LJ Today March/April 2008

March/April 2008

VOL. XXXV No. 2

ljtoday

A constituent of the World Union for Progressive Judaism

A time to celebrate and to reflect

by Danny Rich As Israel celebrates 60 years since its foundation, there is much to be proud of: not least the revival of the Hebrew language, the growing schools of Biblical studies and the absorption of millions of refugees from places as diverse as Ethiopia, Russia, Yemen and South Africa.

Israel has a Supreme Court which is perhaps unparalleled anywhere in the world, a free press without comparison in the region, and – in spite of the qualities of many of its politicians – a democracy with a sense of vibrancy and engagement.

Nevertheless, Israel is far from perfect. Poverty – and the divergence between the poorest and the wealthiest – remains a serious challenge. The absence of a written constitution enables the traditional streams of Judaism to maintain their grip on status, marriage and divorce; it also enables state and institutional discrimination against Liberal Judaism. This is a disgrace for a country which for many other purposes is a modern democracy.

Israel’s geographical reality has been to be surrounded by hostile nations in a region of feudal monarchs and despotic presidents, where the world’s superpowers have played out their perverse games. For these reasons –

and, it has to be conceded, frequent moments of absence of vision and confidence – Israel finds itself embroiled in the West Bank, where its ‘governance’ is often controversial and heavy-handed.

It is clear that Israel is failing to meet its greatest challenge: the unequal treatment of 20 per cent of its own population, Palestinian Israelis.

In truth, Israel remains a place of conundrum. Its achievements inspire us; its difficulties disturb us; but, rather like any member of our family, its birthday is a time of celebration.

Thus Liberal Jews will mark the founding of the State of Israel both locally and nationally, joining the British Jewish community in its celebratory activities as well as planning our own Liberal Jewish events with their particular emphases.

Aware of Israel’s abundant challenges and astonishing achievements, I look forward to seeing you at at least one and perhaps many of our anniversary events.

Six tikkunim for Israel, page 4 Celebrating and soul-searching, page 5

Eva Schloss visits Northwood

Eva Schloss talks to schoolchildren at Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue’s Holocaust Memorial Day Event. She helped to present a performance of And Then They Came for Me, a play based on her life story.

Eva, who spent nine months in Auschwitz, became a stepsister of the diarist Anne Frank when her mother married Otto Frank.

Memorial Day events expand, page 2

Purim prize

In this issue

Many communities are, we know, planning scintillating Purimspiels or Purim parties.

We would love to see a photo of your event. Please email it to ljtodayeditor@liberal judaism.org by Monday 31 March. The best will be published in the next edition of LJ Today.

Purim Sameach!

Creativity in worship A truly electric Friday night; do we want Texan-style healing? 6-7 Climate change Meeting historian–activist and Biennial speaker Mark Levene Education news and book reviews Spotlight on Kent LJY-Netzer

9 8 10 11

Page 2 LJ Today

March/April 2008

Holocaust Memorial Day

We ate all the tit-bits but Synagogues a big mitzvah was missing expand their As Seder night approaches, Michael Standfield recalls a festive gathering at which he learnt nothing about God’s deliverance of the Jewish people During the Blitz I lived in the East End of London and spent my nights, with my mother, in a communal shelter beneath a Chinese laundry. The shelter was damp and cold, and the consequences were that I went down with whooping cough, which developed into pneumonia. The doctor’s advice was that my mother should get me out of London as soon as possible. So we travelled north and spent the next 18 months living with my mother’s brother and wife in Leeds.

My uncle and aunt were classified as being ‘frum’, which meant they belonged to the United Synagogue, attended synagogue on high days and holy days, made kiddush on Friday night (after a fashion), and joined the rest of my aunt’s family for a Seder.

This was the first experience I recall of a Seder, which was held at my aunt’s parents’ home. I remember a house which was dark and smelt strongly of disinfectant. The Seder was held in their large dining room, which was used on such rare occasions. The large table was laid with all the relevant paraphernalia and at its head sat my aunt’s father with all the men either side of him. At the other end of the table sat all the ladies. We children were seated at a small, lower, table where we were instructed to be quiet and listen.

All I remember of this festive gathering was the hubbub of unintelligible Hebrew at one end of the table, and a constant heated exchange of views from the ladies’ end. During the proceedings various tit-bits were handed down to us children, with the instruction to eat. Some I liked, some were terrible. Unfortunately it was the latter that seemed to be in the majority.

I am sure that all those present felt that they had observed all the mitzvot appertaining to Pesach. Unfortunately, one very important mitzvah was missing, namely the commandment to parents to tell their children of God’s mighty deeds in delivering the people

of Israel from the house of bondage (Exodus 13:8). As I did not understand one word of the Seder, I had learnt nothing of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people.

The success of a Seder is not measured by the quality or quantity of the food consumed, nor by the number of people who sit round the table. The important thing to remember is the reason behind the festive occasion, namely that each generation should feel as if they had personally been delivered from bondage and slavery into freedom. One should put as much, if not more, effort into the preparation of the service as one does in the preparation of the food; after all it is not a gastronomic exercise.

The planning of a Seder is extremely important if it is to fulfil the major mitzvah. Great effort should be made to involve everyone around the table which, if nothing else, ensures their attention. Children should be distributed evenly around the table and activities prepared to keep them occupied throughout the evening. It is not enough that they should recite the Mah Nishtanah and then feel that they have fulfilled their obligation. Ongoing involvement is important and educational.

If you are short of ideas, may I suggest The Family Participation Haggadah – A Different Night by Noam Zion and David Dishon. It comes with an excellent leader’s guide, full of ideas and suggestions for a successful Seder. It can be used in conjunction with any Haggadah that you may have.

I suggest it merely as a tool to fulfil the mitzvah, to educate one’s children.

Chag Sameach - Happy matzomunching!

Rabbi Michael Standfield, who has served Progressive congregations in Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa, is a visiting rabbi at Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation

programmes Kingston Liberal Synagogue ran its second joint Holocaust Memorial Day programme with the local United synagogue following last year’s successful one-day event. This year 450 pupils from two schools, Tolworth Girls’ and Richard Challoner, a boys’ school, took part in two days of programmes.

The event is modelled on the one at Northwood, where a Holocaust survivor speaks about his or her experiences and schoolchildren have the opportunity to ask questions before attending various workshops.

Fleur Standring, who helped to organise the Kingston event, says the children were very appreciative and there was spontaneous applause after the survivors talked. Fleur was pleasantly surprised with the response from the Richard Challoner pupils, who were aged between 13 and 16.

She adds: ‘One of the boys was so moved by the speaker in the morning [Martin Bennett, 82, a teenage survivor of Auschwitz] that he went up to him – in front of all his mates – and hugged him.

And the boy came back in the afternoon and said he wanted to hug him again.’ The synagogue is arranging for Martin to give a talk at a third school, which had also wanted to take part in the HMD event.

At Northwood, more than 2,000 pupils attended the seventh HMD event held jointly with Northwood United Synagogue. For the first time, owing to the number of schools booking for the event, Bushey United Synagogue was used as an overflow venue.

The decision to stage a play was taken in part because the synagogue is starting to plan for the time when there are no survivors left to bear witness.

