November 2011 Edition of e-News
"Welcome to our brand new edition of LBC e-News now for the first time via our website! And that’s not all that is new around LBC…"
Alongside the beginning of our new academic year, I started my new job as Principal in September. Rabbi Dr. Charles Middleburgh is now Director of Jewish Studies and Jo-Ann Myers is now Director of Jewish Education. With our team in place, we are well-situated for the challenges that lie ahead.
And what are those challenges? Several key matters require urgent attention. The state of the College’s physical premises has become critical in some places – ceilings that need replacing, temporary walls that must come down. Not exciting sounding perhaps, but vital to creating a space in which students can study and learn to the best of their abilities. Next, we need to update our IT facilities in keeping with other academic institutions. We need a computing suite in every classroom that will enable our faculty to teach with all the best modern technology has to offer.
Beyond these immediate needs, we are looking at ways to improve our recruitment. I am working with Rabbi Judith Levitt, LBC’s Rabbinic Admission Advisor, to formulate new strategies for reaching out to potential candidates. Most crucially, however, we need talented, dynamic lecturers to teach the students we recruit. Right now LBC’s full time faculty is tiny. We need to increase the number permanent part-time faculty members not just to teach, but to inspire both our students and the wider world of Progressive Jewry in the UK and Europe.
We also have a substantial plan to secure the long term accreditation and validation of all of our degree awarding programmes. We even hope to expand the courses we offer – a BA in Jewish Education, high level Jewish studies courses for lay people and, potentially, cantorial training. Watch this space for more details to come.
Altogether now is an exciting time to be part of Leo Baeck College. I hope you will join us in our journey – we need support not just from our fantastic staff, faculty and students, but also from everyone outside these walls who continues to care about the College. I’d be delighted to meet personally with anyone who wants to find out more!
"I am delighted to find myself Director of Jewish Studies"
Having taught at LBC since 1984 and fulfilled a number of other functions over the years I am delighted to find myself Director of Jewish Studies, charged by the Principal with overall responsibility for the coherence and smooth running of the rabbinic training programme and other related matters. After all the years I have taught at the College it is incredibly exciting to be here now when there is so much energy and drive at the top of the institution and so many dynamic plans for the future.
"I am immensely proud that I am now the Director of Jewish Education, leading a wonderfully creative and professional team of educational consultants."
I have been at the College coming up to 17 years now. I started with 7 hours a week in what was then the Centre for Jewish Education looking after the Foundation Course for Religion School Teachers. I am immensely proud that I am now the Director of Jewish Education, leading a wonderfully creative and professional team of educational consultants. I am also delighted to be working closely with our new Principal and the other members of the senior management team. We have a great deal of exciting work on the agenda and I am looking forward to the challenges of the year ahead.
On behalf of the College and the DJE, I extend a very warm welcome to you all.
Keith Harris has a strong background in fundraising
I joined the Fundraising team on 8 September, just in time to send our Rosh Hashanah cards. I have a strong background in fundraising, having worked as a Senior Account Manager for the Employers' Forum on Disability. Married to Jacqueline, we are members of Sha'arei Tsedek, Southgate Reform Synagogue where our son James also attends Alonim kindergarten. I look forward to working with you all!
"Leo Baeck College is a wonderful place to work!"
I joined Leo Baeck College this August, as assistant to Irit Burkeman, Head of Student Services. I am passionate about education and the Jewish community - Leo Baeck College is a wonderful place to work. I have a BA hons degree in Education and Community Development and prior to joining Leo Baeck College I worked for Jewish Care for ten years. I am from North East London and have three children under three!
Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein, Professor of Jewish History and Homiletics
"The Rabbi as Preacher, 1800–1965"
Last summer was a busy time for me. Following the Ordination ceremony at which I gave the address, the last day of my five-year contract as Principal of LBC, I began preparations for a move to Cambridge. For the previous 5 years, I had been living at Windermere Avenue and travelling to Cambridge Friday afternoons, in order to be with my wife Tamar, returning late at night on Sunday. Now the commuting is in the other direction: I come to London early Tuesday morning, in order to teach in the joint MA programme at KCL and at LBC in fulfilment of responsibilities in my current academic appointment as Professor of Jewish History and Homiletics, and return to Cambridge Thursday evening.
Anyone who has seen my previous office at LBC and the small cell-block office into which I moved will appreciate that—in addition to contributing a significant number of books to our Library—many books had to be accommodated (in addition to my baby grand Steinway piano) in Tamar’s house. But the move went surprisingly smoothly.
Meeting an August 31 deadline I sent off final versions of three articles for publication: “Education and Preaching”, for the Cambridge History of Early Modern Judaism, “The Quality of Leadership in the Generation of the Expulsion from Spain”, for a Spanish historical journal, and “Midrash in Sermons” for a volume on Midrash edited by Dr Joanna Weinberg.
