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30 April 2010
Apologies for being late in providing information from the Council meeting on 21 April. This, the last before the AGM, covered a lot of ground: from the day-to-day running of the building to plans for Shavuot; from our financial arrangements to upcoming simchot and social events. Our able and Honourable Treasurer, Carmel Lipman, who has decided to step down at the AGM, received the grateful thanks of Council; fortunately, she has volunteered to help and support the new Treasurer.

The Council hopes you will attend 16.00 on Sunday 23 May for a strawberry tea, with the AGM starting at 17.00. As well as Council's reports and voting for the new Council, there is a special agenda item. Please come and exchange ideas and get involved in re-energizing our Synagogue.

18 April 2010
Audrey and Ian Cohen's celebration of their 20th wedding anniversary was a wonderful and moving occasion. With the synagogue well-filled by members and family, the couple - who were married by our own rabbi at their former synagogue! - were acknowledged in a short ceremony which many commented on never having seen before. Congratulations to Ian and Aud, and all the best for the next 20 years!

2 April 2010
Our Pesach seder was, as ever, a well-attended and thoroughly enjoyable evening. The rabbi deserves even more thanks and appreciation than usual, as she struggled on through a very sore throat.

In early March, the rabbi and Carmel Lipman hosted a very appreciative Turkish group's visit to the synagogue.

Purim was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended the amazing play written by Alice de Smith. There are some great photos - which your web editor appears to be incompetent to get into a format that can be posted here!! Hopefully this will be remedied before too long.

17 March 2010
The book group met on Tuesday 9 March to discuss Amos Oz' moving and evocative memoir of his childhood, A Tale of Love and Darkness - and gave it a unanimous "thumbs up". They felt that he gives the reader a fascinating insight into the years surrounding the declaration of the State of Israel while exploring the tragedy and impact of his mother's suicide. Everyone felt they got an enormous amount out of the book and all plan to read more by the author.

21 February 2010
A group from the synagogue went to the Sage on 11 February to see Yasmin Levy, the great Sephardi singer. While there was a range of response among the group, the enthusiasts were enchanted by her.

The Great Issues series continues, with the most recent concerning the Goldstone Report on the war in Gaza. When given his remit, Goldstone insisted that he include war crimes committed by Hamas. The group debated his reaction and that of the Israeli government, who rejected the report.

Our rabbi is part-time and not always available to take services. A few members - with support and encouragement from others - take services, and Gaby Mandell was entertaining, warm, welcoming and thoughtful when she took the Friday night service. Thanks, Gaby.

Synagogue council meeting
There was a lively and interesting council meeting on 17 February 2010. Some of the key items concerned communication - both with the existing community and with others. Among the decisions were:
* to raise our profile in the local community, via the website and Recorder
* to hold a monthly kiddush to celebrate the month's birthdays - so if your birthday is in March, be sure to come along on 6 March!
You can read a fuller report, with photographs, here.

4 February 2010
On Tu B'shvat, over a meal of mainly locally sourced and sustainable organic food, some of us looked at texts to do with the environment and took home an environmental audit to do. This was from material compiled by Rabbi Neil Amyswich and endorsed by the MRJ. We invite you to take the audit for yourselves

10 December 2009
Our Kindershabbos on Saturday 5 December marked a special occasion as we celebrated a baby blessing for Gabrielle. The synagogue was packed with friends and relatives of the family, including the baby's mother's parents who travelled all the way from North America. A good spread was laid on for kiddush in true NRS style and everyone enjoyed the chance to celebrate the latest in a spate of new arrivals, which once again have filled NRS with the sound of young voices.

A very different occasion was marked on Thursday 9 December. Ron Lahav, whose big presence in a small person many NRS regulars will know, died recently after a short illness which he bore with great courage. Ron chose to be cremated, and planned his memorial service with the rabbi in the weeks before his death. This unusual event marked six aspects of Ron's life, introduced by songs, and was attended by many members, his widow Kathleen and his brother and sister-in-law from the USA. Ron's idiosyncratic personality shone through and was celebrated with great warmth.

3 December 2009
Not directly NRS news, but you may want to support The Women of the Wall. Following the arrest of Nofrat Frenkel for being a woman wearing a tallit and attempting to read from a Torah scroll at the Kotel, we are asked to contact the Israeli ambassador to express our dismay. The information I have comes from a US group and refers to the ambassador to the US; responding to the UK ambassador is probably a better route. The rabbi has more information (including a suggested wording for a letter or e-mail), if you would like it, or take a look at their website and follow the news link.

