Dr Ed Kessler MBE – a leading interfaith thinker, writer and academic – chaired the Advisory Board that has overseen the process. He hailed the decision, saying: “This is the biggest change and most significant development in British Judaism since the Second World War. For the first time, this country now has a single, unified Progressive Judaism – providing a voice and a space that brings together timeless Jewish tradition with the diversity and values of 21st-century Jewish life.”

The new Progressive Judaism will be the UK’s largest synagogal movement, measured by number of communities (80). It will represent 1/3 of synagogue affiliated Jews with the goal of reaching out to roughly the same percentage of non-affiliated Jews who are known to align with Progressive Jewish values.

Essex has one Liberal community, East London and Essex Liberal Synagogue, and five Reform – Oaks Lane, Southend, Harlow, Brentwood and Sukkat Shalom Wanstead. There are also some small communities/groups further afield who follow Progressive practice but are not members of the movement(s).

The decision to merge was made at two parallel Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs), with the number of votes in favour at each exceeding 95%.

This is the first ever known unification of two Jewish denominations and the culmination of 250 years of Progressive Jewish history (see addendum for full timeline). It is the first merger of any two religious streams since the Presbyterian and Congregational Christian groupings formed the United Reformed Church in 1972.

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, CEO of Liberal Judaism, and Rabbi Josh Levy, CEO of the Movement for Reform Judaism, have led the process and will continue the work of creating the new movement. They have spent the last two years, since the project travelling and hearing directly from Progressive Jewish communities.

Rabbi Josh Levy said: “We have heard first-hand how Progressive Jews all around the country want to take this once-in-a-generation opportunity to create something new and intentional – a Progressive Judaism that has something to say into the world and that can help more people have more fulfilling religious lives.”

Rabbi Charley Baginsky added: “We are now seeing the fruition of the next iteration of Progressive Jewish history. Through this vote, our members are both standing on the shoulders of all those who came before us and creating something long and lasting for our children and the generations who come after us.”

Progressive Judaism differs from Orthodox Judaism in several vital ways.

Progressive Judaism understands that the religion’s formative texts are not the literal word of God, but the divinely inspired work of human beings. It believes in Progressive revelation and the overriding importance of values and ethics in defining how we behave.

In practical terms, Progressive Judaism’s fundamental principle is equality. Services are egalitarian with everyone sitting together. The Progressive clergy is 50% women and 20% LGBTQI+. Progressive communities fully welcome mixed-faith families and hold dual-heritage wedding blessings. The movements campaigned for the introduction of the same-sex marriage law. In a further key difference to Orthodoxy, Jewish status can be inherited from either parent where a child is brought up as Jewish.

Liberal Judaism Chair Karen Newman said: “Our new Progressive Judaism, just like the two movements which have come together to create it, will manifest from day one its commitment to a Judaism that is non-dogmatic, inclusive and celebrates diversity in policy, prayer, and practice.”

Paul Langsford, Chair of the Movement for Reform Judaism, added: “As a unified movement, we will now be stronger, our voice will be louder and we will be able to bring even greater benefit not just to our own members, but to the whole Jewish community and wider British society.”

The new Progressive Judaism will have four key missions: to strengthen, support and connect its communities; to promote, amplify and embolden Progressive values and forms of Jewish life; to inspire and nurture the next generations of Progressive Jews; and to foster inclusion, provide resources and pave the way for those seeking to join.

At the same times as the EGMs were taking place, Reform and Liberal communities all over the country were getting together for joint ice cream picnics to celebrate both the result and the Jewish festival of Shavuot.

It will now take around six months to legally form the new Movement for Progressive Judaism, with a brand launch and celebratory fundraising dinner set to be held later this year.

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Fresh from an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, this two-hander sees twins, Dan (Dylan Corbett-Bader) and Lauren (Gemma Barnett) meeting with ex-gangster Malcolm Spivak, an 80-year-old gangster at their grandfather’s funeral. Malcolm has ‘had enough’ and enlists the help of the siblings with a plan that’s absolutely meshugge – to kidnap Jeremy Corbyn. Yes, really!

