Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue

January 8th 2011 Shabbat Service

Firstly I would like to congratulate the Wardens on organising this service and managing to give an alyah to all of those that have been involved with the synagogue since its Founding.

Imagine it .......... we are still an active synagogue and growing after 30 years of existence.
I use the word imagine because John Lennon was assassinated just about 30 years ago just before this synagogue was founded and I was a huge Beatle fan. The song “Help” was hummed by me on many occasions during this period.

Yes it was that long ago. I was 37 years old with 2 young children. I was a lapsed Jew who had forgotten most of what he had learnt at Cheder. My fellow Founders were not a lot better and we were going to start a new shul. What on earth where we thinking.

So this was 30 years ago and so much has happened in the world over this period.
Well.....1981 was the year of the release of the Iranian hostages. Sadly thirty years later we as Jews still have issues with Iran.

Israel was in conflict with its neighbours...no change there.

Charles and Diana were married. This year there son William is marrying Kate Middleton quite spooky.

In 1981 we started life with 6 families. In 2011 the synagogue still has 14 members who joined in 1981 the founding year. There are also 6 who joined in 1982 and 10 who joined in 1983. The Slades, Burns, Phillips, Harman, famillies as well as Maureen Levene are all here today and have been members very nearly the entire life of the synagogue.
We have 156 members and children who were not born at the time of the Founding. That’s a really good statistic.
135 of our children have become Bnei Mitzvah and I believe that we still have the strongest Cheder in the area. This is due to the dedication and hard work of those who run it and teach there. Much credit for this goes to Jocelyn Shepherd and in the past to Sheila Fletcher, Susan Jackson and Ruth Bayard.

The synagogue was founded by 5 families. The Barnetts are still very active and they are here today. The Reeds and Bayards are still members but sadly not here today. Shirley Dove now lives in Israel, Helen Godson lives in Henley and belongs to Maidenhead shul and we lost one family within 6 months of the Founding.
As I said Phil and Lorna Reed cannot be here today but they sent a message of congratulations to the synagogue Council.

The birth of this synagogue was inspired by members of SWESRS. Some at the time were I understand enthusiastic and some where not. I remember being promised by representatives of SWESRS Council at that time a look at the SWESRS Membership list so that we could write to those in the Buckhurst Hill, Loughton area in order to invite them to transfer. This promise was withdrawn very quickly probably because they thought that they could not afford to lose the income. In spite of that many of their members did move to the new Epping Forest and District Reform Synagogue.

The Movement for Reform Judaism also gave us a considerable amount of support and David Barnett of Bromley Synagogue was extremely helpful at that time. A representative of the Movement could not attend today however David Jacobs a message of congratulations.
SWESRS lent us I think £20.00 to help start the community. We gave it back more or less straight away and severed our links almost immediately afterwards. We were never going to be a clone of that synagogue. We had very different ideas of what we wanted this community to be like. Our subscriptions were £10.00 per annum for a few months in 1981.......
The one thing that SWESRS did which was a very generous act was to lend us Rabbi Howard Cooper on an ad hoc basis. This eventually led to Rabbi Howard Cooper leaving SWESRS and joining us part time. Rabbi Howard cannot be here today however he also sent a message which I would like to read out.

Dear Frank,
I am really sorry that I won't be able to be there on 8th………, as I have a prior commitment at Fiinchley Reform that morning.

I'd like to send a brief message of congratulations to you all on this special anniversary:
I do have such good memories about those early days - it's hard to believe it's now 30 years since we had those first series of meetings to start to set up a new community. There was a real sense of excitement and creativity and adventure as we met together, and had our first services, and began to build up a momentum of energy and commitment.

We did not know - how could we? - where any of it would end up, or whether it would develop into anything substantial at all, but I remember that we all just got on with it in a spirit of openness to what would unfold.
The possibilities of religious and spiritual growth that accompany the birth of any new community depend on many factors - but the hard work of a dedicated band of volunteers, which of course included you, was crucial to its eventual success. And it was an honour and a privilege to have been able to pay my own small part in the nurturing of the community in those early months and years...I send you all best wishes for the next 30 years. May you go from strength to strength...

Rabbi Howard Cooper

It took nearly 30 years (2010) for any real significant move of membership from SWESRS to SSRS and all for the wrong reasons. In spite of this we are delighted that these families decided to change synagogues. We are also delighted that we now have some of those members on Council and we sincerely hope that we have made everybody who moved synagogues feel welcome. We certainly feel that we have gained a lot.

Epping Forest and District Reform Synagogue as we were known in 1981soon changed its name to Buckhurst Hill Reform Synagogue as there was much confusion as to where we actually were. In Epping Forest we were not.
Eventually when we moved to Wanstead we adopted our Hebrew name just in case we ever moved again. The name Sukkat Shalom was suggested by the lovely late Myer Lermer a refugee from the Settlement synagogue in the East End. We were on a weekend break at Skeet Hill House in Kent at the time.

When I talk to prospective new members over the phone I always say that we are a welcoming and friendly synagogue. I truly believe that we are very inviting and warm to new comers.

There are no significant clichés in the synagogue. If you attend services everybody talks to everybody and people attending for the first time are always made to feel welcome. This is not to say that groups of friends have not developed over time because they have. Reeva and I for one have made many lifelong friendships with people we have met via the synagogue and so have many other members. Many children attending our Cheder bond in friendship for life.

