Online Jewish women’s community welcomes 1,000th member
Cross-communal prayer initiative launched during pandemic has "helped many stay connected to Judaism, combat loneliness and be part of a lovely group".
A worldwide Jewish women’s Zoom group launched in the UK three years ago has welcomed its 1,000th member.
Jane Myers, 58 and Sara Garfield, 47, members of Edgware’s Jewish community, co-founded the online Hallel in 2020 – initially on Facebook – as a way of moving women’s-only services online during the pandemic.
Myers said: “We have women who discovered their grandparents were Jewish and joined to get support and advice about learning more about Judaism. It’s a safe, non judgemental space. It’s for everybody, including women that have never done anything Jewish. We have breakout sessions at the end, so you can find yourself in a virtual kiddush room with women from Brazil, Switzerland and Portugal, between the ages of seven and 94. It’s quite extraordinary.”
The online service had between 30 and 40 women attending during its early months, growing to 350 participants at the height of the pandemic. The average service attendance is now around 150.
Myers said: “It’s just a lovely uplifting experience and women are welcome to join at all different stages of their Jewish journey. Even though synagogues have since reopened, our Zooms are flourishing.”
Myers and Garfield looked for champions in different cities and countries to help grow the programme, alongside networking, social media, working with rabbis and rebbetzens and even via the World Jewish Congress.
“Finland,” says Myers, “has a very small community. But we found one woman who came to the service, loved it, talked about it and they are now one of the top five countries of the Hallel’s membership. At times there have been hundreds of women online together. We’ve been running for over 2 years and it’s really helped many to stay connected to Judaism, combat loneliness and be part of a lovely group of women and girls.”
Hallel is the singing of psalms of thanksgiving on Rosh Chodesh (the new moon) and festivals, such as the first two days of Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot and Chanukah.
The dates for the next three Hallels are:
Sunday 22nd January 20.00 UK time
Tuesday 21st February 20.00 UK time
Wednesday 22nd March. 20.00 UK time
More details can be found by emailing globalwomenshallel@gmail.com
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