Rosh Hashanah arts and crafts

While the grown-ups were enjoying the service upstairs, our younger members were busy celebrating in the Alexander Levy Hall with an arts and crafts spectacular, run and organised by our own Pam Walker.

A sweet and creative new year to all!

#refugeeswelcome

Synagogues all over the country this Shabbat resounded with the message that we welcome refugees. Rabbi's sermon reminded us of our own history, and the empathy we feel with today's asylum seekers. I was glad that at yesterday's Rep Council meeting there was a strong statement on similar lines:

So ... what can we do to help?  If you want to donate money, World Jewish Relief has a fund set up all ready for you - here's a link
https://www.worldjewishrelief.org/ways-to-give/appeals/refugee-crisis/donate-step-1/ 

All around Manchester - including our own synagogue - there are drop-off points for goods and donations. Make sure donations are appropriate - eg Calais asylum seekers are mainly male so women's clothing is not required!

You can also donate time - once our asylum seekers arrive, we can join organisations which help them to settle and navigate their way around life in this country. I'll let you know when I find out more.

...

Did you know that the MRJ runs online learning sessions? Last night I logged on for an hour of Talmud with Rabbi Laura and an assortment of fellow Jews from locations including New York, Madrid and Glasgow! We studied a passage about all the different New Years there are, leading us to consider why Rosh Hashanah is so special.

If this appeals to you, watch out for details of the online lectures by Leo Baeck teachers in the autumn term. An unmissable opportunity - and all free! The technology is unbelievably simple and the whole experience is inspirational.

But that's not all. Jackson's Row is about to launch a campaign to re-energise our wonderful synagogue community - details from the bimah on Rosh Hashanah ...

Shanah Tovah to everyone!

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

I’d be a dreadful subject for the genealogy TV programme, Who Do You Think You Are. The researchers would only be able to go back three generations max – after that, all my ancestors sink into a shtetl-style anonymity. There are no papers, no records – nothing. My mother once told me I had a great-grandfather called hairy Moishe, and he was said to have chopped down trees for a living. And that’s it.

In England, having a traceable ancestry has always been seen as conferring status.  You might not have any money, but if you have blue blood, then you can hold your head up high. A named ancestor – Lord such and such or squire whoever, really matters.  Most Ashkenazi Jews don’t come out too well on this scale, I’m afraid.

Recently, I’ve become engrossed in reading history books. This started with Rabbi’s wonderful Jewish history sermon sequence (still ongoing!) and broadened to take in Simon Schama, then European and world history in general. History is partly the story of great men (with some women) and a ruling elite. Where am I in all of this? With my dubious/non-existent ancestry? Whenever we read, we like to identify with a character, and feel involved. Where can someone like me start?

This is the joy of being Jewish. I have no knowledge of my individual ancestors, but I do know the people of Israel, the Jews, Hebrews – whatever you wish to call them – are my family. I am part of the Jewish people – a nobility in itself. When I read history books, I always look for the part the Jews played – and they always did play a part – sometimes as heroes, sometimes as victims. They were busy trading, advising, healing people or just getting on with life. Or perfecting the expressive language of Yiddish which in turn has so enriched modern day English.

I feel just as good as the person whose family came over with William the Conqueror. My family goes right back to before the Romans, before the Greeks, before the Egyptians. This is just as true for Jews by choice as Jews by birth – we are all part of the same family.

And what a family!

SA

Message from Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner

The blog is delighted to bring you the following message from Rabbi Laura ...

"Older people dream dreams and your youth will see visions" (Joel 3:1). It's this prophetic blend of dreaming and vision that works beautifully for us as Reform Jews.

The adults in Reform Judaism have often taken the lead from our youth movement. I think it's the right way around! Our young people have always posed intellectual and ideological questions for the Movement as a whole to respond to.

The changed commitment to kashrut at our central Movement events was inspired by a consistent dedication to kashrut in the early 1980's by RSY. More recently, RSY-Netzer passed a motion at their annual meeting - Veidah - on Jewish status, to proactively involve those with patrilineal Jewish status in RSY-Netzer. This, in turn, galvanised our communities and our lay leaders, the Reform Judaism Board and then our Rabbinic Assembly.

The proposals made to our communities by the Rabbinic Assembly would enable rabbis to confirm Jewish status on people with one Jewish parent. This status would then have to be ratified by the Beit Din. We have aligned our core values of a love of tradition and providing a proactive welcome, with our ability to adapt and our commitment to equality. Here it is - loving Judaism, evolving Judaism, sustaining Judaism.

Next year RSY-Netzer will focus on Reform Zionism.  This has inspired me to make one of my key aims for this coming year to re-emphasise teaching Reform Zionism. I am also focussing on Israel education as I believe that increasingly, especially for people under the ages of 35, the arguments for the existence of the State have become too opaque.

Just four words contain the multiple and dynamic concepts of Zionism. The educational exercise of expanding these four small words is one of the simplest and most effective ways of explaining Zionism that I have been taught.

Try this for easy, memorable and enriching: take these four words from the Hatkivah: "lehiot Am chofshi b'Artzeinu." They translate as "To be a free People in our Land", which, admittedly, is slightly longer in the English!

