Rabbi Rebecca's Writings

4/5 September 2020, 15/16 Elul 5780

Schools are going back. Which frankly felt a like a dream until I saw Dora walk up the path and down the road to Woodhouse College. Rafael begins next week and, of course Ruben is finished and it’ll be a year before he begins his Economics degree at Glasgow University.

But all of this does mean that we have arrived at Autumn, as the poet John Keats captured for ever;

Season of Mists and Mellow fruitfulness…

Things have not felt mellow for many of us these past six months. Indeed anxiety has been pretty high. So preparing for Rosh Hashanah this year as we pass through this month of Elul is so different. Time has been strange these past months as days and weeks merged together; and we negotiated work schedules at home and new means of marking distinctions.

But of course preparing for the New Year is also familiar, because this opportunity to gaze inwards comes annually and reminds us that we are responsible for ourselves. This past year has amplified what is beyond our control and Elul invites us consider what we can control and manage. That is, ourselves.  Kotveinu b’sefer chayim we will chant again and again this month, Write us in the Book of Life. That Book doesn’t get written on Rosh Hashanah; we write in it continually. Decisions that were made for us will be in its pages; the experiences of growing up, our parents, our siblings. Our work and our adult choices and of course the decisions we make every day how to be and how to react.

In S.Y. Agnon’s beautiful anthology, Days of Awe, we find this story: “A tale is told of one who sat in study before the zaddik Rabbi Mordecai of Nadvorna, of blessed memory, and before Rosh ha-Shanah came to obtain permission to be dismissed. That zaddik said to him, ‘Why are you hurrying?’ Said he to him, ‘I am a Reader, and I must look into the festival prayer book, and put my prayers in order.’ Said the zaddik to him, ‘The prayer book is the same as it was last year. But it would be better for you to look into your deeds, and put yourself in order.’”

And so we do.

Actually this year the prayers will be a little different, service format tweaked and adjusted for the different reality we find ourselves in.  The yamim nora’im, the ‘awed days’ are upon us and I hope they will bring you an opportunity to feel that awe and radical amazement of being alive, of having reached another year and another renewal for us, our lives and our hopes.

Shabbat Shalom for the weekend of Parashat Ki Tavo; the penultimate Shabbat of 5780.

I wish you well and look forward to seeing you in person if you manage one of our Car Park services, or on line as we have been doing.

Rebecca

21/22 August 2020, 1/2 Elul 5780

“All models are wrong,” statisticians like to repeat, following words coined (most likely) by British statistician George Box in 1976  “…but some are useful”.

When does usefulness outweigh justice?

This has been quite a week; five days of much anguish for young people as they surveyed their school years of study and in some instances their future hopes and dreams in shatters. This all followed the A Level results, which had been adjudicated by a computer algorithm created by Ofqual. And on Monday at 4pm of this week, it was trumped by the human touch and knowledge of teachers. And our government reversed their trust in the system and returned to Central Assessed Grades.

There is such an anti-dystopian message in all of this. One A Level student talked of the ‘lack of humanity’ in all of this. Huy Duong, a refugee from communist Vietnam, arriving in the 1980s, now an IT consultant anticipated the errors for 39 % of students, but no-one listened. He described the algorithm as opaque and undemocratic, something he recognised from his youth. And talked of our 18 year olds’ “collective punishment by statistics”. In other words the computer said no.

How can there not be a message or a moral in all of this?

Maybe one is that justice and humanity is sometimes at odds with ‘usefulness’. This week’s portion Shoftim gives Jews their marching cry, it’s directed us for many generations. Tzedek Tzedek Tirdof…Justice, Justice shall you pursue. Amidst all the attempts for efficiency and usefulness is the desire for humane justice. This is the case whether calling out environmental damage, responding to poverty and destitution or people fleeing their countries for safety. And indeed even calling for fair and transparent ways of rewarding our school children, wherever their postcodes.

Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Rebecca

14/15 August 2020, 24/25 Av 5780

MESSAGE FROM RABBI REBECCA

These days continue to be so strange. Our executive board are working flat out to prepare for a safe and responsible return to the building.  We all want to be together.  I know for many, zoom services provide a strong and meaningful substantiate for being in our beloved Hutton Grove. For some maybe not so much. And I empathise with how everyone is feeling.

Re’eh anokhi nothin lifnaichem hayom beracha u’klalah. Behold I set before you blessing and curse. This is the opening verse of this week’s portion (Deut 11). The Torah text implies listening and observing the commandments or not designated a blessing or curse. Generations later we appreciate fuller way of understanding the choice in our response to life. Indeed our preparation for the New Year is all about that wrestling we all have to manage. It’s not easy.

We will try our first Car Park drive-in service on Friday 4th September and then again 11th September. We are allowed up to 30 people either in their cars or seated outside the Small Hall doors. We will be outside so singing will be permitted. Dean and I will lead from outside the Small Hall and it will be streamed to Zoom and Facebook as usual. This will be a first step for us!