The play was previously premiered work at the theatre’s NOW Festival in 2019 and The Yard’s Artistic Director Jay Miller is pleased to see its return.

“Nick started his journey here, and now returns with exactly the kind of bold, provocative theatre this building has always championed. Work that knows how to entertain while it challenges, to play while it provokes. It’s a celebration of everything The Yard stands for.”

Nick uses storytelling, humour and satire in Revenge: After the Levoyah to look at some of the big topics around what it means what it means to be Jewish in the UK today, like antisemitism, collective hysteria and how far you can through a jar of chraine from a moving vehicle!

His work has toured internationally, selling out in venues around the world. He has written plays, created and performed solo work, and made street performances in collaboration with some of the country’s most celebrated venues, including The Royal Court, Soho Theatre, and Battersea Arts Centre. He has an MA from Goldsmiths in Writing for Performance and is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. He is a co-artistic director of take stock exchange. For the past two years, he has also written the JW3 Panto.

For Nick, he considers this play to be ‘a love letter to Jewish Essex’.

“Growing up in Woodford around East London and Essex Jews, I have always been in love with the rhythms and the way people speak. I’m delighted to have this show playing at The Yard as it’s easy for people from Essex to get to and the parking isn’t bad!”He goes on to add: “This piece is full of things that if you come from that part of the world, you will understand plenty of jokes just for you!”

Revenge: After the Levoyah runs from 9^th – 25^th January at the Yard Theatre. To book tickets, visit The Yard Theatre website

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EMPOWER HER has been created to help all those women looking to re-enter the workforce after a period of absence – whether that’s been to raise a family, care for a loved one or any other reason.

Starting on Thursday 12 September and running for one morning each week, for a period of five weeks, the programme will help equip those taking part with all the tools, resources and confidence needed for a successful return to work.

Work Avenue is the community’s leading employment and business support organisation, touching the lives of 3,000 people each year.

Work Avenue CEO Debbie Lebrett said: “Both through our work, and in our own lives, our team meet many successful and driven women in the community who are daunted at the thought of returning to work after a long break.

“This supportive programme tackles all those things that may be stopping them – whether it’s a lack of confidence, out-of-date CV, worries over skills or just feeling overwhelmed at the thought of juggling work with family and other commitments.

“Those taking part will get to work together with like-minded women, supporting and encouraging each other to reach their individual goals, all with the ongoing guidance of our experienced employment advisers.”

• For more information on all of Work Avenue’s employment and business support services, visit www.theworkavenue.org.uk

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On Erev Rosh Hashanah, South West Essex & Settlement Reform Synagogue (SWESRS) officially became Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue.

This follows an overwhelming vote in favour of the name change by members at the community’s AGM in July.

The synagogue’s Senior Rabbi Jordan Helfman said: “In the past number of years, the Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue has begun a real transformation, becoming a more welcoming home for Jews seeking an inclusive community.

“There has been a meaningful surge in LGBTQI+ membership, as well as individuals who have felt marginalised in other communities because of their skin colour.

“This is an ongoing journey that the Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue will continue to evolve into, and the change in name and logo are part of that commitment to growing a vibrant place of learning and Jewish action.”

The community partly began life in 1919 as the St George’s Settlement Synagogue in the East End, the only jointly affiliated Reform and Liberal Judaism congregation.

In 1997, with the population having shifted towards Essex, the Settlement Synagogue (as it was then known) merged with South West Essex Reform Synagogue, which itself was founded in 1956. Jointly the two became SWESRS and solely a Reform congregation.

Now, 67 years later, the working name will change to Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue. Although, at the suggestion of the Charity Commission, the registered name of the synagogue will remain the same. The community has also introduced the new tagline of  “honouring our past, building our future”. A logo (pictured) was designed by Gemma Shinebroom, with its oak tree drawn by Rebecca Roher, to reflect this.

