The Last Minyan True North

This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

In Judaism, ten men are needed to conduct a service.

These ten men are called a minyan.

Look who's here.

We're only one short now.

Where have you been? Where were you?

The Belfast community have held services in Northern Ireland

since the 1860s.

-Have you got your hearing aid in?

-Yeah.

But the members are getting older and numbers are down.

You just need a gin and tonic and you're sorted.

John. John! Follow him.

So, today, every man is needed.

Because, for the first time in their history,

the minyan in the Belfast community is under threat.

20 years ago, the Belfast Jewish community was in much better health.

It was the year of my Bar Mitzvah.

That's me at 13 cutting the cake.

But I was never religious.

And, like many of my generation, I stopped going to synagogue.

Now, having my first child has made me reflect about myself

and the Jewish community I left behind.

Who do we have to reach out to?

I want to know what happened and find out

whether it's important to me that the synagogue remains open.

I think it's our last hurrah.

Following Jewish codes of practice takes a lot of effort...

That's us.

..especially if you live in Northern Ireland.

If you do want to keep kosher in Belfast,

you need to get your food brought in from Manchester.

My parents brought me up in a strictly kosher environment.

And I wouldn't be happy changing.

I wouldn't want to change.

This is it. It still looks the part.

So we'll just stop here.

My Uncle Elliot will soon be out.

-Right, that one's over.

-Who's that?

There's no point in bringing it in there and bringing it out again.

Sure that's stupid! Haven't I got Ross in my car already?

What's it like working with family?

Has its moments, basically. Good, yeah.

Sometimes Elliot reminds me a bit of my father. Or even worse!

These kids are being welcomed by the chairman of the community.

He also happens to be my dad.

How many people come to worship in the synagogue?

The community has dwindled to such an extent now that

there's only a number of years left

where we can carry on supporting a rabbi

and supporting services.

Whilst we are an orthodox synagogue, there are members of this community

who are almost secular, but they belong out of tradition,

they like the tradition of being Jewish,

but they wouldn't be very observant.

At the head of this mainly moderate Jewish community

sits a strictly orthodox rabbi.

HE WHISPERS A PRAYER

For him, life in Belfast has its challenges.

With a young family and no Jewish schools here,

his eldest boy, Shmuli, is educated at home

with the help of his mum.

She's a very good teacher. So... She's based in New York.

THEY SPEAK HEBREW

-It's not working.

-Has it gone off?

It's a way that the kids can have a Jewish education,

so it's an online school, that's what it is.

He goes online from about 2.30 to 4 o'clock.

And he's got about eight kids or so in the class.

There's actually no other kids physically around him.

He needs to speak to the other boys.

So, you want to do it?

HE SPEAKS HEBREW

Amazing. Very, very excited.

OK, we're going to do the last bit again.

So, where are we going now then?

We're travelling up to see my father to deliver his goodies.

So I hope we find him in good form.

Clear?

I hope he doesn't find fault with me.

Come on in.

That's Kitzle.

Hello Kitzle! It's Yiddish for "cuddles".

Cuddles. She is cuddly. She's a lovely pussycat.

She's getting on now in years. She's nearly 13.

Hello, pussy.

She's looking at you and saying, "What's this man doing?"

Hello, pussy!

Dad? Father?

Hello? Dad?

-You were very slow answering me...

-I have a friend.

You're only answering me now. I'll be down in a minute.

Right, Dad. Take your time.

What? Just hold a second.

There's father.

ALAN LAUGHS

Oh! A cameraman!

It's a Jewish cameraman, Dad!

-Shalom aleikhem.

-Aleikhem shalom, eh?

-How are you keeping?

-What can I do for you?

Well, I'm not an able person, you know. I can hardly stand.

But I'll do my best for you.

Do you want to sit over beside the pussycat, Dad?

That's his seat over there.

Alan, please give me room to get over to the chair.

I'm not a terribly religious man,

but I like to keep up-to-date really with rules and all that,

and keep up.

I think a lot of my maker. I do.

Dad, there's chopped herring.

Oh, yes. Well, then, where's the meat?

-The meat's in the bottom box, Dad. It'll go into the fridge.

-That's OK.

