Four Leo Baeck College graduates received their MA in Jewish educational leadership at its first in-person ceremony in more than two years.

The quartet were Frankie Gruzd and Adela Kobic, respectively headteacher at Bromley Reform and Birmingham Progressive; Avi Marco, a Finchley Reform council member; and Oren Giorno, youth director at JEM in Paris.

With the pandemic having precluded an in-person event last year, the graduates agreed to wait for a time when they could be physically together to be presented with their honours.

Even so, the guest list was limited to close family and friends, community leaders and the college faculty.

For Dr Jo-Ann Myers, director of Jewish education at Leo Baeck and the MA course team leader, “this graduation ceremony has been a long time coming but the wait was certainly worth it. Our students did themselves and the college proud.”

Each was presented with a handmade tallit, kippah and tallit bag in the college’s alternative colour palette, distinguishing the recipients from rabbinic graduates. The gifts were made by Maya Works, a member of the Fair Trade Federation, which promotes economic justice for women in Guatemala.

After the ceremony — at which the graduates spoke about what they had gained by studying for the MA — a planting service for a pomegranate tree donated by the four took place in the biblical garden of the college’s Finchley grounds.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day to all come back together,” reflected Leo Baeck principal Rabbi Dr Deborah Kahn-Harris.

“It was touching to hear the graduates talk about how studying at the college had helped them develop both personally and professionally. As we see the beautiful pomegranate tree bloom, we will remember this class.”