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Dear Friends,

It is only a short time since I wrote my last email to you on Friday and so I was worried that there might not be much to say. I was wrong!! Our Community is buzzing with ideas and it is wonderful to be part of such an active and thoughtful group of individuals. You may have noticed that I have changed my greeting from “dear member” to “dear friends”, this is because I feel that a positive that has come out of this most difficult period is that we have taken time to get to know each other and to talk to people that we might not have spoken to before. There is a great sense of community and belonging, at least so it seems from the emails that I get. For me this is such a positive and I hope it is for you to.

I want to start by thanking everyone who has volunteered to help with phone calls and also those of you who have volunteered in response to last week’s email. I will be sending out more information on activities over the next few weeks. Please keep the offers coming!! With this thanks comes an apology…..to the individual who emailed me about FeldenKrais, I am so, so ,sorry but I have lost your email and can’t get in touch with you. Please resend it.

One of the great offers that has been made came after discussion at the Tikkun Olam Committee. Claire Walford will host a Zoom Communal Kiddush each Friday night from this week. Many families are already doing this amongst themselves but if you are not able to participate with family or friends then please contact Claire on Claire.walford@yahoo.com to let her know that you would like to join and she will email you with Zoom joining instructions each week. There will be candle lighting, Kiddush and HaMotzi and possibly a little time to Zoom chat. The whole event will take 30 minutes and will happen at 7.30 after the Friday night service ends. Everyone is welcome and you do not need to have any wine, candles or challah at home nor do you need to join each week, only when you feel like it.

If you find yourself with food in your fridge but are bored with your recipes or don’t know how to use up what you have, then email Claire on the above email address with a list of the ingredients and she will send you a recipe. No guarantees that you will like it but at least it will be something new to try!

For those of you who are interested in Limmud , you may like to know that the “Limmud Together UK” on line event will run on Sunday 3 May from 10:00-18:00. This will cost just £10, with a concessionary rate of £1 for those who have been financially impacted by Coronavirus. It is free for anyone who has volunteered for Limmud in the last year. If you would like to sign up here is the link : https://limmud.org/event/limmud-together-uk/

I also wanted to let you know that, as you will have already read, earlier this year we created the Emeritus Rabbi Award to sponsor a young person who wanted to do volunteer work in Israel with one of our Charities. The global pandemic has sadly made this an impossibility and consequently the award will roll over to next year.

Finally, as promised in an earlier email our Cheder has gone on line with one to one Hebrew reading lessons and Jewish Study class lessons. Last Sunday was the first virtual Cheder and was a great success. Thank you to Caroline and everyone who is teaching, as well as to all the parents and children who are participating.

On the subject of children please do participate in the Kikar Kids Shabbat Zoom service (thank you to Richard and Sara Pollins) if you have children aged 0-9. This happens each Saturday at 11am.

Lastly, if you are interested please look below for gardening tips. I have not received many… more are needed please.

Stay safe and stay well

Jackie

chairman@synagogue.org.uk

Gardening Tips

• Bulbs aren’t just for spring! Plant common favourites such as gladioli, dahlias, crocosmias (or rarer beauties like Sparaxis and Tigridia) now for colourful displays in summer.
• As they start to grow again after a winter rest, this week is the perfect time to give your houseplants some attention such as feeding or repotting to get them looking their best.
• Now’s your last chance to prune late-flowering shrubs such as buddleias, hydrangeas and fuchsias; give them a tidy soon and enjoy flowers later in the year.