LJS NEWSLETTER JULY 2020 FINAL1.Indd
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July/August 2020 Tammuz, Av and Ellul 5780 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE LIBERAL JEWISH SYNAGOGUE LJS News Rabbi Elana Dellal – Au Revoir Dear Elana, I know I speak for all of us in saying that your departure Inside this issue from the LJS will diminish us. Your leadership, thoughtfulness, sensitivity, compassion, warmth and Drop-In Appeal; Tisha B’Av 2 care for our members have brought a profound sense Shabbat services 3 of our sacred task as a community. You engage deeply Council Report 4 in the lives of our members – the elderly and frail who Induction service for 5 value your visits, parents and children of Rimon, and Rabbi Igor; members who seek your help when they are in pain Shavuot celebrations or anxiety. The Calm of the Sabbath 6-7 You have created an open culture and strong sense of Exploring French 8-9 community. And you always have your finger on the Jewish artists pulse, whether leading a timely service in memory of Rabbi Elana’s time 10 the eleven people killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue at the LJS in Pittsburgh, or opening up Rimon online with such Tributes to Rabbi Elana 11 swi ness during this pandemic. Life during World War II 12-13 You have brought inspiration, courage and openness The Learning Circle 14 to our community. Thank you from all of us. I hope Rimon Corner 15 that you, George, Jonah, Ollie and Rafi will remain part Out & About Club Update; 16 of the LJS. Special Anniversary Alexandra Emergency Appeal For Families Seeking Asylum Imagine not being able to a ord your weekly shop during the pandemic… For six years the LJS has held monthly Drop-Ins for £10.00 will enable a family to purchase two packs families seeking asylum in the UK. In March, the of nappies onset of COVID-19 compelled us to close our doors. £25.00 will help families cover monthly phone Why we need your help top-ups, crucial for staying in touch with lawyers Our guests are missing out on vital support from and support services the LJS and the closure of other support services. £40.00 will help a family with their food shop They are struggling now more than ever. Families seeking asylum live in cramped, sub- To make a donation please click HERE standard housing, and are expected to subsist If you are reading a print version of this appeal, on just £39.60 per person a week. They are not please go to: https://tinyurl.com/y78goo98 permitted to work. Alternatively, you can write a cheque payable to Our goal is to continue to provide and increase The Liberal Jewish Synagogue and send to: shopping vouchers worth £20.00 a month to each The LJS, 28 St John’s Wood Road, London NW8 7HA. adult for food, nappies, toiletries and extra phone Please write ‘Drop-In’ on the back of your cheque. credit to help our guests stay connected. Note: Any donations received in addition to our £20.00 per Please donate whatever you are able, and please guest per month target will be spent on other areas of our work share this message with your friends. with asylum seekers, as needed. Note: any donations received in addition to our £20.00 per Tisha B’Av – 9th Av / Wednesdayguest 29per month July target at will be8.30pm spent on other areas of our work An evening of reflective prayer and meditationwith asylum seekers, as needed. Tisha B’Av is an ancient day of mourning when has been even more painful because of loss and we remember the destruction of the First and bereavement. Second Temples, the massacre of communities during the Crusades, the expulsion of the Jews How do we begin to make sense of what has from Spain in 1492, pogroms in Russia and happened to us over the past few months? Poland, and the destruction of European Jewry How can we emerge from the darkness of despair during the Shoah. and find courage and hope to look forward? More than four months since we went into Please join us for an hour of online gentle prayer lockdown, some of us are venturing out to see and readings, coming together as a community to family and friends. Others may still be shielding, look back and to look forward. Please contact Abi and as time goes by, the restrictions imposed Rose ([email protected]) for the Zoom link to this become harder to bear. For some, this period service or watch via the LJS YouTube channel. Bereavements We extend our sympathy to: Gillian Brasse and her family on the death of Peter Roth and his family on the death of Peter’s Gillian’s brother Glenn Brasse mother Eva Roth 2 May God comfort you and all who mourn Emergency Appeal For Families Seeking Asylum Shabbat and special services: July-August