LJ Today September/October 2006

September/October 2006

VOL. XXXIII No. 5

ljtoday

Show of solidarity as 23 LJY-Netzer teenagers enjoy Israel Tour

Changing with the chimes

Despite the onset of hostilities with Hizbollah just days before the trip begins, not one participant drops out Seven days before a group of 16-yearolds from Liberal Judaism’s youth movement were due to leave on a monthlong tour of Israel, Hizbollah gunmen killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted two in a provocative border raid. As hostilities escalated, and Israel began bombing southern Lebanon, security was monitored twice daily. Rabbi Danny Rich, chief executive, made the final decision just days beforehand on whether the LJYNetzer tour would go ahead .

Yet when the tour left, as scheduled, on 19 July, not one of the group of 23 children and their two British leaders – Victor Kaufman and Claire Simmonds – had decided against going .

Parents of children on the tour spoke of the complete faith they had in the organisation and security, and of the huge reassrurance provided by Jess Herman, mazkira (national director) of LJY-Netzer, who sent daily emails out to parents to update them on what their children had been doing.

Fiona and Charles Griffin, of Kingston Liberal Synagogue, whose son Sam went on the tour, were happy that it wasn’t cancelled. ‘We knew they [Liberal Judaism] wouldn’t let the children go if they were worried,’ said Mrs Griffin.

‘There was no way he was going to drop out. He was just so excited.’

For Clive and Sheila Sofaer, of Northwood and Pinner synagogue, the

decision to let their son Michael go was fairly easy. ‘I had one wobble but it didn’t last long,’ conceded Mrs Sofaer, whose other son, Dan, 18, went on Israel Tour two years ago. The fact that Michael wanted to go helped them. ‘I didn’t want to deprive him of the most amazing experience,’ Mrs Sofaer added. The support provided by Jess Herman had been ‘brilliant’, she added.

Rabbi Rich travelled to Heathrow to see the children off, telling them: ‘The situation in the region is not ideal for your tour. But the decision of you and your parents to go on the tour is one of which you can be justifiably proud.

‘In addition to having a great time, learning much about your Jewish heritage and reinforcing your Jewish identity, the fact that you are going expresses your solidarity with the Jewish people and those Israelis who are very fearful of the situation, as of course are their neighbours in Lebanon and Gaza.’

The group’s itinerary was modified so that they stayed in the south of Israel – they had been due to visit Kinneret and Tzfat.

Rabbi Rich flew to join the tour on its second week, officiating at the bar mitzvah, on 10 August of one of the tour participants, Filippo Celuzza, at the south precept of the Temple.

Reports from Israel, pages 6-7

These rimonim, made of sterling silver, enamel and gold foil and fringed with oval tubes, were made for our Edinburgh community, Sukkat Shalom, by Israeli jeweller and silversmith Tamar de vries Winter. ‘Rather than using traditional bells I was inspired by wind chimes in a tree,’ said the Cambridge-based artist.

‘It’s less fussy and a gentler sound.’

The community celebrated the addition of the rimonim and accompanying breast plate at a special Shabbat service in June. They were commissioned thanks to a generous donation.

Members of Sukkat Shalom particularly treasure their sefer Torah, acquired in 2004, after a long search ended with a sofer (scribe), Marc Michaels, restoring a scroll for the community.

In this issue Education news

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High Holy Day message

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Remembering 7/7

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Goodbye to Gili

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Obituaries

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Lincolnshire comes of age p10

September/October 2006

Page 2 LJ Today

Education news .........

Montagu Centre In January, we began a monthly morning shiur (lecture) for Liberal rabbis with a different speaker each month. These have been well attended and continue throughout 2006 and into next year.

Eight participants in the acclaimed Torah L’Am six-week crash course – run jointly by Liberal Judaism and Leo Baeck College – have now trained as facilitators, and courses are being planned for later this year and in 2007 in London (a daytime course at the Montagu Centre), the Midlands and south London.

If you missed the series of talks 5 Rabbis and a Canape, you can access two of the talks on the Liberal Judaism website: www.liberaljudaism.org.

Liberal Judaism Education Forum Please help us to develop online support on the web for our community. A web forum is a place where a community can talk to itself and to each other. Help us to build useful, accessible resources for educators at all levels in our communities.

Celebrate your successes and help others – why not share one lesson you found successful in the past year by posting it on the forum? Encourage

New role for Rabbi Aaron Goldstein Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, Liberal Judaism’s outreach director, moves to part-time work with the movement this month as he takes on the post of assistant rabbi to his father, Northwood and Pinner’s Dr Andrew Goldstein.

Rabbi Goldstein jnr says the main focus of his forthcoming work with Liberal Judaism will be developing its new community in Manchester and the North West, helping the Ipswich group to develop, and managing the movement’s work with young adults and students.

Of his appointment to Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, he says: ‘Obviously, for me it’s a dream come true to work with not only my father but also my mentor. I hope the two of us will make a superb rabbinic team and continue the growth and development of the community.’

Rabbi Goldstein worked for British Steel for three years before gaining an MA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies and then joining Leo Baeck College. He was ordained as a rabbi in 2002.

from Judy Thwaites

others you know to do the same and help each other build accessible and useful educational resources for our communities.

Click now on www.liberaljudaism.org, scroll down to Liberal Judaism Forum, click on Log in – and do it now!

Watch out for these events in the autumn • There will be a Communities Shabbaton in Oxford on Saturday 16 December • A student workshop will take place on Wednesday 15 November at the Montagu Centre.

Don’t forget to email me with the major celebrations, events and trips in your community from September to December 2006 so we know what’s happening around the country and help you to advertise your activities: j.thwaites@ liberaljudaism.org, or 020 7631 9824.

And finally...

We are downsizing the library at the Montagu Centre. We would like the books to be used in community religion schools and libraries.

Please collect a box for your community; telephone first to arrange parking: 020 7631 9822.

The Northwood and Pinner chairman, Brian Sass, says the congregation is delighted with the appointment. It is believed to be the first time that the Liberal Jewish movement has had a father and son team.

Purim Poster, 1940, one of the works in the exhibition ‘Hannah Frank: A Glasgow Artist’ at the Etz Chaim Gallery at Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue during July and August.

Hannah Frank was born in 1908 in Glasgow, the city where her parents had settled a few years previously from eastern Europe, and where she still lives. She studied at Glasgow University and the Glasgow School of Art, and produced her trademark black and white drawings from the age of 17.

