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

I’m writing this after spending a large part of this afternoon with the Israeli ambassador, Mark Regev and the South Norwich MP, Clive Lewis with his wife Katy. Marian and Peter hosted a lunch for the two Jewish communities in Norwich to get together with Mark and Clive. In the afternoon Mark gave a talk at the Norwich synagogue with an interesting question and answer session to follow.

Rabbi Leah is going to an Interfaith Conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday and so is unable to come up to Norwich at the weekend. Rabbi Danny Rich is coming up in her stead. He will be leading Engaging With Judaism in on Friday February 9^th @ 1930. On Saturday, February 10^th Danny will be taking the morning Shabbat service with Joel so a rich diversity of rabbis to enjoy.

A week or so back, we had the Holocaust Memorial Service in the Norwich Anglican Cathedral. I was so proud to see Rabbis Roddy and Leah centre stage. Roddy led the service brilliantly and helped to make the Hebrew accessible to people present. Thank you.

Several from NLJC went to a service at the Suffolk Community at the end of January. Leah was leading the service so that much was familiar. They meet in the Quaker Meeting House in Ipswich and because there is a kitchen downstairs, we were able to enjoy a lovely shared lunch. I talked with people there about having another shared service as we did a few years’ back and people were very positive about this. Hopefully this will take place in July.

Our AGM is being held on Wednesday March 21^st and will inform about the past year of NLJC.

Annie Henriques, Chair

I’m sorry I missed the Sukkot service but it always makes me smile when I think of how well things go on in my absence. Thank you to everyone who made it happen and for those who were so welcoming to all the new faces. Stuart tells me that there were probably more visitors than there were members of our congregation. It’s a credit to everyone involved that it all took place seamlessly. I’ve come back from my holiday with renewed energy.

Our Shabbat morning service on November 11th with our triple baby naming & blessing was splendid; lots of joy and noise.  Olly, one of the fathers said that his mother, who lives in north London put in a huge order for Jewish deli which she brought with her to Norwich! Other parents also brought tasty nibbles so the food was wonderful as well.  It was quite a thing. We celebrated the birth and naming of three boys during the spring- time – Isaac, Yossi and Henry. We were pleased too that several people came along for their first service with us.

And last but not least our fourth Chanukah Fayre took place on Sunday 5th November at the Norwich Millenium Forum in the centre of Norwich.  A big thank you to everyone who put such a lot of work into this event, which is good for our community in many ways.

Annie, Chair, NLJC