September/October 2013 VOL. XL No. 5
Liberal Judaism is a constituent of the World Union for Progressive Judaism
www.liberaljudaism.org
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Welcoming a new president
Liberal Judaism’s new president Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein speaking at the WUPJ Conference
R
ABBI DR ANDREW GOLDSTEIN has been elected as the new president of Liberal Judaism. Here Rabbi Dr David J Goldberg OBE explains why his friend, colleague and occasional sparring partner is the perfect person for the role: A FEW YEARS AGO, at a European Region conference of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), a group of old codgers ordained in the 1970s – Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein and I among them – were elected Fellows of Leo Baeck College. We shuffled sheepishly while excessively generous laudations about us were read out to the audience. I remember that Andrew’s, after listing his many achievements, described him as “the rabbis’ rabbi”, which struck me as a particularly apt assessment. Whereas some of us have sought rabbinic fulfilment in scholarship or writing, and others in becoming media personalities or communal machers, Andrew is admired by all for being the supreme example of an outstanding congregational leader, builder and nurturer.
Andrew was still a Leo Baeck rabbinic student when assigned to what was then the embryonic Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue (NPLS) in 1965, becoming its first rabbi in 1970. Along with his ideal partner Sharon, he built NPLS up into the largest, most successful, dynamic and innovative of the new Liberal congregations. He and NPLS were synonymous – one simply could not imagine Andrew in any other pulpit, or any other congregation bestowing such love and appreciation on its rabbi. Andrew somehow also found the time to create the Kadimah youth summer camp, head Liberal Judaism’s education department for 20 years, research a PhD on Sir Moses Montefiore, sit on the International Council of Christians and Jews and co-edit our two prayer books Siddur Lev Chadash and Machzor Ruach Chadashah, as well as the Passover Haggadah and sundry other publications. Even retirement hasn’t slowed him down. Andrew has built on the special relationship he established with Jewish Czechoslovakia to embrace all of continental Progressive Jewry in his
role as chair of the European Union for Progressive Judaism (EUPJ). He also sits on the executive of the World Union, devoting the same hard work and meticulous planning to these offices as he did to being a congregational rabbi, while enjoying the opportunity it affords him and Sharon to indulge their passion for travel and visiting outposts of the worldwide Progressive Jewish family. I know that Andrew was thrilled, but genuinely humbled, when he was mooted as the next president of Liberal Judaism. “I’m not ennobled, or a major scholar, or a national figure” he said to me, mentioning some of the illustrious names that have preceded him in the post. Perhaps so, but not one of them brought more dedication to the cause of Liberal Judaism than Andrew has, and will continue to do. Andrew is a thoroughgoing, dyed in the wool Liberal Jew. Occasionally we have our theological disagreements – for example, I can’t get my head round the former Rabbinic Board, at Andrew’s initiative, being renamed the Liberal Beit Din, in spurious imitation of halachic Orthodoxy. But his principles are firmly rooted in the teachings of Liberal Judaism’s founders and won’t be compromised to court easy popularity with either the Reform movement or wider Anglo-Jewry. The officers and members of Liberal Judaism chose wisely in electing Andrew as our new president. Keyn yirbu – long may he flourish!
Rabbi Dr David J Goldberg OBE is rabbi emeritus of The Liberal Jewish Synagogue • Read Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein’s New Year’s message on page 7.