MILL HILL UNITED SYNAGOGUE
Women’s Own
We’ve come a long way, but there is much work to be done to give women more of a role in the US. By US Women co-chair Jacqui Zinkin
H
ow the world has changed. When I was a girl – women at shul prepared the Kiddush, organised the catering, looked after the kids and made the place look nice, whilst the men ran the place, lead the davening and drank the whisky. Today, thanks to the hard work of our predecessors, women and men share the roles of governance, management, whisky drinking and catering within many of the US communities. Claire Lemer and I were elected cochairs of US Women in November 2015. We took over from a group of amazing women who worked tirelessly with the leadership of the US, the Chief Rabbi and the US Rabbonim to enable women to fulfill the majority of lay leadership roles within the community. They worked together with the Office of the Chief Rabbi and the US Rabbonim to understand the Halacha in a number of areas. For example, most recently in respect of women saying Kaddish for their loved ones and Simchat Bat either at home or in shul. There are also now a number of women’s only Tephillah groups and women leyening Megillah for women. The previous USW leadership additionally encouraged those redeveloping their buildings to consider seriously where the women shall sit so they can participate actively in the services and much more. Other changes led by the Chief Rabbi are also welcome, notably his new Ma’ayan programme (see feature on page 22), and we look forward to hearing about his work on Bnei Mitzvah. Claire and I have to ask ourselves,
‘What is left to do?’ The answer is: ‘SO MUCH!’ Firstly, we need to keep reminding everyone including ourselves that US Women is an organisation for ALL the women within the United Synagogue. When we talk about ‘we’ and ‘our’ we mean every single woman within our US. Then we need to work out how to get as many people engaged as possible. We need to understand that whilst all these opportunities are available, not everyone wishes or is able to take advantage of them. The question here is, Why? Some women are very happy with their traditional roles in the community and if that is the case then we must respect their choices and support them. Some women are unaware of the possibilities – it is our job to make them aware and provide the educative tools to help. Some women meet barriers in their communities – it is our job to encourage those barriers to come down through discussion and education. US Women needs to enhance its communication, not only through its Liaison Officers but also through direct communication with all communities. Essex now has a regional executive member, Hillary Segal, who will work directly with the Essex communities and also with the US Women executive to bring us closer together. We would also like to do this with other more distant communities (NW London is not the centre of the universe, but sometimes it must seem so to many of our members – hope this will help) so if
you are interested please contact Julia Hammell (jhammell@theUS.org) and we will be delighted to speak with you. If you are not sure who Julia is – she is the amazing administrator for US Women – we could not do what we do without her. Thank you, Julia A few of you have decided to ignore the various questionnaires we have sent out and have called Julia directly to give feedback. Thank you. The US Women exec would like to hear from as many of you as possible. Julia can be reached at the United Synagogue head office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you would prefer someone to call you back, then email Julia with a time that is convenient. In addition to the above we will continue to work with the Office of Chief Rabbi on Batmitzvah, women leaders within the community, have the quiz and the dinner. We also to hope to work with the working women in the City and West End, have local events, further educate communities on women saying Kaddish and Benching Gomel and just be there as a resource for the whole US to help and support its women. Before I close I would like to wish Stella Lucas Mazel Tov on reaching her 100th birthday. Stella is a role model for all women, Jewish and non-Jewish alike with her drive, determination, common sense and chesed. From all US Women – Happy Birthday Stella. Finally, may I wish you all Shana Tova U’Metukah on behalf of the US Women executive and we look forward to hearing from you very soon.
uswomen@theus.org
Mill Hill Synagogue Magazine | Rosh Hashanah 5777, October 2016
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