Hat Works stars in Chinese documentary

MAD HATTERS: China Central Television film crew thought these hats were top

A CHINESE film crew descended on Hat Works in Stockport, Greater Manchester, to film a new documentary series.

Hat Works museum, the UK’s only museum dedicated to the hatting industry and headwear, provided the perfect back drop for filming the documentary series entitled ‘The Power of the Corporation’.

The series will focus on the industrial revolution and what impact this has had on social development. It will examine the impact that corporations have had on every aspect of modern life from a historic and global perspective.

The film crew and directors from China Central Television were very impressed with the atmosphere at Hat Works. They commented that they particularly liked the fact that the visitor experience is a ‘journey back in time’, and intend to highlight this in the documentary.

This will be the first documentary of its kind in China with the aim being to broaden viewers understanding of market economy, in an attempt to open up this subject for discussion and to offer a global perspective on common interests in the current economic downturn.

This series is expected to be broadcast in 2010 and is expected to reach an audience of 200 million people.

Councillor John Smith, executive member for leisure, said: “We are delighted that one of Stockport’s most popular visitor attractions has been chosen to be featured in a documentary that will be broadcast to such a large number of people. It will highlight Stockport’s fascinating industrial heritage to a completely new audience.”

Oldham Two charged after shoulder stabbing

TWO MEN from Oldham, Greater Manchester, have been charged after a man was stabbed in the shoulder.

Sajad Hussain, 36, and Babar Bashir, 43, both of Elgin Avenue, Clarksfield, have been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

They both appeared before Oldham Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 8 December 2009.

Police were called to Elgin Avenue, Oldham, shortly before 1:20pm on Sunday 6 December 2009, following reports of fighting.

A 27-year-old man was found with a stab wound to his back and was taken to hospital for treatment.

Anyone with information about the incident should call police on 0161 856 8951 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Rare Jewish text discovered by scholar

EXORCISM: A Manchester scholar has found a rare eighteenth century Jewish text

A RARE – and possibly unique – text describing a Jewish exorcism has been discovered by a Manchester scholar .

The 150 word neatly written fragment – discovered by Dr Renate Smithuis from The University of Manchester – describes a ceremony to dispel the evil spirit of Nissim Ben Bunya from his widow, Qamar Bat Rahma.

Dr Smithuis, whose expertise is in medieval Jewish studies, thinks the Hebrew document was most likely written in the eighteenth century and probably originated from Egypt or Palestine.

The fragment provides what is likely to be unique evidence of the prayer ritual’s actual use in a synagogue.

It is one of the 11,000 manuscript fragments held at The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library – rescued from a 1000-year old storeroom – or Genizah – at the Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo.

The fragment contains the second part of a prayer ritual in which the husband  – or husband-to-be  – of a widow recites an exorcism prayer, to which the other men gathered in the synagogue respond with a similar prayer.

Apparently, Qamar had been possessed by the spirit – or dybbuk – of her late husband Nissim Ben Bunya while engaged to, or just married with, Joseph Moses Ben Sarah.

In the prayer, Joseph and the rest of the congregation ask God that the ghost may be expelled from Qamar and that the new family and all their possessions may be protected from the troublesome ghost also in the years to come.

Professor Gideon Bohak from Tel-Aviv University, who has worked with Dr Smithuis -  discovered that the prayer is ascribed to the famous eighteenth-century Kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Shar‘abi.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded The John Rylands Library over £ 361,000 to digitise and catalogue the Rylands Genizah in 2006.

The project – soon to be completed – provides high resolution images of the fragments on the website of The John Rylands Library for both researchers and the public. There will be at least 22,000 images.

Dr Smithuis said: “From the second half of the sixteenth century onwards, there were lots of dybbuk stories across the Mediterranean, primarily in North Africa and Palestine.

“But this fragment is so exciting because it’s not a story, but the record of a real event using a prayer which was actually recited in a synagogue.

“The prayer was said in the presence of a minyan – the minimum number of ten adult Jews required for a communal religious service.

“We think it likely to have come from Egypt or Palestine not only because the fragment originates from the Cairo Genizah but also because Qamar (Arabic for “Moon”) and Rahma (“Mercy”) are names of Arabic origin.

”We know little more about what happened than what is contained within these 150 or so words  – but it does throw some light on this mysterious and little known side of Jewish culture.”