Birmingham Progressive Synagogue is hoping to run a Holocaust Memorial Day event next year jointly with three Orthodox congregations.  Words of the late Paul Oppenheimer, of Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, who was devoted to the task of bearing witness to the Nazi regime – and those of five other survivors – are to be engraved on six stone pillars – to be built at the entrance to the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Nottingham.

LJ Today Page 3

March/April 2008

Getting to work on trade and debt Around the Liberal Judaism, which is a leader of the Fairtrade Synagogues movement, was looking forward to an active Fairtrade Fortnight as LJ Today was going to press.

Events planned for the event, which ends on 9 March, included a Fairtrade prayer service and lunch at Birmingham and a Fairtrade Shabbat Breakfast with a speaker at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue.

Liberal Judaism’s Social Action group has taken a major role in the publication of the Fairtrade Synagogue Action Guide 2008. Copies of this are available from the Fairtrade Foundation or from socialaction@liberaljudaism.org.

Future events include a Liberal Judaism Debt Shabbat on 16-17 May, to coincide with the UK-wide Jubilee Debt Campaign day. JDC is calling for 100 per cent cancellation of unpayable and illegitimate poor country debts. It is a

Shelley takes on key role Shelley Shocolinksy-Dwyer has been welcomed on to the staff of Liberal Judaism as head of internal services.

Her appointment is one of several changes at the movement’s headquarters in the Montagu Centre.

Shelley, pictured right, worked for several years as information services manager at a charity in Bristol, the Care Forum, before relocating to London last autumn. She has since been working for Camden Council. Before her move

successor to the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which was inspired by the Biblical concept of the jubilee ‘yoveil’ and release of debt in Leviticus 25, 8-12 and Deuteronomy 15,1-11. In 1998, 70,000 campaigners surrounded the Birmingham Convention Centre hosting the G8 Summit and put the issue of unfair debt on the international economic agenda. On 18 May, the 10th anniversary of that date will be marked with an interfaith Campaign Day in Birmingham during which there will be a mass shofar blowing, as a call to economic justice. Please contact us if you would like to take part in this event.

We are also looking forward to a Liberal Judaism Social Action day in June or July, held in the new Midlands Centre for Liberal Judaism in Birmingham.

Orlando de Lange Social action assistant she was a member of Bristol and West Progressive Jewish Congregation.

Following the creation of two new roles at the Montagu Centre, Anwen Grant is community services administrator and Selina O’Dwyer is internal services administrator.

Farewell parties were held in Feburary for Jordan Helfman, who starts his rabbinic training at Hebrew Union College, and for Frank Edwine, who has left after 14 years as evening caretaker.

Tea party tribute to Monique Rabbi Danny Rich said it was evidence of Monique Blake’s dedication to her role that she had delayed her retirement by some years so she could assist with projects as they emerged.

Rabbi Rich was speaking at a tea party following a service at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in January marking Monique’s retirement after 21 years working for the movement. In a speech, Nigel Cole, the chairman, referred to Monique as ‘the conscience of Liberal Judaism’, whose work had gone far beyond being just a job. Her long experience meant that she knew how to deal with each eventuality that arose.

The Council of Liberal Judaism has enthusiastically endorsed the Officers’

recommendation to elect Monique as a vice-president of the movement. As well as recognising past services over and above the duties of an employee, it is hoped that Liberal Judaism will in the future be able to draw on her skills as an ambassador of the movement.  Monique writes: I am so grateful for the very generous retirement gift presented to me at the party in January but unfortunately I do not know who all the kind people are who contributed to it.

So I hope you will accept this way of thanking you. I very much appreciate all your messages of good wishes for my retirement. It’s good to be part of the Liberal Judaism family. My warmest regards to you all.

Communities

Oxford The multi-denominational Oxford Jewish Congregation – which includes Liberal, Masorti and Orthodox – has elected Kathy Shock as president of the synagogue. Kathy has worked tirelessly running the congregation’s Liberal services for many years.

Birmingham A lively new website, www.bpsjudaism.com, has community news and an update on the building. It also has a link to a particularly comprehensive weather website. May the sun shine on Birmingham!

Bristol The congregation welcomed Dr Edie Friedman, director of JCore (the Jewish Council for Racial Equality) as speaker at its annual meeting. Edie gave a stimulating talk on ‘Jewish responsibility in a multiracial society’, which was recorded for broadcast on Salaam Shalom Radio, the Muslim–Jewish internet station, which is based in Bristol.

South London A farewell kiddush was held for Rabbi James Baaden following the Shabbat morning service on 26 January. Rabbi Danny Rich took part in the service and Jeromé Freedman, the synagogue’s president, presented Rabbi Baaden with a pair of engraved crystal and silver candlesticks in recognition of his contribution to the congregation.

Edinburgh At the community’s first Burns Supper, held at Inch House (once a shelter to Jacobites), special guest Dr Gerry Carruthers, a Burns scholar from Glasgow University, toasted the Immortal Memory, David Nelson recited the Ode to a Haggis, Charlie Raab proposed the Toast to the Lasses and Rabbi Mark Solomon sang Burns songs.

Southgate Among those who stepped in to lead or take part in services during Rabbi Stephen Howard’s six-month sabbatical were six b’nei mitzvah young people who repeated their Torah portions during this period.

Nottingham The community has a new head of cheder. Elaine Hamer has taken over from Sara Stewart.

March/April 2008

Page 4 LJ Today

SixT: six tikkunim for Israel Shelley Kedar on a framework for marking the nation’s anniversary It is written in the Babylonian Talmud, in tractate Chulin, that food will be considered kosher, even if it has a nonkosher ingredient in it, when the kosher is 60 times greater than the non-kosher.

This is termed: nullified by a sixtieth – batayl beshishim. At the Leo Baeck Education Center, we have created our own midrashic interpretation of this concept, and applied it as an educational framework for Israel’s 60th anniversary.

The core value of the Leo Baeck Education Center is tikkun olam (repair of the world). We believe that the idea of tikkun positions us in partnership with God in assuming responsibility for our world. By the same token, we view Israel’s 60th anniversary as an invitation to assume responsibility for the present and future State of Israel.

This year, we are focusing on six areas of tikkun. One: the tikkun of absorption.

About 200 families of Ethiopian descent currently live in four neighbourhoods next to the Leo Baeck Education Center.

Recognition of the importance of education in closing gaps and increasing social mobility have led to the establishment of Beit Hakehilah, whose purpose is to develop and nurture the

social and learning skills of people of all ages within the community.

Two: the tikkun of Liberal Jewish education. In September 2007, we welcomed the first two kitot aleph (reception classes) of our new primary school, the first Liberal Jewish day school in Israel.

Three: the tikkun of matter enabling the mind. The Leo Baeck Junior High School is a regional, integrative school for underprivileged and middle-class children. It was built in the early 1960s, and when the Leo Baeck Education Center took over management in 1998, the building was in a state of disrepair.

Since then we have improved conditions on many levels. Now, new classroom furniture is being bought with the help of the British Friends of the Leo Baeck Education Center.

Four: the tikkun of Jewish peoplehood.