Your father came to this country

-round about the turn of the century, didn't he, Dad?

-Uh-huh.

My father was smuggled out of Riga, Latvia.

He was actually smuggled across the border in a cock of hay,

believe it or not.

Young Isaac Mathis was his name,

but they changed it to Isaac Matthews.

They would have a better life in the United Kingdom.

And, as a result, he had a job to go to in Lurgan, of all places.

Which only, at its height, had about 15 Jewish families.

He took on a business without being able to speak one word of English.

But what about my family? Where did I come from?

I wanted to learn more, so my dad and uncle went back with me

to where it all began nearly 100 years ago.

The family furniture business, which has since been sold.

Don't take it too far or it might stick.

Looking well.

The first Jews that came to Northern Ireland were businesspeople,

-merchants, industrialists.

-Linen merchants. Linen.

In the linen business and in the shipbuilding and the rope-works.

They came from Germany.

But...

-The main influx were Jews coming out of Russia.

-And Poland.

And they came with nothing.

They were economic migrants escaping pogroms.

And so where did our family come from, then? How did we end up in Northern Ireland?

My grandfather was born in Krasnystaw in Poland.

He wanted to go to England.

And when he got to England,

he didn't have the £5 entrance, so he went to Hamburg,

and then some charity gave him a suit and the money

and he came to England.

And then I actually don't know how he ended up in Belfast.

Well, he came over in 1908.

In those days, he was known as Yitzchok Schwartz,

but obviously that wasn't an English name,

so the literal translation was Isaac Black,

so he changed his name to Isaac Black.

The community really peaked in the 1950s and early '60s.

And then it stopped growing,

and then it started to shrink round about the time of the Troubles.

And that accelerated the demise.

My family have settled in Northern Ireland for generations,

but we don't follow a strict, observant Jewish life

like the rabbi.

OK...

SHE SPEAKS HEBREW

It was just surprising - and pleasantly surprising - that...

That the Jewish people are living everywhere.

What an active community it really is,

and still continues to punch much heavier than its weight.

Circumstances change, you know? Life changes.

Even with home schooling, et cetera, et cetera.

He needs a social life.

Every day I see it more and more, actually, so...

We came here when I was pregnant - yeah, about five years ago.

I came with a three-month-old baby.

Now I have three kids.

She's been so tired, she's been dying to go to sleep all day.

Finally she's just crashed.

Twice a week, the community try to gather a minyan in the synagogue.

Every man counts if they want to hold a service.

Another new day.

-Good morning, John.

-Good morning.

-You look well.

-Like a good Jewish boy.

-Yes, yes.

-OK, John?

-Yes.

-Have you got your walking stick?

Take your walking stick, John.

-Well, we've all got to go eventually.

-Yes.

-But I don't want to go just yet.

-No, no.

I've got to let them know when I'm going!

We need everybody to make the minyan, John.

-Well, I'm making the minyan. That's enough, isn't it?

-Yes, yes.

You're a real mensch!

THEY CHUCKLE

We're late.

Keep going, John. We like to keep the show in the road.

I'll take your hand, John.

We've arrived!

-Shalom aleichem.

-Shalom aleichem.

-Shalom aleichem.

-We're here?

-Yeah.

-Already.

-Yeah.

We'll take your hat off and we'll get you a wee yarmulke on, John.

Be more comfortable for you, it's very warm today.

-It's the weather, you know.

-OK.

Come on, we'll go in.

That's us.

-Quite a few here.

-Just a few.

RABBI BRACKMAN PRAYS IN HEBREW

Rabbi Brackman's been in Belfast for five years, now.

But with a young family that needs Jewish schooling,

they're feeling the strain.

It's time to move on.

It's a bit of a sad thing,

to have to leave such a wonderful community.

But...

we have realised that our children

are not going to be able to receive

the education that we have hoped.

Now they will have friends that are Jewish,

and friends, hopefully, that will

help them out in their Jewish practice and observance

and their Jewish identity.

They found it difficult to relate to...

er...

the provinces, and the fact that the community here

is a mixed community of secular Jews, Jews and non-Jews

all mixing together.

And he just... I don't think he could cope with that.

He was too strict.