In the 1940s, she and her husband, Lionel Levy, were members of the Glasgow committee of the Friends of the Hebrew University, and she contributed sculptures and drawings to its fundraising appeals. She also provided illustrations for various Jewish organisations.

The exhibiton was opened by Lady Cosgrove OBE.

Don’t miss the koolest kourse of the year...

Kabbalah 4 sKeptics Wednesday evenings, 7pm to 9.15pm 13, 20 and 27 September, and 4 October at the Montagu Centre, 21 Maple Street, London W1T 4BE 13 September 20 September 27 September 4 October

Rabbi Mark Solomon: The Nature and Development of Kabbalah Janet Berenson-Perkins: 4 Worlds and Sefirot Rabbi Larry Tabick: Kabbalistic Texts and Prayer Technique Janet Berenson-Perkins: New Year, New Perspective

Cost: £25 for four sessions or £8 per session.

To register, or for further information, please contact Judy Thwaites: j.thwaites@liberaljudaism.org, tel 020 7631 9824

September/October 2006

LJ Today Page 3

When times are tough, God’s demands are just as high Rabbis Margaret Jacobi and Rachel Benjamin on ethical standards and the importance of commandment In July, a remarkable conference was held at Leo Baeck College to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the college and of the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck, after whom it was named. It was attended by graduates of the college from across the globe and was a unique opportunity to reflect on our work together in the context of life in Europe in the aftermath of the Shoah. The themes that arose seem timely as we prepare for the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.

The Holocaust is a major focus of the additional service on Yom Kippur. We recall our Jewish history and the terrible loss our people suffered. Leo Baeck College was founded in the immediate aftermath of that loss, and most of its first teachers came from Berlin, bringing a tradition of German–Jewish scholarship with them. We are their inheritors. In every generation we have a duty, not just to preserve our inheritance, but to give it renewed life by studying, interpreting and living by its teachings, so that we can pass it on to generations yet to come.

But more important than the historical lessons were the lessons of individual responsibility. This emerged clearly in a lecture by the eminent historian Professor Michael Meyer about Leo Baeck himself.

Leo Baeck was the head of the German Jewish community during the Shoah. He had the chance to leave Germany, but refused to do so, choosing to remain with his fellow Jews at their time of need. He was imprisoned in Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he survived the war, coming to London afterwards.

Leo Baeck’s theological views are not well known or popular nowadays. Yet, as Meyer pointed out, they have continuing relevance. He spoke especially of the importance to Leo Baeck of commandment. He contrasted Baeck and Martin Buber: Buber spoke of the ‘I-Thou’ relationship with God, a sense of encounter. Baeck spoke of commandment.

Or, as Meyer put it: ‘Buber’s God speaks “Du (Thou)”, Baeck’s speaks, “Du sollst (Thou shallst).” ’ What God demands goes beyond relationship. God demands of us the highest standards of ethical behaviour, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Baeck found his inspiration in the Biblical prophets, who were uncompromising in their demands of others and themselves.

Baeck himself lived up to those demands and fulfilled what he saw as his duty in the face of personal danger, even when he could have escaped.

When one remembered the circumstances in which Leo Baeck put his ideas into practice, these ideas were all the more moving and challenging.

Fifty years on, we need to hear that message again. As we approach the High Holy Days, it is as relevant as ever. We have to think, each of us, what God demands of us in our lives even, or especially, when it is difficult to carry it out. When God commands, ‘Du sollst’ – ‘you shall do what is right’ – are we ready to hear and to respond by doing the best that we are capable of, however hard it might be?

May the High Holy Days be for us a time of renewal and may they bring nearer a time of peace for Israel and all the world.

Affirmations for the 21st century

changes in certain key areas – for example, mixed-faith relationships, same-sex partnerships and Israel – the 42 affirmations have been re-ordered for ease of reference, grouped by topic and laid out under headings.

The new edition also incorporates suggestions made by those who scribbled their thoughts on the draft version displayed at the recent Biennial Weekend, or who emailed their comments during the revision process.

A review of the new edition will be published in the next issue of LJ Today.

Comprehensively revised for this century, Affirmations, a statement of the basic beliefs of Liberal Judaism, has been published in a new edition.

Copies are now available at the Montagu Centre.

First produced for the 90th anniversary of Liberal Judaism in 1992, the text has been brought up to date by the Rabbinic Conference. In addition to textual

Changing faces at the Montagu Centre This month we say l’hitraot – goodbye – and good luck to Gili Tzidkiyahu, who returns to Israel after two years as our shlicha (emissary) to continue her rabbinic studies, and offer a warm welcome to Noa Marom, who takes over her role. A farewell interview with Gili appears on page 7.

We also send best wishes to Jess Herman, who is leaving LJY-Netzer after just over a year to go travelling (as she points out, she has been with the movement for 15 years, but only working for it for one). Jess plans to spend the next 12 months on various projects, including volunteering with TJYE, the Tibetan Jewish Youth Exchange, in India.

Anna Gerrard, our young adults worker, moves to a part-time role in Liberal Judaism as she begins her rabbinic studies at Leo Baeck College.

Jenny Walton, who for the past year has been the ovedet tikkun olam/social action officer, replaces Jess as mazkira (national director), and we extend a warm welcome to Jordan Helfman, who takes on the ovedet role.

Jordan, who is from New Jersey, grew up in NFTY (the North American Federation of Temple Youth). He has just finished a degree in political theory at Michigan State University, and has spent the summer on a myriad of orientation weekends and inductions. ‘I’m really excited to be working in LJY-Netzer,’ says Jordan. He adds that he is very interested in learning about the differences between Nafte and LJY-Netzer, which he says is a little more Zionist.

Nigel Cole, chairman of Liberal Judaism, Rabbi Danny Rich, its chief executive, together with the honorary officers, vice-presidents and staff send their warmest greetings to all members of Liberal Judaism congregations and their families for the coming year of 5767

September/October 2006

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Liberal rabbis take lead roles in events to remember 7/7 Rabbi James Baaden, of South London Liberal Synagogue, and Rabbi Janet Burden, of West Central and Ealing synagogues, took part in an interfaith service in St Pancras Church in central London to remember the victims of the 7 July bus and Underground bombings last year. Many survivors had taken refuge in the church, in Euston Road, near the site of the bus bomb in Tavistock Square.

