Listen In this issue Helping our Members 2 Senior Warden s Column 2 Judith Silver Concert 3 Do We Still Need Myths? 4 Decorating the Sukkah 6 Torah and Haftorah Readings 8 Diary 9 Deadline for the next edition of Listen 20 th February 2017 Photo Decorating the Sukkah 2016. See pages 6 and 7 for more photos. 1
Helping our Members Henry Fried At Kol Nidre, which seems so long ago now, Rabbi Laura spoke about welfare and looking after our elderly. It certainly got me thinking about what we should be doing as a community. Do I think as a community we are doing enough? No, I don't. However, we are not always aware of illness or infirmity. If you do want help, you really do need to tell us. We are not mind readers. Having said that, we are only a small community and can only do what our volunteers are able to do, but do tell us. It could be more help than you are getting now. Senior Warden s Column Stan Cohen Visiting students and leaders It seems an age since Student Rabbi Naomi Goldman was with us and yet it was only in July that she led her final service before continuing her studies in Israel over the summer holidays. I think it is fair to say we all enjoyed her time with us. Now that students at Leo Baeck College have settled into their studies and placements, following the start of the autumn term, I have been able to arrange for THREE more to visit us over the coming months. We do not only ask for students to fill gaps in our diary, we offer them all opportunities to gain experience in working with a small community and in planning and doing things which will help them grow as future rabbis. You will see in the current diary that the three students have already committed to six services including a Chavurah Supper but, by the time Listen is sent out, they may have offered to do some more so watch out for dates in our e- newsletters. Our old friend from the Movement for Reform Judaism, David Jacobs, who retired just over a year ago, will also be visiting us to lead a Kabbalat Shabbat on 5th May so please put that date in your diaries. Over the next few months we will, no doubt, be trying to engage the services of a student for the High Holydays. Demand from less skilled communities than ours is high but we will keep you informed. Our team of wardens and leaders do their best to make services interesting but other commitments and busy lives mean that we cannot always deliver the quality of service that we would like. Those of us who attended the Chagigah in summer saw how other Reform Jews are developing services in ways that will enhance the spiritual and religious experience of the congregation. We all sometimes wonder why we pray or come to Synagogue and ask ourselves if it is worth the time and effort. We are called Israelites because we are the people who struggle with the very concept and experience of God, and the covenantal commitment to improve ourselves and the world. I hope to introduce a more reflective element into the services I lead so that we can share our spiritual needs and experiences. The Challenges of 2017 This has been a challenging year politically. We are painfully aware that there are all kinds of political, social and economic changes afoot and we do not know where they will lead. The conflicts in the Middle East, the refugee crisis, the rise of isolationary nationalism, the increasing divisions and inequalities in many societies, our painfully slow response to dealing with the very real experience of climate change and our collective failures to plan or pay for the future 2
care, health or housing for ourselves or our children are all building up immense problems for the future. Judaism began as an awareness that the world then, even in Abraham s time, did not have to be the way it was corrupt and selfish and that there was a different way to live. Jews, whether the patriarchs and prophets of old, or the idealistic visionaries who have arisen through the millennia since those times, have tried to provide us with a moral compass and inspiration to keep returning to the task of Tikun Olam and the search for internal and external peace. The need for spiritual food is as strong now as it ever was. Our religion, our Sabbaths and festivals, our songs, psalms and prayers are meant to be spaces in our lives when we can take nourishment and refreshment in order to continue the task. That is why I am still committed to Judaism and to providing a prayer and study space for members and guests to rest and refresh their souls. MKDRS, engaging with us on many levels. She sang songs in Hebrew, Yiddish, English and other languages. She invited us to join in a number of songs; some of them were already familiar and some we learned from Judith. She was accompanied by a pianist and also accompanied herself on the guitar. One of the delights of the evening was when she invited her sister, Rachel, to join her on stage. Rachel performed a recorder solo, sang Over the Rainbow and provided a strong percussion beat for one of Judith s songs. Those of us who attended felt it was a magical evening. We hope that Judith will come again so more people will have the opportunity to enjoy her singing. To learn more about Judith Silver, go to https://judithsilver.com/ I hope to see you at one of our services or celebrations. Judith Silver Concert at MKDRS Lou Tribus On 12 November, we were privileged to have Judith Silver come to give a concert at MKDRS. Judith is well known as a singer-songwriter in Jewish and interfaith music circles. She is often found leading singing workshops at Limmud and other Jewish learning events. She leads a number of community choirs around London. She also runs Companion Voices groups in Brighton and London small groups of singers who sing at the bedside of dying patients. Judith performed to an intimate audience at 3
