay in advance. Please call Alison on 0208 203 6066 to book your place.

Marathon runners aim to raise £12,000 for Emunah

Emunah’s team of seven runners are getting ready to run in this weekend’s London marathon.

Two of the Emunah runners Emma and Elliot Benjamin said they would “love to get into the Guinness Book of Records” as the fastest married couple to finish the Virgin London Marathon.

The young couple from Bushey plan to cross the finishing line together. This will be the first time that Emma Benjamin, 33 and her husband Elliot, 34 have taken part in the 26.2 mile race.

The couple have an 18-month-old daughter called Ariella and Emma combines motherhood with working part-time for The Creative Clinic, a design and branding agency, based in Mill Hill. The agency does design work for Emunah and this inspired Emma, who is a client manager, to support the cause.

Emma explains: “Emunah is an amazing charity which helps thousands of children who are affected by poverty or suffering from physical or emotional abuse and some have been abandoned by their parents. We are asking people to sponsor us jointly and we hope to raise at least £3,000. Having worked with the charity, I know how far the help can go towards making their lives better.

“Running the marathon is one of my life ambitions and I decided it was a good time to do so while I am relatively young and fit. Elliot relished the challenge, so we spurred each other on to enter the race.

The charity’s seven-strong squad includes Sam Baum, 19, from Hendon, who wants to beat his personal record (04.11.57) by finishing in less than four hours. He returns to yeshiva HaKotel in Jerusalem the next day. Describing himself as: “quite sporty”, the former HMH player goes for 20-mile runs and cites a high carb diet with protein. This is his second London Marathon but first time for Emunah. “I’ve been to the charity’s home in Afula and twinned my Bar Mitzvah as well. I know that not only do they care for the children really well but they set them up for life.”

Profits will be boosted by veteran runner Flora Frank, also running for Norwood. Flora runs in memory of Daniel Sacks z’l.

Emunah’s squad includes two first-time runners who are university students. Alan Greenstein, 20, has been doing laps around Leeds University, where he is studying medical biochemistry, notching up 30-kilometer runs. He hopes to finish in five hours, as does Alex Miller, 20, a politics student at King’s College, London, who is following a running plan. She says “I enjoy running – though reality will set on the day. It’s very exciting.”

Meanwhile, Aron Schlagman, 36, events director of Four Seasons Hotel, Park Lane, is running for Emunah for the second year “to help some of Israel’s neediest children. My training has been erratic though I cycle to work and go on runs, usually in Hampstead. I’m aiming to finish in five hours, though I’d love to improve. It’s about mental stamina, not just physical fitness.”

Emunah Director Deborah Nathan added: “The money that is raised by our marathon runners will pay for swimming, football training, basket ball and horse riding. These are not just fun activities for Emunah’s children, they have real therapeutic benefit. We are full of admiration and wish all our runners good luck with their training. We’ll be there on the day, cheering them along the route.”

Click here to sponsor any of our seven marathon runners – and help them raise as much as possible for Emunah’s children in need.

Click here and here to see some recent press coverage of our wonderful runners.

Photo credit – Benjamin family, Mydas Photography. All other photos Sue Rifkin.

Help Feed Israel’s Hungry Children in Need

British Emunah’s 2012 Pesach Appeal will help provide a hot meal to children who turn to Emunah in Israel for care having suffered from poverty, neglect and abuse.

Click here and help feed Israel’s hungry children in need. It’s that simple.

Use Your Loaf! – Host an Emunah Food Fund Quiz

Spend an entertaining evening with friends while helping Emunah to feed Israel’s hungry children in need.

If you would like to host a Food Fund Aid Quiz please click here or call Roch on 0208 203 6066.

Last year’s happy winners are pictured below!

National children’s competition to design Food Fund cards is launched

British Emunah is running a national competition to design a new Food Fund greetings card – are you hungry to win?

We are looking for the best designs (these may be a drawing, painting, collage, computer graphics, photograph or whatever you like!) to launch a new range of Food Fund Cards. Every entrant will get a thank you certificate and the four winning designs will be printed on cards acknowledging the pupil’s name, age and school.

The competition will be judged in four age ranges: Infants (Under 6s), Juniors (7 – 11), Secondary (12 – 15) and (16 – 18).

Click here to download an entry slip. Fill out the slip and attach it to the back of your entry, then send it to:

Emunah Food Fund Art Competition, Shield House, Harmony Way, Hendon London NW4 2BZ.

The closing date for designs is Wednesday 18^th April 2012.

Designs can be in any medium but will need to be reproduced by our printers. Designs should be submitted by individual pupils, on preferably (but not exclusively) A4 sized paper with the pupil’s name, age, school, home address and parental name and contact number and email on the back. For your convenience we have included a slip for you to complete with all the necessary details.

Designs in the past have featured food, flowers and Jewish themes but there are no limitations – just that the card should be attractive and something that you would want to give and give again. The art work may be an existing piece or specifically created for this competition, but must not have been published previously elsewhere. Emunah cannot accept any responsibility for lost or damaged entries and cannot return art work submitted, but entrants may collect pieces from our Head Office following the announcement of the winner.

Emunah’s Food Fund – feeding hungry children

As you may know many children in Israel are living in extreme poverty. The Emunah Food Fund started a few years ago when the headmistress of one of our High Schools in Israel realised that many of the girls had little energy and were ravenously hungry. It turned out that the families were so poor that there was no food at home – no breakfast, no packed lunch and no supper. The girls were grabbing whatever they could and hungrily gobbling up what they had cooked in the cookery class. As time went on it became clear that many of the families of the children at our day care centres were also going without food due to worsening economic circumstances.

