Shofar April 2017

April 2017

Shofar

‫שופר‬

the magazine of finchley progressive synagogue

From Purim to the bitter herbs of Pesach

From the Editorial Team ca. cranston Pat Lehner left a hefty legacy of editorial competence and timely execution. She also left Shofar with an attractive format, and access to the designer skills of Lea Jagendorf. We’ve a lot to live up to and a lot to learn, and we thank Pat, and respect the comfort that familiarity brings.

(And here it is, the ‘however’): there will be additional features, such as Sarah Rosen-Webb’s initiative ‘Where Are They Now?’ where FPS is our hub in a global network of personal histories recounted by its members (See page 14 for the first in this monthly series).

And there will also be some ideological changes, none of which will impact noticeably on Shofar readers. Changes such as the idea of an ‘editorial team’ rather than a single editor. Of course, there will be someone assigned to the close textual reading, and to proofreading, but we see the future position at Shofar as a rotating one, enabling a broadening of skill sets, and a lessening of individual burdening.

For my own part, I seldom read Editorials, and therefore similarly-minded Shofar readers are unlikely to notice any changes, except for the missing picture of Pat on the inside cover. Perhaps FPS members could utilise this space as their own ‘editorial’ opportunity to share considered opinions about issues that matter?

To sum up the Shofar ethos, here’s my favourite quote, from the Ethics of the Fathers: ‘It is not your duty to finish the work but neither are you free to stop doing it’ (Pirkei Avot 2:21).

Shofar is always interested in including photos of FPS members, either at synagogue events, with their families or on their travels near and far. Please remember to send them to us: shofar@fps.org

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Cover: From Purim to the bitter herbs of Pesach; Photo Richard Allen Greene. Above photo: ‘crowd46’ by bsimple.com

Copy deadline is the 10th of each month. Please email all content to shofar@fps.org

From the Rabbi rabbi rebecca birk

T

his Shofar is brought to you by a bunch of new FPS volunteers. FPS operates almost entirely on strong volunteering and we are fortunate to have them. Do share ideas or requests for what you’d like or need to see in the pages of Shofar.

An introduction to the team: CA. Cranston is known to some Shabbat morning attenders. She and husband Melvyn Newman joined FPS four years ago, were married (by me at West Lodge Hotel), hosted a bus load of us to their Fruit Orchards in Kent for pre-Rosh Hashanah 2014, and have made FPS their home. CA. is an ecocritic with a background in Literature and the Environment.

She founded the online e-journal, AJE: Australasian Journal of Ecocriticism and Cultural Ecology and is looking forward to contributing to Shofar.

Simone Lee has been an FPS member for a while with husband Paul, and son Adam having been raised and marking his Bar Mitzvah here.

Simone is a leading light when it comes to communications: she represented FPS at an LJ communication training day (an excellent and entertaining choice, because in her free time she’s studied Stand Up Comedy). Simone also populates Facebook and Twitter and is now offering her contributions to Shofar.

Sarah Rosen-Webb is known to many I am

sure: she is a Trustee of Together in Barnet (TiB), a great supporter of our Homeless Winter Shelter, a general Social Justice leader, Purim fancy dresser par excellence, and FPS leader.

Sarah brings the first ‘Where Are They Now’ section to the April Shofar, a quite brilliant idea.

Wika Dorosz, intrepid traveller, Jewish scholar, eternal student, veteran editor, twinning co-ordinator, and communicator, will continue proofreading Shofar once it is ready.

And Lea Jagendorf continues to design Shofar in her creative way.

The magazine is, I hope, fully recognisable and follows the same format that Pat has developed and sustained over these past years.

Always lovingly edited, it is a source of great pride, making it the fine magazine it is. Enjoy!

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From the Chair alex kinchin-smith

We are looking for a Co-Chair!

I’ll start with the headline – we are looking for a Co-Chair (at time of writing in mid-March).

