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

I can’t believe another month has gone by – with all this hot weather; the weeks just seem to fly past.  A couple of weeks ago I got a surprise package through the post – a chair’s award from LJ.

“Annie Henriques of Norwich Liberal Jewish Community for her involvement in the unprecedented dynamism and growth of the Norwich community. The panel were particularly inspired by her involvement in Norfolk’s refugee resettlement programme.”

I’d like to blame Leah for some of our success! I very much have Meike to thank for our involvement with the refugee resettlement programme and am pleased to say that I have got to know one of the Syrian families who moved here. I’m using the Cook for Syria cookbook – it’s brilliant.

Aside from this, we said a very sad farewell to Leah who left for Israel. She will be writing a blog and will send me the link as soon as she gets going. She’s going to be living with her sister Claire who will be studying Arabic, so it’s going to be a really special time for the two of them.

We also had a lovely shared service with the Suffolk Community in July. Beverley, their chair, found us the perfect venue and the service was brilliantly led by Nick supported by Kim and Sam. There was a really good atmosphere and the shared lunch afterwards was a good opportunity to get to know one another better.

Freddie has been having a wonderful time on the Israel tour and is due back shortly. Meanwhile Max is working hard on his parsha and Kim has been supporting him. Thanks Kim, what would we do without you! Kim has also been working hard with Philip to prepare the High Holy Day services.

We have Elliott Karstadt coming on Saturday, 11^th August so please try and come along to welcome him back to Norwich. This is the third summer he’s visited us and his sermons are always really thought provoking.

Meanwhile keep enjoying this glorious weather – I had a sea swim at Cley today and the water was incredibly warm! Aren’t we blessed to live in Norfolk!

Annie

What a wonderful month it’s been!  Gorgeous sunshine for the most part, our daughter turned 30 and we celebrated Donna’s admission in style. With two small people on the bimah it was amazing how smoothly things went. No baby in the ark this time round! Donna we welcome you and your family to our community and may there be many more mitzvot to come.

The next two months are busy ones for us. Roddy is leading a service using the draft Siddur this Saturday, June 9^th so make sure you bring your copies to shul. We have plenty of community copies so don’t worry if you haven’t got one. After Kiddush, Helen is leading a working group that is looking more closely at the draft Siddur. Helen is going to the Biennial at the end of the month when the feedback process regarding the new siddur will be launched. So we should be ahead of the game!

On Saturday June 23^rd, Gershon Silins is visiting us and after an informal chavurah lunch. Please bring a dish to share. He is Canadian and has worked there, in the US, and more recently in this country. Please try and come along to meet him and experience the musical element that he brings to the service. He is after all music adviser to Liberal Judaism.

Then just two weeks later on July 7^th, we have to say our sad farewells to Leah. We are having a chavurah lunch so please bring something to share to make this special for her. Leah is off to the States on June 13^th until a couple of days before the July service, so if you need to contact her for any reason, now is the time to do it.

And lastly, we have a joint service with the Suffolk Community on July 14^th. I’m aware this means two service weekends in a row but it was the only day that we could get the Quaker Meeting House in Diss. It promises to be an excellent venue. Kim and Sam will be working with Nick Feldman of the Suffolk Community to take the service. Afterwards we are bringing food to share and I’m reliably informed that the grounds are lovely. So if the weather is good it should be lovely. If you need a lift, please talk to me or Hilary. There are more details of the venue on the website.

Lastly, Steve Pruner is now our representative on the Board of Deputies (BOD).  As he said in his manifesto, he would welcome people talking to him about their views so he can take these to BOD meetings. Thank you Steve for putting yourself forward and congratulations!

I hope to see many of you this Saturday.

Annie

March was rather a busy month with some memorable
moments.

We started with a Shabbat morning service in which
we celebrated Helen’s admission to Judaism. Despite knee
problems, Helen did her family and the community proud. She
somehow managed to hold the very heavy Torah scroll one
handed and this for quite some time! Her son Joe admitted to
me that he was ready to leap on to the Bimah to offer support
but this clearly wasn’t necessary. Helen was completely in the
moment and clearly enjoying the spirituality of the occasion.
Leah made it all very special and it was lovely having Chloe,
Helen’s daughter in law to read the Haftarah.

Within the same service, Leah blessed a new ring that Sam was
giving to Hilary. They had given their original wedding ring to
their daughter who is getting married in the autumn.

About ten days later, we came to the AGM. It was a glorious
Spring Day and Leah had come up to Norwich with her
parents. We were delighted to welcome Leah’s parents to our AGM. It’s quite obvious that Leah has inherited their calm spirituality.We were thrilled to receive a very generous donation from them for our Education Fund. We also re-elected our new council.

And then, for our finale, a terrific Seder night organised by Hilary
and Sam and their team, Penny, Abbe and Joao. Definitely the
A team and they are all keen to work together again next year.
BIG, BIG THANKS. People seemed very happy with the new
venue. It was very positive – lots of time also for chatting and getting to know
different people. Maybe next year we should encourage people to sit near someone they don’t know.

Annie

Again it’s been an eventful month most particularly the news that Rabbi Leah is going to Israel in the summer. Of course we all knew that she couldn’t stay forever but as I reflect on her time with us, there is so much to celebrate. Our membership has almost doubled we have had more mitzvot than I could possibly count and we know we can rely on her warmth, spirituality and calm compassionate leadership. She’s going to be a hard act to follow.

However, on a positive note I’m sure we are delighted for Leah that she is able to pursue her dream and study in Israel for a year. This will be made even more special as her sister Claire will be there too and I know how close they are. She will take with her our love our thanks and our admiration.

Peter and I have been working on a job description and person spec for the new rabbi and I’m assured by LJ that there are plenty of people who would like to become our rabbi. Apparently our community is regarded highly in Liberal Jewish circles!

Aside from that, I hope people enjoyed Danny Rich’s visit. He always offers something different and I particularly enjoyed our discussions on the Friday night about the stoning of a young child. In turn he emailed me afterwards and said how much he had enjoyed being up with us.

We have our AGM coming up very shortly on Wednesday March 21st at 7.00pm. Leah will be spending the day up here with her parents who will be over from the States. She’s hoping for good weather. Last time they were all in Norfolk it poured with rain and they couldn’t appreciate our beautiful county in its full glory.

We are a welcoming community and our monthly service is on the weekend of 9th & 10th of March, either for Engaging with Judaism in the Peill Room on the Friday night or for Helen’s admission on Shabbat morning. Or perhaps at both. Enjoy the warmth and sunshine and watching the spring flowers come out. Our crocuses have survived the snow, something to smile about!

Annie