4th September 2017 - Our roof project is drawing towards a successful conclusion. Today a few of us climbed to the top to reinstate the Magen Dovid and then the sun came out ....

On Wednesday, 25 January our members contributed to Reading Council’s Holocaust Memorial Event organised by the Alliance for Cohesion and Racial Equality, and held in the Council Chamber at the Civic Offices in Reading. The keynote speaker Lord Alfred Dubs (pictured bottom right) was born in Prague, then in Czechoslovakia, Dubs was one of 669 Czech- resident, mainly Jewish, children saved by English stockbroker Nicholas Winton and others from the Nazis on the Kindertransport (Dubs' father was Jewish).

Chief Rabbi’s praise for

Reading Community in

13 July visit

The Hermann Gollancz Hall was packed to capacity when nearly 100 members of Reading Hebrew Congregation welcomed what turned out to be a return visit by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. The evening was chaired by Reading's President. She gave the Chief Rabbi Reading’s warmest welcome, and the Chief reciprocated in kind. The Chief Rabbi spoke movingly and with great humour about some of the challenges facing small communities generally but with great optimism for the future. He said that virtually all provincial communities were struggling, but it was clear to him from the numbers present, from the enthusiasm shown and from the clear commitment of so many members, that Reading was making the very best of things. The Chief Rabbi did not flinch from the problems that RHC had faced. He said that he understood the difficult times that the Community had been through and congratulated the tenacious leadership of the President and the Board of Management in bringing the Community through it all. The important thing, the Chief Rabbi concluded, was to look forward to new opportunities, rather than looking back at what had, or might have, been. Smaller communities, such as Reading, should not dwell on what they no longer had or could no longer do. They should instead focus on what they had got and what they could do, both now and in the future. The Chief praised RHC as a model of that approach: by concentrating on what we could still achieve, RHC was ensuring that the flame of Judaism still burned brightly in Reading.

Reading Hebrew Congregation

Reading Synagogue

7, Goldsmid Road, Reading

Berkshire, RG1 7YB, United Kingdom

+44 (0)118 957 3954

Reading Synagogue has

been awarded a grant

worth nearly £117000

to carry out much-

needed repairs to its roof and cupola

Reading Hebrew Congregation successfully applied for the grant through the Government-funded Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund. This grant will allow the Reading Hebrew Congregation to carry out much-needed restoration of its century old roof, which is adorned by an oriental cupola that has long been a feature of the local skyline. Reading Hebrew Congregation President, Mrs Sarah Firsht, said: This is a wonderful day in the history of our beloved Synagogue. It has been the focal point of the Jewish Community in Reading for generations but our smaller numbers mean that members’ subscriptions can no longer provide the large sums necessary to repair our roof. This grant is a lifeline for us, allowing our lovely Synagogue – the only purpose-built Orthodox Synagogue in Berkshire – to serve the generations still to come as beautifully as it has served those of the past. This grant money is part of a wider funding package of £22.9 million to 401 historic places of worship across the UK. Only one other synagogue (Liverpool) won a grant award. Reading’s is in the top 5% of grants in terms of value. The fund was launched by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in December 2014 and the funding package has now seen a total of 903 places of worship across the UK receive a share of £55million. Board member Mike Fuhr, who negotiated the grant, said: RHC has been extraordinarily lucky to win this award. We were just one of over 1500 grant applications which together were looking for nearly £90 million. Only £22.9 million was available, so you can see just how lucky we have been. RHC's basic grant will be £94,800 but the grant authority has agreed that we can benefit from a scheme that allows us to reclaim the VAT which we shall pay. So the total value of the grant will be just under £117,000. RHC will contribute some £15500 to a refurbishment project costing some £132,500. This will be enough to completely refurbish the Shul roof and our much-loved cupola, including the mogen dovid that has been missing for the last couple of years. Though hugely welcome, the grant will not directly improve our finances. We shall simply be reimbursed for the cost of the work that needs to be done. All being well, work could start next year. The Fund is administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund on behalf of the Department for Culture Media and Sport. A full list of awards across the UK can be found at www.lpowroof.org.uk.