The 2000 Guttman/Avi-Chai survey shows that 69 per cent of Israelis said Jews in Israel are a ‘different people’ from Jews living abroad. As Jewish knowledge and Jewish identity weaken, this gap, or perceived gap, grows. Lokey Academy, within the Leo Baeck Education Center, works to strengthen connections

between Jews throughout Israel and the Jewish world. For example, for the past eight years, an annual mifgash (encounter) between LJY-Nezter and Leo Baeck High School students takes place both in London and in Israel.

Five: the tikkun of independence.

Forty-five students with developmental disorders are currently enrolled in every year at the Leo Baeck Education Center, the only institution in the region offering an education to students with these disorders in this age group.

Six: the tikkun of equality. The centre is dedicated to breaking the cycle of illiteracy, poverty and deprivation by providing educational opportunities to children, youth and adults in need. The Leo Baeck Community Center serves all populations, regardless of background, ethnicity, special needs, age or religion.

In this 60th year of our country, we at the Leo Baeck Education Center look forward to working towards a better Israel.

Shelley Kedar, a former shlichah to Liberal Judaism, is director of professional development, Lokey Academy, LBEC. She will be a presenter at Liberal Judaism’s Biennial Weekend in April

Six Liberal Jews describe their personal Hilda Hart Finchley Progressive I remember when the state was declared – I listened to everything on the radio.

We were dancing for joy.

My husband Norman and I decided to go out there. We had only two years previously come out of the Forces – Norman was in the Army and I was in the Air Force. I was pregnant and we wanted our baby to be born in Israel.

Michael was born in Hadera hospital.

We lived on Kibbutz Maayan Zvi. I worked in the laundry – everybody put their clothes in the same boiler. My husband worked in the fish ponds or gathering bananas.

In the end kibbutz life didn’t suit us and my husband went to work in a hotel near Tel Aviv to save enough for the fare back.

Now I buy anything in the shops from Israel in preference to anything else. My

husband was the same. If we saw anything from Israel we bought it. And I visit a lot – my brother lives in Haifa.

When we were in the Forces we knew vaguely about the Holocaust. But when the war was over we found out what had been happening. My husband and I decided to give Israel all the support we could and I’m still doing it.

that not everyone felt so positive about ‘my country’s’ achievements.

In recent years I have tried to understand the Palestinians’ sense of injustice. I am keen to support projects in Israel and the Territories that promote dialogue and peaceful coexistence.

Byron Simmonds

Bristol and West Progressive

PJCEA (East Anglia)

I was born in Israel. We left in 1976, when I was 15, to move to Venezuela because my mother had her family there. I lived there for 10 years then went to the US to continue my education.

Leaving Israel was a cultural shock.

There weren’t many Israelis in Venezuela but there was a big Jewish community. A few of the children my age said I was a traitor because I had left. For me, there were mixed feelings. I was very proud of the country – proud of the success Israel

I was a two-year-old British baby at the time of the first Yom Ha’Atzmaut, and so was not in a position to celebrate.

The Six Day War was different. I was 21. David slays Goliath. What was going on? For as long as I could remember I had felt assimilated. But the Six Day War was when I rediscovered my Jewish identity, a feeling accompanied – and reinforced – by the unfolding realisation

Iris Segall

LJ Today Page 5

March/April 2008

Celebrating and soul-searching Liberal Judaism and its communities are studying and partying for Israel’s 60th On Sunday 30 March, 7.30pm at Southgate Progressive Synagogue, a panel, to include an Israeli embassy official, will debate ‘Israel: the next 60 years’.

Woodford Liberal and Bet Tikvah synagogues are jointly running six onegei Shabbat (Friday night study sessions), titled ‘Six Glimpses of Six Decades’, led by Liberal Judaism’s shlicha, Noa Marom, and Redbridge shlicha Revital Shloman. The remaining sessions are: 14 March 6.30pm, Woodford. 1968-78 Milchama Veshalom/War and Peace.

11 April 8pm, Bet Tikvah. 1978-88 Tichye Vetihiye/Live and Become: immigration 13 June 6.30pm, Woodford. 1988-98 Hayeladim Shel Choref Shnat 73/ Children of Winter ‘73: young people 11 July 8pm, Bet Tikvah. 1998-2008 Israel@60, the sixth decade and beyond through film. Details from Noa on 020 7631 9834 or shlicha@liberaljudaism.org

Fly the Flag for Israel Religion school pupils are encouraged to enter Liberal Judaism’s Flying the Flag for Israel Challenge. Details are on the education page of the Liberal Judaism website. Closing date: Friday 2 May.

Yom Ha’zikaron service on Wednesday 7 May, 8pm, includes speaker Bernie Spies, who was a machalnik (volunteer) in the 1948 War of Independence.

Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue is hosting a celebratory evening, including a three-course dinner and drinks, on Saturday 10 May at 7pm. Abbie Ben Ari, the Israeli political and social analyst and former senior diplomat, will speak briefly on Israel’s achievements. The Matzoh Boys will entertain with gypsy and Israeli music, followed by klezmer for dancing.

Tickets are £25 from 01923 822592.

Liberal Judaism’s Biennial weekend will host an early celebration of Israel’s 60th.

Biennial takes place at the Tortworth Court Hotel, Wotton-under-Edge, near Bristol, from 4 to 6 April.

On Saturday 10 May the LJS is cohosting a Celebration for Israel’s 60th.

Dinner and dancing to Shir, a klezmer band. Venue: West London Synagogue.

Tickets: £25. Contact Carol Roberts: 020 7328 8303 or carol.a.roberts@gmail.com.

Southgate Progressive’s Yom Ha’atzmaut/

The LJS is hosting a Service of

Thanksgiving and Celebration, with Rabbi Mickey Boyden from Israel as guest speaker, at 3pm on Sunday 11 May. Organised jointly with West London, Belsize Square, New London and Westminster synagogues, Liberal Judaism and the Movement for Reform Judaism.

Contact b.fox@ljs.org. All welcome.

On Sunday 11 May at 6.30pm, a grand party will be held at Southgate, with Israeli dancing and Israeli-style food. £12.50, all proceeds to Israeli charities.

Community Tour of Israel: 4-14 May Birmingham Progressive Synagogue and Liberal Judaism Celebrate Israel’s 60th (8 May) in Israel. £920.

Interfaith Tour of Israel and Jordan: 14-29 May Liberal Judaism and Dittons Council of Christians and Jews Led by Rabbi Danny Rich and Father Patrick Shanahan. £1,200.

Prices include flight and half-board accommodation. Email: shlicha@ liberaljudaism.org for either of these tours.

relationship with the Jewish homeland had achieved, of how Israel made the desert flourish. But on a personal level I did want to experience something different.

Israel is still my country. It is what I identify with. I am happy that Israel is able to celebrate its 60th birthday.

Maurice Naftalin ELJC (Edinburgh) Emotionally I’m very strongly involved with Israel, but I’m extremely concerned.

At the moment the Palestinians are suffering a terrible injustice. I can’t feel any sense of celebration at Israel’s 60th when there’s no attempt to correct this.

For the Palestinians, what we’re celebrating is their catastrophe.

It’s time for reconciliation and it’s time to recognise faults; and in this respect because I’m Jewish I’m more concerned with what Israel does. Israel has very much the upper hand and therefore the

greater capability of taking the initiative for peace. The Occupation is corrupting Israel: it’s the source of a deterioration in all aspects of the country’s life – social, political, cultural and military.