Yeah, he... He just had never experienced it.

HE IMITATES AN ENGINE

I'll tape this...

That's fine.

You'll have to clear the...

It's organised chaos, here.

-Are you excited to go to London?

-Yeah!

Yes?

Daddy?

Are YOU excited, Rabbi?

A new place - a bit nervous.

That's us.

We're not healthy, but we're still here.

# All day long I'd biddy biddy bum

# If I were a wealthy man

# Oh, I wouldn't have to work hard

# Deedle deedle deedle eedle deedle deedle deedle dum. #

Next.

-Do you want to go inside?

-No.

-OK.

-Mazel tov!

-Oh!

# Mazel tov siman tov

# Siman tov umazal tov... #

THEY SING

Well, let's see what the recommendation is.

Have you picked?

I don't have the answer.

I don't know the answer to that.

-This could extend itself well into January.

-Oh, yes.

-But we still have to have services here.

-Yes.

So, who's going to take the services?

ALL TALK

I'm not saying that for one minute, I'm just telling you...

..get the right person...

There's one of the applicants we don't know the age of -

are we not entitled to ask him his age before we can see it?

-And we don't know the marital status of...

-No.

Well, you have a discretion of what you're going to do.

Do you either reject him or ask for further...

Exactly, but they're saying we shouldn't be asking these questions

of them - they should have had them on their CV.

No, technically you can't ask them.

Their sexual orientation, how many children they have, you know...

You bring somebody over from New York

and we don't know what family he has, and then all of a sudden,

"I've got five children and they all need schooling."

-Well, you wouldn't short list him in the first place.

-No.

-So why bring him over from New York?

-We could get sued...

I think you've got to find out before you bring somebody over.

Can we go through the chair? There's too much going on!

..all the ramifications that that brings about.

We've had these applicants and they're varied,

and we have a choice, now.

-I remember watching him on television, Mr Chairman.

-Ah!

And I was most unimpressed.

He struck me as being very close to being a nut.

That's why he's applying here!

LAUGHTER Yes!

Prefect! He sounds perfect!

THEY ALL SPEAK AT ONCE

I presume he's a rabbi...

This is a very good reference from him.

But would we keep a guy like that busy?

That may be doubtful, but if we could get him,

he would be a great asset to us.

We told them, as far as we could go, the minuses,

from his point of view.

But we told them we'd a glorious history.

OK.

I want to learn more about Belfast's history and my past.

My dad told me to speak to my great aunt Lottie in Israel.

She had arrived Northern Ireland as part of the second wave

of Jewish immigrants into the UK around World War II.

Lottie married into my family when she met my great uncle Maurice.

He has since passed away.

But Lottie is still going strong at 87.

Am I on?

Are you comfortable?

Will you speak up?

Can you not hear me?

Yeah, if you speak up.

I usually say I'm from Belfast.

But then, sometimes, you know, people get curious, and they say,

"Were you born in Belfast?"

So I said, "No."

My hometown is in Furth, which is a town in Bavaria.

It's next to Nuremberg.

I remember, I was only 12 - 11 or 12 -

and I remember going over to the window to look,

and I remember my father pulling us back from the window.

And said, "Stay away and keep quiet."

And that's all I remember of the night of the glass, you know?

We kept quiet.

Kristallnacht - every Jewish shop was targeted that night.

As you can imagine, it was a very tearful parting from my father.

I remember saying goodbye to him and holding on to his hand...

This is a bit...

And I got on the train,

and there were about 500 other kids on the train.

We travelled right through the night.

In the morning we arrived in Holland.

I came on the Kindertransport.

People came from all over to adopt little refugees,

and this family came from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

When I arrived in Belfast, it was a few months before war broke out,

so I corresponded with my parents, until war broke out,

and then all the correspondence ceased, stopped.

When I was about 15 or 16 years old,

I remember, I heard about the Jewish club.

That's when I met my husband. The first time.

That's how I met Maurice.

I had brought with me

a recording of my uncle that Lottie had never heard.

'One of my friends was dancing with a girl.'

'He was dancing with Lottie,

'and he comes over to me and said, "Moishe, here's a girl for you."

'And I got up and I took Lottie for a dance.'

