December 2012
Shofar
שופר
the magazine of finchley progressive synagogue
Chanukah
From the Editor pat lehner And so 2012 is nearly at an end, and what a year it’s been! A year of extremes that included everything from the excitement of spectacular Olympic games to an American election and the destruction of the storm Sandy across a vast continent. I look forward to Chanukah candles and a plethora of concerts that this time of year usually means for our family - and without wanting to sound too ‘Miss Worldy’- I hope that peace will become a reality for everybody, and that 2013 brings us closer to that goal. We are also looking forward to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our FPS community next year, which made us wonder: How do you create a synagogue family like ours in the first place? What are the crucial ingredients that come together to form a spiritual and practical community? In other words, where’s the magic? You can read our various attempts at an answer in this Shofar, and I invite you to come up with your own take on what ‘makes’ a synagogue, and what makes this particular shul such a warm and lovely place to be. Happy Chanukah to you all from your Shofar team! Left: Our fabulous Rikud dance group in action Photo credit: Last month’s beautiful cover was taken by Zara Woolf. Thank you Zara! Copy deadline is the 10th of each month. Please email all content to shofar@fps.org
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From the Rabbi rabbi rebecca qassim birk
miracles The miracle of Chanukah has been slightly ‘over egged’ by Jewish tradition. The oil and candles and unexpected leftovers have lubricated the story for generations and made it all the more powerful for a December celebration. We love fanciful tales and myths that promise a little magic. But perhaps the real message is a slightly different one. Chanukah means dedication. Chanukat Habayit is the dedication of a house. It’s a delicious irony that at each Chanukah we are in a sense dedicating something, our chanukiah, home, perhaps even the synagogue.
We see the worth and value in being part of a cultural, religious, educational and concerned institution that has walls and ceilings and is a place to go. As we light the candles there is a recollection (sometimes unconscious) that each person, in each era, in each family chooses the form of Judaism that is right for them and that is there. No longer Hellenists vs Maccabees or Assimilationists vs Pious; our situation is more nuanced now and our lighting candles at Chanukah recalls it. Maimonides insisted we light the chanukiah in the window for all to see: a public declaration of our Judaism, not always an easy thing to do. Electing to be part of a synagogue is just such a choice. We who read Shofar choose a synagogue, not just gym
membership. We see the worth and value in being part of a cultural, religious, educational and concerned institution that has walls and ceilings and is a place to go. Chanukah encourages that thought along with the chocolate money and latkes. This year we are thinking of the rather different experience of being a Jew in Belarus, one of the three remaining communists states. Being Jewish and joining a synagogue is much more of a struggle there. That’s why, led by our Twin community Mogilev group, we’re raising money this Chanukah to help that synagogue community rent a dry, warm part of a building and dedicate it for themselves. We hope our Chanukah will result in their Chanukat Habayit - a dedication of a space that will be as comforting, inspirational and warm as many of our synagogues are here.
