MEMORABLE MOMENTS

of the past year at Seed

Rabbi Bazak: “The beautiful family Havdalah at our seminar in May. It was a very special and spiritual moment that the families shared together.”

Rabbi Birnbaum: “Simchat Torah lunch at our shul was memorable. It was the first time we had broken the COVID barrier by having so many of our families together in one place. It was very special to reunite as a community.”

Rabbi Edwards: “Sometimes it’s the small things that give you nachas as a Seed educator. I have been teaching a group about prayer for a long time and as such, I bought them each an interlinear Artscroll siddur to help them understand the davening. When I saw one of them bring their new siddur to the Seed shul, sit there and slowly and carefully go through the prayers, there was nothing more inspiring for me than that.”

Rabbi Fine: “A father was learning to recite kiddush on Friday night and then did it at my home when they came to us for a meal… and of course the decluttering of the landfill site that is the Seed office is an ongoing source of entertainment.”

Rabbi Joey Grunfeld: “It has to be the reception that was held in London in May. I was so touched to see so many wonderful faces who have been such a big part of Seed over the years, some of whom I hadn’t seen since the 1990s!”

Rabbi Shaya Grunfeld: “My best memory has to be Seed Shabbos Project where families committed to keep a whole Shabbat. Standing on the corner, watching the sight of about 25 people from eight Seed families arriving at our centre (after a very long walk together from Whitefield to Prestwich) was truly inspiring.”

Rabbi Herman: “Since COVID we all thought that Zoom was the new reality - that people would no longer come out in the evenings when they could sit in the comfort of their home and simply watch a class on a screen. By nature I am a face-to-face person, so to me the stand-out memory of the past year was the first post-COVID class I gave. We had all forgotten that inexpressible power of human connection – sitting around a table, sharing ideas, communicating through words and the unspoken subtleties of body language. Although Zoom is an incredible tool, it can never replace the magic and the energy of true human interactions.”

Lauren Lemon: “I found the reception at the Seed shul very touching. It was lovely to see so many people come out and show appreciation for Rabbi Grunfeld. I also enjoyed the video showing some of his funny moments over the years.”

Rabbi Litwin: “Over COVID I lost touch with one of the closest friends I have made through Seed. Recently he came back to the Seed Centre for an event and we shared a long embrace. It felt like two long-lost brothers had reunited. As we hugged each other he whispered in my ear ‘It’s so good to be home.’”

Mirele Mordecai: “The Chocolate Wonderland event was a lot of fun. I ordered something like 45kg of chocolate!”

Debbie Rosenberg: “It was so emotional seeing all the gorgeous kids who I’d known since they were babies at our Partytime Shabbat graduation last term. There was such a warm feeling in the room that we were all part of one family.”

Gila Ross: “Every class – it’s so special to be amongst a group of like-minded women who come together to learn to be better. Jewish women are so courageous.”

Rabbi Ross: “The Shavuot late night learning in our home, with 20 men and women, was magical. This was followed by delicious and relaxing lunches, with 11 families celebrating the beauty of Shavuot together.”

Robyn Samir: “On the day of our match-fund campaign the Wordle of the day was ‘Donor’. And I was so exhausted I didn’t understand what everyone found so amazing about this - I read it as ‘Doner’ as in ‘Doner Kebab’!”

Sarah Silkin: “We created a new ‘Family Time’ event for all Babies & Bagels and Partytime families past and present. It was amazing having the dads there and hearing them make comments like “Oh this is where my wife spends all her time!” It was just a really super event and we hope to do it again next term.”