3 January 2017 The congregation at Nottingham Liberal Synagogue (NLS) have welcomed a Torah scroll from Austerlitz, in the Czech Republic… finally putting a 50-year mix-up to an end. The community was founded in 1965 as Nottingham Progressive Jewish Congregation and immediately applied for, and received, a Torah from the … Read More
Liberal Judaism’s Top 5 Landmarks in 2016
While the last year has seen many setbacks for those with Progressive values, Liberal Judaism as a movement has enjoyed another 12 months of growth – with strengthening communities, enhanced social action work and a louder voice in Anglo-Jewry, Britain generally and, indeed, the rest of the world. Below we … Read More
Coming Soon: NPLS Liberal Jewish Online Music Library
20 December 2016 NPLS Choirmaster Ruth Colin has been hard at work over the last year digitising the scoresheets for the entire Liberal Jewish Siddur. Ruth has already begun using this fantastic resource to take the NPLS choir completely paperless, and totally interactive. With the ability to use tablets to read music, … Read More
Rabbi Harry Jacobi conducts AJEX Remembrance Ceremony
21 November 2016 Liberal Judaism’s Rabbi Harry Jacobi MBE conducted this weekend’s 82nd AJEX Annual Remembrance Ceremony and Parade, alongside Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Rabbi (Major) Reuben Livingstone. Harry – who twice fled the Nazis, first from Germany to Holland and then to the UK – served as a … Read More
Leo Baeck College celebrates 60 years of training Europe’s rabbis
8 November 2016 More than 200 people, including 43 rabbis and student rabbis spanning six decades, attended the 60th Anniversary Service of Celebration for the Leo Baeck College this weekend. Leo Baeck College is a preeminent institution of Jewish scholarship and learning, based in Finchley, Barnet, that is the heart … Read More
[Blog] There’s a very thin line between exercising power for the sake of the public, and exercising power for its sake
Rabbi René Pfertzel 14 October 2016 Le Blog Français, The Jewish Chronicle In my previous life in Normandy, I used to be a History teacher. Once, I brought my students to the local archives in Evreux, a middle-sized city located south from Rouen. We wanted to study the archives related … Read More
A tribute to Shimon Peres
28 September 2016 It will be with undoubted sadness that Liberal Jews will learn of the death overnight of Shimon Peres, who died in the early hours of this morning, surrounded by his family. Peres suffered a stroke two weeks ago and, despite significant improvement, his condition rapidly deteriorated yesterday. … Read More
A new Jewish community for East London as Bet Tikvah and Woodford Liberal Synagogues vote to unite
26 September 2016 A new Liberal Judaism community for East London and West Essex will be formed, after members of its two existing synagogues voted overwhelmingly to unify. In parallel EGMs on Sunday September 25, members of Bet Tikvah and Woodford Liberal Synagogues voted in favour of the dissolution of … Read More
[Book Review] The Jewish Community of Golders Green
Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein The Jewish Community of Golders Green by Pam Fox (ISBN: 9780750965873) Pam Fox – who has previously written books on Rabbi Dr Israel Mattuck and The Liberal Jewish Synagogue – has published an incredibly well-researched account of the history of Jewish settlement in Golders Green. It … Read More
Twilight People archive launches
22 August 2016 Liberal Judaism’s ground-breaking Twilight People project has launched its archive collection, a detailed history of transgender and faith identities including photographs, video, audio, memorabilia and ritual objects. A ‘bubbly reception’ took place on Thursday at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), which will host the collection. An education … Read More