Page 10 LJ Today
History
September/October 2021
Machaneh Kadimah - how it started Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein on the creation of Liberal Judaism’s summer camp
Young Liberal Jews enjoy Kadimah Summer School in 1974 - which many still describe as the best Jewish experience of their lives THIS summer marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of Kadimah Summer School; the forerunner of what today’s young Liberal Jews know as LJYNetzer’s Machaneh Kadimah. My wife Sharon and I established Kadimah, along with Rabbi Douglas Charing, a fellow ordinand of Leo Baeck College from the year 1970. Douglas had been at the previous Liberal summer scheme, run by Rev Herbert Richer, which had closed a few years previously and the three of us worked hard in establishing its replacement. Sharon and I ran Kadimah for 19 years from its founding in 1971. During that time, we hired a number of schools as our base for the fortnight. The first was the Royal Merchant Naval College near Reading and then on to schools in Chislehurst, Malvern, Rickmansworth and Shaftesbury. My favourite was the Rothschild mansion in Tring. It had been the home of Walter Rothschild… to whom the ‘Dear Lord Rothschild’ letter was sent with the Balfour Declaration. The first year in Tring, our study theme was the ‘Cousinhood – the noble Jewish families of Anglo–Jewry’. A senior supervisor (as we called madrichim/ot in those days) was the late David Pelham, who worked for the Arts Council.
David obtained a load of 19th century costumes so we could dress up as the early Rothschilds, Montefiores, Goldsmids and Montagus. We connected the Balfour Declaration with our most successful Shabbat Game… a re-enactment of the Six Day War (which occurred only a decade previously) with tanks made out of cardboard boxes and a huge paper Western Wall to capture. Yerushalayim Shel Zahav was our song. Another year the study theme was ‘Rabbis of the Mishna’ and a challenge for the five teams was to create, out of scrap materials, a Roman chariot - with the prize going to the winner of the contraption that lasted the course. The games were inventive, the annual study theme most creative and the materials produced were made into publications used by teenage students in the Liberal movement. The so called ULPS Yachdav scheme had books and lesson plans on Jerusalem, the Shtetl, Anglo-Jewry and Mishna Kadimah; the latter, looking at the rabbis and their wise sayings contained in Pirke Avot, led to new melodies that many synagogues still sing in their services. Looking back, the study programmes Rabbi Pete Tobias and I created give me the greatest satisfaction of my rabbinate.
It was not just Jewish study, as sport was taken very seriously: football teams playing against local clubs, cricket matches, tennis and table tennis coaching with England national coaches (as well as Neil Frais). Professionals also organised the annual orchestra and the art room, led by Iris Nathan for so many years. Kadimah nurses Crick and Suzie Vanner were legendary. Sharon and I regularly meet people who say that Kadimah was the best Jewish experience of their lives – it led to lifelong friendships, marriages, decisions to become rabbis and to a generation of leaders of Liberal Judaism. Key words bring waves of nostalgia: Announcements, Larry Levy, Rocking Rabbis and George the Monkey. “Oh Kadimah what shall we do without you?” Well, three decades after we handed over the reins to Rabbis Danny Rich and Pete Tobias, who in turn handed over to our LJY-Netzer youth movement, Kadimah thrives. Two of our granddaughters were leaders this year. After 50 years, Kadimah continues to be at the creative heart of Liberal Judaism. Long may it continue.
• Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein is President of Liberal Judaism