Masorti

New Cambridge Union president leans on Masorti experience

Anna Sheinman — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:10:17 +0100

The new president of the prestigious Cambridge Union debating society is trying to decide what will be harder: a term as Union president, or being the head of a Noam camp for the first time this summer.

“Probably Union president,” decides Joel Fenster. “I’ve only been at Cambridge two years — at Noam I feel like everyone gets 10 years of training to be a rosh (leader).”

Currently in his second year studying politics and social sciences at Selwyn College, Mr Fenster has organised an impressive line-up of debates and speakers.

Alongside household names like musician-comedian Tim Minchin, former Friends star Lisa Kudrow and model and Cambridge graduate Lily Cole, Joel and his team have two debates scheduled on the Middle East, Iran and Israel.

The Palestinian Authority’s UK envoy Manuel Hassassian will give a lecture. He follows Israeli Ambassador Daniel Taub, who spoke at the end of last term.

Mr Fenster, 20, said: “He and the Israeli ambassador are both speakers whose perspectives you don’t often hear. You hear what the media tries to call a balanced idea of it. This is a Palestinian voice rather than what the media thinks a Palestinian voice should be.”

Noam, the Masorti youth group, gave him valuable skills for the role. He said: “Everything I’ve done here in Cambridge is a reflection of the skills I learned from Noam. Managing people, managing a team, just knowing how to interact in that professional setting, it definitely taught me a lot.”

A former JFS student, Mr Fenster said he had also learned a lot from his work with grassroots advocacy group Yachad; he co-founded their student wing which organises conferences and speaker events at universities.

He explained: “The Union and Yachad in a sense have quite similar ideologies: both are about bringing every perspective to the table.”

Mr Fenster, from Stanmore, north west London, is not the first Jewish president of the Union — in fact he is the third in a row, something he believes is no coincidence. It may be “a sense of not taking success for granted,” he said, as well as a sense of community and supporting others.

He said: “I would never have dared to run for the Presidency barely a year after arriving at university had the Jewish Society not made me feel at home from the moment I arrived in Cambridge.”

Masorti is getting big on learning

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:41:32 +0000

Yom Masorti, the Masorti movement’s annual educational and cultural day, attracted nearly 250 people to Finchley’s New North London Synagogue on Sunday, double last year’s turnout.

The attraction was a diverse programme of speakers, including Israeli ambassador Daniel Taub, High Court judge Sir Bernard Eder and New Israel Fund chief executive Adam Ognall. There were cookery demonstrations, children’s activities and a talk by tour leader Rachel Kolsky.

Mr Taub offered insights into Israel’s future. In conversation with broadcaster and journalist Joshua Rozenberg, Sir Bernard said that when adjudicating on immigration cases, “I often feel my Jewish background. My father was a refugee, my mother was a refugee.”

New London Synagogue rabbi, Jeremy Gordon, led a lively discussion on parenting.

Yom Masorti chair Veronica Kennard said the day was “an opportunity for us to get together as the Masorti movement. People from communities big and small share, learn and have a day of socialising and fun.”

Edgware Masorti co-chair Barbara Goldberg was pleased by the pooling of intellectual and practical resources. “When you are in a small organisation, it is possible to become introspective and stale. By opening up and sharing, there is something to give and something to gain.”

Masorti chief executive Matt Plen said the turnout and enthusiasm of participants were “a testament to the connections and relationships between our communities and to what we are doing — something exciting and compelling.” Participants were drawn from congregations including St Albans, Hatch End, Buckhurst Hill and Bournemouth.

World awaits award star

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:57:43 +0000

New North London Synagogue member Gillian Caplin received world Masorti’s Service To The Nation award at a New York ceremony for her help in developing European Masorti communities.

Ms Caplin has served as chair of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues in the UK and as the president of Masorti Europe. She will be taking up the presidency of the world organisation, Masorti Olami. Outgoing president Alan Silberman said “Gillian’s passion is remarkable. Her drive, enthusiasm and belief in our goals is truly inspiring.”