Let me explain. My three-year term as Chair comes to an end this summer, during which I have managed to find the time to give to FPS, along with time for work and family. With the one exception I refer to above, I believe we are in a healthy position in terms of leadership of the community. We have a strong synagogue council with four new members having joined during my term – Philip Raphael, Maureen Lobatto, Sam King and Simone Lee. We have a good range of volunteers helping to organise all our activities and these have also been added to with new groups leading on communications, finance, and caring for our building.

I am delighted that Cathy Burnstone has agreed to stand for election as Co-Chair.

Partially due to her travel plans in the year ahead, Cathy would like to take on the role in a shared capacity. To date, those highly capable members I have approached to join Cathy have felt unable to take on the role, hence I am writing about the opportunity here. And it is indeed an opportunity!

Role: Co-Chair, FPS Remuneration: None Hours: Very flexible (expect to be in shul some Shabbat mornings but not all) 4

Benefits: Opportunity to use and hone leadership and organisation skills; to make a contribution to a vibrant Liberal Jewish community; to be a role model to family members; to give time, and to feel you are making a difference Support: From fantastic Rabbi and staff team, Hon. Sec., Treasurer, Vice-Chair, Council, ExChair and many others.

I suspect that even if I have piqued your interest you are probably still thinking along the lines of ‘that’s interesting, but I don’t think I could it.’ This may be for a variety of reasons: ‘I don’t have the time’; ‘I’m not that involved’; ‘I have not been a member that long’; ‘I don’t know enough about the community’; ‘I don’t go every shabbat’ etc. If that’s you then please come and speak to me. It’s not as big a time commitment as you think, especially as Co-Chair and I do not believe any of the other objections above are valid. You can be a service goer, a shelter cook or a communications person. In short, the only ‘must-have requirement’ is that you are someone who cares about our congregation and its future.

I have had a very rewarding time as Chair and have felt honoured to serve. But now your synagogue needs you.

From Our Members not necessarily living alone

How ‘Safety Organised’ are our homes?

As we move towards Pesach and spring cleaning, I find myself focussing on ‘sorting and sifting’: • Repeat prescriptions do not have to be collected monthly. Only order when you need.

• No more stock-piling of pills and medicines, but don’t put them in the bin or down the loo.

Any dispensing chemist will take them. Any remaining medication should have a note on the packet referring to its use.

• Clinical waste, needles for injections, and ‘sharps’ for finger pricking, can be stored in a container delivered and collected by Clinical Waste department of your local Council (Barnet is 020 8359 5045) • Never put medicines, cleaning or other liquids in unlabelled containers. You might remember what’s in them now...but you may forget next week. And nobody else knows what’s in them.

• Hearing aid, and other batteries can be taken to Boots and to Tesco (possibly also

•

•

• • •

some other chemists).

If you have difficulty dragging your various waste bins to the pavement for collection, a phone call to ‘Street Scene’, Barnet Council, could arrange for collection and return to your property. NB You might need to have the phone number at hand to complain when this doesn’t happen Many of you have the joy of being visited by grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. It may have been a long time since we had little ones crawling around with prying fingers: Check there are no containers with unsafe contents under the sink, or in easy-toreach cupboards.

Dangling table cloths can be a hazard.

We probably all had dummy electric socket fillers in the past. We need them again.

Finally, perhaps it’s worth removing breakables from low shelves rather than engaging in retrospective harassing.

Well, that should keep you busy for a few weeks!

Rochelle Simmons

fps inventors!

At a recent session of Beit Midrash on ‘Jewish Invention’, Lionel Lassman invited the group to submit proposals for a new invention. Here are three of the suggestions: 1. An attachment to a cat flap which would dust down cats with flea powder.

2. A method of collecting and storing electricity produced by Zimmer frames, and homemakers

generated during their daily activities. (or treadmills in the gym?)

3. An electronic locator for finding mislaid or lost valuables in the home or its environs.

Readers with practical skills are invited to apply for patents.

Lionel Lassman

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Profile: Syrian Coffee Club angela wharton

FPS has been hosting its Coffee Club on Friday mornings for several months now. Its purpose is to help some of the Syrian families being resettled by Barnet, to welcome them into the Borough, into their new homes and to help them into their new lives. On alternate Fridays families arrive–in the main these are parents with young children–and on alternate Fridays there is a newer club just for women most of whom, but not all, come with babies and toddlers.

