Spiritual leadership
Message from Rabbi Nathan Alfred... (July. 2010)
I hope that you all have a great summer! After such a long and hard winter I think we all deserve some sunshine. In the Jewish liturgy our prayers do not seek the sun, but rather we pray for the blessing of rain. In the traditional Amidah this was said between Simchat Torah and Pesach. In summer we pray simply for dew - as it was thought you should not ask God for the impossible, and rain in Israel is quite unlikely in the summer months. Of course in Europe things are a little different, and so the British Liberal prayer book prays for both rain and dew at all times, as nothing is impossible in an English summer (and I have come to learn it is similar in Belgium too!).
In the Middle East rain was a blessing as it was rare and it encouraged the crops to grow. Sunshine was abundant and dangerous. A long hot summer could be perilous both in destroying crops and those who lived there. It is perhaps for this reason that Tisha B'Av (the ninth of Av) falls in the height of summer. Many disasters are said to have happened then, including the destruction of both First and Second Temple and the death of Simon bar Kochba, the leader of a rebellion against the Romans. But like many of our festivals, it can have some of its psychological roots in the agricultural cycle.
Tisha b'Av has not fared well in Reform Judaism, as we do not share the same longing of more traditional Jews for the restoration of the Temple. But we can understand the symbolic value of this calamitous day, and as we enjoy the sunshine think ahead to the coming of Autumn and the fresh promise and possibilities that only a new year can bring.
Rabbi Nathan Alfred
Introducing Rabbi Nathan Alfred...
Nathan Alfred, 27, a King's College, Cambridge graduate and chess champion, joined the IJC as a student rabbi in October, 2008. He was ordained by Leo Baeck College in London in June, 2008 and continues as our community Rabbi."
In an interview, Nathan explained his path to the rabbinate and his hopes for his Brussels assignment:
Q: How did you become interested in the rabbinate?
A: Since my bar mitzvah, my rabbi encouraged me. She taught me Hebrew in private and always ensured that I was working on something Jewish. My mother was an administrator at the synagogue so I was always surrounded by Judaism. When you grow up in a Jewish community, it feels like one big family. If you grow up like that, you work in that environment. You want to work in that community. I was looking for a profession where I could make a difference.
Q: Tell us a little about your background?
A: I was born in Coventry. My father is from Russian Polish family, came to England about a 100 years ago. They were in London to begin with and moved to begin a tailor’s business in Coventry. My own father went to university, and worked in accounts department, moving the family when I was four months old to London. My mother converted to Judaism, 35 years ago before my parents got married. Her family is from Wales.
My father was orthodox. Together, my parents found a balance at a reform synagogue. My parents were regular shulgoers at the Bromley Reform Synagogue. That is in southeast London, in Kent, wrong side of the river. We always kept Shabbat at home. We lit candles and held Shabbat dinners. We didn’t do our homework on Shabbat. We always had Kashrut at home. There were five sets of plates, one even for the cat.
I have one older sister. She studied philosophy and theology. She was a teacher of religious education, works for refugee charities in London, and is also doing a PHD in Refugee, She is 32.
Q: How did chess become your passion?
A: I was a child full of energy. At an early age, my parents sat me in front of a chess board to calm me down. I started going to tournaments at age seven. When I was 15 or 16, I won the British Junior Championships two years in a row. I liked the way the game makes you think. It makes you think deeply. It is logic. It is a game that a gnat can bathe in and an elephant can drink. After university, I thought I might play chess for a profession. I spent a year studying the game with a grand master and playing in Hungary. I was playing in tournaments, but in the end I decided that I didn’t want to spend all my time playing a game.
Q: What about your studies?
A: I did King’s College in Cambridge, I read classics and graduated in 2001. I worked six months to get some money and was in Hungary for 14 months, and started at Leo Baeck College (to become a rabbi) in 2003. I am now a fifth year student there, writing my thesis. My thesis is on how to interpret the destruction of the temple, theologically and what it meant to the Jewish community. I am examining how the rabbis responded, their hopes and fears. This was a cataclysmic event - I guess at little like the Shoah – and I want to know how Jews at that time came to terms with the tragedy.
Q: You have started a group called Eurojews? What’s that?
A: When I was living in Budapest, liberal Jews were isolated from the rest of the Jewish community. They were questioning whether they were Jewish.
So I hatched a plan. In 2003, I invited other liberal Jews to celebrate the festival with us, so they could see that liberal Judaism was a viable thing, they had support. We had about 25 people come from all over Europe.
Everyone had a good time, so now we meet about three times a year. We last got together in Brussels.
Q: What appealed to you about Brussels?
A: The internationalism of the community. The members are high powered. They work in the European Union, they are journalists, lawyers, economists. It is exciting to work with them and their children.
Q: What are your goals?
A: I am looking to create a community. Many people in Brussels are away from their homes and families. The IJC creates a substitute. I want to get more and more people involved, to enlarge the sense of Jewish family.
I enjoy teaching and learning. I enjoy creating Jewish things. I want to help the community create new programs.
- Interview by Bill Echikson