The minister of St Pancras, the Rev Paul Hawkins, invited the rabbis to take part; Janet Burden is the rabbi of the nearest synagogue to the bus bomb – West Central Liberal Synagogue – and is a fellow member of the Camden Faith Communities Partnership.

More than 500 people attended the service on 7 July, just after the twominute midday silence. Rabbi Baaden sung El Malei Rachamim and Psalm 23 and Rabbi Burden read the Kaddish.

Excerpts of the service were broadcast in an ITV programme 7/7 Remembered.

The victims of the 7/7 bombings were also remembered at faithsounds III, a multi-faith evening of ‘sacred sound’ on 6 July, held at South London Liberal Synagogue. In particular, the concert honoured the memory of Miriam Hyman,

Ukraine and Vinnitsa The Liberal Jewish Synagogue is planning a trip to its twin community, Vinnitsa in Ukraine, next June. The outline itinerary includes time in the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, as well as Odessa and the Crimea.

This will enable the group to see many places of cultural, Jewish and general interest including Balaclava, the site of the charge of the Light Brigade, immortalised by Tennyson; Yalta, where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met in 1945; and the steps featured in Sergei Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin. We will be away for about 11 days.

There is room for others to join us. Please register your interest with me, Tim Simon, at t.simon@ljs.org or write to me at The LJS, 28 St John’s Wood Road, NW8 7HA.

the 32-year-old artist-designer from a SLLS family who died in the attacks.

Miriam’s mother, Mavis, came from India, and Miriam’s Indian heritage was important to her, so performers at this third ‘faithsounds’ concert included Rivers of Babylon, who specialise in the Jewish music of India and Iraq. The concert also included: Streatham Choral Society, a local choir made up almost entirely of non-Jews who sang – in Hebrew – Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms; singers from Ruach Ministries, the largest independent black-led church in Britain; and a recitation of the Qur’an by Professor Dawud Noibi OBE. The faithsounds III concert, which was attended by some 150 people, was the opening event of this year’s Streathan Festival. It raised £500 for the Miriam Hyman Memorial Fund, part of Orbis, an international charity combating blindness in India and the developing world.

Ipswich growing The Ipswich Liberal Jewish group has been holding services and meeting on an irregular basis, supported by outreach director Rabbi Aaron Goldstein.

Rabbi Goldstein and Rabbi Rachel Benjamin, minister of the Progressive Jewish Community of East Anglia, have been taking the services in Ipswich.

Within the small, friendly group, some people belong to Liberal synagogues but live too far from them to attend services, some have never been synagogue members, and some are members of an independent orthodox shul in Essex, the Colchester Hebrew Congregation.

In the 2001 census, more than 600 people in Suffolk described themselves as Jewish, yet there are no synagogues.

Rabbi Goldstein says he is pleased to be bringing Liberal Judaism to this part of the country, adding: ‘We hope we’ll be successful in setting up a community.’

He has also led services at the Colchester congregation, which does not employ a rabbi, and where the Rev Malcolm Weisman, Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks’s minister for small communities, sometimes takes services.

Dublin is 60! Why not join the party?

Rabbi Andrew and Sharon Goldstein are arranging, for Liberal Judaism, a long weekend in Dublin to celebrate the Dublin Jewish Progressive Congregation’s 60th anniversary. There are only 40 places available so make sure you book yours now.

Friday 10 November Arrange your own flights to Dublin and meet at the Bewleys Hotel Ballsbridge. At 6pm the party will be taken by coach to the synagogue for an Erev Shabbat Service followed by a grand Irish kiddush and then return by coach to the hotel.

Saturday 11 November A coach will take the party to the synagogue for the celebration Morning Service and kiddush lunch, and then back to the hotel or to central Dublin.

The rest of the day will be free time, with plenty to choose from: historic sites, theatres and restaurants.

Sunday 12 November Our coach will take us on a day trip to visit places outside Dublin, returning us in good time for the formal celebration dinner in the evening.

Monday 13 November Make your way home or extend your stay in Dublin or elsewhere in Ireland.

Flights: participants will book their own flights, choosing the itinerary and airport that suits them best. If we discover a number of the party on the same flight we will try to arrange shared transport to and from the Dublin airport.

Cost: £215 per person in double room (single supplement £85) to cover three nights (room only) at Bewleys Hotel Ballsbridge, coach transport and outing as advertised, celebratory dinner and kiddush meals, and all the interest and fun of a Goldstein Tour.

For further details and a booking form, please contact Selina O’Dwyer at the Montagu Centre.

Tel: 020 7631 9822. Email: s.o’dwyer@liberaljudaism.org

LJ Today Page 5

September/October 2006

Although she clearly feels great affection for Britain, Gili Tzidkiyahu’s fondest memories of her time with Liberal Judaism will be her trips back to Israel.

During her two years with the movement as shlicha, or emissary, she has helped to lead two of Liberal Judaism’s Community Tours and two bogrim tours (for youth movement leaders) to Israel, and has taken part in a Rabbis for Human Rights mission. ‘They were definitely the highlight of my work,’ she says. ‘It was a privilege to ‘show people “my” Israel – either literally taking them to places I like in Haifa, or seeing projects I believe in.’ She mentions an anarchist project, run by activists who expressed views that were sometimes anti-Zionist. ‘I thought it was important to see young people with alternative views, who paid a personal price for thinking outside of the box.’

She says she too was exploring Israel through the programmes she organised: this year the tour group visited a Cherkessi (Circassian) village. There are 4,000 Circassians – Muslims of Caucasian origin – in Israel, living in two villages. Participants on the Community Tour spent a day teaching English to the children in one of the villages.

As she returns to Jerusalem to continue her rabbinic studies at Hebrew Union College, Gili leaves many of our communities enriched with new perspectives on her native country. While our two previous shlichim, Shelley Kedar and Eran Shafir, had a brief to work mainly with LJY-Netzer, Gili has lent her skills across Liberal Judaism’s work.

She has led or taken part in services and education sessions with many of our congregations.

Many of her talks have focused on progressive Judaism in Israel, and peace activism. She has often looked at Israel from a different – feminist – perspective.

