19—MARYLEBONE JOURNAL
FEATURES
work harder to prove herself? “I really can’t tell,” she says. “I am by nature a workaholic. My paternal grandmother was quite a tough nut. All my grandparents were German Jews, and they were all rabbis and bankers. One generation made it and one generation spent it.” At the South London Liberal
I couldn’t give a stuff about having three female rabbis here. What difference does it make once you accept that you can have both male and female rabbis? Would anyone comment if there were three male rabbis? We do not discriminate
Synagogue, where she served between 1977 and 1989, Julia became the first female rabbi to run her own synagogue. She became chair of Camden and Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust in 1992, worked as chief executive of the King’s Fund from 1997 to 2004, and was chancellor of the University of Ulster from 1994 to 2000. Neuberger was made a dame in the 2003 New Year Honours, then in June of the following year she became a life peer as Baroness Neuberger of Primrose Hill in the London Borough of Camden. Her recent appointment as senior
officiated at our wedding in 1973 together with Charles Berg, rabbi of Wimbledon, who had been very good to our grandparents. One of the last funerals Hugo did was my father’s,” says Julia. I first met Julia just after she was
ordained as a rabbi aged just 27, when she was a carefree young thing who rode a sit-up-and-beg bicycle. “I ordained with Danny Smith who was with me at Leo Baeck. When they presented us with our certificates, his had a pink ribbon and mine a blue ribbon,” she chortles. As only the second female rabbi
to be ordained in Britain, following hot on the heels of fellow Leo Baeck alumnus Jackie Tabick, does Neuberger feel that she has had to
rabbi in Marylebone marks her return to full-time congregational life, and she is hugely excited by the future. “It is the leading non-orthodox congregation in London, and I think that it could be brilliant. There’s lots to do here. There are some terrific young people and some very feisty older ones, we have a great team of rabbis and some good stuff going on.” How does she feel about there being
three female rabbis at her synagogue? “Couldn’t give a stuff,” she says, bluntly. “What difference does it make once you accept that you can have both male and female rabbis? Would anyone comment if there were three male rabbis? We do not discriminate.” Neuberger feels “positive” about
the future of Judaism. “It will look different, but positive. We have got to get our act together but it will be
LINKS
West London Synagogue 33 Seymour Place 020 7723 4404
wls.org.uk
positive. It is quite fashionable to be Jewish.” While Judaism can be something
of a an awesome religion in its discipline, one of the key elements that Neuberger brings to her congregation is a wonderful, natural sense of humour. And then there’s that workaholic drive and energy, that commitment to making things happen. She is already making her presence felt with certain innovations and ideas. “I want to up the game,” she says. “I want it to be possible for every kind of Jew to find something here that engages them, that means something to their lives. I love the fact that we have two young rabbis here, and we do things like our Torah on Tap sessions at the pub. I’d like to see Friday night dinners like those at the Saatchi’s Shul (synagogue). I want to have a drop-in centre for refugees, like they have at New North London Synagogue. I want to get people doing things. A synagogue shouldn’t just be a place for the rabbis to spout.” At the age of 61, Neuberger
accepts that this job will probably be her last, but that doesn’t mean that she is slowing down. “I have no desire to retire,” she insists. “I think that I’d be a nightmare for everybody else. I like change.” “To lead a big congregation,
you need a lot of energy,” she says. And that is something that Rabbi Julia still has in spades. The annual Ha’Atzmaut Oneg Shabbat – a celebration of the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 – is one of the highlights of the synagogue’s social calendar. Held on 7th May, the event saw our new senior rabbi let her hair down and take to the floor in her gym shoes, joining the circle of Israeli dancing. As we bade her goodnight, congratulating her on the success of the well-over -subscribed event, she promised: “I’ll have them dancing round the synagogue soon. We’ll have it like Upper West Side yet, even if it kills me.” The journey goes on.
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