Dear Members, Less than a week ago, the Honorary Executive had to make a very difficult decision to pause our communal religious services at Shul. Yet again, we took a proactive decision given all the information available to us for the wellbeing of our members. We were pleased that the Community understood our reasoning and rationale for what we did and we were extremely heartened by the numerous messages of support which we subsequently received. Less than 48 hours after our email to the Community went out on Friday morning, the Government confirmed its intention (subject to a formal vote in Parliament) to put the UK into another lockdown at midnight tonight. We are well aware that such a turn of events is far from what people may want given the restrictions, but in truth we all hope and pray that such action will ensure that this pandemic, that we still find ourselves under, will be able to be brought under control. We look forward to welcoming you back in Shul as soon as regulations allow, perhaps hopefully in time for Chanukah. In the meantime though, we intend to continue our engagement with you and to provide spiritual support, as well as community events through a vibrant online offering. One such event is taking place this coming Shabbat – the second UK Community Shabbaton at Home, a project of Mizrachi UK that began in Stanmore. This project will, please Gd, allow tens of thousands of homes from all across the UK to join together, both with their communities, as well as nationally to celebrate Shabbat in our homes this week as part of the global Shabbat Project. You can download the [16page booklet] which contains stories, Divrei Torah, ideas and quizzes for and from our community. It also gives full details of the programme, which begins tomorrow evening. After a global Challah make with Seed at 6:30pm, this is followed by the Shabbaton launch event at 8:00pm featuring Chief Rabbi Mirvis, Chief Rabbi Goldstein of South Africa and the new Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom – Tzipi Hotovely, as well as music from top Israeli musician Ishai Ribo. This can be viewed on [YouTube] The Shabbaton will, of course, incorporate our own Taste of Shabbat Zoom session which starts at 3:15pm on Friday afternoon with Rabbi Lew and Chazan Turgel. As ever, the Zoom session can be accessed by logging in at [Zoom] – Password: 648395. Also, please do not forget that all our usual classes will continue to take place online throughout the week (as has been the case throughout this difficult period). The Shabbaton will culminate with the Great UK Community Quiz after Shabbat at 6:30pm, presented by Rabbi Andrew Shaw and Rabbi Marc Levene, in partnership with Etgar. You need to register on the [Mizrachi website]and you will then be sent details of how to play. We hope that this will be a very enjoyable and inspirational Shabbat even though we find ourselves not physically in our Synagogue, but we will be able to join 75 other communities from across the country participating in this Shabbaton. We fully appreciate that this new lockdown may cause additional stress and challenges for many people within our community As ever, if there is anything that we or Stanmore Community Care can do to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are, of course, here for you! We thank you for your continued support and in the meantime, be well and healthy and stay safe. Best wishes
Jeremy Harris Chair
Samantha Jacobs ViceChair
David Rosen ViceChair