I think it was love at first sight. I don't know about him, but with me.

After a while, I didn't consider myself any more as a refugee,

I was just part of the community, you know?

I'll show you the wedding picture.

Oy.

Oh, here we are.

SHE GIGGLES

I'll set them down.

I changed a bit since then, don't I?

My aunt never made contact again with her parents or three siblings.

They were lost in the concentration camps.

Thank God I reached this day in good health, and God spared me

and gave me all the happiness and joy.

Tonight is a very big night.

Tonight is the wedding of my granddaughter.

And I'm so happy, I can't tell you.

MAN SINGS IN HEBREW

My time spent in Israel with my great aunt Lottie has brought

home how important survival is in the Jewish psyche.

MUSIC AND CHATTER

Like many of her generation,

Lottie's story is one of escaping the Holocaust

by the skin of her teeth,

and Northern Ireland played a central role.

The joy that she takes in my cousin's wedding is more than

just a marriage, it's about keeping her line going.

Maybe my father's generation's desire to keep the synagogue

open in Belfast represents a need to keep these spirits alive.

We're going to the George Best City Airport

to collect Rabbi Singer and his wife Judy,

who have taken up the post

of minister to the Belfast Jewish community.

We wanted an older couple, not encumbered with a young family.

He has to be orthodox.

But he's a forward thinking man

and things don't stand still, so...

..he will be tolerant of most of us

who wouldn't be as observant as he would be or as one is supposed to be.

That's the sort of person we really need.

-Rabbi, welcome.

-Thank you.

-Welcome, welcome. How was your flight?

It was really good. Very, very nice.

That sign must've been up 20 years maybe.

-Present you with a key, Rabbi.

-Thank you very much.

This is a mezuzah, it's the first two paragraphs of the Shema -

sections taken from the book of Deuteronomy.

And this is what I have written, and we now need to put it

up on the front door, as is in the custom of every Jewish house.

As we are entering the house,

we look at the mezuzah and we remember

the commandments that God gave us and that is the reason why we put it on.

-Judy?

-Judith! Do you call her Judith?

-Judy.

-Judy!

-Sometimes, "Hey, you!"

-No, no, no. Judy!

-Hey, Jude.

Do you want come down and watch the mezuzah going up?

-There we are. Done.

-He does his own.

-I do my own, yes.

Here's one he made a bit earlier.

Welcome to your new home.

Hello, pussy. Could I be excused to get my glasses to see it?

-It says "loading" on it.

-That's it, Dad. This is the new one.

-I'm no mug.

-I'm not sure about the video recorder.

-Could I get in there again?

-You want to come in here? OK. Right.

-I just went for these.

-Fair enough. Come on in.

I'll be able to see it better now.

KEYBOARD PLAYS STAR WARS THEME

KEYBOARD STOPS

THEY LAUGH

-Quite dramatic!

-You turn it off.

-I was. There it's there. Here we go.

-Oh, yeah, that's...

-Oh, it's you. There's Alan.

-That's me.

The Matthews family archive

tells the story of the Belfast Jewish community at its peak,

a time of optimism.

A new synagogue was constructed in 1964

for the overflow of all the members.

Families had settled in Northern Ireland for two generations,

and times where prosperous.

-I was well nourished...

-That's you, Alan.

-I was well nourished in those days.

-Yeah, you had a big attitude!

-Maybe too well nourished.

-Yeah.

There's Father, there.

Big crowd of Jews there.

-What was that occasion?

-That's my Bar Mitzvah.

I wasn't at that.

I don't even remember being asked.

-I don't remember being asked.

-No, no.

-Definitely not. So I wasn't there.

-Cos Elliot married out.

-Sorry, what was that?

-Elliot married out of the faith.

Things were a bit sensitive in those years.

-How did you feel about that, Elliot?

-It never bothered me.

-Water off a duck.

-These are very good.

-Aye.

He was a very loving father, actually.

-Cos Mummy wasn't too well.

-I know.

-But anyway.

Another thing, Elliot, the tomatoes didn't get a watering.

- Maybe if Alan went out now and put some water on it.

- If I was free, I'd be watering them.

- But you're not, so will Alan do it?

