Wish them shabbat shalom it’s nice to be able to be a community all together today of course we’re celebrating Jenna’s B mitz so we’re going to start our service with Jenna coming onto the BMA to read the opening page 156 may my life be one Link in a chain
Of goodness as I say the prayers of past Generations help me to remember their devotion and faithfulness their joy and suffering which join every word Holiness is my heritage may I be worthy of it may this tradition live in me and pass from me to Generations I shall never know
Enriched by the truth that I have found and the Good Deeds I have done so may I fulfill my task on Earth and receive my blessing and when the service ends and the prayers have ceased help me to bring their Spirit into the world in which I
Live may I love God above all and my neighbor as myself and be a living witness to the truth that never changes page 160 Mot [Applause] Fore [Applause] [Applause] Please be seated we turn now to the gift of Cham page 169 the study passage can be found on page 557 of study Anthology good and evil in an important little appreciated and utterly tragic principle regulating the structure of nearly all complex systems building up must be accomplished step by tiny step
Whereas destruction need occupy but an instant I have called this phenomenon the great asymmetry with uppercase letters to emphasize the sad generality 10,000 acts of kindness done by thousands of people and slowly building trust and Harmony over many years can be undone by one destructive Act of a skilled and committed Psychopaths thus
Even if the effects of kindness and evil balance out in the course of history the Great guarantees that the numbers of kind and evil people could hardly differ more for thousands of good Souls overwhelm each perpetrator of Darkness page [Applause] 171 Hallelu hallelu Hallelu and now we come to the PUK di zimra the verses of PSAL and the section we’ve chosen for today is nishmat Kai which you’ll find on page 200 My see All on page 204 would you please stand For For amen For Please be seated For hammer or we continue our prayers together in English on page 210 with deep love you have loved us and with great and overflowing tenderness you have taken pity on us source of our life and our Sovereign show us compassion because of your own greatness and because of our ancestors who trust
In you you taught them rules to live by to do your will with our whole heart let our eyes see the light of your teaching and our hearts embrace your commands give us Integrity to love you and fear you so shall we never lose our self-respect nor be put to shame for you
Are the power which works to save us you chose us from All Peoples and tongues and in love draw Us near to your own Grace to honor you to declare your unity and to love you blessed are you God who chooses your People Israel in love please rise for the shimar Shar For please be seated and as you sit down we turn forward in the prayer book to the bottom of page 26 For For For For For Is GL We Stand now for the Army down page 222 uh He For Ho The For Y Hall This is the moment in the amid when you can either remain standing for the standing prayer or long be the West London Min hug sit down at this point we continue on page 227 do feel feel free to sit down if that is your Preference Is For We continue our pray together in the middle of page 228 Our God and God of our ancestors May our rest be pleasing to you make us holy by doing your commands and let us share in the work of your tah make us content with your goodness and
Let our souls know the joy of your salvation purify our hearts to serve you in truth in your love and good will let us inherit your holy Shabbat and may all Israel who seek Holiness find in it their rest blessed are you God who makes the Shabbat holy M for For For [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] for The The Aloh a garden God of our ancestors we ask for your blessing and your loving care on all those who suffer pain and illness in our community family on this Shabbat we pray particularly for Liz glockman Eliza horsman Stella hush Sonia burnfield Jeff Felder Tessa Levy Sammy Rosenberg Grace hder brand Lise
K green Rabbi Adam frankenberg Leonia and Jane Kleiner Wendy Richards Edward Hoffman bernardet rishe Kathleen mcmurren and kitty Massi blessed are you Eternal one you bring healing to the SI Let’s join together in our morning prayer for peace on page 233 grant us peace good and blessing life Grace and kindness Justice and mercy source of our life bless us all together with the light of your presence for in the light of your presence you give us our living God law
