Our community’s journey in 5781 follows the story of the transformation of our ancestors from Hebrew slaves in Egypt to being the people of Israel on the borders of the Promised Land. Maybe we can see parallels between that story and our present experience of the dire straits currently afflicting us all in different ways […]
Earlier today, our Chair, Stewart Spivack, and Nick Young (Community Development Manager) attended a virtual meeting hosted by Redbridge Borough Council including a number of leaders of the Jewish community from around Redbridge. The meeting included updates on a number of projects; one of which is a census due in March, which can be completed […]
One of the humorous memes doing the rounds states “After the 7-day trial of 2021, please can I return it as it’s not an improvement on the last model!” One week into the new year, we might feel that the optimism of New Year’s Eve was naive or stupid, but I don’t believe it was […]
Firstly, Ruth and I would like to wish you all a very Happy and HEALTHY New Year. As we enter this year, we now find ourselves in national lockdown again due to the epidemic of Coronavirus that we have had for almost ten months. However, this time, we do have the vaccine beginning to come […]
Happy New Year! I’m sure we have all wished this to others many times today and in the past few days, and had many others wish this for us. It is lovely that people express this hope for each other, and so we should. Deep inside, you might be feeling confident that 2021 will be […]
To offer you the season’s greetings, I should include Merry Christmas and also wish those keeping it well over the fast. For observant traditional Jews, today is the Fast of 10th Tevet, which was established to recall the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem by the forces of King Nebuchadnezzar in the year 589 BCE. […]
We approach a very special time in the Christian calendar that is also a very important one for the overwhelming majority of the population, in that it normally affords us all time and space to meet relatives and friends. This year, and especially in the light of the developments over the weekend, many, many people […]
As you receive this Chanukkah has concluded and Shabbat is coming in. I’m delighted that Zoom means that more people are joining our Friday evening services on winter evenings, at least partly because they don’t have to go out into the cold. If you’d like a different kind of space and stimulus from the everyday, […]
This community e-mail is coming out to you on the eve of Shabbat Chanukah, so Fiona and I take the opportunity of wishing you all a very happy Chanukah, as this memorably miserable secular year draws near to its end. To alleviate the general gloom, have just become grandparents for the first time, as baby […]
This week has seen some good news regarding vaccines for the Coronavirus, and hopefully it gives us, indeed, light at the end of the tunnel. We all earnestly hope and pray that it will mark the start of the road back to normality for the world. Here at ELELS, we will also see our lights […]