November 2020
the magazine of finchley progressive synagogue
Mother’s Pride
From the Editor... N
ostalgia ain’t what it used to be, goes the saying. In the early part of lockdown, when noone actually had much news of their own to post on social media, there was a brief fad of sorts where people were posting old photos and memories on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Memories are funny things and can take on a life of their own. We sometimes edit them to suit the parts we choose to remember, or they can be skewed by circumstance - if you only have one photograph of someone, that can dominate your memory of them. Later this month my son Rafi will be Bar Mitzvah at FPS, about which I am truly thrilled and immensely proud. It brings back memories of my own Bar Mitzvah experience in the 80s. Times have changed beyond recognition since I was 13 though the one thing that’s reassuringly similar is the task of a Bar Mitzvah boy. Mine was in a United synagogue, male-dominated and far more formal, but the actual mechanics of being called up and reading from the Torah amid so much pride and joy remains unchanged.
Cover photo: Darren Beach
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darren beach
In so many other ways however, society is different for 13-year-olds. Jewish kids back then lived in Greater London rather than the Shires, and were far more spread out. We quickly learned to travel into and across London by ourselves to school and to see friends at a much younger age. Not having social media was probably a very good thing - in any case, with only three/four TV channels, you were exposed to a wider range of influences such as music, news and opinions as mediums for culture were less polarised. And when those teens reached 18 they got a free university education, in many cases actually being funded to go there by council grants. One of the great ironies is that my parents’ generation used to tell us that society and technology had made our lives so different to theirs, yet I now find myself fighting the urge to think the same of his. Some things never change.
Copy deadline is the 10th of each month. Please email all content to shofar@fps.org
From the Rabbi Darren
has
rabbi rebecca birk
made
the theme of this month Memories, and generally how we look back at key events that inform us all. I remember well the fall of the Berlin Wall thirty-one years ago. It was on 9 November 1989, five days after nearly half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled and was brought down. I was in my final year of University, and I both realised and didn’t fully realise that history was being made. Several fellow students hitchhiked to Berlin to be there for the moment. But life changed immeasurably for Europe after that day. I remember the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin, also in November. I was visiting my parents on a trip back from Boston, USA where I was studying . That Saturday night, 4 November 1995 (12 Cheshvan 5756) at the end of the rally in support of the Oslo Accords at the Kings of
Israel Square, now known as Rabin Square. 11:15 PM, Eitan Haber, Chief of Staff, walked out of the hospital at 11.15 pm to face the television cameras: The government of Israel announces in consternation, in great sadness, and in deep sorrow, the death of Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered by an assassin, tonight in Tel Aviv. The government shall convene in one hour for a mourning session in Tel Aviv. Blessed be his memory. How the world reeled that night and still reels. Similarly some of our members remember 11 November 1945, now Remembrance Day. Remembering anniversaries make us human. As Jews we are even more invested in memory. Josef Chayim Yerushalmi, in his book Zachor (Memory) insists Jews have memory rather than history. As British Jews we combine both. In a month with no Biblical festivals, Cheshvan, we have plenty to remember and honour. Wishing you good recollections.
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From the Chair With the rapid succession of Autumn festivals now behind us, it feels as if glimmers of their awe and radiance continue to colour our experience as we return, not exactly to normal, but to a more workaday world. What will we carry with us from the High Holy Days as the days get shorter and darker and London enters Tier 2? What insight, resolve or tranquillity have we gained to sustain us from now to Hanukkah and beyond or to guide us in the year ahead? We will presumably always remember the High Holy Days of 2020 as having a unique character! Did you dread being unable to meet together to celebrate and having the holiest days of the year mediated by cold technology? And were you, like me, then taken off guard by the beauty and intensity of our Zoom services and the profound sense of intimacy and connection to each other? Although there were certainly moments of technical breakdown, embarrassment and unintended hilarity, our services were wonderful. I’m full of admiration and gratitude for the creativity and dedication of the extraordinary team who were responsible for them and for Rebecca’s wise and moving sermons. So what will I remember? I’ll remember how the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg on Erev Rosh HaShanah gave a poignant and urgent focus to our reflections on the meaning of a good Jewish life. Rebecca’s challenge to us on Yom Kippur – whom have we not loved enough? – will continue to reverberate for me in the year ahead. I’ll remember how, when we couldn’t use our Sukkah, our carpark and small hall 4
tamara joseph
were magically transformed with greenery. I’ll remember my first experience of podcasting, talking with Rebecca about who we want to invite into our Sukkah, who is on the outside, who is vulnerable or exposed, who we want to honour. I’ll remember making the High Holy Days charity appeal on Rosh Hashanah from the sofa in my in-laws’ living room and that once again, despite 2020 being a year of unusual financial hardship, FPS members gave more than in any previous year. I’ll certainly remember Renzo’s lavender lulav, a defiantly joyful and creative example of ‘resourceful and flexible Judaism’ as we continue to adapt ourselves to our unfamiliar circumstances! And the wonderfully inventive children’s service on Yom Kippur in which the children had the opportunity to decide at key points in the story of Jonah what should happen next – and a surprisingly high proportion of them decided that he should die in the belly of the whale! A reminder that while in retrospect it always feels as if only one outcome was possible, history is always contingent and could have gone another way – and that much depends on our choices. This week we held the first meeting of our new council and began our planning for the year ahead with new faces and new voices in the room. In the face of new restrictions, we are looking at how we can continue to return to the building for services gradually and safely and how we can conduct inclusive hybrid services in a way that allows for participation both physically in the building and remotely. We can draw on a Jewish history and tradition rich in examples of survival, renewal and rebuilding and on the strength of our FPS community for the inspiration and resilience we need to plan confidently for the future.
A Message From Mogilev update from our twinned community in belarus
On the second day of Rosh Hashanah there was a wonderful gathering of Mogilev “Keshet� and Minsk Reform communities in Mogilev. There were 18 participants from Minsk and 35 from Mogilev. In Mogilev there were people of different ages involved in preparations of the Chag, but not all of them could come to the celebrations because of the pandemic situation. Rabbi Grisha [Abramovich from Minsk] and Mila [Bolotovskaya, leader of the Keshet community] lead the Rosh HaShanah services. It was a nice reunion of two congregations - the
wika dorosz
Mogilev community had visited Minsk before a few times. This year, as before, we visited the building of the former synagogue and blew the Shofar standing in the middle of the boxing hall! This tradition started 8 years ago during your visit to us (October 2012). Officially, there is no quarantine in Belarus and everything is open, children are attending the kindergarten, youth are gathering for their activities and the community is getting together for various programmes. Best wishes from Keshet to FPS!.
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FPS People’s Page people welcome to new members
Sandra Robinson, CA Cranston, David Dolan, Martin Werth, Ray James.
Annabel Robin, Hadassah Dwek, Leo Silver and Ljudmila Kolker with Alexa and Marina
condolences to
mazal tov to
Jack Hirsch on the death of his wife Martina
Lisa Barry and Alan Melcher on their wedding Sylvia Mendoza on the birth of great grandchild Eli Finlay Ritchie, grandson of Jane and Godfrey Mellins and son of Lauren Abery and Jamie Ritchie Rafi Beach on his bar mitzvah on 21 November Ariel Avital on his bar mitzvah on 28 November
thanks to
happy birthday to
To the following members who celebrate milestone birthdays in November: Michael Stern, Tessa Phillips, Hilary Levy,
Zoe Jacobs for amazing HHD family services Eden Silver-Myer, Hilary Luder and Leon Gevertz for preparing and creating a unique Sukkah Michael Lassman and David Lewis for their ‘tech’ help with streaming service Josie Kinchin and Valerie Joseph who continue to host Zoom services Stanley and Paul Silver-Myer, and guest contributors, for creating and performing The Battle of Cable Street evening
Photo: Ruth and Natasha Collett singing at Rafael’s Bar Mitzvah
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Beit Tefillah
services at fps
services- november / cheshvan leading into kislev
services – june / sivan leading into tamuz At the time of writing, FPS services are being held via Zoom video conferencing, links to which are included in FPS emails, with limited services in the synagogue which must be pre-booked. Friday 6 November
6.30pm Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Saturday 7 November 11.00am Shabbat B’Yachad Service honouring Remembrance Day Friday 13 November
6.30pm Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Saturday 14 November
11.00pm Shabbat Service
Friday 20 November
6.30pm Shabbat Resouled
Saturday 21 November 11.00am Shabbat Service celebrating Rafi Beach Bar Mitzvah Friday 27 November
6.30pm Kabbalat Shabbat Service
Saturday 28 November 11.00am Shabbat Service celebrating Ariel Avital Bar Mitzvah
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Beit Knesset At the time of writing, all FPS activities are being held via Zoom video conferencing. Links to access will be included in FPS emails. bridge group
Closed currently rosh chodesh kislev
Wednesday 19 November at 8.00pm Monthly celebration of the New Moon by women who enjoy meeting, sharing and learning. This month, a few days before the International Day to End Violence Against Women, Lesley Urbach will talk about the ‘White slave trade at the start of the 20th century’. Zoom link to the meeting will be posted in FPS weekly email. book club
Wednesday 11 November @ 8.00pm Book Club meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month. Contact Sheila King Lassman skinglassman@gmail.com or Edgar Jacobsberg e.jacobsberg@gmail.com delving into judaism
Wednesdays @ 7.00pm. Adult class with Rabbi Rebecca exploring the building blocks of Judaism plus Hebrew classes.
community events, all welcome!
lunch & learn: taste of torah
Thursdays @ 1.00pm An hour’s learning with Rabbi Rebecca – with or without your own lunch. 5 November: Va-yeira: The Promise and the Expulsion 12 November: Chayyei Sarah: Death, Remembering and Blame 19 November: Toledot: Heroes and villains. How tradition views ‘outsiders’ 26 November: Va-yeitze: God was in this place and I, I did not know it. 3 December: Vayishlach: Israel and Struggle 10 December: Vayeshev: Joseph and Jewish Identity 17 December: Miketz: Diaspora and Egypt pilates
Our excellent instructor Tali Swart teaches several classes a week on Zoom, all levels. For schedule and payment information, contact taliswort@btconnect.com cafe
Sunday @ 10.00am, all welcome to join for a friendly chat and topical discussion (bring your own coffee!). Suggestions for discussion topics 4 November: The Books of Jews: No longer a welcome, to Adrian: adulteducation@fps.org Blood line but a Text line… Sunday 8 November: ReBuilding FPS: 11 November: Liberal Judaism’s relationship to Community discussion about the new building Rabbinic Judaism and Jewish Law plans. Come along and discuss the plan. 18 November: The Letter from Maimonides: Sunday 15 November: Torah Study led by Rabbi Attitudes to conversion Rebecca on “John Steinbeck, East of Eden and 25 November: The Idea of Minyan and showing Bereshit” up Sunday 22 November: Monty: A Jewish Life 2 December: Kashrut and Circumcision: See next page! Change 9 December: The December Dilemma 16 December: Chanukah and Diaspora Life
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Notice Board
world premiere: monty: a jewish life
Sunday 22 November: 10:30am (note slightly later start than usual). Please join us for a very special Cafe Ivriah featuring the world premiere of Monty: A Jewish Life, a 20-minute film about (and starring!) our very own Monty Bixer. Monty tells stories from his childhood, his years in - and dramatic departure from - the Royal Navy, his creative solution to running an Israeli Navy ship in the 1948 War of Independence, and how he came back home to England - only to meet a girl from Palestine. We’ll show the film and then Monty will take questions.
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ReBuilding FPS The FPS building project has taken two exciting steps forward in the past month: first, we have submitted our planning application, and second, we have a name for the project, courtesy of Adrian Lister: ReBuilding FPS. Following our lively and useful discussion at the AGM about what we want our building to evolve into, we’re scheduling a follow-up session on Sunday 8 November during Cafe Ivriah. Chaired by our new president Paul SilverMyer, we’ll discuss what we like and don’t like about the plans, how we feel about the project as a whole, and where and how we might raise the money to pay for it. Please join us to share your thoughts and listen to what other members think.
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richard greene
We submitted our planning application to Barnet Council on 7 October, and the consultation period is open through 9 November. If you support the idea of making our building more environmentally friendly, easier to use and more attractive - or even if you just want the leaky roof repaired! - please go to the Barnet Council website, www.barnet.gov.uk and click on Planning and Building. Then click on View or Comment on a Planning Application, and enter the address of the synagogue: 54a Hutton Grove. We’d love to have your support. Hope you can join us for the discussion on 8 November.
AJEX
stanley volk
J
ews have served in the British Armed Forces for three centuries. It was during the Boer War that their numbers first became recorded as Rolls of Honour in Jewish community halls, synagogues and schools. But the organisation that became the Association of Jewish exServicemen and Women (AJEX) began in 1936. Their aims: to continue remembrance of the Jewish contribution to the military; to combat anti-Semitism; and to provide welfare for Jewish veterans and their families. An estimated 70,000 Jews gave service to the British Armed Forces in WW2 and after the war the work of AJEX continued in earnest. The work above and the annual Remembrance service and parade still continue today. I have enjoyed immensely taking part in
many annual parades. The RAF regiment band, the Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade (JLGB) band, the moving service and the clapping crowds add up to a moving event. We had planned a FPS group for this year but the dreaded Covid has prevented this.
cooking for those in need
Food can bring people together in a way nothing else can. Whilst we can’t always guarantee you an Ottolenghi dish - we would like to be there to cook for you if you want some help. Our aim is to have people willing to cook or even to get an extra dish out of the freezer to pass onto a member of the community who has asked for some support: maybe an ongoing illness, postsurgery, a bereavement, or any other life event that at times can just be too hard. If you are interested in helping please contact the office. After all, to know a community is to know its food. Emma Prinsley
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Memories: Facing Antisemitism The first time I experienced antisemitism has now smudged and faded, like a photograph copied multiple times. I was in the hallway of my secondary school, walking towards my form room. It was a girl in my class. I won’t name her, but I could. Not a mate, not an enemy. She insinuated: Jews are cheap, penny-pinchers, and never forget a debt. I’d lent her some money, you see. Not a lot. Probably less than a pound. And for that, I was thanked with an antisemitic trope. It took a few hours to digest. What she said played over and over in my mind. I thought antisemitism was long dead – along with the six million – so discovering that it was alive and kicking in Barnet was a shock. The second time was during my first year at uni when a guy I barely knew launched into a series of antisemitic conspiracy theories. Apparently we were loaded, controlled the world, and hated black people. This was all news to me. I’d never heard these paranoid fantasies before and was floored by their complete madness. Shocked, I made feeble attempts to combat his rantings, and in the end a friend stepped in to finish the conversation. In the intervening years I’ve replayed these memories in my head many times. Furious and frustrated not to have stood up for myself, my family, my community and not having the facts or chutzpah to call these people out as racists or argue against their poisonous hatred. When Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader I knew I had to better educate myself on the twisted intricacies of antisemitism. The good news is, swotting-up and actively raging against antisemitism is more enjoyable than you think. It can be draining and at times feels like being punched in the chest, but knowing that you’re taking control and possibly 12
siam goorwich
making a difference, is a balm. I’ve been on furlough since mid-April and one of the things I’ve done is immerse myself in the flourishing world of online Jewish activism. Antisemitism is once again a threat so if, like me, you’re haunted by memories of antisemitism past, now is the time to put it right. Below is a list - not exhaustive - of amazing Jewish activists who are slugging it out everyday to make the world a safer place for us all. Check them out, give them a follow, join the fight: Eve Barlow (Scottish/LA music journalist): @evebarlow (IG) / @eve_barlow (Twitter) Ben Freeman (Holocaust educator living in Hong Kong, also Eve’s childhood best friend): @benmfreeman (IG and twitter) Hen Mazzig (Israeli writer, speaker and activist): @henmazzig (IG and twitter) Claire Voltaire (Jewish activist operating under a pseudonym): @Claire_Voltaire (twitter) Lee Kern (a British comedy writer: @leekern13 (twitter)
Photo: Screenshot from Eve Barlow’s Instagram feed (@evebarlow)
Remembering Golders Green and the Coronation I
t was 2 June 1953 and the family crowded around the TV from early morning. The build-up, the arrival of world-wide royalty and then the crowning moment itself. I was nine years old and while I had an interest - this was adult stuff. But our TV was unusual: a Philips Projection model with a 2.5 inch internal screen projected by mirrors to a 14 inch screen for viewing. Very innovative for its time! We lived in Rotherwick Road, Golders Green, near the station. Many of the East Enders and West Enders moved there when the tube was extended. Golders Green was the place to be.
gordon greenfield
As an infant I remember a Sainsbury’s near the station with white marble counters laid out with dairy products, meats, packet foods etc. Queuing became a way of life. Butter was cut from huge cubes with special ‘butter pats’ and hard cheese was cut with wire - the only continental cheeses we had were Edam and Gouda. At the back entrance to the station was a newspaper stand where my Dad bought the Daily Herald - I looked forward to reading the sports pages - and the Evening News on Saturdays for the football results and the Littlewoods Pools.
“...our TV was unusual: a Philips Projection model with a 2.5 inch internal screen projected by mirrors to a 14 inch screen for viewing. Very innovative for its time!” It was a very Jewish area. But there was rivalry to the point of animosity; the West Enders who looked down on the East Enders. Today such prejudice would not be tolerated. Golders Green Road was a classic high street with many Jewish shops. Ostwind’s the bakers - delicious challah - and another bakery, Monnikendam, with a café where refugees from Nazi persecution gathered. Appenrodts, a Dutch delicatessen sold specially baked French style baguettes, smoked salmon and all the continental deli items and cheeses. There was an upmarket store called Peter Robinson (which also opened in Oxford Circus) and the first UK MacDonald’s came later, very popular, despite not selling kosher burgers.
My Dad was a tailor and on Saturdays I travelled alone to see him in his workshop in the West End. The underground ticket cost sixpence (2.5p). Together we delivered his work to Gieves and Hawkes in Saville Row and on to ‘Hymie the Tailor’ in The Cut in Waterloo. These visits, and the banter in the shops - were some of the highlights of my childhood. The Coronation heralded a time of post war recovery and a period of relative prosperity in Britain. A unique era when, for virtually the whole of my life, I (and we) have only ever known one monarch.
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Remembrance Day memories After my dad died in 1988, my mum Joyce really branched out and made a good social life for herself. She’d been in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VADs) during World War II and she had always belonged to the local VAD branch but never really had that much time to get involved when dad was alive. She had re-met women she had known during the War and, with time on her hands, really enjoyed the social life the organisation had to offer. One of the things they did was to march at the yearly Remembrance Day service. Although mum never marched with them, she did come up to London every Remembrance Day weekend, have lunch with her friends on the Saturday at a nice fancy ex-services Club in the West End and then come on to stay the weekend with me. I used to groan every Saturday evening when she wanted to watch the Remembrance Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall on television (unfortunately it usually clashed with Fireworks Parties I would have rather gone to!) but it was a lovely routine and something that now she isn’t here, I miss. When mum signed up to be a VAD – they were volunteer nurses – she was posted to Sherborne in Dorset. Mum was a secretary and as soon as they discovered she could take shorthand, her nursing days were numbered and they got her to follow doctors round the ward taking shorthand and then typing up the dictation to put in the soldiers’ medical notes – thereby saving time for the doctors and probably ensuring that her
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peggy sherwood mbe
nice typing was a lot easier to read than doctors’ writing! Mum was one of a generation of women who became secretaries – no opportunities in those days for women to go to university and study but I always think that had she been born 30 years later, she would have gone to university to study and probably ended up as a social worker or nurse – thereby using the caring skills she showed all her life.