Since the beginning of January when I’ve been covering in the office I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of these families and their beautiful children. I really didn’t know what to expect. As they arrived and entered our

“On my first Coffee Club Friday morning I found myself welling up-what these people must have experienced, what they’ve gone through to survive...” building—somewhat diffidently—they were greeted by our amazing group of volunteers who’d been planning and setting up from early morning and I began to appreciate just how much work and thought had gone into creating the Coffee Club. The name is a huge understatement of what is offered. Coffee and cakes, yes, but so much more – games and toys for the children, English ‘lessons’ in the form of Ofra’s painstakingly written-out songs in English and Arabic on a flip chart, accompanied

by Dean and guitar with appropriately dressed volunteers (Grand Old Duke of York anyone?).

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There’s a clothes and equipment ‘shop’, and there’s conversation, and mentors to help in finding work and support. Above all we are saying ‘we want you to be here, living with us’.

Over the weeks I’ve seen the families begin to change. They seem to have a little more confidence and they want to give something back. So last Friday (the first in March) I was told that they would be providing breakfast for their hosts – and the dishes began to arrive.

‘Breakfast’ was laid out on our Kiddush tables and it was truly a magnificent feast. I had thought maybe dips and pitta. Well, they were there, in huge variety, but so were salads, different savouries, breads and rolls (I don’t have a name for them), the most delicious falafel I’ve tasted anywhere, a huge selection of pastries and a magnificent chocolate cake worthy of any patisserie. It looked beautiful and all home-made. It was extraordinary and I so wish I’d thought to take photographs as words just don’t begin to describe what had been created. I found the lady who had made the falafel as I wanted to tell her how delicious it was. ‘Is good?’ she asked. Oh yes, how good!

This project has truly caught the imagination. I think many volunteers are benefitting as much as the guests, in spite of the hard work. On my first Coffee Club Friday morning I found myself welling up—what these people must have experienced, what they’ve gone through to survive—I doubt we can begin to know although maybe as their English improves some might feel they want to tell us, others might not. But either way, we are all beneficiaries of this wonderful scheme.

Coffee Club & Women & Toddler Group for Syrian Refugees lesley urbach

W

hile of course the Coffee Club and Women and Toddler Group take place at FPS, and resources – in terms of staff time and room space etcetera – are generously given by the synagogue, and Rabbi Rebecca has been inspiring in the lead she has given the project, there are also several other communities/ groups who are and have been very actively involved in this project from the start, getting legitimated refugees into Britain and Barnet and settled into accommodation with some basic furniture; sending volunteers to meet them; donating items and money; providing ideas, and giving their time and irrepressible enthusiasm. These include Finchley Reform Synagogue, Finchley Quakers, St Vincentians in Partnership/Catholic community, and a group

from Lebanon and Syria who have been in Britain for many years.

Every session is run with volunteers from all these communities plus one or two from elsewhere as well as from FPS. It’s a fantastic example of community cohesion, which is liable to be damaged when communities are not recognised or their contribution is not acknowledged. I have already received one email from a volunteer from another community about the post that was originally on the Liberal Judaism Facebook page.

It is absolutely fantastic having Jews, Catholics, Christians, and Muslims from Britain, Syria, Lebanon, the USA, and Israel, all in one room in a synagogue and with us all working and enjoying time together. Something we should all be extremely proud of in these times of hate and division. The food being eaten in the picture was breakfast provided by the families to say thank you to all the volunteers.