- But tell him to be very careful.

- Put a drop of water on his tomatoes.

- The last one runs over.

-There's the old...

-Will you go and do that?

OK. I'd better do what I'm told.

Alan'll have the biggest strawberries...

The new rabbi has a few important jobs to do.

Today, he is taking his teenage children that are visiting

along for the ride.

-Are we going to a river, or...?

-No, we're going to the seaside.

What we're doing is as follows.

We have brought...bought in a shop some new cups and saucers

and things like that, which, seeing as they're brand-new,

and they haven't been made by Jewish people, so we dip them in a mikveh.

We don't have a mikveh, a ritual bath, here in Belfast,

so the biggest and most accessible mikveh is the sea.

Kids, this is a...a castle.

Carrickfergus Castle, and that's as much as I can tell you about it,

as I really haven't a clue.

If your children came to live in Belfast, it would be quite

difficult to get them a Jewish husband or wife.

I would say impossible, impossible.

The level of... here's a horrible word for you -

religiosity - of the Jews that are here don't really match

the level of religiosity that my children have.

Brr!

There's an expression in Yiddish, bisl meshugge, which is

what people might think - a little bit crazy.

-Rabbi.

-Yes.

-You really have

to believe to put yourself through something like this.

HE LAUGHS

Right. I believe. With perfect faith.

Brr!

-Are you frozen?

-I can just about feel my hands, it's all right.

I believe in perfect faith,

that doing these things is my way of life.

So there isn't anything that I disagree with.

There are things I don't understand.

Please, God, I'll understand them one of these days.

Not many have perfect faith like the rabbi,

but there are certain traditions

that are not broken in a Jewish household -

Friday night dinner.

We do our best to have a nice Shabbos meal.

-Anyway, I'm going to start into this.

-Thanks very much.

I'm 91 and a half or more and still on the go.

Oh, my fish will be burning.

No, they're OK, they're OK.

I come up to visit my father,

and at times, it's a bit of a power struggle.

It's a little bit like,

if you've ever watched the series Steptoe And Son.

And sometimes, my father, being my father,

is always trying to guide me in the right direction, and usually,

not always, I don't seem to do things the way he wants them done.

-Don't put the water on.

-Sorry, Father. Sorry.

Normally the lady of the house would do this duty.

OK, making heavy work out of that.

If there is a little...grievance or something happens,

it's very small, and you have to make allowances for elderly people.

And I love him to bits.

HE READS PRAYER

And good Shabbos to everybody. L'Chayim.

Where are all the women in the Matthews household?

I didn't hear him there.

- I didn't get it all.

He's wondering where all the females are.

Yeah, where are all the ladies?

Obviously, being Jewish, I would have very much liked to have

had a Jewish bride, but things didn't happen.

In fact, in the Jewish community, there never was that many women.

I think it was very awkward when we were young,

we sort of felt the pressure that we should marry Jewish women.

If we'd been in a big community, it wouldn't have been a problem,

but our community was so small, and I knew everybody

and I maybe didn't feel too comfortable.

I have a girlfriend, who is not Jewish,

but we're not married or anything, but we... We...

I don't know what the word would be, but everything is OK.

-You've been very busy.

-I have been.

It's nice to be all together. It's lovely.

I'm enjoying it very much.

Back in the 1970s, many Jewish people left Belfast.

Not just because of the Troubles, but to find a Jewish partner.

Most went to the thriving Jewish centres of London and Manchester.

I left Belfast after I finished university,

because I knew if I stayed there, my chances of marrying

within my faith were nil, probably, because I knew everybody.

And also, most people had left at that point,

so it was important to me that I wanted to marry somebody who

was Jewish, because I'd enjoyed the life that I'd had up until then,

and I suppose I felt comfortable with it and wanted to continue it.

It does mean a lot to me,

being Jewish and I wouldn't want to not consider myself to be Jewish.

That's important within my life.

It gives my life some structure that I like.

The big Jewish centres like Manchester have the resources

to attract people seeking a more comfortable Jewish life.

It's one of the reasons why smaller Jewish

communities across the UK are fast disappearing.

I think this is her.

-Hi, Mum!

-Hello!

-Do you want anything to eat?