Made with Xara

Reading Hebrew Congregation

info@rhc.org.uk

Heritage Open Days a Great Success

Over 80 visitors visited our Synagogue on Sunday 11th September as part of the Jewish Heritage Days and local Heritage Open Days. A very successful 2 hours, lots of positive comments and feedback.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Synagogue Roof Restoration

16th May 2017 - Reading Hebrew Congregation ‘s Life President and President outside Reading Synagogue where major restoration work on its landmark roof began this week mostly funded from a grant obtained through the Government-funded Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund (see below). The community’s busy programme of services, social and cultural events, including the annual Shavuot Lunch will continue throughout the project, expected to last approximately 18 weeks. Inside, on the day this photo was taken, one of the Congregation’s regular Welcome Days for local schools was underway as usual.

News

We've enhanced our Children's Services as part of our development plans for the youngest in the community and those within families in the area who have links with our community. Tots to under 8’s The services for this group last about 20 minutes followed by a Kiddish. We'll have rhymes, songs and stories for Shabbat, led by members of the community. We'd like the little ones to be accompanied by an adult - parent, grandparent, friend of the family, etc. Over 8’s We also support the over 8’s, with an appropriate programme for approximately 30 mins which will proceed the under 8’s service. We have already run a number of these services with different groups of children attending and with some very good feedback from the kids and their mums aswell! If you would welcome the opportunity for you and your children to get to know other Jewish people in the area then this may well be an opportunity to do so. If you are interested, please contact us at info@rhc.org.uk for more details.

Heritage Open Days - 2017

We opened the Synagogue for visitors on Sunday 10th September between 11:00 and 14:00 as part of both the Reading Heritage Open Days and the the Jewish Heritage Days 2017. Eighty or so people attended and we gave our visitors the opportunity to see inside the Synagogue and an insight to our history and our vision for the future.We had very good feedback from the event and look forward torunning this event again in the future.

1st August 2017 - As anyone who has visited the Shul recently will have seen, work has now started in earnest on the roof. The scaffolding around the building is something of a work of art in itself and all the existing tiles have been stripped and most of the re-slating has been completed. However, the original estimate of cost was exceeded by the tenders we received. This was the result of sharply increased costs in the heritage construction industry caused partly by the general increase in economic activity and partly by the existence of the grant scheme itself. We spent a lot of time negotiating with the Listed Places of Worship (LPOW) grant organisation to see if they could help us in any way. As a result of these discussions, LPOW have recognised the issues we face and we were delighted to receive an offer of additional grant worth some £18,000, leading to a total grant value of £132,000. This will significantly ease the pressure on the Community’s financial reserves.

Synagogue Roof Restoration - Progress

Recent broadcast on Radio Berkshire As part of our initiatives with the wider Reading andBerkshire community we are regularly asked to contribute to programmes on Radio Berkshire. Click here to hear our latest contribution (at about 1hr 10mins into the broadcast).

Synagogue Roof Restoration - Nearly There

Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur Services

We welcomed Rabbi Mark Daniels who lead our Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur evening and morning services in a very professional and enjoyable way. Many members, families with children, visitors and friends attended the services and we had more then last year. The spirit was great and the feedback from our visitors was very positive. Our services, are open to all Jewish people in the area - Families with or without children (we will be running Children's services as appropriate), Singles, and Students living in Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. Please email us at info@rhc.org.uk for details.

