Brighton and Hove Reform Synagogue (BHRS) has a new team of four teenage Wardens.
The group is made up of Luca Richardson, a fourth-generation member of the synagogue; Yair Zanardo, the son of the shul’s Rabbi Dr Andrea Zanardo; Gali Yacoub, from an Israeli family; and Solomon Kay, whose parents Gordon and Michelle are long-standing Limmud participants. Together, the wardens represent a wide variety of backgrounds within the community.
All four already help on Sundays at cheder and have now chosen to volunteer as wardens, an important role within the synagogue. This includes supporting the running of services, calling people up for aliyot, allocating mitzvot such as hagbah and gelilah, and, as the synagogue also runs hybrid services, assisting with the technical side as well.
Rabbi Andrea said: “They made this decision after their Bar and Bat Mitzvah because they want to play an active part in the service, and because they enjoy the camaraderie of working together.
“Personally, I find it very inspiring to see young people from such different backgrounds deciding to do this important work together, and teaching Jewish values to the whole community by their example. I may, of course, be slightly biased, since my son is one of them.”
Ruth Seltzer, Luca’s grandmother, added that it is very moving to see Luca in the same seat where his late father Sydney used to sit, as Sydney also served as a warden for many years.
Picture (L-R): Luca, Yair, Solly and Galy