RABBI DR SIDNEY BRICHTO z"l Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein Funeral service at NPLS 25 January 2009

I was fortunate to begin my studies at the Leo Baeck College soon after Sidney became the first Executive Director of the Union of Liberal & Progressive Synagogues (having come over from America to be Associate minister at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue…and I note that West London Synagogue were also after his services, but LJS offered the princely sum of £1000, though I also saw that Sidney got it raised to £2000…that was Sidney).  And I, and many of you here today, was privileged to be part of the great chapter in the story of Liberal Judaism that Sidney inspired.   A period of rapid growth of the Movement, new congregations in London and the provinces, national and administrative conferences, revival of the Youth Movement, Evening Institute, the move to the Montagu Centre.  And back in the old Montagu Centre that powerful trio:  Sidney coming up with a flood of new initiatives leaving Greta Hyman and Rosita Rosenberg  to actually put them into effect.

Sidney was a rabbi’s rabbi, he encouraged many of us to become rabbis: me, Charles Middleburgh, Danny Rich.  He raised the status of the Liberal rabbinate, so often fighting for our rights, increasing our salaries.  Sidney encouraged us to have our study retreats in nice hotels whilst others thought we should go to spartan monasteries.  He supported a range of educational efforts; appointed our first shaliach Nurit Beeri, our first Director of Education Sally Goodis, and used his connections in the wider community to raise funds for these posts. He was a fundraiser par excellence: setting the targets high and using his charm, his connections, and yes, his chutzpah, to achieve results Liberal Judaism had not dreamt of before.  And of course he was to use these talents so effectively in several other organisations after he retired as Executive Director of ULPS.

Above all he changed the nature of Liberal Judaism, he raised our profile in the Anglo-Jewish community and he created a new attachment to the State of Israel.  Often this led to bitter disagreements and endless exchanges of correspondence with other Liberal rabbis.  Perhaps one of the strengths of Liberal Judaism is that we can express divergent views, not sit on the fence or stifle debate as in other Movements.  The last emails I saw from Sidney a day before he was taken ill, was yet another defence of Israel’s actions in Gaza. 

Sidney made us more Jewish in many ways He started debates that led to the reintroduction of kippot and tallit.  He encouraged Rabbi John Rayner and his own cousin Chaim Stern, to compose new prayerbooks:  Service of the Heart and Gate of Repentance that made our services more traditional and more sympathetic to Israel. (And it was Sidney’s negotiating skills that led our vast American sister movement to base their new prayerbooks on ours and for over 25 years the huge royalties Sidney obtained largely funded our Movements expansion.)   He forged relationships with the Orthodox community.  Despite being religiously very liberal himself, he could talk with confidence and no sense of inferiority to Orthodox rabbis and Dayyanim, after all he could speak Yiddish and was raised as an Orthodox Jew.  He made arrangements with the Federation of Synagogue to issue gittin (divorce documents), because although Liberal Judaism did not see the need, Sidney sought to protect our members from future disadvantage.  He wrung a begrudging statement from Chief Rabbi Jacobovits about the validity of our marriages.  His involvement in bodies like the Board of Deputies and J.I.A. increased our credibility within Anglo-Jewry.

And post-ULPS he has used all of his skills in other directions.  Establishing the Israel Diaspora Trust, seeking to lobby on Israel’s behalf amongst the opinion makers of this country:  politicians, judges, academics, media personalities.  Incredible lectures, discussions and dinners Sidney set up, often arranged by Cathryn. And then his work for the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies: a reminder that Sidney could have followed an academic career, his learning wide and deep.  Just a glimpse he leaves behind in his beautiful translations of the Bible, his collection of articles, the moving account of his childhood in Ritual Slaughterer and his insightful guide to Jews and Jewish life and humour: Funny you don’t look Jewish (all typed by ever faithful Beverley Taylor). And though intensely Jewish, Sidney moved effortlessly in non-Jewish circles and was involved in several prominent interfaith initiatives.

I have pondered a phrase that sums up Sidney Brichto;  his Hebrew name Shimshon, Samson hardly describing his physique although you couldn’t question his passion for Israel. This did lead me to Oheyv Yisrael…lover of Israel; for Sidney was a lover of Israel: the land, the people, the religion, the philosophy, the culture, the jokes.  And behind, or ahead of all this, was his Oheyv Mishpacha, love of his family.  His parents and Zeyder, his siblings and their children…and of course his own children and grandchildren, and of course Cathryn who so brightly coloured the second half of his life, introduced him to new circles, kept him ever young, encouraging ever to seek new experiences and challenges. 

Oheyv amo yisrael is the concluding phrase of a prayer that comes immediately before the Shema, and the prayer begins:  ahavat olam…..everlasting love.  This surely will be true for you Cathryn and the family, for friends near and far, for the multitude whose lives have been touched by Sidney.  Ahavat Olam, a love and respect that will not die, memories that will be as colourful and exciting and inspirational as the life and personality of Sidney…Rabbi Dr Sidney Brichto…Shimshon ben Shlomo ….may his memory always be for a blessing.  

Amen