Children’s Services

That's Thames Valley TV's did a piece on our preparations for Yom Kippur in our Community and the only purpose built Synagogue in Berkshire at Goldsmid Road, Reading. A great many members, individuals, families with children, and friends joined us for the Yom Kippur service. Why not come and see what our Community and Synagogue have to offer new members and families. Please contact us to find out more. Please click here to view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHlL4Sf4Hm0

On the Television

Wonderful Simchat Torah celebration. Again thanks to the great many people attended our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road. Children in double figures - the most for many, many years! Lovely to see the children dancing with their flags around the shul and in front of the ark. Amazing feedback from the parents and kids - they loved the goody bags! Join us for our next Children's (and bigger ones as well!) event - the Challah Bake #ShabbatUK - even more kids on the list to come for that. See the event or contact us for details.

Simchat Torah Services - Fun for the Kids

October 28th - Community Lunch in support of ShabbatUK Done our bit for #ShabbatUK, great Challah Bake last Monday and community lunch last Shabbat using some of these Challahs! Again more people booked than originally anticipated. Great community spirit, everybody joining in to make it work - that's what we are about!

This last Monday at our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road, Reading; our Challah Bake in support of #ShabbatUK. An excellent fun event for the children and of course their parents & grandparents, and community members as well - many thanks to them for their support. The children were entertained with games, a story from one of our books donated by PJ Library, and went home with a book and some balloons as well! Just one of our series of upcoming events for the children - more details coming soon. If you want to know more please contact us for details.

October 23rd - ShabbatUK Challah Bake for the young and not so young!

Sunday, 12 November - An Evening of Hidden Treasures

Our Hidden Treasures event. Interesting evening and eclectic range of items for our valuers to comment on. Good meal and community get together. This is just one of the community events we run. More events coming up soon. Please contact us about our Children’s Service (see above and our forthcoming Family Chanukah event.

Children’s Workshops, Services and Other Activties

Why not get your children more involved in Jewish Life and Learning? We have a learning programme of fun and social workshops for the children covering the festivals, Children's Services, plus other activities besides. Why not give our Children's Services a try? We've been running these quite successfully for a while now, with great feedback and always happy kids: Tots to under 8’s - The services for this group last about 20 minutes followed by a Kiddush. We'll have rhymes, songs and stories for Shabbat, led by members of the community. We'd like the little ones to be accompanied by an adult - parent, grandparent, friend of the family, etc. Over 8’s - We also support the over 8’s, with an appropriate programme (for example based on the current sedra) for approximately 30 minutes which will proceed the under 8’s service. If you would welcome the opportunity to meet a local Jewish Community who really understand warmth, friendship and of course a chance for the children to meet others in our community then please contact us at info@rhc.org.uk for more details.

Sunday, 10 November - Our Synagogue Re-Roofing Completed

Renaissance at Goldsmid Road in Reading, the only purpose built Synagogue in Berkshire. The re-roofing of our Grade II listed building has now been completed. The next chapter in our 130 year history of our developing community.

Monday 18th December 2017 - Chanukah Event for Children and Adults

Thanks to all our new visitors, community members and children who celebrated Chanukah with us last night at our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road. A great event for the kids and adults alike! We ran activities and provided supper for the younger Children from 17:00 followed by a Community Candle Lighting at 18:30 and a Social afterwards. At least another 7 events/celebrations/children's services coming up over the next month. Please contact us if you want to know more.

Friday 24th November - Hosting Reading University Jewish Students

As part of our wider role in the community we welcomed quite a few Jewish Students from the Reading Jewish Society for a Shabbat meal. Afterwards we had great unprompted feedback from them: "Those who stayed later said they had such a wonderful evening and would love to visit again if you’ll have us. I would like to apologise for leaving early as the evening was so lovely!"

Yes, the toys came out again! Just like our Chanukah event (see picture - taken on Chunukah) the kids enjoyed themselves at our Tu Bishvat lunch held after our last Shabbat Morning Service. Lots of great feedback. The best reviews came from parents attending with their children: "Hello ... it was very nice seeing you both yesterday. The food was delicious and grand! ... I found out that the quiche was actually made by … Oy… But it was VERY VERY good we all liked it a lot!" Thanks to everyone who attended to make it a great social event for adults and children alike.