Now we’re very interested in what’s going on in Israel. It’s completely changed our perception of the country.

Alan Solomon

Bedfordshire (Rodef Shalom)

Harrow and Wembley

Israel has given security to Jews – physical and psychological. This applies to those who live there and those who don’t. Only because of Israel’s existence have Jewish men, women and children ceased to be beaten and murdered just for being Jews. I don’t believe for a moment that Jews are under any threat at all in western democracies. But not all Jews live in western democracies.

I firmly believe that, as Israel reaches 60, in no other 60-year period have Jews been so free from causeless persecution.

Through Israel, Jewish life has been able to recover, in Israel and beyond, from the trauma of the Holocaust.

My parents had no interest in Israel at all, and I didn’t really, either as a child or into my teens and early adulthood. But all three of our children, Michael, Neil and Paul, went to Israel on ULPSNYC [LJY-Netzer] trips, so that broadened our horizons and made us more interested.

Janet and I went to Israel in 1990. It was the first visit for both of us, to mark our silver wedding. We went out again in 1999 - the year after Paul and Esther got married and made aliyah, and we’ve been visiting twice a year ever since.

They live in Tel Aviv and have two kids.

Geoffrey Ben-Nathan

Page 6 LJ Today

creativity in worship

March/April 2008

Shabbat Resouled is one way in which synagogues are creating new ways to

This Friday night service It was six thirty on a cold Friday evening in north London. A young, newly installed rabbi greeted the 10 or 12 congregants who had arrived for the service at Finchley Progressive Synagogue. Though Saturday morning services were fairly well attended, Erev Shabbat was a different matter. Could anything be done to stop numbers dwindling and entice more members to come along?

Fast forward a year and the synagogue is buzzing with people from every age group, all here for a spiritually uplifting, vibrant service – ‘unmissable’ in the words of many who come – and where numbers are growing every month.

Finchley’s new Friday night experience is Shabbat Resouled*, and central to its attraction are the music and the mood, which is genuinely welcoming.

The project to breathe new life into Erev Shabbat began in January last year when Rabbi Neil Janes put out a call for members who ‘love new melodies and have ruach (spirit)’ to take part in a new-

style service. There was a good response and rehearsals began. After three months Rabbi Janes, who plays the flute and the guitar, led the first Shabbat Resouled, which was an instant success.

And the sense of warmth and community involvement ensures that it keeps growing.

‘There’s always food and drink at the beginning, with a strong atmosphere of schmoozing,’ says Rabbi Janes. ‘And the service responds to families – children can run around and no one is going to criticise anyone for that happening.’

The musicians are led by Dean Staker,

an Australian former professional guitarist who played with an indie band in Adelaide for 20 years and ‘loves British music’. Though some of the tunes they play are by well-known modern liturgical composers, including Craig Taubman, Debbie Friedman and Carlebach, they try not to get fixated with the same pieces. Dean, who plays bass guitar and acoustic guitar plugged, says that, coming from a pure rock background, he didn’t necessarily like all the modern liturgical settings he came across. ‘Some of the songs I found were

3rd Friday of the Month

Siddur And on the seventh day God rested and was resouled (vayinafash) Exodus 31:17.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The Holy One gives a person an additional soul on Friday Night.

Shabbat Resouled, on the third Friday of the month, is our community’s way of refreshing our souls and bringing a new ruach (spirit) to Friday nights. Join us!

Rabbi Janes with flautist Hannah Kingston, clarinetist Jo Kingston and guitarists Mischa Stevens and Leah Grayson. Far right: the Shabbat Resouled siddur

Liturgy taken from Siddur Lev Chadash - the Siddur of Liberal Judaism

Help and friendship for those coping with

by Monique Mayer ‘A what service?’

‘Isn’t that a bit un-Jewish?’

‘I’m not that sick.’

‘We don’t do that here..’

These are just a few ways people respond to the idea of a healing service at a synagogue and, generally, most of these people have never experienced such a service. In the seven years I attended and led the monthly healing service at my congregation in Austin, Texas, I witnessed the powerful effects on those who, for different reasons, were drawn to this special, quiet service.

Some sought spiritual healing; some sought physical healing for themselves or others close to them; some had had a difficult week and just needed moral support. And some came because they

enjoyed the intimacy that the regular worship services did not provide.

During the Liberal weekday worship service, there is an opportunity for reciting a blessing for healing: ‘May it be Your will, Eternal One, ... speedily to grant a perfect healing, of body and soul, to ... and all who are sick.

‘We praise you O God, Healer of the sick.’ (Siddur Lev Chadash, p.22) On Shabbat, many congregations use a variation of this blessing, in words or song, mentioning the names of those who are sick. Our prayer book also provides personal prayers in illness and recovery (pp.606-608). And yet, so many times I have spoken to individuals after a service who needed more support than the regular service provides. In Austin, I suggested they attend our healing service.

Not all of them came, but those who did found something of what they needed.

People who attended healing services at Southgate said how much comfort they got from them, recalls Phyllis Freedman, chair of the synagogue’s religious activities committee. ‘We held them on a

Under dimmed lights, people entered the room and sat in a circle. The service began with lighting of candles. We recited a prayer to sanctify the service and then sang Kol Ha-n’shema – ’Let all living things praise God.’ We read another prayer or inspirational reading, and we then studied a psalm, speaking of our reactions and what message we might carry from the ancient words.

After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, we went around the circle, sharing what might be weighing on our minds or quietly passing to the

creativity in worship

March/April 2008

pray that feel genuinely meaningful

really rocks written by American songwriters for an American audience.’ He has written fresh, modern melodies for some of the Friday night prayers. The accompanying instrumentalists – on guitar, mandolin, clarinet, piano and drums – are in their teens through to their seventies.

Another crucial element in the service is the Shabbat Resouled Siddur, compiled by Rabbi Janes. He took the liturgy from Siddur Lev Chadash but, for Shabbat Resouled, did away with some of the rules. ‘There are no printed instructions – no italics,’ he says.

‘Synagogue services tend to be very choreographed, but I’d like people to join in when they want to.’ He adds: ‘The most important thing was that it had transliterations so that everyone could join in with the singing and praying.’

Dean is clearly happy at the way the service is evolving. ‘Everyone just tells me that they really enjoy the music,’ he says. * And on the seventh day God rested and was resouled (vayinafash) – Exodus 31:17.

Shabbat Resouled takes place on the third Friday of every month at Finchley Progressive Synagogue.

Dean Staker, a former professional musician, has written new melodies for the monthly services

illness – or a leaking roof weekday or weekend evening. We said the Shema and Amidah and had readings around the prayers.’ Phyllis, who led some of the services, said they also had silent meditation with background music.

next person. We sang again and then, standing in a circle, we expressed our hope or blessing for the month: ‘peace’, ‘equanimity’, ‘compassion’, ‘patience with myself and others’, ‘perseverance’, and concluding with ‘Amen’.

Sometimes we were a community of 10; sometimes three of us met. But how few or how many was unimportant. What mattered was the supportive atmosphere to which people could bring themselves and what weighed on their minds and hearts. And lest you think that these services were overly intense or

emotional, rest assured that they provided a welcomed break and, sometimes, even a bit of levity. One month, a young man said: ‘My bedroom ceiling has been leaking all week and this morning my bed collapsed. Thank you for being here.’ After he told us, even he could laugh at his situation, making it more bearable.

