Hello, everyone. Um, right. Firstly, thank you, Sinai Friends, for this honour bestowed upon me today. And congratulations, um, to Carol, who shares the Bimah with me. The Simchat Torah and is evidence of the power of prayer overnight. Glad to see you back. Okay. Um, I apologize in advance for anybody who was here yesterday for this action replay, and, uh, I hope that we don't get too many VAR decisions as we go through it, but you know, we'll see how we go.
Okay. Um, and I'm also minded that this is a combined. Um, Beresha and Yizka's service. And, um, I think, uh, Cantor Rachel mentioned at the beginning about Judaism being a bittersweet And I was reminded of one of the first books, um, I read as a teenager and in the days where the ever popular Maisie Mosco wrote about almonds and raisins, and I wasn't sure what the title meant.
And, uh, it was carefully explained to me that this was about the bitterness and the sweetness. And on this particular Simchat Torah, um, I think that we are all almonds and raisins. Um, so I recall that the last time these particular verses were read aloud out here at Sinai, apart from last night, and again across the Jewish world coincided directly with the barbarous attacks by Hamas on our people in southern Israel.
And I say our people, when people say, do you have family in Israel? The standard answer now should be, yes, we all have. Um, so, uh, I will repeat the attack by Hamas on our people in Southern Israel on the 7th of October, a day that will live long in infamy. And is the subject of this special Yizkor service today.
On this Hebrew anniversary, remember, remember the dead and the tortured and the traumatized survivors. Some of whom are taking their own lives, the captured and those displaced from their homes within Israel's borders. And we must continue with our efforts at home and abroad to bring home from Gaza, the remaining hostages taken on that date, not least our dear adopted friend, Tal Shalom.
Who we wish will soon be safely back home with his family, and no longer occupying, it's probably off camera for anyone at home, but there is an empty seat there, which he hopes, we hope one day he will be able to take. Uh, when we lit our memorial candles earlier this month, We were urging a message from New York Rabbi, Daniel Grappa.
Let us be like the sparks released at the dawn of creation. And if there are not enough candles, let us then be the light. May we remember those words as we relive the creation story here today. I'm missing my box. I'm just going to get the box. Get the box, get the box. Get the box. Yeah, get the box. Yeah.
We need the box. We need the box. Well, you and me need the box. Um. Ta da! Now for the real bit, okay? And thanks to The absent Judith Chapman for her provision of a box. Um, and those who've read the very kind words prepared for the high holy day side, I chronicle my, my friend, a brilliant mentor. Um, um, on this occasion, Elsje Prins will know that I am not new to Judaism, but come from a well documented and continuous long line of Jewish.
ancestors, L'dor Vador, through my extensive research into my personal Jewish genealogy. But I am completely new to Torah reading, and I am probably the first in that line for generations on the female side, on my father's side, um, so excluding my much younger cousins to do so. All my cousins now are, uh, proud reform or liberal.
Um, which is why I'm so appreciative of the progressive Judaism I signed up to when I came to Leeds and here to Sinai back in 1992, all those years ago, which allows me to take my place at the Bimmer as a woman, as an egalitarian, and as a believer in practicing my Judaism in a reforming, forward looking movement.
Um, I have learned so much over these past 30 odd years about what it means to be a diaspora Jew, having to live in the modern world, um, and how much strength it requires to stand up and be counted as a Jew when our people are under constant attack and threat, particularly in the past year. Um, and then I look back at what my own family encountered in times past.
And think these things too shall pass on one side, living as secret Jews in Spain, being tried by the inquisition and fleeing to Holland and then England for safety and for the right to declare themselves freely as Jews and on the other side, escaping from the recurring pogroms of Eastern Europe to settle amongst the impoverished immigrants of East London and to strive to achieve a secure life.
for their children and future generations. And if I could add at this point, if there can be a third side, there's a, uh, a group in my family that came from Prussia to England after the Napoleonic Wars. Um, and they came because of the downturn in the economy following a long period of war, which we should all heed in future for trying to prevent wars.
With them they brought their trades, Nathan Watchmaker Levy, uh, Louis Zucker, the jeweler, um, Barnett Levy, the monumental stonemason. So I'd just like to mention those, along with all the other ancestors from yesterday. Um, I can draw comfort from the words and ideas I now read when I attend services. And other learning opportunities, including all those helpful transliterations and the footnotes, which we don't have here today, but which support our prayers.
So new maxes included. Um, this means so much to me having been separated off. As a woman from meaningful Jewish education and Jewish understanding for much of the earlier decades of my life within what I perceived to be a dull, conventional, and excluding congregation back in North London. And I won't name them.
Um, that I survived at all is down to the love and warmth And of course, the ever growing provision of good food provided by my immediate and my extended family and friends. As a Sinai member, I have now experienced no less than five spiritual leaders, which is by my reckoning, one more than the number of Tory Prime Ministers we have had since the Brexit vote of 2016.
I want to make particular mention of our long serving Rabbi Ian Morris, whose wife kindly phoned me. In the middle of the night, not, uh, not at her end.
That's right. Yeah. Um, so I want to make particular mention of, of rabbi in Morris who, before celebrating his birthday, drew me closer into our community through his meaningful services and sermons and through his commitment to continuing adult education. Which was my entry into the Sinai Kahila. My thoughts are with him and his family today, of course.
And also a mention of Rabbi Laura Jana Klausner, as former head of the Movement for Reform Judaism, um, who encouraged me personally, through her enthusiasm and kind words, to appreciate our living Judaism in everyday life. Learning to read Genesis chapters 1 and 2 and the seven days of creation has been challenging to me as one who finds it hard to relate literally to the stories told of the Torah as an act of faith.
But I am drawn to the analysis of one of my favorite, Living authors, and this is debatable within the Sinai Book Club as to whether he should be a favorite or not. This is, um, Manchester's own Howard Jacobson. He said, as I recall from a TV documentary some years ago, that whether one accepts the creation literally or as an interpretation of how the world came into being in the year, in, uh, now precisely 5, 785 years ago, It is still possible to enjoy the biblical verses purely as poetry, um, as an explanation, as an appreciation of the sheer beauty of the world in which we live and on a precarious planet which we must share with the rest of the animal kingdom.
and everybody else. Um, to conclude, it is difficult to stand here and pretend at my advancing time of life that there are many new beginnings awaiting as we move again through the cycle of Torah readings, uh, starting here with Genesis. And yet I believe it to be so. Education is a gift that keeps giving.
There are always new ideas to consider, new books to read and to share and to discuss, and new skills to master. And maybe one day I might even finally learn to crochet. God willing. Um, but I'm never going to go and do skiing again. I've drawn the line there. Um, so I will continue as a Jew and as a paid up member of Homo Sapiens, created.
As we will read here, um, created on day six, Yom HaShishi, to ponder those three great questions posed by the late United synagogue, chief rabbi, Jonathan Sachs, those three questions, who am I, why am I here and how then shall I live? And I will do my best. to bear those questions in mind. Um, thank you to all Sinai friends who helped me prepare for this day and who listened patiently as I struggled to remaster the intricacies of the Hebrew vowel sounds and how to imagine them on a Torah scroll even if you couldn't see them.
Uh, an act of mysticism in its own right. And, um, you're all dotted around here and you know who you all are. So, in conclusion, wishing the Sinai Kehila Kehila. Good health, happiness, and above all, peace as the year ahead progresses. Thank you.
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