קליהל קהלה - Clayhall Synagogue

A Valedictory Message from Rabbi Nissan Wilson
I feel honoured to have led Clayhall over these last eight years, a period which is but a
small slice of this community's wonderful history. Much has changed in this period. When I
first came to Clayhall, Lord Sacks was Chief Rabbi, Tony Blair was prime minister, we had
three little children and my beard was still entirely red!
Of course, in a community time does not stand still and things are always apt to change. At
this exciting juncture we look to embrace change, but we also hold tightly to everything that
has made us who we are and we commit to take our proud history with us
into the new community.
As I reflect on the past years, I do so with a great deal of pride - pride at how our Shul has
thrived against the odds, pride at our children's services and pride at our regular, wellattended minyanim. I am proud of what we have achieved together and delighted that we
are able to move forwards from a position of strength into an even brighter future.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Family Building by Rabbi Berel Wein
Why does the Torah, which appears to be basically a book of laws and commandments, bother
with all of this detailed description of creation and continued familial based narrative in the book
of Bereishis? Why is this seemingly anecdotal knowledge of the lives of our ancestors so
necessary to be included in the eternal Torah and how does it register in the survival of the
Jewish people throughout the ages?
In response, the rabbis taught us that the events that occurred to our ancestors are indeed the
harbingers of happenings that will occur to their descendants. But many times it is difficult for
later generations to make this connection, except in the most general way of experiencing
historic repetitions of circumstances. This book of Bereishis, which comprises a substantial part
of the entire written Torah, contains within it almost no commandments and is basically a book
of narrative tracing the development of one family - eventually seventy in number - and of the
difficulties that this family encountered over generations. So what therefore is its main message
to us living in a far different world, millennia later?
The message is the obvious one of family and its importance. The Torah purposely and in
minute detail describes for us how difficult it truly is to create and maintain a cohesive family
structure. Every one of the generations described from Kayin and Hevel till Yosef and his
brothers is engaged in the difficult and often heart-breaking task of family building.
There are no smooth and trouble free familial relationships described in Bereishis. Sibling
rivalry, violence, different traits of personality, and marital and domestic strife are the stuff of the
biblical narrative of this book. The Torah does not sanitize any of its stories nor does it avoid
confronting the foibles and errors of human beings.
The greatest of our people, our patriarchs and matriarchs, encountered severe difficulties in
attempting to create cohesive, moral and cooperative families. Yet they persevered in the
attempt because without this strong sense of family there can be no basis for eternal Jewish
survival. There is tragic fall out in each of the families described in Bereishis and yet somehow
the thread of family continuity is maintained and strengthened until the family grows into a
numerous and influential nation.
This perseverance of family building, in spite of all of the disappointments inherent in that task,
is the reason for the book of Bereishis. It is the template of the behaviour of our ancestors that
now remains as the guideposts for their descendants. The task of family building remains the
only sure method of ensuring Jewish survival. (with grateful thanks to www.torah.org)
‫קליהל קהלה‬
Clayhall Shul’s FINAL Weekly News Sheet
Shabbos 3 January 2015 / 12 Teves 5775
Service Times (Louis Yeshin’s 90th birthday & The Last Clayhall Shabbos)
Shacharis
Mincha followed by Seudah Shlishis
Shabbos ends
Shabbos next week
9.00 am
3.30 pm
4.58 pm
3.55 pm
We wish Mazel Tov to Louis Yeshin on the wonderful occasion of his 90th birthday today
and the community wish him many more years of good health. Louis and his family have
pleasure in inviting the Kehilla to a Kiddush after the Service in celebration of their simcha.
This is the final Shabbos for Clayhall Synagogue and Newbury Park Synagogue as
separate Shuls. The occasion is historic tinged with nostalgia and sadness, but buoyed by
the knowledge that we become stronger and more sustainable as a new merged entity.
Although Redbridge United Synagogue was officially born on 1 January 2015, it was
decided to wait until Shabbos 9/10 January to hold the first service.
