Tony Blair Opens Mill Hill Center

By COLlive reporter

Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chief Rabbi-elect Ephraim Mirvis and Israeli Ambassador Daniel Taub were on hand for the opening of Mill Hill Synagogue’s new community center last Sunday.

They were joined by nearly 1000 people to celebrate the $5.5 million Ner Orre Community center which is set to become a “hub” for the local community, abely led by the high-profile Rabbi Yitzchok Schochet.

Mill Hill in north-west London is one of the ten wards in England and Wales with the biggest Jewish population, according to the latest data released from the 2011 census.

With 1,000 member families, the community has outgrown previous facilities. The new center built on the site of the demolished Annie and Samuel Levy Hall at the synagogue, features numerous classrooms, a hall and youth lounge in addition to state of the art kitchens and a magnificent catering hall.

The center’s unusual spelling of Orre – meaning light – forms an acronym of the names of the parents of Rita and Stanley Davis, the project’s principal donors. During the ceremony, Stanley affixed the mezuzah to the front door of the building, while Lord Michael Levy added the mezuzah to the Levy hall.

Blair, who got a rock-star welcome, said he joined the celebration “with a sense of gratitude for what you do in this community center, for what the Jewish community do in our country and for what the Jewish community and the Jewish faith represent in our world today. I’m proud to have been part of (today).”

The former Labour party leader wished those involved a hearty “Mazal Tov” and, in front of an audience that included his wife Cherie, described the driving out of Jews from England in the 13th century as a “disaster.”

He insisted that current Jewish community organizations were underpinned by values including family, education and charity “as an aid for people to make more of their lives and be empowered to do what they wish to do.”

Blair added: “That, for me, is what the Jewish community at its best represents in our country. And its vibrancy is a testament to the fact the Jewish faith is based on compassion and sense of obligation to the broader community and to others.”

Lord Levy, a longtime member of Mil Hill Synagogue and a personal friend of the Blairs, paid special tribute to Rabbi Schochet for his outstanding leadership over the past twenty years and added “you are the envy of every other community here in London.”

Rabbi Schochet, in his own address introducing Blair, also paid tribute to the key donors and added that it was exactly 20 years that same weekend that he and his wife Chani had come for their trial Shabbos to see if the match could be made. “And here we are twenty years on.”

He reiterated the same message he gave twenty years ago – emphasizing the two names of the Torah portions: “Vayakhel is community and Pikudeu is individuality. Both are integral and interdependent. The community only thrives when it acknowledges the particular contributions of each individual while also seeking to cater to everyone individually. But individuals only thrive when they recognise their broader role in being an integral part of a wider community.”

He added that “the commitment and generosity of so many enabled this dream to become reality. It reflects the incredible community spirit in one of the fastest growing and leading communities in Anglo-Jewry.”

The grand opening, attended by near 1000 people was also followed by a special celebration concern in the evening featuring Chazan Simon Cohen, Chazan Michael Azougi and Shloimie Gertner.