‘Poetry was something I worked with a lot because it was a way to bring both Israeli culture and myself to other people – by the poems I chose and the things I was saying.’ With Finchley, Ealing and Beit Klal Yisrael, in particular, she says she especially enjoyed building an ongoing relationship.

But some of the one-off visits were also ‘really lovely experiences’, she says, as

Byron Simmonds

As the first shlicha (Israeli emissary) to work across the whole of Liberal Judaism, rather than only with the youth movement, Gili Tzidkiyahu has helped to open eyes and encourage debate about her native country. Here, she talks to Beatrice Sayers about her two years in Britain, and offers a personal message to our communities

This is my Israel: Gili Tzidkiyahu (centre, in cropped trousers) with some of this year’s Community Tour participants in the Art Garden of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

she recalls a visit to Bristol, where she worked with the children in the cheder.

She also started up a new type of service for ‘tent’, the community for young adults pioneered by outreach director Rabbi Aaron Goldstein. The occasional tent b’ivrit services – completely in Hebrew, held at the Montagu Centre – were attended by people who wanted to practise their Hebrew in a Jewish setting, and by Israelis who don’t usually go to synagogues to do something Jewish for Shabbat. Gili says she particularly enjoyed these for personal reasons: ‘I feel that, as a student rabbi, my challenge in Israel is bringing more religion to secular Israelis, and demonstrating or making connections between secular Israelis and what progressive Judaism has to offer. It was more a cultural service with a lot of poetry – I think people can relate to that without feeling put off by God or the siddur.’

Asked whether she had a message for our communities about Israel, Gili’s answer was clear but non-prescriptive.

‘Each community has to find its own way to be involved,’ she said. ‘As long as they are involved. When Israel isn’t an issue, it’s a hidden issue – like when something is not talked about in the family.

‘Merav, the reform shlicah, and I did a session in Oxford about how to talk about Israel in the community. People said they felt it wasn’t talked about because people were afraid of arguing and so avoided the issue. … In Leicester I did a talk focusing on how you can be involved with Israel in a way that is both critical and positive – critical of the government, and supportive of so many of the good things that are going on.

‘Israel the society is very complex, the government is very complex. You can come to Israel not just to admire its beauty but you can face the challenges and difficulties and then you can support and connect with people who are fighting the struggles you believe in. For some communities it’s fine to be old-school Zionist. Some communities need to find a way that is more complex. A functional family has to acknowledge disagreements – sometimes these disagreements can enrich us.’

Gili will miss Liberal Judaism: whatever the community’s approach to Israel was, she said she always felt welcome. What would she miss about Britain? The people, and the green parks, she said. And – less predictably, perhaps – the weather.

September/October 2006

Page 6 LJ Today

‘We don’t sleep. Everyone who can Lebanese and Israelis give accounts of how the weeks of fighting affected

Narmeen El-Horr, Saida, Lebanon

Narmeen, 20, from a Shia family, is studying journalism and political science at the Lebanese American University. She left Beirut on a British ship two weeks after the fighting began Writing about what I have been through is hurtful because it hasn’t ended yet, and it may get worse. I am only 20 and I have seen children losing their lives, women living rough on the streets and helpless men breaking into tears.

As I see it, this war is theoretically against Hizbollah but on the ground it targets mostly the Lebanese state and its people. No more than a few Hizbollah soldiers have been killed, unless the Israelis consider Lebanese children as the future guerrillas’ armed forces.

Basically, Hizbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in order to exchange prisoners with Israel. Regardless of whether its action was legal or what the motivation behind this action is, Israel reacted by tearing down Lebanon and my life.

In the first couple of days I was frightened. I felt threatened even though I live in Saida (one of the main cities that hosts refugees), a city that has very little Hizbollah influence, but many of the bombarded areas have little Hizbollah influence. I remember my mum and aunt yelling at us to get dressed every time an Israeli aircraft soared above. They didn’t want us to flee in our pyjamas as they

had during the previous Israelis attack.

After quite a few civilian bloodbaths, the intensity of my fear started to get chilly. I guess seeing innocent humans die gives birth to courage and makes a person thirsty to help. Thus, a few days into the fighting, I volunteered, along with many other Lebanese youth including my younger sister, in one of the schools that hosts refugees near my home in Saida. We had around 400 refugees.

There, people were humiliated and no matter how much you tried to make them feel at home, the room they shared with two to three other families remained a classroom. We had to get them clothes, anti-bacterial shampoos and we had to see their embarrassed tears while taking them.

I felt that I belonged in that place and would have been pleased to have stayed, but my mum was getting frightened about my 16-year-old sister and me. My sister shared her worries.

That is when I became a refugee myself and decided to come to Britain, where my step-dad [Samir El-Youseff, coauthor of Gaza Blues] – who is British – lives. I plan to stay here in London until there is a ceasefire.

The three-day trip to here was a nightmare. Going from Saida to Beirut usually takes 30 minutes; our convoy of seven buses took six hours because Israel bombed most of the roads and bridges. On the Naval ship, I ate military food (indigestible!), shared a room with nearly 40 people and slept with guilt for leaving my country.

Now that I am in London I am safe only physically. I feel humiliated even though I have all the necessities of life.

Furthermore, I am filled with anger because we are dying and the world has better things to do. In Qana, it is massacre part two (in 1996, Israel committed the first massacre that killed nearly 90 people): 28 people are known to have died and 13 are missing.

What cause is worth a child’s life or a mother’s tears? Shouldn’t humanity be our cause? I really think that even if Israel destroys Hizbollah, it is creating a stronger monster that feeds on the anger of every innocent victim’s lover, sister, brother or mother and they are becoming many, maybe more than Hizbollah. Meanwhile we, the Lebanese citizens, struggle to survive, hoping for

an international intervention that consists of more than condemning words.

Michal Huss, Beer Sheva, Israel

Michal, 14, an Israeli high-school student, travelled to London two weeks after crisis erupted The situations in the north and the south are totally different. My mother and I were shopping before I came here, two weeks ago. In the north, people are now inside, but here everyone is outside having coffee and living their lives normally. But you always know the war is there – if I talk to my friends we do speak about it.

I think mostly the Israelis are not against the war. There are not a lot of people who say ‘why do we need a war?’

The feeling is that we need to be strong – to defend ourselves.

I am against the war myself. I think that Israel has overreacted to the firing of rockets, but most of the people in Israel have lived in fear for a long time.