A special commemorative final edition of the Clayhall Kehilla has been produced which
you will find inside the news sheet. It is also fitting that Hermi Rothman is honoured with
Haftoro on the final Shabbos as he played a leading role in the formation of the original
Clayhall Kehilla almost 42 years ago. The Honorary Officers would like to thank the
community for its fantastic support over the last few months since the news of the merger
was announced. It has been enthusiastically embraced. Kol Hakavod!
Torah Reading
Leyning: Vayechi
Sefer Bereishis: 47:28-50:26
Artscroll p 268, Cohen p 296, Hertz p 180
Haftoro: I Kings 2:1-12
Artscroll p 1145, Cohen p 315, Hertz p 191
Lester Harris
Hermi Rothman
Redbridge Shul will have its own News Sheet. Newbury
Park Shul does not have a weekly newsletter and so the
style and format will be little unchanged from the current
set-up. Edition number One is almost ready!
This week’s Clayhall Kehilla is kindly sponsored by Lester Harris
in loving memory of his father, Lewis z’l
Children’s Service & 47 Club: 10.30 am - 11.30 am (next, 10 January).
Weekday Services
Shacharis: Monday & Thursday: 6.50 am. Sunday @ 8.15 am.
Shacharis: Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: 7.00 am.
Shacharis Rosh Chodesh: 6.40 am Monday to Friday, Sundays: 8.00 am.
Ma‘ariv: 7.30 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.
Vayechi Statistics
Shifting Scenery







Position: 12th of the 54 Sedras
Mitzvos: None
Verses: 85 (10th shortest)
Words: 1158 (10th shortest)
Letters: 4448 (11th shortest)
Parshios: 7 open, 5 closed
Lines of Torah: 148.3 (9th shortest)
The first part of the sedra is the end of the
previous parsha from Vayigash. Vayechi is the
only sedra that does not begin at a parsha break.
The Book of Bereishis






12 of the 54 sedras in the Torah.
1533 pesukim of the 5846 in the Torah.
More than 26% of the Torah's pesukim.
20,612 words of 79,976, almost 26%.
78,064 letters of 304,805 (25.6%).
3 of the 613 mitzvos. Less than ½%.
Dates for the Diary
January
Shabbos 3
Shabbos 10
Sunday 11
Wednesday 21
Shabbos 24
Saturday 24
Tuesday 27
February
Sunday 1
Wednesday 4
Shabbos 7
Sunday 8
Thursday 19
Friday 20
Shabbos 21
Sunday 22
The last Clayhall Shabbos
Redbridge United Synagogue
Special bagel breakfast
Rosh Chodesh Shevat
Children’s Service/47 Club
70 Days/70 Years Launch
Holocaust Memorial Day
Cabaret Evening
Tu B’Shevat
Children’s Service/47 Club
Redbridge Tribe launch
Rosh Chodesh Adar
Rosh Chodesh Adar
Children’s Service/47 Club
Bagel breakfast
As preparation for the merger enters into its
final and most frantic (but reassuringly
calm) stages, there will be a few Memorial
boards from Newbury Park Shul being put
up in the Well in January. The Clayhall
Yahrzeit boards will all remain.
Chicken Soup Kiddush
Our very first service as Redbridge Shul
takes place on Friday 9 January 2015.
After Kabbalos Shabbos and Maariv, we
will be having a free Chicken Soup Kiddush
and a L’Chaim to celebrate this historic
event. Mincha starts at 3.55 pm. Everyone
is welcome although it would be helpful if
you could let either Angela or Lester know
beforehand if you are coming.
New Redbridge Shabbos Time
Please note that the Shabbos morning start
time for the new community will be 9.15 am
effective from 10 January 2015. Newbury
Park begins normally at 9.30 am while
Clayhall, of course, starts at 9.00 am. So
this is the best compromise that suits both
Shuls. It means that we all get an extra 15
minutes in bed on a Shabbos morning!