“(Mum would) come up to London every Remembrance Day weekend, have lunch with her friends on the Saturday at a nice fancy ex-services Club in the West End and then come on to stay the weekend with me.” Actually my mum is the reason we became members at FPS – I know I’ve told the story before in Shofar of how we came to be at FPS one Friday night to say Kaddish in March 2012 when she had died that morning and been so taken with the loving care we found FPS showed to everyone, especially Maurice Needleman. But actually her story with Progressive Synagogues goes further back than that – her parents were founder members of Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue and suffice it to say I was bowled over when I went to their 70th anniversary and looked at all their old records to find that my grandfather opened the ark every Shabbat morning and mum used to often give the Shabbat sermon! I feel so proud to know that my mum was so involved with BHPS 80 years ago and I know that she would be so proud to know that we are now members here at FPS.
rafi beach bar mitzvah 21 november
My name is Rafi Beach and I am reaching the final stages of my Bar Mitzvah which will be on 21 November. If I am honest I say I am very lucky to have three very different cultures - English, Jewish and Japanese. I like to do a lot of stuff, especially football and trains. I will be reading Parashat Toldot, Bereshit chapter 27, which is about the brothers Jacob and Esau. It’s one of the most well-known stories in the Torah, as Jacob uses his father Isaac’s blindness to try and fool him into blessing him as the first born ariel avital bar mitzvah 28 november
Hi, my name is Ariel. My Parasha is Genesis 28 chapter 10-22, which is about Jacob leaving beer Sheva and going towards Haran, and one of the most famous chapters in the Torah. It is also known for the dream Jacob has of angels of God going up and down a ladder. I am quite excited for my Bar Mitzvah as it has been a weird experience having online lessons and I feel as though I’m ready. This portion is
instead of Esau. Having a Bar Mitzvah means so much to me. At many times I thought it looked impossible but I am so happy to have it. For me it’s the first big step that I have really had to work for in my life, and to have so much support for me to juggle two very different cultures in my life has been a challenge but very rewarding. I have chosen the Institute of Cancer Research as my Tzedakah project, as my dad and my grandparents have had this illness. The work they do is really important for the future treatment of this illness. During half term I will be baking cakes for my aunt’s care home in Brighton which is currently under lockdown.
also special to me as my Zeida read it at his Bar Mitzvah and it means a lot to him and my family that I am doing the same. I have chosen the London Air Ambulances as my Tzedakah project as they work hard and do not get the recognition they deserve and the money I will raise will help them run their service. I will be swimming 1.5 kilometres for five days over the half-term, which is 350 lengths in total to raise awareness and money for the London Air Ambulance. www.justgiving.com/ fundraising-edit/arielavital-bar-mitzvah
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Contacts finchley progressive synagogue
54 Hutton Grove N12 8DR 020 8446 4063 www.fps.org facebook.com/finchleyprog Rabbi Rebecca Birk – rabbi@fps.org Emeritus Rabbi: Dr Frank Hellner Community Development Manager: Zoe Jacobs – zoe@fps.org Musicians in Residence: Franklyn Gellnick, Dean Staker Synagogue Manager: Pauline Gusack pauline@fps.org executive 2020
Chair: Tamara Joseph, chair@fps.org Vice Chair: Roy Balint-Kurti Treasurer: Chris Nash, treasurer@fps.org
fps website: www.fps.org
Life Presidents: Sheila King Lassman, Alan Banes Vice Presidents: Cathy Burnstone, Renzo Fantoni, Josie Kinchin, Alex KinchinSmith, Laura Lassman, Lionel King Lassman, John Lewis, Andrea Rappoport, Joan Shopper contacts
Board of Deputies Reps: Janet Tresman, Stanley Volk Beit Midrash (Adult Education): Adrian Lister adrian@fps.org Beit Tefillah (Rites & Practices): Valerie Joseph valerie@fps.org Keep In Touch Team (contacting members): reached via Pauline in FPS office Website Editor: Philip Karstadt fpswebsite@fps.org
Honorary Secretary: Ann Pelham, honsec@fps.org
Shofar Editor: Darren Beach, shofar@fps.org
board members
FPS Office: administrator@fps.org
Beverley Kafka Paula Kinchin-Smith Sam King Phillip Raphael
Shofar Team: Sarah Rosen-Webb, Deb Hermer 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: Paul Silver-Myer
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
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Office phone: 0208 346 1777 Email: janet@altermans.co.uk