Pointer to family history has pride of place at Elstree barmitzvah

Researching a family name in the JC archives, Kenneth Keller found a report in an 1895 edition about a Torah pointer (yad) Charlotte Schoenfeld had presented to Dublin Hebrew Congregation, Adelaide Road, to celebrate the marriage of her daughter to Mr Keller’s paternal grandfather.

After negotiations with the Dublin congregation, Terenure, now in possession of the “handsome pointer of gold and silver filigree”, the yad will feature in the barmitzvah ceremony of his grandson, Benjamin Gershlick, on Shabbat at Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue.

The Dublin shul was initially reluctant to lend the pointer, one of its oldest pieces of Judaica.

“As a last resort, I was prepared to fly over and get it and then bring it back,” Mr Keller said.