The Redbridge Breakfast
A special breakfast is planned for Sunday
11 January 2015 as a welcome event for
the new community. Shacharis will be at
8.15 am followed by breakfast at 9.00 am.
Everyone is warmly welcome including
ladies. If you would like to sponsor in whole
or in part any breakfast, please speak to
Angela or Robin. The cost of a breakfast
is usually about £40.
PS: The hot scrambled eggs are great!
70 Days for 70 Years
Redbridge Tribe Launch Event
On the 25th January 2015, the United Synagogue We are delighted to be launching the new
will be launching the “70 Days for 70 Years”
Redbridge Tribe with an “Extravaganza”
project. Created in the UK and commencing to
on Sunday 8 February 2015 from 2.30 pm
coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation until 4.30 pm. It is open to all children from
of Auschwitz, this project will engage hundreds of
nursery to Year 7. The fun includes
thousands of Jews in an uplifitng, educational and
inflatables, beat-the-goalie, arts & crafts,
memorial programme across the globe. You will
biscuit decorating, giant games, bowling
receive a copy of a specially published book of 70
and some great refreshments.
inspiring essays written by renowned educators,
Parents can enjoy a
historians and scholars - to be read, one a day for
FREE coffee n’cakes café while the
70 days. The new Redbridge community will be
children are being entertained.
launching this project on Motsei Shabbos 24
We are delighted that Rabbi Yisroel
January with a very special Melava Malka.
Binstock, Tribe Central Rabbi, will be
joining us. Bookings will open shortly.
Some Significant Clayhall Landmarks
If you would like more information,
please email Naomi Harris,
 1 September 1999: Rabbi Jason Kleiman
Redbridge Tribe Youth Director on:
becomes Clayhall’s 1st full-time Rabbi
[email protected]
 11 November 2001: 1st fortnightly Sunday
morning minyan
Cabaret Evening
 30 November 2001: 1st Oneg Shabbos that
Redbridge
United Synagogue presents a
continued monthly during that winter
wonderful evening of cabaret by “Anything
 6 August 2002: 1st Maariv service on
Goes” and the keyboard maestros Geoff
Tuesday evenings.
and Dave. Reserve Sunday 1 February in
 4 November 2002: Shabbos morning service your diary for a great evening of popular
changes to 9.00 am
songs from the 60’s and 70’s. Enjoy a lush
 13 December 2002: 1st IJPS Shabbaton and fried fish supper and plenty more with your
still going strong 12 years later!
friends for £17.50 each. Doors open 7.00
 30 January 2003: 1st weekly Sunday
pm for a 7.30 pm start. Please support the
morning minyan
first fund raising event of the new Shul by
 6 June 2003: Locked out 1st day Shavuos
purchasing tickets from Liz (8550 9907),
and davened in car park until help arrived!
Bernard (8554 1480) or Angela Levene
(8550 2610). The organisers are looking
 29 June 2003: 1st Rosh Chodesh minyan
for good raffle prizes which must be new.
 18 December 2004: Rabbi Kleiman leaves
Please contact Liz if you can help out.
 25 January 2005: Clayhall commemorates
60 Days for 60 Years with a special evening
New Shul Office Information
 25 August 2006: Rabbi Nissan Wilson
The new telephone number for
becomes Clayhall’s 2nd full-time Rabbi
Redbridge United Synagogue is:
020 3031 6929
 4 March 2007: 1st Purim spiel ever “The
Office email:
Rabbi & the Golem” played to rave reviews
[email protected]
 30 June 2007: 1st Stella, Pimms and IceBoth contact points are fully operational.
Cream Kiddush & still a summer repeat
The website address is:
 14 November 2013: 1st Thursday Maariv
www.redbridgesynagogue.org.uk
completes the weekly cycle (except Sunday)
This will be up and running from Monday.
 9/10 January 2015: Redbridge Synagogue!
