Happy New Year to you all. It seems a long time ago that we all met up for a terrific Chanukah gathering in the Peill Room. It was a great opportunity to schmooze and get to know one another better. Big thanks go to Sarah and Hilary for organising this. We don’t have enough opportunities like this where we can socialise with one another. Gershon will be introducing a new project where we learn about each other’s family histories. You can read about it later in this issue and it should be a real catalyst for getting us all talking. Well that was never a problem!

It was lovely to have baby Jacob and baby Eli’s baby blessings. I’m looking forward to seeing them grow up in our community. I can’t believe that when I joined this community, our children, Jo and Adam were 6 and 5 respectively. They’re now 30 and 29 – where does the time go??

Next weekend – January 11th / 12th we will be having our Engaging with Judaism in a member’s home at 7.30 on Friday 11th.  Please contact Annie if you want to come along – you’re very welcome. Gershon will be talking about how we are going to organise the family history project, so please try and come along and be enthused. During our service on the Saturday I’m sure that more will be said and there will be time to discuss this afterwards. Exciting times…

Then from January 17th onwards there is the Jewish Way of Life Exhibition (organised by BOD) at Norwich Cathedral. It’s not too late to volunteer for this but if you want to do so try and come to the volunteer training at 4.30pm on January 16th in the Hostry. Marsha, who has been organising the rota and is happy for people just to show up, as she and Tod will be there most days to guide people.  It’s open every day except Shabbat.

The Holocaust Memorial Service is at St Peter Mancroft  (SPM) on January 28th at 2pm. Roddy has very kindly agreed to prepare the Jewish content of the service and has been planning the service with Fiona Haworth, the assistant priest at SPM. This year the service is being coordinated by City Council. The Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) have organised things in previous years and it has always been an excellent event. Please try and support this if you are able.

I look forward to seeing people next weekend either on the Friday night or Saturday or both!

Annie

We were very busy at the start of the month. Some of us were privileged to see the Archbishop of Canterbury as he attended a short service at the Norwich Hebrew Congregation. What an unassuming, gentle man and he talked of peace and conciliation.

A couple of days later, we did some singing with Gershon and we particularly focused on the Halleluyah prayer (psalm 150). During the service, Gershon introduced this as our song of the week and the response was great – we really sung our hearts out. We were delighted to be joined by members of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation for our Shabbat morning service. This meant we had a large congregation and there were some good conversations between different community members afterwards.

On the Sunday morning, for the first time, our community laid a wreath for Remembrance Day. It was particularly poignant this year as the date marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1.

The following Sunday, some of us gave the Peill Room a make-over ready for our Chanukah gathering. This is a good opportunity to get to know Gershon better and meet others in a more informal way. There’ll be plenty to eat –latkes, donuts etc. We’ll be lighting the candles, singing the songs and playing the dreidl game. Try and come along and there’s NLJC apple juice to purchase at £3 a bottle!

Then on Saturday we have a Shabbat morning service including the baby blessings of Jacob and Eli. Please come along and celebrate with Donna and Oly’s and Leiat and Ros’ families.  We’re very pleased to welcome Leiat as a member of our community. By then, we’ll be on the seventh day of Chanukah and by way of a finale, there will be a giant Chanukiah lit in front of the Forum at 6.30pm, on Sunday 9 December. Those of you, who went last year, know that it is quite something and there are hot latkes and donuts. So there’s a lot to choose from – Happy Chanukah to you all!

Chag sameach!

Annie

It seems a long while since the last newsletter and a lot has happened. What a memorable weekend we had with Max’s barmitzvah. Kim, you really worked miracles and Max’s Hebrew reading was amazing. It was really nice welcoming Charley Baginsky and her wonderful children Josh, Ellie and Cassie. Stu and I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with them.  Max did his family proud and it was lovely to welcome Abi’s mum and dad. The look on their faces when Abi danced with Max – one of the highlights of the evening. Did anyone else notice that it was much quicker getting home from the party venue than it was getting there!

