Shavuot was celebrated this year with a very successful joint NHC / NLJC meeting, starting with both an orthodox and liberal evening service run concurrently. The was then followed by a Tikkun where together we listened to four talks and joined in with questions and discussions on the various subjects presented.
We had four teaching sessions at our Shavuot Tikkun. 
Roderick Young explored how The Book of Ruth can be used as a text for healing. At the start of the book Naomi has lost her sons and her husband. In desperation at her plight she renames herself from Naomi, which means “pleasant”, to Mara, which means “bitter”. But by the end of the book she has a grandson and is Naomi once again. Her journey from Naomi to Mara and back to Naomi mirrors how we might cope with, and name, our own journeys from illness to health or from illness to acceptance of what is happening to our bodies.
Kim Greenacre talked movingly about her conversion to Judaism within the Liberal tradition. She shared with us some of the many essays that she had been required to write on topics such as history, theology and the cycle of the religious year. We gained insights into how it was a very personal journey on which she learned not only about Judaism but about herself as well. She described powerfully what it felt like to be present at the first synagogue service at which she was fully Jewish.
NHC minister Daniel Rosenthal explored the powerful Torah text that says that the Jewish people should be holy because God is holy. And he asked two questions: what does it mean to be “holy” and can we be fully Jewish if we are not holy in the way that the Torah seems to require? In order to understand what the Torah’s definition of holy might be he turned to Rashi. Rashi seemed to suggest that because the injunction to be holy comes immediately after the laws of what constitutes a proper sexual relationship, then perhaps holiness, for the Torah, can be defined by behaving in an exemplary fashion. So Daniel concluded that holiness for Jews resides in trying to behave in the best manner that we can.
NLJC Chair Annie Henriques ended the evening with a description of the inter-faith work being done by her community. She told us about the events around Norwich set up by different faith groups in the wake of the tragic Manchester bombings. She also talked of how important it had been to her to take part in the three faiths dinner with which NHC was involved.
All in all this was a great collaboration between the two communities enjoyed by those who attended and we look forward further such events.