Tu Bishvat Lunch - Saturday 27th January

As a Jewish Community we feel it is very important to get involved in wider communal activities. Lots of members get involved in this and if you're Jewish and you want to join and help us expand our programmes then please get in touch. For example, we had a key part to play in the planning, organisation and implementation of the Holocaust Memorial Day event at the Civic Offices last week. This week different schools visited us at our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road for one of our regular Welcome Day sessions which is on top of the many visits to schools we carry out, one of which occurred very recently. We're also planning for the visit of two Cub groups in March. In addition every year we raise money for different Charities, not only Jewish, but Local ones as well.

Supporting the Local Community

Celebrating Purim - Wednesday 28th February

Great turnout for Purim, again the most children for many, many years. Lots of visitors(!) including, amongst others, a butterfly, a Dalmation, pink unicorn, princesses, Queen Esther, Woody, Snow White and a Gorilla as well! We've already planned our next children's learning and activity event for 3pm on Sunday March 18th leading up to our forthcoming Passover services on March 31st, April 1st, 6th & 7th. Please contact us regarding the children's event and for details about our services.

Social and buffet to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut - Wednesday 18th April

This year, Israel's 70th year, Reading WIZO held a joint venture with the Synagogue Social & Fundraising Group to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut in our Synagogue Hall in Goldsmid Road. After candle lighting and some readings (shown here) everyone enjoyed an Israeli Style buffet, lots of socializing and a light hearted quiz just for the fun of it. A good evenig, enjoyed by all who attended.

Shavout for all the family - Sunday 20th May

Shavuot is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. Our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road was decorated with flowers. This year we celebrated Shavout with a service in the Synagogue, some entertainment from the children and adults followed up by a great lunch including one of our favourites for this time of year, our cheesecake selection! We had a great turnout, despite a number of our members being abroad at the time.

WIZO Games & Tea Afternoon - Sunday 29th July

A very sociable get together on Sunday, a fundraising Games and Tea Afternoon. A good turnout, filling all the available space in the venue! A generous sum was raised for WIZO, a very worthy cause outside of our community.

Heritage Open Days - Sunday 16th September 2018

Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur Services - 2018

We welcomed Rabbi Mark Daniels who lead our Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur evening and morning services in his very professional and enjoyable way. Many members, families with children, visitors and friends attended these services. As always our services, are open to all Jewish people in the area - Families with or without children (we run Children's services as appropriate), Singles, and Students living in Reading, Berkshire and surrounding areas. This year all the services over this period were well attended with people of all ages, 16 months upwards! If an enjoyable service, with a welcoming community, in a purpose built, traditional Synagogue (the only one in Reading and the surrounding area) appeals to you then please get in touch with us at info@rhc.org.uk for details of services and times.

We opened the Synagogue for visitors on Sunday 16th September between 11:00 and 14:00 as part of both the Reading Heritage Open Days We had a great turn out, well into 3 figures, over 50% more than last year with visitors from as far away as Kingston, Belsize Park and Northampton. Visitors were able to view our traditional synagogue which has recently undergone full restoration of the roof and cupola as a result of a substantial grant. There was also an opportunity to view items of Judaica which our visitors viewed with great interest.

Chunuka - 7-9th December 2018

Rabbi Mark Daniels again officiated at our Chunukah services, candle lighting and Shabbat lunch. On the Sunday evening we all came together to celebrate Chanukah and WIZO's 100th birthday, young, old, families and students alike - from 15 days to 95 years old!! Great fun, everyone got involved, food as always delicious!

We attended the Reading Holocaust Memorial Evening last night organised by Reading Borough Council and ACRE, supported, amongst others, by committee members from our community. An excellent evening with keynote speakers on the Rohingya crisis, the poetry of a Nazi Germany refugee, a young persons perspective on the Holocaust and Dame Stephanie Shirley talking about her journey on the KinderTransport and her time in the UK since then.

