Sim
Shalom
Magyarul Annual Report 2003
Growth
Overall membership has increased in the last year. This
is especially noticeable in the attendance at both the Kabbalat and
Shacharit Shabbat Services: for both there are twice as many people
attending as last year. There were 110 people for Rosh Hashanah,
100 worshippers for the Pesach Community Seder, and 60 for the Yom
Kippur day service, also more than last years attendance.
Programs and Activities
Purim Party
A unique weekend long Purim Party was organised by Simchaz, the youth
group of Sim Shalom. The ball was held on a ship in the Danube river.
Twenty-five representatives of eight European Progressive Jewish
communities were here for a weekend of intense activities.
Youth
In the last year, Simchaz, the youth and young people’s group has become
an active and vibrant participant in most of the activities of the
congregation. This is in addition to their own bi-weekly program
meetings. Out of the Simchaz success with a Purim weekend in 2003 has
sprung the international Jewish youth group, EuroJews, which led a
Chanukkah weekend in Barcelona in Dec. 2003. This was attended by five
Simchaz members. Finally, the Simchaz president, Péter Radvánszki
attended the Limmud in late December and returned full of ideas and
enthusiasm.
Family
We held our second weekend family spirituality retreat in the Matra
hills. The residential camp was attended by 80 people. The event
coincided with Shavuoth, celebrating the revelation at Mt. Sinai, so all
the events of the weekend had the theme of climbing our own Mt.Sinai.
Interfaith
Continuing from last fall, an ongoing monthly program in Interfaith
topics was presented. In these meetings, led by one of our member and by
a psychologist, the main theme was how to deal with religion and faith
in mixed marriages. Among the guest speakers, there was the Christian
theologist, Joseph Szécsi, who is also the President of the Hungarian
Jewish-Christian Dialog.
Education
A week long educational camp was arranged and led by Simchaz for
the young members of Sim Shalom at Lake Balaton.
Siddur
After a long working period, and overcoming many obstacles, we launched
the draft edition of our Kabbalat Shabbat Siddur. It is the work of
Rabbi Katalin Kelemen, with the help of the editorial committee: all
members of our own community. The Siddur contains the Kabbalat Shabbat
service, the Kiddush and Havdalah services, and the Birkat Ha-Mazon. It
is the first ever Progressive Hungarian Siddur, and consists of the
Hebrew text, Sephardi transliteration of each prayer, new Hungarian
translations, a selection of alternative versions of prayers in English
(so that our guests from abroad feel welcome at our services) and
commentaries in a Progressive spirit – which latter is a real novelty in
this country. Our intention is to distribute the draft edition among our
members and potential members for use over a one-year period.
During this time, we will collect the experiences and insights of the
users, and correct the errors, and we plan to publish a revised version
by the next Chanukkah.
Life Cycle Events, Visitors and Travel
One member of Sim Shalom took all the preliminary steps for
conversion which will occur before the European Region Conference
in the Hague, which the Rabbi, the vice president and the Rabbi’s
husband, Jesse Weil will attend.
Gabor Kalman, president and George Hajnal, vice president of Sim
Shalom, attended the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) European
Region Executive Meeting and Seminar in London. They gave a
comprehensive presentation of Sim Shalom’s situation in Hungary to the
other European Progressive Community representatives.
Future Plans and Needs
The continuous search of alternative routes towards recognition led us
to decide to start the legal steps to establish an independent
Progressive Community, after twelve years of existence of Sim Shalom in
the legal form of an association. To achieve our goal we have called a
membership meeting for the first half of 2004, to vote on this proposal
and start the formal legal process.
Simchaz is starting to make connections to other Jewish youth groups in
Budapest.
The main problem we face, with expanding membership and program
offerings is a growing lack of space. We badly need to find the
financial resources to buy larger premises. Our finance committee is
busy on this, but it is a daunting task.
George Hajnal
vice-president at time of report