alwaysperfectlywrite

I’m sorry to tell all those involved in setting up the new Chabad (ultra Orthodox Jewish) centre in Whitefield, Manchester - you’re on to a loser!

Director Rabbi Shmuli Jaffe told the Jewish Chronicle:

“… the centre’s greatest asset is its location. “It is opposite the Parkfield Inn pub, which is full of Jews on Thursday evenings, and its street corner is where the kids are on motzei Shabbos, being the only stretch of Jewish shops in the neighbourhood.”

Many years before I knew of Rabbi Shmuli, the North Manchester branch of the Jewish Lads Brigade and  Club opened a smart disco and restaurant next to Heaton Park Synagogue on Middleton Road, Manchester - which was also opposite a pub favoured by local Jewish youngsters.

The novelty of  ‘Maxims’, as it was known, soon wore off simply by virtue of being approved by the adult establishment. Crikey, its opening even included a publicity shot of the-then President of the local Jewish Representative Council on the dance floor. How uncool was that?

Sorry guys, the pub will always have more lure than Chabad, simply because it’ll be seen as vaguely naughty and very, very nice. The kids will want ‘to do Jewish’ only when - ok - they have kids of their own.

I’ve illustrated my remarks with an image of the Aroma Israeli nightclub and restaurant in Hollywood, Florida, USA - not exactly as Chabad would like things to happen.

msniw

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