The Shabbat service on 21 March was special in many ways, and I was glad to be able to attend.
Prior to the service we had a musical practice session, going through the chanting of the Shemah passages. As Anna pointed out this was not an easy task, as learning the Torah trope is not the same as learning a musical tune, and is a task not lightly undertaken. However we did our best and we did learn something about the different musical styles of Torah trope used in Europe and America.
Admission Ceremony
The service began with the admission ceremony for one of the community’s first members. This was therefore a very meaningful moment, marking his formal acceptance into Judaism. Rabbi Anna also commented that the occasion was significant for the community, as the his husband was the very first member of 3CLJC to complete the conversion programme and be admitted to the community.
Paul not only held the Torah for this ceremony, as is traditional, but was also called up within the Torah service for his first official Mitzvah, lifting the Torah scroll (Hagbah), a task he accomplished with grace and ease.
Sermon
At this very difficult time in world events, Anna gave a very positive sermon based on hope, and also linking to the parasha, Leviticus, for which she identified a theme of coming closer (to G-d). She began her sermon with a Hebrew poem, and then spoke about a recent survey carried out in Israel and the West Bank into different categories of hope. She pointed out that even in these difficult times, there was a clear majority who had hope and surprisingly the percentage was even higher in the West Bank interviewees.
Following the service there was a listening circle to give people the opportunity to voice their thoughts and feelings about the current situation in the Middle East and beyond.
Active Listening Session
Rabbi Anna introduced us to this technique on Yom Kippur afternoon. Basically, it consists of working in a small group and focussing attention on one speaker at a time who talks for a specific period of time (1 or 2 minutes) about a particular topic without comment or interruption from the other members of the group. I found this approach particularly cathartic as we were all struggling to come to terms with the awful news about the Manchester Synagogue attack.
As such, we agreed to hold a similar session after the service on March 21 to articulate our feelings, concerns and hopes about current events. Twelve people remained after the service and formed three groups of four as Anna asked each group to consider topics such as “the Middle East,” “Anti-semitism in the UK,” “Israel,” “World leadership” and “Hopes.” These topics aroused considerable emotions but the mutual unspoken support within our group allowed people to express themselves freely in a way that would have otherwise proved very difficult. We all came away from the session feeling that we had come through a valuable and therapeutic experience. We look forward to repeating this exercise on an occasional basis.