Shabbat Shalom (Ki Tisa/Parah)   Shabbat begins at 5.32 pm   

1. From the Rabbi - Reasons to be Masorti; 1, 2, 3

I am hugely proud to be a Masorti Rabbi, leading a Masorti community, this weekend in particular.

Firstly this is a Judaism I believe in. I believe in a relationship between the Jews and the Divine which requires no dislocation between my faith and my experience, between what I know from academic scholarship and what I read in the texts of my tradition. I also feel embedded in my tradition when I experience it through Masorti lenses; still speaking the same language, lighting the same flames, reading the same texts. I can make myself at home here.

Secondly I believe the Masorti path, in matters both Jewish and general, is a path which can bring healing to our battered planet and our people. The siren calls of fundamentalism and godless secularism beguile some, but they fill me with fear. Around the pole of fundamentalism lurks danger; a dangerous attitude towards religious authority and a dangerous attitude to anyone who believes something other than the fundamentalists’ charter. Around the pole of secularism lurks a hole where values should be; how do we, as a society, limit the siren power of materialism, fashion and the corporeal. Of course we need money in our bank account, clothes on our back and a fit and strong body, but our soul too needs nurturing to the point where it can lift our actions and aspirations beyond the merely material. We need to develop the skills to delay our desires for gratification, to live with contradiction and to chart a course between polarities, whether we are considering matters of religious ritual, social responsibility or global concern. The Masorti path is that path.

Thirdly I’ll stand to be judged by the quality of the company I keep. Across America, Masorti Rabbis are at the forefront of the Hechsher Tzedek initiative which campaigns to ensure that Jewish kashrut providers employ workers on a living wage, with appropriate benefits and seeks to bring an end to the embarrassment of Kosher establishment being shut down by various government employment agencies for breach of basic employee protections. In Portugal, Masorti Rabbis are working with locals who trace their Jewish ancestry back to 1496 and are looking for a way to reconnect with a tradition they know only by its shadow. In Germany Masorti Rabbis are working to give many of the 150,000 Russian Jews who have moved to Germany opportunities to integrate into German society while developing a Jewish spark Communism almost snuffed out. In Israel Masorti Rabbis are attempting to give the vast majority of traditional Israelis a meaningful engagement with their Jewish heritage, freed of the taint of a Haredi community who seem often to understand only self-interest and desire only power.

New London is part of a movement which with integrity, a unique perspective on matters both religious and secular and the ability to form the future of our Jewish world.

Three things to do about it.

Firstly, use the ‘M’ word. We should be proud of who we are and where we stand.

Secondly, come to Shul this Shabbat, where our guest scholar in residence will be Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, head of the Masorti Rabbinic Assembly.

Thirdly, it’s still not too late to register for the Yom Masorti conference where 200 Jews from nine countries across Europe will be coming to New North London Synagogue to learn, share, dream – and eat. This Sunday from 9:45-4:45, but you can sneak in late or leave early. I hope to see you there.   
Click here to download the Yom Masorti flyer              Click here to book online

Shabbat Shalom

Jeremy Gordon     

2. The Week Ahead

The Kabbalat Shabbat service this evening begins at 6.30 pm. Tonight is the first of our Family Friday night services where families with children will be especially welcome. The service will be the same, - children are invited to come a little early, at 6.00 pm, to learn some service tunes  with Stephen Cotsen 

Tomorrow morning, Shacharit will be at 9.15 am in the synagogue. There will be a Youth Service for 11 - 13 yr olds,  led by Noam at 11.00 am in the Bet Midrash and youngsters are invited to stay for lunch afterwards with Ben. This Shabbat we welcome Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, Executive Vice-President of the Rabbinical Assembly who will give the sermon.

The Minyan Chadash meets this Shabbat at 9.45 am in the New London Hall.

On Monday morning Babes in the Wood our popular mothers and babies group meets from 11.00 - 1.00 pm.

On Monday evening at 7.45 pm,  'Friends of ORT' presents: The Thom String Quartet at New London Synagogue
Programme: Haydn: String Quartet No 27 in D Major, Op.20, No. 4
Bridge: Three Idylls
Debussy: String Quartet in G Minor, Op.10
Tickets £25 (includes light refreshments) will be available on the door, or  from ORT (020) 7446 8520 or email: info@britishort.org

On Wednesday, The Art Group meets from 10.00 am.

Next Shabbat the Choir will be singing and after Kiddush you are invited back into the synagogue for a 20 minute singing session with Joseph Finlay, our Choir Director, when there will be a chance to learn something new for the Shabbat service. Also next Shabbat we have a Baby Blessing for Meryl, daughter of Heather and AJ Davidson and an early aufruf for Neville Eisenberg and Michelle Lehrer, who are shortly moving to South Africa.