Perhaps some have, but if there s been a stampede of women leaving US shuls to sign up with Reform, well, I ve not noticed it. For reasons which probably included loyalty to family and friends in addition to nostalgia and the dreaded burial schemes, members of US synagogues tend to stay in their comfort zone, where they feel they belong. The spat I'm referring to is, of course, the matter of partnership minyans (PMs). In these relatively informal prayer meetings women and men share leadership roles; women will lead prayers and read from Torah. Though strictly against US rules, several major US communities have been running PMs for some years, with little apparent comment from the establishment or local rabbis. But it s now become a hot issue. As with most spats within religious communities, the details are tedious, but the fundamentals are of interest. Do We Still Need Myths? Zvi Friedman There s no need to go further back than the celebrated Jacobs Affair. In the 1960s US Orthodox Rabbi Louis Jacobs published a book We Have Reason to Believe, in which he embraced the so-called documentary hypothesis, the result of a century of academic study of the Hebrew scriptures in which scholars proposed that the scriptures were the work of human authorship, spanning a period of about a millennium. Jacobs allowed the possibility of Godly inspiration, but rejected the traditional orthodox claim of God dictating Torah to Moses. This, he said, was a myth and it s time to bury it where it belongs, in ancient piety. Readers of the Jewish Chronicle will be aware of the latest spat inflicting the United Synagogue (US) over the role of women. It s no secret that women have in recent years become increasingly vocal in demanding equality in the UK Jewish community. For us in Reform, it s not a problem; we are committed to gender equality in principle (and indeed increasingly in practice too). Many times we ve said to US women, if you don t like to be treated as To say that this revelation from a respected Orthodox rabbi was unwelcome to the US establishment would be a flagrant understatement. Dr Jacobs was dismissed from his pulpit in a major London synagogue and from his teaching post at Jews College, the Orthodox rabbinic school at that time. (Which, as an aside, all goes to show that if you work for a traditional organisation what you really believe doesn t matter so long as you keep second class members, come over to us. quiet about it!) Many might have hoped that 4
the US had moved on in the past 60 or so years. But they would be disappointed. You might remember that more recently Chief Rabbi Sacks had a similar problem over a book, this time with the Charedi mafia, and beat an ignominious retreat in a second edition. So why do we cling so tenaciously to our myths? Yes, they are like a comfort blanket to a child, but more significantly, if they go, what follows? For professing Christians it s a big, big question. Dismiss the Resurrection, Annunciation, Transubstantiation, Divinity of Jesus and all the rest as myths, and stock (if it had such as thing) in the Roman Catholic Church would plummet never to recover. I suspect that only a small proportion of intelligent Catholics, and indeed Christians in general, really believe such irrational claims, given the total absence of any supporting evidence. But if they give voice, or worse, put pen, to their doubts, they can rarely remain as believers, witness the case of ex-bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway. We don t have this problem. Membership of our organisation doesn t depend on holding beliefs we do not believe. If we re happy with the myth of Moses receiving Divine Revelation, that s fine. If we re not, no one is going to show us the door. But if you subscribe to an organisation, whether religious or political, which demands allegiance to an ideology of socalled eternal verities, then either you d better keep quiet if you have genuine doubts, or you go elsewhere. Fortunately we do not live in that part of the world where doubt is a capital offence. traditions, rituals, narratives, the companionship of groups, and so on. Good enough for some, but not for all. (And on the subject of eternal verities I can t resist a little quip from a novel by Sebastian Faulks, you can t be like the Church of England, constantly updating its eternal