A healing service can be whatever one needs, whether for emotional support for serious illness or escape from domestic disasters. It is a wonderful chance to extend a hand to those in our community who are looking for something more to help them weather life’s challenges. To those congregations that have have not yet held a healing service: I invite you to avail your community of what this lovely and moving service has to offer.

Monique Mayer is a fourth-year student rabbi at Leo Baeck College

LJ Today Page 7

Festival adapts to 21st century Noa Marom follows the transformation of Tu Bishvat into a ‘green’ festival As part of my work as a shlicha (Israeli emissary) to Liberal Judaism, this year I had the privilege of presiding over no fewer than five Tu Bishvat seders in the course of a week. As my stomach recovered from so much dried fruit, it was appropriate, for me at least, to look at how this festival has evolved.

Tu Bishvat translates as the 15th of the month of Shvat; it is a date in the Jewish calendar. It was around this time of year that, during the days of the temple, the people of the land of Israel would bring taxes to the priests.

After the destruction of the temple, and with the Jews scattered around the world, they still remembered this date and it became a time for them to reconnect to the land of Israel: to recall the beauty of the winter while the almond trees blossomed. As Jews who did not live in the land could not get hold of the fruits which were in season there, the next best thing was to eat dried fruits that would be available fresh in Israel at the time.

It was in Tzfat that the idea of holding a Seder came along, and an official ceremony was put together around this holiday. A Kabbalistic approach was given to the eating of the fruit and now meaning was bestowed on every type of fruit.

But we, as progressive Jews, are reshaping this festival once more. We have turned this ‘green’ holiday into a day in which we reflect on our responsibility to environmental issues plaguing the whole world. This year, with the Suffolk community, I looked at whether for Liberal Jews the connection to Israel still holds. We also explored the 10 plagues that we are inflicting on the environment – the Seder is built on the model of the Pesach Seder.

The 20 children present learned a classic Tu Bishvat song from Israel while making dried fruit sweets; and they created a magnificent tree of life wall hanging, which the community will use during services.

A family service was created especially for this event as well as a translated version of the Israeli Tu Bishvat Seder. If you would like a copy please contact us in the office.

March/April 2008

Page 8 LJ Today

Education news.... from Judy Thwaites Stay on track with our GCSE revision courses Liberal Judaism is running a Jewish Studies revision day on Monday 5 May (a Bank Holiday), and a Jewish Texts revision day on Monday 26 May (also a Bank Holiday). These courses will run from 10.30am to 3.30pm at the Montagu Centre. £30 for each day or £50 for two days.

Leo Baeck College is also running GCSE revision classes in April, May and June. Details from Janet BerensonPerkins on 020 8349 5628 or janet. berenson-perkins@lbc.ac.uk

Yom Chinuch – a day to celebrate Israel’s 60th Liberal Judaism’s Yom Chinuch (Education Day) on Sunday 15 June will have an exciting programme of Israelthemed activities including Israeli dance, drama and crafts.

This is for religion school pupils aged 10 to 14 and their teachers. It is a chance to meet pupils from other synagogues.

Parents and children of this age from small communities without formal religions schools are most welcome.

At this event, the winners of the Flying the Flag for Israel Challenge (see page 5) will be announced. There will also be sessions for teachers, who are encouraged to stay and take part.

The day starts at 10.30am and ends at 3.30pm; £5 per adult or student.

The first annual Kabbalat Torah Seventh Night Sleepover This event has been a big success at The Liberal Synagogue Elstree for the past three years and now, for the first time, the rest of Liberal Judaism is invited! The seventh-night Seder, service and sleepover runs from 8pm, Friday 25, to 12.15pm, Saturday 26 April; hosted and led by the irrepressible Rabbi Pete Tobias. Cost: £5.

A chance to see the Liberal Judaism Curriculum Come to the Biennial and try out the religion schools’ curriculum yourself!

We are planning to demonstrate it on computer in the marketplace area.

During Shavuot term, which is about to start, the curriculum will use the Israel Counts programme.

Learn Hebrew in one weekend Rabbi Aaron Goldstein is running two intensive Hebrew courses in March, one for adults and one for children.

The non-residential courses will be held at Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue. The course for adults runs from 6pm on Friday 14 March until 4pm on Sunday 16 March. The one for children, aged 10-13, runs from 9.30am to 5pm on Saturday, ending with Havdallah, and from 10am to 4pm on Sunday. For this course, host family accommodation will be available for the children on the Saturday night.

The cost for either course is £60 for Liberal Judaism congregants and £100 for others. For details please phone the synagogue office on 01923 822592.

Educator in residence Shelley Kedar, of the Lokey International Academy of Jewish Studies, Haifa, is offering seminars to Liberal Judaism congregations on 2 and 3 April.

Further information on any of the above: j.thwaites@liberaljudaism.org or telephone 020 7631 9824

Who do you think you are?

FOR THE LIBRARY

JEWS AND EUROPE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Nick Lambert, Vallentine Mitchell, 2007 Review by VAL HARRISON

We may feel that our identities both as individuals and as part of a community are the foundation on which we build our lives. In this book, Nick Lambert explores how Jews in modern Europe see themselves and their identity.

The book springs from more than two hundred hours of interviews with a broad spectrum of ‘prominent Jewish intellectuals’ from ‘Orthodox, nonOrthodox and unaffiliated Jews’, over a seven-year period. Lambert does not set out to look at Jews in the whole of Europe, as the title may suggest.

Instead, he examines Jewish thinkers from Britain, the Netherlands and Italy, because they ‘lie outside post-war Europe’s Franco-German axis’ and because he feels that their ‘narratives of Jewish life’ may be unfamiliar to those elsewhere.

The interviews explore how Jews, as a

minority group, interact with the majority, non-Jewish population where they live and how they forge their civic and religious identities. What emerges is a sense of insecurity and a psychological tug-of-war between the desire to maintain a Jewish persona and the need to be accepted by a world which may be anything from curious to hostile.

Interestingly, whilst the Dutch Jews tend to feel Jewish first and Dutch second, the British Jews tend to feel equally Jewish and British (rather than English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish) and the Italians are most definitely, in their own eyes, Italian first and Jewish second.

Lambert explores how Jews may render themselves as invisibly Jewish as possible when they feel threatened, or feel compelled to be exemplary in order

to avoid criticism either of themselves as Jews or of the Jewish community.

The impact of the Shoah echoing down the generations is looked at in the context, particularly, of feeling the need to be able to move on if necessary, and of needing to ask where, if at all, one can feel secure and at home.

Which brings Lambert to how his interviewees view Israel; again, there is no consensus. Israel is seen by some as being in the Middle East but spiritually and culturally of Europe; as being a democracy but undemocratic. And Israelis are often perceived as more brash and materialistic than European Jews. But there is also a feeling that the existence of Israel as a potential refuge makes some people feel safer.

Val Harrison is a member of Birmingham Progressive Synagogue.