-No, thank you.

-Are you sure?

-I'm OK.

-Are you OK?

Daddy used to say to friends if he was left, if I went first, he would

stay in Belfast, but if he went first,

he knew I'd be better off here.

And that's the way it was.

It was a big break, leaving my house in Belfast,

and there is a bit of me still in Belfast, I have to say that,

but this is my life now, and I have to stand up to it.

All I have to do is go downstairs, the shul is there,

I don't have to worry about the weather.

I don't have to put a coat on. I go downstairs and I'm in shul.

And I go most Shabbosim.

-She's off.

-Has she gone?

-Hello.

-Hello!

-You want your feet on here?

-My friend Sadie.

-What do you want me to do with it?

-You know I'm going to London?

-Yes.

-For the day.

There's going to be a reunion of all the Belfast people.

-How many people are going to be there, Linda?

-60.

60 people from all over.

-How many?

-60. Ex-Belfast people.

And you probably know all of them.

Of course I do.

Look at her blue eyes.

Look at her blue eyes. Blue like the sea. Do you want to go first, Sadie?

-I don't mind, I'm not in a hurry.

-You not in... Ah, isn't she great?

-You should go first.

-Well, then will you let me go first?

Yes!

It's her heart, her heart is in Belfast.

There is a part of her that hasn't left.

If you say "Belfast," I well up.

I think that wherever you bring your children up, as well, I think

it's really that does hold your heart,

because you remember those years as very special years.

Was there pressure put on the young people to find a Jewish partner?

-Yes, definitely.

-Definitely.

It took me a very long time to find my husband.

I was 38 before I got married, so that was a very heavy charge,

and I did end up marrying somebody Jewish,

but interestingly, my parents were generous enough to give me

the feeling that if I didn't feel as though I wanted to marry

somebody Jewish, that would be OK, too.

They were probably getting desperate

by then that you would get married at all!

THEY LAUGH

The ad in the Jewish Chronicle would say "Fay and Joey Lewis

"are relieved to announce that Anne is finally getting married."

As soon as you got married, the heat was on me,

because I also was older when I got married.

Bye-bye, thank you very much.

# It's quiet and peaceful on the other side

# Forget your troubles, get happy

# Your cares fly away... #

Coming from Belfast, I think we've all got a feeling that we

belong to Belfast as well as belonging to being Jewish.

Why do you think that is?

Special time and a special place.

When we were there, it was still a vibrant community.

We also watched it unravelling.

CHATTER

Around the world, the smaller Jewish communities are folding.

We're all going to turn into museums.

-That's mine.

-Was there not any more for Ross?

-No.

That's Sammy's there, look. And that's Sammy's.

Right, that's for Father.

I would like you to put all that stuff in a banana box.

-In your own time, don't go diving.

-OK.

The best advice I would give Alan is to calm down and relax.

I'm always telling him that.

I admit, now, I give him a hard time, and he tries.

He tries a good bit to work.

I don't know. Yeah.

Well, you know the way all fathers are with their sons?

I'm his big bad son. But we love each other.

We're all right, we always keep good friends.

What I try to tell you is you should always sit and listen to words,

not keep jumping about.

You're right. You're right what you say.

And I see, Father, you've got your musical instruments out again.

-Which ones?

-You've your electric keyboard.

-Oh...just see now.

Is it plugged in?

I was telling Aaron the way there used to be about six or seven

Jewish families lived around here, including one across the road.

Oh, I know, this used to be a street of Jewish people,

-even next door, the Cahills lived there.

-And you had Lantins.

-Landons?

-Lantins.

Yes, Lantins lived there and Cahills lived across the road.

-And you had Schenkers.

-I know. Uh-huh.

HE PLAYS "DANNY BOY"

ALAN HUMS ALONG

# Oh, Danny boy The pipes, the pipes... #

Yeah, it's OK. I need my Haggadah as well.

HE PRAYS IN HEBREW

Any crumbs on the table? Here, look, there's crumbs on the table.

So, using a candle, we can get into all the corners.

Brush them into the pan. That's it.

Actually, we found quite a lot of chametz on the floor.

We've brushed it up and put it in the pan.

Chametz is...leavened bread.