They kept it inside and it has blown out, and it’s much bigger than it’s supposed to be.

I have a friend in the north, in Nahariya. Her father is Arabic and her mother is Jewish. She told me that in her house there is no shelter so they have to move from place to place. They tried to go to Eilat but there is no room and they came back to Nahariya. She

LJ Today Page 7

September/October 2006

has left’ ordinary people feels like she is a refugee. It makes me think about what it must have been like during the war with the Iraqis, when Israelis had to go everywhere with gas masks.

Saadek Zachoor, Lebanese border Saadek, 32, an Israeli Palestinian, is an insurance agent from the Arab settlement of Tarshicha, on the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon We’re going through a very, very hard time. We don’t sleep day or night because we’re kept awake by the katusha rockets coming from Lebanon or the bombing from Israel. We live in the shelter the whole time.

Three young people were killed as they were on the street on the way to the shelter – they got struck by katusha rockets. Everybody is very tense. We feel very bad that Lebanese are dying and that Israelis are dying.

Everyone who can has left the village. But they have to be financially able to do so, and to have family – somewhere to go to. My wife and children went to Beer Sheva two weeks after the fighting began. The leaders of the village have told us to get away, get out.

I’m telling this as simply as I can.

It’s an impossible situation. No one is working in the village. All the children are in the shelter – we’re right on the enemy line.

The people who are dying should not be dying because they are ordinary people. It is the innocent bystanders on both sides who are the prime targets.

At the height of the conflict, a small group of Israeli and Palestinian friends of Irris and Sid Singer, co-chairs of the Israel Committee of Finchley Progressive Synagogue, came to the Singers’ home in London to welcome Narmeen and her family to Britain.

My bar mitzvah at the Western Wall Israel Tour As rockets hit the north of the country, 16-year-old Filippo Celuzza, surrounded by his friends, was making his commitment to Judaism It was 19 July and we were at Heathrow. The mood was one of excited anticipation. The Israel Experience was new to most of our group of 23 chanichim (participants) and four madrichim (guides), and certainly new to everyone as part of a kehila (community) of Liberal Jewish and Zionist youth. We were going to tour a land brimming with hope and history, but which was in the middle of a fierce conflict with its neighbour.

Our first destination was Yemin Moshe in Jerusalem, the hill – named after Moses Montefiore – overlooking the Old City, where we had a welcoming ceremony. It was there, as we sat together singing, overlooking the Old City walls, that the realisation that we were in Israel sunk in.

The first week passed in a flash; highlights included visiting and staying at several places around the Arava Valley and Negev Desert.

By day seven we were heading north to Netzerfest. This festival was originally planned to be at the Kinneret, but because of the fighting it was moved further south Filippo’s bar mitzvah, at which Rabbi Danny Rich (top, right) to Kanot. Netzerfest was a officiated, and accompanying celebrations unique opportunity to see what being part of an mitzvah. Not having had one at 13, it international movement really was extraordinary to have it in meant.

Jerusalem beside the southern Something I noticed on Tour was excavations of the Kotel (Western that although the situation in the Wall). north intensified, the Israel we saw Israel Tour is now ending. A month was an Israel of peace, but with of group life has been fun and secondary manifestations of the challenging, and through this we conflict. We did voluntary work with have all learned a lot about each families evacuated from the north other and ourselves. and had the opportunity to speak to Jerusalem and its hills, the rusty Israelis our age from Haifa during mountains in the Negev, Eilat’s Red the mifgash (encounter) programme.

Sea, Tel Aviv’s skyscrapers… we’ll be Tour has been packed full of back. amazing events, the most Filippo Celuzza memorable for me being my bar

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Page 8 LJ Today

Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs 1920-2006 Anglo-Jewry’s finest scholar In his epilogue to the third edition of We Have Reason to Believe, Rabbi Louis Jacobs, who died on 1 July, wrote the following: ‘About three years after the book’s publication I began to be involved in a theological controversy, culminating first in the Chief Rabbi’s veto of my appointment to the Principalship of Jews’ College and later in his ban on my re-appointment to the pulpit of the New West End Synagogue. The chief ground of offence was apparently my acknowledgement of a human element in the Torah. Since this view had first been put forward in We Have Reason to Believe the book came to be looked upon as the source of the infection…’ (London, 1965).

The book demonstrated Rabbi Jacobs’s incorruptible integrity, combined with his profound scholarship. The Jew must be free to investigate classical sources of Judaism ‘with as much objectivity as he can command and should not look upon this as precluded by his religious faith…’ There is to be no stifling of reason, but a cautious, scientific and unbiased weighing of the evidence.

For Rabbi Jacobs, the Torah was a ‘human production’, containing error as well as truth, but it was still ‘divine revelation’. He abandoned the orthodox belief in ‘divine dictation’ and regarded the Torah as the ‘record of revelation’.

He saw the divine and human as

intertwined, God speaking to humanity out of its totality.

He was not prepared to absent himself from scholarly discussion or investigations about the literary questions of either the Bible or the Talmud on account of doctrinal or theologically orthodox constraints. ‘We refuse to accept that the only choice before us is the stark one of either rejecting all modern knowledge and scholarship or rejecting belief. We believe that we can have both. It is because we have faith in Judaism that we have confidence in its power to survive without an artificial buttressing of untenable theories.’

Those of us who were privileged to be Rabbi Jacobs’s students of Talmud at Leo Baeck College in the 1980s, when he lectured there, will remember not only that profound, breathtaking and aweinspiring breadth of knowledge, but his gentle compassion, his great wit and humanity. He always engaged his student, whether it was around the table at the college or as he delivered his regular Monday evening shiur at the New London Synagogue. It was Rabbi Jacobs who introduced many of us to the idea of the literary composition of the Talmud – not so much a stream of consciousness or rabbinic version of Hansard, but a conscious shaping of historical layers, sources, authors and schools by the Talmud’s editorial redactors.

Liberal Jews should not be without Louis Jacobs’s most significant and important writings on their shelves.

Rooted in the yeshiva world of

Leo Baeck College is pleased to announce its

50th Anniversary Gala Dinner Thursday 16 November 2006 at the Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace, London SW1 Speakers: HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York Rabbi Baroness Neuberger 6:30pm, reception 7:15pm: dinner followed by lecture. Dress code: Black Tie This is Leo Baeck College’s major annual fundraising event for 2006. Help to secure the future of the college and support us at what promises to be an interesting and thought-provoking evening.