Do book in to join us. We will manage a first booking system, and will particularly reach out to some of you who have not been using Zoom.

Today I officiated at my first wedding since lockdown. There were 6 guests and many more on the screen from Paris. It was strange to be doing that amongst people. Be called Rabbi by folk in real time next to me; sign a ketubah and stand under a chuppah. It reminded me we will be back, we will return and things will be as they were and maybe a little bit better.

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca

7/8 August 2020, 17/18 Av 5780

Rabbi Rebecca writes:

Your clothing did not wear out upon you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. (Deuteronomy 8:4)

How could I resist this verse?

Rashi suggests that their clothes were refreshed by the Cloud of Glory-a sort of celestial dry cleaning. And as children grew the clothes on their backs grew with them; like a snail’s shell. I love these details. Even medieval rabbis asked practical questions. But on a deeper level this verse speaks to the idea of surviving trials; walking for those years through the desert was not easy and Deuteronomy acknowledges that. As always it offers succour to contemporary readers and the ordeals we encounter. Sometimes we manage them, and our clothes don’t wear out and our feet don’t swell; in other words we survive them.

This is a good verse to read through these weeks of Av as we approach the month of Elul. After Tisha B’Av our liturgical tradition dictates the 7 haftarot of consolation-the reminder there was and is renewal and forgiveness. It’s a good message to internalise.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rebecca

31 July/1 August 2020, 10/11 Av 5780

From Rabbi Rebecca

This week I wanted to share a thank you letter to you. Never in a million years would I have anticipated this birthday would be accompanied by such generosity from my synagogue.

Truly I was rendered speechless when a group of FPS folk gathered at my garden gate in the rain last Shabbat afternoon and presented this extraordinary cake and the plethora of gifts you gathered for me. You even listen to my sermons; these tiny models of books are all pages I quote from.

We are having great joy unpacking our new garden sofa, around a fire pit (how did you know we had been longing for such things?) New garden lights are being hung and I see no reason why we couldn’t squeeze in here for a Shabbat service one balmy day, or at least Havdalah.  You donated in my name to a beloved collective philanthropy project that helps and supports women and girls in London. You even gave me two nights away, (mid week of course) in a hotel in deepest darkest Somerset with a beautiful restored garden. I have much to be grateful for, but these loving gifts have totally humbled me. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Rafael made a toast at our (small!) birthday dinner and ended saying “You must be an ok rabbi, Mummy, because your congregation has done such nice things for you.” Last Shabbat Dean sang Bob Dylan’s Forever Young “May you always do for others; And let others do for you.” And goodness how you have. Thank you for your kindness, and thoughtfulness;  accompanying me as I mark this milestone, a half a century, as I keep being reminded! Yaaloz libi the psalmist wrote, my heart leaps for joy. (Psalm 28:7)

Shabbat Shalom

Rebecca

24/25 July 2020, 3/4 Av 5780

Click on this image to see Elliott’s story

MESSAGE FROM RABBI REBECCA

Communities are rightly proud of their children. Jewish tradition urges us to nurture the next generation, and indeed each generation. L’dor va’dor we sing each Shabbat morning, generation to generation. Teach this (whole thing of Judaism) to your children v’shinantam l’vanecha so says the Shema prayer. And Talmud Berachot when it insists children are like builders in what they create:

Rabbi Elazar said Rabbi Hanina said: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is said: ‘And all your children [banayich] shall be taught of Adonai, and great shall be the peace of your children.’ (Isa. 54:13) Do not read your children [banayich], but your builders [bonayich].” -Talmud Brakhot 64a

So it’s pretty clear, generations matter. Not just families and ‘your’ children but the future of all communities. Elliott Karstadt, Dr Elliott Karstadt actually, is a child of this congregation. His parents Lyn and Philip Karstadt raised all three of their children Elliott, Lauren and Jonathan within our congregation (Lauren is my Rafael’s favourite teacher ever, ever.)  Elliott was taught in Ivriah, directed to Bar Mitzvah by the legendary Tzvi Rosenwasser. He continued and became a teacher for the next generation of children. He taught both at Ivriah and Jewish Studies GCSE here at FPS. He teaches adults and has been an integral part of the Delving into Judaism community. He was part of early Shabbat Resouled and has maintained that connection and commitment despite these past five years of learning and serving Reform and Liberal communities across the UK.

This Shabbat is a joy not just for his family but for us his synagogue. Elliott will become a rabbi next Wednesday. It should have been on July 5th with all the pomp and ceremony of all ordinations. Our Dean Staker was to present him and I was to ordain him.  But during these extraordinary times we will have a small, distanced private ceremony next week.

It is one of the greatest privileges I’ve known to be Elliott’s ordaining rabbi. Moses is told ; charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him…. I imagine these words addressed to me for Elliott. And I will do so with your love and pride also.

Shabbat Shalom and do join us for this service.

