by Miriam E. David
March 20th, 1942 – January 30th, 2025
Judy at 60
My elder sister, Naomi Judith Berle (née David), aka Judy died on Thursday 30 January 2025. Born on 20 March 1942, in the middle of World War II, she was brought up in Keighley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. We were the only Jewish family. She was called Naomi until she went to primary school. My parents objected to the pronunciation of Na-Oh-My and changed her name to Judith at school, Judy at home.
From Ingrow primary school she went on to Keighley Girls’ Grammar School (KGGS) where she excelled at many subjects, most especially Chemistry. (We had a choice between Chemistry and German in the fourth year, and because Judy had done so well, I chose German. I was also tired of always being mistaken for her unfavourably. I answered to the name of Judith throughout my school life!). She was elected Deputy Head Girl in her final year at school.
Judy went on to read Chemistry at Queen Mary College, University of London in October 1960. On her first day in hall, she met Judy Worthington, who was also reading Chemistry. They became firm friends for life, as two of only four girls in the class. The two Judys were the only women to complete the course in 1963, Judy David gaining a much-coveted 2i degree. From QMUL, Judy went on to do a Masters in Biochemistry at University College London (UCL). She then acquired a post at the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in Bloomsbury editing the Extra Pharmacopeia. She stayed in this post until marriage in October 1968.
Judy and her sisters at the wedding of a family friend in 1970, from ltr Miriam, Judy and Anne
I introduced Judy to David Berle who became her husband. I had met David through the late Charles Posner both of whom were studying civil engineering at the University of Leeds from 1962 to 1965. I moved to London in September 1966, after graduation and moved into a flat with Judy in West Hampstead. Together we looked for a flat to buy, as my father had promised to help us. We found a bijou residence in Camden, but the surveyor’s report said it was ‘not a salubrious area’ so my father refused to help! Instead, we found a large 5-bedroom flat to rent at 30F, Greencroft Gardens NW6, back in West Hampstead. We found two other women to rent with us, namely the late Betty Amdurer and Jill Young (née Gilbert).
Not five months later, Judy and I volunteered to go to Israel to help the war effort. David, now living in the parallel street, popped round to tell us he had also volunteered. He left before war broke out on 5 June 1967, and Judy and I left on 12 June, after the war was over. We went first to Jerusalem and then to kibbutz Gan Schmuel where Judy spent the next two months. David was also sent there and their romance blossomed! Judy came back to her job and I stayed for another month trying to go to the Hebrew University but it was not to be.
Recounting this some 58 years later feels difficult and distant. The politics of Israel have been transformed from socialist or liberal Zionism to far right, tantamount to fascist. Conquering the Golan Heights, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Sinai after the war in 1967 went from triumph to failure, slowly corrupting Israeli politics.
Judy and David married on my father’s sixtieth birthday (27 October 1968) in the New London Synagogue on Abbey Road. I was furious as I wanted to go on an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Grosvenor Square! My younger sister Anne and I were bridesmaids. On marriage, Judy and David moved to live in East Finchley, where their three sons were born. Judy became active in what was then women’s liberation or lib. In March 1971, Judy and I together with an old friend from Bradford – Viv Davies (née Layton) – drove from London to Skegness to the second national women’s movement conference, held in a trade union hall. Much to our utter surprise, the first speaker on the platform was another Jewish Bradfordian – Suzy Fleming! She was quite remarkable as a speaker, and she was then joined by Selma James. They were trying to get us all to agree to Wages for Housework. But it was a heavily contested argument.
Judy and several others founded a pre-school playgroup for their children called 3-4-5 club. As recounted by her friend Lina Fajerman:
Judy and I met in 1969. We were both lying on the floor and doing breathing exercises. We were pregnant with our first children and were taking part in the National Childbirth trust programme preparing for the birth of our children – a boy for Judy and a girl for me.
We became firm friends and continued to meet and enjoy each other’s company. We were both founder members of the Muswell Hill Women’s Liberation group and found ourselves in the newspapers when as a group we lobbied our MP in Parliament when the first attempt to legislate for equal opportunities for women took place in 1971.
Judy at the age of 75.
Over the following years, Judy’s life was full raising children peppered with politiking. She also became a chemistry teacher at several North London schools, ending with Henrietta Barnet girls. In retirement, she worked as a volunteer at the Natural History Museum, cataloguing the chemicals and incorporating the specimens into the cryptogamic herbarium. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s with dementia when she was 70 (in 2012) and her condition slowly deteriorated until David died eight years ago (in 2017) when it was clearly exacerbated. Covid-19 and lockdown certainly did not help matters and she became ever more dependent on her carers, most especially Gina and then Alice. Eventually 3.5 years ago, her sons found her a wonderful care home – Hammerson House on The Bishops Avenue, London N2 – where she lived happily in comfort and style. Sadly, she died in hospital, diagnosed with anaemia and pneumonia.