More play at St Albans Masorti

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:03:53 +0000

The St Albans Masorti congregation is hosting a playgroup open to the wider community in its shul premises.

“We now have this wonderful new building which we want to make the maximum possible use of,” said educational psychologist and shul member Hannah Morris, who is leading the playgroup. “We thought it be would be a good way of helping our members with young families while also promoting community cohesion.”

Supporters include local councillor Momotaz Rahim, who has pledged to publicise the group.

Double vision delights Masorti dinner crowd

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:23:33 +0000

Masorti’s vision for the next 10 years was outlined to a record 200 guests at the movement’s annual dinner at the New North London Synagogue, Finchley, on Sunday.

“We aim to double our membership, bringing the amount of individuals in the Masorti family to 15,000,” chief executive Matt Plen told them. “We also hope to establish new synagogues in key demographic areas.”

Services for youngsters and young adults were paramount, with investment in both Noam and Marom, “our highly successful youth movements, that will foster generational loyalty. And, of course, we will continue to resource our dynamic lay and rabbinic leadership development programmes. After all, Masorti Judaism is all about providing traditional Judaism for modern Jews.”

Senior Masorti rabbi, New North London’s Jonathan Wittenberg, said the movement was “the only place where I feel I can really be Jewish in a sense that I can truly understand as authentic”.

Keynote speakers were journalist Jonathan Freedland and Margo Miller, past chair of Democrats Abroad and an influential fundraiser for Hillary Clinton

They discussed the implications of President Obama’s re-election, particularly for Israel.

Co-chair Nick Gendler made the appeal following a film depicting a day in the life of the Masorti youth workers. “We punch way above our weight already,” he said. “Yet we need to better present our unique approach to Judaism to achieve our ambitious vision for the future.”

Bringing in £50,000, the dinner was Masorti’s most successful fundraiser.

Essex Masorti warden dies, aged 46

Cathy Forman — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 13:04:08 +0000

Buckhurst Hill Masorti leaders have paid tribute to senior warden Darren Silverne who died on Monday, aged 46, after a short illness.

Former co-chair Howard Robinson said Mr Silverne “epitomised everything that was best about our community. He was selfless, gentle and caring and always encouraging to those around him. He was an instrumental member of the community’s management and ritual teams and played a central role in its growth.”

Minister Rabbi Michael Foulds said: “Darren was one of life’s good guys. He loved the shul and played a huge role in its running and development.”

The Essex congregation will be discussing how best to commemorate Mr Silverne’s contribution.

Congolese join the party to thank shul for support

Sandy Rashty — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:47:38 +0000

A Congolese woman stole the show at an interfaith event at the New North London Synagogue on Sunday with a rousing rendition of Hava Nagilah.

Maman Georgette’s performance of songs familiar to Jews among the 350 crowd was a throwback to her training as a parachutist by the IDF at the time of the Six-Day War in 1967 and a year spent on kibbutz.

The day of food, theatre, music and dancing cemented the longstanding relationship between the Congolese Support Group and the Finchley Masorti congregation.The synagogue runs a drop-in centre for destitute asylum seekers and 50 per cent of its clients are Congolese.

“It was important that the Jewish community stand up for them and it’s important that the Jewish community reaches out to refugees,” said New North London’s Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg.

The Congolese were delighted that the party was staged in the synagogue — “they wanted to feel welcomed by a religious community.”

Event co-ordinator Deborah Koder said it celebrated survival and demonstrated “our continuing support to the Congolese community, which had “suffered atrocities on a large scale”.

The drop-in centre currently supports more than than 300 people, offering access to doctors, lawyers and therapists and essential supplies such as food bags and nappies.

“There’s a big interfaith connection,” Ms Koder said. “We love to share our beautiful building.”

