20 September 2018

Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue (NPLS) recruited seven young shofar blowers this Rosh Hashanah.

The youngsters – who were all trained by regular shofar blower Carole Kettle – showed off their skills at a special afternoon tea held at the synagogue.

Northwood’s Rabbi Aaron Goldstein said: “As our membership is much larger than our synagogue building’s capacity, the Watford Coliseum is the only local venue big enough for our High Holy Days services.

“The parking is not ideal and some of our more mature members find it difficult to come. Accessibility is vital for us, so as well as live streaming our services we also held a Rosh Hashanah tea back at the synagogue in the afternoon.

“We did not want the tea to just be for older or infirm members, we wanted it to reflect who we are as a community. We were so delighted that young families also chose to enjoy the atmosphere and honey cake.

For a number of years, our shofar blower Carole Kettle has been teaching young members to blow the shofar and seven of them blew this Rosh Hashanah with Carole. The tea really was an opportunity to enthuse our next generation.”