And life love and kindness Justice and mercy blessing and peace and in your eyes it is good to bless your People Israel with the strength to make peace blessed are you God blessing your People Israel with Peace [Applause] Glory shom now please rise for the Torah service which begins on page 236 to High [Applause] all My shal All the [Applause] Heart [Applause] k Lord Fore And now Jenna is going to begin her tour service by reciting the Ten Commandments they’re not to be found in your sidor at this point by the be Elohim the then God spoke all these words I’m the Eternal your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out
Of the camp of slavery you shall have no other gods But Me You shall not use the name of the Eternal your God falsely for the Eternal will not EX use anyone who uses the Divine name falsely remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy respect your father
And mother you shall not you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not give false evidence against your neighbor you shall not covet your neighbor’s house nor anything that belongs to your neighbor Shay Isel Adonai Elohai For The Please be seated For all the Sh Shalom Shalom Fore do sit down I’m about to call up our B mits for Jenna if you’d like to follow the Torah portion it’s right in the middle of your after our sheets Genesis 35: 6 to9 Mary my Torah portion is VL in VL God told Jacob that God would give Jacob and his
Descendants the land that God gave to Abraham Isaac Jacob set up a pillar of stone in the place ped a drink offering on oil on it and named the place beel they left betel and before had come to a frat Rachel went into a difficult labor the
Midwife told her not to worry or fear as this child would be a son for her and just before Rachel died she named her son Ben on however Jacob called him Benjamin it was hard for me to relate to my portion as a 13-year-old girl who has clearly not experienced child birth or
In recent years anyone particularly close to me passing away but my portion does give me quite a lot to think about about such as the change names that occur I noticed in my portion that Jacob has a change of name this transition is represented by him going from tricking
His father Isaac into giving his birth right to his development into a mature adult with responsibilities for others in my life I will potentially have a name change symbolizing the path I’ve chosen in life when I’m older I want to be important and that can include a name
To possibly doctor MP or something representing what I have chosen to do with my life however like all goals you need to get there becoming a bat mitzvah and a Jewish adult I will gain independence which will help me achieve those targets which I’m unable to do right
Now for my Mitzvah project I chose to go to a care home in gold is green called sage every Sunday I’ve been doing this for the past few months and this has helped me to understand and relate better to the life and death of Rachel being surrounded by so many elderly
People in the last few years and at the last chapter of their life supported me into understanding and feeling for Rachel and other key aspects of my portion in going to the care home I noticed how almost all of the elderly people there were confined to
Wheelchairs this struck me in a sad way that to go out they had to be relying on their helpers despite being adults they had lost their independence who usually associate with adulthood and can no longer perform the simple tasks we naturally do alone my mom is often telling me to put
Away my clothes and clean my bedroom I usually don’t have the motivation to do so however doing with doing my MIT project I’ve come to realize that being able to do these chores which aren’t necessarily fun is a privilege that I have the ability to do these tasks makes
Me feel grateful and that if I weren’t able to do them I’d be losing the ability to have my Independence as I stand here today reflecting on a year of weekly visits to Sage a local care home for elderly Jewish residents I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for the simple yet profound blessings of
Independence and self-sufficiency the experience of spending time with the elderly residents at Sage has been transformative serving a strong reminder of the fragility of life and the importance of cherishing every moment the Torah teaches us to value with of the value of respect for the elderly and it’s heartening to
Witness how the retirement home works to hard to fulfill that Mitzvah creating environment that honors the wisdom and experience of its residence as younger individuals we have the unique opportunity to honor the wealth of life’s experiences and wisdom our elders possess by simply spending time with
Them the Torah teaches us to look after the vulnerable vulnerable members of society such as orphans widows and the poor in keeping with this where synagogue embodies the Spirit by organizing Specialties and dinners fostering a sense of community and making our older members feel valued and cherished in embracing this practice
