Elul: The month of Elul calls us to look within, look back and look ahead – an accounting of the soul, often referred to as a cheshbon hanefesh.
The letters of the month ELUL alef, lamed, vav, lamed — stand for ani l’dodi, v’dodi li — I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. An intimate and soulful way of looking at ourselves and the month ahead as we prepare and anticipate the High Holy Days stretched over the month of Tishri.
It would be a waste to turn up without this forethought. Our hope is about the year ahead. As the writer Rebecca Solnit suggests:
To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart.
Some of the pearls of thoughtfulness you’ll receive come from Craig Taubman’s pearls of Elul of preceding years, some from meaningful messages of others. Every day of Elul an email will arrive with a reflection and an invitation to reflect.
Go Well and feel free to ask me anything along the way.
Rabbi Rebecca
Elul: The month of Elul calls us to look within, look back and look ahead – an accounting of the soul, often referred to as a cheshbon hanefesh.
The letters of the month ELUL alef, lamed, vav, lamed — stand for ani l’dodi, v’dodi li — I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. An intimate and soulful way of looking at ourselves and the month ahead as we prepare and anticipate the High Holy Days stretched over the month of Tishri.
It would be a waste to turn up without this forethought. Our hope is about the year ahead. As the writer Rebecca Solnit suggests;
To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart.
Some of the pearls of thoughtfulness you’ll receive come from Craig Taubman’s pearls of Elul of preceding years, some from meaningful messages of others. Every day of Elul an email will arrive with a reflection and an invitation to reflect.
Go Well and feel free to ask me anything along the way.
Rabbi Rebecca
Take care of your soul…she is turquoise, agate and jasper…refresh your weary soul. If you do not keep your own soul alive, how will you welcome the morning light? (From an anonymous Medieval poem translated by Rabbi Sharon Cohen-Anisfeld).
We talk a great deal how we have survived and even thrived as a Jewish community during this pandemic. We did. We jumped into Zoom before we fully understood whether it was merely an acronym or a media platform. We moved enthusiastically into online services. I learned to look at the screen. I, as a rabbi used to standing in front of my audience (a.k.a. congregation), learned to establish an energetic connection to worshippers even through the ‘glass life’ of our screens. We established for those who were comfortable postcode groups to support. And for many these were a lifeline in a time otherwise very isolating.
We tried to be there for those who were suffering, visiting when I could, calling or standing on doorsteps very aware of the Talmudic promise; “They who visit a sick person takes away one-sixtieth of their illness” Baba Metzia 30b.
Mostly I was aware of the task to sustain spirits and hope. “Assur l’hit’ya-esh” – It is forbidden to despair, declared Nachaman of Bratzlav famously, and for me this was the most important task throughout those months. Praying for those who were unwell, so our congregation knew who needed a call. Some congregants were hit hard financially and work dried up. Where we could, we helped. That is what a synagogue community is for. We were there to minimise the fear experienced, and support those who were unwell and isolating as we did in our Morning Service group. We were keen to be as present as possible for those who were struggling.
“And you shall restore it to him” says Deuteronomy 22:2.
But what none of us anticipated was what Covid-19 left for many. The heavy burden of Long Covid persisting in the body way after the virus had left. I’ve seen the way it has decimated so many lives, that were full previously and what I hear the most is ‘when will I feel myself again’. Most of us take for granted that we can access ‘ourselves’, our energy and our capabilities. This is not so for those left with Long Covid. “Give it time,” they have been told. But it’s taking way, way longer than anyone expected. The poet Edna St Vincent Millay said “Time doesn’t bring relief”.
And for this, she anticipated well. I see this suffering now amongst our congregants and their families. And I want FPS and our community to respond. The psychological and physical parts of rebuilding oneself is spiritual work. One member struggling hugely still with breathing and energy told me how much kind acts physically impact her and raise her up. That, we can do.
So here at FPS we are beginning to explore, investigate and understand this better, and ways to support. This work is not just about encouraging the continual surge for being ‘back to normal’ but for some the acknowledgement that they will never be their ‘old self’ again. And that is the most challenging, infuriating, exhausting, anger-inducing part of the legacy of Long Covid.
Accepting one’s new self, doing much less but with one’s value not decreased. One of the names given to the synagogue is Beit Knesset, a house of meeting of community. Being supported by one’s community is paramount; and I am happy for us to be offering this. – That is our work now as a synagogue.
We have created a support group for those suffering from Long Covid and its devastating effects. We will explore means to financially help those who need for ongoing treatment and support, and find ways to raise up and enable a gentle return to life alongside the new normal along with the skills to navigate it all.
Our first informal meeting was on Wednesday 4th August at 2pm. Be in touch if this speaks to you.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
“Freedom Day” (19th July) did not necessarily mean freedom.
We are committed to caution and thoughtfulness around how we gather in the building. We will watch carefully to ensure we remain vigilant. We know the Delta strain is raising concern but keeping open and available is also our priority.
We are, this week, able to bring in a lovely change advocated by Liberal Judaism alongside our fellow organisations of Reform, Masorti and United Synagogues.