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Rabbi Rafi Goodwin of Hainault and Chigwell Synagogue has seen the film and was so deeply moved by this powerful production that he wanted others to have the opportunity to watch it for themselves.

“I can’t recommend this highly enough. It is such an amazing initiative which allows people of all ages to experience what our people went through during the Holocaust. Not everyone can easily arrange a trip to Auschwitz or may be apprehensive to do so, but this production enables everyone to get a tour while also educating and inspiring the participants.”

He adds: “We are blessed that we are able to offer this experience to our community and are extremely thankful to our generous donors who have enabled us to subsidise this event. The uptake has been really great. We can see there is definitely a demand for this event and would love it if as many people as possible are able to share in this unique opportunity.”

The viewing will take place on Sun 6th November at 8pm (prompt) at Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue and is open to members and non-members alike. Doors open at 7:45pm

Tickets cost £15 each and can be booked online.

Refreshments will be served.

*Please note that it is suggested that only those over the age of Bar/Bat Mitzvah should attend, due to the content of the film *

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THE Yom HaShoah commemoration at Chigwell & Hainault Synagogue earlier this year was extremely special and moving, because I wanted to involve as many children as possible. After all they are the future, new life, new beginnings and renewed hope.

This was also the first time in two years that so many could attend an event… and over 160 did.

For a number of years, I have been involved and have been promoting the Yad Vashem bar/bat mitzvah twinning project, where a child who is about to celebrate their simcha can be twinned with a child who was murdered in the Holocaust before they could celebrate this milestone in Jewish life.

The twinning stories and the family connections that can come from this program never ceases to amaze me.

For example, four years ago Louis Kirsh was twinned with a boy called Jeno Breuer, earlier this year Louis’s brother Ben was twinned with Jeno’s brother, Joszi Breuer. Two boys, brothers, who were no doubt murdered together in the Shoah are now honoured and remembered by the same family here in the UK.

At Chigwell & Hainault Synagogue we have had many twinnings, so I set about writing to the twinning families to ask them if their children would be willing to come to our Yom HaShoah event and to light a candle in memory of their twin.

The response was immense, 30 children wanted to take part in the candle lighting ceremony.

The evening was orchestrated and run by Mizrachi UK, narrated by Rabbi Andrew Shaw with Chazen Jonny Turgel singing in the most special and emotional way, capturing the sheer essence of the event.

Towards the end of the evening came the candle lighting ceremony. Thirty children stood behind 30 candles, each child placed a card on the table with their name and the name of their twin on it. They then lit their candles, what made it extra special was that every single child said the name of their twin without looking at their card.

This clearly shows to me that every child takes the responsibility of their twinning to their heart, and has taken on this roll seriously with the intention of keeping their twin’s memory alive.

During the candle lighting, apart from some moving background music, there was total silence, everyone there, were transfixed on the children.

I have never been so moved, so proud, and so humbled that 30 young souls who perished in the Shoah were honoured and remembered in this way.

Also, in attendance were two of the team from the Yad Vashem UK Foundation – Sandra Gold and Laurie Rosenberg. At the end of the evening Laurie gave a short briefing into the vital work they do.

It is my dream that every child who was murdered in the Holocaust before they were able to have a bar/batmitzvah is remembered in this way.

If you have a simcha planned, please do consider getting involved with the Yad Vashem twinning programme. You certainly won’t regret be part of this amazing project. Please email me at harveyfrankel@hotmail.com for more information.

If you have participated in the twinning program and would like your child’s twinning story added to the Yad Vashem website, please also contact me as people love to read these very interesting and at times emotional stories.

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Each monologue had to be filmed in one take with a static camera in a way that enabled them to be rehearsed and filmed under lockdown conditions. There was no set theme or subject, and they were free to mention Covid-19 directly or to not mention it at all. They were rehearsed online via Zoom and filmed in person with a cameraman observing social distancing conditions. They were then edited and released on YouTube free of charge.

