Hannah Grossmith-Dwek Bacp Child/Adolescent Counsellor
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September 2020 the magazine of finchley progressive synagogue Awaiting This Month’s Honey From the Editor... darren beach September is always around us seems bonkers, from exam algorithms a unique month for to Brexit, from Twitter racism to Covidiots. us. Not only is it ‘back We keep reading about ‘the new normal’. to school’ and ‘back But what is normal? Isn’t it just the same but to work’, but the new slightly different, like every day tends to be? year (ok, the exact We are far more adaptable than we realise. My dates vary) allows favourite modern author is Matt Haig. A mental us to recharge our illness survivor, he has become one of Britain’s spiritual batteries. best-loved adult and children’s writers with That may sound his engaging style, keen eye for an aphorism trite and obvious but I think it is true, whether and vivid characterisations. In his best-selling you’re a regular shul-goer or an infrequent memoir Reasons To Stay Alive he wrote: “There attendee. There’s something comforting about is no standard normal. Normal is subjective. the familiarity of the Torah reading at Rosh There are seven billion versions of normal on Hashanah, the timetable of what to do, where this planet.” to go and when, the warm bath of nostalgia that For sure, many of us have been off on reminds you (well, me anyway) of childhood days holiday, or just getting out in the fresh air and doing tashlich by the stream, and teen years showing off our stylish face coverings. For many seeing who else from my school had turned up. of course it is still a difficult period to deal with. The High Holy Days period is a reminder that And this time of year is an ideal time to take in the midst of uncertainty there are some things stock, and to help those who are currently not that don’t change. Islands of stability to keep us as able as us to deal with the cards they’ve been grounded, that show that life goes on, that it’s dealt. To finish, one more line from Matt Haig. ok to ‘keep calm and carry on’ even when we “Everything is going to be all right. Or, if not, don’t always feel ready to. Even when the world everything is going to be, so let’s not worry.” Photo: Find out more about Dean Furman and Joe Jacobson’s experiences as Jewish footballers on page 16, as detailed on an entertaining and informative Zoom call with Maccabi GB. Cover photo: Zoe Jacobs Copy deadline is the 10th of each month. Please email all content to [email protected] 2 From the Rabbi rabbi rebecca birk How will we mark the new year of 5781? I ask this because we are still so much entrenched in the strangeness that is 2020 and the ludicrous experiences we are becoming used to. This year has seen us weather (poorly at times) Covid 19 and the global pandemic status. Brexit, remember that? And most recently the shambolic handling of our public exams, A Levels, GCSEs and BTECs. Some of us have been hit harder than others; COVID-19 in particular may have had On Rosh Hashanah it is written, on Yom Kippur particular impact. I know well that some of you it is sealed: have struggled terribly. But now as we approach That this year people will live and die, the New Year this September, we might consider some more gently than others what we can bring with us into our High Holy and nothing lives forever. Day Season. But amidst overwhelming forces No matter what happens in our lives, for some of nature and humankind, of us these days from Rosh Hashanah through we still write our own Book of Life, to Yom Kippur have always kept us Jewish, and our actions are the words in it, kept us tethered, grounded and connected. 54 and the stages of our lives are the chapters, Hutton Grove has been historically critical to this and nothing goes unrecorded, ever. process; standing within our building has been Every deed counts. powerful, pulled back by this time of year and Everything you do matters. its services. ‘Zochreinu L’chayim’ Remember us And we never know what act or word for life. will leave an impression or tip the scale... In Achad Ha’am’s words, ‘More than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.’ This is the only way to embark on this new I think for many of us this applies to the HHD year, this Rosh Hashanah. As we gather in a too. The memories and associations we make different way than ever before. We are still from them. It’s at this moment in our calendar directed to the same goal. We will still hear the that we set intentions and resolutions with the Shofar. We will still eat the tart apples and the hope to return more fully to ourselves and to be sweet honey. We will still dive into the reflection our best version. I’ve taken these words from a and hopefully the renewal that comes with it. prayer written by a contemporary Reform Rabbi, Life and the waxing and waning of our days Joseph B. Meszler because they capture this year would be the poorer without it. I look forward so well; to marking this together. Differently, yes, but still together. Let us be strengthened by what it offers us. 3 From the Chair cathy burnstone Last month I thought that I had written my final they reconsidered and Chair’s article for Shofar before Tamara takes on settled on a pared the role, but here I am again! I started thinking down wedding with ten about how we often get another chance or an guests, one friend each opportunity unexpectedly arises. and the other guests It was only well into my late 40s that I were family members. I really got to know my late father’s twin sister was Annie’s only relation and her husband and I am grateful to Carmen and I was overjoyed to be for encouraging me to get in touch with Pamela a part of their wonderful and Hymie. I was able to visit them in Worcester celebration. and learn much more about my paternal family I am sure that like as well as Hymie’s family too. My paternal first many members of FPS I did not envisage that cousins, Annie, Martin and Simon are also part synagogue life would become virtual, nor that of this story and it has been so good to get to this way of engaging could be so meaningful know them too. or enriching, but it has. Of course when the This weekend we went to Harrogate for my opportunity arises for us all to be together first cousin Annie’s marriage to her long time again I will be there, but in the meantime I am partner Hugh. When lockdown started Annie and so grateful that our synagogue is thriving. I wish Hugh thought they would need to postpone their every member, your families and friends a happy wedding and notified their 100 guests. However New Year and a good fast. 4 Cut It Out lesley urbach “We have learned to fly the air like birds and hate crime statistics According to an article swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned in the Guardian in October 2019 the number of the simple art of living together.” Martin Luther hate crimes reported to police have more than King. doubled since 2013. There were 103,379 hate Grime artist Wiley’s recent anti Semitic crimes recorded by the police in England and rants on social media must be dealt with under Wales in 2018/19, an increase of 10% compared the law as a hate crime. to 2017/18. what is hate crime? Hate Crime is defined as what can we do? Support René Cassin’s ‘Cut “an act of hostility towards an individual as a It Out‘ campaign which aims to bring people result of their race, religion, nationality, sexual together to call out abusive or inflammatory orientation, gender identity or disability” speech. Write to every media source every “Hate crime is merely the final act of time they use unacceptable language. Use a a sequence of stages. It is the final, most template letter from the website to ask MPs extreme symptom of various ideologies which to support Rene Cassin’s campaign. Challenge express intolerant and dogmatic views. In order people when they make prejudicial remarks to combat hate crime, we must effectively about any group. There is no hierarchy of challenge hateful discourse and the circles in discrimination and hate. As Jewish sources say: which it circulates.” - Board of Deputies of British “Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, for he is Jews thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou was a stranger in his land” “Groundless hatred is considered Deuteronomy 23:7 as serious an evil as idolatry, “Groundless hatred is considered as serious an evil as idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed immorality, and bloodshed combined.” Talmud, Mas. Yoma 9b combined.” www.hopenothate.org.uk/research/state-of- types of hate crime Any criminal offence hate-report-2019 carried out with hostility based on race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or www.cps.gov.uk/hate-crime disability. Hate crime includes: physical assault, verbal abuse and incitement to hatred through www.amnesty.org.uk/files/Against-Hate- pictures, videos, words and music.