Sheridan goes back to pulpit

REFORM RABBI Sybil Sheridan’s ministerial retirement did not last long.

After 12 years at Wimbledon and District Synagogue, Rabbi Sheridan left in January with the intention of focusing on her charity work in Ethiopia. But when the West London Synagogue asked her to fill in during Rabbi David Mitchell’s sabbatical, she decided she missed community life too much to say no.

“Retirement didn’t work for me,” she admitted. “When you’ve been part of a large community it is not the same on your own, so I decided to come back into it.”

Now Rabbi Mitchell has returned, another vacancy has arisen and Rabbi Sheridan will stay on for a year as a freelancer at the central London congregation which is one of the largest in the country.

“I am really enjoying it, it’s very busy,” Rabbi Sheridan said. “It’s quite a contrast from a community that is local and very much run by volunteers to what is a very large and very well run organisation.”

However, she is not interested in returning to a permanent pulpit. Serving as a freelance has allowed her to dedicate more time to her charity work with UK-based Meketa, which supports the Jewish community of Ethiopia by raising money, organising educational programmes and sending out volunteers.

In the meantime, being a freelance was “a wonderful way of getting to know communities. And I am available for weddings and barmitzvahs,” she joked.

‘It is not the same on your own so I’ve decided to come back’