The first five, Volume 1, were released in October 2020 and were so successful that another collection of five were commissioned and Volume 2 was released the following year in April 2021. These too met with great success, to such an extent that Volume 3, will be released in June this year.

One of the writers commissioned for Volume 3 was Essex-born Jewish stand-up comedian, director and writer, Rachel Creeger. Her monologue Pass Me Over is due for release ahead of the June date to coincide with Passover.

In the piece, Miri, a Jewish woman is preparing the Passover Seder in 2021 for her family under lockdown conditions. She is a North London Jewish woman who has been brought up with strong traditions around her culture, but Rachel purposely leaves out her denomination and practice ambiguous.

Miri discovers through the piece that the implications of living with the pandemic for a year have affected her more than she had realised. Although written and performed within the framework of the Passover story as found in the Haggadah text that is read and enacted at the Seder, her experience is completely relatable to anyone who spent time separated from loved ones during the past couple of years, as well as those who found themselves living with them more closely than they had before!

For Rachel, as a modern-Orthodox Jewish woman living in North London herself, the character of Miri is one that is familiar to her in many ways

“In my life, I know a number of Miris, and I am her too. It’s an honour to bring an “everywoman” Jew to the mainstream public domain when so often the focus is on the Charedi community or those who leave the faith.”

Miri is played by actress Rachel Gaffin whose recent credits include Hapless, written and directed by Gary Sinyor and currently showing on Netflix, and Soldier Boy, selected for Seret 2022, the International Israeli Film Festival. She has also performed her own one-woman play, “I Will Tell…”, based on the diaries of children written during the Holocaust, all over the country before she was asked to adapt it for Radio 4.

Having previously worked with Rachel Creeger on a number of projects, she was ‘delighted’ to have the opportunity to work with her again on this.  

“Rachel’s writing is full of layers and the piece can be enjoyed on many levels, whether you’re Jewish, non-Jewish, secular, learned, involved, disinterested…. you name it! I am so excited to be bringing Miri to life in Pass Over Me.  She is every Jewish woman who ever prepared a seder, no matter her religious level or denomination, and her struggles while doing so during lockdown will resonate with everyone.”

Jake Murray is the award-winning artistic director of Elysium Theatre Company and has been responsible for commissioning and directing all of the monologues created. Given the religious content of the piece, Rachel Creeger worked alongside him as co-director, and was thrilled to be working with her on this ‘wonderfully rich piece.’

“Rachel has written a funny, moving, brilliantly original piece of writing which celebrates the fortitude of its main character, Miri, while also presenting the challenges she has had to face trying to keep herself and her family together. Anyone who had to navigate a household through Covid while trying to be a pillar of strength will relate to it. At the same time, the play is a wonderful celebration of Jewishness and Judaism. It shines a spotlight on Jewish practise which is loving and tender, and, in our anti-religious days, presents a warm, sympathetic and proud look at a way of life that is not often understood by the outside world. Everyone will love it, but it will probably strike a special chord in Jewish mothers up and down the country who have done their bit valiantly throughout the entire pandemic.”

Click here to watch Pass Me Over

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A memorial will be erected in Harwich in 2022 to mark the first Kindertransport that arrived at the Essex port. 

With several Kindertransport memorials erected throughout Europe – including one at Liverpool Street Station – to commemorate the children’s journey and escape from the Nazis, Essex will finally be added to this illustrious list in September. 

This landmark moment is thanks to the hard work of the Harwich Kindertransport Memorial and Learning Appeal and follows generous donations from private donors, the Harwich town council and Bridges Impact Foundation, as well as a significant contribution from the Association of Jewish Refugees. Fundraising is also continuing.

The Harwich Kindertransport Memorial statue is currently under construction and planned for installation on the Harwich town quay in September. 

It is being designed and put together by sculptor is Ian Wolter. You can see his design and progress in the exclusive images here. 

