I write with two hats on now – that of Chair of Council, and Editor of the NLJC Newsletter.  For those who attended the Community’s 34th AGM (yes, we’ve been going awhile) you’ll have heard most of this, so please have patience.

I’d like to begin by saying that becoming Chair is as daunting as it is an honour, especially as I pick up from Annie Henriques, who is, I’m sure you’ll agree, a hard act to follow.  She has given so much to our Community over the years, and rest assured, she has promised to support me (I’ve got a lot to learn), and us.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome onto Council newcomers, Helen Hodson, our Honorary Secretary, Jo Abel, our able shofar blower, and Rosie Anfilogoff, our kiddush coordinator, Zoom administrator and WhatsApp organiser.   Welcome back to Steve Pruner, our Vice Chair, Donna Frankel our Honorary Treasurer, Eric Marcus (tech man), and Julia Ward, our seder coordinator extraordinaire.   We are your representatives and will be introducing ourselves to you in the coming issues of the Newsletter.  Better yet, why not drop in to services, or fill in those forms for our second night seder on the 23rd of April at the Chantry and meet us, in person.

Moving forward, these are challenging and exciting times for us at NLJC and for Progressive Judaism as we look forward to the ‘merger’ of Liberal and Reform, which means a bigger footprint for Progressive Judaism in the UK.  And also, as we explore the idea of a more formal alliance or relationship with our friends at SLJC (Suffolk Liberal) and PLJC (Peterborough Liberal); a bigger footprint, and so a bigger voice and choice for Jews in East Anglia.

Of course, NLJC has always made having a rabbi a priority.  We on Council are working very hard with support from Alexandra Gellnick at LJ to replace Hannah when sadly, she must leave us in June.  I have to be honest, it isn’t easy.  Rabbis and rabbinical students, it seems, don’t grow on trees.  And Hannah, like Annie, is a hard act to follow.  Fortunately, we have secured the service of Nick Young for all of the High Holy Days.  Many of you will remember the terrific job he did last year when he joined us for Yom Kippur.  And opportunities are starting to present themselves.

Putting on my other hat… In this issue Bob Hobbs, our intrepid cub reporter, chanteur, etc. etc. shines a light on Jewish Giants of French Opera, Chaim frum Drayton (AKA Philip Lawrence) returns with ‘Yiddish You Can Use’, and we’re reprising a Pesadik recipe from Joni.

I look forward to seeing you on screen for our Kabbalat service on 12 April and in shul & on Zoom on Shabbat, 13 April and please, please do make an effort to join us for the very important visit from Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy to learn about the ‘merger’ between Liberal and Reform into one Progressive movement on Sunday the 14th, to be followed by a lovely nosh, and our 2nd night Seder at the Chantry on the 23rd.

Best wishes, Linda

In the February service we welcomed Rosie as a Full member of our community. Her parents were on screen as she read from the Torah. How proud they were and so are we.

In addition to providing a lovely kiddush spread that we all enjoyed, for those of you who don’t know, Rosie does a tremendous amount of fabulous work for our Community. She prepares the Torah and Haftarah handouts, is our kiddush coordinator and keeps various WhatsApp groups lively and engaged. Thank you, Rosie!

A week after this, Bob bought himself a tallit and went up to the Beit Din. Miriam and Hannah were there with him to celebrate the moment. We will be hearing Bob read the Torah blessings for Miriam, who will be reading from the Torah, so make sure you’re there on March 9th.

March is a big month – and most importantly we have our AGM on Monday 25th March. There will be changes on council and it would be good if as many people made it on to the zoom screen at 730pm that evening.

As you probably know, our lovely Hannah will be leaving us in June. We are in touch with Liberal Judaism who are working hard to help us find a suitable replacement. There are fewer rabbis in training now, so this is no easy task. Linda has secured the services of Nick Young to lead our High Holy days. Those of you that came to Yom Kippur last year will remember how skilled he is as a service leader.

In April, we have Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy coming to visit us on the 14th at 11am. There will be a bagel lunch to follow and time to ask Charley and Josh anything you want to know about the journey towards the merger of Liberal and Reform Judaism. This meeting will be streamed so everyone can put their views forward. Exciting times.

Annie

The secular new year has certainly been a busy one. Rosie went to the Beit Din on January 9th and we will be celebrating her admission to Judaism at the February service.

Our Beit Midrash was well attended and as lively as ever.  A generation of Jewish scholars is emerging!

