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Lunchtime learning with a side of lox? Join the club

March 5, 2015 12:35
Pupils at Watford Grammar School for Boys at their weekly UJIA JAMS session

ByCharlotte Oliver, Charlotte Oliver

3 min read

It is 1pm on a rainy Thursday and Watford Grammar School for Boys is loud with lunchtime chatter. Pupils hurry to the canteen or head outside the Hertfordshire school to unwind during their busy day.

But in one classroom, 20 pupils ranging in age from 11 to 18 are hardly taking a breather. Instead, they are listening to a rabbi presenting the arguments for and against the idea that God died in the Holocaust, and passionately engaging in the debate.

"Sometimes religion is seen as faith without reasoning," says 17-year-old Josh Shemtob. His fellow pupils murmur in agreement and dissension.

It may seem lofty subject matter for breaktime, but this session is far from extraordinary. It is, in fact, just one in a programme of weekly activities organised by the school's student-led Jewish Society - run under the auspices of UJIA's Jewish Activities in Mainstream Schools (JAMS) programme.