The first Kindertransport children arrived by ferry in Harwich in December 1938. Some were taken to London, and others to holiday camps such as Dovercourt Bay in Essex. The Kindertransport was a British refugee program, set up after Kristallnacht, to help Jewish children escape Nazi Germany and find safety in the UK. 

Bob Kirk, born Rudi Kirchheimer in Hannover, Germany, remembers the events that proved the catalyst for his journey. 

Bob said: “My father was – most unusually – away from home on Kristallnacht. Later I discovered that he had been hiding in his office, on the fourth floor of a commercial building. Did he have a tip-off? I don’t know, but it certainly saved him from being one of the 30,000 Jewish men rounded up and marched to concentration camps. 

“Entirely unaware of the events of the night, I went to school on the morning of 10 November, to be stopped at the gate by a teacher who questioned why I was there. 

“Having told me about the burning of our synagogue and all the vandalism, he told me to go home and not to think of coming back to that school. After that all Jewish children were barred from state schools – that was the end of education and certainly encouraged enrolment on the Kindertransport. 

“I left Hanover on 3 May, aged 13. After a scary border check at Bentheim, the first stop at Oldenzaal in Holland was wonderful, with drinks and food – and smiles – from warm, friendly people. 

“We crossed by ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich, where we walked along the Harwich quay straight onto a train for Liverpool Street.” 

Mike Levy, the chair of the Harwich Kindertransport Memorial and Learning Appeal, said that the memorial will help cement the town’s historical relevance. 

He added: “This memorial, combined with our town trail, audio bench and new information boards, will ensure that Harwich will at last be recognised for the crucial role it and its townspeople played in the rescue of children destined otherwise for murder in the Holocaust.” 

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An interim arrangement means that activities will be run from Woodford Forest United Synagogue and Synagogue Chairman Robin Jacobs, is looking forward to activities taking place in this new location.

“We at the Synagogue have always prided ourselves on being a warm and welcoming com-munity, so this is a very exciting opportunity for the two organisations to work together for the benefit of the Jewish community in Redbridge.”

Some activities such as Jewish Care’s MIKE Youth Leadership Programme have already started meeting in-person, and it is hoped that more will take place early next year.

Woodford Forest Synagogue is easily accessible by public transport and offers on site parking, which will make attending activities easy and accessible for members and volunteers who need it most.

Alongside resuming Community Centre activities, Jewish Care’s Meals on Wheels, telephone befriending and online programming and events are all still available and will continue as usual to help older people in the community stay supported and connected. Jewish Care’s Supportive Communities groups have also cautiously begun to resume in-person activity, as have Memory Way Cafes for carers or family members living with dementia.

Richard Shone, Jewish Care’s Director of Community Development, added that “we are delighted to share that when the RJCC Day Centre resumes activity, it will incorporate the Tuesday Club, previously run by Woodford Forest United Synagogue. Tuesday Club members will be very welcome to also attend the Day Centre programmes. The Day Centre and Tuesday Club will resume when we have recruited more staff, enabling us to run a fuller service and welcome back more of our members and volunteers.”

“Jewish Care continues to remain 100% committed to the development of a new campus in Redbridge on the existing Sinclair House site. This is not just about physical infrastructure but development of the right services to meet current and future demand for all Jewish Care services and the local community in Essex. Following a positive pre-planning application meeting with the London Borough of Redbridge, we are now looking at how we progress to the next stage with our proposed development, and we will continue to keep you updated as our plans progress.”

For more information about activities on offer, please contact Community Events Organiser, Sharon Imber on simber@jcare.org or 0779 566 7751.

To take part in Jewish Care’s Supportive Communities or Memory Way Café, please contact Supportive Communities and Befriending Officer, Alison Smardina, on asmardina@jcare.org or 020 8922 2273 or Community Dementia Projects Lead, Susan Dawson, on sdawson@jcare.org 020 8922 2294.

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