Congolese Support Group president Okito Tongomo, who came to the UK in 1997, said: “Since the rabbi condemned the killing of people in Congo and asked the authorities to look at it in the letter [from rabbis to the Guardian], we had to thank him and it all stemmed from there. It’s very exciting.”

Musician Freddy Wanga, who performed at the celebration, said: “More than six million people died in Congo but no one wants to talk about them. I thank the Jewish community for welcoming us and letting us talk about our genocide.”

The communities had previously joined forces for a Holocaust Memorial Day event. Sunday’s gathering was “about doing something happy and joyful together and not just meeting under sad circumstances”, Rabbi Wittenberg said.

Ukraine gets first Masorti rabbi

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:58:27 +0100

Rabbi Reuven Stamov, 38, has been appointed as the first Masorti rabbi in Ukraine at a ceremony in Kiev.

Rabbi Stamov, who grew up in Ukraine to a secular family before moving to Israel in 2003, returned to the country of his birth in March this year following his ordination at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary.

In his Soviet regime childhood, the future Rabbi Stamov was forbidden to practise any form of Judaism. It was not until he was 18 that he became involved in Midreshet Yerushalayim, a division of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.

His move to live in Israel in 2003 was combined with summer visits back to his native country, during which he promoted Masorti traditions to the estimated 100,000 Jews that currently live in Ukraine.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of Masorti communities from Kiev, Simferopol (Rabbi Stamov's birthplace), Kharkov and Donetsk, in addition to public figures from the Jewish community in Kiev.

Rabbi Stamov will be based in Kiev, in charge of assisting the estimated 10,000 Masorti Jews in Ukraine.

St Albans Masorti Synagogue moves into new home

Jay Grenby — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:11:10 +0100

St Albans Masorti Synagogue opened the doors to its first permanent home, 21 years after the congregation’s establishment.

Many of the 200 members attended the first Shabbat services in the new premises — a former industrial unit just south of the city centre.

Minister Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth opened the Friday night service by “welcoming” the Torah scrolls to the shul. The celebratory atmosphere continued with a batmitzvah on Shabbat morning and a tea for new members the following day.

Co-chair Paul Hoffbrand told congregants: “Tonight has been the culmination of dedicated hard work by members of our building steering group, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the building was completed on time and within budget.”

Although the structural building work is complete, interior elements have to be finished, such as the decoration of the upper floor, which will house classrooms and meeting rooms.

It is intended that the shul will also be the hub for social and educational activities.
The cheder, Noam youth and a toddlers’ group will start to use it in the coming weeks.

Israel to pay salaries of Reform, Masorti rabbis

Jennifer Lipman — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:59:23 +0100

Non-Orthodox communities in Israel were celebrating a victory this week after a landmark decision requiring the state to provide the same financial assistance to Reform and Masorti religious leaders as it does to Orthodox ones.

The disproportionate privileges enjoyed by the Orthodox religious establishment in Israel have long been a source of resentment, but the attorney general has now announced a change in the rules.

The state will now be expected to recognise rabbis from denominations other than Orthodoxy and pay the salaries of those who serve communities. It will only apply to rabbis serving regional councils and farming communities – at least 15 rabbis so far.

Until now, non-Orthodox rabbis were paid for by membership fees, but the around 4,000 Orthodox rabbis enjoyed state funding. The non-Orthodox rabbis, who will come under the title "community leaders", will not have any influence over matters of halachah.

The change has come about seven years after Reform Rabbi Miri Gold filed a petition in Israel's Supreme Court.

Although the money will come not from the Ministry for Religious Services but from the Culture Ministry, the decision was still welcomed as "an important breakthrough in the efforts to advance freedom of religion in Israel" by the head of Israel's Reform movement, Rabbi Gilad Kariv.

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, of the Conservative Movement Rabbinical Assembly executive, compared the decision to man landing on the moon.

"In the Israeli context - a giant leap for the Jewish people," she told Globes. "This is the beginning of the end of the Orthodox monopoly on Israelis' lives."

"This historic victory is another step in levelling the playing field," said Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Centre.