To reserve your place, or for details, please contact Arlene Rose on 020 8349 5608 or arlene.rose@lbc.ac.uk, or Nadya Nicola on 020 8349 5602 or nadya.nicola@lbc.ac.uk

Manchester and Gateshead, he was an observant Jew his whole life, but placed at the centre of his existence as a Jew the deeply-rooted ethical and devotional values of Torah study, love of God, humility, compassion, love of neighbour, truth and peace. These timeless and eternal values, he taught, were ‘dynamic principles of action rather than abstract academic ideas’ in Judaism. Certainly the outlook of scholars, sages and mystics of the past might present challenges for the contemporary Jew, but it was also possible, he argued, to build bridges between those values of the past and the spiritual needs of the present.

Anglo-Jewry is bereft of its finest scholar and teacher and we extend our deepest sympathy to Rabbi Jacobs’s family, his congregation at the New London Synagogue in St John’s Wood and to the Masorti movement, for whom Louis Jacobs was their spiritual leader.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah – May the memory of this righteous man endure always as a blessing and continual influence for good.

Alexandra Wright

Rabbi Danny Rich writes: ‘The combination of his incisive mind, traditional upbringing and compassion for every human being made Louis an exemplar. Perhaps it is not too late for the leadership of Anglo-Jewry to follow Rabbi Jacobs’s example: firmness in one’s belief and practices, with respect and understanding of those who seek to practise the same faith differently.’

MBE for Harry Jacobi Rabbi Harry Jacobi, a vice-president of Liberal Judaism, was appointed MBE for services to the Anglo-Jewish community in the Queen’s birthday honours. Rabbi Jacobi, 80, served as minister of Southgate Progressive Synagogue for 19 years and spent 10 years as the chairman of Liberal Judaism’s Rabbinic Board.

Historic ordination On 14 September, the first ordination of rabbis in Germany since 1942 will take place at the New Synagogue, Dresden.

Rabbi Baroness Neuberger will give the address at the ceremony for graduates of Abraham Geiger College.

LJ Today Page 9

September/October 2006

Frances Sacker 1942-2006 A talented and determined officer and vice-chair During the last two years of her life, Frances Sacker courageously fought the cancer that had affected her for so many years, and yet at the same time also created the most active synagoguebased art gallery in the country.

Frances started adult life at secretarial college, but while her children were small she went to teacher training college and became an English and drama teacher at two secondary schools.

From here, her communication skills saw her create a successful career for herself as a customer care consultant.

All along she and her husband Tony were heavily involved in Jewish voluntary work; at first as leaders in a variety of youth clubs in central London and then the Jewish Youth Voluntary Service.

Throughout her life she was an active synagogue member, starting in the Federation and then of late belonging to three Liberal synagogues: Northwood and Pinner, the Liberal Jewish Synagogue and West Central and at the latter had an adult bat mitzvah; she also arranged there, in April 1999, a successful reunion of those who had attended Lily Montagu’s West Central club.

Frances was a deeply spiritual person and used her knowledge of poetry and literature to organise many creative Jewish worship and literary events. At

Frances Sacker: her vibrant personality imbued all the many tasks she undertook

Northwood and Pinner she used her drama experiences to direct a number of plays for the Oaklands Drama Group and then of late moved on to curate the Etz Chayim Art Gallery. The exhibitions, all with Jewish connections, became increasingly professional in content and presentation, and over the past years there has never been a time without an exhibition on the walls. The last two she curated were perhaps the most ambitious: the only London venue for a world tour by Michael Rogatchi, a Finnish/Ukrainian Holocaust survivor –

the opening of the exhibition, by a Finnish MEP, was Frances’s last public appearance; yet from her hospital bed she directed the staging of the current exhibition by Hannah Frank – a leading artist of the 1920s Glasgow School.

Frances also organised two Jewish Art Weeks for NPLS, which included week-long programmes of art, music and drama.

Frances’s vibrant and sparky personality imbued all she did.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the projects she undertook nationally for the ULPS. At various times, she was in charge of national fundraising events, PR and publications chairperson, oversaw new activities in the rebuilt Montagu Centre and was ULPS vicechairperson. She was also the founder chairperson of Network of Women in the ULPS. Her talents were also sought by Leo Baeck College for which she undertook student counselling and publicity.

Her determination to stay fighting even in the almost final stages of her illness was evident when she insisted on being at the May 2006 Biennial in Cheltenham, in which she took an enthusiastic part.

Frances is mourned in many circles, not least by her family: husband Tony, sons Jonathan and Michael, daughterin-law Eve, grandchildren Yael and Adi, brother David and sister-in-law Kathy.

Andrew Goldstein

Anti-racism lesson is fun and serious at the same time To finish off our year at the Ealing Liberal Synagogue Religion School, our cheder was visited by a Jewish educational group called JCore. The Jewish Council for Racial Equality tries to encourage the Jewish community to promote anti-racism and equality of opportunity.

We split into two groups (younger and older) and spent the day learning about the idea of being different, and about how different kinds of people come to Britain. Two teachers spoke to us, tried to get us to talk and we played games.

In one of the games, we were put into groups and each given a card with our group’s name (eg, Yellow or Blue), which

told us how to act in relation to the other groups (eg. the Yellow group always made physical contact when they talked to people and the Blue group didn’t like even making eye contact with anyone).

Then we all got up and interacted with each other. Obviously none of the groups got on and so we got together and talked about the reasons why. We talked about how the different groups are similar to groups in our community and the reasons why these groups did not get on.

Then we did a matching game where we were given a list of words like refugee, immigrant, asylum seeker etc and then a list of definitions. We tried to

match the words to the definitions and talked about the differences between the words and how even many adults did not know what they meant.

It was a fun day and we learnt a lot too. We learnt about how as Jews we have been immigrants and asylum seekers throughout history and how important it is, especially for us, that we be understanding of new communities and those different from ourselves.

Britain, and London especially, are very multi-cultural places and we must learn about and be accepting of other people’s cultures and religions.

Sophie Wilk (age 13)

September/October 2006

Page 10 LJ Today

A memorable first time for us all

Stephen Griffiths

Lincolnshire marked its bar mitzvah with an innovative shabbat, writes Stephen Griffiths

The 18 participants in the First Timers Shabbat, including the synagogue chairman, Richard Dale (centre, light jacket), and president, Don Gould (far left)

The Lincolnshire Jewish Community (LJC) celebrates its bar mitzvah this year. The early days were not easy, with often few members attending services and even fewer having the knowledge to conduct a service or participate in one.

