Dear Friends and Members,
A big thank you to all who joined us and made our High Holy Days observances, beginning with Erev Rosh Hashanah and culminating with our Interfaith Sukkot, such a resounding success. It was a pleasure to see the OMH filled with so many faces, many known and many new, but all coming together to usher in the New Year. The photos say it all!!
A special thank you to Nick Young and to Rabbi Martina for leading our services, and to Jo Smith from the Quaker Community and the Rev. Dr. Fiona Haworth of St. Peter Mancroft for their readings and to David Keys for ‘loaning’ his poem “Bedrock” to be read out. And a big thank you to Stella Koenick who led the Jewish Norwich Walk which will be featured in “LJ Today”. (Stella apologises for having a couple of dates wrong. Jews were expelled in 1290, not 1170, allowed back in 1656 and returned to Norwich in 1750). Also thanks to Eliyanah, Varin, Olivia and Reuven for the paper chain, each link with the name of those taken hostage on October 7 and which adorned our Sukkah.
Also, thanks to Bob and Ian for setting it up and for Annie’s organisation. And not to be forgotten, thank you to John Mudd our cellist who played Bruch’s Kol Nidrei so movingly and to our shofar blowers, Bob and Jo. And a special thanks to Bob for his generous gift of a lovely velvet pouch in which to store the shofar.
Also a big thank you to Alan Joseph for leading our afternoon Yom Kippur service and for organising our security. And of course, to Mindy who keeps us safe.
Rabbi Martina shares a poem in From the Rabbi.
And we’ve got a new representative to the Jewish Board of Deputies. Steven Pruner has kindly stepped up and as he’s London based will be able to attend meetings in person, so a face at the table for NLJC and importantly a voice for Progressive Judaism.
In this issue, Helen Hodson has written about the student trip she accompanied to war graves in the Flanders area and how she stumbled upon the grave of a young Jewish private killed in action. And we remember him here as we approach Remembrance Day when Annie Henriques will lay a wreath on behalf of NLJC on Sunday in Norwich.
And there’s more—--Byron Simmonds shares information on his updated PJC Facebook Group and Chaim of Drayton, aka Philip Lawrence has more Yiddish You Can Use. And we’ve signposted some events in which you may be interested.
Looking forward to seeing you online and in person.
Best wishes,
Linda