At Rosh Hashanah I shared the story of the synagogue who created lamps and light in their sanctuary by naming one for each member so when they came the lights turned on and when they were not there the darkness pointed to their absence.
I told you this with long term late member Maurice Needleman z’l in mind. He treated the synagogue as his home and we its members loved him. Maurice at his death left half of his estate to FPS demonstrating his love for ‘his family’. It has helped us secure our future and we always hope others might consider us similarly. This Shabbat is his yartzeit and we will host a special kiddush in his honour on Friday evening and Shabbat morning. On Shabbat morning we will share his kiddush with another beloved member, Richard Greene, whose presence has contributed to our home that we know as FPS. Richard has brought his learning, his charisma, his loyalty, his prayer leading skills and of late, his dedication to transforming and renewing our building, our home. We’ll be celebrating with him with a certain bitter sweetness as he moves to Jerusalem to take up the post of CNN’s Bureau Chief of their Jerusalem office. We are proud and delighted for him, but a little forlorn to see him leaving Hutton Grove (albeit temporarily). Megan, Reuben and Myfanwy will stay here so we know he will be back and forwards. Join us on Shabbat to give him a special send off.
As we begin the Book of Exodus this week, I am reminded that Israel means us the Jewish community, our congregation, our synagogue. As well, of course as that land between Jordan and Egypt. This Shabbat I am interested in the power of names-each one of us so critical to our mass, to the flavour and mood of our synagogue here in North Finchley. Even Rashi suggests in his commentary to this verse-
Although [God] counted them in their lifetime by their names, God counted them again after their death, to let us know how precious they are, because they were likened to the stars,
What better thing to be reminded of as we begin our 70th anniversary year and look to our first event of the CIVIC SERVICE January 28th. I bumped into our mayor on Ballards Lane yesterday; she was in jeans not full regalia, and told me how much she was looking forward to joining us. Put the date in your diary; please be there.
And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; with Jacob, each person and their household came:
Shabbat Shalom to all of you and your loved ones,
Rebecca
Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. Both Jacob and Joseph died in Egypt and were prepared for burial the Egyptian way which may well have involved mummification.
Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
And then a little later; So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Both men begged to be taken back home for burial. It was demonstrably important to them. They had been absorbed and integrated into Egyptian society. And what is so intriguing is we finish the Book of Genesis with these words and begin Exodus with a stark reminder that a new King arose who did not know Joseph. In other words all intimate knowledge and affection for the Hebrew people had vanished.
I have just returned from a week in Upper Egypt travelling between Luxor and Aswan on the Nile. No Jews are left in that area of Egypt. At all. We did investigate Elephantine Island by the banks of Aswan which now is home to a very large Movenpick hotel and a new rougher Nubian village. Once it served as a military garrison of the Persian Empire where Jews were guarding the southern border of Egypt in the 5th century B.C.E. so we had connection to it. We spent a week exploring the extraordinary temples and tombs of Ancient Egypt and saw with our own eyes the visual reminders of change and progress as the Coptic Christians of the 4th century erased the hieroglyphics of the Ptolemies and those that preceded them and added their own religious images. The progress of history viscerally etched into the Philae Temple walls and many others.
Pre 1948 Egypt had a thriving Jewish community, as many as 63,550 in 1937. Things changed as we know with the establishment of the State of Israel for many Jewish communities in Arab lands like Egypt and Iraq. And congregations were dismantled as Jews fled violence.
Now just a handful live in Cairo and Alexandria only; the two communities there, Sha’ar Hashamayim and Eliahu Hanabi have neither rabbi nor regular services in the building. But there are traces of their presence. The Bassatine Cemetery in Cairo is considered one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world. I listened carefully when our guide told us almost the whole country were pleased to have peace with Israel. When Anwar Zadat said in 1979, No More War. Apparently the majority of his people agreed. And that sentiment is still there it seems.
Being reminded of Jewish stories and migration is part of the Jewish conversation I wish to be in. Looking forward to hearing your stories this new Gregorian year of 2023 and all it may bring to us here at FPS.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca
This week I am away with family taking some days to recharge and be together. It’s fitting that this week’s portion Parashat Vayiggash shows Joseph unable to control himself as he is reunited with his brothers after so many years. The emotion in the verse is palpable;
Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!”
So there was no one else about when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
Joseph forgives and loves so fiercely, which I have always felt was so profoundly impressive. He cannot contain his feelings and Torah does not seek to edit them out. This candour is powerful.