Take each word, place it in one part of a grid and start to broaden out these words into a concise and clear explanation of Zionism. For instance: 'lehiot" - "being". It’s about the meaning of existing, flourishing and being safe. This brings together the Herzlian idea of Zionism as providing a safe haven for Jews to exist in with the vision of Ahad Ha'Am in which Israel will provide cultural impetus for the whole Jewish world to live by.

The next tiny word, "Am", is the dynamic concept of "Peoplehood." Jews are far more than a narrow definition of 'religion'. Instead we are a People, like other people who deserve national self-determination. We have a common language, culture, literature, land and religious civilisation.

The third word, "chofshi", is our "freedom" to develop ourselves in a modern democracy.

Lastly "b'Artzeinu" – “in our Land” - in Israel due to Biblical covenantal connections, historical continual Jewish presence.

So as the Prophet Joel said, "the older people dream and our youth will see visions." We need our next year to be one that brings together the dreams of older generations and the new visions of younger generations. This would provide us with a Reform Zionism that encapsulates an inspiring progressive vision for Israel for 5776 and beyond.

Shanah tovah!

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner

Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism

 

Sponsor Steve Cohen and support Brookvale!

These legs are made for cycling ...

FUNDRAISING for BROOKVALE

Following his sponsored Abseil down Peel Tower near Bury in aid of Mountain Rescue, Steve Cohen is intending celebrating his 70th Birthday year with a further challenge - a 400 mile cycle ride. His journey will start from Rochdale Town Hall on the 18^th August and goes via Morecambe, the Lake District, Hadrian's Wall, Durham, Whitby and the Yorkshire Dales, back (hopefully!!)  to Rochdale Town Hall, 8 days later. He will be cycling with two friends  and they will be carrying all their gear in panniers on the bikes. The route involves several thousand feet of ascent.

Steve is dedicating the ride to help people with disabilities, and is asking Jackson's Row members if they are able to sponsor his effort with donations for the residents of Brookvale with whom our synagogue has such a close relationship. He says that the knowledge that Jackson's Row members are supporting his ride will spur him on and help his ageing legs keep peddling over what is a very demanding route!

An e-mail will be sent out shortly to members with details of how to make payments to Brookvale but he will be delighted if anyone wishes to contact him directly on

07711 344616 or 01706 360124 or steveco1966@gmail.com 

UK Jewish Film Festival

BIGGER, BETTER…AND BRILLIANT!

 TWELVE JEWISH FILMS FOR MANCHESTER

Lovers of film  are advised to clear their diaries from 7^th to 22^nd November  when the UKJewish Film Festival brings even more  award-winning films  to our city.

In tandem with  the popularity of Menorah’s Film Club, Judith Gordon is the proud Chair of the Manchester Co-ordinating Committee whose membership reaches all parts of the Jewish community. Orthodox, Reform or secular…we all love film!

Acclaimed directors and famous actors from around the world feature in a rich selection of cinematic drama, comedy, thrills  and heartbreak.  Four films will be screened at HOME (ex-Cornerhouse ) and eight at Cineworld, Didsbury. 

If you enjoyed the Israeli film ‘Fill the Void’ you will love its star Hadas Yaron in Felix and Meira.   A winner at the Toronto and Haifa film festivals, this unconventional romance begins as an innocent friendship between two people leading vastly different lives.  As Felix opens Meira’s eyes to the world outside her tight-knit Orthodox community, her desire for change becomes harder for her to ignore.

Closer to the Moon, with wonderful performances from Mark Strong and Oscar nominee Vera Formiga, is a blockbuster black comedy based on the true story of a Romanian bank heist by high-ranking Jewish communists posing as filmmakers.  A well-deserved winner at  Jerusalem and Montreal  festivals, with  no less than nine Romanian awards.

Apples from the Desert is a timeless and moving tale of tradition versus modernity. Unhappy with the restrictions of her strictly religious Sephardic Jerusalem home, Rebecca secretly joins a dance class where she meets secular kibbutznik Dooby.  Following her own dreams brings havoc when her father reveals other plans for her!

The Farewell Party is a compassionate and unlikely comedy about a group of friends at a Jerusalem retirement home who decide to help their terminally ill friend.  As  more people ask for their help, they are faced with a life and death dilemma. Outstanding performances merited awards in Venice  and Israel.

UK Jewish Film’s Chief Executive Michael Etherton is delighted that Manchester’s Festival goes from strength to strength “reflecting the cultural vibrancy of both the Jewish community and the city. This year’s programme of twelve features and documentaries will be unmissable,.

“We are looking forward to welcoming you to the Festival” he said 

Judith Gordon advises early booking at the cinemas.  Details of the entire programme  will be available shortly.  In the meantime, Committee member Robert Shields  will answer  queries: Robert.shields@me.com

Some Links you might like

Three links for you today!

The first is a lovely article on the BBC website about what happened to the writer Adam Gopnik when he lost his phone in Paris ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33731981 

The next is news of the latest single - Family Fortunes - by our own Noam David Wright, which tells the story of two young Jewish immigrants who settle in Britain in the 1950’s.  You can listen to it here ...

https://www.facebook.com/darkbloomfamilyfortunes

And finally, if anyone is looking for accommodation in north London, the synagogue has received the following ...

Lady with bungalow in Golders Green has spare Bedroom/sitting room with en-suite bathroom available..  Suitable for student or professional lady.  Close to bus and tube station.  Please email cynthiabernstein@gmail.com