Shavuot – meaning Weeks – is the poor relation of festivals, or it was when I grew up, somewhat forgotten next to Pesach and definitely drawing less focus than our relatively modern High Holydays. But it’s the best of holidays: study, flowers, fruit, cheesecake, the Book of Ruth, the ideas of conversion and joining Judaism and figuring out what matters.
It’s not just accessible and enabling but actually celebrates that. As well as the barley harvest, we celebrate Matah Matan HaTorah – the giving of Torah. That’s interesting for us as Liberal Jews who do not rely on Torah as written by God, Torah min Hashamayim.
When Moses descended from Mount Sinai… his face was glowing…. He instructed them… and put a veil over his face. (Exodus 34:29-33)
But for certain we are inspired, challenged, provoked by the reading of Torah every week of the year and this week we get to engage more deeply.
2023 is the year we are joining with Southgate Progressive Synagogue for Shavuot. Rabbi Danny Rich and I are sharing the learning, the praying and the facilitating and will be exploring the ideas of human connectedness.
Our fate is bound up in each other (Babylonian Talmud Shevuot 39a)
This will be our programme on Thursday evening at SPS:
6.30pm Bring and Share Supper
7.00pm Shavuot service
7.45pm The Book of Ruth, Thomas Hardy and Rembrandt
8.35pm Cheesecake and Coffee
8.50-9.40pm The Torah of a New Progressive Judaism
9.40-10.20pm Jewish Attitudes to Conversion
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca.
If people feel they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand,
so wrote Howard Schultz when he began Starbucks coffee.
This is an interesting moment for those of us who have identified with Liberal Judaism over these past 60 years and more, indeed for anyone who has been drawn to its values these past 120 years. The Biennial conference of 2023, the first togetherness for 4 years or so, is entitled Liberal Judaism Matters, intended as a clever pun the matters / business of Liberal Judaism but also to engage with the idea that Liberal Judaism does matter and will continue to matter. The progressive expression and experience that has underscored our bit of Jewish real estate is still relevant, meaningful and important.
All the values of our Liberal Judaism and the stories that have brought us here and enabled so many of us to integrate our secular lives and our Jewish sensibility will permeate what our hopes will build when our ideologies and movements come together to build what’s next. As the beginning of the Book of Numbers calls for…
שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת
Count all the congregation of the children of Israel, by families following their family houses; a head count of every person according to their names and how many of them.
We will all be part of this.
For those wanting to be part of this shared Shabbat service with all of Liberal Judaism, do come along to FPS to share the streamed service at 11am as usual, to be together – or of course watch from home. I’ll be preaching there, so it may feel familiar. Our own Ben Combe, Gordon and Jane Greenfield, Howard and Valerie Joseph, Josie Kinchin, Alex Kinchin-Smith, Sharon Michael, Paul Silver-Myer and Susanne Szal will be representing FPS.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca.
“The Eternal One spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai” (Lev. 25:1)
וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בְּהַ֥ר סִינַ֖י לֵאמֹֽר
This week’s double portion Behar Behukotai ends the Book of Leviticus and in so doing sets us a challenge that all our Judaism – however different, however contemporary, irreverent or iconoclastic – relates to the moment of Sinai.
A beautiful midrash tells the unlikely story that Moses had a dream, a disassociated vision, where he imagined being thousands of years in the future sitting in a classroom of the yeshiva of Rabbi Akiva. Sitting in the back row while Akiva taught, Moses was utterly confused. His spirits fell as the arguments spun around in circles. He just couldn’t follow anything, from comments on the crowns of the letters of Torah, to the commentary that surrounded them. He was, the midrash suggests, forlorn and lost. One of the other students raised a hand and asked “Rabbi, where in the Torah did you learn this?” Akiva answered: Halachah l’Moshe MiSinai, “Oh this is the law given to Moses at Sinai.” Then Moses’ mind was set at ease. This was connected to him. M’nachot 29b
I love this story.Because it basically reassures us that every new thing we do, every new expression and manifestation of Judaism, is connected to what has gone before. I think of this as we mark the next FPS Bar Mitzvah of Sam Fields, a most committed Bar Mitzvah student, who plays guitar in our shabbat service, accompanies me on social justice outings to represent us at the Barnet Citizens Assembly, who has waited on our seder tables for the past two Passovers and is generally a great kid in our synagogue, and I see that same line of connection flow through these past 70 years of FPS life to this moment and two weeks later to our next Bar Mitzvah in Zac Zalkin.