In addition to giving the Kol Nidre sermon at our Beth Shalom Reform Congregation in Cambridge and speaking for Shabbat Lekh Lekha at LJS and at Cambridge Limmud the following day, I represented the College in September at an interfaith academic conference in Regensburg, Germany, with a paper on “The Rabbi as Preacher, 1800–1965,” which is scheduled to be published in a book to appear in May. I was also the sole Jewish representative speaking at an interfaith dialogue at the end of October in Canterbury.
During the spring 2012 semester, I have been invited to teach as Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard, where I will be offering two courses: “Jews in Muslim and Christian Spain” and “The Sermon as Source for Jewish History and Culture.” While across the Atlantic, I am of course planning to remain in close contact with our students, as supervisor for one MA dissertation and in other ways in which I might be helpful.
"The best kept secret in the UK ...."
Leo Baeck College Library is one of the best but least-known academic research libraries in Europe.
In the course of its fifty-five years existence, it has gathered some of the most important collections, most of them by chance. The inauguration of the College was marked by books that had survived the Shoah and had come to London from the US Military Archival Depot Offenbach, the Hochschule in Berlin and a former Nazi collection of Jewish books to provide sources for the new rabbinical training college.
Today, Leo Baeck College hosts one of the most important collections of pre-Nazi German Jewish literature. Over the course of the years, the collection has become increasingly more British. In the eighties and nineties, books from the London Beth Din and the former Jews College entered the collection. We received exciting important donations from the library of the British journalist Joshua Podro which contained important rare books, together with long term loans from the Hyams collection of Jewish children's literature and school books. As Progressive Judaism started with the synagogue in a school in Seesen, Germany among the Hyams collection is interesting material on the beginnings of Progressive Judaism. One of our core collection areas is liturgy and we were given early American prayer books together with early Indian prayer books which form a part of the Catherine Lewis Liturgy collection.However, our aim is not only academic. We also seek to provide rabbis, cantors and congregations with congregational material and literature. We have an excellent collection of educational material and popular Jewish introductions into all kinds of Jewish themes. We have a collection of music providing sources for liturgical tunes and congregational newsletters from all Progressive synagogues in the U.K. and some major ones in Europe. Some items among our biographies and some novels in our literature section may also be interesting beyond academic research. While the Resource Centre of Leo Baeck College hosts resources for teachers and children's books, the Leo Baeck College Library contains material for Jewish adult education.
Our collection developed from congregations and rabbinical libraries and is aimed at congregations and rabbis. Please, therefore, tell others about us and recommend us to your congregation.
Our closest underground station is Finchley Central and it is also possible to reach the College by bus from Golders Green. We are worth the journey! Annual membership with borrowing rights is just £40 - compare this with other libraries of the same quality.
Please come and visit Leo Baeck College Library.
"A burning Issue: The Future of the Cheder"
A very successful and informative day took place on 7th September 2011 at the DJE on the burning issue of the Future of the Cheder. The day attracted approximately 60 informal and formal educators, Rabbis and lay leaders representing 31 progressive communities. We were pleased to welcome Rabbi Ofek Meir from Haifa who was a past Shaliach for Liberal Judaism as the keynote speaker. A follow up seminar is planned for 14th March 2012.
For more information about DJE Courses and Events please contact Sandy Potashnik, Foundation Course and Events Manager
“Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition…”
During chol hamoed Sukkot, while the gate of Mercy was still open, a group of 18 Jews and Muslims met at Leo Baeck College to discuss “forgiveness” through reading texts from their respective traditions. The day consisted of an introduction to the subject from both religions perspectives; looking at texts: old and modern in a seminar style as well as breaking into chavruta (small groups of 2 – 3). The chavruta learning allowed participants to bring their own personal views to their texts and the texts of the other, and get deeper into the texts. Muslim and Jewish prayers were held in the College Room of Prayer, as well as a visit to the Sukkah.
“Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition…” (Simon Wiesenthal: The Sunflower). May we all develop the capacity to forgive each other and forge the way forward.
Leo Baeck College pay tribute to Ludwik Finkelstein
The faculty, students, staff and many alumni of Leo Baeck College mourn the passing of our friend, supporter and alumnus Ludwik Finkelstein who died in late August. Ludwik studied at LBC during the 1990s and noughties after an eminent academic career in his own field of engineering, taking Hebrew and Jewish studies degrees from an MA to a PhD and was a research fellow in Jewish History and Thought from 1996 until his death. He endeared himself to faculty and fellow students alike for his warmth, passionate interest in all his subjects, profound commitment to his Jewish heritage, and great generosity of spirit
I was privileged to speak with Ludwik a few days before he died in the North London Hospice. I have rarely encountered someone so serene at the end of life, not just accepting of his imminent demise but giving thanks for the life he had lived, the people he had known and loved, and the opportunities that had come his way. He was warm, and gracious, and spoke tenderly of the College and everything it meant to him.