West Sun and synagogue not only fulfills a sacred obligation but it also contributes to the creation of compassionate and intern Community a community that I’m so proud to be a part of I would like to thank my mom dad and sister for being there for me throughout
My life and being a constant source of support I would also like to thank the West Island synagogue Community for the opportunity to meet friends of my age and I would finally like to thank Rabbi Helen and my teor Rachel for all the hard work leaving up to today thank you
For everyone coming to see me on my special day For El For M for sh for For For El Amen Sorry For For Fore elu aalu amen and now we come to the k for Shabbat B which you’ll find on the next page of your ha sheet it’s a very beautiful and very hopeful haa from Jeremiah yeah For Amen at that time declares the Eternal I will be God to all the clans of Israel and they shall be my people thus said the Eternal the people escaped from The Sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel was marching homward the Eternal was revealed to me of old eternal love I
Conceived for you then therefore I continue my grace to you I will build you firmly again oh Maiden Israel again you shall take up your Timber and go forth to the rhythm of the dancers again you shall plant Vineyards on the hills of samariah people shall plant and live to
Enjoy them for the day is coming when Watchers shall Proclaim on the heights of e come let us go up to Zion to the Eternal Our God for thus said the Eternal cry out in joy for Jacob shout out at the crossroads of the Nations stand sing aloud in praise and say save
Oh the Eternal your people the remnant of Israel I will bring them in from the Northland gather them from the ends of the Earth the Blind and the lame among them those with child and those in labor in a vast wrong they shall return here they shall come with weeping and with
Compassion will I guide them I will lead them to streams of Water by a level Road where they will not stumble for I am ever a parent to Israel Ephraim is my first Bor hear the word of the Eternal o Nations and tell it in the Isles ofar
Say the Eternal who scattered Israel will gather them and will guard them as a Shepherd their flock the Eternal will Ransom Jacob redeem him from one too strong for him they shall and Sh on the heights of Zion radiant over the Bounty of the Eternal over new grain and wine
And oil and over sheep and cattle they shall fare like a watered Garden they shall never languish again then shall maidens dance gay young people and old alike I will turn their mourning to Joy I will Comfort them and cheer them in their grief I will give the priests
Their fill of fatness and my people shall enjoy my full Bounty declares the eternal El Now as Jenna comes to rejoin me on the I’m going to ask her mom and dad and sister to come and be there with her because I know they are feeling really extraordinarily proud and happy um now as we’re going to hear later Jenna we’re also going to have something
Beautiful but sad going on this Shabbat we’re going to have a special prayer for the hostages both Israeli and Tha who’ve been returned during the past period of the ceasefire and so it seemed more than appropriate that your haa is about sadness turning to Joy and Redemption coming and God caring
For the children of Israel it’s a sad time in some ways and want to thank you and your family for making it also a really happy time to celebrate with you not only you sung your but mid proportion so very beautifully but also you’re a really kind thoughtful and
Lovely person no one can teach you that but it was you who wanted to go and spend time with people and understand how important it is to cherish the old as well as the young I’d like you now to affirm that commitment by reciting your B midz of
Pray in the presence of my teachers the leaders and the members of this holy congregation I now prepare to take upon myself the duties which are binding on all the family of Israel I ask their help in years that lie ahead to strengthen my loyalty and devotion so
That I may grow in charity and Good Deeds I think all of those who have gone before me who through all the travels of the world preserved this Heritage of Holiness and goodness so that I should enter into now may I be a true Bat Mitzvah a daughter of the Commandment
Taking my place in this community of Israel accepting its responsibilities rejoicing in its blessing may I be a witness to the Living God and to God’s goodness and to the dis that lives within me I remember all those who have helped me reach this time I give thanks
For the love and care of my family the patience and instruction of my teachers and the support and companionship of my friends in the Torah I have read the word of God with God’s help may I go on to fulfill it in my life amen here Israel the Eternal is our God the
