Tuesday night was our first Council meeting post AGM, with a new team, as it were. We were squashed round the table in the small hall. Which in itself was a joy and then over iced water and lemon drizzle cake we welcomed a new cohort of trustees to the task of managing and leading our precious congregation. We discussed what was being inherited. This week’s Torah portion Parashat Pinchas focuses in on the idea of legacy and inheritance with the daughters of Zelophechad who ask for inheritance from their father, in the absence of sons. Before they ask for anything they just step forward and up.
The daughters of Zelophehad … came forward.
Sometimes just stepping up and forward is an act of courage, generosity and faith. The impact of this portion and its narrative moment is the promise of legacy and continuity for those who haven’t had, haven’t asked and haven’t been given. Yet.
And the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying: (7) ’The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly: you should indeed give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s family;
And this change of tradition was established here – And it shall be for the children of Israel a statute of decision making, as the Eternal commanded Moses.
Whilst this piece of Numbers spoke to female inheritance and passing on of name and family; it resonates hugely about change, about inclusion and about enabling Torah speak to us.
I want to ensure you know who has stepped up to this role and the responsibility of carrying the progress and care of our congregation.
Led by our able Chair Tamara Joseph, Hon Sec Paula Kinchin-Smith, Treasurer Roy Balint-Kurti and Vice Chair Beverly Kafka. And Council members Sam King, James Levy, Sharon Michael, Lesley Urbach, Gordon Greenfield with Annabel Robin visiting and considering and Margot Katz offering some strategic thinking to Council.
Looking round the table we were delighted to be together as we discussed the need for excellence and care in what we deliver to our congregants. We talked of the pillars we rest upon here at FPS; Tamara reminded us of the gentleness that lies in the understanding we are all B’Tzelem Elohim -in the image of God. And our shared objectives and pride was around that table with each other. I like the quotation ascribed to Rabbi Ben Zion Klatzko:
“Judaism is not a religion, it’s a relationship.”
L’chaim to that.
Shabbat Shalom, Rebecca
Mah Tovu Ohalecha Yaacov Mishkonetecha Yisrael.
How good are your tents Jacob, your homes Israel.
This week’s portion, Parashat Balak contains the words we use to open every Shabbat morning service, they are in fact a blessing from the prophet/magic man Balaam. We remind ourselves of our own synagogue community as Dean sings the opening tune.
But we may forget this blessing, this expression of admiration comes after some fairly ambivalent observations about the Israelite tribe;
There is a people that dwells apart, Not reckoned among the nations, . . . (Numbers 23:7-9)
It’s unclear if this is a good thing or not; a weakness or a strength to dwell apart. And it gives pause to our contemporary perspectives. We recognise Balaam is confused by his task which was to curse a people who God had not cursed. Either way this separateness is opaque.
The power of community building is possibly what Balaam was commenting upon when he observed that Israel made a good and strong congregation. That resonates for me today.
We know that it’s the people that make our communal spaces, no more so than here at FPS. So tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting 7.30pm and the preceding SGM 7.15pm (to enable a hybrid AGM) are important moments in our calendar. Particularly in our synagogue life – signing up to be leader is a significant marker in any congregation’s development and progress. Indeed returning to our buildings reminds us of those relationships that form the backbone of of community connection. Attending Leo Baeck College’s ordination of this year’s crop of new rabbis I was reminded of the strength of our communities and the importance of renewal. Our Council will welcome three new members who are putting themselves forward as candidates on Thursday evening; Sharon Michael, James Levy and Annabel Robin. And our new council may be joined by some who’d like to be co-opted including Lesley Urbach. Renewing of our lay leadership and trustees is as critical to FPS life as our services and learning are.
Please consider joining us in person on Thursday evening to usher this in.
Dr Ron Wolfson, revered scholar of synagogues and the power of relationality famously said about synagogue health;
I don’t think there is any substitute for face-to-face relationship building. The savvy community organizations have a robust presence on social media and a vibrant website, and all that is important, but I don’t know of any substitute to sitting down with someone over a cup of coffee and hearing their story. It’s showing a genuine interest in people’s lives.
That is what enables new generations of Council to join. The connections made in our synagogue. Tamara Joseph, our Chair, reminded us all last Shabbat of the words of Rabbi Sheila Shulman, z’l; you don’t find a community, you build one.
Sheila spoke much wisdom, but this particular gem I see applied on a daily basis here at FPS. Those of you who built the community and our lay leaders who take up the mantle of trusteeship by guarding and directing our synagogue. As we reaffirm and renew leadership this week, may we feel a debt of gratitude to those who stand up to do so. Those who make this Jewish life of ours a blessing.
That’s the message I take from Parashat Balaam today-I’m grateful for our partnerships.
Shabbat Shalom, Rebecca
I am drawing back this week from the outage and distress that a court’s decision about reproductive health on the other side of the Atlantic is having on us all. Similarly their reversal of restrictions who who can carry a gun in New York state. I know colleagues and friends the Unites States feel they are in an upside down world; and from where we are standing it looks that way. We in Liberal Judaism stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
But as we know life and ritual continues regardless. Not a business as usual but perhaps a greater sense of what it is we are doing, and a seizing of the moments of gratitude we have.
This Shabbat our current Kabbalat Torah cohort, all seven of them, mark the end of their journey by leading us in Shabbat prayer. They do this as children of the congregation. They love their synagogue, and I suspect we all, regardless of whether we’re actually related to them (spoiler alert: I am the mother of one of these) love them and the commitment of each generation of young people to continue our Judaism “l’dor va’dor”.
Liberal Judaism has always been proud of its confirmation groups – just look at the photos we’ve found of several of these cohorts at FPS. LJ sees fifteen year olds much more capable of engagement and dedication than when they were B’nei Mitzvah at thirteen. We have much reason to be proud this coming Shabbat. We also open our doors for another Open Shabbat in Liberal Judaism to share what we do at FPS, the music we make, the atmosphere we create and the children we teach.
Their portion is Chukat and they have studied deeply the story of Moses’ punishment for hitting the rock rather than asking it for water. Our young people made the connection that Moses was mourning the death of his sister, and loss and grief can make one angry. More than anything they learned from these verses in the Book of Numbers that every action has a consequence. Everything is interconnected. The lack of grieving space and time the brothers had allowed them to make foolish choices (14th century Spanish Gersonides observes that as the eldest sibling and a prophet, Miriam would have kept her brothers from doing anything so stupid as hitting the rock).
Abarbanel (15th century Portuguese rabbi and commentator) notes that the people’s complaint about lack of water comes “just at the time when they ought to have comforted [Moses and Aaron] for the loss of their sister.” No wonder Moses and Aaron act out and strike the rock, leading to a harsh reminder of their own mortality. The consequence is that Moses (and Aaron) won’t see the Promised Land.
Understanding consequences is a good lesson drawn out by our young people this year, and the capacity of their Jewish tradition to teach it. Indeed it feels a lesson we keep on learning in our contemporary world, every choice yields consequences; good or bad.
Do join us this Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
This week is Refugee Week, founded in 1998.
Many Jewish institutions are marking it by recalling our own gratitude for and continuing involvement with the migration of folk coming here for a safer and better life.
This morning I had coffee with refugee women currently residing in the Brent Cross Holiday Inn. They have been supported by so many fine folk to ease their arrival, but have been stuck for some months inside a small hotel room.
One woman I’d met earlier was a Judge in Afghanistan, and her husband an Engineer. She explained to me that when she lived in Afghanistan, she and her colleagues couldn’t take their sick children to hospital. As a professional woman, their details would be recorded and they’d be arrested immediately for a spurious charge, or a lack of modesty for working in such an elevated position.
Her life now is very difficult cooped up in a hotel room with no access to work or opportunities to be useful. And yet infinitely more bearable that the alternative of being home.
It is never uncomplicated, choosing to uproot yourself or your family. And rarely have attitudes to, and decisions about, refugees been more controversial. That plane grounded last week en route to Rwanda demonstrates that so clearly.
See SADA stories for the accounts of a million displaced persons and their stories.
It’s ingrained in us to have this understanding. After Costa Coffee in Brent Cross I visited Margot and Aaron Katz who are hosting a Ukrainian family – I met Natasha. Aaron helped her find a job at Finchley Nurseries – so she’s independent too and can care for her children.
So many of you have offered help and support, and bedrooms for those who need. Is that not at the core of our Judaism?
You shall Love the stranger as yourself for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Lev 19:33)
You shall love your neighbour as yourself, just a little earlier in Leviticus 19 reminds us there are plenty close to home that need our love and concern. We have identified two new charities to be in relationship with from this High Holiday period; this New Year coming.
The first charity is Generation to Generation, a charity nominated by our own Lesley Urbach, enabling Holocaust survivors and their descendants to tell their stories to the next generation, and – so powerfully – incorporating testimony into their presentations.
The second is The Rainbow Centre in Dollis Valley. It is a local community centre, offering support largely to people living on the Dollis Valley estate. They provide lunch clubs, food bank, debt advice, manicures and chat, and lots, lots more. Run by Steve and Sarah, it is a small and incredible organisation.
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
I find it moving when adults set themselves new learning targets. Learning anything new once past childhood is more of a challenge.
