After our wonderful High Holy Days at the IJC, the weather in Brussels began to turn dark and cold, and I decided to follow the well-trodden path of many Belgians seeking sunshine. My husband and I took a leisurely week-long drive to Spain. The plan included stays with our former Rabbi Nathan Alfred in Geneva and the rabbi who married us, Stephen Berkowitz.
It was an eye-opening trip, showing us how far the IJC has come in its two decades – and how far we still need to go.
Visiting Rabbi Nathan in Geneva..
As many of you remember, Rabbi Nathan came to Brussels initially as a student rabbi, still studying at Leo Baeck in London. We noticed immediately that he was exceptional. A Kings College Cambridge graduate, rugby star, and chess master (he once played more than a dozen IJCers at the same time and beat them all, many with only a few swift moves), Nathan brought both deep learning, a powerful melodic voice, and a gentle demeanor that belied his big frame. After his ordination, he came to us half-time, serving also in Luxembourg. We built our over-sized Bima to accommodate him.
During his IJC tenure, he launched our first conversion class, developed a teens group, took them to Hungary and Warsaw, started a grandparents on loan project, and inspired us all with his pastoral and liturgical skills. After seven years as our Rabbi, a combination of ambition and adventure took Nathan to Singapore, where he rejoined some ex-IJCers to lead the local reform movement. He became de facto the leading reform Rabbi in Asia, officiating at the first Bar Mitzvah ever in Indonesia, ministering to China’s hidden Jews, and much, much more. After marrying Shelly in Israel (they met in Brussels), he moved to Israel with her and their son Noam. He teamed up with the IJC to win two grants from the Rothschild Foundation, which taught lay leader and Bar Mitzvah teaching skills to many in our community.
Nine months ago, Nathan moved to Geneva and took over the Gil synagogue. It is vast, with more than 1,200 members. The 52-year-old community owns a modern shofar-shaped sanctuary in a villa-studded neighborhood near Geneva’s lakefront. Money is no problem. Membership fees pay for a full-time staff. For Yom Kippur, more than 900 congregants prayed. We attended Shabbat services both Friday night and Saturday morning. It was great to hear Nathan’s compelling chanting and sermon again, this time in French, and I felt honored to be called to the Bima.
At the IJC, we can only dream of such abundance. We need to grow our community to become more self-sufficient and it’s essential that we offer Rabbi Brian a full-time salary. Perhaps in the future, we will even own our own building. For now, we count on your generosity to fulfill our High Holiday Appeal pledge.
And Rabbi Stephen Berkowitz
After Geneva, we headed to southern France, where Rabbi Stephen Berkowitz now lives. Some may remember him as a second rabbi at Beth Hillel alongside Rabbi Dahan. He is retired, but a rabbi never really retires. For High Holy Days, he officiated at the nearby Aix-en-Provence liberal chavurah. Before that, he spent several years in Barcelona, ministering full-time to small communities. Stephen said it was a struggle to build a thriving, growing liberal Jewish synagogue in Europe. There’s demand but little money. All of us depend on volunteers. How right he is. We must keep plugging away – and we need your help.
Anu Ristola
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