On January 26th, Hannah represented our community at the Holocaust Memorial Service. Her Hebrew singing filled St Peter Mancroft Church, and the excellent acoustics really enhanced the sound. Many people came up to me afterwards to comment on Hannah’s beautiful spiritual contribution. It really was the centrepiece of the whole event. Those of us in attendance were bursting with pride! The following day, we travelled down to Diss where Hannah celebrated a shared service with Ruth Stone and the Suffolk community. Thanks to Eric, some of you were able to zoom in to a lovely service which was followed by a chavurah lunch. Always good to be with our Suffolk friends.

Hannah Leyns (chants) The Song of the Sea at Diss

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing people at our February service to share in Rosie’s admission. Rosie will be providing the kiddish to celebrate her achievement.  

She has been co-opted on to council for some time now and she does a great deal of work for us behind the scenes.

She co-ordinates the Beit Midrash group, sorts out the Torah and Haftarah readings and more recently has started to compile the Yahrzeit list.

I hope you all received the newsletter from the NLPS Trust. Their donation to us took them over the one-million-pound mark. We are heavily featured in their newsletter, and this includes comments some of you made about the much improved quality of the zoom offering. Thanks to those who contributed.

Happy February,

Annie

Well – it’s been quite a couple of months. After a very successful High Holy Days with terrific participation from the community, we reached Sukkot.

Hannah was sadly unwell with Covid, but we were fortunate to get Rabbi Margaret Jacobi to lead our Interfaith service. This went extremely well and many local friends from all faiths and none were there. The Sheriff of Norwich stayed beyond her time frame as she was so interested in the service and the related festivities. 

As we were celebrating two of what are supposed to be the most joyous occasions in Judaism, news of the massacre in Southern Israel was becoming known.  The conflict continues and I’m sure will be addressed elsewhere in this newsletter, so I don’t wish to dwell on it here.

What I do want to speak about is Heritage Day (on September 10th), when Linda and I co-led a talk about Liberal Judaism. This was at the NHC, and the dialogue that took place was terrific. People were really interested in the Liberal perspective and the discussion continued even once we’d left the room. Linda and I worked well together – myself with my traditional Liberal Jewish background and Linda as a progressive Jew with experience covering the conflict in the Middle East. We complimented one another well and I think it was our dialogue that prompted such a good response. More of these to come, I hope!

I would also like to thank Hannah for providing a space for Kabbalat Shabbat prayers. It is likely that these will be continuing every Friday for as long as we need them. It has been hard to establish the right format, but I think that last Fridays’ gathering was quite beautiful. As ever, Hannah is sensitive, thoughtful, and on point with the way she leads our community. I’m sure others will share with me in thanking her for all the support and leadership she has shown over the past few weeks.

With my very best wishes, Annie

It seems a long time since our last service in mid-June. In early July, we had a lovely
summer gathering at Linda and Tims’ by the river in Coltishall. It is abundantly clear
that we need to schedule in more social events as we all love getting together for a
schmooze. Peter and Sandi are going to start organising some events over the
winter months, in particular some rambles in the Norfolk countryside.

We said our fond goodbyes to Michael, Coral and Oren and they are already in
Glasgow settling into Scottish life. Poor Oren only gets three weeks holiday as
Scottish schools go back in mid-August. We have had a steady stream of enquiries
over the summer months, so we will be seeing some new faces in September.

On August 20 th , a group of us met at the Old Meeting House, to set up the new
technology that has been purchased with a grant from the North London Progressive
Synagogue Trust (NLPS). We are very much hoping that this will make the hybrid
offering much more stable and accessible to those who rely on it. Big thanks go to
Eric and Philip who purchased the equipment for us. Also, to Linda, who has bought
some essential kitchen items to support social events. Some of us went along to the
Plantation Gardens where Bob and his band performed. Some of you heard them at
Linda and Tims’ and I’m sure you’ll agree, they are a group of very accomplished
musicians.

Linda has been liaising with Rachel Berkson and Nick Young who are the two people
leading our High Holy Day services this year. Rachel is starting her rabbinic studies
at Leo Baeck in September and Nick has worked alongside Benji Stanley at
Westminster Synagogue for many years and is a very good cantor. As an aside, in
early April, Leah and Benji welcomed a little girl into the world – Jules Pressie.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on September 1 st / 2 nd when Hannah will
be back with us after her six week stay in Israel.

Enjoy the summer

Annie