Eternal is one and our mom and dad are going to come on either side of you for this special prayer to celebrate having the second daughter B Eternal God our lives are in your hand and our souls are in your keeping we give thanks this day that you have given
Health and growth to our daughter General into our hands you have placed the Torah to be held high and honored by each generation May our daughter be worthy of this inheritance taking its teachings into her heart in the years that lie ahead on the day of her bat MIT we
Express our gratitude in ancient words Blessed Be You Eternal God Sovereign of the universe for giving life and sustaining us and bringing us to this day now I’m going to ask you everybody please to stand because Jen is going to come right the blessing Mom and Dad big sister put an arming shine
Gracious God reach out to you in tendance you a long happy healthy joyful Love full of much blessing Andace I’m going to ask you to sit down because we have a special addition to our service as I just said to Jenna this this Shabbat is reflects a rather more hopeful 10 days that have just gone than perhaps what’s to come and so we’re taking a moment in our
Service to B G this is the moment in the Torah service where you thank God for those who have been returned from life-threatening illness and we combining that with thanking God for those who’ve been returned from captivity in Gaza blessed are you Eternal Our God and
Ruler of the universe who is generous in love and kindness and who frees the captives shashan haran 67 EDI shoham 38 and her children yahel 3 na8 Shiri Vice 53 and her daughter NOA 18 Maya 21 htim 12 Emily hand nine Noam or 17 Alma or
13 no a aor 12 and her mother Sharon 52 Abigail Idan four Elia elim five and her sister Dafna 15 hagga Bret 40 and her children ofre 10 yal n and Ora 4 hen Goldstream 48 and her children aam 17 tal 9 and gal 11 Alma Abraham 84 Adrien aiva seal
63 Sharon alone Kuno 33 and her twins of three Emma and ulie Karina Engel Bart 51 Mika Engel 18 Yuval Engel 10 Sahar Calderon 16 arz Calderon 12 or Yakov 16 bagil Yakov 12 itan yahalomi 12 Tamar meta age 78 ditah Haymon 84 years old norin babilla 60 years old adah Sagi age
75 ailia Edith Reitman age 77 rimon kers 36 years old marav tal 53 years old the Lindberg family Gabriella Lindberg 59 years years old Mia Lindberg 17 years old Clara Maron 63 years old yarden Roman Gat aged 36 Raz Ben Ami 57 Rya rotm 54 Liam o aged 18 AIA Angel age
17 Amit Shanny 16 GI tensi 13 itai regev 18 Moran yanai 40 lat adili 49 Helena trinov aged 50 and her mother Irena tati age 73 Mia Shem 21 Amit Susana 40 siblings Bal and Asa zadni Anana grusi n Margalit shanni Goran Sapia Cohen and from the first group of Thai
Hostages whose name we didn’t know last Shabbat Santi Mongol huab wit kapat bansa kongman B sangun UT T and utai in addition High hostages released since shabat an an man PAB ratan Kong salapan and chamai and now we return to our service with the tour service continuing
With prayers for the community would you please stand Our God who is Everlasting we ask you to bless His Majesty King Charles and all the royal family and to guide the government of this country help us to be good citizens working together for justice and peace at home and abroad
Bless this holy community and all holy communities and support the life and work of all who labor for their welfare Our God and God of our ancestors we ask your blessing on the state of Israel and all who live there give wisdom and understanding to its leaders and friendship and compassion to the
People so there may be lasting peace on its borders and in his homes soon may your promise be fulfilled for Torah shall come out of Z and the word of God from Jerusalem we ask you to listen to our prayers and look on us kindly supporting those who are troubled consoling the
Bered sending relief to those in pain or anxiety as you blessed our fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob and our mothers Sarah Rebecca Rachel and Leia bless our own congregation all other congregations gathered in prayer and everyone who responds to the needs of the community may that be the Divine will let us say
Amen amen we turn out to page 251 Hallelujah Of The I Be [Applause] For the Spee Speee [Applause] She please be seated on the Shabbat I want you to take a second now to consider the name your parents gave you some people love their given name others loath it or shorten it or use the second name instead almost nobody feels neutral about their given name your name impacts how people see
You and respond to you whether it’s School University or in work the fear that people have is that your name becomes a way to lab you as coming from a particular background and so it allows people to other you to use the sociological jargon othering is the projection of
Hostility onto people who are different from from the perceived in group people who are not like us and can be hated for being from a different culture religion ethnicity or sexual orientation just to give you a personal example my late father came here as a refugee from Nazi Germany only 12 at the
