Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, 7th November 2011

A moving service was held at Birmingham Progressive Synagogue on September 10^th to dedicate their new Ner Tamid, the final item in their new Synagogue. The Ner Tamid had been donated by Eva Jahn in memory of her mother Lilli. It had been designed by Tamar DeVries Winter, an artist whose Judaica is displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum.  The repeated Hebrew letters on it are the phrase ‘To light an everlasting light’ from the book of Exodus (27:20). In her sermon, Rabbi Margaret Jacobi spoke of  Lilli Jahn, a doctor who had been murdered in Auschwitz, and whose letters had been published in 2004 in the book, ‘My Wounded Heart.’ She had been a light to those about her the way she continued her healing as much as she could in the most difficult circumstances imaginable. The true light in our congregation would be to follow her example of courage and kindness.