I’m compelled by continuity as well as courage in being different and inspired. As we finish the book of Leviticus and bless ourselves in the process, may these words be real for us.
Chazak Chazak V’NitChazek.
Strength, Strength, Let us be strengthened.Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca.
Whether Republican or Royalist or somewhere in between, this coming Shabbat will be a memorable one. My mother leads a reminiscing group at Hammerson House care home and this week’s topic was recalling the last coronation in 1953, 70 years ago. I wonder whether our children will recall this weekend’s coronation of King Charles III. I like being reminded that the prayer for the Royal family given in most synagogues has the historical significance of being the first vernacular prayer in any synagogue here. We noted with interest when it was skipped in the Shabbat service of Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue. At my Shabbat table with FPS congregants last week, we were full of talk of the coronation and its cost – right down to the hand-made buckles on shoes.
I am always drawn to the prophet Jeremiah’s insistence to his people in the 6th century . . . seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
And so this week my colleague and president of LJ Rabbi Alexandra Wright has written a prayer for us all for this Shabbat for the coronation of King Charles and it is hard to disagree with her thoughtful words and hopes for him.
May he foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely. May he find the freedom and strength to speak out against cruelty and injustice and to lead by example, living in harmony with nature, conserving its resources, diversity and beauty for future generations so that they too may reap in joy.
May his reign be governed by truth, judgement and peace, as it is said, ‘These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates’ (Zechariah 8:16).
Along with other LJ and MRJ synagogues, we will bring our Shabbat service earlier to 10.00 am and follow with a shared kiddush and opportunity to watch the coronation together if you so wish. Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Chief Rabbi if the United Synagogue has been invited to stay the night at Clarence House for Shabbat so he and his wife can walk to the Abbey. It will be Shabbat as usual for us here at FPS and those who want to mark this moment can do so.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
Of the making of books there’s no end. So wrote the author of Ecclesiastes which we studied in our Torah group last term. We have now begun Song of Songs and are intrigued to get to know it.
A book or perhaps magazine intrinsic to our community has been SHOFAR. In my eleven years I have seen consistently impressive writing and editing. It has been always a critical mouthpiece for us and a reminder to all what happens chez nous at FPS. I love the idea that we as a congregation get to be noticed on members’ kitchen tables and in their living rooms.
Since Monica Rabinowitz ended her tenure at the helm we have been looking for a new editor who might enjoy this task with lots of support from us in the office and brilliant Lea Jagendorf our designer. Do join Tamara and me for Cafe Ivriah this week 10am to discuss Shofar and its future. I look forward to seeing you there.
There is a verse within this week’s double portion of Acharei Mot-Kedoshim that has always compelled me:
Do not curse the deaf or make a stumbling block before the blind. (Leviticus19)
Just enable, Leviticus is saying. Don’t sabotage, don’t make things difficult for people and impede their understanding. Be decent. Be a mensch. I love the simple profundity of these images. And they, alongside so much of Jewish text, remind me why I choose to be a religious Jew, pulling out such meaning continually.
As I promised last week, it is very much business as usual at Liberal Judaism despite the forward planning of a shared Progressive movement. That pulling out meaning for a Jewish life is the theme of this year’s Biennial weekend 19-21st May (please peruse publicity). The guest speakers of Rabbi Dr Larry and Dr Joel Hoffman are a draw in themselves, encouraging us to think keenly how we live our lives as jews in the wider and smaller worlds we occupy. It has never felt more relevant than now.
Be in touch if I can talk further with you. It is an excellent weekend away – I promise.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
As we continue on the journey of counting the Omer between Pesach and Shavuot, I’m very aware of progress and moving forward. Every year it is the same but different, as it reflects the new generation and times we live in. Liberal Judaism has this week announced a new collaboration with the Movement of Reform Judaism that will see, in time, the creation of a new Progressive Movement. It is a moment that has been a long time coming and will put us in line with other countries, notably the U.S and Israel. We will be stronger and be able to create more influence and effect. It is a remarkable achievement and one that our own Rabbi John Rayner z’l prophesied all those years ago to increase and strengthen the progressive Jewish voice. As always, it is the detail that will be important and as Co-Chair of COLRAC, I have been part of the thinking and articulating of what comes next.
