The impact of the pandemic on Manchester Jewish life is best illustrated by the rocketing number of requests for food aid.

Manchester area Jewish representative council president Russell Conn reports that the Chabad-operated foodbanks in the north and south of the city are experiencing unprecedented demand.

Previously used primarily as a source of support around Rosh Hashanah and Pesach, they are now providing essentials to a much larger base of some 300 families on a regular basis. The major local communal welfare charity, The Fed, is also fielding an upsurge of calls from those in food and financial hardship.

“Manchester is a microcosm of what is going on nationally,” Mr Conn told the JC. “People are losing their jobs, their savings have run down, or they are self-isolating and cannot get to the shops.

“The foodbanks have done an amazing job, as have all the local volunteers.”

There had been concern at the outset as many of the community’s regular volunteers were “in the wrong age group” and had to self-isolate.

But thanks to a campaign co-ordinated with the Jewish Volunteering Network, “we’ve managed to fill the gap”.

Mr Conn is aware of some three dozen deaths within the Manchester community, whose organisations he credited for mobilising speedily to mitigate the effect of Covid-19.

One positive of the situation has been the increased co-operation between all strands of local Jewry. In the past, Mr Conn has been critical of the lack of engagement by the strictly Orthodox with the mainstream but now reports much improved channels of communication.

“This collaboration will continue going forward and can only benefit the community.”

Looking ahead, he hopes for a more joined-up national approach to a much-changed Anglo-Jewish landscape.

“When we achieve some kind of normality, there will have to be serious discussions about the Jewish community being funded collectively. We can’t do it in isolation.

“I want to see some redistribution of resources — and there will have to be amalgamations.”