Where Next Edinburgh? – a Reform View

Maurice Naftalin, Chair, Sukkat Shalom

Many in the Edinburgh Reform community read the discussion articles in the last issue of the Star with interest and sympathy. We have our own ongoing debates about the future, and I am glad to thank the editorial board of the Star for the opportunity to try to bring the two debates together.

I last wrote about the Edinburgh Reform Jewish Community (ERJC) in the Star a little over two years ago, so perhaps a brief recapitulation is in order. The ERJC has had a separate existence since 1997, as a group affiliated to the Glasgow New Synagogue (GNS). During that time we have gradually built up the number of our activities, starting from the monthly Erev Shabbat services which remain our central event. Over the years, however, we have gained confidence to add to these with services for other festivals, communal Seders, quarterly all-day events, study sessions, children’s parties at Purim and Chanukah, and occasional social activities. Last September we marked the fifth anniversary of our first meeting with a formal inauguration as a community of the Reform Synagogues, with the Hebrew name of Sukkat Shalom. Our confidence continues to grow as we continue to add new activities: a crucial innovation last September was a monthly Cheder, and this month we are hoping to start a tradition of social occasions centred around a Havdalah service. Despite our growth, I feel we have preserved the informal and friendly atmosphere with which we started. Although we greatly regret the departure from Glasgow of Rabbi Pete Tobias, very much the moving spirit in our early days, we feel confident that we will continue to flourish without his help.

We have our problems, too, of course. Our inclusivity, which leads us to welcome participation at all levels of commitment, can also make it difficult to motivate formal membership (we have the same membership rules as GNS). So our formal numbers – around 50 – and our material resources don’t really reflect the degree of energy and enthusiasm that we experience in the community. This leads to the second problem, the one which gives the officers the greatest everyday difficulties, that of finding a suitable venue for services. In this context we are bound to be disappointed that our tentative approach to the EHC in respect of Salisbury Road has not been answered. Our third problem is expressed through our own debate on perspectives: whether and at what point we should be seeking independence from GNS. We are tied to GNS by bonds of familiarity, participation, and gratitude for their essential help in getting us established, but we know that at some point we must seek our own way. The material obstacles are formidable, and the idea of attending High Holy Day services held anywhere but Newton Mearns is still hard for many of us to envisage.

Relations with the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation enter our discussions frequently. At a communal level they have strengthened since I wrote enthusiastically about them two years ago. A number of Edinburgh Jews attend both Reform and Orthodox services and maintain good relations with both communities. There has been one informal and friendly meeting between officers of the two communities. We receive invitations to the social events of the EHC, and have enjoyed attending some recently. And at a personal level and through the Literary Society we get along fine – I hope!

At a more formal level, however, much more could be done. We don’t seek to minimise the differences between Reform and Orthodox in practice and principle, but it is short-sighted to focus on these exclusively, ignoring the many areas of mutual understanding on which we could be building. The Oxford Story article in the last Star showed the degree of co-operation and mutual respect which different communities can achieve without compromising their principles. Of course, Oxford cannot be an organisational model for every city, but the spirit embodied in their arrangements can teach us a great deal.

The EHC took a brave step in opening its perspectives debate in the public forum of the Star. Our contribution to that debate comes from outside the Orthodox community, but from firmly within the wider tradition of Judaism. Declining numbers are a problem for Jews of all communities everywhere; in the Reform movement we are convinced that this problem can only be addressed through a renewed engagement with the principles of our faith and through working to reconcile tradition with the demands of life in modern society. But we don’t claim that that renewal can take place only within our movement. On the contrary, we believe that – inspired by the same history and beliefs, and without compromising our central principles – Jews from many different movements can work together to revive our common faith and traditions.