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From the Council laura lassman
F
or many people synagogue life just happens. The majority of members are blissfully unaware of the trials and tribulations of managing: the tears, the frustrations, the challenges and the achievements. There is so much happening and so many volunteers enabling us to achieve our goals, that I wanted to share just some of the matters that Council has been addressing recently. finances
It’s budget time of year and we were pleased to see that we could break-even this year after an effective £15,000 deficit in 2011. Looking ahead, we will be challenged to find sufficient resources in 2013 to provide all the services (in their broadest sense) that FPS would like to deliver: education, worship, pastoral care, cultural events, social action, support for the wider community and a building fit for purpose. While recognising the economic hardship that some of our members are experiencing, we also have to raise enough funds to maintain and develop the community. Members will be receiving their subscription invoices shortly and we would ask any households that can offer more than their own membership fee to make a donation so that we can cope with reduced subscriptions where they are needed. We are not very good at fundraising although there have been some very generous donations over the past year. There are also opportunities for enterprise and this will be a focus in the year ahead. FPS has to be self4
sufficient and this is a challenge that can be stimulating and embraced; wouldn’t it be great if we could reduce subs next year because we have established other revenue streams? organisation
We have been reorganising the Council and committee structures to make them more suited to the way we live now. Council meets bi-monthly and rather than having many committees meeting regularly, we are establishing working groups that will focus on action in particular areas of synagogue life. The groups will identify and respond to defined projects so that volunteers have manageable tasks and the potential for real achievement. These working task groups are organised under three areas: Beit Tefillah (Worship), Beit Midrash (Education) and Beit Knesset (Community). Officers and Council members are attached to one of these groups to maintain co-ordination and cohesion. Finance and Operations are the responsibility of Treasurers and Hon Secretary. If you would like to be involved in one of the task groups please let me know. 60th anniversary
Planning is well under way with the aim of providing something for every member during the year. Please see the enclosed brochure for the calendar of events. Make a note of the dates if something appeals to you and if you would like to participate in the organisation of any of these events please contact Jacquie Fawcett sixty@fps.org
CHANUKAH CELEBRATION FRIDAY 14 DECEMBER
4.30pm Candle making, glass painting, baking, games and more 5.45pm Supper for youngsters 6.30pm Lighting the Chanukiah and Shabbat Family Service 7.30pm Latkes, donuts and songs GET YOUR CHANUKAH GOODIES FROM THE SYNAGOGUE SHOP candles ♦ cards ♦ dreydls ♦ games
actions for members
Subscriptions / Deadline – 31 Jan 2013 Check your invoice – the majority are direct debit so you do not need to take any further action unless there is a mistake. Add your voluntary donations and send a cheque or advise an increase in direct debit.
Mogilev / Deadline – 16 December 2012 We are collecting for our twinned community in Mogilev. Put whatever donation you can into the envelope enclosed and return to FPS over Chanukah.
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60th Anniversary gerrard lionel lassman & anna darren beach
what makes a synagogue? The Hebrew term for Synagogue, Beit Knesset, means a ‘House of Meeting’ and that has always been its primary function. We can learn at home by reading a book but when we come together to learn in the Synagogue, we create a meeting of minds. We can pray alone, any time, any place, but when we come together to pray in the Synagogue, we create a meeting of souls. We can eat in a restaurant, sing in the shower, dance in the street and chat on Skype; but when we come together to do all of these things in the Synagogue, we create a meeting of bodies. When you have a meeting of bodies, a meeting of minds and a meeting of souls, you have community; that unique and elusive phenomenon that is, above all else, what Synagogue must be. We connect with other people through our workplaces, our educational institutions and our hobbies but we do not create community in the most encompassing sense. Community is crossgenerational, interdisciplinary and permanent; it has the potential to touch on every aspect of our lives and our being. It is a place where we can
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receive as well as give; it is a place where we can teach as well as learn. It is a place where, at any stage of our lives, whatever our interests and skills, whatever our needs and means, we can find a home.
When you have a meeting of bodies, a meeting of minds and a meeting of souls, you have community; that unique and elusive phenomenon that is, above all else, what Synagogue must be. Building a Beit Knesset that is a place of meeting and a true community is not easy and it becomes harder as our society becomes more individualistic, fragmented and commercially driven. At times it can be a tireless and thankless task but it is most certainly the task that drew me to the Rabbinate and that underpins Liberal Judaism and Liberal Jewish Communities. Rabbi Anna Gerrard works for Liberal Judaism as part of their new Rabbinical Team, with specific responsibility for Outreach and Community Development. Anna is committed to dynamic, progressive Judaism that speaks to today’s Jew, interested in thinking about Liberal Judaism’s relationship to the State of Israel and passionate about wild swimming.