Children’s Service & 47 Club: 10.30 am - 11.30 am (next, 10 January).
Weekday Services
Shacharis: Monday & Thursday: 6.50 am. Sunday @ 8.15 am.
Shacharis: Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: 7.00 am.
Shacharis Rosh Chodesh: 6.40 am Monday to Friday, Sundays: 8.00 am.
Ma‘ariv: 7.30 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.
Vayechi Statistics
Shifting Scenery







Position: 12th of the 54 Sedras
Mitzvos: None
Verses: 85 (10th shortest)
Words: 1158 (10th shortest)
Letters: 4448 (11th shortest)
Parshios: 7 open, 5 closed
Lines of Torah: 148.3 (9th shortest)
The first part of the sedra is the end of the
previous parsha from Vayigash. Vayechi is the
only sedra that does not begin at a parsha break.
The Book of Bereishis






12 of the 54 sedras in the Torah.
1533 pesukim of the 5846 in the Torah.
More than 26% of the Torah's pesukim.
20,612 words of 79,976, almost 26%.
78,064 letters of 304,805 (25.6%).
3 of the 613 mitzvos. Less than ½%.
Dates for the Diary
January
Shabbos 3
Shabbos 10
Sunday 11
Wednesday 21
Shabbos 24
Saturday 24
Tuesday 27
February
Sunday 1
Wednesday 4
Shabbos 7
Sunday 8
Thursday 19
Friday 20
Shabbos 21
Sunday 22
The last Clayhall Shabbos
Redbridge United Synagogue
Special bagel breakfast
Rosh Chodesh Shevat
Children’s Service/47 Club
70 Days/70 Years Launch
Holocaust Memorial Day
Cabaret Evening
Tu B’Shevat
Children’s Service/47 Club
Redbridge Tribe launch
Rosh Chodesh Adar
Rosh Chodesh Adar
Children’s Service/47 Club
Bagel breakfast
As preparation for the merger enters into its
final and most frantic (but reassuringly
calm) stages, there will be a few Memorial
boards from Newbury Park Shul being put
up in the Well in January. The Clayhall
Yahrzeit boards will all remain.
Chicken Soup Kiddush
Our very first service as Redbridge Shul
takes place on Friday 9 January 2015.
After Kabbalos Shabbos and Maariv, we
will be having a free Chicken Soup Kiddush
and a L’Chaim to celebrate this historic
event. Mincha starts at 3.55 pm. Everyone
is welcome although it would be helpful if
you could let either Angela or Lester know
beforehand if you are coming.
New Redbridge Shabbos Time
Please note that the Shabbos morning start
time for the new community will be 9.15 am
effective from 10 January 2015. Newbury
Park begins normally at 9.30 am while
Clayhall, of course, starts at 9.00 am. So
this is the best compromise that suits both
Shuls. It means that we all get an extra 15
minutes in bed on a Shabbos morning!
The Redbridge Breakfast
A special breakfast is planned for Sunday
11 January 2015 as a welcome event for
the new community. Shacharis will be at
8.15 am followed by breakfast at 9.00 am.
Everyone is warmly welcome including
ladies. If you would like to sponsor in whole
or in part any breakfast, please speak to
Angela or Robin. The cost of a breakfast
is usually about £40.
PS: The hot scrambled eggs are great!
70 Days for 70 Years
Redbridge Tribe Launch Event
On the 25th January 2015, the United Synagogue We are delighted to be launching the new
will be launching the “70 Days for 70 Years”
Redbridge Tribe with an “Extravaganza”
project. Created in the UK and commencing to
on Sunday 8 February 2015 from 2.30 pm
coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation until 4.30 pm. It is open to all children from
of Auschwitz, this project will engage hundreds of
nursery to Year 7. The fun includes
thousands of Jews in an uplifitng, educational and
inflatables, beat-the-goalie, arts & crafts,
memorial programme across the globe. You will
biscuit decorating, giant games, bowling
receive a copy of a specially published book of 70
and some great refreshments.
inspiring essays written by renowned educators,
Parents can enjoy a
historians and scholars - to be read, one a day for
FREE coffee n’cakes café while the
70 days. The new Redbridge community will be
children are being entertained.
launching this project on Motsei Shabbos 24
We are delighted that Rabbi Yisroel
January with a very special Melava Malka.
