Caring for the Elderly - what you can do to help

It was lovely yesterday to have the shul buzzing on a Sunday morning. We met to discuss the issue of care for the elderly.  This came up because many of us are in the position of having to care for, or arrange care for, family members, or are not so young ourselves, or are concerned about the more isolated members of our own community.

Our two speakers, Lee Bloomfield and Avrom Baker, had between them a great deal of knowledge and experience in these areas, and together we all began to see how we might move forward. The themes that emerged most strongly were that the elderly are individuals, with individual, specific needs. And also that it was difficult for carers to access the information and help they needed – systems are so labyrinthine.  Also, on a psychological level, it’s difficult for people to ask for help – those in need of help fear losing their independence and dignity; carers feel an irrational guilt when they realise they cannot look after family members single-handed.

So we have decided to try to address these issues in our community.  As a first step we are going to organise an Open Doors afternoon, when anyone can pop in to shul or contact us, to get information, support and advice – and also we want people who would be willing to be part of a volunteer team to get in touch too. There will a date and more information shortly, so watch this space.  In the meantime, do contact Sherry Ashworth via the shul office if you want to get involved, or if you feel you need help – or know anyone who does!

Yom Ha'Atzmaut celebrations at shul - we rocked!

Share our memories of a wonderful night celebrating Israel ..

And you'll be pleased to know we lost lots of calories dancing BEFORE we scoffed Sam's speciality cupcakes!

Thanks to all who organised this very special event. And please remember that this Sunday 26th 11 am, come to shul again for what will be a very inspiring session on Care for the Elderly - what can our synagogue do to help its older members in the right way?

Care For the Elderly

It was early in the morning of 16th December last year when my 89 year old father rang me to say he was experiencing pains in his chest. Being dad, he'd already summoned help and the paramedics were on their way. He was whisked into A and E and treated swiftly and effectively for a heart attack.
But that was only the beginning.
My once fiercely independent father was now a hospital patient in a horrendously busy cardiac ward, from which he was discharged with no support whatsoever. While we gave him all the care we could we didn't know to whom to turn, or what was available. And would he now be able to live
independently? Just a few weeks into his recovery, he caught pneumonia and found
himself back in hospital. Once again, his treatment was effective, but the problems in the hospital ward were challenging, and it was hard to get the balance right between advocating for dad, and harassing the over-burdened staff.
Dad's much better now, and still living independently, but with added support. I feel as I've been on a very steep learning curve, and I know I was woefully under-informed about care for the elderly. And I had few people to talk to about some of the difficult decisions that had to be made.

For that reason I wanted to have a morning at Shul where anyone in my position, or likely to be in my
position, might come along and listen to experts talk about the systems that I found so baffling, and to air some of the issues affecting looking after elderly family members.
If this is you, or if you know any fellow congregants in this position, please do urge them to come along to Shul this Sunday 26th April at 11am to our session entitled Care for the Elderly. Our speakers are Lee Bloomfield and Avrom Baker.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Sherry Ashworth

COUNTING THE OMER

Our Rabbi says ...

The period we are now in between Pesach and Shavuot is called the Sephira - the Counting of the Omer.  Traditionally it is a time of sadness. According to the Talmud, 12,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students died in a  massacre in that period,  the Emperor Hadrian’s persecutions.

Some take it further back to associate it with the interval between the wheat and  harvests, a period of uncertainty, hope and prayer for physical continuity. So partying is discouraged, except on certain days: Rosh Hodesh, Lag B’Omer and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day).

The interesting thing is that we don’t have a countdown to the end of the period and the next festival. Instead we have a count-up. Not bemoaning how many days to go, but celebrating how far have we come. Similarly the Chanukah candles, not 8 down to 1,  but 1 up to 8. The principle: we in increase in holiness, we never decrease.

Always building up optimistically to a climax, not turning back and looking downhill.  We may have a year to go before the Redevelopment of this building. But when we know for sure, let it not be a final count down, but a build-up of  frequent celebratory activities and exciting events  so that we can see ourselves grow from month to month from strength to strength.

...

And the editor adds ...

These days the Internet and Facebook are full of inspirational quotes for the day in bold memes set across beautiful landscapes - you've all seen them. But why go to the Internet when our prayer books are chock-full of inspiration and material for meditation?  We can count the Omer privately by using our Pilgrim Festival Machzor - the section starts on page 655 and if you read this today (Friday 17th) the blessing for this evening (Shabbat) is on page 670, the fourteenth day. With each blessing there is an extract from the writings of great Jewish thinkers.

Shabbat Shalom!

