Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy
There is a phrase at the heart of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy that feels especially resonant this year. Hayom Harat Olam. Today the world is born.
It is an extraordinary phrase. The rabbis could simply have written, “Today the world was created.” Instead, they chose the language of birth. More than that, harat speaks of pregnancy, of something long awaited finally coming into the world after a period of unseen growth. Creation, they remind us, is never simply an event in the past.
Every Rosh Hashanah we stand once again at the beginning, with both the opportunity and the responsibility to shape what comes next.
These are our first High Holy Days as The Movement for Progressive Judaism. We came together because we believed Progressive Judaism could become stronger than either of us could be apart. Birth, however, is only the beginning.
A new Movement must find its voice, grow into itself and build the relationships that will sustain it for generations to come.
Some of that work has been visible and some of it has happened quietly behind the scenes. Everything we have done this year has been guided by a simple question: how do we help Progressive Judaism flourish?
That begins with our communities. Every congregation has its own character, its own strengths and its own challenges, yet each deserves the confidence to thrive.
We work alongside our communities on governance, compliance, safeguarding, HR, finance, communications and trustee development – helping them navigate change, while investing in learning that strengthens Jewish life for the long term.
Our national programme on Death, Dying and Bereavement has brought clergy and lay leaders together to deepen pastoral skills around some of the holiest and most difficult moments in Jewish life, while our newly launched Tefillateinu prayer leadership programme will equip more lay leaders to take services with confidence. Through Kivunim, young people from smaller and medium-sized communities are preparing for B’ Mitzvah together, discovering that they belong not only to one synagogue but to a national family.
Our YouTube channel and Education Hub video and podcast series help members and potential members discover the history, principles and practices of Progressive Judaism from experts in the field.
At Hineinu and Shirei Chagigah, our Movement’s inaugural conference, hundreds of Progressive Jews from around the UK and Ireland gathered to pray, sing, learn and celebrate together – reminding us that while each community is unique, we are all strengthened by belonging to something larger than ourselves.
We also united into one Movement because Progressive Judaism deserves to be heard more clearly in the conversations shaping Jewish and public life. Over the past year we have represented Progressive Judaism in Parliament, the media and alongside partners from other faiths. Our purpose has never been simply to comment on events. It has been to offer a Progressive Jewish voice rooted in Torah, committed to justice and unafraid of complexity.
We have continued investing in Progressive scholarship through the publication of Progressive Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel, our first major Movement publication. We wanted not simply to add another voice to an already crowded debate, but to provide thoughtful Jewish learning that reflects the intellectual honesty, moral seriousness and willingness to wrestle with complexity that have always characterised Progressive Judaism.
Through our weekly email newsletter, bimonthly Voices magazine, continually updated website and social media channels, Open Houses, Leadership Check-Ins, the Community Forum, direct engagement with community leadership, visits to congregations, public events and media work, we have sought to tell the story of Progressive Judaism as it is being lived across the country.
We have enjoyed huge successes. Our first fundraising dinner raised more than £2.2 million. Our social media posts so far this year have gained well over a million views. Progressive Judaism has featured in hundreds of media articles and broadcast interviews.
But the real measure of success is not numbers alone. It is whether communities learn from one another, whether members discover ideas beyond their own synagogue and whether every Progressive Jew feels part of our national Movement.
Our future depends on far more than the present. It depends on the next generation. Jewish life no longer follows a single predictable path and we cannot simply wait for young people to find us. We must meet them where they are.
This year we launched our Campus Ambassador Programme, creating opportunities for students to build Progressive Jewish life at university, while our High Holy Day Ticket Scheme opens the doors of our communities to students and young adults.
We remain immensely proud of RSY-Netzer and LJY-Netzer, whose commitment to Jewish learning, leadership and social justice continues to shape generations of Progressive Jews – through events, community visits, four annual camps and programmes in Israel and Europe.
At the heart of all this is a conviction that Jewish life should be open, welcoming and accessible.
We have continued supporting those choosing Judaism through our Batei Din, celebrated communities making Jewish life more accessible for disabled and neurodivergent members and stood proudly alongside LGBTQI+ Jews because every human being is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
There is, however, one part of these first six months that many of you never see. Bringing together two remarkable Movements means far more than signing legal documents. It means patiently weaving together two staff teams, two organisational cultures, two systems, two ways of working and two proud legacies into one shared future to build the foundations that will allow this Movement to serve communities for generations to come. Much of this has to happen quietly, but like the hidden beams of the Mishkan, it is what allows everything else to stand.
This Rosh Hashanah we celebrate not simply what has been born, but what, together, we are still bringing into being.
Shanah Tovah u’Metukah.
- Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy are the Co-Leads of The Movement for Progressive Judaism