Meir Soloveitchik wrote that the Jewish people is the result of God’s falling in love with Abraham and founding a family with him and Sarah. Families – no matter how complex and strained the relationships – hold us in their grip. And when you can spend easy time together it is a gift of such immense proportion. I’m taking that now with my parents and children.
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and a nice move into the Gregorian New Year.
Rebecca
Chanukah is such an interesting time, recalling a time of restrictions and closure. Here’s a verse from the Book of Maccabees not easily accessible as it’s in the Apocrypha.
”And whosoever was found with any book of the covenant, or if anyone kept the commandments, the king’s edict was that they should put them to death”. (Book One 1:55)
Religious freedom and a sense of confidence in our differences is the mark of a healthy and respectful society. We get to celebrate with enthusiasm how much better things are for so many people and peoples now. An American friend was visiting last week for the first time in two decades and as we drove down North Hill in Highgate towards East Finchley station she marvelled at the lit Chanukiah that stands proudly there. This was not the UK she expected to see.
Divali lights, before the Christmas ones. Eid Mubarak signs in the windows of Tescos and their delivery vans, all this is progress of freedom of expression and the individual rights of each of us.
This is what we teach our children, that their religious freedom is only as precious as their neighbour’s. That’s what Chanukah reminds us. And I am grateful for that aide memoire. And the fact there is much more work to do. I saw a post on social media which offered a challenge so apt for Chanukah;
You are personally responsible for becoming more ethical than the society you grew up in.
And so this festival of Dedication invites us to do just that.
Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach and join us for Latkes and lighting this Friday night and not too late to book in for a Shabbat lunch on Saturday 24th and early lighting.
Rebecca
Chanukah always gives me pause.
My children love that I start buying chocolate coins in November. And I have heard comments made that it is a refreshing festival as there is little prayer service throughout. Chanukah has benefited from (or lost out to, depending on how you see things) Christmas. It has grown in stature, our festival of light. Eight days to give generous gifts, copious opportunities for latkes and doughnuts and anything else made with oil to honour that slightly dubious miracle that we celebrate.
But Chanukah means dedication and tells the more nuanced story of a rare moment of military victory by a small minority over an established nation. It tells the story of a beleaguered group of pious and focused Jews who were exceedingly bothered by the Hellenised ways of their fellow Jewish folk. And the rededication of the second Temple was doubtless a victory, a return. The eight days of Chanukah reflect the eight days of Sukkot the previous festival uncelebrated because the Temple was out of bounds for everyone who wanted to worship. (Sukkot was one of those three foot festivals that required pilgrimages to the Temple). How can one not celebrate this? It’s fun and it’s tribal to a point. Early stamps in the State of Israel depict the Maccabi heroes. Yet I often wonder as a religious and integrated Jew who benefits from my host culture and being part of the multi cultural Britain I love, where would I have stood in 167 BCE Palestine?
I love asking that question.
And I love the opportunity to dedicate and rededicate myself to the Jewish life I choose and must recommit to every day, let alone every year. But this is the annual occasion that encourages us.
Here at FPS we are using Chanukah 5783/2022 to dedicate ourselves to each other, our synagogue and our building and will be looking back and forwards as we do so. Sunday 5pm after the World Cup Final. (I know it’s unfortunate timing but we will play it to our advantage.) Please join us because our community; our home is all about you who make it. Sign up here. As well as music, food and joy, there will be gifts and activities for children of all ages.
“Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them”. (Exodus 25:8, So said God to Moses about the first sanctuary/mishkan.)
Never a truer word was spoken.
Chag Chanukah Sameach and Shabbat Shalom.
Rebecca
For religion to have any meaning (and I like to substitute Judaism here) it must speak to the human condition and it must draw us towards the human project*.
I passionately believe this. Not only our own lives should be transformed by the rites, rituals and learning we commit to, but others as well. As Audre Lourde famously wrote; I am not free while any woman is unfree. The way of connection is to feel this empathy.
This week sees Human Rights Shabbat – Rene Cassin’s legacy meant the organisation in his name leads the Jewish world back to his principle: “I would happier if there were a little more justice in the world.”
So I enthusiastically endorse our community’s marking of it. And we have chosen key ways to do so.
Friday sees our first ever British Sign Language interpreted Shabbat service. This is an unusual and welcome addition and will be a poignant opportunity for some. Shabbat morning Rabbi Sybil Sheridan will speak on her connection with, and knowledge of, Beta Yisrael – the Ethiopian community and how Sigd – the Ethiopian Jewish holiday 50 days after Yom Kippur – has been marked nationally in Israel. And on Thursday at our online Beit Midrash Zarlasht Halaimzai will speak about responding to Afghanistan, the refugees here in the UK, and the cruel and inhumane life there.