Binstock, Tribe Central Rabbi, will be
joining us. Bookings will open shortly.
Some Significant Clayhall Landmarks
If you would like more information,
please email Naomi Harris,
 1 September 1999: Rabbi Jason Kleiman
Redbridge Tribe Youth Director on:
becomes Clayhall’s 1st full-time Rabbi
[email protected]
 11 November 2001: 1st fortnightly Sunday
morning minyan
Cabaret Evening
 30 November 2001: 1st Oneg Shabbos that
Redbridge
United Synagogue presents a
continued monthly during that winter
wonderful evening of cabaret by “Anything
 6 August 2002: 1st Maariv service on
Goes” and the keyboard maestros Geoff
Tuesday evenings.
and Dave. Reserve Sunday 1 February in
 4 November 2002: Shabbos morning service your diary for a great evening of popular
changes to 9.00 am
songs from the 60’s and 70’s. Enjoy a lush
 13 December 2002: 1st IJPS Shabbaton and fried fish supper and plenty more with your
still going strong 12 years later!
friends for £17.50 each. Doors open 7.00
 30 January 2003: 1st weekly Sunday
pm for a 7.30 pm start. Please support the
morning minyan
first fund raising event of the new Shul by
 6 June 2003: Locked out 1st day Shavuos
purchasing tickets from Liz (8550 9907),
and davened in car park until help arrived!
Bernard (8554 1480) or Angela Levene
(8550 2610). The organisers are looking
 29 June 2003: 1st Rosh Chodesh minyan
for good raffle prizes which must be new.
 18 December 2004: Rabbi Kleiman leaves
Please contact Liz if you can help out.
 25 January 2005: Clayhall commemorates
60 Days for 60 Years with a special evening
New Shul Office Information
 25 August 2006: Rabbi Nissan Wilson
The new telephone number for
becomes Clayhall’s 2nd full-time Rabbi
Redbridge United Synagogue is:
020 3031 6929
 4 March 2007: 1st Purim spiel ever “The
Office email:
Rabbi & the Golem” played to rave reviews
[email protected]
 30 June 2007: 1st Stella, Pimms and IceBoth contact points are fully operational.
Cream Kiddush & still a summer repeat
The website address is:
 14 November 2013: 1st Thursday Maariv
www.redbridgesynagogue.org.uk
completes the weekly cycle (except Sunday)
This will be up and running from Monday.
 9/10 January 2015: Redbridge Synagogue!
A Valedictory Message from Rabbi Nissan Wilson
I feel honoured to have led Clayhall over these last eight years, a period which is but a
small slice of this community's wonderful history. Much has changed in this period. When I
first came to Clayhall, Lord Sacks was Chief Rabbi, Tony Blair was prime minister, we had
three little children and my beard was still entirely red!
Of course, in a community time does not stand still and things are always apt to change. At
this exciting juncture we look to embrace change, but we also hold tightly to everything that
has made us who we are and we commit to take our proud history with us
into the new community.
As I reflect on the past years, I do so with a great deal of pride - pride at how our Shul has
thrived against the odds, pride at our children's services and pride at our regular, wellattended minyanim. I am proud of what we have achieved together and delighted that we
are able to move forwards from a position of strength into an even brighter future.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Family Building by Rabbi Berel Wein
Why does the Torah, which appears to be basically a book of laws and commandments, bother
with all of this detailed description of creation and continued familial based narrative in the book
of Bereishis? Why is this seemingly anecdotal knowledge of the lives of our ancestors so
necessary to be included in the eternal Torah and how does it register in the survival of the
Jewish people throughout the ages?
