Highgate Shul

Have a Happy Pesach

The blog has had a small hiatus whilst we were preparing for the induction - thanks for your patience!

Baruch HaShem, the induction Shabbat went very smoothly and I would like to thank everyone who helped organise such a special event.

We will start the blog again after Pesach (which starts on Wednesday night). In the meantime please be in contact if you need any hospitality for a seder, help getting Matzot or want to sell your chametz.

Kind regards & wishing you all a Chag Kosher V'Sameach

Tu Bishvat Seder

This Sunday night is Tu Bishvat and we are thrilled that Simeon is with us to lead the Tu Bishvat Seder once again.

For those unfamiliar - Tu Bishvat refers to the 15th day of the month of Shevat and is celebrated as the New Year for Trees.

Although the major part of the winter is still ahead (as the weather demonstrated this week), Tu Bishvat commemorates the time when the first buds start to appear. This conveys the initial greeting of a coming spring - an idea that we will develop at the Seder. 

The Tu Bishvat Seder itself is a relatively new phenomenon. Introduced in Safed in the 16th Century, by the greatest of all Kabbalists - the Arizal - the Seder is somewhat based on the Passover Seder. Don't worry - it is certainly not as long - but you do get to drink four cups of wine ;-)

It involves enjoying the fruits of the tree, particularly those native to the Land of Israel, and discusses philosophical and Kabbalistic concepts associated with the day. Among other things, the Seder is a great way to appreciate the bounty that we so often take for granted, and to develop a good and generous eye for the world around us.

Entrance is £10 (to cover the costs of the fruit and wine) and the Seder starts at 8pm - see you there!

 

Introducing Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz

By now, you should have received a letter from Nigel and I highlighting some of the programmes put into place over the past few months.

The letter also included a flyer detailing the upcoming events in the shul between January and March and we hope that there is something for everyone. If you have any suggestions for any future events - please don't hesitate to contact me.

Regarding Youth activities and children services, Ruth and I hope to send out a separate note - but please note that the next Youth Group will take place THIS SUNDAY on January 25th.

Our next event is the first in our Contemporary Issues Discussion Series.  This promises to be a fascinating evening and it is a great privilege for Highgate to have a speaker of such high-calibre and renown.

The topic is 'Life and Death Decisions in Medicine' and there will be time allotted for Q & A afterwards. For those who do not know Rabbi Tatz - I have included a small biography below.

This event will take place NEXT TUESDAY 27th January at 8:00pm in the shul hall. Entrance is £5 (free for under 18's) and light refreshments will be served. See you there!

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Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand and graduated with distinction in surgery. He spent a year in St. Louis, Missouri, as an American Field Service Scholar and subsequently returned there for elective work in internal medicine at Washington University.

Dr. Tatz served as medical officer in the South African Defence force and completed a tour of duty on the Namibian border during the conflict there. He subsequently moved to Israel where he practised both in hospital and general medicine in Jerusalem, as well as engaging in Yeshiva study.

After practising medicine and studying in Yeshiva concurrently for some time, Dr. Tatz undertook a number of years of Talmudic study and later teaching in Jewish thought and medical ethics in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Dr. Tatz founded the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum, of which he is Director, for the purpose of teaching and promoting knowledge of Jewish medical ethics internationally.

He has written a number of books on the subject of Jewish thought and philosophy: Anatomy of a Search, which documents the process of transition from secular to observant lifestyles among modern Jews, Living Inspired and Worldmask.

Dr. Tatz is the co-author of Reb Simcha Speaks, and has recently published The Thinking Jewish Teenager's Guide to Life. His work has been translated into Spanish, Russian, French and Portuguese.

He currently lectures on Jewish thought and medical ethics at the Jewish Learning Exchange in London and internationally.

Chanukah Party and Other Announcements

I didn’t post a blog last week to give everyone a chance to sign up to the email forum – however, that failed miserably! We really would like to get the ball rolling – so please do sign up ASAP here.

