On Sunday 6 September, more than 100 members of Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Reform Jewish community in Cambridge.
The community was founded in 1976, with the formal congregation established in 1981. In its early years, members met in one another’s homes to pray. As the community grew, services were held in a variety of rented venues across Cambridge before the congregation finally established a permanent home. The current synagogue, built by and for the community, opened in 2015.
The celebration was led by BSRS Chair, Professor Anna Sapir Abulafia, and featured a series of speakers who reflected on the history of the Cambridge synagogue and paid tribute to some of the key individuals who helped establish and develop the congregation over the past five decades.
A particularly significant moment came when a start was made on the writing of the new scroll generously donated by synagogue member Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes. The new scroll will be written by Beth Shalom’s own soferet (scribe) Jen Taylor Friedman. Jen guided the hands of the donor and representatives from eight of BSRS’s key community groups to write the first nine letters of B’reishit (Genesis) while the audience watched the letters forming via a large screen.
Annamaria spoke movingly about her father, to whom the new Torah scroll will be dedicated, and about her wish to acknowledge her Jewish identity and that of her paternal Ashkenazi ancestors from Bukovina (now southwestern Ukraine).
The celebrations also featured singing from Cambridge’s Jewish choir, Kol Echad, and the synagogue’s cheder children, as well as a story about why the letter Bet was chosen to be the first letter of the Torah read by Teen twins Ian and Dani.
The event concluded with a celebratory lunch, bringing together members of the community to mark this important milestone in the history of Reform Judaism in Cambridge.
In the words of Anna Abulafia “It was wonderful to celebrate all that Beth Shalom has achieved over the past 50 years, with so many members of our community. We are a volunteer-run community without a rabbi. During that time, we have grown from a tiny group meeting in people’s homes to a fully-fledged synagogue with a permanent shul and now a new Torah scroll, generously donated by one of our members and being written by our very own scribe.”