LJ Today Page 9

March/April 2008

Why is a historian so interested in climate change and is there a Jewish way of looking at the problem? Beatrice Sayers talks to Biennial speaker Mark Levene

Beyond science and technology For a lot of people, climate change is something we must leave to the scientists, or perhaps the politicians.

Not for Dr Mark Levene, an academic whose research interests include massacre and genocide. He believes that we must look to the past to understand how we came to put our planet in peril; otherwise there will be no more history.

He also believes that Judaism has much to teach us about a situation where we are staring into the abyss.

A reader in comparative history at the University of Southampton, he approaches the problem of climate change on a variety of levels. One approach comes across as purely political. He asks whether the elite in western society – the people ‘we sometimes trust and who are going to manage the problem’ – have climate change at the top of their priorities, as they claim. ‘I’m interrogating whether the necessary change can come about… by those who are now in charge.’

Viewing many humanities academics as in a state of denial or ‘disconnect’ about the threat to the planet, he set up Rescue History, an organisation aimed at encouraging them to understand and respond to the threat. Mark explains: ‘Rescue History is about looking at where are we in relation to the past and to the future and seeing if we can provide a provide a bridge for others.’

Rescue History was formed out of Crisis Forum, a group Mark set up with Dr David Cromwell, an oceanographist at

Dr Mark Levene and the recent book on climate change he co-edited

Southampton. Crisis Forum describes itself as a collection of researchers who believe that ‘humankind is in serious trouble due to an economic and political system which is destroying our ability to sustain our existence on this planet’.

Although he is more likely to be found on his allotment than in synagogue, Mark’s Judaism underlies much of what he does. During the decade or so before

‘When people say “what can I do?” they’re saying “there’s nothing I can do about it” ’ he entered academia, he worked in the peace and environmental movements, which he says were full of Jews ‘living a certain sort of Jewishness in the world’.

At Southampton, he is an enthusiastic member of the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations.

When they think about environmental genocide, do Jews differ from anyone else? ‘It’s very evident from the science that the situation is getting out of control.

Who is going to take responsibility?’ he asks. ‘They’re big questions, but they’re also human questions, which also makes them Jewish questions.’

Again, for him some of the clues lie in the past. ‘If we look back to the prophetic tradition, the importance of prescience became fundamental – saying, if we go down a particular route, this is likely to happen. That moment of prophetic wisdom is fundamental. It has informed Jews with the ability to stand back as commentators.’

At Liberal Judaism’s Biennial, he will be trying to get delegates to ‘recognise where we’re at’. But what does he say to people who ask what they can do about climate change?

‘When people say “What can I do?” that’s a statement of “There’s nothing I can do about it,” ’ he replies. ‘Part of the answer is that we don’t do anything on our own. Try and talk with others in a way that suggests you are more than the sum of your parts. It is only as a community that we can actually do things that are purposeful.’

Liberal Judaism’s Biennial Weekend is at the Tortworth Court Hotel, Wotton-underEdge, near Bristol, from 4 to 6 April 2008. www.liberaljudaism.org/biennial.htm

Love that inspires a very literary translator Who would think translating the works of Amos Oz could be a spare-time activity? That is how Nicholas de Lange described his work turning Oz’s novels and essays into English.

De Lange was in discussion with FPS member Roz Schwartz at Finchley Progressive Synagogue. He gave an intriguing, expansive account of how he has worked very closely with the Israeli author, who once said his novels were better in de Lange’s English than in the original Hebrew.

De Lange compared a good translator

to a perfect butler: he should not be noticed. But translation was also like a musical performance because it was the necessary interpretation that enabled an audience to experience the composer’s work. De Lange credited his classical schooling – having to translate on a daily basis to and from Greek and Latin – for training him as a translator.

Among Hebrew’s challenges for a translator were that it did not have adverbs or the verb to be. De Lange quoted from his English version of A Tale of Love and Darkness, which is close to

autobiography, to demonstrate how the question of who is ‘I’ became problematic.

One reviewer had called the memoir ‘a book about language’. De Lange commented: ‘Translation is a form of writing. I couldn’t do it if I wasn’t in love with the English language.’

This was an evening full of insights delivered with soft-spoken erudition by an acclaimed translator who is also a rabbinic studies graduate of Leo Baeck College and professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Cambridge.

Edgar Jacobsberg

March/April 2008

Page 10 LJ Today

Spotlight on Kent How did it all start?

One snowy weekend in 1990, a group of curious Jews from all parts of Kent, all strangers to one another, met in Rochester to listen to speakers from the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues (now Liberal Judaism) talking about the possibility of starting a new congregation in Kent.

Rosita Rosenberg, then executive director of the ULPS, Gerry Dixon z’l, Rabbi Bernard Hooker z’l, and Monique Blake helped to set up what, the following year, became the Kent Liberal Jewish Community.

How big is the congregation?

KLJC now has a committed membership of about 50, of whom between 20 and 30 regularly attend the monthly Shabbat services, normally led by Ba’alat Tefillah (lay leader) Beverley Taylor from South London Liberal Synagogue.

Who is in charge?

KLJC is run by an eight-strong committee. Hazel, chairman, and her husband, Roger, have been active in the community since it began. Roger is a skilled craftsman who has made many artefacts for the community, including the portable ark, which is dismantled and stored at the end of each service.

Paul is the honorary secretary and editor of the monthly newsletter.

Where does it meet?

The monthly Shabbat services are usually held at a hired venue in central Maidstone, easily accessible for the county-wide membership.

The community uses a Torah scroll which originates from the Czech Republic and whose vestments have been handmade or donated by Kent members.

What else does it do?

It holds a very popular communal Seder, conducted by Beverley, and holds bar/ batmitzvah ceremonies for adults as well as youngsters, with two due to take place in 2008. This year it will also host a marriage blessing for David, the community’s treasurer and an accomplished Torah reader and shofar blower, and his fiancée, Jo. Among Kent’s members is Janet Naim, who broadcasts on BBC Radio Kent’s religious affairs show The Sunday Programme four times a year, extracting items from the newspapers, getting a plug in about the community, talking

Clockwise from left: Joyce and Tony and chairman Hazel at the Kent Liberal Jewish Community’s stall at the Maidstone Mela; Beverley Taylor, the congregation’s lay leader; cheder children in front of the community’s portable ark

about forthcoming Jewish festivals and providing a ‘thought of the week’.

KLJC sets up an apples-and-honey stand at the annual Maidstone Mela (multicultural fair), built by KLJC security officer Colin Rutter.

went to any of them. Now I live in Kent, I drive 15 miles once each month to go to a Shabbat service.’ Among KLJC’s congregants are four Kindertransport refugees and at a recent service the community gave them a special blessing.

Are there any social activities?

Social events take place three or four times a year and include winter pub lunches, summer barbecues and ‘Desert Island Discs’ evenings.

How do I find out more?

Log on to www.jewishkent.org.uk/ Communities/KLJC/kljc.html or contact Paul on 07952 242432 or email bulletin. kljc@liberaljudaism.org.

Is there a cheder?

The Shabbat morning cheder is run by the parents, one of whom, Judianne, is a qualified teacher.

What else does the community offer?

It has a library with a growing collection of books, many donated by members.