In order to honour his memory and long association with Leo Baeck College, a Professor Ludwik Finkelstein Student Prize will be set up for the summer of 2012 and funded annually by Rabbi Dr Michael Shire. The Finkelstein family have been informed of Rabbi Shire’s generous gesture and guidelines will now be formulated.
All of us at LBC have lost a true friend, and a great heart, but his legacy will live on at the College to which he gave so much, and we will do our best to honour his memory and the standards of excellence for which he stood.
Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh
Lunch and Learn in the City
Lunch and Learn Shiurim take place every few months and are primarily targeted at those who work in the City or West End.
You are warmly invited to join members of Leo Baeck College faculty for lunch and a discussion on Jewish views of contemporary issues.If you would like to be included on our mailing list, or would be willing to sponsor a session in your boardroom, please e-mail: Arlene Rose Telephone: 020 8349 5608
Tell us what you want to know about Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College is currently seeking a Communal Representative ideally with some experience in public relations or marketing to contribute to our PR and Marketing Committee. We really value what the communities we exist to serve think about our work and we seek to send out the right information for them. As a member of a local community you could help us get that right.
Committee meetings are held at the College up to five times a year and last approximately 90 minutes in length. Membership of this Committee comprises College staff and this role is a great way to meet some interesting people and use your skills in support of our work.
Please feel free to contact Stephen Ross if you require any further information.
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue appoints new rabbi
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St. John's Wood, is delighted to announce the appointment of Rabbi Neil Janes in November. He will join LJS Senior Rabbi Alexandra Wright who ordained him at Leo Baeck College in 2006.
He has served as congregational rabbi at Finchley Progressive Synagogue for over four years. He then moved to Israel to study for a PhD in Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa which he will continue on his return to the UK.Rabbi Janes said, ‘I am extremely excited to be returning to the congregational rabbinate at the LJS, a community with such great history and importance, and to be working alongside Rabbi Wright.’
Rabbi Janes is married to Michelle. They have an eighteen month old daughter, Ayelet and are expecting a second child at the end of January. He will replace Rabbi David Wilfond who is returning to work in Jerusalem.
This press release and further information about the LJS can be accessed at this url:
http://ljsmediacentre.org/Pressrelease19September2011newRabbiNeilJanesappointment.aspx
Mazletov to Rabbi Kathleen de Magtige-Middleton
on the birth of her son Alexander Nathan de Magtige who was born on Thursday 15 September 2011
Dates for your Diary
If you would like a future event to be listed in this area please email Nicole Taub
Leo Baeck College events
Celebration of Achievements Ceremony and Induction for Rabbi Dr Deborah Kahn-Harris
Sunday 29 Janaury 2012
Leo Baeck College induction for our new Principal followed by our Graduation and Awards Ceremony between 3pm to 5pm. For information contact Rhona Lesner
The Marcus Sefton-Green Shiurim programme
Tuesday 22 November 2011The Binding of Isaac Genesis Ch. 22:1-24
Rabbi Dr Charles H Middleburgh Director of Jewish Studies, LBC
Tuesday 29 November 2011
The Marcus Sefton-Green Shiur: The Hittite Plot Genesis Ch. 23.1-20
Rabbi Yuval Keren, Hendon Reform Synagogue
Tuesday 6 December 2011
The Marcus Sefton-Green Shiur: Eliezer’s Criteria Genesis Ch. 24:1-28
Rabbi Colin Eimer, Sha'arei Tsedek, North London Reform
The Marcus Sefton-Green Shiur:The Influence of Laban Genesis Ch. 24:29-66
Rabbi Jackie Tabick, North West Surrey Synagogue
Rabbinic In-Service Training (RIST) Autumn/Winter Programme
Tuesday 6 December 2011
Life Challenges Seminar Child Protection: Protecting Children...Protecting Rabbis
Tuesday 17 January 2012 – Study Day
Rabbinic In-Service Training (RIST)Autumn/Winter Programme: What did the Kabbalists ever do for us?
External events
Liberal Jewish Synagogue ‘Question Time’ event
Sunday 20 November 2011 at 7pm
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St. John's Wood is to hold a special 'Question Time' event, based on the popular TV programme. This is part of the synagogue’s Centenary celebrations running throughout this year and will feature prominent public figures answering questions from the audience. On the panel are:
Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty
Max Hastings, author, journalist and broadcaster
Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre
Martin Lewis, journalist and creator of MoneySavingExpert.com
Libby Purves, The Times columnist and theatre critic, radio presenter and author
With radio and television broadcaster Nick Ross in the chair
A press release about this event along with further information about The LJS can be accessed at this url:
http://ljsmediacentre.org/LJSPressrelease1810November2011QuestionTimeatTheLJSpreview.aspx
