20 March 2018

East London & Essex Liberal Synagogue (ELELS) held a special Shabbat service led by a dozen different lay leaders… but no rabbis.

Taking place on Saturday March 17, a full congregation gathered to be led by the 12 different members, including Liberal Judaism vice chair Ruth Seager.

Ben Glassman, the joint chair of the synagogue’s rites and practises committee who himself took part of the service, said: “This was a bit of an experiment but turned out to be a resounding success. One lay leader surprised everyone by producing a guitar.

“We weren’t necessarily looking to repeat this approach to leading a service, but so many members asked when the next one was we had better get on with it!”

ELELS members described the service as “very meaningful” and praised the amount of preparation the community’s leadership had put into it.