Bournemouth Reform Synagogue - BRS Today

BRS Today

Bournemouth Reform Synagogue is a member of the Movement for Reform Judaism, and shares similar goals. It seeks to be welcoming to everyone for social activities, educational programmes, for support or for spiritual nourishment. It seeks to respond to the needs of individuals who need a combination of both tradition and modernity, and says that it believes that "a healthy community is one that prays, socialises, learns, plans and grows together."

BRS is one of the many communities responding to a major difficulty of Reform Judaism – "the question of religious authority with the resulting difficulty of setting limits to a liberal religion." A centralised model of religious leadership under Rabbi Soetendorp was responsible for significantly growing the community in size, and in drawing people into the community. However, as the community continues to grow it is clear that a new model must being employed in order to meet new needs, and the model employed is similar to some Reconstructionist communities in America, in which the community comes to make important public decisions after a long process of education. Other elements from Reconstructionist thought have influenced some of the changes in the community of note. For example, Mordecai Kaplan wrote that "the only element in Judaism which is both permanent and distinctive is the survival and enhancement of the Jewish People" In order to achieve that survival and enhancement, a process of community-education had to be started, since "if the role of the Jewish community is to help every Jew attain self-fulfillment, it can do so only by providing for him at every stage of his development the knowledge and insight he may need to solve the major problems that confront him as a Jew in his personal life." As a result, the Foundations course was established for adults in 2005, and in 2006 became a partially online course for those who live far away from Bournemouth. While, of course, community-led decisions have always been a part of every British Reform community, BRS is one of the communities that has employed a model in which the Ritual Forum, re-established in 2005, advises the Rabbi and Council of ritual decisions after long discussions that can sometimes take place over a period of months.

Under Rabbi Soetendorp's leadership, the synagogue published two volumes of "Emet" – books compiled and edited by Eve Cowan – that told the life stories of some members. This model was expanded upon by Rabbi Neil Amswych who, on the Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday night) service, will often ask members to share the things that they are thankful for from the week that has been, and the things that they are looking forward to in the week to come. By ritualising story-telling the number of people attending services on a Friday night has doubled.

In 2010 Councillor Barry Goldbart became the fifth Jewish Mayor of Bournemouth. He is the first Reform Jewish Mayor and a member of Bournemouth Reform Synagogue.Rabbi Neil Amswych, principal Rabbi of Bournemouth Reform Synagogue, was appointed as the Mayor’s Chaplain.