We can now sing (quietly) behind face masks!
As promised we will continue to:
Shabbat Shalom
I don’t know about you but a particular tiredness has set in for me. I’m certain this will be cured by some time in nature and a little bit of river swimming, as we head to Wales for a few days tomorrow.
But I like to think acknowledging exhaustion and when we’ve run out of steam allows a certain awareness of our lives. It has been busy. It’s ok to be tired.
Va’Etchanan this week’s Torah portion includes not just the second version of the Ten Commandments but also the Shema, that piece of Torah that has become our preeminent prayer:
Hear O Israel the Eternal is Your God, The Eternal is One.
I like to focus on the instruction to “Hear”, not just passive listening but active hearing of what is being said, what is happening around us and what are the voices we pay attention to inside ourselves.
Last year’s first lockdown saw a dramatic decrease in traffic, both on the road and in the air and we heard all sorts of things we hadn’t for a very long while. Life has now returned to its previous noisiness, and I am hoping to hear less and more when we head to the River Wye.
Will I be able to respond to the Shema‘s call and be renewed by what I hear. I hope so.
And I hope to see you over the Summer when things, for a while, will be quieter and calmer.
Shabbat Shalom
Rebecca
The 9th Av is the most solemn day of the Jewish calendar, when the destructions of the first and second temple are mourned.
The day has become a magnet of grief and now marks the day of all Jewish atrocities.
Indeed the Haredim in Israel boycotted the creating of Yom HaShoah (holocaust remembrance day) because, they argued, there already was a day of mourning.
As Progressive Jews the day has lost some of its intensity as our Judaism doesn’t focus on temple rebuilding and return. But the idea of mourning and grief is powerful, maybe particularly this year.
The rabbis, romantically, suggest sinat chinam, senseless hatred in the Jewish community was the cause of the destruction and suffering. Historically we know the Romans were responsible for the second temple destruction and exile. However the destructive idea of hate is compelling.
We’ve seen such an outpouring of racist hatred this week following the Euros 2021 final on Sunday evening. It is all our responsibility, not just the recipients of such abuse. Children this week have been racially abused on the way to school in our neighbourhood.
We are all duty bound to cry out when our community and society is permeated by such poison. Indeed the prophet Isaiah will remind us of our duty this Shabbat. To be a Jew is to be part of this conversation and as passionate about the sinat chinam that exists as we are about our religious rites:
Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies
The 9th Av gives us pause to consider exile, destruction and hatred and to reflect and respond. Reinvigorating our festival year to bring renewed meaning is at the heart of being a Jew.
Shabbat Shalom
Unlocking
Pikuah Nefesh – “Safeguarding Life” is a bedrock principle of Jewish law, and supersedes most other obligations or mitzvot. It is what guided us all to be as conscientious and careful as possible these past 16 months.
As unlocking begins in earnest I am thinking deeply what PIKUACH NEFESH can mean.
We know it can mean literally, the saving a life from death. But it also means the quality of that life, the nuanced and complex way we feel alive.
The utopian day of 19 July will mean so much and so differently for each of us. I’m considering, as you might imagine, how that informs our synagogue life.
We will gather as community but with such different attitudes and experiences, some more fearful than others. As always, I hope kindness and consideration will inform how we are. Some of us are needing community and relationality above all things, simply as a life saving option. Some are afraid of loosening restrictions for our hard won health and safety.
The chances are our community is made of all those attitudes and probably many more. We will be considering carefully mask wearing and singing in our services by listening closely to PHE’s advice to faith institutions, and of course using our common sense.
Pikuach Nefesh will guide us as it always has in keeping each other safe and comfortable, but now in new extended ways.
We have been through a She’at Hadehak – “ an Extraordinary Moment” – how will we reflect communally on it and continue to be kind to each other even as our opinions and perspectives on this differ?
Jewish life has always made adjustments in times of emergency and crisis. We did, when we became more than a building. Opening up requires a similar sensitivity and thoughtfulness. I intend to offer as many opportunities to talk and navigate through these stages. I hope it will be guided, informed and inspired by Chesed “Profound Love and Kindness” so we act with tremendous love and understanding with each other.
We truly are, once again, a mixed multitude. A community full of folk whose own encounter and appreciation of what we have been through is diverse.
We will do this well.
Please continue to book in, and now you can even enjoy kiddush under your seats.
Shabbat shalom to all
Rebecca
History happens all the time. And of course changes are made to laws, customs and ideas.
This month Rabba Dr Lindsay Taylor Guthhartz became the first UK based orthodox woman to receive semicha at the Yeshivat Maharat. (Dina Brawer received hers in the U.S) I can’t stress how important this is for us even though as Liberal Jews it’s been old news. We claim Regina Jon as the first in Europe, 1935 followed by Jackie Tabick in 1976. All of them came from a situation where they asked for more. They asked for greater, fuller Jewish inheritance. Every time that happens, surely we must applaud and encourage.
Indeed it was only 2011 when our Queen, Elizabeth II, changed the laws of succession. Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to the throne. Commonwealth leaders agreed to this progression, so it’s now enshrined in constitutional law.