-Nothing in here.

-Check here!

The Jewish people were told to come out of Egypt.

They didn't have time to bake the bread. So the bread didn't rise.

And seeing as the bread didn't rise then,

so that's why we have now no leavened bread at all.

Ssh.

And Baruch's room is next. By the side of the sofa.

Hurry up!

-They keep you young, don't they?

-Oh, yes.

# Keep young and beautiful.... #

No, no, no.

You can't do it that way.

You do it this way.

Sorry.

Cover your eyes.

THEY PRAY IN HEBREW

Hold on, you you're going to have to be quiet in there.

Wait a second, Mum, they're all too noisy.

Everybody needs to be quiet, there's a bit of filming going on.

THEY CHAT

Here, there you are.

Everybody OK?

THEY SING

-Any other requests?

-No, that's OK, John!

That's very hurtful. I don't mind miming.

I always enjoyed the traditions in Judaism

that help bring the family together.

The sights, sounds, smells,

the rituals that become so familiar and comforting.

Today, the community mourns the sad loss of a prominent member.

As they say, money is not everything, Leslie, your health is your wealth, isn't it?

-You could say.

-Everything is negotiable except your health.

-Yes.

This is the cover that covers the coffin, male and female,

all the same.

The burial society is called the chevra kadisha.

And it is a blessed society,

because the one time... We have a lot of mitzvahs, a lot of good deeds

that we can do in our religion - 613 of them, actually,

but this is the one mitzvah, the one good deed you can do

where the person receiving it can't say thank you.

I'd never really thought that I was going to

be in the position where I'd be coming into the chevra kadisha.

When I was asked by Leslie would I join,

well, I had to say yes,

because our community needed me and needed some young blood.

Faith, in a very small community like this,

faith is playing a smaller and smaller part.

It is more the traditions and the family links.

You go to the synagogue, because that's where your father was,

that's where your mother was, that's where your grandparents were.

And they did that, and you remember that they did that, and so if they did it, you'll do it.

Perhaps not as well, but you'll try your best.

-And also during the Tahara, you also say...?

-No, the only words we say...

OK, good.

-No, no.

-No, no.

Before you do it, you need to twist round like that three times.

Go ahead.

Once,

twice,

three times.

There.

And then tuck the loop going up this way,

so there's a little bit sticking out. OK?

One, two, three.

HE PRAYS

HE CHANTS

There's grandpa, the one called Isaac.

He was the start of our life in Northern Ireland.

How are you? First day of spring.

-It's nice to see it.

-Yes.

All the coffins face east...

..towards Jerusalem,

even though the headstone is facing the other way in some of the rows.

And partners are put beside each other?

It's a custom in this community, to try and, yes, put partners together.

It...

It doesn't always happen.

Sometimes they don't want to be put together.

THEY LAUGH

Sorry.

The big problem is,

will there be enough people here to bury the last few people?

My dad is trying to get the ten men needed for a service

in the synagogue later that week.

It's his yahrzeit,

which is a memorial day for family that have passed,

and a minyan is needed in the synagogue

to say the prayers for them.

Marshall? Sorry to bother you.

Marshall, I have a yahrzeit on Thursday morning. Will you be about?

Mm-hm.

We're lighting this candle this evening in memory of my father.

The likelihood is only seven or eight people will turn up, naturally,

so we'll invite some of the guys who are not regular attenders,

just to make sure we get ten.

For me, whilst there's a minyan and there's a service,

we have a community.

And the longer we can keep the community going, obviously,

the better.

Belfast has a long tradition, and I don't want to be the last one here.

The Belfast Jewish community is now down to less than 80.

All right?

I thought we'd get all the minyan to sit in this area, in here.

For those left, there's a responsibility to try

and keep the tradition alive.

I had never helped make a minyan for my dad's yahrzeit.

I was never asked.

But maybe this is something my dad shouldn't have had to do.

I haven't become more religious, but I want to pass some of

these traditions down to my family, like my dad has tried with me.

-Are you well?

-Not as good as you.

I don't know about that.

Even if the community is getting fewer, there is

still plenty of life in it yet.

Dad managed to raise his minyan that day.

THEY PRAY