Last Shabbat during Sukkot, we hosted Bishop Anderson Jeremiah, which was a delight. He spoke about memory, witnessing and friendship between Jewish and Christian communities. He had recently returned from a visit to Auschwitz (the same trip we will make next month).
Over an unexpectedly jolly dinner — his words not mine — he told us that he hadn’t always been religiously inspired. Indeed, he said, to my Ruben’s delight, that he had often rebelled against his father’s services. So when he came to faith and the priesthood as an adult, he surprised himself.
This Shabbat, we finish the cycle of Torah, ending with the death of Moses and beginning again with Genesis, Bereshit.
For some of us, attachment to, and reflecting on, the Torah cycle has been our Jewish thread. For others, it’s been a more physical attachment to family or even to land, and to what perhaps Israel meant and means. For yet others of us, it might be political perspectives and identity.
What Bishop Anderson modelled is that this attachment can always change, or even arrive unannounced.
‘Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it,’ said Rabbi Ben Bag Bag over two thousand years ago. It still resonates. I find the cycle of Torah ties me to my Jewish life more than anything else, because it demands meaning, interpretation and renewal every week.
That’s why I’m in this.
After a two-year hiatus, during which we were hosted elsewhere, I’m so happy we are back home. This year, we’ll celebrate Simchat Torah in our own way. We’ll honour Margot and Aaron Katz as our Chatan and Kallah (bride and groom), as they are so dear to us. They held us together so amazingly during our year out of the building, hosting us for so many events and FPS experiences. They made home for us.
Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca Birk
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