Friday Family Service

On Friday 19th May, Rabbi Yuval conducted the first Friday Family Service, after school, in the Schindler Hall.

Unsure as to how many families would attend, word of mouth had done the trick and we were delighted that 17 children from the ages of 6 months up to 9 years, along with their family members, turned up, eager to participate! It was great to see many from the successful 'Mini-Ruach' playgroup and some non-members who'd been invited along too.

The atmosphere was relaxed, yet fun, with everyone singing in a circle following the Shabbat stories, songs and prayers led by our Rabbi, allowing all the children and their parents to join in. At the end of the service, some of the older children helped with the lighting of the candles and everyone said the blessings over the wine (grape juice!) and challah before enjoying a delicious buffet (courtesy of Katie Dack and myself) of pizza, crisps, dips, cakes and much more!

The rest of the time was spent eating, chatting, playing, meeting new friends and making a date for the next family service.

On that note, we do hope you can join us on Friday 7th July at 4.15pm which will be our last service before the summer holidays. Spread the word!

Religion School News

We are now recruiting staff for September, so please get in touch with me, if you are interested in teaching, or if you know anyone who might be suitable: headteacher@sps.uk.com.

A highlight for Ruach in June was the Family Service. While Philip and Jane provided coffee for parents, the students spent the first part of the morning with Graham Carpenter, in a fun music workshop, before joining parents and the regular congregation in the sanctuary for a truly uplifting service. Thank you to everyone who took part.

The next Family Service will be a Friday Family Service on Friday 7th July at 4.15pm. Natalie and Katie will be providing refreshments again. We look forward to seeing you there!

July will also see the end of term for Ruach, and we will be holding a celebration and prize giving (prize winners will be reported in the next issue of the Gate). We will also be welcoming Amie Taylor, who comes highly recommended by the book charity, PJ Library. Amie will be running interactive storytelling workshops for the students on Jewish themes.

Sadly, at the end of term, we will also be saying good-bye to two very valued members of staff. Phoebe Cohen, who has grown up in our community, was a student and an assistant at Ruach, and has been teaching Jewish Studies for the last two years. Phoebe will be starting her university course in the autumn. Rachel Vogler came to us from Finchley Reform Synagogue, and has been teaching the Bnei Mitzvah class this year. Rachel will also be concentrating on her studies next year. We will miss Phoebe and Rachel, and we wish them every success in the future.

Finally, our parent and toddler group, Mini-Ruach, is going from strength to strength, with over 20 children coming on a Friday morning. The last Friday session before the summer holidays will be on 14th July at 10am.

Back to the Ganges - A trip to India

I have just returned from a wonderful trip to India. For the past 45 years I have been working in the Oriental rug trade importing Oriental rugs from many countries including India, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and nearer to home - Belgium.

I have been privileged to be able to visit all of these countries and see a lot of the world during my career.

Having started my travels to India back in the seventies, when things were very different compared with the India of today, I really had no intention of going back. I had more or less retired in 2008 and thought that I had enough of India, so much so that my wife Brenda, who always wanted to go, went with a friend a few years ago because I said I wouldn't go.

However, we were having lunch with friends one Sunday last year and they said they were planning a trip to India. They started asking me all about it and I was trying to give them a few pointers. They were going to the main tourist places which people go to on their first trip known as the Golden Triangle which means Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

They added that they wanted to go to Varanasi which is the most holy city in India. People come to Varanasi aer travelling hundreds of miles to bring their dead to the side of the Ganges for cremation in Funeral Pyres. It is quite something to see, a very emotional experience. Their wanting to go there triggered a spark.

Varanasi is also the place where the rugs I imported were made but really what made me think about going back was the fact that my company had help build a girls’ school back in 1997 which I had never seen. The rugs are made in villages on farms about 100 miles from Varanasi. There were boys’ schools in the villages but no schools for girls. The girls had to travel into Varanasi every day - that meant two hours each way by bus every day. Our manufacturer had a dream about building a school for the girls and we said we would help, along with John Lewis who was our biggest customer at the time.

The school was opened in l997 in a village called Ghoshia with 350 girls attending on that first day. The school has since expanded and now 1000 girls attend.