Shabbos a week ago, I spoke about the tragic events that took place in Mumbai. In relation to that I was sent the following video-link and thought it appropriate to share.

All human beings are created בצלם אלוקים - in the image of G-d, and as such we have a tremendous responsibility to one another. The Jewish retort to terror has, and always will be, replacing evil with good and we can all do our own bit in the war against terror.

In that talk, I also referred to the trial of Mendel Beilis, more details of that can be found here and here.

On Sunday, the Youth Club put on its last event of the year - we all went bowling! If we do it again I’d like to think that the older kids won’t need the barriers up :-). I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Ruth for setting up and maintaining the Youth Club – which has by all accounts been a tremendous success. Please G-d, the events next year should be even more enjoyable and the numbers ever growing. After the turn of the year, we also hope to combine the club with a monthly youth service – kicked off with a special event at the cottage. Details to follow.

Since the email forum is not yet running, I would like to conclude with a number of announcements:

CHANUKAH PARTY

This year’s Chanukah party will be centred around a communal lighting (& evening service) in the shul on Sunday 21st December at 5pm. This will be followed by Chanukah related games, stories and refreshments for all the family in the hall until 7pm.

If that is not quite your scene, there is a tea party for the more mature members of the community in the cottage at 3:30pm with an opportunity to meet the Rabbi, Rebbetzin and family. This will conclude with the communal lighting at 5pm.

ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMME UPDATE

• We will commence the Contemporary Discussions with a grand opening on Tuesday 27^th January at 8pm in the shul hall. Details to follow, but please put that date in your diaries.
• The Gemoro Shiur will reconvene after the 'winterval' on 6th Jan in the Cottage at 9pm.

See you at the Chanukah Party!

Sign Up to the Email Forum

Thanks to Anthony we are excited to announce the final piece of the jigsaw of the new IT department at Highgate Shul or more correctly @Highgate Shul.

Following on from the success of the new website and the blog (we are still awaiting guest contributions...) this week sees the launch of the email forum.

This forum is private and can only be accessed by signed up members, so please follow Anthony's instructions carefully.

The idea of the forum is to promote cohesiveness in the community via electronic media. By sharing ideas and helping others with useful information we can strengthen the bonds amongst the community.

Feel free to:

• Post links to articles of interest
• Share good news and appropriate jokes
• Give away old furniture
• Look for cleaning help, electricians, plumbers etc
• Share recipes and family outing ideas

We will also use this medium to announce forthcoming shul events. So do hurry and please sign up.

On a more sombre note, the tragic events in Mumbai have left a very bitter taste. Our thoughts and prayers go to the wounded, their families and the families of those murdered. Wishing you a peaceful week.

Highgate's Very Own Adult Education Programme

The Times reported last week that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful atom-smasher, which broke down just days after it was switched on, will not start its experiments until the middle of next year.

The truth of the matter is that the experiment went a bit wonky and the LHC has now metamorphosed into the HLC - the Highgate Learning Centre!

Like the atom (protons and neutrons) the nucleus of the Learning Centre will consist of two components:

1. A Talmud Class
2. A Series of Contemporary Discussions.

Although the series of contemporary discussions will only start at the beginning of 2009 (more of that below), we are delighted to announce that the Talmud Class will begin next Tuesday night (2^nd December) in the cottage at 9pm.

We will be studying Tractate Makkot, which concludes the delineation of the laws of judicial procedure and jurisprudence begun in tractate Sanhedrin, the preceding volume. Makkot begins with a discussion about conspiring and false witnesses.

No prior studying of the Talmud is necessary and contrary to popular belief, spoken Aramaic is not a requirement! We hope that the shiur will be highly engaging, full of intelligent interaction & argument and certainly enjoyable.

In true Highgate style, refreshments will be provided together with some of Scotland's finest malts!

The class will take place on a weekly basis at different members' houses - please email me for more details.