verities.) Condolences To Beryl Ehrenzweig and Neil on the death of Peter. To Rebecca Fried on the death of her sister, Theresa Sharman. Rabbi Wolff Older members will remember Rabbi Willy Wolff. A new book has just been published about him. It can be obtained from Amazon for 9.99 or from James Leek, the UK publisher for the special price of 5. But then belief in the impossible or the very unlikely, like life after death, can be comforting. Whether or not we believe in the possibility of cryogenic revival, we cannot but be touched by the current story of the dying young girl wanting the chance of life in the future. It s almost a certainty that all religions depend on a set of mythological beliefs. Demolish the myths (they become, technically, In addition there has been a film made about Rabbi Wolff s life. Click on this link to view a trailer: http://www.rabbiwolff.com/ broken myths ) and you are left with 5
Decorating the Sukkah Thank you very much to everyone who helped to decorate the Sukkah this year. It looked absolutely fabulous! 6
Cake Sale for GOSH Izzy Dorrance Thank you to everyone who came to my cake sale on the 23rd October and for your generous donations. Altogether I raised 82 for Great Ormond Street Hospital! 7
Torah and Haftorah Readings Date Parasha Torah Reading Haftorah Reading 24 December/24 Kislev Blessing for Tevet Va-yeishev Genesis 39:1 18 Amos 2:6-3:8 25 December/25 Kislev Chanukah 1st Day 31 December/2 Tevet Shabbat Chanukah Mikkeitz Genesis 42:1 23 Zechariah 4:1 14 7 January 2017/9 Tevet Va-yiggash Genesis 45:8 28 Ezekiel 37:1 28 14 January/16 Tevet Va-y chi Genesis 49:33 50:13 1 Kings 2:1 12 21 January/23 Tevet Blessing for Shevat 28 January/1 Shevat Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Sh mot Exodus 3:1 22 Jeremiah 1:1 19 Va-eira Exodus 6:29 7:18 Isaiah 66:1 23 4 February/8 Shevat Bo Exodus 11:1 12:11 1 Samuel 6:1 15 11 February/15 Shevat Shabbat Shirah Tu b Shevat B shallach Exodus 14:26 15:27 Judges 5:1 31 18 February/22 Shevat Yitro Exodus 18:24 19:13 2 Chronicles 19:4 11 25 February/29 Shevat Shabbat Sh kalim Blessing for Adar, Mochoratayim Chodesh Mishpatim Exodus 22:20 23:13 2 Kings 12:1 17 4 March/6 Adar T rumah Exodus 25:23 40 Isaiah 49:1 13 11 March/13 Adar Shabbat Zachor 12 March/14 Adar Purim 18 March/20 Adar Shabbat Parah T tzavveh Exodus 28:29 29:9 1 Samuel 30:1 18 The Book of Esther Ki Tissa Exodus 32:7 20 Ezekiel 36:23 38 8
Diary December 2016 Sat 24th 10.30am SHABBAT SERVICE led by Stanley Cohen. This service will have a more reflective emphasis looking in greater depth at some of our regular prayers and how relevant we think they are. The theme of the D var Torah will be: Do we ever pay attention to the prophets? Can we bring light and hope into the New Year of 2017? Sat 24th 1st NIGHT CHANUKAH Sat 31st 3-5.00pm CHANUKAH PARTY (8th NIGHT CHANUKAH) please bring vegetarian or kosher fish food to share and your Chanukiot for a mass lighting. January 2017 Fri 6th 7.30pm EREV SHABBAT SERVICE led by Richard Assenheim Sun 8th 10.00am CHEDER Sat 14th 10.30am SHABBAT SERVICE led by Student Rabbi Peter Luyendijk. Peter is a first year rabbinical student at Leo Baeck College. He comes from Amsterdam and has spent two years in Israel. He is keen to visit different communities and to develop his skills. Sun 22nd 10.00am CHEDER Thur 26th 6.15pm Fri 27th HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL EVENT at Central Milton Keynes Council Offices. Stan Cohen and Choir participating HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY Sat 28th 10.30am SHABBAT SERVICE led by Martin Neville February 2017 Wed 1st 10.00am SEWING AND CRAFT 3.30pm DAY Fri 3rd 7.30pm KABBALAT SHABBAT/CHAVURAH SUPPER led by Student Rabbi Peter Luyendijk. Please bring vegetarian or kosher fish food to share. We start with the lighting of the candles and some songs, eat and then have a discussion before ending with Birkat Hamazon. Sun 5th 10.00am CHEDER, including: Sun 5th 11.15am SUNDAY SHACHARIT CHILD FRIENDLY SERVICE. Parents and other community members welcome. Sat 11th 10.30am SHABBAT SERVICE (TU B`SHEVAT) led by Gwendolen Burton. Gwendolen is a part-time student at Leo Baeck College and a mother of two young children. She has been studying at the College for several years and wants to gain more 9
experience with Jewish communities. Malcolm Pruskin invites you to a special Birthday Kiddush which will include food on the theme of Tu B Shevat. Sat 25th 10.30am SHABBAT SERVICE AND BAR MITZVAH OF SAM MORROW led by Martin Neville Sun 26th 10.00am CHEDER March 2017 Wed 1st 10.00am SEWING AND CRAFT 3.30pm DAY Fri 3rd 7.30pm EREV SHABBAT SERVICE led by Student Rabbi Iris Ferreira Sun 12th 10.00am PURIM SERVICE AND CELEBRATION note earlier starting time. Led by Stanley Cohen, Cheder teachers and children Sat 25th 10.30am SHABBAT SERVICE led by Martin Neville Sun 26th 10.00am April 2017 Wed 5th 10.00am 3.30pm Fri 7th 7.30pm Mon 10 th Tue 11th CHEDER MOCK SEDER SEWING AND CRAFT DAY EREV SHABBAT SERVICE FIRST NIGHT PESACH SECOND NIGHT PESACH / COMMUNITY SEDER led by Richard Assenheim 10