Well, I did go back, and it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. They made me, my wife Brenda, and our friends so welcome. We were met by the head teacher and 1000 pupils - something difficult to describe. They showered us with flowers and garlands, danced for us and sang. We were shown around the school and met nearly all the staff and all the children. It was a day I shall remember for the rest of my life. I was proud that my company had been involved in the making of this wonderful school which I am sure will achieve much more in the future.
By the way, besides going to Varanasi we did visit many other places. India is a vibrant country full of colour and so many other things that I wouldn't know where to start

If you get the chance go, you will not be disappointed.

World union for progressive Judaism convention in Jerusalem

My son, Richard, and I were delegates at the W.U.P.J. 38th International Convention, 17 – 20 May in Jerusalem. I was the oldest and the only one to have attended its Sixth Conference, 1949 in London. Then there were 100 delegates from 13 countries; now over 400 Delegates came together from 32 countries. Founded by Lily Montagu in London in 1926, WUPJ is now the largest Jewish religious movement world-wide.

By common consent it was the best convention ever. Highlights were a service at the side of the Kotel reserved for egalitarian services, with women carrying the Sefer Torah; a Shabbat Eve celebration at the site of the former Railway Station, now a cultural centre, where the eight Reform congregations around Jerusalem came together in song and dance with a thousand participants; and the Shabbat morning service on the top of Bet-Shmuel, the wonderful Reform Centre overlooking the Old City. Like our Shabbat Resouled Service with music, processions, singing and dancing and seven Aliyot, with much enthusiasm it lasted two and a half hours!

Among the main speakers and workshop leaders were Nathan Sharansky (Head of the Jewish Agency), the daughter of Shimon Perez (who recited Kaddish at his funeral), Danny Fessler (Director of the Leo Baeck Educa$on Centre in Haifa) and Gilad Kariv, CEO of the Israel Reform Movement, well-known to us.

While at the 1949 Conference, so soon aer the Shoah, the mood was sober, serious and contemplative; the mood in 2017 was euphoric, confident and optimistic.

So we sang Chasack, Chasack venitchasek at the end of Leviticus with great conviction: “We are strong and will strengthen one another!”.

Harry Jacobi

Ruach Teacher Required

Teacher Required for Ruach - Southgate Progressive Synagogue Religion School

We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and dynamic Religion School teacher to teach Jewish Studies, starting in September 2017.
We are a friendly, caring, Liberal Jewish community with an ethos of inclusion and equal opportunities for all. Ruach meets on Saturday mornings during school term-times.

Children’s safety and welfare is of paramount importance to us and you will require a full Disclosure and Barring Service Check.

For an application form, please apply in confidence to our Honorary Secretary Mrs Jane Greenfield (secretary@sps.uk.com). To arrange a visit or to discuss the job in more detail, please contact the Head Teacher, Gwendolen Burton: Headteacher@sps.uk.com.

Words From Our Religious Activities Committee

Now Shavuot is over, and the Pet Service is done (a massive thank you to Emma Marsh for playing the guitar and keeping me in tune), we are now truly in the summer run up to the High Holy Days. Even this Gate is on its holiday and comes back to you in September. This does not mean that services at SPS cease. We carry on with our Shabbat services even though we allow our Rabbi a holiday!
Without our dedicated layreaders, many of them from RAC, SPS would need to pay visiting Rabbis so please come along and support our friends from 28th July to 12th August as I thank Barry Mathiason, Jonathon Clark, Julian Sampson, Phil Zeligman, Bob Dulin, Barbara Mar$n, and Rabbi Michael Standfield and Rabbi Harry Jacobi.
I know I thanked everyone in the AGM booklet for the work RAC put into making sure SPS’s variety of services is the envy of the LJ community. But for those that don’t know I must thank them again as I am now standing down as Chair of the committee. This is due to a new job and the clash of interests it presents. So my thanks to Jonathon Clark, Max Donen (new member), Bob Dulin, Jane Greenfield, Michael Henriques, Rabbi Keren, Jill Newton, Pearl Phillips, Michele Raab, Julian Sampson, Carol Standfield and Phil Zeligman. The first meeting after the AGM will be electing the new officers and I know they will do a sterling job.
Don’t forget to come to shul on 14th July as Shabbat Resouled takeover the music at SPS and deliver a fantastic experience. See you there!
Have a fantastic summer, take a break from the work-life-cycle but remember SPS is here for your spiritual battery refresh too.