Reading Holocaust Memorial Evening - 23rd January 2019

Shabbaton - Friday 8th February 2019, Saturday 9th February 2019 Fantastic weekend with our friends from the Pinner Jewish community who came down en-masse to our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road, as part of the twinning of the two communities, to celebrate the Sabbath with us. The Synagogue was filled on Friday and Saturday and we all got together for a Friday night meal and Shabbat lunch on Saturday. We rounded off the evening with more food (of course!), a Magic show, Bingo and a Film. Even on Sunday a group of us all visied the local museums here in Reading. We thank our organisers for their hard work and Rabbi Shisler for conducting some of the services and performing the Magic show. We were also delighted by the wonderful message from the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth who sent his best wishes and apologised for not be able to join us for this wonderful occasion.

Visit by the Mayor of Reading - Tuesday 12th February

The beginning of February has been fantastic for the community, topped off with a visit from the Mayor of Reading, Councillor Debs Edwards, to our Synagogue, in Goldsmid Road, during one of our regular Welcome Days for Schools. The Mayor showed great interest, in what we were doing, and in the community as a whole. To that end our Life President presented her with our book ‘Portrait of a Community’. See also the Mayor’s Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/mayorofreading/ We reckon we’ve had over 50,000 children from local schools visit the community since we started these events.

Celebrating Shavout Lunch - Sunday 9th June

Shavuot is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai and is one of our many get togethers as a community. As always we celebrated Shavout with a service in our Synagogue followed by kiddush and a good lunch in our hall. Always fun and a chance for us all to get together. We followed that a week later by a really good lunch in the hall to celebrate one of our member’s birthday. That’s what we are about - community spirit.

Yom Kippur Services - 2019 Please come and join us for our forthcoming high holiday services, lead by Rabbi Mark Daniels. We are a very friendly community and welcome all Jewish people in the area who want to come along for a truly authentic experience in a truly authentic synagogue, being the only purpose built in the area for many miles around. Also our community members are generally more than willing to offer hospitality to those who come along. Our Yom Kippur Services will be held on the evening Tuesday 8th October, and Wednesday 9th October. Please contact for further information on service times and our community. Refreshments will be available after the fast. Sunday, 15th September - Reading Heritage Open Days As part of the local Reading Heritage Open Days and wider Jewish Heritage Open Days events we will be opening our Synagogue to all our visitors, both local and from farther afield. This is proving to be a very popular event in our diary, with visitor numbers increasing over the years that we have been participating in these events. This year we will be open on Sunday 15th Spetember between 10:30 and 13:30. Visitors will be able to see our synagogue, a number of welcome day displays and talk to our stewards about our community and the Jewish Way of Life. In addition, this year, we will have an exhibition covering the history and heritage of the Jews of the South East England. For futher information please see the folowing links: https://livingreading.co.uk/public/downloads/1O_yG/HOD%202019_final.pdf https://www.flipsnack.com/heritagedays/jewish-heritage-days-2019.html Shabbat 14th September - We welcome both our local MP and Councillor to our community on this day Sunday, 1st September - Berkshire Jewish Representative Council visit to Winchester Shabbat, 31st August - Community Meal We’re organising a community lunch after the service. This will be a meat meal, with an alternative option. We ask for a modest contribution towards the meal, with children and students free. This, as always, is a good way to come and get to know the community. Please contact us if you are interested in joining us for this.

During the current restricitons many of our activities have been curtailed. However we are maintaining a number of social activities over Zoom, etc. for a number of groups in the community.

