EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION

There is no day more important on our Jewish calendar than the day after all the chagim!

It is one thing to pray, listen, reaffirm, ask for forgiveness, make new resolves, and another to implement what we have vowed to change and plant in our lives. The holiday period provided great spiritual and emotional uplift for all, but now is the time to walk on the paths that we set out to accomplish.

We have educational opportunities. Our Sunday morning discussion group is embarking on a new course: The Philosophers and Judaism. From Socrates through Plato, Aristotle, Pyrrho, Epicurus, Cicero, Seneca, Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Darwin and Kierkegaard to Marx and Nietzsche – we will discuss and tackle some of the great philosophical ideas and analyse them under the eyes and heart of Jewish wisdom and thought.

Come and join us each Sunday morning when there is Cheder at the Synagogue, from 10.00-11.15am.

Lehrhaus Day

We also have our Lehrhaus on Sunday
9 November, all day at Belsize Square Synagogue. Held in honour of our Synagogue’s 75th anniversary, the Lehrhaus is the culmination of our congregation’s festivities, marking our unique history.

What better way of perpetuating the legacy of our community than through the prism of Jewish learning? There are twenty presentations (shiurim), led by a distinguished faculty, including Rabbis Stuart Altshuler, Markus Lange, Jonathan Wittenberg and Danny Rich; academics Professors Tessa Rajak and Glenda Abramson, Dr Annette Boeckler, Dr Bea Lewkowicz and Ben Barkow; Cantor Paul Heller and our own Belsize elite corps – Andrew Levy, Hilary Curtis, Neil Nerva, Larry Miller and Michael Horowitz.

Topics range from the Biblical Dietary Laws (Kashrut) to Why Do We Read the Torah in Hebrew? to an analysis of Jewish attitudes about Judaism and Israel, to Early Jewish Mysticism.

Please call the Synagogue Office and make your reservation. To cover our minimal costs, the charge is £10 if you register in advance or £15 on the day. This includes lunch and four sessions. Be here at 9.30am for registration.

Then stay for the day, which will culminate in a panel discussion with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg (Senior Rabbi Masorti Judaism UK), Rabbi Danny Rich (Chief Executive, Liberal Judaism), Rabbi Stuart Altshuler (Belsize Square Synagogue) and Deputy Ambassador Eitan Naeh of the Israel Embassy. Our topic: What is the future of Judaism and of the Jewish people?

The Frieda Graumann Scholarship

Another area receiving renewed energy and commitment is the subject of Israel. What we need to do for Israel is to energise our youth and there is a great opportunity for all of our youngsters. The Frieda Graumann Scholarship is designed to subsidise a young person’s trip to Israel to experience its unique atmosphere.

Prize Essay

Applicants must write an essay on a topic related to Jewish life and/or Israel, that demonstrates the applicant’s commitment to Israel and the Jewish people. Essays should be between 800 and 1,000 words long and submitted to Rabbi Altshuler no later than Sunday 1 March 2015.

Our Scholarship Committee will decide on a winner who demonstrates that he or she is deserving of such a financial award. Following selection of the recipient, there will be an appropriate honour at a synagogue service for that particular individual.

It’s the month after the holidays. Time to do the work that has to be done to raise our knowledge and commitment to our people and religious values, our Judaism! Let us all make this time a bridge to the fulfilment of our goals and dreams.

Hazak Hazak V’nithazek. Let us bring strength to each other each day, for the sake of our children, our children’s children, our beloved community and congregation, to the Jewish people everywhere and to God Almighty

Rabbi Stuart Altshuler