God was in this place, and I, I did not know it.
This exclamation by Jacob on waking from his dream of a ladder ascending to heaven, with angels going up and down has always intrigued us (why were the angels coming from earth?).
Why did he sense the presence of God and if so why was he surprised by it. It anticipates Moses taking off his sandals at the burning bush, or Samuel as a boy wakened by a voice calling him, assuming it was his master Eli and suddenly realising it was God.
We all have those quiet moment, ‘the still, small voice of calm’ where we sense something beyond us. Sometimes it’s deeply personal or spiritual. Sometimes it is in the face of extreme courage or love.
In an extraordinary demonstration of peaceful intent and love David Merritt, father of Jack (who was murdered last Friday at London Bridge), called out those making political gain from his son’s murder. “Jack would be livid his death has been used to further an agenda of hate…”
Jewish narrative in Bible, and in history offers many unexpected sacred moments. I can’t help but feel this moment is one of those. When real life sheds meaning on a biblical verse.
How can we not be touched by such courage and integrity as a parent grieves their child? With such a strange terrible twist that his murderer was someone he had worked with in the rehabilitation he was so committed to, and still that commitment to love and peace.
May we always be open to those moments of sensing:
God was in this place, and I, I did not know it.
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
A shocking portion Toldot (Generations), this Shabbat. The birth of Esau and Jacob and the prophecy that Rebekah helps to fulfill with deceit that the boys will fight. The extremes of parental favouritism don’t show our patriarch and matriarch in a particularly good light. And the family becomes polarised.
“Two peoples are in your belly; two nations shall branch off from each other [as they emerge from your womb]. One people shall prevail over the other; the elder shall serve the younger. … When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter and a man of the outdoors; but Jacob was a homespun man, keeping to the tents.” (Gen 25:23, 27)
It’s a brilliant lesson in how ‘not to parent’. All so polarised. But not just that.
As Rabbi Michael Holzman taught; But the Torah knows us too well. Human societies tend toward entropy not creative tension. So immediately we see Jacob and Rebekah team up against Esau and Isaac. And through all the machinations, what results? Extortion over a bowl of soup? When Jacob and Rebecca turn polarization into demonization, brokenness and the threat of violence are the only results. (I’ll speak more on that this Shabbat.)
What a week to read this portion when we are reminded such extremes of feelings are not just for our domestic dwellings but the wider wold. Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis spoke such truth when he commented on a human problem rather than a procedural one, but I am not sure such polarised pronouncements help us. There are issues of prejudice and poor behaviour in both major parties. I agree with the Reform movement this week; it would be deeply regrettable for 2019 to be remembered only for the conversations about anti-semitism. We are not in the business of telling people how to vote, I think I have covered that previously, but we do hope everyone feels the preciousness of their vote and engages with conscience.
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
We did interesting outreach last Sunday when FPS was represented at the AJEX Remembrance March 2019, as the photo of Melvyn Newman and Stanley Volk shows. We were also volunteering in Highgate Cemetery planting bulbs on rather ancient graves, creating eco bricks and then joining the Somali Bravanese Welfare Association in their new building on Tarling Road.
A modest crew attended MITZVAH DAY from our synagogue, perhaps because we are engaged in reaching out to the wider community all year. It’s of interest nonetheless and Zoe and I will explore this to understand better, all the time, what our community wants to be doing.
This Shabbat our member Richard Greene will read from the portion Chayyei Sarah when Sarah dies and Isaac is comforted after the death of his mother. Zoe and I will be away for the weekend taking our Kabbalat Torah class to Amsterdam; this year our class is so big, 12 children and 10 travelling, that we are not combining with another synagogue. Our young people have been studying this term in our new course, Rabbi Harry Jacobi Memorial Project, where they are learning about the Holocaust and framing it around Harry’s own journey. Amsterdam will be a culmination of their learning; and we’ll be visiting where he lived in the orphanage in Dam Square.
Some of you will have joined us on Tuesday for our conversation with Mike Freer MP and Ross Houston, the Labour Party candidate for Finchley & Golders Green, has confirmed he will come at 8.00 pm on Tuesday 3 December and told me he was keen to discuss ‘everything’ (candidates have full schedules and we are taking the dates they have available!).
