Dear Friends,

Happy New Year.

It’s a big New Year for me, stepping back as rabbi of my beloved community at the New North London Synagogue, but continuing with an increased role as Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism and with a greater commitment to interfaith and environment work. It’s a chance, and a challenge, to reflect, rethink, and learn new ways to appreciate and care for the sanctity of life.

I listened with mixed feelings to the fireworks as 2025 ended and 2026 began. If they mark true hope, may the sky sparkle with their stars. But I feel more at home welcoming the secular year, as we do the Jewish New Year, with prayer.

May this be a year of compassion and generosity.

May our common humanity unite us, more than our differences divide us.

May justice and law protect everyone against hatred and violence.

May all rhetoric of racism, supremacism, hatred and contempt yield before the understanding that those we ‘other’ are human too.

May our societies and communities come together in concern and kindness for those who have no home, no food, no access to healing, no hope.

May we recognise our kinship and interdependence with all life and cease from all needless destruction.

May we listen to our companions on earth, the rivers, trees, insects, birds and animals.

May we learn from all life and bring healing, not hurt.

May we live from our heart and conscience. May we be guided by the God-given spirit that breathes in us all.

May this be a year in which we appreciate the fragile, vulnerable beauty of life, a year in which we are moved to wonder and respect.

May this we a year of wisdom and compassion.

This my prayer for 2026 and after. Do I believe it will all come true? Sadly, no. But it marks the path I am sure we must pursue, the path of true, active, committed hope.

May we be blessed with inspiration, determination, courage and companionship as we strive to follow it into the perilous future.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy New – Gregorian – Year

Jonathan Wittenberg