22 August 2016 Liberal Judaism’s ground-breaking Twilight People project has launched its archive collection, a detailed history of transgender and faith identities including photographs, video, audio, memorabilia and ritual objects. A ‘bubbly reception’ took place on Thursday at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), which will host the collection. An education … Read More
BoNO Chair Report for AGM July 2016
Simon Benscher 5 July 2016 Someone was once quoted as saying “a week is a long time in politics”. A year as chair of LJ seems to have flown by. I guess the fact that I have enjoyed pretty much every minute of these past 12 months has a … Read More
Liberal Judaism Biennial Weekend report
4 July 2016 Liberal Judaism promises ‘to keep pace with modernity’ with discussion on new siddur and innovative services at Biennial Nearly 300 Liberal Jews, from 39 different communities, saw a confident movement looking to the future at the Liberal Judaism Biennial Weekend. The conference included themed services covering the … Read More
Benjamin Netanyahu & Jewish leaders condemn Orlando mass-shooting
Sandy Rashty 14 June 2016 The Jewish Chronicle Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the terror attack at a lesbian and gay nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 people dead and 53 injured in the early hours of Sunday morning. In a statement after the mass-shooting at the Pulse club, … Read More
Nominate someone special for a Chair’s Award
19 May 2016 Liberal Judaism chair Simon Benscher is seeking nominations for the Liberal Judaism Chair’s Awards – which are presented to members who have served the movement at either a national or local level. The deadline for nominations is May 31 and the nominee should have served Liberal Judaism … Read More
Celebrating 70 years of Liberal Judaism in Ireland
11 May 2016 Dublin Jewish Progressive Congregation (DJPC) celebrated its 70th anniversary with a sold-out gala dinner and jam-packed weekend of services and events, attended by VIPS representing all of Ireland’s faiths. Dignitaries included Most Rev Dr Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland (Roman … Read More
The advance of Progressive Judaism
Simon Benscher 20 April 2016 Life at Liberal Judaism is never boring, and can be full of interesting surprises. From the precise moment I made the mistake of publicly declaring that our movement’s previous chair, Lucian J Hudson, had possibly overstated the time and commitment required for the role, it … Read More
A weekend of celebration at Woodford
12 April 2016 Three rabbis, two Christian clergy and a police officer were among 100 people celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodford Liberal Synagogue’s building on Sunday. Woodford’s Rabbi Richard Jacobi put together a special civic service, which contained some of the community’s favourite prayers from the last half century. … Read More
Double celebration at Woodford
19 October 2015 The congregation at Woodford Liberal Synagogue celebrated TWO 90th birthdays this Shabbat. The shul was full on Friday evening for a service to commemorate the birthdays of Peter Benscher, life president of Woodford, and Rabbi Harry Jacobi, father of Woodford’s Rabbi Richard Jacobi and a vice president … Read More
Shanah Tova from Liberal Judaism
September 2015 Rabbi Danny Rich, Liberal Judaism’s senior rabbi and chief executive The month of Elul and the coming Yamim Noraim (High Holy Days) are a time of reflection for Jews – demanding not only personal introspection, but requiring an examination of collective neglect. The image of a drowned child … Read More