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Beit Tefillah services at fps

services - april Saturday 1 April

Shabbat B’Yachad including Czech Scroll Service

Friday 7 April

Kabbalat Shabbat Service

Saturday 8 April

Shabbat Service

Tuesday 11 April

11.00am Pesach Service 6.00pm FPS Communal Seder

Friday 14 April

Kabbalat Shabbat Service led by Josie Kinchin and Wika Dorosz

Saturday 15 April

Shabbat Service led by Dean Staker and Wika Dorosz

Sunday 16 April

6.30pm Supper to end Pesach – please check with office for venue

Monday 17 April

11.00am Seventh Day Pesach Service (inc. creative family outdoor activities)

Friday 21 April

6.30pm Shabbat Resouled 10th birthday

Saturday 22 April

11.00am Shabbat Service

Monday 24 April

7.00pm FPS Yom Hashoah service ‘Keeping the Memory Alive’

Friday 28 April

Kabbalat Shabbat Service

Saturday 29 April

11.00am Shabbat Service celebrating Ned Colbey Bar Mitzvah

people a warm welcome to our new members

Charlotte Balazs; Ruth Davis; Anjanette & Eyal Pavel with Talia, Leo & Noah. congratulations & mazal tov to

Hannah Kingston and the whole family on her engagement to Marc Bear; Ned Colbey who 8

celebrates his Bar Mitzvah on 28/29 April; Frances Hayes who celebrates her 90th birthday, Shirley Goldstein her 75th, Sandra Benveniste, Steven Goorwich and Aaron Katz their 70th, Robert Bud his 65th and Denny Kingston her 60th in April; Sheila & Jack

Beit Knesset learning & arts at fps

people

people cont.

Levy who celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary, Rosalind & Alan Garfield their 60th and Sandra & Maurice Benveniste their 50th our deepest condolences to

The family of Steven Margolis who died last month. stone setting

The stone setting for the late Alec Velleman will take place at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery

at 10.00am on Sunday 7 May. It will be followed by an open house at the home of Henry Velleman & family, 5 Temple Avenue, London N20 9EJ, and Henry invites anyone from FPS who can’t make the ceremony at Edgwarebury 50/50 club draws, march winners:

1st 2nd 3rd

Lucy Pih Lassman Alison Rees Eliza King Lassman

£20 £10 £8

new - parliamo italiano!

cafe thursday

You are invited to join a small group who would like to have conversations in Italian. We’re meeting at Renzo’s house in East Finchley, times and dates to be confirmed. Contact Renzo on 020 8883 3011 for more details.

Thursdays @ 12:45pm. £6 for a freshlyprepared 3-course lunch. For menus or more information contact Nicky Marzell via the synagogue office.

book club

Tuesdays @ 7.30pm Contact Richard on 020 8349 9602

The Book Club meetings are held in people’s homess. We meet at 8.00pm on the second Wednesday of each month. For more information contact Sheila King Lassman on sheila@waitrose.com or Edgar Jacobsberg on e.jacobsberg@gmail.com learn followed by lunch

on Thursdays, 12.00-2.30pm Rabbi Rebecca takes an hour’s learning in the small hall which is followed by lunch hosted

by Nicola for anyone who chooses to stay. April Learn sessions will be on 5, 20 & 27 April (not 12) when the learning topic will be Exploring Tanakh. All are welcome to join in.

Followed by...

yoga

delving into judaism

Monday 3 April at 7.00pm with Rabbi Rebecca.

Delving then takes a break and returns on 8 May. bridge group

Mondays @ 7.30pm £4, for details contact Gunter Lawson on 020 8346 5208 rosh chodesh

Celebration of the new moon by women gathering for sharing, learning and spiritual exploration. Our next meeting will be at 8.00pm on 27 April at Alyth Synagogue and will be presented by Svetlana Ruti Omelchenko: “Growing up in the Soviet Union - one woman’s personal story” 9

FPS Beit Midrash Spring 2017 For Every Thing there is a Season: Exploring the Jewish Calendar 6 April 13 & 20 April 27 April 4 May

Jewish skills of marking time - Rabbi Rebecca Birk & Zoe Jacobs Pesach break Spirituality of the festivals - Rabbi Rebecca Birk Interplanetary Judaism - Adrian Lister & Mauro Manela

In this series we are delighted to be joined by Michael Baxter, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society; Cantor Zoe Jacobs and Rabbi James Baaden as a discussant.

Thursdays 7.30-9.00pm in the Small Hall, FPS. £5 donation on the door, or £25 in advance for the whole series. Refreshments will be served. pilates

FPS Thursday Pilates class at 6.30pm is oversubscribed and has a growing waiting list.

