20/03/2023
Our own Savannah Dable made the JT!
𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗺𝘀 (𝟭𝟬.𝟬𝟯.𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯)
A week last Tuesday Savannah Dable introduced her nursery school children to Purim traditions, as well as making them hamantaschen.
There may be nothing unusual about that. But Savannah lives in Preston, where the Jewish community is tiny — and where the Palestinian flag has been raised over its town hall.
A number of Muslim councillors have also demonised Israel and, two years ago, the council passed a motion to boycott the Jewish state.
“Four out of my staff of five at the nursery are Muslim,” Savannah told the Jewish Telegraph.
“Most of the children are, too, but there have never been any problems.
“If I didn’t tell them about Purim or make hamantaschen with them, they would never know about it or other Jewish festivals and traditions.
“On a local level, the Jewish community’s relationship with its Muslim neighbours is fantastic.”
The real problem, Savannah said, is when it comes to politics.
Local Labour councillor Ismail Bax was recently suspended after he re-tweeted a Muslim academic post about Israel, which described it as occupying stolen land, murdering children, bombing hospitals and destroying their homes.
Savannah, 52, had written to council leader Matthew Brown after a spate of anti-Israel incidents among councillors.
And, when the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report on the antisemitism which had infested Labour under Jeremy Corbyn was published, Savannah wrote to council leader Matthew Brown, suggesting that councillors undergo specialist training.
She recalled: “I wanted them to understand what Zionism is and what it means to Jewish people.
“I never heard back from him, but I contacted him again when the motion was being debated about Preston City Council boycotting Israel.
“He got back in touch then, but merely with links to two anti-Israel articles in The Guardian. “I felt blanked.”
However, it is far from doom and gloom for Savannah, husband Jeremy and their three children, Annabelle, Rachael and Daniel.
Savannah (nee Ganguly) has lived in Preston for more than 30 years — and has no plans to leave.
She was born into a non-practising Hindu family in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India.
And Savannah knew a little about the country’s small Jewish population, mainly thanks to a famous Kolkata bakery.
“It is called Nahum & Sons, and was founded by Iraqi Jews to India,” she explained.
“Every Friday my father would bring home a sweet bread from there and it was only years later that I realised it was challa.”
Most of Kolkata’s Jews have left — mainly for Israel — but there are still remnants of the the community.
Savannah said: “We visited India a few months ago and we went to see the Jewish Girls’ School.
“The secretary, Arlene Cohen, is Jewish but, remarkably, 97 per cent of the pupils are Muslim.
She moved to the UK in 1992 along with her first husband, but, after settling in Preston, they divorced.
Savannah was working in barristers’ chambers when she met Nottingham-raised barrister Jeremy, a non-practising Jew.
As things became more serious between them, Savannah’s boss told her that any children they had would not be Jewish — unless she converted.
Savannah, who represents Preston at the Manchester Jewish Representative Council, said: “I started to go to Limmud, where I met Rabbi Brian Fox, who was then minister of the Menorah (Cheshire Reform) Synagogue.
“We started talking and he was amazing, and it went from there.
“I did not convert just to have a Jewish home and children — I also did it for myself because I felt a great connection to Judaism.”
The family are members of Menorah Synagogue, where the children were bar and batmitzvah.
And it was at the Sharston-based shul that she came to realise an amazing coincidence with fellow member, German-born Gisela Feldman.
Savannah recalled: “Gisela’s husband was posted to Calcutta in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and they would visit the Nahum bakery. When we first met and I told her, she couldn’t stop hugging me. She couldn’t believe it.”
It was thanks to Savannah that Coun Bax was suspended, after she sent a screenshot to Coun Brown and the Labour Party. She later attended a council meeting where, as a member of the public, she was entitled to ask a question.
“I was warned not to and that the councillors I was going to ask questions of about Israel and Zionism would come after me,” Savannah explained.
“I said, ‘great, I will put the kettle on’. “I asked was it right that these councillors have no engagement with the local Jewish community
“I don’t want these councillors to be suspended – I want them to have training on antisemitism, on Israel and Zionism.
“But I also want to make clear that not all the councillors in Preston are Corbynites and that there are plenty of reasonable ones.”
Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region
Menorah Synagogue