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
Over the Summer Reb Irwin Keller wrote a poem I am a disloyal Jew. It went viral. It was in response to a comment made by his president about Jews being disloyal citizens.
I am a disloyal Jew.
I am not loyal to a political party…
I am not loyal to taunts or tweets…
I am a disloyal Jew…
I am a loyal Jew.
I am loyal to the inconveniences of kindness.
I am loyal to the dream of justice….
Historically as Jews in the country we have been engaged and concerned with the world around us. Since the introduction of the prayer for the Royal Family and the Government, the first in the vernacular, into traditional liturgy here we have seen citizenship as part of our faith. As synagogues we are political every time we attempt to repair the world Tikkun Olam. At the moment at FPS we are engaging with our elected officials and those who might be elected. Our strong relationship with the former leader of Barnet Council Richard Cornelius enabled much of our successful justice work. Three weeks ago Rabbi Danny Rich talked to us about his role in Labour Party work, and his perspective as an activist on the claims of antisemitism. Tonight we welcome Luciana Berger MP, next week Mike Freer MP and we await confirmation of Ross Houston the Labour candidate’s visit.
It is right we engage in this way, never party political as a synagogue but strengthening the lines of communications with all possible elected representatives from all three major parties. After 12 December we will work with our MP to continue the contribution we make to the Borough of Barnet.
This is what we are loyal to.
Rabbi Rebecca
This week at Delving into Judaism I had planned a session on Judaism and Social Justice, exploring the texts that inspire us – or command us – to make a just society, and a better world. Hillel said ‘do not separate yourself from the community’ (Pirkei Avot 2:4).
But our conversation turned instead to our beloved Hilda, whose funeral took place on Tuesday – and from that the session turned into a rich discussion on death and the customs around burial and cremation. We looked at how the burial (or cremation) itself are sewn into the fabric of the funeral service, and our reactions and experiences of these moments. We discussed Tahara, the traditional ritual washing of a body – now generally not practised in Liberal Judaism.
Throughout the conversation we returned to the thread that unites so many faith practices around death – respect for the person who has died, and their body. It made me think of our chosen Mitzvah Day project – cleaning and tidying at Highgate Cemetery. We uphold our Jewish values by offering respect to people we have never known by keeping their graves beautiful.
Mitzvah Day is an extraordinary custom in its own right. Created only 10 years ago it now is celebrated across the world, as Jews (and now friends of other faiths) come together to give our time, rather than our money, to make a difference.
For those who would rather make a difference in the warm, we are continuing our ‘Cleaner and Greener’ theme by making 3 eco-projects in Holly Lodge, the community centre right next to the cemetery:
– Ecobricks
– Toys for dogs in rescue centres
– Ecoplanting
For these we need plastic bottles and all your non-recyclable plastic (cleaned, please!), old T-shirts, old tennis balls and jam jars.
Whether you would like to be gardening, crafting, or a bit of both please do join us next Sunday, 17 November, at 11 am at Holly Lodge Community Centre, 30 Makepeace Avenue, Highgate, London N6 6HL. Bring cake, gardening gloves, warm clothes, craft resources and tea!
Shabbat shalom
Zoe Jacobs
“The anticipation is worse than the actual event”. This could be a mantra to my life. From blood tests to interviews, I am an exceptional worrier. I also know it is true for the smaller things in life. I write to do lists every day, and notice that some things stay on my list for weeks because I keep putting them off – too scared or overwhelmed by the mere idea of the task. And yet, thankfully, the anticipation is worse than the actual event. Usually once I start doing whatever it is, it takes less time and is less difficult than I had suspected.
This week I led Lunch and Learn – a fantastic Thursday lunchtime slot of Torah study – in Rabbi Rebecca’s place. I need to prepare for this rather more than she does! I give myself a few hours curled up with various Torah commentaries, and go through verse by verse noticing the interesting word choices, peculiar grammar, or odd structures and repetitions in the text, exploring the various explanations and commentaries that have been written about them.
It feels…holy. A strange word, I grant you. It is all-consuming. I am a poor multitasker at the best of times, but this requires a wholly single-focused attention. If the phone rings the sound feels like it’s coming from a million miles away. I would describe it as meditative except it makes my brain work so incredibly hard. I find it exhausting and thrilling. But I put it off like mad.
