Rabbinic Ordination Speech, July 2011

In December 2004, I filled in an application form to join the Rabbinical programme at Leo Baeck College.  "Question E3:  Please state your reasons for wishing to enter the progressive Rabbinate."

My response was based on Hillel's famous idiom: Im ein ani li, mi li?  Uch'sh'ani li ma ani?  Im lo achshav, eimatai?  If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  When I am only for myself, what am I?  If not now, when?

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  

Having rediscovered a passion for Judaism and Jewish community through my academic studies towards a degree in theology and through meeting Rabbi Margaret Jacobi and becoming involved with Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, I wanted the opportunity to fill my days with Jewish learning.

And I have spent the last five years doing just that; in London and Jerusalem, studying at five of the best Jewish learning institutes in the world.  The self-fulfillment does not end here.  Today, I start a career that inspires me and makes me feel blessed in every moment.

When I am only for myself, what am I?

In 2004, I wrote: "Having reached this positive Jewish place in my own life, I want nothing more than to share in the joy of helping others to do so."

A little over-zealous, perhaps!  But the sentiment still applies.  It has been a privilege to work with so many Reform and Liberal communities as a peripatetic Student Rabbi and, in particular, with Gloucestershire Liberal Jewish Community for the past two years.

Today marks a re-affirmation of that sentiment and the beginning of a lifelong commitment to Jewish community life and its development.

If not now, when?

In 2004, meeting Rabbi Aaron Goldstein made me realize that I did not have to wait until I was 40 to become a Rabbi.  He inspired me to ask myself: If not now, when?

How very appropriate that question is today.  Five years is a long time, during which we gain a lot of knowledge and experience.  But can we ever be completely ready for all the challenged for all the challenges of the Rabbinate?  Perhaps not, but we have to start somewhere.

If not now, when?  Today seems like the perfect day!