Our excellent teacher Tali Swart has agreed to teach an additional class at 5.30pm. Duration: 45 min. Cost around £10 per lesson, depending on number of participants. Each course consists of six sessions, with a rest on the seventh week! If you are interested, please contact Tali

taliswort@btconnect.com or Pauline at the office pauline@fps.org as soon as possible. cafe ivriah

Saturdays 9.45 – 10.45am Informal discussion over coffee and biscuits, between Ivriah dropoff and morning service.

maccabi shul table tennis championship

FPS won the Consolation trophy in the Maccabi National Shul Table Tennis Championships on 27 February. In a competition featuring some notoriously talented players, Alex Kinchin-Smith, James Woolf and David Westley won the prize by beating Muswell Hill Synagogue 3-0.

Mill Hill took the open title and Kinloss were the junior champions.

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Eagle-eyed readers will notice that David Westley is not actually a member of FPS! He is a member of The Liberal Synagogue Elstree.

So it was all kosher, but next year Alex is hoping to field three FPS players. Interested members should contact him.

James Woolf

Twinned Adult B’nei Mitzvah Shabbat Zachor, 11-12 March 2017 Those who were part of the full-house attendance at Paul Silver-Myer’s adult Bar Mitzvah (Paul is 13, going on 60) were treated to a service almost entirely presided over by Paul. He delivered a memorable speech that included a narrative about the lives of his parents and grandparents.

Earlier, he, Rabbi Rebecca and Ivriah, recorded Mazal Tov greetings to Margarita Gorbunova, who on the same Shabbat celebrated her adult Bat Mitzvah in Keshet, our twinned community in Mogilev, Belarus.

(Their greetings can be seen on FPS Facebook, as can an earlier video from Mogilev). Paul noted that he was reading from the Czech Torah scroll and therefore felt a further affinity with Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. After a sumptuous kiddush, FPS members saw a special video featuring the leaders of Keshet, their kindergarten children and the proud and happy new Bat Mitzvah.

Top: Margarita Gorbunova, Mogilev, Belarus; Bottom: Paul Silver-Myer (right) with Dean Staker. Photo by Louise Gellman

LIBERAL JUDAISM’S DAY OF CELEBRATION

BE A PART OF OUR DAY OF CELEBRATION ART EXHIBITION Submit your work, based on the Day of Celebration theme or even just being part of the Liberal Judaism family, to be exhibited in the NPLS Etz Chayim Gallery throughout the Day of Celebration.

We are also collecting photos and videos from all LJ communities to highlight the range and depth of our activities and our tradition of inclusivity.

Contact Tom to take part: montagu@liberaljudaism.org

Sunday June 11, 2017 Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue

BOOK TODAY doc2017.eventbrite.com

Sunday June 11, 2017 Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue

BOOK TODAY doc2017.eventbrite.com 11

Letters from... ...perth, western australia

It’s not often that you attend a Friday-night service accompanied by the sounds of splashing water and the shrieks of children but this is where I found myself last Friday night (3 March). I was in Hyde Park (not the London one!) attending the final outdoor service of the summer with members of the Temple David Progressive Congregation of Perth, conducted

by Rabbi Adi Cohen.

As some of you may know, I share my time between London and Australia and we have recently moved across the country from Toowoomba in Queensland, to Perth WA. Apart from the advantage of being several hours closer to London, Perth also has a large and, compared to Toowoomba, more visible Jewish community, numbering approximately 7,000.

Having settled into our new Perth home I decided it was time to make a connection with the local Jewish community and so the previous week had attended Kabbalat Shabbat in Temple David’s lovely hall. In lieu of the

absent Rabbi Cohen the service was conducted by one of the lay members and, by request, using the old Union Siddur, which made for an interesting service. Especially interesting was a brief comparison of the changes in wording of several passages between then and now and newer is not always better (in my humble opinion). By contrast the outdoor service was a relaxed evening of mainly songs accompanied by the Rabbi’s guitar playing, and singing led

