GLOBAL NEWS from p.34 educated in Jewish history, thought, and practice mostly via Skype. On Friday night they received their certificates of conversion, and, on Saturday morning, their first aliyot, in the medieval synagogue in the heart of former Jewish Barcelona. “About half the group said they were annusim, descendants of Jews converted to Catholicism back in the 15th century,” says beit din co-chair Rabbi Dr. Andrew Goldstein. “They shared accounts of grandmothers lighting candles on Friday night behind closed shutters, of never mixing meat and milk, and of never eating bread at Easter—practices that had once been explained to them as ‘old family customs,’ but they now share as evidence of their Jewish family origins.”
focuses on social action, welcoming strangers, helping the unemployed, collecting food and clothes for the needy, and supporting people with AIDS. Kehilat Gesher (kehilatgesher.org) is served by an American rabbi, Tom Cohen, and holds trilingual services (Hebrew, English, French). With its primary sanctuary in the 15th arrondissement , Mouvement Juif Liberal de France (MJLF, mjlf.org/ English) is led by a woman and a male rabbi, Delphine Horvilleur and Yann Boissière. MJLF has organized France’s Yom Hashoah commemoration, with the reading, over a 24-hour period, of the names of every Jewish child, man, and woman deported from France during WWII. All the worship services differ, but many of our congregations bestow a special place to music. Kehilat Gesher has its own choir; CJL has Shabbat Rock; MJLF has Shabbat Zimra, a musical Shabbat featuring musicians that mix traditional and new tunes; and Copernic hosts concerts featuring klezmer music, Israeli jazz, traditional liturgy, and choirs. What is unique about Progressive Jewish life in your city?
THE 2013 JEWS-BY-CHOICE.
Rabbi Goldstein explains that “Several candidates spoke of antiSemitism in Spain and of experiencing opposition to their conversion. All had prepared to face these problems, the expense, and, in some cases, the time to travel hundreds of kilometres to Barcelona to achieve their goal of joining a religion that gave them comfort and a feeling of belonging.” This was the third annual beit din in Barcelona. Thirty people converted in the first two beit din, bringing the total number of recent converts to 50, and a fourth beit din will take place in Summer 2014.
Along with Israel, France is one of the few countries with a strong Sephardi community. A large percentage of our Jewish families emigrated from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in the early 60s, when these nations gained their independence from France. As a result, we benefit from a very interesting mix of traditions. For instance, we enjoy the more joyous Sephardi approach at the end of Yom Kippur, singing the Neila (closure) with an upbeat tune rather than the more solemn Ashkenazi melody. And many Sephardi foods are now part of our French Jewish experience, everything from traditional Friday night couscous to the specialty pancake Mofletta, which we eat at the Mimouna celebration beginning after nightfall on the last day of Passover when North African families typically consume all kinds of chametz (leavened food). I hope that you can visit us and enjoy the diversity and richness of Progressive Jewish life in France. A bientôt! (See you soon!). reform judaism
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GLOBAL NEWS
Ukraine...
Historic Dedication: Last September, Congregation Hatikva in Kiev, Progressive Judaism’s flagship center in the Ukraine, joined with an international
CHILDREN’S PERFORMANCE CELEBRATING CONGREGATION HATIKVA’S NEW CENTER.
delegation of World Union for Progressive Judaism leaders to dedicate the synagogue’s new center. The congregation, which also runs two kindergartens, had been working out of very inadequate rental facilities for 22 years until three World Union families furnished the funds to purchase a new property; the “right” property was found within the historic Jewish neighborhood of Podol; and renovations made to accommodate a 150-seat sanctuary, spacious activity rooms, library, Netzer youth center, administrative offices, and a kitchenette. “Perhaps the most significant feeling shared by all present at the dedication was tikva (hope),” says Judy Smith in the WUPJ e-newsletter Connections. “In the context of the death and destruction of more than 70% of Ukrainian Jewry during the Shoah, it is nothing short of a miracle that Jewish life continues to flourish in the Ukraine.”
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spring 2014
2/19/14 8:32 PM