Is Borehamwood simply too big?
THE SPEED and manner of the departure last week of the senior rabbi of the United Synagogue’s largest congregation has naturally left tongues wagging. Rabbi Chaim Kanterovitz’s resignation from Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue may not have come as a surprise in itself, given the terse notice from the synagogue’s leadership a month earlier informing members he would be taking “a period of leave”.
But the reason for his leaving after five years remains a mystery. One congregant, dissatisfied with the lack of explanation from the synagogue’s management, told me, “The lockdown has been truly epic”.
When it comes to rabbinic leadership, BES has not been a settled place for some time, following the retirement of Rabbi Alan Plancey in 2007 after 31 years. His successor, Rabbi Naftali Brawer, quit the pulpit after just four years. Replacing Rabbi Brawer did not prove easy — it took two, fractious years. Some, unhappy that the interim minister, Rabbi Shimshon Silkin, did not get the permanent job, left with him to start a new minyan.
When Rabbi Kanterovitz was finally recruited in 2013 , a rabbinic colleague of his said it was “a perfect fit”. At 38, one would have expected him to remain a good many years with such a major congregation.
One person who had been heavily involved at BES said Rabbi Kanterovitz’s departure was “the last straw” and they would be leaving. “BES is a poisoned chalice,” they said. “It is too fragmented.” At 4,000 plus members, with 1,200 children, it is a giant within the United Synagogue — in an area of Jewish population that has rapidly grown in recent decades.
But could it have simply become too big — and unmanageable? Dividing it into Borehamwood North and South might be one option.
BES chairman Simon Mitchell responded: “Our structure allows members greater input into the direction of the community, making us more responsive, cohesive and innovative. This is evidenced by the hundreds of BES volunteers, record attendances at dozens of sellout events each year, exceptional member growth and retention, and a ground-breaking approach to community care.”
LIBERAL JUDAISM held its first fundraising dinner on Tuesday as part of a drive to invest more in education.
Beneath the brilliant chandeliers of the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, the movement’s president, Rabbi Andrew Goldstein, told 140 guests that education and youth had always been at the organisation’s core — while recalling that time had moved on since he grew up in the 1960s, when the average age of Jewish youth events was 25 and “men wore jackets and ties even to an informal activity like a ramble”.
Rabbi Danny Rich, LJ’s chief executive, said the movement wanted to equip the Jews of the future “to respond rapidly to a fast-changing modern world” and “to navigate the turbulent times in which we live”.
In January, Liberal judaism plans to open an education hub which will not only run classes at its central London headquarters but also create digital resources able to serve its outlying regional communities.
Ellie Lawson, who as a second-year worker with the Liberal youth movement, LJY-Netzer, has travelled around the country visiting cheders in small communities, said she saw “the need to grow and develop this area.
“How many more people would like to benefit from additional resources and support. How much more knowledgeable and creative we would be with a centralised
Mia Bogod