Time and speaking no English he learned well succeeded in his matriculation was pleased and proud when he went into the British army like so many Jewish refugees he was profoundly patriotic grateful to this country for saving his life but he was still living with his
Given name of Fritz fine for a boy in Germany but didn’t go down to well in the British army only with the help of a Jewish lawyer friend could he persuade the authorities to change his given name in those far off days changing was assumed to be your Christian name was
Very unusual and hard to do we live now in a more Multicultural world but your name can still be used to define you and so there are Jewish families who change their polish or Russian surname to something that’s easier to say in English and Muslim people that shorten Muhammad to Mo
As they wanted to avoid the othering that is so common in our world today when we make quick assumptions about people based on their given name appearance or clothes for us as Jews names have a particular significance and resonance because of the sensitivity with which the Tran names its Central
Personalities when they have encounters with God and respond to the Divine command that change in their lives is grounded by a change in their name abam becomes Abraham because he will be the father of many nations Jacob as we know is given his name meaning heal because he came out of the womb
Grabbing the heel of his twin Esau and also to be truthful behaves like a heal for much of his life stealing his twins’s Birthright and then his Blessing and having to run away from Esau’s anger but even Jacob the heel does change after many years in Exile he
Returns to meet his twin who comes with 400 armed men not surprisingly Jacob is afraid that the moment of Retribution has come and then he does something crucial which shows that his Exile has truly changed him he has become less self-centered it’s no longer looking after number one he sends gifts to
Esau his wives and children to somewhere protected and then he has the lifechanging encounter with the angel at the yabok Ford crucially there is a struggle Jacob is wounded but claims a blessing from the angel his name is changed to Israel which can mean the prince with
God and also the one who struggles with God and man and prevails the name that the reborn Jacob has given has been a challenge and a blessing to the Jewish people from that day to this we are predestined it seems to live a life of struggle but also a life of
Blessing where Israel will prevail intriguingly though our patriarch is still called Jacob still called Jacob as well he is changed but his core personality with its gifts and challenges is still very much there and Jenna’s portion re returns to the significance of of names we hear that Jacob returns to
Canaan to the very place where God appeared to him and calls the place a b which means something like God’s very house and God reiterates the promise of the land the land which was given to Abraham and Isaac will be given to him and his descendants names matter and how we name
Something or someone can impact on the life and future of that individual or event you heard Jenna described how she chose ad mids for project visiting older members of the Jewish community in the sage Home what an interesting choice for naming such a place it reflects the requirement of the
Torah to honor the elderly right in the middle of the Holiness code says this you must rise before the elderly and honor the face of older members it goes in that on in that very same verse to say you must be in a of God I am the
Eternal so honoring the elderly is not a thing to do when you’re feeling kind it’s a requirement of the Torah to exemplify your commitment to to honoring God no wonder then that the home is called sage a reflection of the Jewish commitment to cherishing the older members of our community for their
Wisdom and the life lessons you we learn from them just earlier in the service you heard us name each individual who’s been return to Israel from captivity in Gaza there is a long Jewish tradition of saying a blessing when someone is returned to life from serious
Peril some of these were Jews some tied Buddhist all of them people whove been kidnapped into a place of horror and fear and now returned Jewish tradition teaches us that one who saves a single life it’s as if he’d saved a whole world and we pray that those returned
Hostages will return to a normal life with all the help and support and love they deserve May such be God’s will amen and now we coming towards the end of the service I’m going to ask you to turn to page 310 and stand for Al LAN For All be all We continue our prayers in English with the Hope For Humanity on page 313 therefore mighty God we put our hope in you soon let us witness the glory of your power where the wor material things shall pass away from the earth and Prejudice and Superstition shall at last be cut