60th Anniversary sarah barnett
the shul crawl As we think about the meaning of synagogue in our lives, I can reflect on the recent High Holy Days when I attended a liberal, reform and united service in the 25 hours of Yom Kippur. This won’t be (at this point) a compare and contrast as Shofar readers probably know what will come out on top; but it gave me a unique opportunity to see what synagogue really means for me, and many of us. Kol Nidre on home turf, and running late, I was met with very beautiful and emotive singing that took me straight to the meaning of this most important day. As I reflected on my year, I felt held by the collective gathering that a packed service can bring. I had a sense of being part of something significant and of not being alone. The music was so evocative and I felt privileged to be able to experience something so powerful and soulful. Out of my reverie and straight into a Reform service at a synagogue that is near to family and yet very unfamiliar. The children’s service was carefully crafted to be respectful
of Yom Kippur and yet engage the young with this day and Judaism in general. Bar FPS, few synagogues can be counted as super friendly, but we were wholly welcomed and of course the service was so familiar to us. All the way across N.W London, and a whole different progressive movement, there we were united by the same songs, history and traditions. And then to United. The final, Neilah service I experienced in the synagogue of my youth. The overwhelming sense of warmth that comes with seeing people you grew up with, who you haven’t seen for over 10 years, but they still know everything about you. Perhaps this would have felt invasive in my twenties but instead it felt like I was being looked after and cared about by this shul. It was like a very caring aunt. As I sat at the back and, having lost my place in the service, I asked the people around me for the page number, and three rows of women had no idea where we were. We all laughed as we recognised the very social aspect of going to synagogue, even on Yom Kippur.
here’s an idea for a chanukah present!
James Woolf, one of our members writes: If any synagogue members have children, nephews or nieces, etc and enjoy reading poems to them, one of my poems appears in a new collection - 50 Funny Poems for Children produced by a new publisher called Thynks. You can order copies from thynkspublications@yahoo.com or from your local bookshop. Alternatively, the book is available via Amazon. (click “more buying
choices” and then go through the publisher, Thynks). Just in- for a discount you can order direct through James, you can get in touch on james.woolf@gmail.com
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Beit Tefillah services at fps
shabbat services - december Saturday 1 December
Shabbat B’Yachad including Amy Grossmith-Dwek Bat Mitzvah
Friday 7 December
Shabbat Resouled Unplugged
Saturday 8 December
Shabbat morning service
Friday 14 December
Chanukah Chavurah service
Saturday 15 December
Shabbat morning service including Sam Hamerton Bar Mitzvah
Friday 21 December
Shabbat Resouled
Saturday 22 December Friday 28 December
Tziltzelai Shabbat including Rebecca Sheridan Black Bat Mitzvah
Saturday 29 December
Shabbat Morning service
Erev Shabbat service
people congratulations and mazal tov
To the family of Amy Grossmith-Dwek on her Bat Mitzvah To the family of Sam Hamerton on his Bar Mitzvah To the family of Rebecca Sheridan-Black on her Bat Mitzvah the winners of the 50/50 draw were:
October 1st Eliza King Lassman 2nd Jordan Helfman 3rd Edgar Jacobsberg
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November 1st Lionel King Lassman 2nd Jeffrey Segal 3rd Jemma Helfman yahrzeit list
There is an FPS Yahrzeit list from which we remind those who would like a Yahrzeit to be announced, that the date is coming up. If you do want to be reminded please provide the office with: Name of the Honoree, Date of Yahrzeit (Hebrew or secular depending which date is to be observed), Name of Observer/s
Beit Knesset what’s happening at fps cafe thursday
film club
Thursdays @12.30pm
Sunday 2 December @7.30pm, ‘Crossing Delancy’. For details please see page 11
yoga
Mondays @7.oopm Tuesdays @7.30pm Contact Richard on 020 8349 9602 bridge club
Mondays @7.45pm in the Small Hall, for details please contact Gunter on 020 8346 5208 book club
rosh chodesh
Celebration of the new moon by women gathering for learning and spiritual exploration (over a glass of wine). Rosh Chodesh Tevet: Women’s role in Judaism Tuesday 11 December (note change of date) @7.30pm in the library.
Wednesday 12 December @8.00pm, for details please call Sheila on 020 8445 3284
tzedek is recruiting new trustees Tzedek is the Jewish community’s international development charity. We are now recruiting for Trustees to help steer Tzedek on its next three years of growth and success. Our Trustees are required to execute good judgement in steering the organisation, to make sure we remain fiscally sustainable as well as true to our mission, and bring skill, experience and energy to the organisation. This is the perfect opportunity for someone who is ready to give back to the Jewish community and make a difference in the world. For further information about becoming a Tzedek Trustee: www.tzedek.org.uk
purim spiel This year the Purim spiel will take place on Saturday 23 February. For the third year running, the creative husband and wife team of James and Philippa will be writing and directing the Purim Spiel, but they can’t do it without you. We’re going on an incredible journey with a time travelling Spiel - Back to the Bimah which will be fast, furious and fun! We need actors, young and not so young, to take part. It’s a great opportunity for community bonding so please put your best foot forward and join us. We would expect to have 8 or so rehearsals at weekends (times to be arranged) in the run up to the show. To sign up, or for more information, email philippa.carr@gmail.com.
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Beit Midrash learning at fps
beit midrash on thursday Don’t miss the final two installments of our Israel education course in partnership with Yachad Thursday 6 December: The Conflict and International Law / Danny Friedman When people talk about occupations, annexation, laws of war and refugees, what are they actually referring to? This session will take participants through the basic terminology of the conflict and frame some of the most contested issues in the context of international law. Thursday 12 December: Jewish Sovereignty and Leadership / Hannah Weisfeld and Daniel Reisel When the rabbis of the Talmud look back at the loss of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel in the year 70, the conclusion they draw is that Jewish infighting and disunity was as much to blame as the Roman Empire. Together we will read the story and explore the lessons it may hold for us today and discuss where we might take our personal inspiration from when our vision for Israel does not match up to the reality in front of us. This session will also explore some of the personal stories of individuals involved in social change in Israel and will look at how we can best channel our energy from the Diaspora to be part of a solution. In addition, our regular program runs as before: • Beginners’ Hebrew • Advanced Hebrew • Delving into Judaism (alternate weeks), for conversion students and others. 10
Led by Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk • Adult Bat Mitzvah class (alternate weeks). Led by Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk • Pilates for all, led by an experienced trainer Tea, coffee and cake break shared by all classes Yachad course fee is £30. Pilates is charged at £40 for the four sessions. For details please contact Adrian Lister on AdrianLister@blueyonder.co.uk or the synagogue office. Beit Midrash returns in the New Year from 17 January with Delving into Judaism, Hebrew and new: Lessons in Liberal Legacy: The Sermons of Rabbi John Rayner led by Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk Also remember our other adult education programs: lunch & learn
Every Wednesday 12.30 – 2.00pm Hot learning topics with tea and cake – bring a sandwich or lunch. cafe ivriah
An informal and lively Saturday morning chat over coffee for Ivriah parents and others. Coffee from 9.30am, discussion from 9.45-10.45am. sandwich or lunch. breakfast shiur
Saturday 8 December – 8.45am Loving Best: The Ramifications of Sibling Rivalry and the models in Torah - Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk “Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons” Looking at the Torah’s candid descriptions of parental favouritism.
Arts at FPS curtain up!
lost in translation
Curtain Up! Is taking a Winter break and will return in January.
On a recent visit to Israel I went to the cinema in Haifa along with many thousands of the mixed local population, both Jew and Arab. I had gone to see the new James Bond film, in English but with sub-titles in Ivrit. At one point in the film a character let out a loud expletive – “Christ”. The Ivrit translation was “Elohim”! It was no accident because on a later occasion another character shouted “Oh Christ” and again the sub-title read “Elohim”. Are we to deduce from this that the author of the sub-titles acknowledges that the Christian messiah is indeed God? Or am I reading too much into it? Lionel Lassman
the screen on the grove 2 December 2012, 7.30pm | Crossing Delancy Isabelle’s life revolves around the New York bookshop she works in and the intellectual friends of both sexes she meets there. Her grandmother remains less than impressed and decides to hire a good old-fashioned Jewish matchmaker to help Isabelle’s love-life along. Enter pickle-maker Sam who immediately takes to Isabelle. She, however, is irritated by the whole business, at least to start with. Starring Amy Irving & Peter Riegert. coming up
6 January 2013, 7.30pm | The Goodbye Girl (1977) with Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason One of Neil Simon’s funniest films, The Goodbye Girl is bound to have you laughing at one hilarious moment after another. The scene with Richard Dreyfuss, as a struggling actor, tackling Richard III remains one of the all time, memorable Shakespearean travesties.
Another member quickly came up with the following: ‘Christ’ (Christos) is the Greek translation of Hebrew ‘anointed’, i.e. Messiah would that work better as an expletive? Best, Wika (‘victorious’ from the Latin Victoria) Dorosz
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My Kind of Judaism kay pilpel this is a shorter version of an article which was first published in shofar in january 1998. sadly kay died in october. we wish her family long life.
I did not choose to be Jewish, but it has never occurred to me to wish to be anything else. I grew up in Stamford Hill, North London, in the 1930s – a perilous time for Jews – but it wasn’t until I wrote an affectionate memoir of my family and relations last year that I fully realised how complete and close was my Jewish background. It was not a matter of being religious; so far as I know neither my mother’s nor my father’s side of the family belonged to a synagogue. But everyone knew what to do when the Jewish holidays came round, how to behave, what to eat, how to mourn for a levoyah or celebrate a simcha. Judaism was part of my being, and I always kept on my guard against the goyim. Many writers of the time – Belloc, the Chestertons, Buchan, to name but a few – were anti-Semites. The aristocracy and many of the working class were anti-Semitic as a matter of course. Fights between Mosley’s Blackshirts and the Communists (among whom were many Jews) were commonplace. After Jewish Girl Guide meetings I and a friend used regularly to walk from Stoke Newington to Stamford Hill (to save the tram fare), stopping to buy roast chestnuts or baked potatoes, and we felt perfectly safe in a way that today’s children might not. Yet she told me only recently that when she was on her own she once cracked the bottom off a milk bottle and used it to protect herself against a gang of loutish, name-calling junior Blackshirts going home from a dance hall. 12
But along with fear went a fierce pride in being Jewish. When I went to Tottenham High School for Girls on a scholarship there were only two other Jewish girls in my class. We always came top of the form – another matter of pride.
...everyone knew what to do when the Jewish holidays came round, how to behave, what to eat, how to mourn for a levoyah or celebrate a simcha. One day a teacher announced that a German Jewish refugee was to join us. We knew something of Hitler’s persecution, and thought sentimentally of doing good to this undernourished, haunted waif. But when Anna arrived she was large and smiling, with two black plaits swinging from her head. She learnt English in a term and soon was getting top marks in class, too. Because we didn’t attend Christian prayers we Jewish girls were easily identified and several of our teachers were anti-Semitic. I sometimes heard the epithet (dirty Jew) as I was walking to school and my sister used to go the long way round to avoid one particular boy at the end of our street. When she got a job later at Swan and Edgar’s Piccadilly store, she was sacked for being Jewish. Swine and Edgar was what she called it. No Race Relations Act in those days! So being Jewish was bred into me, but not Judaism as such. That I chose for myself at a very early age. I was always of a speculative disposition and at 16 I read a book called “Conditions of Happiness”, which led me to conclude that spiritual growth was a
necessary part of life. A little later two of my acquaintances tried to recruit me into the Communist party. Many young people at that time believed that only Socialism could change society for the better. I refused: I wanted no part of a purely materialistic creed. I met my future husband when I moved from an insurance company, where I was a typist, to a become secretary to the editor of a little advertising trade paper off Fleet Street, where he was working as an apprentice journalist. It was a dingy, Dickensian place and production was often interrupted by air raids. When he finally asked me out (according to me after six months; according to him only three), I refused on the ground that he wasn’t Jewish and my parents wouldn’t approve. Luckily I was wrong on both counts. We married in 1951 and in due course we joined a synagogue, the members of which in those days used to meet in one another’s homes, in church halls or the library. Two of the members, older than us, had markedly different attitudes to their faith. He was pious, very observant, good, a committed Jew. His wife, just as dedicated, told me that she did not believe in God, but she worked tirelessly for the shul. Those two sides – the spiritual and the practical – seem to me the essence of our religion. I have always felt the comfort of prayer among good people. When I contemplate that scroll, originally covered in plain black velvet, which was rescued for our synagogue from the ruins of Slavkov/Austerlitz, miles and miles from where I live, I feel a fierce kinship with them. I do not want to betray their memory. Those who suffered so appallingly just for being
Jewish will not suffer indifference on my part, nor do I forget their terrible fate. I find no difficulty in believing in God – or good, as a Yorkshire friend of mine chooses to pronounce it. When it comes to a choice between chaos and order I have no doubts about which side I am on. And I find no difficulty in recognising the existence of evil in society; how else would we recognise good?
When it comes to a choice between chaos and order I have no doubts about which side I am on. To me arguments about whether God exists are pointless. How can one prove the quality of love, especially of a transcendental kind, other than by pointing to a multiplicity of good deeds in a naughty world? Mitzvot are essential to make a good life. I feel the need of a moral spindle, the encouragement of biblical study, the guidance of the Commandments, the prayers from which I draw inspiration, comfort and strength. The candle of my belief has never guttered, in spite of troubles and distress. A letter-writer in The Times said: “belief in God is an attitude of mind and a positioning of oneself towards the world which arises from experience, from confrontation with one’s everyday problems, and from deep reflection on the meaning of life”. I could not have put it so clearly when I was growing up in the 1930s, but looking back now over the span of many years I realise how much I owe to being born Jewish – and being proud of it!
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fps youth club So far in FPS Youth club we’ve been playing old games and making up brand new ones, we’ve had a successful Sukkot sleepover and trained at ‘007 spy camp’. Did I mention we’ve also gone through a zombie apocalypse? However, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of what else we’ve got planned. All the dates for 2013 are now out and finalised, so get them in your diary. Youth Club happens every fortnight. If you have any questions at all, get in touch with
rikud
Saturdays 3.00-5.00pm Dance your shoes off! Contact Denny Kingston on 020 8482 2149
Sam Grant sam@liberaljudaism.org. Posters are up in the synagogue with all the dates on and your child will have received one at Ivriah. So, what are you waiting for? I’ll be seeing you at Youth Club very soon!
december at ivriah Remember our Shabbat B’Yachad on December 1! Ivriah Sukkot term ends 7/8 December. See you all in January!
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vah day 2 0
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Thank you to all the Mitzvah Day Chefs, Musicians, Bulb planters, Ivy hackers, Tree planters, Leaf rakers, Chauffeurs, Ajex representatives... You are great! Look in next month’s Shofar for photo spread and feature!
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Contacts fps who’s who finchley progressive synagogue
synagogue committees & groups:
54 Hutton Grove N12 8DR www.fps.org 020 8446 4063
Beit Tefilla, Contact, Education, Membership, Events Plus, Babies & Toddlers, B’nei Mitzvah, Hospitality Group, Security.
Charity Number: 1071040
We are represented on the Board of Deputies and Liberal Judaism. For further information, please call the office.
Rabbi: Rebecca Qassim Birk rabbi@fps.org / 07939 227480 Emeritus Rabbi: Dr Frank Hellner Synagogue Manager: Pauline Gusack pauline@fps.org Community Manager: Angela Wharton angela@fps.org executive
Chair: Laura Lassman chair@fps.org / 07957 545 569
shofar editor
Pat Lehner shofar@fps.org Editorial assistant Sarah Aldridge
FPS is a constituent of Liberal Judaism 21 Maple Street W1T 4BE 020 7580 1663 LJY Netzer (youth dept) 020 7631 0584
Vice-Chair: Joan Shopper & David Aarons 01582 792 959 Treasurer: Richard Kravetz 020 8349 9602 Honorary Secretary: David Pelham 020 8445 8111
ashley page insurance brokers
janet tresman mediator & collaborative family law specialist solicitor
Commerce House 2a Litchfield Grove London N3 2TN
consultant at newman law solicitors
Tel. 020 8349 5100
Tel. 020 8349 2655
10 Hendon Lane Finchley, London N3 1TR
janettresman@newmanlaw.co.uk
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