by Gila Cohen. The service was held under a pavilion alongside a large water play area and we were sharing the pavilion with a group of guys enjoying the use of one of the park’s public barbeques. I think they also enjoyed the singing – well, at least they didn’t leave until it was all over! Kiddush was accompanied by some delicious home-made challah and followed by a BYO picnic. We spent a few minutes comparing notes between London and Perth and I told the gathering all about Shabbat Resouled, so maybe Dean and band will get a call from down-under. Philip Karstadt

email from... california

We are spending a few weeks’ vacation with our family in Encino, Los Angeles. They are members of the local conservative temple, Valley Beth Shalom, which must be one of the largest conservative congregations in the USA with a membership of approximately 4000, consisting of five rabbis and two cantors. This congregation was started by Rabbi Harold Schulweis (Z”L). He died about 14 months ago (1925-2014). His influence is still felt in every part of the congregation. No more so than in the temple school, with some 350 pupils of all ages between three and eleven. The love and 12

devotion in this school is very noticeable, with approximately 40 teachers involved.

A week’s programme at the temple included a concert, attended by more than 250; a Yiddish sing along; an adult Israeli dance class; a lecture in Jewish ethics, and so on. I attended a stimulating lecture by the senior Rabbi Ed Feinstein on Joseph. On his mentioning of Potiphar’s wife, it took me a little time (due to pronunciation) to appreciate that the reference was indeed to Potiphar and his wife. Have a nice day, as they say here.

Hugh & Doreen Isaacs

Coming soon at FPS rosh chodesh walk & talk

East End Walks: Activists, Militants & Pioneers: Women of the Radical Jewish East End On Tuesday 6 June, our Rosh Chodesh group is organising a ‘Walk & Talk’ led by David Rosenberg. This is a 2-hour walk during which you can find out about the leading role played by women activists in the old country before emigration, such as writer Esther Frumkin (aka Khaye Malke Lifshits (1880-194)), and Hesya Helfman/Gesya Gelfman, and the way in which their tradition of activism and their pioneering spirit was recreated in the East End from the 1880s to the 1930s. On this tour you will learn how these women individually and collectively played a crucial part in advancing the struggles of the poorest communities of the East End for better lives, fighting for equality within and beyond their community.

The meeting point is just outside Whitechapel Art Gallery, E1 7QX, on Whitechapel High Street, next to Aldgate East tube - gallery exit. (Aldgate East is on the District line and Hammersmith & City line.) The walk will begin at 6.00pm. If it is raining the walk will go ahead, but bring umbrellas.

All who wish to walk and talk are welcome on this tour. Advance booking is essential. Cost is £8.50- £10 per person.

You can buy David Rosenberg’s book ‘Battle for the East End: Jewish responses to fascism in the 1930s’ (ISBN: 978 1907869181 Five Leaves Publications, £9.99) or look at his website www.eastendwalks.com for more information.

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Where Are They Now?

sarah rosen-webb Jemma Rosen-Webb and Ros Ereira In early December 1989, Cousins Jemma and Ros ascended the Bimah at FPS to lead the Shabbat Service for their shared Bat Mitzvah.

The two girls, born just eight days apart, had worked, studied and played hard at home, school and Ivriah. Their Parasha told of the tussle between Jacob and Esau, and their deceit and trickery in winning their father’s blessing.

With different parents and no animosity between them, their Parasha bears little relationship to the lives Jemma and Ros have crafted since their Bat Mitzvah. Throughout their school years, university life and careers (Ros as a documentary filmmaker and Jemma as a Clinical Psychologist), the threads of social activism have remained strong, and while both were fully occupied with their careers and raising their own young families, things came to a head with the Syrian Refugee Crisis.

