16 March 2020

During this difficult time, Liberal Judaism want to do our part to help limit or slow down the transmission of COVID-19, while also continuing to fulfil the needs and Jewish journeys of our communities and members.

A key component of helping everyone through the next few months will be via the live streaming of services. This way members who are vulnerable and/or isolating and cannot attend a service, or currently do not have a local one to attend, can still maintain their Judaism and enjoy all the prayers and songs that have become such an important part of our lives.

Live streaming has been running very successfully at Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue (pictured) and The Liberal Jewish Synagogue for many years.

During this time, both communities invite you to join them virtually at…

Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue (NPLS):

Website – www.npls.org.uk/live
YouTube – www.youtube.com/channel/UCsALb_L9qYysOEx_jcz613Q (or search for ‘NPLS’)
Facebook – www.facebook.com/NPLSynagogue

All NPLS services can be enjoyed using one of the live streaming links above, including Friday night, Shabbat morning and Pesach services. A regularly updated list of NPLS services and times can be found at www.npls.org.uk/events/category/services/list/.

The Liberal Jewish Synagogue (LJS):

Services are streamed via a secure feed which is password protected. Please call the LJS office on 020 7286 5181 and they will give you a password (you will be asked not to share this outside of Liberal Judaism and not record the service).

You can then access the stream via the Shabbat Services section of the LJS website (www.ljs.org) or by going directly to https://iframe.dacast.com/b/27795/c/453376 and entering the password.

Other communities:

We know that other Liberal Judaism communities are currently investigating live streaming of services and will add these to this page as and when they go online.

Reform Judaism:

Eleven Reform Judaism communities also stream services. Links can be found on the right hand side of this page on the Reform Judaism website – https://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/our-synagogues/.

Advice on streaming services:

Leo Mindel, who organised the live streaming of our last Biennial Weekend, wrote an article with guidance that will prove very helpful to those hoping to stream services at a low cost. It can be read at https://www.liberaljudaism.org/2018/08/how-you-can-live-stream-your-services-and-events/.

The Church of England have also published an excellent and very detailed ‘how to’ guide that is equally as appropriate for synagogues as churches. It can be read at https://www.churchofengland.org/more/church-resources/digital-labs/labs-learning-blog/beginners-guide-going-live-your-service-or.