We are exceedingly fortunate to have our movement led by Rabbi Charley Baginsky, who is clear about the culture of Liberal Judaism being preserved and the way we both respect and are audacious with tradition. Our President Rabbi Alexandra Wright writes:
Liberal Judaism is in a strong position because of our rabbinic leaders and this has given us the confidence to be able to exert a special kind of leadership and role in British-Jewry.
Updates and news will be shared regularly over the next 18 months or so as this idea becomes a reality. It will move slowly and carefully, safeguarding all that we hold dear including our LJY Netzer camps etc. But transparency and collaboration is the way forward. This week, I got to tell our news to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey at the launch of the Big Lunch.
We will be sharing updates and news over the next 18 months or so as this idea becomes a reality. We will be having an information evening at FPS very soon.
It seems most appropriate we are thinking of ourselves during the week that marks Yom HaShoah and we look back vertically to our history as well as exercising our horizontal connections in our Shabbat trip to a sister synagogue in Brighton. I do hope you are thinking of joining us. Several of us will be taking the train from London Bridge 9.15am Saturday morning and Sam King will drive with spaces in her car, as will Bobbie Hood. Do let Caroline in the office know which way you will be travelling and/or Sam King if you require a spot in the car. This is a much anticipated FPS outing and an opportunity to see Jewish Brighton. I look forward to sharing it with you and to our Yom Hashoah commemoration where our Kabbalat Torah class will introduce Joan Salter and her story of occupation and arrival here in the UK. Every story, every testimony adds to our sense of memorial and witness.
In our invitation and responsibility to listen to Joan, I’m reminded of the verse from Pirkei Avot which Rabbi Rene Pfertzel and I will begin on Wednesday evening:
Yose ben Yoezer used to say [learning from Shimon the Righteous]: let thy house be a house of meeting for the Sages and sit in the very dust of their feet, and drink in their words with thirst.
I look forward to drinking it all in with you.
Rabbi Rebecca
I want to wish you all Chag Pesach Sameach – a good and meaningful Passover.
We are obligated to pull meaning from this holiday – and we must consider whatever narrow place that Egypt represents for us in our day.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel dared to declare in 1963 that the contest between Moses and Pharaoh which began in that mythical Egypt had still not ended, but was being carried on between those who struggled for civil rights in America and those who resisted those rights. For us, we must consider where the struggles are now. The piece below is written by my colleague and friend Rabbi Igor Zinkov for the Four children of your Seder, reflecting on the war in Ukraine and the suffering that has ensued. I remind you also of that most poignant of verses deep in the Haggadah in Hallel’s psalm 118:
From a narrow place I called to God and I was answered with wide expansiveness.
Communally and personally the story of liberation cannot fail to resonate.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
In each and every generation, a person must view themselves as though they personally left Egypt, as it is stated:
“And you shall tell your child on that day, saying: It is because of this which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8).
This week is Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat before Pesach. As we prepare the synagogue for Passover and empty our cupboards of Chametz, we also are collecting Easter eggs for families at the Rainbow Centre – our partner charity. I see Pesach being about radical empathy. We are the children of slaves and wanderers and so shouldn’t that guide our principles now?
It seems most fitting that we would celebrate a Baby Naming this Shabbat as we gear up to emphasise “In each and every generation we must tell…” and so we will welcome him into the covenant and community.
I’m also reminded of the four children, of the questions, not just of the four Mah Mishtanah questions, but questioning our traditions that permeate the whole Seder. Why does this story matter to us so much?
Every year Pesach and the story it tells takes on different emphases. This year I am drawn to this charming statement in the midst of tractate Sotah:
Sotah 11b:4 Rav Avira taught: In the merit of the righteous women that were in that generation, the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt.
A shout out to Shifra and Puah, those brave midwives, to Miriam and her mother Yocheved who took such risks for that baby Moses (not unlike refugee families do today for their children, hoping for a better and safer life), and Batsheva, Pharaoh’s daughter who took the baby in and gave him opportunities in life. The midrash says that Israelite women at that time insisted and compelled the men to carry on as usual and to live with hope and joy even when they were downtrodden. There is so much in this story that never fails to lift us, and indeed other peoples who find it the stuff of liberation.