Ros spent time in Syria before the revolution and was viscerally affected as she watched the country going up in flames. Hearing that Theresa May was attending an EU crisis meeting on 14 September 2015, Ros decided the least she could do was join a walk to Downing Street to let the Prime Minister know that there were people here who were not frightened to welcome refugees and help them settle in safety. When she discovered that there was no organised march, Ros called a half dozen friends and asked them to walk with her. The next day, the photograph of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, washed up on a Turkish beach, made news around the world. Ros’s Facebook invite went viral and, with a week to go, about 100,000 people organised to be in London marching with Ros behind the banner of ‘SOLIDARITY with 14

REFUGEES.’ Meanwhile, Jemma and her husband, Rabbi Jordan Helfman were in Toronto, welcoming their third child into their family. Jemma was proud of Ros, but she also wanted to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Because Aylan Kurdi’s family reportedly had been trying to get to Canada, and because the newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was establishing a programme allowing private citizens and permanent residents to sponsor refugees, many at Jemma’s synagogue wanted to become sponsors. Jemma initially thought ‘I can’t do this. I just had a baby’. Her second thought was ‘If we do this together, maybe we can make it happen’. Twelve members of Holy Blossom Temple applied to sponsor a family of five. This core group arranged an apartment for them and helped the two school-aged children get into schools. Group members took turns taking the family to appointments, shops and local parks. Donations poured in, and now the only problem is not to overwhelm the ‘anchor’ family while they settle.

As the late Jo Cox said in her Maiden Speech to Parliament, ‘We all have far more in common with each other than the things that divide us’. And, as the sign at Indigo Bookshop in Toronto states, ‘The world needs more Canada!’ Both Ros and Jemma say they are just ‘paying it forward’ in response to the help that their families received in times of crisis during the Holocaust. The values of cooperation and ‘Paying it Forward’, rather than discord and competition, seem to be the messages they have drawn from their Parasha.

Fun Page (Sort of...)

PASSOVER wordsearch S X M R Z T E M A H C V H H N E T E S O R A H C A A A D H X G E D V Z O N D M E U X Y C Q Y D O K A O S S S E N K R A D B G K L P B W E B G P R O G I E O K O L L R Y O N A F U A C G I

L B R R

E H A G Q V U T Y E A A K U Q A J Z D S M Y M M T M Q L Z M N E T I

I S

U E D P H C S P C S D F

Can you find these words in the grid?

AFIKOMAN CHAMETZ CHAROSET DARKNESS HAGGADAH LOCUSTS MAROR PESTILENCE PLAGUE PYRAMID SEDER SHANKBONE

The Torah tells us of the wise child, the wicked child, the simple child and the one who is too young to ask questions ‘at the seder. Who do you think says what? a) “What are all these laws?” b) “ . . . . . . . . . . . “ c) “What is this?” d) “What’s all this Passover stuff to you?”

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Contacts fps who’s who finchley progressive synagogue

54 Hutton Grove N12 8DR 020 8446 4063 www.fps.org facebook.com/finchleyprog Rabbi Rebecca Birk - rabbi@fps.org Emeritus Rabbi: Dr Frank Hellner Ivriah Principal: Gabriel Webber Musicians in residence: Franklyn Gellnick, Dean Staker Synagogue Manager: Pauline Gusack pauline@fps.org Premises Manager: Howard Hamerton executive & council

Chair: Alex Kinchin-Smith - chair@fps.org Treasurer: Martin Silk Honorary Secretary: Josie Kinchin honsec@fps.org Vice-Chair: Louise Gellman

ashley page

President: Alan Banes Life President: Sheila King Lassman Vice Presidents: Renzo Fantoni, Josie Kinchin, Lionel King Lassman, John Lewis, David Pelham, Paul Silver-Myer, Andrea Rappoport, Joan Shopper contacts

Board of Deputies Reps: Janet Tresman, Stanley Volk Beit Midrash (Education): Adrian Lister, Louise Gellman Beit Tefillah (Rites & Practices): Michael Lassman, Josie Kinchin Café Thursday: Nicky Marzell Website Editor: Gabriel Webber Shofar Editor: CA. Cranston – shofar@fps.org

janet tresman

insurance brokers

mediator & collaborative family law solicitor

Commerce House 2a Litchfield Grove London N3 2TN

Altermans Solicitors 239 Regents Park Road, London N3 3LF

Tel. 020 8349 5100

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Council members: Jacquie Fawcett, Wika Dorosz, Samantha King, Simone Lee, Maureen Lobatto, Phillip Raphael

Direct dial: 0203 1820121 Email: janet@altermans.co.uk