Our membership is now 377 Full and 13 Associates. Our membership increases every year despite the odd mover, deletion and of course death.

People continue to join this synagogue because they say they like us, they are impressed by our website, because they have friends here or there child is coming up for Bar/Bat Mitzvah or they want their child to go to a Jewish school. Of course some join just to belong to a burial scheme. For whatever reason people join all are welcome.
People do not generally join the synagogue because they wish to help others run it or because they wish to become involved. That quality has to be extracted from them with stealth and cunning.

Like all synagogues we able to operate purely because we charge a subscription for membership. Very little income comes from anywhere else.

The synagogue is also able to operate because of those members that do give a great deal of their time to its working. This includes all of our Past Chairs of Council. May I offer our grateful thanks to those that have worked tirelessly for this synagogue.
Our rabbi Larry is inspirational, hardworking and does far more work than he is paid for. He is much regarded in the Movement and we are exceedingly lucky that he chose to work with us.

We have Rabbi Hulbert with us here today. Rabbi David worked with us for many years and he is a true friend of this community. I would also like to mention Rabbi Goldstein. Henry has visited this synagogue on many occasions. Those of us that know him have a very fond regard from him and we have always enjoyed his contributions to our services.

I offer a very special thanks to all of those members that brave all kinds of winter weather to attend our services. Without their attendance there would be no synagogue. Whilst it is lovely to see so many of you here today it would be even better if you could come again on another Shabbat soon. Melvyn Pedro and latterly Andrew Lewis have both given a considerable amount of time and energy towards running our services. All of our lay leaders must be thanked as well.

Over the last 30 years we have lost members who have died young and some long before their time. I would like to mention a few of those members that have contributed to the life of this synagogue in the past ....now.
A few of you will remember Phil Levy a remarkable fund raiser who helped establish our Building Fund in the early 1980’s. The late Cecil Dalton who was inspirational in helping to found this community from SWESRS and who located this building prior to its purchase.

Brian Dove who I had to bully into being a Warden with little or no experience at the job, Together with his wife Shirley (Mike Robinson’s aunt) he made Alyah to Israel and died some while ago. Linda Myers an old school friend of mine who with her husband bought one of our scrolls at some considerable expense. This was a very generous donation.

The delightful Joe Grant and enigmatic Geoff Rich both regular attendees at shul services. Myer Lermer a Senior Warden for many years before he and Sylvie made Alyah to Israel. And of course Laura Brody. Laura Brody who was a dear friend of mine not only gave much of her time but also together with her family made many donations to the synagogue for special projects. I would particularly like us to remember all of them when saying Kaddish today
For the future this is a good time to tell you that we have set up The Laura Brody Heating Fund. We have received a substantial donation from Sarah Brody (Larn) which with Gift Aid amounts to just over £1000.00 and during 2011 will be looking to build on this generous donation. The money will be used to split the heating system into two separate circuits Cheder and Synagogue. This will enable us to add capacity to the radiators in this building. I cannot guarantee that we will complete this work by next winter that depends on how much money we can drag from others. So if you are interested in keeping warmer whilst attending services and functions and have some spare money and wish to make a donation in these difficult financial times please speak to me anytime.
Other ongoing projects include the automation of the car park gates. This has been made possible with a substantial donation from CST with the synagogue picking up the balance. This will help us be a bit more secure in these uncertain times.

Finally we have also set aside most of the money needed to refurbish the toilets. This work will start when the weather gets a little better in the spring.

This year we are planning quite a few fund raising events. A Musical Quiz, a Sweetie Bingo and we are going to repeat our Garden Party in the grounds on Sunday July 10th .... this was a success last year and we hope to increase and improve on it this year.

With this in mind we are instigating a collection from January this year called “A Close Shave” and hope to raise a minimum of £500.00. If we do ...at the Garden Party we will be inviting a professional barber to the shul to shave off the Rabbi’s beard. We have to raise a minimum of £500.00 and we are suggesting donations of £5.00. We therefore need 100 people to contribute. There is a box in the foyer so if you want to kick off the event today please do so.
To conclude

I met my fellow Founders for the first time in a bedroom in Harry Goldsmiths flat in the Bowls Chigwell and we are all still very close today.

Forming this synagogue 30 years ago was a real challenge for those Founders. We all had small children who needed our attention. I for one had ageing parents that needed looking after. We all had outside interests and we all had careers to attend to and a living to earn. So you will have to excuse me when I show little interest to member’s excuses as to why they have no time to help run the synagogue. In 1981 running this synagogue required a daily involvement.

We are one of the few synagogues in the area that shows a general increase in membership every year. I do not expect this to change for the foreseeable future.

What I would hope for is that many of our younger members will start to take an interest in running this community. If they do not and we cannot encourage many of you to help the service that you get from the synagogue...... will decline. We are extremely grateful to everybody who has served on Council over the last 30 years.
Those Council members have made the shul what it is today....

On a personal note I have never regretted getting involved in the life of this community. There have been times of trouble which I regret but these difficulties have been far outweighed by happy times. There has been much fun and laughter generated in these walls and we have turned this once derelict building into a place of friendship, peace and love.

I hope and pray that what we started 30 years ago will still be here in 20 years time for our 50th...and that our children’s children are running this synagogue.

That would be the true legacy.

Shabbat Shalom

Frank Godson
Honorary Life President