A Gap Year In Isreal

I am currently sat in a lounge in Jerusalem surrounded by peers from Australia, South Africa and other parts of the UK, the sun is shining through a mix-match of colourful curtains and there is an array of guitars, board games and books spread about the place; we are in our Etgar flat. ‘Etgar’ directly translates from Hebrew as ‘challenge’ and is the name of the section of the Netzer gap year programme (Shnat Netzer) that I have just begun. Sitting in my new home, surrounded by new friends and new challenges, I have time to reflect on my experience so far. 

We started our Israel journey on Kibbutz Lotan - an ecological, Reform Zionist kibbutz located in the Arava valley in the south of Israel. The picturesque landscape, along with the ideologically-driven kibbutzniks we were surrounded by, provided an inspirational beginning to our me here. We started each day with a peer-led Ma’amad (creative prayer service) before aending discussions and classes on topics such as ecology, Reform Zionism, Progressive Judaism and Hebrew. As well as these classes, we also partook in practical sessions such as working in the Kibbutz date fields, composing and building a mud wall for the Nursery. In between these activities we got to know the people of Lotan during communal meals in the Cheder Ochel (Dining room), my favourite being Shabbat dinner after a lovely Kabbalat Shabbat service in the synagogue. This constant sense of community and care for one another set the group up well for our move to the North, after having lived on Kibbutz for a month. 

At the beginning of December, our group packed up our belongings, squished them into a minibus and made the five hour journey to the other end of Israel. Once there, we setted into a large house in a Moshav called Meona and began the section known as ‘Tikkun Period’ (Repairing period). Over the following weeks we all took part in volunteering work, some of us attending High Schools (both Arab and Jewish), while others volunteered with younger children in Primary Schools and a Kindergarten. Throughout our me volunteering, we had the special privilege of getting to know both Arab Israelis and Jews and hearing opinions from peripheral areas of Israel on topics such as the conflict, the distribution of resources between central areas of the country and the periphery, as well as what it’s like to live on the border with Lebanon. We were able to gain extra insight into the reality of living on the border every Wednesday, when we would visit a different Moshav, most of which were situated only a matter of metres from Lebanon. Whilst there, we ran activities with the children, learnt about the history of the Moshavim and ate dinner with families who opened up their homes to us Before we knew it, it was once again me to pack up our things and move to another part of Israel. This me we were headed to the heart of the country - Jerusalem. We were greeted in the holy city by twelve Australian Netzerniks and one member of Netzer South Africa, having recently arrived in Israel. 

Whilst this period meant new and exciting opportunities, it also brought with it a big change to group dynamics; six of our original group decided to take part in the Etgar programme, along with ten members of the southern hemisphere kvutzah (group), while the rest enrolled in the alternative option called ‘Machon’. Machon offers a university style educational programme, with members of multiple Youth Movements from around the globe living in halls. During Machon, participants attend lectures on a variety of subjects such as Jewish Studies, Hadracha (leadership) and Gender studies. Mechinat Etgar also provides education to its participants, but uses an informal approach to teaching and heavily focuses on creang an intentional community and living out Netzer ideology (Etgar differs from Machon in the sense that it is an option only for members of Netzer Olami). The first week of Etgar has flown by, and we have just settled into the flat we will be living in for the rest of our me in Israel. We spent the days prior to this sleeping in a large Bedouin tent in the desert, after days of hiking and laying down the foundations for the journey our group is about to embark on. We all arrived back in Jerusalem feeling inspired and motivated about the period of me we are just beginning, excited for the precious memories we’ll all share in this communal living space, full of anticipation for the education we are about to receive, and motivated to help each other grow into beer madrichim (leaders) for the Progressive Jewish movement in our communities back home. 