The desire to receive inheritance equally and equitably is a good one. And it stems from a desire to be alive and engaged.
“The secret of success,” Jackson Pollock’s father wrote to the teenage artist-to-be, “is to be fully awake to everything about you.”
Being awake is what the daughters of Zelophehad famously were in this week’s portion of Pinchas. After appraising their family situation and legacy they saw what was missing, them being able to inherit. And amazingly when they asked, their request was granted. “Zelophehad … had no sons, only daughters” (v26:33). And [so] …The daughters of Zelophehad … came forward. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and said… Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (27:1-4)
Being fully awake to everything about you is what made our founders and builders insist on a tweak in Jewish inheritance, for all to be open. Let women come down from the balconies, insisted Lily Montagu over a century ago.
Moses needed to confer with God, he was uncertain. Naturally. But the answer was a resounding “yes”. And these daughters paved the way for women. To inherit. And we continue this tradition of being awake and asking for more. Only last month at our shared Shavuot celebrations the scholar and theologian Professor Judith Plaskow reiterated the words in her 1990 book Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective. “I am not a Jew in the synagogue and a feminist in the world. I am a Jewish feminist and a feminist Jew in every moment of my life.”
I can’t help but celebrate this portion again. The chutzpah of Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah invite us to consider what we might need to ask for next.
That’s what Mr Pollock meant when he told his artist son to be awake. And for us the laws of financial inheritance that Zelphehad’s daughters negotiated, have transformed for us into a keenness for equal inheritance and opportunities for leadership.
It’s always been there. It was Henrietta Szold who captured that [the] Jewish heart has always starved unless it was fed through the Jewish intellect.
Here’s to more audacious asking.
Shabbat Shalom to all.
Rebecca
Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, u’mishk’notecha Yisrael
These words of Balaam offered every Shabbat morning as we gather in prayer, in all synagogues, have become significant for us wherever we are.
And so they are sung to our synagogue buildings and communities. Indeed these words are what bind us at the start of every morning service.
Or as Talmud Sanhedrin suggests,
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, those places of your spiritual gatherings, and all the places where God’s presence dwells among you…(Sanhedrin 105b).
Now we are returning to our four walls, back in the tent of FPS, the dwelling place of Hutton Grove. It’s this actual week that we read Balaam’s words and this (reluctant) blessing.
‘We’re ‘more than a building‘ we’ve reassured ourselves and each other these past sixteen months. And now we must turn to our building and think how to love it again. It’s a time for those who can, to attend, and for those who can’t let, we Zoom you into your home from on the Bimah, in the Ark, in our synagogue sanctuary.
Next month we plan to lay out an individual personal kiddush plate under every chair so those in the synagogue can eat kiddush alongside those at home. We are slowly tasting what real space and time community feels like again.
As we return, we must do so safely and with care for each other. The most important way is to book your place. It is so easy but without doing that we threaten the numbers we have allocated.
I must ask you to please help us be safe, prepared and confident that we are doing well for each other. Here is the link to make your booking. It couldn’t be simpler.
Each form can book only people from one household, so you may need to access more than one form if you are booking for other family members.
By coming to our ohel, our mishkan, you are agreeing to our Code of Conduct which is the Torah we must abide by for the moment.
Shabbat Shalom to all.
Rebecca
The town of Austerlitz had one of the oldest Jewish populations in Moravia dating back to the twelfth century. Relatively peaceful for several centuries Jews paid tribute to local nobles but by 1757, Empress Maria Theresa issued an edict restricting the number of Jewish families in Moravia to 5000. Austerlitz was allowed to shelter 72 of them. This is where one of our Czech scrolls are from. A community that was decimated by the Shoah, deported on 4 April 1942 to Terezin on transport Ah. (Those in neighbouring Kolodeje were deported on 18 April of the same year.)
Torah scrolls were gathered from all over Czechoslovakia and Moravia and left in the Michle synagogue, many rotting in damp and neglected conditions. The extraordinary story of their rescue by Ralph Yablon, a British Jew who brought 1,564 to Westminster synagogue in February 1964 is the stuff of legends. As is the Sofer (scribe) David Brand knocking on the synagogue’s door looking for scrolls to mend and staying 25 years.
We as a community are fortunate to have three of these precious scrolls on loan including one of their binders, our Emeritus Rabbi Frank Hellner brought one back from the Knightsbridge synagogue on the tube, carrying his precious cargo with care.
Our Bnei Mitzvah read from these scrolls and learn of their provenance.
This shabbat we rededicate them in our shabbat service. Torah is still the heart of our Jewish lives, the rhythm of the scroll read every shabbat, the stories and insights in its columns still speak to us.
We are blessed to have this connection to our past and be the guardians of these and the history they hold.
Join us this shabbat as we bring out our three scrolls, one known as an orphan scroll and so tiny it has been used as a children’s Torah. We will read from one and recite the names of those lost in the community that owned them once upon a time. It’s a profoundly important moment for us a congregation.
Do join us.
Shabbat Shalom to all.
Rebecca
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