Over the last few months there have been numerous events within the community. Simchat Torah was awesome as alcohol flowed into the deepest nooks and crannies of the synagogue edifice.

The service included the reading of the law, part of which was conducted by our Chatan Bereshit , Elie Dahdi, who read the Torah with enthusiasm and fluency. He did not even do it in French! Our Junior Chatan Torah, Mitchell Simmonds, read haphtarah.

The usual traditional service was a merry- go -round of many famous tunes from musical history with congregants spotting the tunes and then singing the Hebrew words, fitted to the musical score. The celebration culminated with a sumptuous feast in honour of the Chatanim and Eshet Chayil when Chatan Torah, Eddie Arram, and our Eschet Chayil, Shirley Vickers, both spoke eloquently.The meal was prepared by Felise White and her band of helpers who richly deserve our thanks. An enjoyable festival was had by all.

We have organised a plethora of themed shabbatot with more to come in the near future. These included a choral Shabbat service with a fabulously tuneful choir who gave up their time to perform ‘A concert for G-D’. We like to try and provide variety so we also had a ‘speed Shabbat service’. This service was aimed at those who prefer a short service, possibly because they cannot stay for too long on a Shabbat morning. The service began at 10:30am and was completed in record time. This was followed by a special kiddush consisting of cakes baked by members of the community in honour of Shabbat U.K. Yum yum!

Cultural events included the Catford Music Club’s Baroque Evening. The last concert featured Sharona Joshua who played the Harpsichord accompanied by members of her group who entertained the audience with their renditions of music by Handel and other early music composers. We held a Friday night dinner for young Jewish people which included visitors from across London as well as plenty of people from South of the Thames. The evening was Kaifeng themed with a variety of Chinese delicacies. The young people stayed late into the night and had a great time.

Watch out for the next range of events coming soon to a synagogue near you!