Friday evening services are at 6.45pm. Shabbatmorning services are at 11.00am unless otherwise stated. Please refer to the weekly email, Shalom LJS, for information about which Rabbi is leading the service. All our services are online and can be accessed via The Liberal Jewish Synagogue YouTube channel. At the end of each service on Friday evening and Shabbat morning, congregants are invited to join together for Kiddushvia Zoom. The link is shown on the screen with clear instructions. Key diary dates Friday 3 July for High Holy Days Shabbat 4 July Balak and Festivals Friday 10 July Saturday 12 September: Evening Selichot service in Shabbat 11 July Pinchas preparation for the High Holy Days Please join us online to say thank you and au revoir to Rabbi Friday 18 September (evening): Elana Dellal whose last week at the LJS is this coming week. Erev Rosh Hashanah Friday 17 July Saturday 19 September (day): Rosh Hashanah Shabbat 18 July Mattot-Masei You are invited to join an online service with the LJS, Mosaic Sunday 27 September (evening): Kol Nidrei and Finchley Progressive Synagogue, led by Rabbi Igor Zinkov, Monday 28 September (day): Yom Kippur Rabbi Rachel Benjamin and Rabbi Rebecca Birk. Friday 2 – Friday 9 October: Sukkot Friday 24 July Erev Sukkot is evening of Friday 2 October; first day is Saturday 3 October Shabbat 25 July D’varim/Chazon Friday 9 – Saturday 10 October: Simchat Torah Wednesday 29 July Erev Tisha B’Av Erev Simchat Torah/Shemini Atzeret is evening This special evening service at 8.30pm, which commemorates of Friday 9 October; day of Simchat Torah is the destruction of the Temple and other tragedies in our Jewish Saturday 10 October history, will be an opportunity for us to come together to mourn recent deaths of family and friends. This service is open to Thursday 10 – Friday 18 December: everyone in the congregation. (See page 2 for more information.) Chanukkah First night is the evening of Thursday 10 December Friday 31 July Shabbat 1 August Va’etchanan/Nachamu The LJS YouTube Channel Friday 7 August We hope members will enjoy being able to avail themselves of the uploads Shabbat 8 August Ekev on the LJS YouTube channel. Although Friday 14 August services in their entirety only remain on the channel for up to two days for Shabbat 15 August Re’eh contractual reasons, the sermons and Friday 21 August readings remain. We hope you find other events, interviews and conversations of Shabbat 22 August Shof’tim interest. Please click on ‘Videos’ on the Friday 28 August LJS YouTube channel to see the complete list of uploads available. 3 Shabbat 29 August Ki Tetze Council Report ‘And you shall command the children of Israel…to cause the lamp to burn always’ (Exodus 27:20) Each week, in our As part of this discussion, Council debated online services, we whether the LJS would return for the High Holy see photographs of Days. It is hard to predict the situation for mid- our Sanctuary with September (Rosh Hashanah is on 19 September). the ner tamid (eternal We are required to follow Government rules and light) burning in the guidance of CST, the Jewish community’s front of the ark. It security team. The likelihood is that we is a symbol of the would not be able to have many people in the presence of God. building by this time, because of the distancing While we are all restrictions. Our High Holy Days services will at home, the ner need to be designed for a congregation who tamid is kept alight are mostly at home. Some may be broadcast in the building, not from the Sanctuary and some may be from just in the pictures we see on our screens. It is a other places; we are at the initial planning stage. reminder that the LJS building is still there and This of course requires the technology and that we will return to its physical space. we are working to get this in place to ensure The thoughts of the rabbis and Council have a meaningful High Holy Days experience for turned to making tentative plans for that return people wherever they are. and these were discussed by Council in our June A challenge for us is that this is expensive. We meeting. A working party has been established to have received some donations and legacies in look at the logistics of enabling people to move the last year which will go towards the necessary safely around the building while maintaining equipment, but there is a shortfall. Alongside appropriate distancing. this is our concern that some Members may be Alongside this, the group is planning the reluctant to pay their technology that will be required for a future membership fees this where people are able to access the services year, particularly if many, online as well as in person.