Hello everyone – it seems a long time since Channukah and the start of the year. January was so cold and I wasn’t very well for much of the month but at least March is only a few weeks away. Then we can embrace the Spring and that makes me think of daffodils and narcissi.

Despite cancelling our original January service, we had an excellent alternative offer on the following weekend. Leah led a lovely Erev Shabbat service and Joel excelled himself in taking the Shabbat morning service with a very interesting D’var Torah.

This weekend we start our new cheder arrangements with an older and younger group. Rabbi Leah will be taking the older children & we’re really pleased Julia’s our member volunteer to teach the younger group. So we’ll be a hive of activity in the spacious Old Meeting House: with two cheder groups and an adult Hebrew group as well. This is very much an indication of how our community is expanding.

For those of you that have booked up, Byron is doing an Ark Awareness session after Kiddush. On February 18th, youth workers from LJYNetzer are coming up from London to run a Tu B’shvat Seder for us. This is mainly focussed on young people but adults are welcome.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing people this weekend and here’s hoping it won’t be too cold!

Annie

We’ve had a monthful of a variety of activities.

Early in June, Emily and Joel led a Shavuot evening session. Joel introduced us to the book of Ruth and his particular take on the story. Emily made the kind of cheesecake that only an American can make – delicious!

The following weekend, Sam Alston and a colleague from LJYNetzer, Anna treated us to a taster morning, sharing a range of activities similar to those they do on camp. It was delightful for the young people there and a particular thank you to Leonie for preparing a special booklet and to Lily for accompanying our singing with her guitar playing.

And then the next weekend we had a community led service with Joel and Meike leading and Philip revisiting his Torah portion from 50 + years ago. I particularly enjoyed Philip’s introduction where he talked about the Torah linking him to his past. Joel prepared an excellent Dvar Torah and really made us reflect on the Torah passage.

And the next weekend, at very short notice, Joel and Emily prepared a Friday night service for us. A short but intimate and very worthwhile service welcoming shabbat. And then on July 23rd, Philip will be sharing another Torah portion with us and Emily and Alan will be leading this service. A shehecheyanu is in order with Alan joining Emily to lead us.

Enjoy the sunshine when we get it!

Annie Henriques

I want to start by thanking everyone who contributed
towards the wonderful Seder at Mangreen.

It was great that Rabbi Leah’s family there and a good time was had
by all. We had a full mid-May service weekend.
Richard Conradi came to lead our “Dying Matters”
discussion on Friday night, 7 o’clock in the Peill room with some
nosh and then down to business.
On Saturday we celebrated Meike and Joel coming to
the end of their time as Ba’alei Tefillah students and they will
be joining Emily as our senior group of lay readers. If anyone
wants to start the training in the Autumn, please talk to any of
them about it – I’m sure they’ll tell you what a worthwhile
experience it is. Joel lead the service with Rabbi Leah
We also welcomed Dave McKellar
into our community, in fact he is visited the Beth Din 10th
May. We have a very full summer programme and we welcome
contacts if you want more information or have any queries.
Annie   (0776 4170652 or 07460849472)

We’ve had some lovely Spring days recently. It always takes me by surprise when I see the blossom coming out and hear the chorus of birds in the morning – such a wonderful time of year! The community has also had a wonderful month with such a lot to celebrate. We started at Joel and Barbaras’ on Erev Shabbat where we had a fantastic evening of food, conversation and thought led by Leah who is able to manage a crowd of over twenty of us with complete ease! The next day saw Amy’s Bat Mitzvah at the home of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation. There was quite a crowd and that is an understatement. I counted almost fifty of our community and a good few from the Hebrew congregation. Amy was also supported by a large group of people who had come up from London, especially for the occasion – family and friends alike. It was good to meet the extended family and Debbie and her sister laid on a sumptuous kiddish for us all before going off to celebrate in style at Sprowston Manor.

Only four days later we had our AGM ( see the photos on our website). Sadly we lost three council members: Meike, Emily and Debbie, and we thank them for all their contributions. I’m delighted to say that we have three new members Nicole, Peter and Hilary and I’m sure they’ll bring new ideas and fresh energy to the council. During the meeting, we talked about our annual community meeting now scheduled for May 14th at 1300 hrs over a Chavvurah lunch. This was changed to enable me to be there and to give people time to think about what they might like to discuss.

The following week, we had a rather different sort of Purim party led by Stuart, author of the Purim Shpiel. We read in the round and had a good laugh acting out the Purim play starring Alan and Stu as the ugly sisters, with other men taking on female roles. We’ll have to harness the acting potential in our community more often!

April 8th we’re having a Friday night service; these have proved very popular over the last year. This is a particularly special service as Martha is presenting the community with a new drape to hang in shul. She has had this commissioned in memory of her father and to show her appreciation of our community. Thank you Martha. I look forward to seeing it in use every Shabbat. On Saturday morning Rabbi Leah will see members of the community for pastoral visits, something that we are trying to establish through the newly formed Care group.

And don’t forget our last service weekend with Leah until the Autumn. The service on Saturday, May 14th will include Meike and Joel completing their Ba’al Tefillah training. Well done to both of them. We are looking to sponsor two more community members for this training starting in the Autumn. We now have a growing group of people who are able to lead services for us. They will do this over the summer when Rabbi Leah is on sabbatical in Israel and can also support her throughout the year.  We are rounding off the Saturday May 14th morning with a Chavvurah lunch and our community meeting.

We also welcome new people joining our events.  If you want to get in touch or have any queries please contact me on 07764 170652 or through the contact page on this website.

Annie Henriques, Chair NLJC