Programme of

Events

Welcome to Chagigah 2016!

This weekend we hope that you will relax, be spiritually uplifted, learn something new, meet new friends and be inspired to take lots of ideas back home with you. We encourage you to participate in as much of the weekend as you wish. We have created a full and varied programme and hope there is something for everyone as we create a community together. If you need anything, please look for those of us in teal polo shirts or call by the conference office in the Business Centre.

Shabbat shalom from all of us on the planning team.

2 Friday 16:00 Registration Opens Reception 16.00 Getting to Know You; Enjoy a drink in the bar, a quiz and make new Bar onwards friends. Amit 17:00 Early Dinner; For under fives Restaurant 17:00 – Orientation Tours; Will leave from the bar between 17.00 and Bar 18:00 18.00 to show you around this year’s venue 17:30 – Kuddle-Up Shabbat Service; For our youngest participants, with Alfreton 18:15 Student Robyn Ashworth-Steen Music Session; Learn the Chagigah melodies. If you would like the opportunity to get in the mood for Shabbat with a bit of singing Barber come along and learn some of the melodies we will be using this evening Preparing for Shabbat; With arts and crafts Bar Introduction to the Initiatives; Framing the weekend Ambergate 18:30 – Kabbalat Shabbat; Led by Rabbi Danny Freelander (WUPJ) & Chatterley 19:40 Cantor Zöe Jacobs 19:55 – Kiddush and welcome Lawrence 20:00 20:00 – Dinner Lawrence 22:00 22:15 – Oneg; Celebrating Shabbat with song Chatterley late Late Night Study with Rabbi ; So the spies came back and chaos set in...Were Moses and Aaron right to at least 'seem' to abdicate responsibility? Was Moses actually such a good leader? Should he be our role model? Was it a clever ploy to let Joshua and Long Hall 1 Caleb take control? Would you have followed the Ten or the Two, are fear tactics useful? And what would have happened if The Boss had not intervened? Come and discuss our sedra for the week Having God Conversations – Tools and Anchors for the Spiritually Curious and Educators; God talk can be daunting, and hard to find the words for, especially if we are being asked difficult questions! This session won't promise any answers but together we will Ambergate explore ways we can begin to have conversations about God with ourselves and with others. Does offer us any help? Can we exist as a community together when we hold such a diverse collection of beliefs? With Debbie Young-Somers Saturday 07:00 – Breakfast Restaurant 09:45 07:30 – Jogging Minyan with Rabbi Celia Surget; Exercise your body as well Meet at 08:15 as your mind Reception 08:30 – David, Bathsheba and Uriah: Babies, Baths and Corrupt Kings; We 09:15 will explore the afterlife of one of the most iconic stories in the life of King David. We will begin by studying a variety of rabbinic responses to the text of 2 Samuel 11-12, and end by exploring some Lawrence 1 reactions to the story in the context of the English Civil War (including Thomas Hobbes and John Milton), and see how they might affect modern political thinking. With Student Rabbi Elliott Kardstadt

3 Saturday (contd) 08:30 – Mindfulness, Contemplation, Tefillah and Me; Danny will guide us 09:15 through a contemplative and reflective experience where we will (contd) take some time for ourselves before the day begins. This session is Lawrence 2 designed to model that which we can repeat ourselves at home and help us begin to think about how we might develop our own personal spiritual practices. With Student Rabbi Danny Newman Torah Tots; Who is your favourite Superhero? We would like to invite you to come and celebrate Shabbat dressed as your favourite superhero! We won’t leave you out if you haven’t got a costume with you, but we will be thinking about what makes a superhero, as Ambergate well as singing and dancing our way through some fun Shabbat songs! All welcome but ideal for 5’s and under! Babies welcome too! With Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers Beit Din Surgery; Do you have any questions about the work of the Beit Din? Maybe about conversion? Or divorce? Or surrogacy? If so, Barber pick a 10 minute time slot from outside the door and grab a chance to talk privately to the Convenor, Rabbi Jackie Tabick Shabbat Morning Service; We will all join together as one 9:30 – community and be led in t’fillah by Paul Freedman, Esther Chatterley 11:30 Hugenholtz, and Fabian Sborovsky

Session 1 Session 1

11:50 – Tackling Adult Social Care Initiative: The Big Picture – It isn’t 12:50 Pretty; Step beyond your own responsibilities or that of your community and allow Merav to share her knowledge from the coal face. Understand the realities of adult social care and the Chatterley 1 repercussions of loneliness and isolation on the NHS and on local authorities. If that doesn't alarm you let's take a look at the future if we do nothing. With Merav Dover Empowering Jewish Practice Initiative: My Jewish Practice; Let’s dig deeper into our Jewish practice by looking at why we care about it and the different ways in which we experience it. In this session we’ll explore, through some inspiring texts, the ways that we can engage with Torah, Tefillah and mitzvot in our lives. We’ll also be listening carefully to what participants want from this process. And we will attempt to answer the big question – what is Jewish spirituality and how can we bring it closer into our lives? With Rabbi Benji Stanley Re-Imagining Leadership Initiative: Cultures and Communities; Every organisation has a culture but have we become prisoners of our own? Communities have all invested time and money in events and programming yet still haven’t managed to engage as many

members as they hoped to. Why is it case? What could be changed? Join us to explore how we can create cultures of participation and meaning through building relationships with our members which will leave them eager to pursue leadership roles. College @ 60th: Keep Calm and Study the Zohar: The Zohar is the cornerstone of Jewish mysticism, and has had a remarkable impact on Jewish and non-Jewish culture (even on Madonna!) Yet, how can this obscure, riddling book be relevant to Reform Judaism? To get the answer, be prepared to embark on an inspiring journey which will lead you to the depths of the Zohar, and unravel its hidden layers. With Dr Alinda Damsma

4 Saturday (contd) Session 1 Scriptural Reasoning: A Text Based Session Bringing in Voices and

(contd) Perspectives from Three Faiths; Based on a Scriptural Reasoning 11:50 – model, this session will see three faith leaders bring their Scriptures 12:50 to life, spoken or chanted in their original languages. Texts from Islam, Christianity and Judaism teach on the issue of poverty and we Chatterley 2 will have the chance to discuss and question how we make our sacred texts relevant in the UK at a time of increasing need. With Reverend Anna Alls, Sajid Mohammed and Student Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen. Chaired by Rabbi Step Back in Time; People look back on their youth movement days with such joy, but how many of us get a chance to step back in time and experience a peula (session) from our summer camp or youth

club days? Join us as we engage in chinuch (education) in an immersive experiential way. It will be fun and educational all at the same time! With Libby Burkeman and Naomi Raanan 13:00 – Restaurant 14:00 Lunch 14:00 – Free time 15:00 Craft Activities with Kathryn Michael and Lana Young continuing Bar all afternoon Beit Din Surgery; Do you have any questions about the work of the Beit Din? Maybe about conversion? Or divorce? Or surrogacy? If so, Hazelwood pick a 10 minute time slot from outside the door and grab a chance to talk privately to the Convenor, Rabbi Jackie Tabick Open Beit Midrash Barber Walk Around the Grounds

Session 2 Session 2

15:00 – Tackling Adult Social Care Initiative: How does the issue of 16:15 isolation and loneliness present itself in our communities?: The impact of ageing relatives, the increasing pastoral needs of our members, the new challenges that changing demographics present us with are just a few of the headlines this session will allow us to plot across our Movement. Come and explore what challenges we share and which we are future proofing ourselves from Empowering Jewish Practice Initiative: The Amidah from a range of angles; Come and experience a close reading of the Amidah and use other texts to get at its range and meaning. Gain the confidence to be creative with it and look at ways of bringing it into your own

daily life. And how can we bring our enhanced understanding of this central prayer back into our communities? With the Jewish Practice team; Sherry Ashworth and Rabbis Celia Surget, Mark Goldsmith and Benji Stanley Re-Imagining Leadership Initiative: If only leaders grew on trees (Part 1); Many synagogues told us they felt that they rely on the same leaders time and time again or are worried about who is going to fill the next position on their Council. The Pentecostal leader

Bishop Wayne Brown hasn’t quite managed to find seeds to that tree but he has been able to build thoughtful leadership trajectories for members at his successful Pentecostal black majority church, New Testament Church of God, with Bishop Wayne Brown

5 Saturday (contd) Session 2 @ 60th: Hope and Despair in Times of Crisis; (contd) Looking through the prism of the biblical book of Lamentations and

15:00 – the later rabbinic midrash Lamentations Rabbah, we will explore

16:15 our complex reactions to extreme difficulties, allowing our sacred texts to give voice to our darkest fears and our keenest hopes. With Dr. Laliv Clenman and Rabbi Dr Deborah Kahn-Harris Making Change Without Making Any Changes! Familiarity is what makes services comforting for many whilst others crave something new. How can we keep the familiar feeling of our t'fillah (services) and yet change the energy, without even changing the melodies?

Join us as we investigate a new toolbox for change and go home with a set of new possibilities - all without changing a thing! No musical experience necessary, just enthusiasm to participate. With Rabbi Danny Freelander and Cantor Zöe Jacobs Meaningful Engagement With ; The Alliance for Progressive Judaism is in the midst of establishing an Israel Desk. This is an essential step forward in supporting the Reform and Liberal Movements, in collaboration with Leo Baeck College, deepen their Israel engagement. Explore the potential of this project and discuss how it can respond to the current multiple dialogues and needs within our community. Can the Progressive Movement be at the forefront of a paradigm shift in Diaspora/Israel relationship? With Rabbi Charley Baginsky (Chair), Dr Keith Kahn-Harris (LBC), Kalela Lancaster (NIF) and Roy Graham (UJIA). In partnership with UJIA, Leo Baeck College and New Israel Fund UK Seuda Shlishit time for relaxation as we fulfil the Sabbath obligation 16:15 – of eating even more food. Eat, relax and enjoy varied discussion 17:15 topics on each table

Session 3 Session 3

17:30 – Tackling Adult Social Care Initiative: Sharing Inspirational practice; 18:45 Come and hear all about it. We will unpack some great initiatives being used to tackle some of the major issues we highlighted in