Rabbi Rebecca

17/18 July 2020, 25/26 Tamuz 5780

MESSAGE FROM RABBI REBECCA

This portion of Mattot-Maasei, the last in the Book of Numbers, mentions cities of Refuge; arei miklat feels pertinent this week. Originally envisaged as a safe place for those who had caused accidental death; where they’d be protected from vigilantes before they went through the justice process. Invariably modern commentary considers their contemporary application. Miklat comes from gather. What makes our community a place of refuge and safety? What makes our community a place that is fair and just for all members to be equally ‘at home’? Last night’s well attended Beit Midrash considered just this. Our own Elijah Michael and the two guest speakers; Madeline Young and Lia Grant challenged us.

We have identified ten steps for our synagogue intended to address two differentiable but related issues – ensuring that we are a fully welcoming and inclusive community for Jews of colour and ensuring that we are an actively anti-racist community. As our Honorary Secretary Tamara Joseph explains;  It is not at this stage a considered and developed strategy or plan, but it is a place to start.  As Rabbi Charley Baginsky said at the LJ Community Briefing about this, “I am sorry that we are at the beginning, but we are at the beginning.”

Our first stage emerging from last night is to establish a working group which reports to council to undertake a systematic review and evaluation of FPS’s practice between now and Rosh Hashanah as an act of Teshuvah so that by Rosh Hashanah we are ready to set out a programme of action for the following year.  We have identified realistic and critical goals. If you are ready to join this important and timely work tell me.

For now I wish you Shabbat Shalom, all of you and a moment of peace and difference for those 24 hours.

Rabbi Rebecca

3/4 July 2020, 11/12 Tamuz 5780

26/27 June 2020, 4/5 Tamuz 5780

MESSAGE FROM RABBI REBECCA

I managed a few days off Zoom this week; and it was refreshing. Except for Delving into Judaism and Rosh Chodesh I had a break from screens; it was very welcome and I benefitted, as did the garden and my reading list.  I was able to attend to both.

But screens and connectivity have also been our lifeline, and may continue to be for a while. As we navigate and negotiate what this slow and tentative easing of restrictions may look like I want to reassure everyone that I and synagogue Council/Board are being careful and cautious, following Government guidelines and those created in response by Liberal Judaism.

For those of you who have not yet tried our online services they have been surprisingly successful and even personal. Attendance has grown at all synagogue events, not just services, and community has grown tighter, I am certain. Nothing will stop as of yet as we work out how and when we might safely and inclusively return to our building. Please try a service if you have not already and if you need help to do so, we are happy to arrange that.

I’m proud of how adaptive we have been as a community, how much joy and poignancy we have managed in communal prayer when we have been in separate places.

I note with irony Moses gets into big trouble this week because he failed to ‘trust in’ God. It encouraged me even more to sustain the trust inside FPS that we are looking after everyone and the services, learning and justice we hold so dear. We are all so enthusiastic to be back at 54 Hutton Grove but it is not yet that time.

Shabbat Shalom to everyone,
Rabbi Rebecca

19/20 June 2020, 27/28 Sivan 5780

MESSAGE FROM RABBI REBECCA

As so often Torah echoes real life, or is the other way round?

Rav Lechem, you’ve taken too much says Korach an envious Levite to his leader Moses.

Of course Moses is a humble man but his elevation to supreme leader was swift and endorsed all the way by God.

Korach’s challenge is considered by most Torah commentators unilaterally as audacious jealousy, fuelled by egotism. Disagreements a la Korach are the worst and should never be copied. But this week in our study we agreed that envy, displacement and desire for a role is familiar and sometimes even understandable.

All the people are holy Moses insists. And that we appreciated.

There is no equivalence between characters at all! ( I can’t stress that enough) But I can’t help but notice the extraordinary action a Premier footballer directed this week in parliament. Government was forced to recognise wisdom and common sense coming from outside the corridors of Westminster. Marcus Rashford led a spectacular u-turn that means children from poor homes will receive lunch vouchers during this long summer, coming as it does after months of closed schools. It will make a huge difference to many families. Challenge is sometimes very, very good.

Commitment to read Torah in light of current events only serves to deepen my Jewish connections. I think this is especially now in these strange times, as we are isolated but connected; wanting so much to extract meaning from life around us. Judaism should be that.

On Tuesday we will have a Zoom event listening to those with experiences of loved ones cared for as they advocate for a Living Wage for Carers. Margot Katz, Mary Huttrer and Alison Pilpel will join Deb Hermer from 7-8.15pm.

This is in line with Citizens UK national campaign to provide the real Living Wage to Carers. Archbishop Sentamu said carers need PPE – Proper Pay, Proper Protection & Equality with the NHS.

Thursday 2nd July will see us completing an action with fellow Barnet Citizens ‘blessing’ a local Care Home as we lobby hard for this change. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu argued; “There comes a point where we need to stop pulling people out the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in ….”

Join us for a gentle and familiar FPS Shabbat with Shabbat Resouled and Shabbat morning tomorrow. Truly a pause in business and moment for stillness.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca