Shofar October 2017 by Finchley Progressive

October 2017

Shofar

‫שופר‬

the magazine of finchley progressive synagogue

Walking into the New Year with FPS

From the Editor... S

hana Tova! In the spirit of Rosh Hashanah, I am ‘letting go’ of plastics in honour of tikkun olam. During Rosh Hashanah, the Taslich–said beside water and fish–symbolises the casting out of our mistakes. Unfortunately, that which we cast out daily is not always symbolic. Last month the Mail on Sunday ran a small article about microplastics in the fish we eat. Their source was Essex University, and while the story wasn’t new (Essex U released the data in 2013) it does lend a new reading to ‘you are what you eat’. Astrophysicists tell us we contain star dust from the Big Bang; while we didn’t actually eat

star dust, it does suggest a nice supernatural quality to our being. Less appealing is the Strontium 90 that nuclear physicists admit we contain as a result of A-bomb explosions. Now, increasingly, we also contain plastic. That’s two man-made changes to the ‘natural’ make-up of the human being. We can’t do much about the first two elements in our physical make-up, but we can do something about plastic. Plastics (the ‘matter’ of convenience) travel via landfills and storm drains, ending up in the alimentary Shofar is always interested in hearing your news and including photos of FPS members, and their families, near and far. We welcome your articles on any relevant topic. Please send these to shofar@fps.org 2

ca. cranston

canal of marine animals, many of whom end up on our plates. To its credit, France has banned plastic knives and forks. It’s a start. In the Negev, Kibbutz Lotan keeps its trash on site, creating straw bale housing and play areas out of tyres, cans, and plastic waste. Few of us want to keep our garbage on site but (returning to the issue of microplastic accumulation in our anatomy) perhaps it is easier, if less ‘convenient’, to disallow disposable plastics on site—be it home or shul—in the first place. Most plastics enter our homes via supermarkets. So I’m heading to the supermarket, taking my tray, and hoping to purchase savouries—without the black plastic base. I’ll see what happens. If I’m told there’s Health & Safety Issues at stake, I’ll agree, citing the stats from Essex University. Then perhaps the friendly supermarket will see the bigger picture by demonstrating accountability for life on earth rather than to marketing consumer convenience. (Fat chance?) At least at Rosh Hashanah we can eat apples with impunity, but I might give the Yom Kippur salmon a miss this year. Want to see how you connect with the wider world? Watch YouTube: ‘We can clean the oceans’ with Rachel Miller, Rozalia Project. (Photos: CA. Cranston)

Cover: Walking into the New Year. Photo: A kind stranger!

Copy deadline is the 10th of each month. Please email all content to shofar@fps.org

From the Rabbi

rabbi rebecca birk

he Sukkah in our synagogue is built as always the day after Yom Kippur. The world turns as always, day after day. And in so doing we too take stock of all we’ve grown and produced this past year – in our gardens and otherwise – as we turn our attention to the new year and all it holds for us. The rhythm and anticipated moments of the year are comforting in their familiarity. So it’s exciting for me to be doing something for the first time. I am preparing to take a sabbatical. My first, since ordination and becoming a rabbi. I will have been your rabbi at Finchley Progressive Synagogue for seven years this coming December. And I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity, this gift of a sabbatical. I hope it will serve you as well as it will serve me. The idea of an academic or clerical sabbatical is to follow the agricultural practices dictated in Torah: to leave a field fallow to recoup and renourish itself every seven years. We follow suit with the idea, believing it will impact positively the rabbi’s soul, brain and output. Thus, benefitting the whole congregation as well. So my time has come and I begin my leave on 13 October, the day after Simchat Torah. I will take six months and return in April.* It is precious, this opportunity for reflection, study, and nourishment. I can’t imagine what it will feel like to have that time to creatively think, to study, and to just have space. As President Obama said at his last press conference: “I want to be quiet a little bit, not hear myself talk so darned much.” His words capture precisely the goal of my Sabbatical. I intend to set my brain on ‘input’ rather than ‘output.’ And I look forward to my return to FPS all the better for this experience.

*I delayed my sabbatical from 2016 to be able to complete the recent Bar/Bat Mitzvah year of such a large and involved class. (We have managed the next six months to mean I will return for three B’nei Mitzvah during the sabbatical and be with the others on my return.)

the fps sabbatical plans – our program this year.

FPS has a wonderful team in place who have planned service cover, classes, and hopefully pastoral care for our community. Contact pauline@fps.org who will direct you to the person caring for each area. Rabbinic Cover: Student Rabbi Nathan Godleman will be leading services once a month, keeping you updated in Shofar, offering a monthly learning class and being a rabbinic figure for FPS, along with Rabbi Danny Rich. Havdalah Music Concerts: Led by David Dolan, Peter Rosenthal and now Dean Staker and Franklyn Gellnick. This is a way of experiencing fabulous ‘Wigmore Hall-quality’ musical concerts as well as learning new music and skills. Do support this under-appreciated gem in our community. Continued on page 6

From the Chair A

ugust was a quiet-ish month at Shul and unfortunately the report for the September Board meeting won’t make the Shofar deadline. Of course, during August, services continued as did Cafe Thursday which was quite well attended towards the end of the month. Nicky Marzell is trying to increase numbers and will be sending a short survey to members to find out more what people want from Café Thursday. Fundraising groups are working on the beautification of the synagogue and plans for the garden and I anticipate that there will be more information in subsequent issues of Shofar. A new initiative is the three-month security pilot, which is now underway having started in midAugust, and feedback is welcomed. The Board is making arrangements for a thorough clean of the synagogue. The parquet flooring will be spruced up prior to the High Holy Days and I’m anticipating that our wonderful Shul will be further enhanced. We all like a clean environment

cathy burnstone

and the Board asks everyone to maintain this new level of enhancement by putting things away and cleaning up the kitchen and the meeting rooms after use. September started with two wonderful B’nei Mitzvah. Mazel Tov to Dora Qassim and Matan Avital, and thank you to their families for sharing their joy. The Board is now preparing for our Rabbi’s sabbatical to ensure that services continue smoothly, that there is Rabbinic cover, and that the synagogue continues to be a vibrant community. Please do not hesitate to talk to me or a member of the Board if there’s anything you want to discuss. Come, attend a Board meeting if you wish!

security

Following the issues experienced getting volunteers to fill security slots, FPS Board agreed to proceed with a trial of paid security. The trial started Saturday 19 August and will run until the end of the year. Tracie Coggins (pictured) is the owner of Principal Security Ltd, and will be available on the phone should there be any issues. So if you see security personnel such as Gareth (pictured) say ‘hello’, make them feel welcome, and let them through the gate! Both will become familiar faces at the gate making members feel welcome and secure. The security team contacts are: Phillip Raphael security@fps.org Chris Nash chrisnash1981@gmail.com Melvyn Newman melvyn_newman@yahoo.com 4

Please join me in making this a success and do send feedback to the FPS security team or a member of the Board. Phillip Raphael (FPS Security Officer)

FPS Havdalah Concerts 28th October 18th November 2nd December 5.30pm

Listen, discover, explore classical music on your doorstep

HAVE YOU BOUGHT YOUR TICKETS?

SATURDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2017 FPS QU?Z NIGHT & AUCTION

For more information on FPS Havdalah Concerts, musicians and program, see page 9

Straight after the High Holy Days Fish & Chips Supper Tickets now on sale via the office

What kind of things are in the auction? See the sights of London and Hertfordshire from the cockpit of a plane!

£20 Table for 8 - £150 Concessions £18

Personal guided tour & lunch at the Tate A week in an amazing town-house in Italy

What kind of prizes are in the Raffle? Amazon Echo (Hello Alexa!) Overnight stay in a countryside hotel

Please be seated by 7.30 pm Finchley Progressive Synagogue 54 Hutton Grove Finchley, N12 8DR Company No. 9365956 Charity No 1167285

Mogilev Update

wika dorosz, twinning coordinator

Update from our twinned community in Mogilev.

FPS has just received a big ‘thank you’ from Mogilev for our donation towards children’s summer camp which took place in August in Poland. A Polish charity near Warsaw offered free accommodation and board in a mansion with a big garden and sports facilities, but our donation

helped towards travel costs, visas and staff salaries (doctor, cook, madrichim). For many of the 25 children of the Keshet community it was their first experience of a Jewish camp and it was a great success! Leader of the community Mila Izackson-Bolotovskaya writes, “The 10 days included learning Jewish prayers, Shacharit and Kabbalat Shabbat, performance of a Jewish Musical and Art and Craft classes, Jewish cooking and sport activities. On a trip to Warsaw the children visited the Jewish Museum and the Memorial to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto and read El Male Rahamim in that meaningful place. It was hard for the children to imagine that on these beautiful Warsaw streets, thousands of Jews were forced into cattle cars and taken to their deaths.” Mila is already planning a B’nei Mitzvah program for her community and hopes to attract some of the children who took part in the Jewish camp in Poland.

fps sabbatical plans / cont. from page 3

Care in the Community: Jacquie Fawcett, Corinne Oppenheimer, Nicola Marzell Services: A full calendar, put together by Wika Dorosz. Calendar events also available on the web site and Facebook, as well as the FPS office B’nei Mitzvah Family Learning: Student Rabbi Peter Luyendijk, along with a monthly service Funeral support and occasional teaching: Rabbi Janet Burden Thursday Lunch & Learning Class twice monthly: Rabbi Harry Jacobi Adult Bat Mitzvah: Wika Dorosz Ivriah & Kabbalat Torah: Zoe Jacobs Delving into Judaism Classes on Tuesday evenings: Student Rabbi Elliott Karstadt

Beit Tefillah

services at fps

services - october Sunday 1 October 6.30pm

Sukkot Preparation

Wednesday 4 October 6.30pm

Erev Sukkot Service

Thursday 5 October 11.00am

Sukkot Service

Friday 6 October 6.30pm

Kabbalat Shabbat Service

Saturday 7 October 11.00am

Shabbat B’Yachad

Wednesday 11 October 6.30pm

Erev Simchat Torah Service

Thursday 12 October 11.00am

Simchat Torah Service

Friday 13 October 6.30pm

Kabbalat Shabbat Service

Saturday 14 October 11.00am

Shabbat Service

Friday 20 October 6.30pm

Shabbat Resouled

Saturday 21 October 11.00am

Shabbat Service

Friday 27 October 6.30pm

Kabbalat Shabbat Service

Saturday 28 October 11.00am

Shabbat Service

people a warm welcome to our new members

stone setting

Miriam Dwek, Ray Dwek; Francesca & Matthew Levy with Annabel; Laurel Roberts; Susanna & Daniel Rosenberg with Maia & Shiri; Jeremy Shoham; Janet Solomon & Carmel

For Irene Trenner will take place on Sunday 8 October at 9.30am at Edgwarebury Cemetery and will be officiated by Rabbi Rebecca Birk

our deepest condolences to

In memory of much respected Martin Borish, who recently passed away in the USA, the planting of a rose bush and a short service was conducted by Rabbi Frank Hellner at FPS. Martin’s contribution to FPS included the Film Club, producing the performances of ‘The Great American Song Book’ and ‘The Great British Song Book’ and singing in the Choir. We send our condolences to Elaine, who now resides in the States.

To Josie Kinchin on the death of her aunt Minna Kramer; To the family of Frances Hayes who died in August our grateful thanks

To Penny Brailsford and Wendy Leedham, daughters of Clive Winston, followin receipt of his generous legacy to FPS

in memoriam

Beit Knesset

community events, all welcome!

bridge group

Mondays @ 7.30pm, £4. There are even small prizes for winners! (How good is that?) For details contact Gunter Lawson via the synagogue office on 020 8446 4063 yoga

Tuesdays @ 7.30pm. Very popular. Contact Richard on 020 8349 9602 rosh chodesh

Wednesday 18 October @ 8.00pm, FPS library. Discussion on parenting, led by Rochelle Simmons, starting with the question: “No parents or bad parents, which is preferable?” FPS Library. Contact: vdorosz@gmail.com book club

The Book Club meetings are held in people’s homes @ 8.00pm on the second Wednesday of each month. We choose a wide variety of books, many–but by no means all–of Jewish interest. The only condition is that the person

who recommends a book has read it (and loved it!) and that it is available in paperback. For more information: Sheila King Lassman sheila@waitrose.com or Edgar Jacobsberg e.jacobsberg@gmail.com learn

Thursdays, 12.00-1.00pm. Fortnightly Rabbi Harry Jacobi leads an hour’s learning in the small hall which is followed by lunch hosted by Nicola for anyone who chooses to stay. cafe thursday

Thursdays @ 1.00pm. £6 for a freshly-prepared 3-course lunch. For menus or more information contact Nicky Marzell via the synagogue office 020 8446 4063 cafe ivriah

Saturdays (Term time), 9.45-10.45am Informal discussion over coffee and biscuits, between Ivriah drop-off and morning service.

fps breakfast shiurim autumn 2017

Saturday 4 November @ 8.30am ‘Eternity in a Moment’ Speaker: Paul Silver-Myer Why does eternity seem so important to us? Do we ever die? Of course we do. Each of us. We know that our time will come to an end, hopefully later than sooner, for we know that our bodies reach old age and expire. But what of history and the future? Are we part of that too? Do our thoughts and actions last forever? Are they a moment in eternity or do they simply pass away with the wind, lost forever? In this shiur we will explore thoughts of the eternity of the human being and the essence of God in time.

Saturday 2 December @ 8.30am ‘The Early Palestine Mandate’ Speaker: Jonathan Ellis Jonathan asks ‘Why Britain did it?’ Jonathan’s expertise and thesis on this subject sparks exciting new insight into this well-trodden path which generally seems incompletely understood. The discussion will explore the motivation behind the Balfour Declaration and that of the figures involved. Please join us at 8.30am on the above dates for a scrumptious breakfast. All are welcome.

Beit Midrash

learning at fps

Beit Midrash starts 19 October The Balfour Declaration - 100 years on 19 October 26 October 2 November 9 November

“From Herzl to Balfour: The Fulfilment of a Dream.” Speaker: Rabbi Dr Frank Hellner “Zionism Without Zion: What If There Had Been No Balfour Declaration?” Speaker: Maureen Kendler “From Balfour to Independence: A tale of Two Declarations.” Speaker: Robin Moss “The Balfour Declaration and the Jewish Legion: The Origins of the Jewish Defence Forces.” Speaker: Professor Colin Shindler

All on Thursdays at 7.30 pm. £5 voluntary donation on the door including refreshments. Israel’s Six Day War 50th Anniversary Commemorative Event Sunday 19 November 2017, 7.45pm £7.50 with Israeli-style refreshments • Interview with Professor Colin Shindler (SOAS): How the war changed the Middle East up to the present day • Day by day film as events unfolded • Video message from Israelis who were there For tickets Contact Pauline at FPS 020 8446 4063 / administrator@fps.org For information, or to help, contact Alan Milner 07792778192 or Stanley Volk 07871258557

fps havdalah concerts 28 october 5.30pm

Program: Movements and improvisations related to: J.S. Bach: Select movements from Solo cello suite no. 2, d-minor; J.S. Bach: Chaconne from Violin Partita no. 2, d-minor; C. Debussy: Girl with flaxen hair The Havdalah program engages musicians and audience in dialogues between the past and the present, the composer and the musician, the audience and performers, and the composed and the improvised. A doctorate student at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Finnish cellist

Pauliina Haustein, has a passion for engaging with concert audiences through classical improvisation by including audience members in the real time creative process happening on stage. Free. All Welcome. For this concert she will be joined by her chamber music partners, also from Finland. Pauliina Haustein, cello Isa Halme, violin Valerie Albrecht, viola, Stefanie Tuurna, piano Juulia Pölönen, kantele – the Finnish national instrument. 9

Notice Board

mental health first aid training

One Vacancy Left! Volunteers? Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an internationally recognised training course, designed to teach people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental health problems and provide help on a first aid basis. Jami is the lead provider of MHFA training to the Jewish community. Jami’s aim is to upskill and build capacity within the community so that we are able to offer each other appropriate levels of support. Jami will facilitate the training for Finchley Progressive and Finchley Reform Synagogues on Tuesday 17 October; and in November: Wednesdays 1; and 8; and, Thursday the 9th, from 6.30-9.30pm at FPS, Hutton Grove. Attendees will receive a copy of the MHFA manual and workbook (£20), which are excellent support resources. When you have completed the course, you will receive a certificate to confirm that you are a trained Mental Health First Aider. Course content: Session 1 Mental Health First Aid, mental health,

lehrhaus @ leo baeck college

Home Of Adult Jewish Learning This coming year sees the return of many exciting courses plus the addition of on-line learning opportunities to enable even more people to study with us. We are also delighted to offer Modern Hebrew Ulpan classes as part of the Lehrhaus. For more information please go to our website: www.lbc.ac.uk 10

and depression. Session 2 Depression (cont.) and suicidal crisis. Session 3 Anxiety, personality disorders, eating disorders and self-harm. Session 4 Psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. How will becoming a Mental Health First Aider help? – Give a deeper understanding of the issues that impact on and relate to people’s mental health – Teach practical skills that can be used every day, including being able to spot signs and symptoms of mental health issues and feel confident guiding people towards appropriate support. MHFA won’t teach you how to be a therapist, but you will be a Mental Health First Aider, confident in supporting the mental wellbeing of your community, friends and relatives. Jami’s number for anyone seeking help is 020 8458 2223, email: info@jamiuk.org website: www.jamiuk.org. Interested in attending as an FPS volunteer? Contact Maureen Lobatto, maureenlobatto@icloud.com

Notice Board living alone

Are you longing to spread your wings? If you have difficulty travelling on public transport, have you thought of seeking assistance? To prebook assistance, call 0343 222 2000 or you can use the TFL (Transport for London) passenger assistance website. All branches of public transport are committed to helping people to get out and about. There is no charge for this service. You can arrange for help with access, carrying luggage, making connections, reading information boards, that sort of thing. If you have been helped into a compartment, the helper can, if you wish, phone your destination to inform them of your position in the train. Marjory and Peter, in their twilight years, wanted to go to the Edinburgh Festival. They were helped on to their Thames Link train. A helper met them at

St Pancras, carried the cases and walked them to Kings Cross where he put them on the train. At Edinburgh, they were collected from their seats and delivered to a taxi. This was repeated in reverse a week later. When travelling on crowded trains and buses, there is usually someone who offers a seat to anyone with an obvious disability. Many people, however, have hidden disabilities and can be too shy to ask, but are happy to wear a badge saying “please offer me a seat.” You can get these from tfl.gov.uk/transportaccessibility/please-offer-me-a-seat or phone TFL Customer Services on 0343 222 1234 Accept help. Get out. Have fun! Rochelle Simmons

mitzvah day is here again!

Sunday, 19 November Join us in making a difference by working for the greater community. On offer so far is: Highgate Cemetery – As in previous years we hope to take a team down to tidy up the cemetery, sweep the leaves, chop the overgrowth and generally make the place presentable. We have developed a strong affection for the place and our efforts are much appreciated! Hard work but good fun!

tell me what needs doing to support our local community! All of this needs your support, so let me know your ideas. I will endeavour to set them up! Write the date in your diary and contact me, Andrea Narcin, andrea_narcin@yahoo.co.uk or phone 07969 471522. Let me know how you would like to be involved.

Musicians / dancers – We wish to take a group of entertainers to regale local residential homes for the elderly. In House – At our base in Hutton Grove we intend to have a selection of hands-on activities. I am hoping to hear from YOU to 11

Renzo Fantoni Introducing a two-part series that barely skims the eventful life of the ‘L’Dor V’Dor’ bass counterpart, one-time Chair of FPS, (almost) nonagenarian Renzo Fantoni.

Born in Venice in 1928, one of Renzo’s earliest memories is from about age three when he went once a week to a house with a radio. There he listened to the magic of voices singing and telling children’s stories on Il Cantuccio de Bambini. This was around the time his father died. Other childhood memories are vague. His mother remarried when he was eight, and the family moved to the heavily bombed-out city of Rome. Renzo’s memories of that time are of going to school through rubble. At age 12, Renzo’s family moved about 20 miles south of Rome to a small village, where they were the only Jewish family. Everyone accepted them, and they spent the war years there until 1943. As Renzo tells me about his childhood, I notice that he frequently describes events as ‘lucky’ and ‘fortunate.’ Renzo recounts how his stepfather found work as a barrow boy travelling to Rome weekly to buy things to sell in the village. When, on 8 September 1943, the Italians surrendered, the German soldiers took over the barracks. “We had no problem with the German soldiers as they liked to buy stockings and elastics. They became our best clients!” Then, when we heard that 2000 Jews had been taken away from the Ghetto in Rome, my father panicked. At first he decided we should go back to Rome. Then he decided we should go back to our village, where, on returning, all appeared fine. But one day we heard a knock on the door. Boom! We opened the door, and there was a German officer and a couple of soldiers. The officer said “I’m sorry. We understand there are some Jews here. We have names. Please come with us.” 12

sarah rosen-webb

The soldiers were polite. We didn’t really realise what was happening. We started walking down the street. Then luckily my auntie, who was with us, saw and called out to this German woman interpreter she was friendly with. The German woman said “I will come with you. Don’t worry.” The Panzer Commander didn’t know what to do. The woman said, “Look these dozen people have been living here for four years. They want to just carry on their lives and not bother anybody.” So he said “Okay. In this case, they are confined to the village.” My mother stepped up and said “Yes, but my husband must go every week to Rome for one day to buy goods for your soldiers.” So he said “Okay, I’ll give him a permit.” That was a big piece of luck. Fortunately, nothing else dramatic happened to us. In 1945, at the end of the war, I was 17 years old. My education had been completely wrecked, so I got myself a job in a shop. Shortly afterwards, I developed TB (Tuberculosis). A doctor said I needed calcium. But there was no money, no food. He told my mother to buy a fresh egg every morning, crush the eggshell to a powder, and make me eat or drink it. That was how I got calcium. So my mother did that, but then she heard that the American Jewish Distribution Committee (JDC) in Rome was helping Jews. She went to speak to them and they said “You are lucky! Our sanatorium in Merano has a few places for Italian Jews. Your son can go there.” I went but the treatments weren’t working for me. They asked if I wanted to be part of an Continued on page 13

Together in Barnet

andrea narcin

homeless shelter

walk in their shoes

FPS is again participating in the Together in Barnet Homeless Shelter. We will be welcoming up to 17 guests on Tuesday nights from Tuesday 24 October through to Tuesday 9 January. As usual we are looking for cooks, bag transporters, hosts, people for the breakfast shift and people to sleep over. It would be nice to increase the number of volunteers, particularly for sleeping over and for the breakfast shift. Please contact Peggy Sherwood for updating on the rota (fpsshelterrota@gmail.com) or ask me, Andrea Narcin, for further details. My email is andrea_narcin@yahoo.co.uk or: 07969 471522.

Back in June, Together in Barnet held a Sponsored Walk to raise funds to continue their work. Unfortunately, it clashed with the Liberal Judaism Day of Celebration so the synagogue was only represented on the walk itself by Rebecca and Miranda Narcin and their canine companion, Mutley. FPS members shone, however, in backing the walkers by making individual contributions, and over £11,000 was raised! What is more, particular mention was made of the warm welcome at FPS, and I have written about it for a couple of different publications, but I’d like to do more. I think it’s really important that we Jews stand up for ourselves.”

christmas shelter

FPS will be working with other synagogues to provide Christmas Cheer and a place to stay for the period Friday 22 — Wednesday 27 December. We are looking for a range of volunteers: cooks, ‘sleep-overers’, entertainers, general hosts, Christmas tree decorators, and so on! A choice of training dates is available (see Andrea Narcin for details). The walkers arrive at FPS!

renzo fantoni / cont. from page 12

experiment with a professor in Rome who was removing diseased parts of the lungs. I said “Let’s try it.” And back I went to Rome for surgery. A week later I was convalescing in Merano. Luckily for me, I learned English at the sanatorium with a private teacher. The others from the camps only spoke Yiddish. I heard that young people were being sent to a Hotel School at Lake Como. I wanted to go but they said you needed good English and some French. I convinced them I had terrific English because I had a big vocabulary.

Then, one day, a beautiful girl began work at the sanatorium. That was Ruth, my first love! But I got into the Hotel School and lost contact with Ruth. I didn’t see her again until 2004. After Hotel School, I returned to Rome, and found a hotel job. One day an Englishman said to me, “You speak terrific English but you have a horrible American accent. I can get you a job in London to fix that.” I said “Okay,” but I didn’t believe him. Within two weeks my permit to work in London arrived. More good luck! (Continued in November Shofar)

matan avital bar mitzvah

Shalom! My name is Matan Avital and my Bar Mitzvah was on the 9th of September. I hope you enjoyed it. My parasha was Ki Tavo, which concerns the time when Moses was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. He was worried that they would not follow him so he became quite strict with them. I only joined FPS two years ago and apart

from learning my Bar Mitzvah, I have learnt to read Hebrew well and enjoyed the debates we had about religion and modern society. I’ve spent the summer swimming, playing water polo and practicing for my Bar Mitzvah. As one of my hobbies is swimming, I have chosen to do a mile open-water swim for my tzedakah project so I can raise money for the RNLI [Royal National Lifeboat Institution]. I am really excited, as I am doing it with my Dad and it is my first open-water swim. My other hobbies include water polo, judo, basketball and playing guitar.