When the world will be set right by the rule of God and all Humanity shall speak out in your name and all the wicked of the Earth shall turn to you then all who inhabit this world shall meet and understand and shall know that we are all Partners in the repairing of Your
World yours alone is the true Kingdom and only the glory of your rule endures forever so it is written in your tan the Eternal shall rule forever and ever so it is prophesied the Eternal shall be Sovereign over all the Earth on that day the Eternal shall be one and known as One as we prepare to S her on page 316 we extend our sympathy to those whose loved ones died in recent days an rlin mother of Max and Trisha Z from the late Jan Z companion of Ian Kerr sister of Trevor Littleton sister-in-law of Tippy Littleton grandmother and great
Grandmother Shelly saxs wife of Harold mother of John Jeffrey Gavin and Richard grandmother Pierre brenor husband of Sandra father of Lynn Gilbert and Sarah and Peter brw the late Janine brw grandfather and great grandfather and we think also of those killed in the terror attack in Jerusalem
This week youal Duron castl man rabi elik wasan Hannah ifan Olia Dickman sadly those hostages who we’ve heard are no longer alive Ronan enle AR zovic Maya Goran and G ill and we extend our sympathy also to those whose loved ones died at this time in Years Gone by Betty quill mother of
Patricia Harris and Anthony quill grandmother of Spencer sad Selby mother of Jackie grin grandmother of Gabby NY relle and David and great grandmother Susan rapire partner of Simon brilliant mother of Ariel and Steven grandmother Lis luri father of Naji Rosella wheen mother of Sue Cohen Zelma Lipman mother of Morin
Lipman rosent grandmother of Amy and Adam Phillip Morris husband of Ruth Janette beum Watters mother of Robert and Clive beum and Claudia Goldstein Jack poov grandfather of Martha bernsteen and Wendy poov for our spoka memory project on this Shabbat we also honor the memory of Gertrude viceo killed during the show
May the memories endure for blessing and comfort those who mourn this we say Shalom say shalom IM please be seated after the conclusion of the service we’re going to go into the stone hall for kidou can I ask you to resist the temptation to tell Jella she’s wonderful she is but we’re going to have a presentation and make Kish
Before you have a chance to enjoy all the food and enjoy uh celebrating Jenna I think she would like me to also say lovely to have Rachel with us in the congregation Rachel has been Jen’s teacher and you can see by how well she did that Rachel is one of our star Bara
Mitz for teachers and it’s a pleasure to have her here on this occasion if you look on the back of your H our sheet you’ll see lots going on there is tomorrow afternoon I talked in my sermon and to Jenner about the importance of naming there’s a um a
Vigil no no uh no Flags no chanting it’s just a very quiet gentle Peaceable vigil called together for Humanity opposite Downing Street that will bring together Jews and Muslims rabbis and Iman just to pray for a better more hopeful future and for a little light in the
Darkness we do have lots of light in the darkness coming up this coming week h of course starts on Thursday night and on Friday night at qu to 5 we have the Westland and Hanukah party at 6 o’ we have our Hanukah combo service please bring your hanuk here so we can
All light together and afterwards we have our Shabbat dinner and speaker and this month it’s s Trevor Phillips OB who has lived an extraordinary life there are a very very few tickets left so do contact the synagogue office if you’d like after Shabbat on Saturday morning the 9th so
That’s a week today we’re beginning our Shabbat Breakfast Club 9:30 in the council room where there’s going to be food and food for thought and I think I have to say that to next Shabbat our co- senior Warden John who didn’t have his bmit till when
He’s 13 is going to have his bomit so do come celebrate with John and here and I were saying just before the service he’s one of the rare adult barl b m whose mom is going to be saying the the parents prayers so she’s a very special lady so
We’re going to have not only Jenna’s very special day today but John’s very special day next Shabbat let’s conclude the service now with Adon L on page 320 Sh Heart the she Sh Please stand for the final blessing you find it on page 324 it’s an extract from the Dead Sea Scrolls may God bless you with all that is good and guard you from all that is harmful may God Enlighten your heart with the wisdom of life and give you
Understanding of many worlds may God in faithful love offer you enduring peace shabbat Shalom For Ni
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