It was good to get to know Gershon better. We had an absorbing Engaging with Judaism session where we studied the interactive Torah. This meant that we looked at different aspects of the Noah parsha and I’m sure all of those who attended, learnt something new. We enjoyed Lily’s singing from the Bimah and Gershon’s singing of the Haftarah added to this. Aren’t we lucky to have such wonderful musicians in our midst!

I know some of you are looking forward to meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 7th at the NHC. If you haven’t let me know you’ll be there, it’s not too late to get your name included! Then on Friday November 9th, Gershon will be leading an EWJ session on singing familiar songs from the siddur. This is in the Peill Room at 7:30. We already have some good singers but things can only get better with Gershon at the helm. Cheder is at its usual 10 o’clock slot (Hebrew primers have been ordered) followed by the Shabbat morning service at 11:15.

On Sunday, November 11th, our community is laying a wreath at the War Memorial outside City Hall at 11 o’clock. This is the first year that our community has been invited to lay a wreath so it would be good to see people there. There is also a candle lit procession in the evening from the Cathedral. Details are on the website.

And people that are going to Limmud – I think Byron, Beverley, Helen, Chris and Tom are all going. Have a great time and perhaps we can find time for you to tell us all about it. Enjoy enjoy!!

Here’s hoping for a bit of autumnal sunshine. Those lovely sunny days in October seem like a distant memory.

Annie

Well so much has happened since August it’s hard to know where to start. We owe a huge debt of thanks to Kim and Philip who organised the High Holy Days to perfection. It was great to see new people up on the bimah – Ros and Claire did themselves proud.

So many highlights – Kim, Philip, Alan, Stephen, Sam and Michael for their wonderful Hebrew readings and Kim and Philip for their sermons. So good to see Olly back up on the bimah and involved.

I felt very emotional when Stephen was processing the scroll. And Lily – your singing brought a spiritual dimension that I don’t think we’ve reached before. Can we have more of that please? And of course I shouldn’t forget Stu and his shofar blowing and Helen’s wonderfully presented study session. There was and is so much to celebrate in our community.

Then last weekend we welcomed Gershon into our community for our annual Interfaith Sukkot. We had a number of guests including Fiona from Peter Mancroft, Don and Della from the Interfaith group in Great Yarmouth and Joanna’s friends, the vicar and his wife.

We should thank Matthew for helping Stu and I get the Sukkah up and Sam for helping to take it down again. Gershon’s voice filled the space and it’s exciting to think that this will be happening on a regular basis.

Thank you Gershon and for a thought provoking sermon.

We’re always lucky with the sunshine and we were able to mix and mingle around the Sukkah and talk to friends old and new. It was great to welcome a number of young families who seemed to enjoy themselves.

Sukkot is such an inclusive festival and has a natural way of bringing people together. It’s always been one of my favourites in the Jewish calendar.

Annie

It’s so good to be sitting at my kitchen table with the sun shining outside. After a very blustery week in Yorkshire, I really appreciate the weather and the effect it has on all of us. It’s strange how, at this time of year, the weather always takes us by surprise. I have memories of my mother buying us winter dresses to wear to shul for the High Holy Days and it was invariably too warm to wear them and we complained bitterly!

In any case, this is a time of renewal and change.  It’s a combination of reflection, anticipation of things to come and hopes for the year ahead. Within our community, we can reflect on a fantastic year with three admissions this Spring alone. Although we will miss Leah, we know that she is furthering her studies to enrich her understanding of her faith. She will come back a richer person and we await news of her blog to keep us in touch with her journey.

It is a credit to our community that members have stepped up to lead our High Holy Day services this year. Particular thanks goes to Kim and Philip who have put everything together for us. Many more people are contributing to our services this year as a result. And then at the end of this month, we’re delighted to welcome Gershon Silins who is very much looking forward to working with us. I’m personally very excited about his ideas to enhance and improve our community singing.

So exciting times lie ahead. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday night, September 8th for our opening Erev Rosh Hashanah service.

Annie