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