Session Two. Your synagogue will be grateful as this session will give them answers to problems they didn't know they had! There will be plenty of tangible, take home pieces from this session Empowering Jewish Practice Initiative: The Shema from a range of angles: We will return to the shema, using other texts to help us interpret it. We’ll also include the use of tefillin, tallitot and the mezuzah. And again, as with the Amidah, we will consider how we

can use our enhanced understanding of this prayer both personally and in our communities. With the Jewish Practice team; Sherry Ashworth and Rabbis Celia Surget, Mark Goldsmith and Benji Stanley Re-Imagining Leadership Initiative: If only leaders (in our shuls) grew on trees (Part 2); Join Bishop Wayne Brown again as, with you, we unpack with you lessons on building a trajectory of membership for communities and explore with the teams how this might be translated into our communities, with Bishop Wayne Brown

6 Saturday (contd) Session 3 Leo Baeck College @ 60th: Joseph and Asenath: A Story of Love (contd) Across Boundaries and Through the Ages; Join the faculty of the

17:30 – Leo Baeck College for a unique and dynamic study session exploring 18:45 the story of Joseph and Asenath through biblical, Hellenistic, Second Temple, targumic (Aramaic), midrashic and talmudic texts. We will

explore and study the challenges posed by this famous marriage from the ancient world all the way through to our Jewish communities today. With Rabbi Dr Deborah Kahn-Harris, Dr Alinda Damsma, Rabbi Neil Janes, Rabbi Shulamit Ambalu, Dr Laliv Clenman and Dr Keith Kahn-Harris A Bedouin Leader Against All Odds: Amal Elsana Alh’jooj; Amal grew up in, and became a leading activist for, the Bedouin community in Israel. As a fifth girl in a traditional Bedouin family, Amal has never taken ‘no’ for an answer and became a pioneer in advancing community development and women's rights in her Bedouin community. She is the former Executive Co-Director and founder of AJEEC-NISPED (Arab-Jewish Centre for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperative). For her incredible work she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, together with other social activists. Amal also sits on the International Board of New Israel Fund and was awarded its Human Rights Award in 2013. Amal is briefly in the UK and will discuss the current and historical issues facing the Bedouin communities in Israel as well as Jewish- Arab relations. Amal is an inspiring activist with a remarkable story. In partnership with New Israel Fund UK Music Session with Cantor Zöe Jacobs and Judith Silver 19:00 Group Photo; Meet outside by the bar Dinner and Chagfest ending with Havdallah marking the end of 19:15 – Shabbat Outside 23:00 Torah with Rabbi Benji Stanley Make and Take with Libby Burkeman Learning After Dark; Grab a drink and get deep. A no holds barred 23:00 discussion, can you be Jewish and not believe in God? With Student Long Hall 2 Rabbis Kath Vardi and Deborah Blausten Sunday 07:30 – Breakfast and Check Out (by 10am) 09:00 08.45 – AGM 10.00 10:00 – Creative Shacharit with the Students of Leo Baeck College 10:30

Session 4 Session 4

10:40 – Tackling Adult Social Care Initiative: Be part of the next chapter; 12:00 The MRJ are committed to combating isolation and loneliness but this session is the first step towards how we can we do this as

42 communities, effectively and strategically. When we celebrate the impact we have had at Chagigah 2018 you will have wanted to be at this session so you can say you were one of the pioneers

7 Sunday (contd) Session 4 Empowering Jewish Practice Initiative: Growing inspiring practice; (contd) It doesn’t end here! Come to this session to reflect on the ways

10:40 – your spiritual practice has developed over Chagigah. We will use 12:00 these reflections to plan how you will take back your gains to your communities. We’ll also set up a network so we can all support each other as we start on our journeys towards more meaningful Jewish practice. With Sherry Ashworth Re-Imagining Leadership Initiative: Successful leadership and Congregational habits; Aristotle taught, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act but a habit”. But who is a leader and what does successful leadership look like? We will be looking at this and will be reflecting on 8 congregational habits that we are all familiar with. Understanding these habits will allow us to create a congregational map that will identify strengths and weaknesses; this in turn will develop the future path to successful leadership and excellence Leo Baeck College @ 60th: From Dinah to Tamar: Women’s Voices Reimagined; Join us for this hands-on study session of talmudic and midrashic tales connecting Dinah to Tamar and beyond. Through

study of these rabbinic texts we will explore how women’s voices may re-emerge and be reimagined for our times. With Rabbi Neil Janes and Dr Laliv Clenman L’Chaim with Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner Refugees; Rooted in Text, Inspired to Action: Throughout history Jews have taken refuge, how has this past shaped our present and what, if any, is our resulting obligation to refugees? From Kindertransport to private sponsorship and loving

thy neighbour to creating and developing community through good coffee, good food and good conversation. Come along and join the conversation with those who are already doing so, with Anna Dyson (ToastLoveCoffee) and Andrew Jacobs (Citizens UK) 12:15 – Closing Tekes (Ceremony) 12:50 13:00 – Lunch 14:00

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