John Steinbeck used the story of Cain and Abel as the seed for his East of Eden about competing brothers and the devastation it unleashes on the family. He ends with the word taken from God’s exchange with Cain; V’Atah Timshol Bo…You can overcome the desire to do wrong. This idea compelled Steinbeck so that the novel’s denouement is about this devastating truth; we all have choice in how to behave. This is in our first portion of the year Bereshit, after the creation story and Adam and Eve and their eating from the tree of knowledge, right at the end of the portion is this powerful story that has echoed way beyond the verses of Genesis chapter 4. We always have choice and the ability to manage unhealthy inclinations that will cause us and others pain. I love this challenge coming as it does so swiftly after the Tishri festivals. As we restart our cycle of Torah following the unscrolling on Sunday and Monday.
Watch out for FPS folk reading their verses of Torah on Shabbatot over the next few months.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
AL SHLOSHA DEVARIM HA’OLAM OMED -AL HATORAH, AL HA-AVODAH, V’AL GEMILUT CHASADIM
ON THREE THINGS THE WORLD STANDS; TORAH, WORSHIP AND KIND DEEDS.
Mishnah Avot
If Torah is one of the foundations of our Jewish life, and learning such a key part of our synagogue community, then it stands to reason that Simchat Torah is one to truly celebrate as we end and begin again the Torah cycle. It is the final festival of the month of Tishri, completing it all and we will be honouring our Chatan Torah Franklyn Gellnick and Kallat Bereshit Alex Gellnick. And as we did 2019 before COVID we will be unrolling the scroll -bringing Torah to us all and so many of you will be reading a verse, some of your for the first time ever and some rehearsing your B’nei Mitzvah memory. Truly the looking inside the Sefer Torah is an experience, not just the proximity to this particular scroll but also the recognition of key stories, poems, moments in our Torah narrative. I love this and so look forward to sharing this with you all. Come Sunday 6.30pm and Monday 11am. Wear warm clothes (windows and doors open as usual). Bring drinks or desserts to share.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
It was so meaningful to see so many of you over Yom Kippur, in the synagogue and online. I felt so keenly how we are were altogether in a very profound way. And the huge participation by so many of you made me exceedingly proud of our congregation. Thank you.
These days are busy in the life of any rabbi, Shabbat tomorrow again, and then into Sukkot and I anticipate our Sukkah crew have planned something special. I feel very fortunate.
I look forward to continuing through this month of Tishri and being reminded by this week’s Parashat Haazinu of the continuity we are all engaged in; ensuing we and our community has a future and a hope. (From Shechinah Mkor Hayeinu we repeated yesterday).
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask your parent and they will show you….”
We are doing good work together.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
It’s such a precious time these ten days – we have opened the door, our hearts perhaps are sharpened and doubtless we are thinking of ways to commit to the year ahead with some changes, new habits, forgiving and letting go of old ones. The twenty five hours of Yom Kippur are a gift of reflection. The metaphor of the Book of Life quickening pulse and perspective.
I love these lines from Lucille Clifton (1936-2010)
i am running into the new year and
i beg what I love and I leave to forgive me
See this opportunity for (anonymously) adding your thoughts to our collective al chet – confession …
We are better generally at forgiving others than ourselves. There is something familiar about chastising ourselves for not being good enough, kind enough, effective enough. I want that very much as I am sure you do. But there is also acceptance in the process of Teshuvah. I so look forward to seeing you then with our green machzorim in hand.
This coming Shabbat Shuvah I’ll be preaching at the LJS in my role as Rabbinic conference Co-Chair. Rabbi Igor Zinkov will be preaching at FPS. I know he’ll be warmly welcomed.
Shabbat Shalom
We talk of Rosh Hashanah and the Yamim Noraim (‘days of awe’) being later this year. But in reality the Jewish calendar is prepared for this always and we will be reading Parashat Netzavim this Shabbat in preparation it feels.
13 And it is not beyond the sea, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey it?’ 14 But the word is very near to you; upper moth and your heart so you may do it. 15 See, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster.…
Rambam suggests this thing, this word is actually the art of tshuvah-reparation and return. For us here at FPS we say return to us, come to our services in person or tune in via Zoom or facebook as usual and be part of the congregation for this beginning of the year.
Last Saturday’s Selichot service by candlelight was beautiful and David Dolan, Adaya Peled, Gabi Highman, Dean Staker and Franklyn Gellnick reacquainted us to the tunes of the HHD and with new pieces to encourage us to get there. Who knew Schubert would put me in the mood for Rosh Hashanah!
I’ll be adding a pomegranate to my shabbat table this week and the newness of those seeds will be tasted then and again for Rosh Hashnah kiddush. May this last Shabbat of the year be meaningful for you.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca
Elul encourages us to look inwards and consider who and even what we are; and more importantly what matters to us. I love this teaching from Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg “Pay attention to what you are paying attention to…” We get to reflect this month what is important to us. And we get to do it as a community together.
