- the ageing process

- dementia symptoms

- challenging behaviours

- the value of reminiscence

- common myths about dementia

This talk will be delivered in a positive manner, peppered with amusing anecdotes that will be uplifting and at the same time thought provoking.

The talk will be presented by MD Andrew Cowen, BA(Hons), PGC, RMA. Target audience includes family carers, volunteers, adults concerned about ageing parents and the elderly.

The even is FREE. Please email pauline@fps.org to confirm your attendance.

With Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk, Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism Rabbi Danny Rich and Dr. Teresa Tate, Medical Adviser to Marie Curie Cancer Care, Chair of the Ethics Working Group of the National Council for Palliative Care and Consultant in palliative medicine at Bart’s and the London NHS Trust

A wonderful opportunity to join your friends for a service and dinner and meet new people. So, invite your partners and friends and joins us at FPS! Dinner will be provided by, but we would be grateful if you could bring something to drink (soft drinks, wine etc). To ensure that we will have enough food, please confirm your attendance by emailing pauline@fps.org.

For more information please contact the synagogue office at 020 8446 4063.

3 MAY – Just War: An Oxymoron? Are there any circumstances in which war is justified?

10 MAY – Dirty Money: Clean Money? A Liberal Jewish take on Ethical investments.

17 MAY – Does charity begin at home?

24 MAY – Assisted Suicide: Liberal Jewish Voices on the Ethics of Aiding a Loved One to Die

31 MAY – Till Death Do Us Part: Liberal Judaism on Burial and Mixed Partnership; Changing the Face of Jewish Cemeteries

14 JUNE – Marriage: only for the conventional? Liberal Judaism leading the way on equal marriage?

21 JUNE – Divorce: equal partnership together and apart: the extraordinary plight of the Agunah in traditional Judaism.

28 JUNE – How Jewish? Status issues for Liberal Jews and raising Jewish children.

5 JULY – PANEL DISCUSSION – How far should Liberal Judaism go? A group of leading Rabbis will discuss the boundaries and the opportunities of prophetic Judaism in the 21st century

FRIDAY 20TH OF APRIL 10-11

Join Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk and Ofek Meir for service and reflections

Refreshments available

In two days, I leave kibbutz Lotan, after four magical months, and when I look back at the beginning of shnat now, I realise how much older I feel, how proud I am of what the group has together accomplished and how strange it is, to be so sad that I am leaving a place that is not really home. As expected, there have been hard challenges: the occasional fuming argument, the day when work seems unbearably monotonous, living in such a close and intense surroundings with the friends that become your family etc, but I never realised how easy it would be to parallel those lows with the highs. We have, to name just a few of the incomparable and rare memories, lived for two months in domes made out of mud and straw, watch the sun rise from sand dunes, milked cows at midnight, had Hebrew lessons in a bomb shelter, taught by an illiterate teen, brought Christmas to Lotan, and cooked a successful thai green curry for 30 people in a solar oven.  The point is, these last four months really has been a journey, every day bringing another adventure. I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to make these remarkable memories with a group of people so close to my heart.

Between 5 and 5.30, nearly every morning for the past three months, four separate alarms go off. Each individual deals with this in her own separate way: One girl in our room moans and cries, another wakes up early to put her clothes and wellies on and then go back to bed, the craziest insists on running straight into a freezing cold shower and then shivering for the rest of the day. Despite the atmosphere of despair every morning, we have fallen into a routine, one that we’ve grown to love: When we all see each other again, to eat breakfast together, we know that we are nearly halfway through the work-day, that we have a whole half an hour before we have to go back to work and eating our breakfast of humous and salad, the atmosphere is positively cheery.

I work in the kitchen. In the last three months I have worked with three patriotic Germans, passionate about the dishwasher, a jolly Korean, a cockney from Whitechapel, a rebellious costa rican, sent to kibbutz by his father, and two moody, teenage south Africans. All of us are under the command of an Israeli boss, who can succeed to scare even the toughest of volunteers (I refer to a particular rumour ive heard about reducing a pair of ex-soviet Russians to tears for spilling the milk). My responsibilities include making 200 eggs every morning:  Fried, scrambled, poached, boiled- any type of egg seen on Lotan is guaranteed to be made by me. The remainder of the day is spent in the “dishwasher room”. I devised all sorts of activities to keep myself entertained in this room with one playful german, including pretending we are a duo performing at a concert to all the dishes (who play the role of the adoring fans), trying to construct buildings out of the chopping boards, or just the simple talking to each dish as he/she enters the wash. I am going to take the risk of sounding horribly cliché here and say that I have learnt much about myself from the time I’ve spent at work and maybe even improved in some ways. I’ve learnt that looking at things from a positive perspective simply makes things easier, that taking things light-heartedly and cheerfully can improve any mood you’re in and “in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun”. Most importantly, in my opinion, I’ve learnt how to adapt to all different kinds of people

I wish I could say that I’m almost fluent in Hebrew, that I’ve learnt a huge amount about jewish history or that I can legitimately claim to be an informed and knowledgeable  Reform Zionist, but the truth i, I have yet to progress in all of these topics. What I can say is that I truly feel that for the last four months I have lived and breathed progressive Judaism: I have attended services that have made me feel more than any other, I have felt truly part of a community and when I think of “Israel” now, I feel more curiosity and intrigue than I’ve ever felt before. During the next part of shnat, an intensive study programme, I hope to embark on a personal and communal journey of discovery, exploration and learning, unearth different ideological perspectives and receive a full and rounded exposure to the reality of Israeli life. I think my time living on kibbutz Lotan has made me aware of identity and significance as a young jew from the diaspora, made me proud of my progressive upbringing and opened my eyes to different ways of living. Most importantly perhaps, I have spent four months blissfully and truly happy, everyday bringing new moments I will cherish forever: Although I am sure the next few weeks will be emotionally tumultuous, I hope to leave Lotan having made a lifelong connection, everlasting memories and experiences I can hold close and apply wherever I go.