havdalah concert 28 October 5.30pm

Celebrate the start of a new week with FPS Havdalah concerts. This month we offer summer love, great hairstyles, French dancing… What more could you want? How about Professional Musicians who will play pieces by Debussy and Bach, followed by an improvisation based on audience’s ideas and input, unrehearsed and unplanned, and performed on the spot by the whole group? Together! More than a concert, we are welcoming you to share an experience – and to take part in creating the music as the concert unfolds! Free. All Welcome! Dora Qassam celebrated her Bat Mitzvah in September. Here she is, hugging the rabbi (aka mum).

Fun Page sukkot quiz

Sukkot remembers the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and how God protected them in the desert when times were difficult. Sukkot has two other names which are the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths (Huts). Four kinds of plants are held and waved during the holiday

5. A succah (also known as sukkah) is an outdoor hut that is covered with: balloons plants fruits & vegetables feathers 6. It is customary to start building the Succah: on your birthday on Monday lunchtime as soon as Yom Kippur is over simchat torah true or false

• •

•

of Sukkot. The etrog is one and the other three kinds are neatly bound together and traditionally shaken. Can you circle the correct answer about Sukkot below?

•

Simchat Torah is a very sad festival (True/False) On Simchat Torah we celebrate that over the past year we read the whole Torah (True/False) On Simchat Torah, we are invited to FPS to celebrate (True/False) On Simchat Torah, we dance round FPS with many Torah scrolls and have a party (True/ False) On Simchat Torah, adults can only eat sweets and children can only drink alcohol (True /False) On Simchat Torah, everyone has to wear fancy dress costumes (True/False)

1. The etrog is a medium-sized citrus fruit, with a colour, scent and taste similar to: chopped liver a lemon a banana 2. Most etrogs have a sticking-out bit known in Jewish tradition as: the pupik the pitam the nobble 3. The bound lulav does not contain: palm myrtle olive

willow

4. Lulav actually means palm myrtle

willow

olive

Contacts

fps website: www.fps.org

finchley progressive synagogue

Life President: Sheila King Lassman

54 Hutton Grove N12 8DR 020 8446 4063 www.fps.org facebook.com/finchleyprog Rabbi Rebecca Birk – rabbi@fps.org

Vice Presidents: Renzo Fantoni, Josie Kinchin, Laura Lassman, Lionel King Lassman, John Lewis, David Pelham, Paul Silver-Myer, Andrea Rappoport, Joan Shopper

Emeritus Rabbi: Dr Frank Hellner

contacts

Community Development Manager: Zoe Jacobs – zoe@fps.org

Board of Deputies Reps: Janet Tresman, Stanley Volk

Musicians in residence: Franklyn Gellnick, Dean Staker

Beit Midrash (Education): Adrian Lister adulteducation@fps.org

Synagogue Manager: Pauline Gusack pauline@fps.org

Beit Tefillah (Rites & Practices): Valerie Joseph

Premises Manager: Howard Hamerton

Care in the Community: Jacquie Fawcett jacquie@fps.org

executive

Chair: Cathy Burnstone – chair@fps.org Vice-Chairs: Paul Silver-Myer vicechair@fps.org, Louise Gellman vicechairlg@fps.org Treasurer: Martin Silk – treasurer@fps.org Honorary Secretary: Josie Kinchin honsec@fps.org board members

Phillip Raphael, Samantha King, Maureen Lobatto, Louise Gellman, Katy Jackson

Café Thursday: Nicky Marzell

Website Editor: Philip Karstadt fpswebsite@fps.org Shofar Editor: CA. Cranston – shofar@fps.org Shofar Team: Sarah Rosen-Webb, Wika Dorosz FPS Office: administrator@fps.org The Finchley Progressive Synagogue is a company limited by guarantee (Company No 9365956) and a registered charity (Charity No 1167285) whose registered office is 54 Hutton Grove, Finchley, London N12 8DR

President: Alan Banes

ashley page

janet tresman

insurance brokers

mediator & collaborative family law solicitor

Commerce House 2a Litchfield Grove London N3 2TN

Altermans Solicitors 239 Regents Park Road, London N3 3LF

Tel. 020 8349 5100

Direct dial: 0203 1820121 Email: janet@altermans.co.uk