By Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy

At Pesach, we told the story of Nachshon ben Amminadav, the one who stepped into the sea before it split. He didn’t wait for certainty – he moved because the moment demanded courage. That act has shaped our journey from the start: not certainty, but conviction. Not fear, but faith.

Now, we stand at another threshold. This Sunday, on the 18th of May – a date that carries the Hebrew number 18, chai, life – our communities have the chance to do something that has never been done before in British Jewish life. Not just merging institutions. But declaring, together, that we are ready to shape a new movement built from shared values, diversity, and hope.

This week’s Torah portion, Emor, is about sacred time. “These are My set times,” we read, “which you shall declare as holy convocations.” (Leviticus 23:2) God sets the rhythm – but it is the people who proclaim holiness. Time is made sacred by our willingness to step forward and name it so.

This is our moment to do just that. This vote is not an administrative act. It is a declaration of sacred time, sacred choice, and sacred responsibility.

We are also counting the Omer, the days between liberation and revelation. Between Nachshon’s step into the sea and the people standing at Sinai. Each day counted. Each soul lifted. The sifirat haomer is not just marking time – it’s preparing to receive something new.

And this Sunday, for the first time, each Progressive Jewish community has been given that same opportunity: to be counted, to raise their voice, to step into history. Past attempts to unify have faltered. But this time, we didn’t begin with institutions – we began with people. With listening. With trust. With a belief that we could walk this path not as one subsuming another, but as partners co-creating something stronger.

This is your moment, your community’s moment. A moment to be noted by name, as we enter together – not uniform, but united. This is not about losing what makes us distinct. It is about choosing a future together, shaped by the richness of our difference and the power of our shared values.

The portion of Emor teaches us to mark the time, to sanctify it with intention. So let us mark this time – not just as a date on the calendar, but as a holy chapter in our story. A moment when we chose chai – life. When we chose to count ourselves in. When we declared, not with thunder or spectacle, but with presence and participation: this matters.

Let us move forward – together – toward Sinai, toward Shavuot, toward Torah anew.

We are not there yet. But we are on the way. And we are walking it – each of us – with purpose, with hope, and with life.