Muswell Hill Synagogue
Tzav 29/30 March 6.14pm 7.18pm

Meet the new Chair

Dear Friends,

Now that Rabbi Mason has upgraded and is using video to share his thoughts with the community, he has agreed that the board can use the blog on the shul website to share news and updates with the community. I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you a little more about me and my hopes for the next year.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Karen Ackerman, I have been a member at Muswell Hill Shul for about 15 years when we moved to this area. I am married to Warren Taylor, and we have three children , Nathan, who is 17 today (happy birthday), Noa who is 14 and Aron who is 10. Nathan was one of the first children in the playgroup at the shul, and Noa was in the first cohort at Yeladenu nursery. We are lucky that over the last 15 years, through our involvement in the cheder, nursery and other parts of shul life, there are many members that we would now count as close friends. That’s one of the things I love about Muswell Hill Shul, we have friends, of all ages, backgrounds and levels of religiosity. 

My background is television, I was a Producer at the BBC for over 10 years, most recently on the CBBC programme Blue Peter. Since leaving the BBC, I have set up my own business, helping charities tell their stories using digital media more effectively, either through film, social media or their websites.

As Chair, I want to engage as many people as possible in shul life, whether that is through the welfare committee, the  social action group or through getting involved in services or communal events. Over the next year, I hope to use this blog to share with you news from the board and in the next few weeks will introduce you to the rest of the board team. 

The one piece of news for this week is that Neil Cohen and Leon Simons have very kindly offered to stay as wardens for the short term until we arrange replacements. This to me sums up MHS, a place where we help each other and work as a team.

Whilst I was delighted to accept their offer, I  hope to be able to announce soon what the plans are for wardens going forward. In the short term, we have adopted an idea from the TV show “Have I got news for you” and plan to have guest announcement presenters over the next few weeks. Watch out this Shabbat for our first guest presenter.

Finally, I know I said it at the AGM, but for those of you who weren’t there, I want to thank Stephen Frosh for his leadership over the last 6 years. He has shown how a Chair should act, with integrity, diplomacy, vision and good humour. I have learnt a huge amount from him, mainly about diplomacy, of which he is a master. He has led our community to a place where we now have a great team of people in place both professionals and volunteers, running excellent events and activities and our community is now in a perfect position to develop the building into the flexible and modern space we need and deserve. I’d also like to thank Rabbi Mason for his ongoing support, wisdom and guidance in all matters both spiritual and communal.

If you want to find these blogs in the future, just go the shul website and click on the blog tab at the top of the page

Shabbat Shalom

Karen