KLJC works together with the other Jewish communities in Kent – Reform, Orthodox and unaffiliated – under the banner of ‘Jewish Kent’ (www.jewish kent.org.uk), and holds joint events twice a year, most recently a tour of Jewish sites in Thanet including the Montefiore Synagogue in Ramsgate.

What sort of feel does the KLJC have?

It has a real sense of belonging. One member says: ‘When I lived in northwest London there were three shuls within a mile of my house and I never

The essential guide to Liberal Judaism Liberal Judaism: A Judaism for the Twenty-First Century is a clear, reader-friendly account of the Liberal Jewish view of Judaism, by ‘Radio 2 rabbi’ Pete Tobias, rabbi of The Liberal Synagogue Elstree.

Price: £9.99 or £10.80 including postage. Send a cheque, payable to Liberal Judaism, to: The Montagu Centre, 21 Maple St, London W1T 4BE

LJ Today Page 11

March/April 2008

LJY-Netzer is the Zionist youth movement of Liberal Judaism. It provides an opportunity for young people to develop a strong Progressive Jewish identity whilst enjoying friendships and having fun

Each year Liberal Judaism sponsors young people as they go abroad to forge new links with members of other Progressive Jewish youth movements. Here, two LJY-Netzerniks report on their recent endeavours

Letter from Jerusalem

Letter from Miami

In 1993, our youth movement ULPSNYC became a snif (branch) of the worldwide Progressive Zionist youth movement Netzer-Olami, putting us under the same umbrella as Progressive Jewish and Progressive Zionist youth movements across the globe.

Since then, not only has our movement (now known as LJY-Netzer) gained in strength, so has Netzer.

Three years ago, NFTY (the North American Federation of Temple Youth) joined Netzer, instantly transforming us into one of the biggest youth movements in the world. In 2008 our success is clear to see: 20,000 members across 15 snifim.

Veidah Olamit is our AGM, a chance for all the snifim to gather and discuss pressing issues within the movement: practical, ideological or a bit of both. It is also an opportunity to meet a small portion of that 20,000-

Etgar (education challenge) ended, winter hit Israel and my lovely new Shnat (gap-year) family dispersed around the country for chofesh (free time). I cherished the chance to escape to the sun and fun of the NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth) Miami winter regional event.

As members of the newest snifim (branches) of Netzer, many of the NFTY participants had no idea what Netzer was and it was my challenge to let them know.

For the six-day event I became an honorary member of the regional board (elected youth organisers).

I had a true experience of NFTY life, joining in with the sessions, making friends with the participants and sitting in on board meetings.

I was also able to run a session on how wonderful Netzer is for a small group of NFTYites and teach lots of Netzer chants after lunch. It was amazing fun and enabled me to see how Netzer works across the pond.

Anna Posner

strong membership and find out how Netzer operates across the globe.

This year, Victor Kaufman, our mazkir (national director) and I, as a boger (graduate), attended this amazing event on behalf of LJY-Netzer. Held at Netzer HQ in Beit Shmuel, Jerusalem, it was a massive success: seven days of peulot (educational activities), tiyulim (outings) asefot (meetings) and countless other opportunities to appreciate the work we already do and to think about how we can go on improving.

It is clear, as we set about trying to fulfil our ideals of Progressive Judaism, tikkun olam, inclusivity and general sense of fun, that the future of Progressive Zionist youth is in very capable hands.

Ben Baginsky

BOOK NOW FOR A FUN-FILLED SUMMER! Machaneh Aviv (spring camp) Last chance to book – deadline 10 March! Our brilliant Machaneh Aviv, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, is for school years 3-9 and coincides with Liberal Judaism’s Biennial Weekend. 4 to 9 April. Details and a booking form are on the Liberal Judaism website.

Machaneh Kadimah (summer camp) Each year participants across three age groups come together for an

unforgettable two weeks. Ages 8-15.

27 July to 10 August.

Israel Tour Aged 16? Come and tour Israel for a month. We guarantee you incredible experiences with an amazing group of friends. 16 July to 12 August.

Kayitz-Netzer (tour of eastern Europe) Are you aged 17? Explore the wonders of three of the most exciting European cities this summer with LJY-Netzer as

you discover for yourselves the remarkable histories of Prague, Budapest and Berlin. 17 to 28 August.

Please phone or email the LJY-Netzer office for details of any of these events.

After being a fantastic youth worker, our lovely Jordan has now become Student Rabbi Helfman. We are already looking forward to seeing him back in the UK or when we visit Israel!

LJY-Netzer is at www.ljynetzer.org. Contact Vic Kaufman or Lauren Dubell 020 7631 0584 or office@ljynetzer.org

March/April 2008

Page 12 LJ Today

Liberal Judaism congregations Bedfordshire Progressive Synagogue (Rodef Shalom), 01234 218387, bedsps@liberaljudaism.org, www.bedfordshire-ps.org.uk Beit Klal Yisrael, PO Box 1828, London W10 5RT 020 8960 5750, bky@liberaljudaism.org www.beit-klal-yisrael.org.uk Bet Tikvah Synagogue, 129 Perrymans Farm Road, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex IG2 7LX, 020 8554 9682, bttkv@liberaljudaism.org, www.bettikvah.org.uk Birmingham Progressive Synagogue Jericho House, 196-198 Edward Road, B12 9LX, 0121 446 5273, bps@liberaljudaism.org; www.bpsjudaism. com. branch: Leamington Spa, 01926 421300 Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue 6 Lansdowne Road, Hove BN3 1FF 01273 737223, bhps@liberaljudaism.org www.brightonandhoveprosynagogue.org.uk Bristol and West Progressive Jewish Congregation 43-45 Bannerman Road, Easton, Bristol BS5 0RR bwpjc@liberaljudaism.org, www.bwpjc.org Crawley Jewish Community, 01293 534294 Dublin Jewish Progressive Synagogue, PO Box 3059, Dublin 6, 00 3531 2856241, djpc@liberaljudaism.org Ealing Liberal Synagogue, Lynton Avenue, Drayton Green, W13 0EB, 020 8997 0528, els@liberaljudaism. org, www.ealingliberalsynagogue.org.uk Eastbourne Progressive Jewish Congregation 01323 725650, fax: 01323 417645 epjc@liberaljudaism.org, www.epjcong.org.uk Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community 0131 777 8024, eljc@liberaljudaism.org, www.eljc.org Finchley Progressive Synagogue Hutton Grove, N12 8DR, 020 8446 4063, fps@liberaljudaism.org, www.fps.org Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue 326 Preston Road, Harrow, Middx HA3 0QH, 020 8904 8581, hwps@liberaljudaism.org www.hwps.org Herefordshire Jewish Community Enquiries: 07789 218823 Kent Liberal Jewish Community 07952 242432, bulletin.kljc@liberaljudaism.org, www.jewishkent.org.uk/communities/KLJC/kljc.html Kingston Liberal Synagogue Rushett Road, Long Ditton, Surbiton, Surrey KT7 0UX, 020 8398 7400, kls@liberaljudaism.org Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation, The Synagogue, 24 Avenue Road, LE2 3EA, 07875 123744 lpjc@liberaljudaism.org The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, 28 St John’s Wood Road, London NW8 7HA, 020 7286 5181, ljs@ liberaljudaism.org, www.ljs.org