We're into the Jewish New Year now as our Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur services have been concluded at our Synagogue. Despite the current restrictions all available seats for these services were allocated to members and we were sorry that we were unable to welcome and accommodate the visitors who has previously contacted us asking to come along and join in. These services were ably led by Rabbi Mark Daniels, and we've have just received some feedback thanking us "for the meaningful services due to the spirit of the RHC". That says it all. We believe that some Synagogues have yet to reopen, or have had to cancel services during this time, so due to the can-do attitude of the members and management committee we have been running weekly services and continue to do so. Please get in touch for further information and availability.

Yom Kippur Services - 2020

4th September 2017 - Our roof project is drawing towards a successful conclusion. Today a few of us climbed to the top to reinstate the Magen Dovid and then the sun came out ....

Chief Rabbi’s praise for Reading

Community in 13 July visit

Reading Hebrew Congregation

Reading Synagogue

7, Goldsmid Road, Reading

Berkshire, RG1 7YB, United Kingdom

+44 (0)118 957 3954

Reading

Synagogue has

been awarded a

grant worth

nearly £117000 to carry out

much-needed repairs to its

roof and cupola

Reading Hebrew Congregation successfully applied for the grant through the Government- funded Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund. This grant will allow the Reading Hebrew Congregation to carry out much-needed restoration of its century old roof, which is adorned by an oriental cupola that has long been a feature of the local skyline. Reading Hebrew Congregation President, Mrs Sarah Firsht, said: This is a wonderful day in the history of our beloved Synagogue. It has been the focal point of the Jewish Community in Reading for generations but our smaller numbers mean that members’ subscriptions can no longer provide the large sums necessary to repair our roof. This grant is a lifeline for us, allowing our lovely Synagogue – the only purpose-built Orthodox Synagogue in Berkshire – to serve the generations still to come as beautifully as it has served those of the past. This grant money is part of a wider funding package of £22.9 million to 401 historic places of worship across the UK. Only one other synagogue (Liverpool) won a grant award. Reading’s is in the top 5% of grants in terms of value. The fund was launched by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement in December 2014 and the funding package has now seen a total of 903 places of worship across the UK receive a share of £55million. Board member Mike Fuhr, who negotiated the grant, said: RHC has been extraordinarily lucky to win this award. We were just one of over 1500 grant applications which together were looking for nearly £90 million. Only £22.9 million was available, so you can see just how lucky we have been. RHC's basic grant will be £94,800 but the grant authority has agreed that we can benefit from a scheme that allows us to reclaim the VAT which we shall pay. So the total value of the grant will be just under £117,000. RHC will contribute some £15500 to a refurbishment project costing some £132,500. This will be enough to completely refurbish the Shul roof and our much-loved cupola, including the mogen dovid that has been missing for the last couple of years. Though hugely welcome, the grant will not directly improve our finances. We shall simply be reimbursed for the cost of the work that needs to be done. All being well, work could start next year. The Fund is administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund on behalf of the Department for Culture Media and Sport. A full list of awards across the UK can be found at www.lpowroof.org.uk.

Reading Hebrew Congregation

info@rhc.org.uk

Synagogue Roof Restoration

Children’s Services We've enhanced our Children's Services as part of our development plans for the youngest in the community and those within families in the area who have links with our community. Tots to under 8’s The services for this group last about 20 minutes followed by a Kiddish. We'll have rhymes, songs and stories for Shabbat, led by members of the community. We'd like the little ones to be accompanied by an adult - parent, grandparent, friend of the family, etc. Over 8’s We also support the over 8’s, with an appropriate programme for approximately 30 mins which will proceed the under 8’s service. We have already run a number of these services with different groups of children attending and with some very good feedback from the kids and their mums aswell! If you would welcome the opportunity for you and your children to get to know other Jewish people in the area then this may well be an opportunity to do so. If you are interested, please contact us at info@rhc.org.uk for more details.

Events & News

Synagogue Roof Restoration - Progress

Synagogue Roof Restoration - Nearly There

On the Television

Simchat Torah Services - Fun for the Kids

October 23rd - ShabbatUK Challah Bake for the young and not so young!

