Barnet Synagogue

Barnet’s Rabbi and Rebbetzen Lister have been out delivering revision goodies to nearly 20 GCSE students in the community, complete with chocolate, stress balls and more! Wishing everyone the best of luck in their exams, you’ve got this, and your community is behind you! 🍀

I’m honoured to have been invited to join the official event in Poland to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. British Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich has done so much to educate people and ensure the Holocaust is never forgotten.

This week is Volunteers' Week 2023, and to mark this we want to celebrate some of our volunteers and share their stories! We are so grateful to all of our volunteers who put in a huge amount of time and effort to help others, and they do so in many different ways. Meet Suzanne Goldsmith, who runs the Monday Social at Barnet United Synagogue. "I've always been involved in my community, however during the mid part of the pandemic, when restrictions were starting to be eased, the idea of having a weekly event for the seniors in our community started to be discussed by our Rabbinical Team and Vice Chair. This really spoke to me as I believe that this senior demographic can sometimes get overlooked by communities, and indeed society. Yet, they are group that still very much want to be part of their communities and enjoy socialising and learning new things. The idea of 'Monday Social' was then born! Working alongside US Chesed - who helped with the launch, and supported us through the first year - our aim to was to offer a meaningful, fun, enriching and social experience for our seniors. This was particularly important given the isolation so many of them faced at the height of the pandemic. I've now been heading up 'Monday Social' for over 2 years and with an incredible and dedicated volunteer team, we offer a low cost weekly sit-down three course meal, entertainment or a speaker, followed by tea and cakes every Monday. Seeing what a difference this can make to our guests, some of whom don't have human contact throughout the week, has been hugely satisfying and rewarding. I would encourage everybody to get involved with volunteering in their community and can assure you, you'll get more back than you put in!"