What have Woody Allen, Seigmund Freud and The West Wing all got in common? Well, they all featured in recent adult education sessions held at RBRS- read on to find out more…

Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, Head of the Reform Movement, came to RBRS on Tuesday 4th September to introduce ResponsAbility, a new cross-communal body which has recently been launched to articulate and advocate Jewish ethics. He explained that this is a response to the rise of Fundamentalism, both the violent and extremist perversion of religion and also those he calls ‘secular fundamentalists’ such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, whose aggressive atheism and debunking of religion is becoming increasingly popular today. In the course of showing us the need for this new body, he led us on an exploration of various texts which examined the danger of ‘the seductive voice’. This is where Woody Allen and Seigmund Freud came in, amongst others.

Rabbi Bayfield explained that ResponsAbility will work with those of other faiths and none to promote shared values and show that religion can offer a practical, helpful, relevant response to the problems facing society today. It will, he hopes, ‘‘challenge us to face up to the cutting edge ethical issues of our day – particularly in the fields of business ethics, medical ethics, human rights, poverty, third world development and the environment,’’ and ‘‘prompt each member of our community to act in pursuit of social justice, play a part in the repair of our world and engage with others for the good of humanity and the globe.’’

Only a few days after this stimulating evening, Rabbi Paul opened his pre-Selichot study session with some clips from The West Wing, raising some important questions about repentance, and looking in particular at how we should go about asking for forgiveness from those we have wronged in the last year. This, we learned, is an essential part of the process of gaining atonement. We discussed some sections of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah on this subject, and found that as well as making reparation if we can, it is important to actually face up to the person we have wronged, discuss the issue with them, and try to mend the relationship. According to Maimonides, anyone who refuses to forgive is a sinner, with the notable exception of the Rabbi!