Starting back this Shabbat in person for Cafe Ivriah Book Club before the service to have a conversation about David Baddiel’s book Jews Don’t Count.
This will be a good opportunity.
Firstly my teacher Rabbi Professor Larry Hoffman always says it’s Jewish conversations we need in all our synagogues, not necessarily didactic lectures but real Jewish conversations about topics we care about. Secondly thinking about our own identities, especially now, can only be a good thing. And we are beginning with Baddiel’s book navigating, as it does, the particular experience of being a Jew here in the UK.
I look forward to seeing you there.
And I also very much look forward to seeing any of you who cherish that first moment of the HHD season with the Selichot service Saturday 9pm (in person only) -reintroducing us to the melodies and carving out that reflective time for us – by candlelight we hope. This year our member David Dolan will bring his knowledge and love of music to us as we respond to carefully chosen pieces before we begin our service.
Wishing you a peaceful Shabbat,
Rabbi Rebecca
I was not allowed to recite a public shehechianu by the bus stop as Rafael left for his first day of school this year beginning Year 10. But I certainly wanted to.
I love to offer this blessing whenever I, my family, or our community do something for the first time, or the first time of this year. And I know many of you do as well.
And so this Shabbat our learning community of Ivriah return for a new term. Our post year 13’s return for a Pizza Shabbat lunch Send Off to University or their Gap Year plans. Our teenagers will be re-gathering for Kabbalat Torah sessions; parents will be having wine and the children will be cooking marshmallows in my garden. In short we will have many opportunities for marking new moments. Let’s enjoy these moments.
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higiyanu laz’man hazeh.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who has kept us alive, upright, and able to be brought to this season.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca
This weekend begins Elul. Saturday evening we see Day One and the last 29 days before Rosh Hashanah.
“See I set before you life and prosperity; death and destruction …”
This weekend’s parasha reminds us we always live with choice and we can be awake to it if we choose.
Wishing you well for Elul and Shabbat Shalom.
Sometimes something catches your eye and draws you in.
cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain… Deuteronomy 10
Eikev describes the second set of tablets; the ark to house them and God literally offering to write them.
This reminder of re-doing, re-creating and is something we do constantly. And the narrative of the second tablets has much to teach: There are always opportunities to keep trying.
Come Fly With Me comes from the Good Chance Theatre Project. They were the creators of the Little Amal – the refugee puppet that walked through Europe met by faith leaders and the public in each town.
Their mission was to raise consciousness around refugees and migration with a the puppet of a displaced 9 year old girl moved across countries.
Now they want to draw our attention back to the plight of Afghanis both still in Afghanistan and those here stuck in bridging hotels.
One year since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban…People everywhere will remember and preserve Afghan culture through the simple, joyful act of kite making and flying.
This is a beautiful project is being rolled out across the UK and beyond this Saturday.
From the monies we have raised to support refugees we will be funding children from The Palm Hotel to get there and have their own kite.
We have to keep trying. Keep working. Keep remembering. And no better week than this as we’re reminded of those tablets being re-written.
If you are going do let me know.
For more information about the event click here.
Shabbat shalom
Rebecca
Following Sunday’s Tisha B’Av service together it’s clear to me that rather than a yearning for the temple, we Liberal Jews respond to the adaptation made by the rabbis that home replaced the Temple and small synagogue gatherings the new worship.
The Jewish home is referred to as a mikdash me’at; a small sanctuary. I remind all my wedding couples under the chuppah of that meaning of home. An understanding of home and belonging is intrinsic to our communities and how we integrate home, synagogue and our own souls. This week I hosted coffee and Torah in my garden; see the photo above. There’s something about having people in one’s home that deepens connections.
This shabbat known as Nachamu, Comfort Yourselves, after the brutal rememberings of Tisha B’Av is also Parashat V’Etchanan which contains the Shema. It’s become a prayer but it’s a piece of Torah that we offer twice daily. It insists, with great charm, that this being Jewish permeates our lives, our homes and our journeys. Inscribe them on your doorposts, this was a custom of the ancient Near East to write sacred words on the doorposts near the home’s entrance, it had an apotropaic function; to ward off evil. But this evolved into the mezuzah which contains the words of the Shema and the meaning it gives our homes. I love this translation by Rabbi Janet Burden and the way she captures the Shema as a commitment to Jewish life in the most natural and easy way that permeates our homes and existence.
Hear this, O Israel: the Source of Life is our God, a single source uniting us all.
You shall love the Source of Life with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength. Let the words which I command you this day be always in your heart. Repeat them faithfully to your children: just as you speak them when you are at home, speak them in the wider world. Let them guide your hands and focus your visions, both when you take your rest and when you rise each day. Write them on your doors and on your gates, that they may frame your passages through life.
Think about what your home and your Jewishness mean to you.
Shabbat shalom,
Rebecca
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