I have thrice applied for Rabbinic positions in London. All three times I was exceedingly aware of my colleagues and even friends also going the same post. It was uncomfortable. But we navigated it. The blessing and challenge of our intimate progressive Jewish community is that we know each other so well. Sometimes that is a huge benefit to the way we work together, sometimes it can blind us to a professionalism that we should be managing. We are so concerned with a sense of mutual support, of protecting ourselves from external scrutiny and washing ‘our linen in public’ that we may have resisted hearing the benefits of this.
My colleague across the road Rabbi Miriam Berger referred last week to an Ofsted report for a Jewish Primary school in Hertfordshire, the cosy-ness of staff and students and the interconnected relationships they held made for Ofsted, a blurring of boundaries.
Sometimes the cosy-ness and supportive intimacy of our Jewish community can mean we don’t lift our heads to look at the bigger picture. Sometimes we are working so hard on so many important ways to develop, sustain and progress our synagogues that we might resist seeing and listening to everything we should.
Following allegations of bullying and inappropriate behaviour by a colleague, many have come forward from Progressive Jewish communities to insist on a proper Ethics Committee to both protect and create due processes for complainants and subjects of complaints alike, be it rabbis, teachers, student rabbis or lay leaders. The Union of Reform Judaism in the States has created a robust process for this already. It behoves us greatly to follow. I have signed a letter along with many colleagues committing to safer sacred spaces and both the Liberal and Reform movements are working on this now.
I see an echo and anticipation of this in our Torah portion Va’eira. Getting deeper into the story that defines us, the Israelites are worn down by their avodah kasha, hard labour. So much so that when Moses returns from his visionary and encouraging moment at the Burning Bush, and relays what He and God have planned; they can’t hear it, let alone believe it.
Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses because of their kotzer ruach and because of their hard labor. (Exodus 6:9)
Rashi helps explain kotzer ruach as “shortness of breath,” When one is stressed, pressed or anxious we feel this difficulty in breathing or rushed breaths.
As Sforno, Italian commentator of 16th century says, “It did not appear believable to their present state of mind … their heart could not assimilate such a promise” (Sforno on Exodus 6).
There are times when we feel beleaguered or downright exhausted in our Jewish communities but this is something that surely should receive attention and commitment.
Wishing you a peaceful Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
It can’t fail to strike us. As we read the opening of Exodus and the image of the Burning Bush this Shabbat, that intense theophany, and moment of divine revelation. The description of the bush in flames but not burning whilst we receive images and accounts of Australia’s hideous fires raging through the bush. Noel Butler, a Native Australian, who with his wife Trish runs forest camps for troubled indigenous young people, explains:
“Fire in this place is our friend,” he says. “Fire has been used to maintain, to look after this whole continent forever.” Native peoples called them “cool burns,” No longer. “I think this is a wake-up call not only for Australia but for the rest of the world. You cannot just destroy the land. You cannot destroy what keeps you alive.”
His words speak to balance. The Native Australians always understood balance was essential to the bush.
This week I am thinking about spiritual practice, what sustains and guides us, and how it helps us maintain balance in our lives. Moses’ moment at the burning bush is considered a peak moment of divine awareness. Perhaps the observations and wisdom of the Native Australian community might inform and instruct our own attempts. May the flames settle.
Wishing you a peaceful Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
2020 began for me in Israel. Despite it being the lesser Shanah Tovah everyone there seemed pretty excited by the entry into Esrim Esrim (TwentyTwenty).
It was a joy there and full of interest and questions too. Aside from Benjamin Netanyahu being at the top of Israeli politics most other things have changed a great deal this past decade for Jews and the world. Jeremy Corbyn was a back-bencher, David Cameron and Nick Clegg held the coalition government, Brexit was a glimmer yet to be fully articulated let alone realised. The World Cup was held in South Africa, without the uncertainty and apprehension that anticipates the next in Qatar.
The decade began, as we know too well, with the assassination of Qassim Soleimani and conversations of its legality. Trump’s and Iran’s language of disproportionate retaliations begin our year with justifiable concerns.
And yet life goes on. Yesterday I attended with several of our Ivriah teachers and assistants the Liberal Judaism/Movement for Reform Judaism’s training day for Religion Schools. The LJY group of 18 years old flew to Israel for their 6 month stint (Schnat). We always have to continue and build resilience and hopefulness regardless.
Gam Zeh La’Avor is a famous Hebrew expression; this too will pass. Nothing stays the same. Ever.
Here’s to the changes and opportunities 2020 may bring. Wishing you strength to rise to them. Chazak Chazak V’Nitchazak. Strength, strength let us be strengthened. (We’ll say these words as we finish the book of Genesis this week, and they are even more far reaching than usual.)
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
I have retold the Chanukah story many times this past week; to children, to teenagers and to the Finchley Council of Christian and Jews’ group. I love the Greek element to our history and the challenges of assimilation and cultural integration that we have always had. Adjusting to the outside world and renegotiating it is not new.
As contemporary Jews constantly making choices about modern life and our Judaism I find myself having empathy for those Hellenised Jews and wondering where I might have been in the battle led by Judah (known as Maccabis because of the Torah verse and prayer Mi Camochah b’Elohim Adonai ). And that’s the interesting fact about Chanukah, meaning dedication, that we get to rededicate and set priorities every year. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus claimed that one can’t step into the same river twice, but Jewish tradition argues otherwise. Things shift and change and we rediscover and re-decide constantly about our Jewish lives.
Alongside the candles, the latkes, the doughnuts and the gifts comes this season for dedicating, prioritising and setting intention. Chanukah is the unlikely holiday for recalibration. Not just an antidote to Christmas but a moment of light. I am so looking forward to spending Chanukah with you all; I hope we have planned something for everyone. Please see here for our Chanukah gatherings and upload your photos to our Facebook page and Twitter account.
Warm wishes for Shabbat and Chanukah following it and a special Happy Birthday to Lionel, recovered and celebrating his birthday with FPS on Shabbat.
Rabbi Rebecca
This week I officially started to enter Chanukah spirit. I usually resist until the week before but I gave a talk on our festival of light to Finchley’s Council of Christians and Jews and had to reflect on this ‘minor holiday’. I remembered a story that came out of a small town Billings, Montana in the U.S 1993 a tiny town of 80,000 folk and an even smaller Jewish community of 50 households. There was an anti semitic attack during Chanukah when a rock was thrown through a window at the chanukiah lit in a Jewish home. The next day the Billing Gazette included a cut out chanukiah in its pages and townspeople put them up in their windows as a gesture of solidarity. Quite a story of solidarity, and affecting.
Chanukah means of course not lights but rather dedication. The temple was re-dedicated by the Hasmoneans (Maccabis) in the 2nd century B.C.E. For us in amidst the December intensity of Chanukah, and gifts and chocolate coins and donuts there is an opportunity to consider what it is we dedicate ourselves to. Our Judaism, our families, our work priorities. Indeed our lives. (Perhaps even our vote) I like to consider this as the foundation to the candle lighting this month.
We’ll begin gearing up for Chanukah this Friday for Ivriah students, their families and all our tiny tots as we have a fun way to enter Shabbat from 5.30pm.
We’ll be gathering for 2nd night candle at FPS 23rd December 6pm with a short concert by the Dolans-Light in the Darkness- and wine and cheese (check out the story of Judith and Holofernes!)
And Chanukah lunch and candle lighting 26th December (Boxing Day 1pm) let us know if you would like to join and if you need a lift.
Shabbat Chanukah Friday 27th will be a bring and share latke kiddush.
I look forward to seeing you everyone at FPS at some point !
Wishing you Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Rebecca
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
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