Rabbi Yehuda ben Teima says in Mishnah: Be bold like a leopard, light like an eagle, run like a deer, and be strong like a lion to perform the will of your Eternal…
The idea that being bold and brave in undertaking new things is compelling, and I salute these four women this Shabbat who will mark their Bnot Mitzvah with their community. This week’s portion Behaalotecha includes the account of Miriam and Aaron critiquing their brother Moses and asking plaintively, “Hasn’t [God] also spoken through us?”
It’s poignant and I am enjoying this Shabbat witnessing Sharon, Lesley, Eti and Charlotte asking something similar boldly and with lightness and strength leading service and reading from and illuminating Torah for us.
These are the best moments of community, accompanying each other through these rites of passage. I should add a Mazal Tov to Gosia and Max who welcomed the safe arrival of their daughter Leni-Ela just a day after Shavuot when Gosia shared her journey to us as a modern day Ruth. A reminder also that the stone setting for Miriam Bixer will be this Sunday June 10th 10am at Edgwarebury cemetery, Monty wanted to be sure his friends at FPS knew.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
This week’s Torah portion and Haftarah possibility share the common denominator of asceticism-Samson is a nazarite that this week’s Parashat Naso talks of. The Nazir (male or female) didn’t cut their hair and abstained from strong drink and if they wanted to give up their vow of abstinence it was quite an ordeal. We love the story of Samson and his hair and Delilah of course. But we pride ourselves, interestingly, on not prioritising or encouraging asceticism in our tradition. It was Maimonides in 12th century Spain/Egypt who insisted;
“Aren’t the Torah’s restrictions sufficient for you that you have to impose on yourself additional restrictions?” Mishnah Torah Hilchot Dei-ot 3:1)
In a world where [religious] extremism, literalism and all kinds of fantasia is rising, we can be reminded here of a deep and abiding appreciation for moderation.
I find this playing. And snuck into this portion next to the rules for the ascetic Nazirite is the priestly blessing-the one that hopes for such general love and ease.
May God bless you and look after you, May God shine God’s face towards and be very gracious to you and May God turn to you and give you peace…
To me this is the blessing par excellence that captures so much.
As we finish the counting of the Omer this week-49 days-7 weeks from Pesach to Shavuot we hope to welcome you to our first in person, in house celebration for three years. Eating together, singing and of course judging cheese cake it feels a modest and important moment for us all-especially those of us here over the Jubilee weekend.
Our theme this year from the Book of Ecclesiastes – Of the Making of Books there is no end ….How Bible and indeed all literature has informed our souls. We will be hearing from our own members about music and writings that have touched their souls as well as our own modern day Ruths and the learning they will share. We welcome Rabbi Rene Pfertzel and KLS for our erev service as well as Rabbi James Baaden for an edible jaunt through the seven species…it will be fun and not ascetic at all!
Shabbat Shalom & Chag Shavuot Sameach
Rabbi Rebecca
With every appalling supermarket shooting as we’ve seen in Buffalo and then days later in the Californian Church, one questions the justice of the world. With every act of hatred an equilibrium gets shaken. With every Cancer diagnosis, unanticipated accident, struggle or death one wouldn’t be human not to question.
This week’s portion; the last of Leviticus contains what’s known as the TOCHECHAH the list of curses if fidelity to God is dropped or compromised. Progressive Jews resisted for many years the public reading of such threats as offensive to a thoughtful theology. We know good pious commitment does not ensure protection from all life’s ills. But we also know that in our lives we are tested continually, randomly and cruelly.
In Leviticus 26:23-24 we read: “If you walk with Me keri … then I [God] will walk with you keri.” There is great debate about how to translate this word keri. It’s only found here in the Torah.
Rashi and Rambam (Maimonides) both translate this as happening one, sporadically. Could this be understood as an incentive to make connections (divine or otherwise) and community commitment part of our lives rather than sporadic visits. Do we weather the challenges thrust upon us better if we are knitted cohesively with others?
Rabbi Ben Sprat suggests this and uses the Midrash of Vayikra Rabbah 4:6 to demonstrate.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught a parable: A group of people were on a ship. One of them took a drill and started drilling underneath his seat. The others said to him: What are you sitting and doing? He replied: What do you care. Is this not underneath my own seat that I am drilling? They said to him: But the water will rise and flood us all on this ship.
This is of comfort to me-noone can avoid the challenges (curses in Torah text) that come our way but we can alleviate their intensity.
Behukottai pulls us into community.
It can be literally live saving at times.
This Shabbat our beloved REsouled will host Liberal Judiasm Open Shabbat for LJ@120. PLEASE PLEASE COME and welcome potential visitors and show what we as a congregation have created through music and cohesion.
Similarly join me at LJ Day of Celebration on Sunday. Book here or ask us to book for you. I am happy to collect anyone that needs a ride!
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
I wasn’t born into Liberal Judaism. I am a convert to it. I have truly chosen it for me, and then of course for my family. My parents even chose it too.