I love this season and am so looking forward to celebrating Pesach with everyone. Don’t forget to book into our Seder.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
P.S The Passover story of courage and resistance – truly speaking truth to power is poignant during these days of watching demonstrations on the streets of Israel and the diaspora in support. The Jewish world and citizens of Israel care deeply about it. As Israel is so much on everyone’s lips right now, including in international news, it feels a good time to remind the community that we will be choosing a new HHD Israel charity this year. We have enjoyed such a productive and inspirational relationship with the New Israel Fund and we invite you to send in your nominations for a new charity that captures the values of FPS and allows us to be in a supportive relationship with an institution there in Israel.
We just visited Bordeaux for the weekend. How can one not be restored by French cheese, wine and architecture? What I hadn’t anticipated was how intriguing I’d find the churches and religious buildings. The intricate spire of Cathedral Saint-Andre was visible in detail from our attic room terrace. The central window would guide us home at night. I’m taken, as you know, by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s insistence that Judaism creates palaces of time rather than space, Shabbat being the most impressive. But here in Bordeaux these buildings speak of a conversation with God.
This week’s parasha begins the Book of Vayikra, Leviticus. It’s known to contain a great deal of dry minutiae of sacrifice and other laws but its name means to call out.
And God called to Moses, and spoke to him out of the tent of meeting.
Leviticus is the book in which we are called to our religiosity, whatever that is for each one of us. And certainly that is what I experienced in Bordeaux. Indeed, in the cathedral, there were life size story boards of individual young people who’d taken the path of service to God, next to the stained glass windows and chapels.
“Et toi, que veux tu?” “And you, what do you want?” asks Pierre, a newly ordained Dominican wearing Ray Bans and a beret.
So I was ready for the Great Synagogue to be a similar expression of reaching towards God. It was the first major synagogue built after the emancipation of Jews by Napoleon. It was finished in 1812 then destroyed in a fire in 1873, and rebuilt by 1882 to be France’s largest synagogue at the time, costing 660,000 francs all which came from donations (and some grants from local and national government).
There are two towers, similar to bell towers on church facades; I read some Jews at the time were worried it looked too like a church, even with tablets of the ten commandments on the top. Even then community disagreed on building plans and ideas!
But it was an expression of pride and religiosity. I captured the dark green of the stained glass and it was beautiful. Movingly, the synagogue was used for internment before deportation to the camps. The building was pillaged and desecrated. But since the war, it has been lovingly restored to a living, breathing synagogue again.
Faith buildings always tell a story. Ours does at Hutton Grove. It may not be grand with towers and buttresses but it is ours and it has contained so much within its walls over these last 65 years or so. We now need to mend and restore it (our roof is in dire need) to enable its future life and a continuation of our story.
You are cordially invited to attend either Saturday evening 5.30-7pm or Tuesday 28th 7-8.30pm to begin this process; hear how we will be raising funds, asking for your gifts and applying for grants (as they did in Bordeaux). It is our calling. I so hope to see you there.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
….For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.from Peace of Wild Things
– Wendell Berry
So three years ago exactly as our world closed in, a group of our members asked for a morning service, an online shacharit (Hebrew for morning service). And so it began. Four days a week we created an online congregation. We saw it as an alternative to the Today programme and offered instead morning blessings, Shema, Psalms and alongside Dean’s voice, we wove in poetry to lift our spirits, to comfort and to offer the kavannah (direction of the heart) alongside traditional fixed liturgy, keva.
There were so many midwives to this project-Valerie Joseph, Bobbie Hood, Mandy Carr and Janet Tresman all lead the services now as well and Patricia Hinson writes new poetry for it. The words of this week’s portion Parashat Vayakhel – Pekudei talking of building and decorating the mishkan (sanctuary) capture something we did.
And every wise hearted person among you shall come and make everything the Eternal has commanded. Ex 35:10
And so this group did in building and beautifying our congregation. They built a community within a community and the skills of prayer and mindfulness have been honed and polished like precious materials and jewels mentioned in this portion.
We are only now tentatively making sense of what happened to us all during COVID, the loss, fear and changes we sustained. In some corners we built and grew and this is certainly one of them.
Join us for our anniversary service Tuesday 21st March 8.30am. (Please contact the office for the Zoom link)
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