3. Green Fingers? We are looking for volunteers to help with the gardening rota for the Shul Gardens. If you would like to help please contact  Steven@newhopeclothing.hk

4. Forthcoming Events/Dates for your diary

Sunday 14th March at 7.30 pm - Quiz Night to raise money for Babes in the Wood and Under 5 Programmes at NLS  Tickets: £15 per person (plus an suggested donation of £5). Please organise a team of 6-8 people, or just come along and we will introduce you to a team - Light Supper included - There will be a raffle on the night, so please let us know if you are able to donate a prize. Please book through the office. Click here to download the flyer 

Mondays 15th and 22nd March at 8.00 pm - The Role of Women in Prayer Services
As part of consultations on the role of women in the prayer services at New London we are making two evenings available to members for study and consultation. Each evening will be split between providing an opportunity to share thoughts and wishes on this issue and a study of some the relevant sources in an attempt to approach this decision in a more religious grounded manner. You only need to attend one of the two evenings.

Shabbat 19th/20th March  'Preparing for Pesach' weekend. Join us for a traditional Friday Night Dinner (Cost £18 members £20 non-members) with guest speaker - Matthew Bolton, Living Wage Organiser from London Citizens, and a Sit-down Kiddush following the service on 20th March with a Pesach Question and Answer session with the Rabbi.

Sunday 21st March at 6.00 pm (Refreshments served from 5.30 pm) NLS Film Club in association with the Friends of the Jewish Museum presents Yossi and Jagger,  a multiple award winner, set on a snowy Israeli-Lebanese border facing possible Hezbollah incursions, and the fil has an unexpected sweetness and buoyancy. Knoller plays square-jawed, no-nonsense Yossi, company commander of an Israeli Defense Forces unit exhausted from sleepless nights anticipating an ambush. The handsome, fun-loving Jagger (Yehuda Levi), nicknamed for his rock-star appeal, is platoon leader and, unknown to all, Yossi's secret lover. The two arrange trysts by going off together on missions, and while Jagger begs Yossi to leave the army when the former's service is up, Yossi reminds him that real life is not a romantic movie...

Tuesday 30th March at 7.15 pm - Communal Seder (Second Seder Night)
We look forward to welcoming you to our Seder. To book, please call the office or download the booking form and send in your booking. The cost is £38 members £48 non-members and £19 for children under 16. Our Seder always sells out early so please book early to secure your place.

Sunday 11th April at 7.30 pm Yom HaShoah service with guest speaker Karen Pollock, Director of the Holocaust Educational Trust, followed by a performance of 'Songs of Ashes' by Julian Dawes, a setting of 15 poems by the Polish poet, Jerzy Ficowski, on the Holocaust. It will be performed by Lee Bisset - Soprano and Siobhain O'Higgins - Piano Admission free.

Tuesday 25th May - New London UJIA Annual Appeal Dinner with guest speaker -  Daniel Finkelstein

Sunday 20th June - The Louis Jacobs Memorial Lecture will be given by Rabbi Dr Norman Solomon, a long-term colleague and friend of Rabbi Jacobs (time to be confirmed).  His topic will be - The Talmud and the Jewish Question -including Louis Jacobs’ contributions to Talmudic scholarship and the relevance of Talmud to the concerns of contemporary Jewry.  Rabbi Solomon is a Fellow in Modern Jewish Thought at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and a Lecturer at Oxford University.

5. Social and Personal

Mazal tov to Caroline and Neill Barber on the birth on a baby boy, Felix Jonah, a brother for Hayley and to the proud grand parents Daphne and Geoffrey.

Our condolences to Joe Horowitz on the loss of his sister, Hannah

6. Beyond NLS: Tuesday, March 16, 8.00 pm: a talk by Rabbi Jeremy Gordon at Moshe  House  
'Blood seeps from a good number of Biblical passages, but so too do glorious dreams of peace. When the Jews were kicked out of Ancient Israel arguments about ‘just wars’ and military power became theoretical, but now there is a State, an army and a whole bunch of military complexity involved in being a modern Jew'. Join Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, for an evening’s journey through sources and struggles with an ancient issue that has very contemporary edges. Moshe House is at 39 Staverton Road, NW2

7. Green Thought For The Week by Martin Blain

Some years ago, I lived and taught in a rural school in Eritrea (East Africa).  Despite their generous and open nature, these people were materially very poor, and as volunteers so were we. We carried our own water from a pump, our shopping on our backs and waited months for a trip to the city.  Every commodity was sacred; anything we threw out was gratefully scavenged by someone else.  I imagine that this was how life was here during the war.

So when I turn on a tap, open a can of food or take out the rubbish, I think back to how my life was then….we had so much less but valued it so much more. I fear that in years to come many of the natural resources we take for granted now will have been depleted, and instead we will be surrounded by the pollution from our extravagant lifestyle.

Both for protecting the environment and saving money, the three Rs (Reduce, Re-use and Recycle) are sensible.

Shabbat Shalom

Stephen Cotsen