Want to learn more about Chanukah? Make haste to join the Skype class starting on 8 December - more info here. This is a new venture for Leo Baeck College and promises to be very interesting.

25 October 2009
Once again, technology has beaten your web editor - hence the lack of updating for nearly two months. Things are not yet 100% sorted, but hopefully there will now be more regular updates.

Following our High Holy Days (which once again included tashlich - see picture above - after the Rosh Hashanah service and, for many of us, Brenda Dinsdale's always-wonderful open house lunch), we are now into the swing of the year. Our series of 'Great Debates' (to be renamed 'Great Issues' to more accurately reflect these sessions) began with a wonderful overview from our rabbi of the different conceptualisations of God from key Jewish thinkers through the ages. Those who attended were fascinated and have requested a return to the subject later on. The second session, on Tikkun Olam, launched our very own Tikkun Olam committee.

Our Pirkei Avot study sessions have also recommenced - the Rabbi having rashly promised to manage an introduction to the gigantic subject of Talmud for the first one. She did it! - though we had to tune in carefully for the speed of the presentation….. Come and join us as we continue our study - it's engaging and gets everyone involved.

26 June 2009
Apologies for the long gap in reporting. Your web editor would love you to send any information about events, as I don't get to everything!

Hannah Fleming's bat mitzvah was a triumph - of the whole spirit of NRS as well as for that young woman herself. Our Rabbi had an emergency admission to hospital just before the day, having finalised everything. With total aplomb, Rabbi Borts contacted our former temporary Rabbi Amanda Golby, who stepped (or rather, given the journey, rushed) straight in, and many members of the community took on all the roles and covered all the bases that were needed. Hannah herself handled the situation with dignity and cool.

Before that, on 31 May, the Bingo afternoon raised a very creditable £500.

17 April 2009
Pesach is over, but some of us are still feeling the lovely warmth and community-feeling of our first night seder. If you missed it this year - be sure to book next year!

29 March 2009
On Friday night, some of us discovered at least an embryonic inner Hasid - while others enjoyed the rabbi's energy and singing but perhaps weren't quite so sure about Rabbi Carlebach's approach! Those of us who did enjoy it began to let go of our typical British reserve and could be seen and heard clapping, swaying and almost dancing - and singing our hearts out.

The Friday night meal which followed was, as ever, a triumph of Brenda's ability to organise and co-ordinate, producing a delicious three-course meal in her smart new chef's coat before dashing off to get to a meeting in the south!

7 March 2009
Today's Kindershabbos was an enjoyable occasion - but there was only one child there!! Fortunately, many of us discovered our inner child to bang tambourines and shake bells, to practise our Purim booing and some of us even managed to keep quiet when we were told to.....

12 February 2009
Last Sunday, Tu B’Shvat saw a wide range of ages together in the shul to enjoy the seder for this lovely festival.

6 February 2009
What a truly wonderful weekend that was. Many people enjoyed Rabbi Dr Michael Shire's address at the Shabbat evening service, and when Rabbi James Baaden was unable to be present for Shabbat morning, Rabbi Dr Michael Shire led a discussion on the sedra, including whether to miss out or explain difficult and uncomfortable Torah portions.

But the real high point was the Induction on Sunday. The warmth, the feeling of community, the sense of connection, was imbued throughout. NRS feels very connected to our not-so-new rabbi and she to us; we felt connection with our sister community in Basel, two of whose members were with us, and with Reform Judaism across the UK. There were former congregants of Rabbi Borts' from Radlett and Bushey, and a great turn-out from the Movement for Reform Judaism, including Rabbi Ian Morris from Leeds and David Jacobs, the Movement's Synagogue Support Director. We also welcomed many other guests including local religious leaders and the Sheriff of Newcastle.

Both our founder members and Life Presidents, Nonek Jacobson and George Loble, spoke. George outlined the history of our synagogue and said: "In the short time since her arrival, Rabbi Borts has endeared herself to us all. She works extremely hard in her part-time role. She is extremely knowledgeable, very warm and has seemingly inexhaustible energy. Having had several capable, but tone deaf Rabbis, we are truly delighted that Rabbi Borts has a beautiful voice and we are enjoying listening to her and, I must say, learning many new tunes which enhance our devotions."

Rabbi Danny Rich and Rabbi James Baaden led parts of the service, and Rabbi Dr Michael Shire undertook the induction. You'll not be surprised to learn that there was a very good spread for the tea afterwards!!