Funding the Future

It gives me great pleasure to announce that, following a successful application to the Liberal Judaism Centenary fund, the Officers of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues have agreed to fund our Outreach programme in full: We presented a budget of £7,505 - and that is what we will receive. Of course, we have already spent some of this generous grant on the Open Morning of September 9th and the Dawn of Liberal Judaism Shabbat which took place on the 16th and 17th of November!

In case you are thinking that the ULPS must be rolling in it - the exact opposite is true. ULPS is in very bad financial straits; the grant being made to our congregation represents an act of faith: Impressed by what has been happening at BHPS over the past year, the leadership of the movement we belong to is looking to us to be a beacon of hope for the future of Liberal Judaism in this country. If that feels like a ‘tall order’ - don’t be in any doubt: It is. But we can do it - and this is what we are going to do (and are, indeed, already in the process of doing):

	Raise the profile of the synagogue in the wider community
	Create opportunities for unaffiliated and disaffiliated Jews, for patrilineal Jews, for Jews in mixed partnerships - for all those who have not yet encountered our congregation - to explore and experience what we have to offer

And this is how we are going to achieve our objectives: by continuing our current activities - including recent initiatives, like the Shabbat Life-Long Learning School and Chavurah lunches following the monthly family services - and by:

	Creating a new logo and re-designing our newsletter, leaflet and letter-head
	Creating publicity materials to advertise our Outreach project activities
	Advertising all our events through the Jewish and local media
	Organising a regular cultural programme of activities
	Holding a public panel debate with guest speakers in the summer, on the major question: Religion - Dangerous, Irrelevant or Revolutionary?
	Organising an Open Weekend during Chanukkah, including: services, celebratory meals, a special guest speaker, parallel programmes for adults and young people, a crèche and a Saturday evening concert.

Of course, Outreach is also about involving each and every one of us, so that we can truly become Adat Shalom Verei’ut - a Congregation of Peace and Friendship.