We enjoyed a wonderful inspirational Erev Shavuot as once again, Northwood members rose to the challenge to educate and stimulate us in a night of learning and inspiration in anticipation of celebrating the giving of the Torah on Shavuot.
Our Master of Ceremonies and Warden Anthony Robinson set the scene by talking about the tradition of the Tikkun Leyl and how we at Northwood make this an inclusive event. He then introduced Rabbi Shaya Green presiding over his first Shavout as our Rabbi who gave a fascinating discourse on the Akdamut a piyyut or poem in Aramaic that is traditionally chanted before reading the Torah on Shavout.
Philip Weinberg then regaled us with the intricate details of the laws and traditions of who should be called to the reading of the Torah, in what order and who takes priority and when an aliyah may be split before Ingrid Segal told us all about the wonderful and currently vital work of Bet Halochem – an Israeli charitable institution which looks after and rehabilitates injured service personnel.
Menachem Mendel Green then explained how we were all present at the giving of the Torah and what a huge privilege this was and the immense responsibility we had to pass it on to future generations.
Next, David Davis revealed some fascinating insights from Pirke Avot (the Ethics of the Fathers) that we read on shabbat afternoons in summer before Alan Moss analysed the lowering of the dark veil of antisemitism in the UK and further afield since October 7.
Henry Goldstein recounted a lecture given by the late Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l: balancing the almost universal familiarity (beyond orthodox Judaism) and undisputed importance of the Ten Commandments with not losing sight of the other 603 mitzvot in the Torah, notwithstanding that some of these (e.g. animal sacrifices) have been supplanted and others (e.g. the Red Heifer and Nazarite vows) are hard for us to relate to.
Lester Wagman recalled the traumatic experience of being caught up in the recent earthquake in Taiwan before explaining the halachot of who should bench Gomel, in what circumstances, how and what exceptions there could be.
In the fundamental spirit of Shavout, Andrew Kelion gave a forensic masterclass on the chronological incongruences of the five books of the Torah and how these might be explained in the context of the revelation to Moses that underpins our faith.
Brian Geminder took us back just 35 years to revisit the 1979 Siege of Mecca and its later impact on the Arab world, heralding the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and greater strictures of Islam in Saudi Arabia. Saudi King Khaled and the newly established Iranian Ayatollah Khomeni announced that American imperialists and Zionists were behind the plot.
With a nod to the recent 80th anniversary of D-Day, Valerie Mellor gave us a fascinating insight into one of the personalities who were Jewish military chaplains through the ages, the valuable role they have fulfilled in peace time and in war, ministering to the injured, the dying and the fearful. She also spoke about a number of Jews who served in WWII, who feature in the Uxbridge Battle of Britain Visitors’ Centre exhibition and also the wartime Jewish community in South Bucks, featured in the Chiltern Open Air Museum.