Continually challenging and improving the human rights of all is a deeply humane and yet religious act. We can see the consequences of committing to the principle that all are created B’tzelem Elohim, in the Image of God. This year Rene Cassin has looked back to Jewish women of note and their words to inspire.
Ruth Bader-Ginsberg’s I am alert to discrimination. Or Helen Suzman and her anti -apartheid work, I stand for simple justice, equal opportunity and human rights. Or Simone Weil after Auschwitz and her reflections coming out of the Holocaust, of the need for a world based on respect for man and his dignity.
*Rabbi Larry Hoffman played with a version of these words.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
My grandmother didn’t particularly want me to be a rabbi. She thought it an odd choice of profession and one that would categorically impede my ability to make dinner every night. She was not wrong there. But what happened over the last 21 years of my rabbinate is that she grew to love it. She came to baby blessings at Woodford Progressive Synagogue (as was) and Rafael at Westminster Synagogue at the rather late age of 18 months, because third children suffer from after thought planning. But it was when she came to FPS that she fell in love with liberal synagogue services, familiar tunes and yet she admitted to me she rather liked the English that permeated the prayers.
Although I must admit she told me she was prouder of my roast chicken than any of my other achievements. It was her style of chicken and she was impressed I’d learned from her. And committed the recipe to memory.
And so this week’s dilemma of being both at her week long Shivah and also with my rabbi colleagues at the long planned retreat was interesting for me. But I know she’d like what I managed.
We Liberal Rabbis and the movement in general raised money to bring over the superb Rabbi Larry Hoffman to teach us and visit synagogues. Larry is both a liturgist and even more so a rabbi’s rabbi who’s greatest interest is in ritual and the power of synagogues to grow, be welcoming and make meaning for its members and friends. He suggests we have things to learn from Howard Shwartz the Starbucks founder who insisted We are not in the business of filling bellies, we are in the business of filling souls.
And as Larry said “if that was so for a coffee selling company all the more so for synagogues!”
Larry is with us here at Charney Manor in Oxfordshire for the Rabbi’s retreat, and he will be joining us for our Friday night Erev Shabbat service and we will hear from him then. I can’t wait.
Today I return to Shivah for my grandmother. This Shabbat is Parashat Vayeitzei and sees Jacob leaving Lavan. And on the way uses a stone for a pillow and sleeps and dreams his dream of the ladder; and the curious thing was that there were angels olim v’yordim.; going up and down. Generations of rabbis and commentators questions this, as angels usually come from heaven down to earth. Why the other way round here? It could not be more perfect for me this week as I mourn my grandmother. The angels here are grounded and centred on the earth, not in heaven. I hope not only that she is safe and at peace, but even more that her menschlikeit (humaneness) here on earth throughout her life, ascends with her. And that her resilience and generosity live on in me and all who loved and learned from her. Because unlike Jacob realising, ‘Truly, the eternal is in this place and I, I did not know it’, I knew how lucky I was every day of my life.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
Pnina Tamano-Shata is the first Ethiopian woman to be a member of the Knesset in Israel, and was appointed Minister of Immigrant Absorption.
We rabbis joke there are no festivals in Cheshvan the month we are about to finish this coming Friday.
Actually although Torah doesn’t command or instruct there is indeed another festival. Sigd is an Ethiopian Jewish holiday celebrated on the 29th of Cheshvan, exactly 50 days after Yom Kippur.
The Ethiopian Jewish community lived in complete isolation from other Jewish communities for many centuries, until 1980s when when many Ethiopians were air-lifted to Israel. For this reason, the Ethiopian Jewish community, called the Beta Israel, developed many holidays and celebrations that do not exist in other Jewish communities.
The name “Sigd” means “prostration” in Ge’ez, an ancient Ethiopian liturgical language, but it is related to the word sged (same meaning) in Aramaic, one of the languages of the Talmud. It’s meaning is of accepting Torah and yearning for Israel and the Temple. It also holds the idea of the date when God first revealed himself to Moses. 50 days after Yom Kippur gives me pause in my own life. What have I held onto? What commitments that I made have I successfully sustained and – most importantly – how am I walking with God, personally and within our congregation. These 50 days have felt intensely busy for me and I take from Sigd the gift of assessing how much I act rather than react in my life. How Torah and my tradition compells me.