Emunah set up the Food Fund to pay for these children to have lunch, often their only real meal of the day, and to help them take food home for their whole family if necessary. The Food Fund currently supplies lunches ( and food parcels) to children at our two High Schools and costs £58,000 a year. Money is raised by people buying greetings cards to give instead of chocolates or flowers when they go to friends or family for a meal, or when they need a thank you card for any reason. We have two sizes of card which are available for a donation from £5 for the smaller card or from £10 for the larger size.

To buy Food Fund cards, to make a donation or for more details about Emunah call us on 0208 203 6066

Emunah Gentlemen’s Luncheon Club

Eat, Network and Listen!

The next Emunah Gentlemen’s Luncheon has been arranged for Monday 19th March 2012 at 12.45pm prompt at La Fiesta, 239 Golders Green Road NW11.

Guest speaker will be Jeremy Newman, who has recently stepped down as Global CEO of BDO, the international accountancy firm, a role in which he widely travelled throughout the world, particularly to the Far East. Jeremy, who is a member of the Finchley United Synagogue, has many interesting anecdotes to relate about business travel in general and being Jewish in particular. This promises to be a most interesting and entertaining talk and, as usual, there will be some time allowed for questions at the end.

The cost is £30 per person inclusive. As usual, we aim to finish by 2.15 pm and there will be no appeal.

We do hope that you will come and enjoy lunch with us and if you have any friends who may be interested in coming please let us know.

We are expecting a good turn-out and it is therefore imperative that you confirm and pay in advance. Please call Alison on 0208 203 6066 to book your place.

Cellist Anoushka is Emunah Young Musician of the Year 2012

Twelve-year-old cellist Anoushka Sharp, from Golders Green, has been named Emunah Young Musician of the Year 2012.

This was her second time in the competition as she was last year’s runner-up. The North London Collegiate School pupil was praised by adjudicators at the competition finals, which took place on Sunday 4 March at the Royal Academy of Music. The contest is held in conjunction with the Jewish Chronicle.

For her winning performance, she played two pieces by Ernest Bloch: Prayer (Jewish Life no.1) and Jewish Song (Jewish Life no.3). She said: “These pieces are very special, they mean a lot to me. I am glad to win because of the cause. I go to Norrice Lea cheder [Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue] and Emunah is one of the charities that we are raising funds for. I love playing, it has been a pleasure.”

Malcolm Singer, director of music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, said: “Anoushka is extremely musical and communicated her love of music to the audience. Her cello has a very sweet tone. It was a lovely performance and particularly pleasing in one so young.”

The other judges were Teresa Cahill and Norma Fisher.

Guests of honour at the show case concert were the Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and his wife, Lady Sacks, in whose names the charity has founded a music therapy programme for emotionally disturbed children. The charity has 36 projects in Israel where it looks after 10,000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds through its network of residential homes, counselling services, high schools and day care centres.

While judging was taking place, the Chief Rabbi delivered his own verdict to the 300-strong audience, describing the finalists as “incredible, gifted young musicians, they are just astonishing.” He went on to praise the charity’s work, saying: “Congratulations to Emunah for conceiving this idea. Music has wonderful healing powers. When you think of the incredible work that Emunah does, I cannot think of anything better for Elaine and myself to be associated with.”

The runners-up were pianist Nathan Dean and singer James Harvey. The other finalists were Jonathan Garcia, Daniel Hilton, Brady Isaac Pearce, Leon Keuffer, Toby King-Cline, and Annabel Lawrence. The other finalist, Louis Patterson, could not attend.

The afternoon included a musical interlude by JooDoo Drums who invited audience members to perform on stage. These included Anoushka’s siblings, Avital 8, and Amos, 10.

Event chairman Michelle Hirschfield said: “The competition showcases the wonderful talent in our community and gives young people a chance to perform to a large audience at a prestigious venue. Secondly, and importantly, it enables us to raise funds for children who have had the most tragic lives, and give them the care they desperately need.”

The members of the organising committee for the Emunah Young Musician of the Year Committee are Vivien Bejerano, Alison Cohen, Daphne Coleman, Jennifer Hillman, Ann Lewisohn, Deborah Nathan, Ruth Rosenfelder, Rochelle Selby, Mandy Sherman and Helen Taylor.

The last word went to Camille Compton, chairman of British Emunah, who said: “I am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and standard of the competitors. They are amazing.”

All photos are by John Rifkin.

See the JC website coverage by clicking here and here

Other news coverage of the Emunah Young Musician of the Year 2012 Winner and Runners Up:

Click here to see news coverage in The Hendon Times

Click here to see news coverage in The Watford Observer

Click here to see news coverage in the Borehamwood and Elstree Times

Kosher Pub Quiz for Emunah

Are you a whizz at pub quizzes? If so come to Emunah’s Pub Quiz at 7.30pm on Sunday 19th February 2012 at The Castle, 452 Finchley Road, Golders Green, London NW 11 8DG. Tickets are £20 per person and include a meaty pub supper and a drink. Book your tickets by calling 0208 203 6066 or click here to contact us via the web. Funds raised will help us feed children whose own families cannot afford to provide food for them.