Liberal Judaism The Montagu Centre, 21 Maple Street, London W1T 4BE, 020 7580 1663 Fax: 020 7631 9838 montagu@liberaljudaism.org, www.liberaljudaism.org Youth Department 020 7631 0584 www.ljynetzer.org President The Baroness Neuberger DBE Chairman Nigel Cole Vice Chairman Joan Shopper Treasurer David Pelham Officers Penny Beral; Roz Bott; William Glassman; Amanda Grant; Paul Infield; Elsbeth Mendes da Costa; Paula Scott; Stephanie Thwaites Senior Vice-President Rabbi Dr Sidney Brichto Vice-Presidents Monique Blake, Jeromé Freedman, Louise Freedman, Rabbi Dr David Goldberg, Jeremy Jessel, David Lipman, Rosita Rosenberg, Tony Sacker, Beverley Taylor Hon. Vice-Presidents David Amstell, Geoffrey Davis, Rabbi Harry Jacobi, Willie Kessler, Corinne Oppenheimer, David Pick, Harold Sanderson, Clive Winston Chairs of Rabbinic Conference Rabbi Rachel Benjamin and Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi Chief Executive Rabbi Danny Rich Outreach Director Rabbi Aaron Goldstein Communications and PR Alexandra Mankowitz Shlicha Noa Marom Student Fieldworker Jake Welford LJY-Netzer Victor Kaufman and Lauren Dubell Liberal Judaism promotes the religious and cultural traditions of our faith within the framework of progressive thinking and ethics. Liberal Judaism is a registered charity, number 256390.

LJ Today is edited by Beatrice Sayers Articles and letters are welcome. The deadline for the May/June issue is 1 April. Please email ljtodayeditor@liberaljudaism.org Printed by Freedman Brothers Printers Ltd.

The Liberal Synagogue Elstree, Elstree High Street, Elstree, Herts WD6 3BY, 020 8953 8889 tlse@liberaljudaism.org, www.tlse.org.uk Lincolnshire Jewish Community 01427 628958, ljc@liberaljudaism.org Manchester Liberal Jewish Community, 08709 917327, mljc@liberaljudaism.org, www.mljc.org.uk North London Progressive Jewish Community 020 7403 3779, nlpjc@liberaljudaism.org www.nlpjc.org.uk Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue Oaklands Gate, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 3AA 01923 822592, npls@liberaljudaism.org www.npls.org.uk Nottingham Progressive Jewish Congregation Lloyd Street, Sherwood, Nottingham NG5 4BP 0115 9624761, npjc@liberaljudaism.org www.npjc.org.uk Or Chadash Liberal Jewish Community of Luxembourg, 00 352 31 65 94 lljc@liberaljudaism.org Peterborough Liberal Jewish Community Enquiries: 020 7631 9826 The Progressive Jewish Community of East Anglia (based in Norwich), 01508 538666 pjcea@liberaljudaism.org, www.pjcea.org.uk Reading Liberal Jewish Community www.rljc.org 0118-375 3422, rljc@liberaljudaism.org South Bucks Jewish Community 0845 644 2370 sbjc@liberaljudaism.org, www.sbjc.org.uk South London Liberal Synagogue PO Box 14475, London SW16 1ZW, 020 8769 4787 slls@liberaljudaism.org, www.southlondon.org Southgate Progressive Synagogue 75 Chase Road, London N14 4QY, 020 8886 0977 sps@liberaljudaism.org, www.sps.uk.com West Central Liberal Synagogue 21 Maple Street, London W1T 4BE, 020 7636 7627 wcls@liberaljudaism.org, www.wcls.org.uk Woodford Liberal Synagogue Marlborough Road, George Lane, London E18 1AR 020 8989 7619, wps@liberaljudaism.org www.woodfordliberal.org.uk Associated congregations Oxford, for details of Liberal Jewish Services: 01865 515584 or 01865 765197 www.oxford-synagogue.org.uk New communities The Suffolk Jewish Community 01473 250797, sjc@liberaljudaism.org

Make a date ...........

10 March (Monday) Visit to the Wiener Library Meet at Montagu Centre for coffee at 10.30am 4 to 6 April Biennial Weekend in Bristol Contact m.beral@liberaljudaism.org. Also: Machaneh Aviv (Spring Camp), 4-9 April, for children in years 3-9. Contact LJY-Netzer: 020 7631 0584.

13 April (Sunday) FPJ concert at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, 7.30pm. Tickets (£25, or £18 for students) from 020 8440 3538.

4 to 14 May Liberal Judaism’s Community Tour of Israel Contact: shlicha@liberaljudaism.org 14 to 29 May Liberal Judaism’s Interfaith Tour of Israel and Jordan shlicha@liberaljudaism.org 10 May (Saturday) Celebration of Israel at 60 at Northwood and Pinner, 7pm. Tickets (£25) from 01923 822592 11 May (Sunday) Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration, with speaker Rabbi Mickey Boyden, 3pm at the LJS. Contact Betty Fox: b.fox@ljs.org 1 June (Sunday) Inter-synagogue quiz Teams do battle for the Liberal Judaism trophy. Hosted by last year’s winners, the LJS. 3 for 3.30pm 15 June (Sunday) Liberal Judaism Religion Schools’ Israel Event, at the LJS 27 July to 10 August Machaneh Kadimah LJY-Netzer’s unbeatable summer camp for ages 8-15. Details: 020 7631 0584

Archive ready for digital photos The Liberal Judaism Archive has photographic prints from many years, but recently it has become apparent that photographers are reluctant to provide prints of their digital photos.

Digital photos can now be sent to liberaljudaismarchive@gmail.com for storage.The type of picture which is wanted is one showing people, buildings or artefacts relating to any Liberal Judaism event; or relating to a significant congregational event, for instance an anniversary, induction or consecration.

Labelling information, which should include names of people in the photo, location, occasion, photographer, date and any other relevant information, needs to be provided with the photos sent in; it will be helpful if this can also be inserted in the properties (metadata) of the photo.

Any technical queries or suggestions should be emailed to Alexandra Mankowitz (a.mankowitz@liberaljudaism. org), and any relating to the appropriate type of subject to the honorary archivist, Bryan Diamond, at bcdljs@yahoo.co.uk.

Wiener Library trip Liberal Judaism is organising a visit to the Wiener Library, the extensive archive on the Holocaust and Nazi era, on Monday 10 March. Book with Lina Fajerman: lina.fajerman@ntlworld.com

Day of celebration A Day of Celebration for Liberal Judaism, five years after the one marking 100 years of Liberal Judaism in Britain, is to take place in the new Birmingham Progressive Synagogue in spring 2009.

Anyone – especially from the Midlands – who would like to join the organising group or is interested in providing sponsorship, please contact Bill Glassman at w.glassman@liberaljudaism.org.

In Miriam’s memory Rabbi Baroness Neuberger, president of Liberal Judaism, is to chair a discussion on 14 May entitled ‘Can Communities in the UK Coexist?’ as part of a series in memory of Miriam Hyman, who was killed in the London bombings on 7 July 2005.

Venue: the JZ Young Lecture Theatre, UCL, Gower Street, London WC2, at 7pm.

Tickets: £6 from Bloomsbury Theatre box office, 020 7388 8822.