In a new building, our tree of life takes root

FOR MOST shulgoers, synagogue life is characterised above all by the familiar. Shabbat services are run in pretty much the same way each week and you encounter the same, hopefully friendly, faces whenever you visit. Even the herring at the kiddush looks remarkably similar to last week’s offering, perhaps worryingly so. But very occasionally, an event occurs in the lifecycle of a Jewish community which is genuinely transformative.

One of these events is the completion of a new building, which we celebrate this weekend in my own community in Hadley Wood. For most of our members, such an event is something they will experience only once or twice in their lifetimes. Some will no-doubt recall with emotion departed friends and relatives whose efforts at building the community over many years have finally borne fruit. Others will dream of the future potential that the new building represents and the many events and simchas that will, God willing, take place there.

But in light of the trials recently experienced by the Jewish community, trials which have shaken the diaspora community in particular to its very core, the dedication of a new shul building takes on an even greater significance.

The response to the global call to “Show up for Shabbat” in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh massacre was exceptionally moving. Many shuls saw significantly higher attendance rates Show up for Shabbat ûXW»[VNM that a shul is the beating heart of community than normal, including a number of people who normally attend just once or twice a year. People felt the need to show solidarity with a Jewish community several thousand miles away — and to demonstrate this through their commitment to the very building in which the atrocity took place, a synagogue.

“Showing up for Shabbat” was a statement of confidence in the value of the core role of a synagogue as a house of prayer. It confirmed the fact that a shul will always serve as the beating heart of a community, the place in which we gather to find comfort in times of distress, as well as celebrate together in moments of joy.

And for us in Hadley Wood, it demonstrated the true depth of meaning inherent in opening a new shul building in these worrying times. I am proud of the fact that there are communities like ours in the United Kingdom, somewhat off the beaten track in terms of the traditional centre of Jewish life in North West London, that are growing and flourishing. I am proud of the strength of commitment shown over many years by many individuals and families in the Hadley Wood area who were determined to turn their vision of a vibrant local Jewish community into a reality. And above all, I am proud of the fact that in the face of those who wish to do us harm, we are able to respond through the dedication of a new synagogue, which will serve as the hub of Jewish life in this area for many years to come.

Writing in the mid-19th century, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch of Frankfurt, Germany, beautifully summarised the essence of a Jewish community. “Every Jewish community”, he wrote, “represents [the People of] Israel within a limited geographical territory, and within this limited territory each Jewish community must discharge all the great tasks that have been set for Israel as a whole…Israel is like a tree whose vital strength is replicated independently in each of its branches, twigs, leaves and root fibres. This tree may be felled, its trunk may be split, and its branches chopped off; its broken parts may be scattered far and wide. But even the tiniest of these scattered remnants, if given the proper soil is capable of striking new roots….the tiny remnant can reproduce the whole tree…such is the strength of Israel in exile…”

Some 80 years after Rabbi Hirsch penned these words, 1,700 synagogues were destroyed on one infamous night in the country he and so many other Jews had called home for centuries. In the wake of the 80th commemoration of the tragic events of that night, together with the shattering pain of the massacre of Jews at prayer in Pittsburgh, I am proud to be a part of a community in London which has tested the soil, found it capable of striking new roots, and are nurturing those roots until they too are able to reproduce the whole tree.

Opening a new shul is indeed a truly momentous event. Today, somehow, it seems more meaningful than ever.

Yoni Birnbaum is the rabbi of Hadley Wood Synagogue