Keep calm and shop on: 800 visitors expected as annual Chai Gift Fair returns
From honey cakes, wine and whisky, to hats, flowers, candles and chocolates, mainstay of Jewish community calendar offers a smorgasbord of stalls on Tuesday 16 September
One of the UK Jewish community’s most popular pre-Jewish New Year events returns on Tuesday 16 September, with its organisers celebrating its significant growth after its relatively humble beginnings 13 years ago.
The annual Rosh Hashanah Chai Cancer Care Gift Fair, which will be held at the charity’s head office in north London, has grown from a dozen stalls to around forty, with vendors selling everything from fashion, honey cakes, confectionary, chinaware, candles and chocolates.
Co-chair Debra Zender tells Jewish News that aside from the Gift Fair being a fundraiser, “it’s a really wonderful way of getting people into the Chai building, because God forbid you or someone you know should need it, you can come and not be afraid or worried. It’s got a very warm, friendly atmosphere.”
Having been founded in the early 2010s at a relatively small size, the pre-Rosh Hashanah shop-a-thon has expanded enough to warrant an additional marquee to accommodate the extra stall holders.
Zender adds: “We now have shop owners taking pop up stalls and several companies that know it’s such a successful day that they want to be part of it, and they take a room.”
On offer are “gifts for everyone”, from dried fruits, candles, fresh flowers that can be ordered for the yomim tovim, 300 of “the best honey cakes”, all donated by caterer Tony Page, exclusive Chai tableware, which Zender has sourced from across the globe, beautiful dishes, platters, bowls, salad servers, dishes and chocolates.
The Chai team “curate a beautiful selection of gifts for the home, ranging from 10 pounds all the way up to 60 pounds.”
Zender describes the annual event as “the most unique gift sale that there is. It’s very slick. It’s very professional. We also have got a café that will be run by (caterer) Ben Tenenblat, serving lovely brunch style food from 12pm and bakers OH Brown Bear offering coffees and frappuccinos. You can actually spend a day here, if you want to. It’s a proper shopping experience.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