Becky Penhey

Isreal Group

Members of the Israel Group aended Yom Ha’atzmaut 2017 at Sha’arei Tsedek Reform Synagogue. The evening began with a very moving Yom Hazikaron service in remembrance of those who had died in the wars of Israel. This service was conducted by Rabbi Rebecca Birk from Finchley Progressive Synagogue, Rabbi Judith Levi and Rabbi James Baaden from Sha’arei Tsedek Reform Synagogue and Rabbi Yuval Keren from Southgate Progressive Synagogue. 

We then listened to a very interesng talk from Rabbi Yuval Keren about Naom Shemer’s song ‘Yerushalayim Shel Zahav’. The popular Israeli song ‘Jerusalem of Gold' was wrien in 1967.The original song described the Jewish People’s 2000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem’s unificaon under Israeli control. At that me, the Old City was under Jordanian rule; Jews had been barred from entering, and many sites had been desecrated. Only three weeks after the song had been published, the Six-Day War broke out. The song was the bale cry and morale booster of the Israeli troops. Shemer even sang it for them before the war, making them among the first in the world to hear it. On 7 June, the Israel Defence Forces captured the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians. When Shemer heard the paratroopers singing ‘Jerusalem of Gold’ at the Western Wall, she wrote a final verse, reversing the phrases of lamentaon found in the second verse. The line about sofas sounding from the Temple Mount is a reference to an event that actually took place on 7 June. 

During the evening we had some excellent Israeli food from a buffet organised by Janet and Jane which brought back happy memories to many at the event who had been to Israel. 

Peter Leslie (Chair of Israel Group)

Religion School News

In May, we celebrated Yom Ha-atsma’ut (Israeli Independence Day), with help from the Liberal Judaism youth movement, LJY Netzer. 
Everyone had a fantastic morning! 

The younger students went to Oakwood Park, where we learnt about Israel through an educational game. When we returned to SPS, we tried our hand at decorating kosher marshmallows with blue edible pen and sparkles (see picture), and ate a yummy cake, decorated in blue and white to look like the 
Israeli flag. 

Later in the morning, we saw a film about LJY Netzer, which got our students interested in joining the LJY Netzer summer scheme this year 
(available for students age 8 upwards, from 14th – 27th August). There is also a full day of activities run by LJY Netzer in June, alongside the Liberal Judaism Day of Celebration. For more information see: www.ljy-netzer.org 

We are now recruiting staff for September, so please get in touch with me, if you know anyone suitable: headteacher@sps.uk.com. 

Finally, our parent and toddler group, Mini-Ruach, is going from strength to strength, with over 20 children coming on a Friday morning. The next Friday session will be on 9th June at 10am, and the next Saturday session will be on 17th June at 10am. 

Gwendolen Burton

Religion School News

During March, Ruach students celebrated both Purim and Pesach (rather early), on each occasion with a whole morning of activities.

On 11th March, students were invited to come to Ruach in costume for our Purim celebrations. 

Congratulations to the winners of the fancy dress parade: Alice and David. 

As well as dressing up, we also baked tradi,onal homentaschen, and tried our hand at palmiers. These pastries, which look a lile like ears, are a delicious idea for Purim, apparently originating in France. At the end of the morning, we made Mishloach Manot (tradi,onal Purim gifts containing food, including homentaschen), which the students then gave to members of the Shabbat morning congregation, somewhat to their surprise! Many thanks to Barbara Ostermeyer, who made a batch of homentaschen to supplement our own baking endeavours. 

Other activities during the morning were a lively Megillah reading, accompanied by lots of noise from our home-made graggers; an illustrated Megillah, which can be seen on the notice board in the Baron Harris Room; and a Purim Photo Booth (see pictures). 

On 25th March, we celebrated the Ruach Pesach Seder. This was a “bring a friend event.” We were able to include our visitors in the reading of the Haggadah, as well as in a number of other activities, including baking our own Matzah, and the now tradi,onal hard-boiled egg championship. 

April is a quiet month for Ruach, as it includes the Pesach break. However, we are already making plans for May, when LJY Netzer will be joining us in Oakwood Park, for a joint celebration of Yom Ha-atsma’ut and Lag Ba’omer. Also in May, we will be welcoming a new member of Ruach staff, George Panayiotou. George will be teaching the GCSE class when Gerry is away.