4 March 2019

Rabbi David Hulbert, together with his wife Fiona, travelled west to visit the Herefordshire Jewish Community (HJC) and lead a special service on the 20th yahrzeit of Rabbi Bernard Hooker.

Rabbi Hooker was an inspiration to the Herefordshire community in its early days so it was very appropriate that the service – which was held in conjunction with the Gloucestershire Liberal Jewish Community – took place in Ledbury, where he had lived during his retirement.

David – who is spending his sabbatical as the ‘Rambling Rabbi’ – visiting small and emerging Progressive Jewish communities around the UK, gave a D’var Torah over lunch looking at the recipes for the incense which was burned in the Temple and how prayers had become the modern day sacrifices.

Living up to his moniker, David and Fiona also enjoyed a ramble of their own in the Malvern Hills. They were hosted by Cherry Wolfe and Julian Brown.

Julian said: “David and Fiona appeared to thoroughly enjoy their visit to Herefordshire and Worcestershire. We were honoured to have them and they added depth and learning to our Shabbat.”

Rabbi Bernard Hooker was born in London and had theological training at Jews’ College. He was the youngest chaplain to be appointed to the Armed Forces, before serving Liberal Judaism communities including Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, Wembley Liberal Synagogue and North London Progressive Synagogue.

From 1965-1975 he was also the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Jamaica. He had a major influence in the country through his radio programme Can I Help You, which was put out five nights a week for an hour and led to publications and an appointment as a director of the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation.

Along with his wife Eileen, he moved to Ledbury after his retirement and they were among the founders of Herefordshire Jewish Community.

In her memoir, titled In Retrospect, Eileen Hooker wrote: “We reluctantly retired completely, or so I thought. However we had been living in Herefordshire for a year or two and became aware of a number of Jewish people living in the surrounding area. Almost before we knew it we had a new group of people to serve. The Herefordshire Jewish Community was established and we had regular monthly meetings.

“It was very touching for us to see on the very first meeting people who had all thought that they were isolated suddenly realising that they were not alone any more.”