It was on my to do list for the start of the week, and yet it was Thursday morning when eventually time pressure forced me into action. I know that once I start it I’ll enjoy it but I still cannot make myself do it. I don’t like the current idea that ‘we all have a shorter attention span nowadays’ – it feels like I’m doing us a disservice. And yet I wonder whether I do shy away from this incredibly intense experience because of the focus it requires, because of just how much I need to turn my back on Twitter, Facebook, text messages and notifications, and let myself sink in to the task.
It feels rebellious, somehow, to give something such undivided attention, particularly now as politics and news feel so all-present. And yet, offering ourselves that time to turn away is so calming, so reassuring. I hope you find a moment this week to give undivided attention to something or someone you love, at synagogue or at home.
Shabbat shalom,
Zoe Jacobs
This is a picture from Simchat Torah last Sunday night. For our celebrations we honoured David and Abigail Dolan as Chatan Torah and Kallat Bereshit in the evening and David Hoffmann and Lesley Urbach in the morning. I don’t think it would be overstating to say ‘we had a blast’. Between Torah limericks, unrolling and over 35 opening verses of parshiot (portions) read, we were astounded by the turn out of our Jewishly literate Liberal congregation. That truly was a joy.
The last letter of Deuteronomy is a lamed and the first letter of Bereshit a bet. Put together lamed and bet and you get lev a heart. I’m reminded of the heart of this community again and again. Throughout these Tishri festivals we have come together again and again. Just as we read as we finished Torah, so may it be for each one of us: strength strength, let us be strengthened.
After this Shabbat, Bereshit, I’ll be taking some time off as we reach the end of the HHD season and head into the quieter month of Cheshvan.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
Breath of all breaths, said Kohelet, all is breath….there is nothing new under the sun. (Breath is often translated as vanities or futility.)
We have been studying Ecclesiastes, that strange book that offers a rather cyclical or sanguine view of life (depending on who you are). My teacher Rabbi Jonathan Magonet used to say this work was either written by a melancholic teenager or a wise old bird.
We read Kohelet for Sukkot, straight after Yom Kippur when we are raw and open to everything. We know that everything is fragile and temporal. This festival of eating, learning, sleeping (sometimes) in our Sukkah gives us a visceral reminder of all of this. Our beautiful, modest and natural Sukkah also is a call to arms to fight for better housing for those who don’t have firm, reliable and proper homes. Tuesday Night Shelter in our synagogue as we meandered into our sukkah was a stark reminder. Today, through the rabbinic Social Action group TZELEM, rabbis have called on our government to build better social housing using our sukkot as reminders.
Shabbat Shalom and do remember our fabulous whole community UNSCROLLING for Simchat Torah this coming Sunday at 6.30 pm.
Rebecca
Thank you to Eden Silver-Myer, Ania Levy, Zoe and Hilary Luder for designing and building our sukkah this year.
The morning after Yom Kippur our hearts are full for many reasons. Not least, to return home and discover the attack on the synagogue in Halle. Two killed, and fear and insecurity unleashed on our Day of Atonement. We stand in solidarity with them and I want to acknowledge with gratitude those who stood outside our synagogue all day yesterday. Our members and our friend Ian Katz who comes back to give so much of his time and expertise every HHD. With heavy hearts we understand why security is necessary.
I am so grateful to all who work so hard in our community in all areas. Those who contribute to the running, security, learning and spirituality of our synagogue . You’ll see why I love Marge Piercy’s poem To Be of Use:
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again…Hopi vases that
held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
Shabbat Shalom and thank you,
Rebecca
Shabbat Shuvah tomorrow and I am thinking of big fish. Despite the walks we are doing every day, with the changing leaves and conkers under our feet, I am thinking of the Jonah story and the image of him swallowed by the dag gadol. No other biblical character is quite as brilliant for considering our own attitudes of stubbornness, ambivalence about choices and faith. Ironically Jonah is the most successful prophet. The only one who has immediate results. Those grudging words he says to the king and people of Ninevah (in 40 days Ninevah will be overthrown) work. They don sackcloth and ashes and repent. He’s the greatest prophet because he is so familiar, so absurd, so human.
What better focus for us than him?
Most of us, like Jonah, at one time or another, avoid our task, choose sleep over wakefulness and sail away if we can. Jonah steps on our toes. Come hear the book read on Yom Kippur.
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
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