If a Talmud class is not quite your glass of Glenmorangie, then watch this space, as in January we hope to start a series of Contemporary discussions. We will bring in Guest Speakers to present a few of the discussions, and this series also promises to be fascinating and very challenging. 

We are currently drawing up the plans for a six session 'semester', so if you have any sensible suggestions of topics that you would be interested in discussing, please let me know.

In the meantime, have a good week and we look forward to seeing you at the Communal Dinner on Friday night.

Gerry's 92nd + Post Mitzvah Day Musings

This past weekend was very busy in the annals of Highgate Shul.

On Shabbos we celebrated Gerry Bloom's 92^nd birthday. Gerry is one of the stars of our community - as he displayed in his speech at the kiddush! Duncan mentioned that Gerry has been a member for 62 years and was a board member for 36. Having been a part of this Community for less than 92 days (89 to be precise), I feel a little humbled! We wish him many more years in good health and all look forward to his next birthday.

Following on from that, Mitzvah Day was a tremendous success. It was inspiring to see so many people helping to wrap gifts for terminally ill children (although my wrapping skills were openly challenged), baking cakes and sorting items for the Norwood shops. Of course, there were games of table tennis and table football to keep everyone entertained.

I spoke to the older group about the importance of Chesed within the framework of community life. Chesed is defined as selfless, active loving-kindness to promote the welfare of our fellow-man, and as such is a foundation upon which society rests (see Ethics of the Fathers 1:2).

Special thanks to Ruth for organising the event. Thanks also to Sara, Caroline, Hannah, Emmety and Nick for their efforts. For more details about Mitzvah Day, please see their website for more info - http://www.mitzvahday.org.uk/. Keep checking the photos pages for the Highgate Youth Club photos (as of writing they are yet to be posted).

This website also has a photos page - so feel free to check that out too.

To wrap up the weekend, we hosted a cocktail party for new and potential members - which I believe was enjoyed by all. Jonathan spoke about what the community has to offer and if anyone wants more details about this or any future events, please contact the office.

NB This is a final reminder about the communal Friday night dinner on the 28th November. Nigel will speak on the topic "Does crime pay?" We will also have a youth leader who will entertain the children during the talk. There are only a few spaces remaining so please book ASAP.

Have a great week.

PS I have just been informed that this Shabbat sees the return of the Cholent Kiddush (sounds like a horror story!). See you there.

Welcome to the Highgate Shul Blog + Introducing Mitzvah Day

Welcome to our first new venture of the rapidly approaching winter!

The clocks have changed, the kids now return from school in the dark and the weather has certainly taken a turn for the worse. Having spent the past nine years in Israel I was quite perturbed to find the shul and sukkah bedecked in snow a few weeks ago. What odds do Ladbrokes offer for a 'white' Sukkot?

The goal of this blog is to be both informative and educational - and at times even amusing. It's also meant to be interactive, so please feel free to leave comments on the blog.  You can do this by filling in the box at the end of this post or by following this link.

I hope to 'blog' on a weekly basis and am happy to accept guest contributions from the members of the community. These will of course be subject to strict censorship by our editorial team (which currently consists of Anthony, Nigel and Jake).

Our thanks go to Anthony who set up this blog and takes care of the shul website. If anyone has any sensible suggestions for improvements to the blog or the website, please contact him by email.

This Sunday, 16 November, is Mitzvah Day. Our Youth Club is participating and are offering three projects:

1. Sorting old clothes, books and toys for a collection for Norwood.

2. Baking cakes which are to be sold for Club funds

3, Wrapping new toys or small gifts to be donated to the Whittington Hospital children's ward.

So please come along and bring in contributions to the shul - and then buy the cakes For more details please contact Ruth Green.

The truth of the matter is that each and every day of the year is Mitzvah Day! We try as hard as we can to help others as part of our daily Avodat HaShem - service of G-d; however, I think that it is a very beautiful idea for the whole community to engage in something we can all relate to - improving the lives of others on a larger scale. We can then try and take this inspiration and continue this in our own private way on a daily basis.

Have a good week.