During the past three years there has been an influx of new members, with synagogue attendance gradually increasing. However, the skill base for service participation has remained low.

To address this problem I suggested that we hold a First Timers Shabbat to encourage wider participation and develop knowledge and love of Judaism in general. The criterion was that either someone had never done a particular activity before, or, if they had, they had never done so in an LJC service.

My call for volunteers met with a heart-warming response and 18 people took part in the service in May. The roles included a shaliach tzibbur to conduct the service, two people to open the Ark, a shammas, four to leyn a short passage

direct from the Torah (not the Chumash), which therefore required four to say the brachot before and after, one person to do Hagba and one to do Gelilah, one to read the theme for the week, one to give a short dvar Torah, one to read the prayers for the Royal family and one to make kiddush after the service.

Most needed careful coaching. For example, one of those leyning could not read a word of Hebrew beforehand, but by the end he not only leyned beautifully, but he did so fully understanding all the Hebrew. Others were nervous about doing something new in public and needed sensitive tuition and encouragement; for this purpose, I engaged in a series of chavruta (one-onone teaching sessions) with each firsttimer.

This was a wonderful learning experience for us all, as each came to realise that he or she had the skill to participate. Many derived enormous personal satisfaction doing something

they had always wanted to do, but had never thought was possible.

By the end of the service, the atmosphere in the shul was one of joyous celebration as the participants enjoyed a well-earned glass of whisky during the kiddush. There was a great sense of personal and communal achievement, as though we had all come of age and were deserving of celebrating our communal bar mitzvah later in the year.

So, LJC is growing into maturity, and we already have a date for the next First Timers Shabbat, 21 October, with volunteers in place. Our congregation has much to look forward to.

• Rabbi Danny Rich gave the sermon at Lincolnshire’s bar mitzvah service on 15 July. The service, which was led by Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, was also attended by Nigel Cole, chairman of Liberal Judaism, the local mayor and mayoress, Lincoln MP Gillian Merron and Canon Nugent, a representative of the Bishop of Lincoln.

Walking tour of Lincoln is chance to make new friends About 40 people from the cheder groups of Leicester and Nottingham joined members of the Lincolnshire Jewish Community for a successful walking tour and get-together on 9 July.

First, Rabbi Aaron Goldstein led a one-hour tour towards Steep Hill, taking in the sights along the way. On arrival at Jews’ Court, he explained the history of the building and told the visitors about

our small but growing community. We all made our introductions and had lunch.

We continued with the tour: to the top of Steep Hill and to Lincoln Cathedral. Rabbi Aaron explained how the building was made possible by the donations of Jews.

It was also noted that magen davids appeared in some of the magnificent stained glass windows in the cathedral.

The tour concluded back at Jews’ Court,

where we enjoyed a song session and had a chance to exchange contact details.

As the Lincoln community has such a small number of children, we are hoping to arrange more gatherings with other congregations for festivals or other events.

A big thank you to Rabbi Aaron, who instigated, guided and amused us.

Gillian Renaud

LJ Today Page 11

September/October 2006

Kayitz Netzer: four countries in two weeks – we can hardly wait!

The Kayitz-Netzer orientation weekend was held from 21 to 23 July at the Montagu Centre, in preparation for our departure in mid-August (by the time you read this we should be just back from this exciting two-week tour around central Europe, if all goes to plan).

The orientation weekend is a fantastic way for chanichim (participants) of this tour to get to know each other and their madrichim (leaders) better. This is especially important as LJY-Netzer runs this tour with RSY-Netzer, therefore giving chanichim opportunities to make a wider range of friends from different religious backgrounds and experience new methods of learning and praying.

On the weekend we encouraged chanichim to use both the Liberal and

Reform siddurim in services and pointed to the importance of belonging to Netzer as the largest Jewish youth movement in the world.

We were also taken on a London Jewish Day by trainee rabbi Charley Baginsky, who will join us on the tour as our educator. The day enabled chanichim to start their ‘Jewish journey’ as they prepare for the amazing experience of tracking our ancestors around central Europe.

My co-madrich, Tania Dahdi, and I enjoyed getting to know the chanichim of our tour during at the orientation weekend, and we feel this was successfully achieved as new friendships and bonds were made.

Kayitz-Netzer is a fantastic tour, visiting four European countries in a

fortnight, and we are extremely excited about leading it.

Alex Fisher

LJY-Netzer

The youth movement of Liberal Judaism Contact Jenny Walton or Jordan Helfman at: LJY-NETZER, The Montagu Centre 21 Maple Street, London W1T 4BE T: 020 7631 0584 F: 020 7631 9838 E: j.walton@liberaljudaism. org or j.helfman@ liberaljudaism.org

Barbie, Spiderman and Liberal Jews Does Judaism have anything to say about potty training, about bedtime rituals, about discipline, about eating, about looking after ourselves as parents, even as we care for our children?

I started to wonder when I became a parent. And lo and behold, of course, it does. Not just to the obvious issues – thou shalt stone a rebellious son! – but the more subtle intricate ones as well.

And many have written extensively on it.

My bedtime reading a few months ago was The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise SelfReliant Children. It was great.

Limmud a few years ago was made memorable for me by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein from Canada, who was developing a spiritual parenting class for worn-out but inspired parents who wanted to keep that spark alight amidst the fish fingers, Marmite, and Barbies

and Spidermen (there are both in our house).

So a group of us are developing a Liberal Judaism Parenting Day. A day of learning, discussion and entertainment on the themes of parenting. And of course there will be very good food, cooked by someone else. We are aiming to capture the concerns of parents with children up to b’nei mitzvah age.

LJY-Netzer is offering a programme for half the day and then families will meet up at lunch and spend the afternoon session together. The day will be about making connections, and sharing ideas and possibilities. We hope that it will be a model for synagogues themselves to offer, and that each community will be able to send a few families as representatives – both to represent the synagogue and to bring back ideas and suggestions for making

their communities more attractive, and better able to reach more members and potential members.

