Shalom and my wishes to all of you and your loved ones for shana tovah u’metukah, a good and sweet year (5777)

From the outset of my remarks, it is clear that the way we Jews welcome the new year is unique to the Jewish people and our Judaism, and to no other faith.

Normally, the passage of time is marked by raucous celebrating, imbibing, eating and dancing – a logical way to mark the coming of a new year and the blessing of life. However, in Jewish tradition our celebration is not with noisy drinking and dancing but by sitting with our families at the festive dinner table, dipping our challah into honey and thanking God for the renewed possibility of a good and sweet new year.

I can also understand why we wish our friends and loved ones a “good” year because, in Jewish terms, if we do not add goodness to our lives, the new year is just another day, a part of the cycle of nature. When we come to synagogue to pray, it is not to ask God for material needs but spiritual strength, new ideals, gratitude for what we have, a changing and healthier perspective on our lives and the world around us.

We study and hear the words of Torah reconnecting us to our past and to our people. We all know that the example of spiritual and religious resolve set by our Jewish ancestors at the start of our recorded history has stood the test of time.

They knew the power of words, that ideas are stronger than the sword. So Babylonia is in rubble, the remains of Assyria are in museums, Greece, Rome, Persia, the Holy Roman Empire, Islamic Empire, Communist bloc, Nazi Third Reich are all gone and we, the Jews, less than %.002 of the world’s population, are still here.

The theme of this year’s Holy Days is “The Importance of our Vision: Finding Meaning”. On Erev Rosh Hashanah we will introduce our journey into why ideals and dreams matter, by focusing on a talmudic text that tells us exactly what we should be praying for on Rosh Hashanah.

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the subject is “God: Why do our Beliefs Matter?” They certainly matter a great deal to the dregs of extremists and terrorists today, but what about us? Do we have any core beliefs? Why God? And what kind of God it is that I reject or accept?

On the second day of Rosh Hashanah we turn to our texts, the stories and history that give us vision.

On Kol Nidre: What is the mission of the Jewish people? Is it important to articulate what exactly we, the collective whole of the Jewish people, want for this world? What is the purpose of remaining Jewish? Plus a few words about how Belsize Square Synagogue fits into our people’s vision. Does our Synagogue need goals and a mission?

For Yom Kippur, what does all this search for meaning and vision mean to me as an individual? What do I live for? Should I be a part of something greater than myself?

At Yizkor, remembering: the importance of incorporating our memories of loved ones into our ideals and aims. Yizkor is all about remembering the past for the sake of our future.

At Neilah, before we say goodbye to our holiest time of the year, we will summarise and contemplate where we are headed as individuals and as a community.

We all begin our new year by dipping our challah into honey, which is perfectly kasher! Why is that an odd thing? Because normally something that is tamei (ritually impure) is forbidden, treif!

Milk products, eggs of kosher animals are just fine, but how can the product of a non-kosher creature – a bee – be considered kosher? (footnote: I love honey – good decision, Rabbis!) but why did they come up with a ruling that not only allows us to eat honey all year round but tells us we should eat it specifically at Rosh Hashanah? Why is it made the exception to the long list of prohibitions in Maimonides, Hilchot Ma’achalot Assurot 3:3?

According to the Rabbis, honey represents a food which turns “bad, non-kosher” into good – and kosher. That is the concrete form of what we express in our prayers: there is always a future for happiness. Good will emerge from past unhappiness, suffering and dissonance.

So what are our greatest hopes and dreams at this time of the year? The food – the honey – symbolises our quest for 5777 to see good emerge from our misfortunes, wars and crises; to see taharah (purity), the good, emerge from tumah (impurity) and our world move toward the fulfilment of our hopes and ideals.

See you all in our beautiful Sanctuary.

Ketivah v’chatimah tovah,
Rabbi Stuart Altshuler

Shalom Chaverim

This month begins our time for introspection, spiritual, moral and personal. Called heshbon hanefesh, or the soul’s account, it is considered in Jewish tradition to be the most intensive spiritual self-judgement of the entire year.

The theme of this year’s High Holyday sermons and services will be aims, goals and ideals. How does our faith that we are moving towards something l’eila u’l’eila (higher and higher), influence who we are?

We, the Jewish people with our Torah, left the world an array of gifts that had never before appeared to humanity: belief in One God (monotheism), belief in revelation (the still, quiet voice that addresses humanity), belief in messianism (the view that history moves toward a peaceful and idyllic future).

That last contribution is known as a linear view, the idea that history and humanity move toward a culmination. The pagan world had a “cyclical” view of history, meaning they believed in the cycle of nature, with nature making our lives spin round like wheels without end or resolution.

Then came the Torah, in which God begins Creation and moves matters forward to the family of nations, moral principles and law in a narrative, Exodus, which sees the beginning of a people’s history, a people destined to lead nations to unity and harmony.

We take seriously the words we recite from the prophet Zechariah at the end of every service in the Aleinu: Bayom hahu y’heyeh Adonai echad u’shmo echad, On that day God shall be one and His Name one.

As you see, I am in a frame of mind to look forward and I ask us all to do the same. It takes a lot of hard work but also encourages us to do real heshbon hanefesh, constantly examining our souls and destiny. Failure to do so decreases our spirit and diminishes our souls. I would love to hear your passions and thoughts on where our community should be going. Here are some of my ideas:

1) I want to keep investing in the highest goals of our tradition, and central to that aim is education. We will have four Sunday sessions from 12.30- 2.30pm teaching our members to read Hebrew. Our Sunday adult education class from 10.00am-12.30pm will look at modern philosophy and the Jewish responses over the last 200 years. This is one of the real highlights of my tenure at this synagogue.
There will also be a joint class with Revd Paul Nicholson of next-door St Peter’s Church in an intensive examination of our religious traditions and more Lunch ‘n’ Learn sessions after Shabbat services.

Our ongoing Monday night Introduction to Judaism, from 7.00-8.15pm, fills the Library with 14 candidates and their partners. But I would like to encourage any of you interested in a full survey of Judaism – its values, theology, holidays, life cycle, history, Bible and literature – to join an enthusiastic and bright class.

2) We need to continue to enliven our services and to think of new possibilities for participation of both young and old.

3) Music: Our ambitious plans continue with our concert on 25 September with my friend, the violin virtuoso Maxim Vengerov, along with my wife, Ella Leya, a recording star in her own right.

4)Youth: Under our new Youth chairman, Simon Cutner, plans are afoot to revitalise our youth groups.

5) Social Justice/Tikkun Olam: With the amazing Eve Hersov, our Community Care Co-Ordinator, spearheading our Bereavement and Compassion Committee, I am hoping to establish a Social Justice Committee to re-ignite a passion for social awareness and gemilut chasadim, acts of kindness to others – refugees, the poor and homeless. We need to improve our profile in this area and if someone is keen on this, tell me.

6) Travel: Our trip to Berlin in May was an extraordinary success. We hope to visit Israel next and want to see who is interested in joining us for a 2017 trip. This will not be your normal trip to Israel. We will meet rabbinical, political and archaeological personalities and the human rights right activist, Natan Sharansky.

This is the month of Elul, a time for selfevaluation, for communal evaluation and renewal of our vision for 5777, the new year which comes in next month. I look forward to seeing you in synagogue.

B’shalom always,
Rabbi Stuart Altshuler