Five Synagogues Come Together for Tikkun Leyl Shavuot
On Thursday evening 25th May five communities came together at Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue for the first time in a joint Tikkun Leyl Shavuot. The communities were Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue, Kol Chai Reform Synagogue from Hatch End, Mosaic Liberal Reform and Masorti Jewish Community from Stanmore, Radlett Reform Synagogue and The Liberal Synagogue Elstree.
They began with the Erev Shavuot service and then a shared dinner attended by over 150 people. After dinner all attending went to their choice of study sessions throughout the night. The event continued until Shacharit, the Shavuot morning service, which took place outside in the Synagogue courtyard at dawn, with the reading of the Ten Commandments. They were read from the Sefer Torah in memory of Rabbi Neil Kraft z’’l which had been inaugurated at last year’s Shavout. All of the Rabbis of the five communities taught classes, led services, meditations and song sessions throughout the night into the early hours of the morning.
Rabbi Mark Goldsmith said: “This was a truly beautiful event with enthusiastic participation by members of all five communities and their constituent parts. Whether it was at the Shavuot dinner or at the dawn Shacharit we all became one community with everyone talking together and studying together. This Tikkun Leyl Shavuot showed what we can achieve when all of us across the Progressive and Masorti Jewish spectrum work together. Together we accepted Torah in the true tradition of the Shavuot festival.”
Photo: The Rabbis of the five communities before the start of the Tikkun Leyl Shavuot
L-R Rabbi Michael Hilton (Kol Chai Reform) Rabbi Anthony Lazarus Magrill (Mosaic Masorti) Rabbi Kathleen de Magtige-Middleton (Mosaic Reform) Rabbi Mark Goldsmith (Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue) Rabbi Naomi Goldman (Kol Chai Reform) Rabbi Cantor Gershon Silins (The Liberal Synagogue Elstree) Rabbi Anna Wolfson (Mosaic Synagogues) Rabbi Rachel Benjamin (Mosaic Liberal) Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich (Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue) Rabbi David-Yehuda Stern (Radlett Reform) Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers (Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue)