Also, we believe it will be an excellent and worthwhile day for families themselves: a chance to talk things through, to share experiences, and to learn. We’ve invited interesting facilitators. We’ve contacted the rabbis of each community about recommending families that might be right for the day. If you are interested, do be in touch with us via Monique at the Montagu Centre.

It will be a new and special event that we hope will be able to be moved around the country. This first one, in London, is our pilot day. There will be fireworks, of course, falling as it does on 5 November (a Sunday), from 10am to 4pm at The Liberal Jewish Synagogue.

Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk

September/October 2006

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, P.O.Box 1828, London W10 5RT 020-8960 5750, bky@liberaljudaism.org www.beit-klal-yisrael.or g.uk Bet Tikvah Synagogue, 129 Perrymans Farm Road, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex IG2 7LX, 020-8554 9682, bettikvah@onetel.com, www.bettikvah.org.uk Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, Jericho House, 196-198 Edward Road, B12 9LX, 0121-446 5273, bps@liberaljudaism.org, www.bps-pro-syn. co.uk; 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 07891 439646, 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 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 The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, 28 St John’s Wood Road, London NW8 7HA, 020-7286 5181, ljs@liberaljudaism.org, www.ljs.org The Liberal Synagogue Elstree, Elstree High Street, Elstree, Herts WD6 3BY, 020-8953 8889 tlse@liberaljudaism.org, www.tlse.org.uk

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 Fax: 020-7631 9838 Chairman Nigel Cole Chief Executive Rabbi Danny Rich Vice Chairman Joan Shopper Joint Treasurers Tony Kerron and David Pelham Hon. Officers Mikko Arevuo (LJ Zika – Israel Action Group); Penny Beral (communications); Roz Bott (administration and logistics); William Glassman; Amanda Grant (youth); Paul Infield; Elsbeth Mendes da Costa (social action); Michael Romain (regions) Senior Vice-President Rabbi Dr Sidney Brichto Vice-Presidents 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 Joint Chairs of the Rabbinic Conference Rabbi Rachel Benjamin and Rabbi Margaret Jacobi Chaplain Rabbi Melinda Michelson-Carr Outreach Director Rabbi Aaron Goldstein Shlicha Noa Marom Mazkira, LJY-Netzer Jenny Walton Social Action Officer, LJY-Netzer Jordan Helfman Liberal Judaism promotes the religious and cultural traditions of our faith within the framework of progressive thinking and ethics. Donations to support our work are always welcome.

Liberal Judaism is a registered charity, number 256390 LJ Today is edited by Beatrice Sayers The deadline for the Nov/Dec issue is Wednesday 4 October. Send articles or letters for publication to: ljtodayeditor@liberaljudaism.org Printed by Freedman Bros.

Lincolnshire Jewish Community 01427-628958, ljc@liberaljudaism.org 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 01733-358605 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_mail@yahoo.co.uk South Bucks Jewish Community 01494-431885 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 Progressive Synagogue Marlborough Road, George Lane, London E18 1AR 020-8989 7619, wps@liberaljudaism.org www.woodfordprogressive.org.uk Associated congregations Herefordshire Jewish Community Enquiries: 07789 218823 Oxford, for details of Liberal Jewish Services: 01865-515584 or 01865-765197 www.oxford-synagogue.org.uk New communities The Suffolk Jewish Community 020 7631 9821, ijgroup@hotmail.com Manchester Liberal Jewish Community 08709 917327, a.goldstein@liberaljudaism.org, www.mljc.org.uk

DIARY DATES...........

10 September (Sunday) Annual Memorial Service at the Golders Green Crematorium (see right) 12 September (Tuesday) High Holy Day workshop for mixed faith couples at the Montagu Centre 13 September (Wednesday) Kabbalah 4 Skeptics Four-week course starts at the Montagu Centre, 7-9.15pm. Contact Judy Thwaites: j.thwaites@liberaljudaism.org, tel 020 7631 9824

Three new rabbis Finchley Progressive Synagogue’s new rabbi was among three Leo Baeck College graduates to be ordained at a service at The Liberal Jewish Synaoguge in July.

Neil Janes gained semicha along with Miriam Bayfield, who is taking a pulpit at Finchley Reform Synagogue, and Malcolm Cohen, who is going to West London Synagogue, The three were welcomed by Alexandra Wright, senior rabbi of the LJS, and by the college principal, Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein. The ordination address was given by the first rabbinic graduate of the college, Rabbi Lionel Blue. More than 500 people attended the ceremony, including 100 rabbinic graduates from 15 countries who had gathered for the International Rabbinic Conference at Leo Baeck College the following week.

An induction ceremony for Rabbi Janes will be held at 3pm on Sunday 26 November at Finchley Progressive Synagogue.

Memorial services The Annual Memorial Services will be held on Sunday 17 September.

The service at the Western Cemetery, Bulls Cross Ride, Waltham Cross, at 10:30am, will be conducted by Rabbi Harry Jacobi. The service at the Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Pound Lane, Willesden, at 1pm, will be conducted by Rabbi Alexandra Wright and Rabbi Mark Solomon. In addition, a stone will be dedicated in memory of Rabbi John D Rayner CBE. The service at Edgwarebury Lane, at 3pm, will be conducted by Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein.

A service will also be held at 3pm on Sunday 10 September at Golders Green Crematorium, conducted by Rabbi Dr Frank Hellner.

These services are open to all who wish to attend.

17 September (Sunday) Annual Memorial Services at Western, Pound Lane and Edgwarebury cemeteries (see right)

Emailing staff

10 November (Friday) Visit to Dublin to celebrate the Dublin Jewish Progressive Community’s 60th anniversary.

Details from Selina O’Dwyer: 020 7631 9822

The email address for any staff member or officer of the movement follows this convention: firstinitial.surname@ liberaljudaism.org. For instance, to email Nigel Cole, chairman, write to: n.cole@liberaljudaism.org. But, to email letters or other material for publication in LJ Today, write to: ljtodayeditor@ liberaljudaism.org; and to email the joint chairs of our rabbinic conference, write to: jointchairsrabbinicconference@liberal judaism.org.

15 November (Wednesday) Student workshop at the Montagu Centre 19 November (Sunday) PR Workshop at the Montagu Centre 16 December (Saturday) Communities Shabbaton in Oxford June 2007 The Liberal Jewish Synagogue visits Ukraine and Vinnitsa Contact Tim Simon: t.simon@ljs.org