There are so many reasons why I admire the lineage of proud, curious Jews who wanted their heritage to be comprehensive, accessible and inspiring.
Maybe it was Lily Montagu’s plea for women to come down from the balconies in the early 1900s. Maybe it was Rabbi Harry Jacobi, spiritual Jew and committed activist becoming urgently involved to fight the cause of the refugee children, speaking on their behalf, visiting the camps, lobbying and kvetching to try to see justice being done. Or maybe it was Rabbi John Rayner, my much revered teacher at Leo Baeck College stating definitively and oh so persuasively ‘the past shall have a vote and not a veto’.
Yes I’m a Jew first and then a Liberal Jew but what a legacy of Liberal values to inherit. I’ve watched my children navigate a sense of belonging and encouragement from their youth movement, LJY Netzer. I have watched my teachers and those who’ve gone before me invest time and thoughtfulness in this legacy of Judaism and the contemporary Anglo version of Liberal Jewishness we all share now in our community. In the early years Hebrew was marginalised. Emotive and informal worship straightened out into something more decorous. But, and I see this as a great strength, over the past 120 years we’ve seen the need and desire for something different and so FPS along with other Liberal synagogues has adapted the early mores of the Jewish Religious Union, as was, and had the courage to change and develop customs as we have all grown these past century or so.
That’s why I am a proud Liberal Jew and a proud rabbi of a Liberal synagogue.
And I see how important it has been to all the families that find us and it becomes part of their Jewish story too.
We need to support and celebrate with the mothership, Liberal Judaism I mean. So consider joining me at our Day of Celebration next week Sunday 22nd May. We have much to be proud of. Anish Kapoor may even be there.
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
Parashat Emor this week’s Torah portion talks about counting time. The holy convocations; the festivals we have breaking up the year, Shabbat which breaks the monotony of the working week. Remember the intense lock down experiences when days merged into each other? When so many of you articulated the benefit of Shabbat when our services would beam into your homes. Remember that when it felt like it was all we had to distinguish existence.
I appreciate this portion and its reminder of marking time. When the state of Israel was created, some time after three extra days were added to the Hebrew calendar. Yom HaShoah to recall victims of the Holocaust so pertinent and poignant to those building the new country of Israel. Yom HaZikaron to remember and honour fallen soldiers and civilians of Israel and lastly the day to celebrate its independence, separate from the British Mandate the new country and all its possibilities. I like to recall and remind myself of the Declaration of Independence-this paragraph particularly:
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
The most hawkish to the most dovish Israelis and Jews will agree that tonight’s end of Yom Hazikaron merging into Yom Ha’Atzma’ut is a moment of respite from political yearnings, disappointments or change. It is twenty four hours to reflect and appreciate the good, the security that came after the Shoah, the pride and our connection as Jews to it.
Do join us for the most beautiful renditions of poetry and folk songs from Abigail & David Dolan and Elliot Levey (recordings as of course he is on stage at Cabaret) and then conversation and felafel dinner with Ambassador Taub long standing friend of Liberal Judaism.
Do join us if you can. And wishing you an early Shabbat Shalom.
Rebecca
You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old: you shall fear your God: I am the Eternal.
You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favour the poor or show deference to the rich: judge your neighbour fairly.
You shall not hate your kinsman in your heart. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinfolk. Love your neighbour’s welfare as if it were your own. I am the Eternal.
These are just some of the words of Kedoshim, the portion this Shabbat. It holds the blueprint for treating people well; for how to be a mensch. And how fitting then that this week should see us participating in Barnet Citizen’s Assembly when we called on our Council leadership for decent and better provisions for our fellow citizens; these will be clean air, better mental health support and signposting for our young people, the Living wage and more ambitious and integrated settling of refugees here in Barnet.
Our own Ofra Rosenwasser speaking at the Barnet Citizens Assembly
The opportunity to collaborate with other local (religious) institutions is critical and is in a sense Torah in action. We are in such significant days; Week Two of the Omer when we’ll count the days and connect to GEVURAH, our strength and resolve.
We marked Yom HaShoah and in so doing, as we did last Shabbat for our Czech Scrolls, we pay tribute to those who went before us and pledge to remember with strength and resolve. Our guest of honour was Janine Webber BEM, now a firm friend of our synagogue, so impressed is she by our commitment to relationship and care. Her second visit and she feels at home.
Such emphasis on relationships is both highly Jewish and very much part of the ethos we share with other Barnet institutions gathered in the Citizen’s alliance. Being in relationship means you will be loving your neighbour’s welfare as if it were your own. This is the word of the Eternal. I believe we will do so this week and leading into this Torah text on Shabbat. We felt proud of FPS and our direction of focus back as we honour and commemorate and forward as we pledge to new learning and responsibility.
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
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