Pesach - some reflections

Thanks and Sh'choyach to our congregant Roy Saatchi for the following fascinating piece, and to Danny Franks, treasurer and photographer, for capturing the communal seder.

I’ve been in Jerusalem at Pesach and also at Easter, so I started looking up links between the two and realised that the Passover is for every one of us.  I should add that this is not a piece of academic study!

Unlike the fabricated juxtaposition of Hanukkah and Christmas, the overlapping of Passover and Easter displays a common background and equal significance for observers.

Pesach (or Passover) comes from the Aramaic word Pascha.  I recall from French at school that the word for Easter is Pacques.   Church Latin and Greek for Easter are also similar to Pascha.  Pascha is also an Easter dish served in several Slavic countries.

So Pascha means both the Jewish holydays of Passover and the Christian holydays of Easter.

They are both linked to Spring and rebirth. The renewal of nature that comes with spring strengthens the promise of redemption embedded in the historical events we are commemorating.

The tradition of giving eggs at Easter celebrates new life.  In antiquity, nomadic Semitic tribes celebrated Pascha in connection with the spring calving. A custom developed of preparing unleavened, flat bread (matzah) from the first harvested grain.  It was not until much later that Pascha came to be celebrated in memory of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. And later still, Pesach for us was linked with the coming of the Mashiach - the messiah.  Which is why at the final moment of every Passover Seder, the Jewish diaspora voice the reflective hope: “Next year in Jerusalem.” It is the aspiration toward an ideal, a profound wish that the next year will be a happy one, just as the Children of Israel hoped after leaving Egypt.

Similarly, Jesus took elements of the Passover (the unleavened bread and the cup) and Paul in Corinthians directs that as often as the bread is eaten and the wine drunk, Christians proclaim the death of Jesus until the Messiah comes again.  So for both of us, it’s a question of here and now and not fully yet there.

Originally, the Jewish and Christian Pasches coincided. However, in A.D. 325, the First Council of Nicaea determined that Easter should always fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. As a consequence, Easter remains a moveable festival, always on a Sunday but close to the full moon.  For us Jews, the full moon is always the start of Passover, no matter what day of the week.  It is always on the 15th day of the Jewish lunar month of Nissan, the first month of the Jewish calendar. [Actually, Exodus 13:4 refers to Abib or Aviv, which is the original name for the first month:  Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving.  Deuteronomy 16:1: Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the LORD your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.]

But what about differences between the two festivals?  Both are about delivery from a state of despair, be it slavery or sin, but as I read it, Passover heralds the birth of the Jewish people as a force for good in the harmony of nations. Passover summons Jews collectively into the world to repair it – the engagement with others and reaching out to one another.  By contrast, Easter offers each Christian a remedy for sin and the promise of eternal life.

If our Seder meal is largely about Egypt, Easter is largely about Jerusalem.  Perhaps the most renowned celebration of Seder took place in Jerusalem, the Last Supper.  [Mark 14:13: And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.”]

Finally, the consequences of both festivals are central to our belief systems.  In the Haggadah we read that every Jew, twice daily, in the evening as well as in the morning, should recall the exodus from Egypt. Jews consider this prayer, the Shema, to be the most important part of our prayer service.  Correspondingly, for Catholics and many Protestants, the weekly or daily sacrament of Holy Communion, re-enacting the last Passover supper, is the most central and important part of theirs.  This blueprint for liberation that is the hallmark for Jews and Christians alike is a surely a great cause for celebration for us all.

Chag Sameach

Moadim l'simcha!

... which is what we say as a greeting in these intermediate days of Pesach.  And you reply with: chaggim l'sasson - seasons of joy.

And joy was certainly what the shul ramblers experienced as the early morning fog dispersed and left us bathed in glorious sunshine. We unzipped kagoules and removed jackets as Joyce Goodman strode confidently ahead of us through Burrs Country Park and beyond, pointing out sights of interest en route. If there was mud underfoot - well, the children of Israel had it even worse crossing the Red Sea. We eventually made it all the way to Summerseat, enjoying each other's conversations and putting the world to rights.  We stopped for a picnic, opened our matza sandwiches - and crunched.

 Above are just a few of us - there was an excellent turnout - and two dogs, too.  Thanks to Joyce, Adam and Lucy for making this happen.

...

This Shabbat April 11th we are delighted to welcome student rabbi Kath Vardi, who is coming to speak to us.  Many of you will know Kath, but for those of you who don't - here she is!

Kath is a native of Birmingham, and started her professional life as a psychiatric nurse and health service manager. She spent a year and a half on her husband's kibbutz, and her third child was born there.  Kath, her husband and five children are members of Menorah synagogue.  She is in her third year at Leo Baeck College. Expect a stimulating Shabbat!