29th Heshvan corresponds to 23 November: yesterday. There are very few members of the Beta Israel community here in the UK. We have invited Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, who has visited Ethiopia several times and has learned a great deal about the community to visit us and teach and give us more context of the community. This will be our way of understanding Sig and ensuring their Jewish tradition becomes known and honoured by the wider Jewish community. Sybil will speak during the service on Shabbat 10th December. Please Save the Date and in the spirit of Sig check all that is happening in our synagogue, all that connects us to our Jewish life and tradition.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than “politics.” They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.” ― Naomi Shulman
It was world kindness week on 7th-13th November. And I am thinking about this audacious statement by Naomi Shulman.
She wrote it to when she was thinking about the difference between NICE and KIND. I welcome that distinction because if you are conflict averse then nice is a goal. We want our synagogues to be nice places… or do we? Don’t we instead want them to be kind? Kind is strong, principled and generous. It doesn’t run from conflict or standing up for what is right.
I often wonder if I miss opportunities to ensure we all know what being part of a kind community is. Where people feel welcome, honoured, at home and appreciated here. But I do love this portion with my namesake. Rebekah’s kindness to Eliezer, Abraham’s servant but also famously the camels. This was no mean feat and meant Rebekah was strong as well as kind.
‘Drink, my lord,’ she said, and she quickly lowered her jar upon her head and let him drink. When she had let him drink his fill, she said, ‘I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking.’ Quickly emptying her jar into the trough, she ran back to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.” (Genesis 24:17-20)
Rebekah’s kindness to the animals is often the focus when teaching this story. However, there is more to chesed (the Hebrew term for lovingkindness) than her actions with the animals. Chesed is a brilliant word that encompasses so much-the love described of God to people and the kindness people can offer to each other. I think Gemilut Chasadim ( those kind loving deeds) often are at the heart of synagogue life; in ours I’ve seen Corinne and Jacquie calling folk in friendship. I have seen Beverley and her excellent team bake, draw and pack gift bags for the festivals and I know what a difference those presents make to peoples’ lives. I remember Deborah Laikin and Ann Pelham overseeing KT Challah baking and deliveries indeed our own Gordon Greenfield received one after recuperating from hip surgery and expressed delight at being part of our synagogue.
I welcome the challenge of Chesed as the pillar of Jewish life alongside learning Torah and prayer services Avodah.
This is the Judaism that nourishes me and sits so well in our contemporary lives and search for meaning. As we end Kindness Week do join us on Saturday for Mitzvah Day activities – see below how to join. It’s our first opportunity to build properly our relationship with the Rainbow Centre and ensure we strengthen it as we go into this harder winter.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
Rabbi Albert Friedlander z’l used to talk of the brutal events of 9 November 1938 known as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass or as we prefer now the November progrom, a name that does not sentimentalise what happened that night across Germany. Rabbi Friedlander said it made him a super Jew determined to not just remember but be all the more Jewish because of it. His family fled to Cuba initially the day after, when on returning to their apartment they heard Nazi guards still there. That night is remembered as the beginning of the end, or perhaps the end of the beginning of brutality towards the Jews and then towards others as well.
My partner Anthony’s great aunt was murdered that night in the street, beaten to death by Nazis in Neuss. She was a young woman in her twenties. I associate this anniversary as the critical call for ZACHOR-Remembering. And what that remembering and honouring has passed on to us. It informs our backward glance to the past as well as our attitude to the present and our future. Twitter, one of our platforms of communication, is now permeated with more free hate speech than ever before and much is familiar. We are all considering our presence on its platform. Offensive terms for people have colour have increased by 500% as has reference to ‘the Jews’ a phrase as Hugo Rifkind writes ‘ that does not bode well’. Our task was ever thus to be vigilant about and sensitive towards hatred everywhere. Join me if you can at the UK Jewish Film’s showing of the film A Tree of Life about the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. It is a beautifully made and moving film and I will facilitate a discussion afterwards with Lord Mann, UK Government’s ‘anti semitism tsar’ and Mark Gardner CEO of the CST.
Sensitivity and vigilance in that synagogue community and still in every institution informs our behaviour. I love to think of this with the backdrop of this week’s portion Parashat Vayeira in the book of Genesis, Bereshit. The first time we are taught the power of hospitality and welcome, one that permeates our Jewish sensibility alongside caution.
Abraham is recovering from his circumcision, sitting in the opening of his tent at the hottest time of the day when he sees three strangers approach;
” he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.He said, “If I have found favour in your eyes, my lords do not pass your servant by. 4 Let me bring water to wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed..”(18:3-5)
That balance is one I speak of a great deal. Consider joining me on Monday night.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
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