In response, the rabbis taught us that the events that occurred to our ancestors are indeed the
harbingers of happenings that will occur to their descendants. But many times it is difficult for
later generations to make this connection, except in the most general way of experiencing
historic repetitions of circumstances. This book of Bereishis, which comprises a substantial part
of the entire written Torah, contains within it almost no commandments and is basically a book
of narrative tracing the development of one family - eventually seventy in number - and of the
difficulties that this family encountered over generations. So what therefore is its main message
to us living in a far different world, millennia later?
The message is the obvious one of family and its importance. The Torah purposely and in
minute detail describes for us how difficult it truly is to create and maintain a cohesive family
structure. Every one of the generations described from Kayin and Hevel till Yosef and his
brothers is engaged in the difficult and often heart-breaking task of family building.
There are no smooth and trouble free familial relationships described in Bereishis. Sibling
rivalry, violence, different traits of personality, and marital and domestic strife are the stuff of the
biblical narrative of this book. The Torah does not sanitize any of its stories nor does it avoid
confronting the foibles and errors of human beings.
The greatest of our people, our patriarchs and matriarchs, encountered severe difficulties in
attempting to create cohesive, moral and cooperative families. Yet they persevered in the
attempt because without this strong sense of family there can be no basis for eternal Jewish
survival. There is tragic fall out in each of the families described in Bereishis and yet somehow
the thread of family continuity is maintained and strengthened until the family grows into a
numerous and influential nation.
This perseverance of family building, in spite of all of the disappointments inherent in that task,
is the reason for the book of Bereishis. It is the template of the behaviour of our ancestors that
now remains as the guideposts for their descendants. The task of family building remains the
only sure method of ensuring Jewish survival. (with grateful thanks to www.torah.org)
‫קליהל קהלה‬
Clayhall Shul’s FINAL Weekly News Sheet
Shabbos 3 January 2015 / 12 Teves 5775
Service Times (Louis Yeshin’s 90th birthday & The Last Clayhall Shabbos)
Shacharis
Mincha followed by Seudah Shlishis
Shabbos ends
Shabbos next week
9.00 am
3.30 pm
4.58 pm
3.55 pm
We wish Mazel Tov to Louis Yeshin on the wonderful occasion of his 90th birthday today
and the community wish him many more years of good health. Louis and his family have
pleasure in inviting the Kehilla to a Kiddush after the Service in celebration of their simcha.
This is the final Shabbos for Clayhall Synagogue and Newbury Park Synagogue as
separate Shuls. The occasion is historic tinged with nostalgia and sadness, but buoyed by
the knowledge that we become stronger and more sustainable as a new merged entity.
Although Redbridge United Synagogue was officially born on 1 January 2015, it was
decided to wait until Shabbos 9/10 January to hold the first service.
A special commemorative final edition of the Clayhall Kehilla has been produced which
you will find inside the news sheet. It is also fitting that Hermi Rothman is honoured with
Haftoro on the final Shabbos as he played a leading role in the formation of the original
Clayhall Kehilla almost 42 years ago. The Honorary Officers would like to thank the
community for its fantastic support over the last few months since the news of the merger
was announced. It has been enthusiastically embraced. Kol Hakavod!
Torah Reading
Leyning: Vayechi
Sefer Bereishis: 47:28-50:26
Artscroll p 268, Cohen p 296, Hertz p 180
Haftoro: I Kings 2:1-12
Artscroll p 1145, Cohen p 315, Hertz p 191
Lester Harris
Hermi Rothman
Redbridge Shul will have its own News Sheet. Newbury
Park Shul does not have a weekly newsletter and so the
style and format will be little unchanged from the current
set-up. Edition number One is almost ready!
This week’s Clayhall Kehilla is kindly sponsored by Lester Harris
in loving memory of his father, Lewis z’l

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