Page 21 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - October 19

Gerald’s wedding in September. David was their Best I should sit together. I guess that by then the rumour
Man. of our warm friendship had spread like a forest fire.
He made some humorous quip about my dress but I
knew the colour suited me and I could tell he liked me
in it. After the wedding, we walked together to a
friend’s house and on the way David stopped and
asked me if I would be his bachurah – the Hebrew
word for girlfriend. This word is not in vogue today
but at that time, it could also have meant a very special
girlfriend. I vividly remember trying hard not to
scream out loud with excitement –– and said yes on all
counts! Then I muttered something about not being
I coaxed and cajoled my sister, Eve into lending me good enough for him and stuff like that which David
her pretty turquoise blue crepe dress for the occasion. ignored. Amongst his many attributes, he was always
It had a sort of ‘fish tail’ pleat at the back, fitted well a very sensible man!
and I loved it. After the wedding ceremony, Fay made
sure, with that kind of a nod and a wink that David and

Jose and Dave Patterson: Biodata: (reprinted from last issue)

David and José first met in 1949 at the Habonim
Institute, on a 3-month study course run by David
and held in the Manchester Bayit. They married in
November 1950 and went on Aliyah to Kfar
Hanassi on 1st April 1951. David became a
renowned scholar at Oxford University. In 1972,
he founded the prestigious Oxford Centre for
Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Yarnton Manor
serving as its Founding President until his
retirement in 1992. In 2003, David was the first
person since the Order was founded in 1917, to
receive the CBE from the Queen (see right) for
“Services to Jewish Studies.” As a busy mother of
four children, in 1970 José qualified as a primary
school teacher and later went on to become a
successful children’s author

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