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Last week was freezing. I stood outside waiting to welcome the Homeless to the Synagogue and, within 20 minutes, I was shivering and unable to feel my toes. During a stomach warming lunch of soup, pasta and energy packed granola bars, I was asking one of the guests how he coped with the cold. He said the days were even worse than the nights because there was no shelter from it whilst walking around. He tried to hide his next question as an off-the-cuff remark asking whether there might be any of the coats we gave away last year. In the English language, we have some great expressions but whose allegories only become apparent when you experience them. For the first time in my life I understood the expression "a tug on my heart". I felt a slightly nautious, leaden feeling in my stomach that seemed to weigh down from my heart. We had nothing to give.
When we started this season's lunches, we had asked members to donate non-perishable food and toiletries and had a fantastic response. But we also had a far larger number of Homeless guests than in previous years and everything had gone. Anticipating sending round a fresh request for help, I asked what else might be useful. Top of the list by quite a long way was plastic bags, large bags like they used to have, to use a bit like a sleeping bag over whatever bedding they could find, to keep out the freezing rain. There is no getting away from the cold when the bedding gets wet.
That day, we checked with the synagogue whether it was appropriate to send round an email to let members know that help was needed. Within the first hour of the request, people were responding. Throughout the week, food, toiletries, money and clothes were dropped in to the synagogue. Some members even went out to buy fleece coats and 15 tog duvets. One group of guests sleep under some railway arches. To get to the Arches, they have to cross a stream. But there is no bridge. Instead, there is a thin log they have to traverse. One of the men gets frightened he will fall in when crossing over (much to the amusement of one of the others). So the person who donated some wind-up torches that will let the crossers see what they are crossing could not have found a more thoughtful present.
Yesterday, was the day to distribute what had been donated. We had a typical number of people coming to the synagogue. It was not quite as cold as it had been, although the freezing weather is due to return by the end of this week. By the time they arrived, Elvira's room at the back of the Synagogue was completely full. About half way through the lunch, once the immediate hunger had been satiated, the golden women who provided the lunch along with Jo who has been organising all the lunches and advertising them around town, took them to the room. One of our members, Richard, had made up a series of bags which he filled with all sorts of toiletries he had bought. He was the great man who had bought the Duvets. Jo had pulled together a number of gift packs. As they arrived, each one in turn was overwhelmed. There were clothes of just about every description. Coats, socks, vests, shirts, trousers. Every item of toiletry they use was there. There was a great range of non-perishable food. One of our members, David, responded within a day of the request asking if he could help with the plastic bags. It turns out that he makes polythene bags. "What size do you want?", was his only question. As many of the thick, durable, sleeping-bag sized polythene bags as could be carried were produced to the absolute delight of the person who had asked for them. Another member had asked whether we needed women's clothes, since we have so many more male guests than female. It was very lucky that we said yes. On entering the room, one of the Homeless men asked if we had some women's clothes. He wanted to bring them back for a 15 year old girl who was taking refuge at night under the Arches but who was too frightened to come to the synagogue.
Another of the Homeless men is Polish. He speaks only tiny amounts of English. Like the others, he was slighly reeling when he entered the room. After a short while, one of the golden women offered him a very warm, snug coat to take. He clearly did not understand what was happening and seemed to be declining the offer. He may well have been trying to say it was not his coat. Suri, whose personality is even more sweet than her voice, put her hand on his shoulder, looked him straight in the eye and urged him to take the coat. She told him it has been brought in specifically for him to have and we really wanted him to have it. If finally dawned on him that the coat was being offered to him. His reaction? He started to cry. He reached for Suri's hand, picked it up and kissed it.
During the history of the Jews, there have been many great synagogues. Both in times of old and today, there have been many splendid synagogues, decorated with lavished with wood carvings, stained glass and adorned with ornate metal work and flowers. But to me, the Great Synagogue is the one that pours kindness to people who have no possessions, no wealth, no home, without batting an eyelid and without fanfare. It is a Great Synagogue that has such resourcefulness and thoughtfulness as to be able to bring tears of joy to someone without a home. We have a wonderful Rabbi who makes us very proud to have him as a Rabbi. But we also have a warm and vibrant community that must make our Rabbi proud to have us as congregants.
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