Synagogues open their doors for congregants to make use of air conditioning

Synagogues are opening their doors during the unprecedented heatwave so people can make use of their air conditioning.

The United Synagogue has opened at least three sites — St John’s Wood, Finchley (Kinloss) and South Hampstead for congregants to cool down.

US communications director Richard Verber said that weekly services were unaffected and had continued as normal, and that the US Chesed weekly food parcel operation, for members and families in need, was also going ahead as before.

But, he said, “extra calls are being made to the most vulnerable in the community. Our cemeteries remain open and we have tried to hold funerals in the cooler parts of the day, with people staying in the prayer halls as much as possible. Staff rotas have been re-jigged to allow people to work in the shade on a regular basis, and there are shorter shifts for the burial ground staff. We are doing all we can to be there for our members, despite the challenging weather”.

The JCC North London’s Levi Schapiro reported that “a good deed each day keeps the doctor away”. JCC volunteers had spent many hours on Monday and Tuesday “handing out fresh ices and cold drinks” to staff and patients in three big London hospitals — the Royal Free, the Royal London, and Hackney City. The volunteers also went to police stations on the same mission on Tuesday, and to emergency staff in A and E departments.

New North London Synagogue cancelled its after school club for Ukrainian children on Tuesday because of the heat. But the Masorti synagogue offered its largest space to the children of Akiva school, which shares the campus, because there is air-conditioning in the NNLS building.

The Movement for Reform Judaism reported “business as usual”, although it is understood that Edgwarebury Cemetery, which caters for both Reform and Liberal burials — and some Sephardi burials, too — closed early on both days of extreme heat.