Article for London Jewish News – Rabbi Mark Goldsmith

Rabbi of Finchley Progressive Synagogue and Chairperson of the Liberal Judaism Rabbinic Conference

Contact: Cara Wides - 020 7631 9831
- c.wides@liberaljudaism.org

On Saturday 22nd November our congregation, Finchley Progressive Synagogue, had the delight of celebrating the first 50 years of our existence as a community in our Shabbat service. When our Synagogue was founded in 1953 there were only a couple of others in the near vicinity – both practicing Orthodox Judaism only. As we prepare to enter our fifty first year you could, within a mile’s walk of Finchley Progressive Synagogue, visit six other shuls, including two varieties of Orthodoxy, Masorti and Reform denominations. Part of the reason for the growth in the number of shuls is simply due to the expansion of the Jewish population of our area in the past fifty years. According to the 2001 census, 15% of the population of the Borough of Barnet is Jewish, including the Mayor and Leader of Barnet Council who attended our 50th anniversary service, one of whom is a member of our Synagogue. But the main reason why there are seven shuls around Finchley is because we need a variety of synagogues to deal with the real needs of today’s Jewish community.

Judaism exists on a spectrum, which could be said, imitates the qualities of the Holy One. This spectrum runs from din (law and its strict application) to rachmanut (compassion). Often these attributes are contrasted as “justice” and “mercy”. In many synagogues what really matters is that the law is adhered to – for these synagogues it is Jewish law and its strict application that binds the Jewish community together and if that excludes children from learning about their heritage because the “wrong” parent is Jewish, or if that excludes someone whose sexual orientation is not covered by that law from being part of the community, or if that tends to divide Jews from people of other religions living in the same area then so be it.

In a Liberal synagogue like Finchley Progressive Synagogue what really matters is that we are compassionate – for in Liberal synagogues it is our compassion for our fellow Jews and for humanity in general that binds the Jewish community together. When that compassion enables a family where one partner is Jewish and the other isn’t to be active in Jewish life and to bring their children up as Jews, when that enables a gay couple to bring the best in themselves to Judaism and when that enables us to create friendly relationships with people of all faiths, people in a Liberal synagogue are delighted.

But that is not to say that in the law dominated synagogues there is no care for people or that in our compassion dominated synagogue there are no standards. Far from it. Jewish law encourages each Jew to care deeply about each other - to visit the sick, comfort the bereaved and much more. Similarly, because a Liberal Synagogue is a compassionate community, we have developed standards and ritual from the wellspring of Jewish tradition so that we are able to be clear what obligations and responsibilities being Jewish places upon us.

Because Liberal Judaism is the movement where compassion is one of our guiding principles, in our Synagogues men and women are equal participants in all aspects of Jewish life, we encourage a wide ranging debate about our Jewish State of Israel where we care about all of the peoples who live in and around the Land, not only the Jews. In our Liberal synagogues we provide Jewish learning for all ages where there is no such thing as a silly question and our Rabbis are, we hope, particularly approachable and do not take the role of sitting in judgement on the lives of our members but rather see themselves as focussed on helping each person to find their place in Judaism.

Of course many of these aspects of compassion can be found in Synagogues from other denominations than Liberal Judaism – but it is only in a Liberal Synagogue that you can find them all woven into the fabric of the community. That is why Finchley Progressive Synagogue is needed among the seven synagogues of the Finchley area. For over five hundred adults members and their families it is, fifty years on from the three founding families decision to start a Liberal Jewish group in the area, a compassionate Jewish home from home. Above our front door you will see the text from Isaiah inscribed on many other Liberal Synagogues “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples”. We mean it!