Children’s Workshops, Services and Other Activties

Sunday, 12 November - An Evening of Hidden Treasures

Sunday, 10 November - Our Synagogue Re-Roofing Completed

Renaissance at Goldsmid Road in Reading, the only purpose built Synagogue in Berkshire. The re- roofing of our Grade II listed building has now been completed. The next chapter in our 130 year history of our developing community.

Friday 24th November - Hosting Reading University Jewish Students

Monday 18th December 2017 - Chanukah Event for Children and Adults

Tu Bishvat Lunch - Saturday 27th January Yes, the toys came out again! Just like our Chanukah event (see picture - taken on Chunukah) the kids enjoyed themselves at our Tu Bishvat lunch held after our last Shabbat Morning Service. Lots of great feedback. The best reviews came from parents attending with their children: "Hello ... it was very nice seeing you both yesterday. The food was delicious and grand! ... I found out that the quiche was actually made by … Oy… But it was VERY VERY good we all liked it a lot!" Thanks to everyone who attended to make it a great social event for adults and children alike.

Supporting the Local Community

Celebrating Purim - Wednesday 28th February

Social and buffet to celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut - Wednesday 18th April

Shavout for all the family - Sunday 20th May

WIZO Games & Tea Afternoon - Sunday 29th July

Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur Services - 2018

Chunuka - 7-9th December 2018

Fantastic weekend with our friends from the Pinner Jewish community who came down en-masse to our Synagogue in Goldsmid Road, as part of the twinning of the two communities, to celebrate the Sabbath with us. The Synagogue was filled on Friday and Saturday and we all got together for a Friday night meal and Shabbat lunch on Saturday. We rounded off the evening with more food (of course!), a Magic show, Bingo and a Film. Even on Sunday a group of us all visied the local museums here in Reading. We thank our organisers for their hard work and Rabbi Shisler for conducting some of the services and performing the Magic show. We were also delighted by the wonderful message from the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth who sent his best wishes and apologised for not be able to join us for this wonderful occasion.

Shabbaton - Friday 8th February 2019, Saturday 9th February 2019

Reading Holocaust Memorial Evening - 23rd January 2019

Visit by the Mayor of Reading - Tuesday 12th February

Celebrating Shavout - Sunday 9th June

Sunday, 15th September - Reading Heritage Open Days As part of the local Reading Heritage Open Days and wider Jewish Heritage Open Days events we will be opening our Synagogue to all our visitors, both local and from farther afield. This is proving to be a very popular event in our diary, with visitor numbers increasing over the years that we have been participating in these events. This year we will be open on Sunday 15th Spetember between 10:30 and 13:30. Visitors will be able to see our synagogue, a number of welcome day displays and talk to our stewards about our community and the Jewish Way of Life. In addition, this year, we will have an exhibition covering the history and heritage of the Jews of the South East England. For futher information please see the folowing links: https://livingreading.co.uk/public/downloads/1O_y G/HOD%202019_final.pdf https://www.flipsnack.com/heritagedays/jewish- heritage-days-2019.html Shabbat 14th September - We welcome both our local MP and Councillor to our community on this day Sunday, 1st September - Berkshire Jewish Representative Council visit to Winchester Shabbat, 31st August - Community Meal We’re organising a community lunch after the service. This will be a meat meal, with an alternative option. We ask for a modest contribution towards the meal, with children and students free. This, as always, is a good way to come and get to know the community. Please contact us if you are interested in joining us for this.

Recent broadcast on Radio Berkshire As part of our initiatives with the wider Reading and Berkshire community we are regularly asked to contribute to programmes on Radio Berkshire. Click here to hear our latest contribution (at about 1hr 10mins nto the broadcast).

During the current restricitons many of our activities have been curtailed. However we are maintaining a number of social activities over Zoom, etc. for a number of groups in the community.

Yom Kippur Services - 2020