About

Our Rabbis

 

Rabbi Jordan Helfman

I am honoured to be the new Rabbi at South West Essex and Settlement Reform Synagogue. The synagogue is well known as a welcoming and caring community, I hope to enhance SWESRS by bringing joy to Jewish living through music, worship and learning.

This is my second time working in England - I previously spent eighteen months working with Liberal Jewish Youth-נוער ציוני רפורמי for Liberal Judaism as a Movement Worker. In that time, I was able to audit classes at the Leo Baeck College, and I met two life-long loves, the World Union for Progressive Judaism and my wife.

My undergraduate degree is from Michigan State University, where I played trombone in the marching band for four years. Ordained from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, my rabbinic thesis was focused on the theory behind integrated curriculum for Progressive Jewish informal education settings. I served the Holy Blossom Temple congregation for over eight years, learning much during my time from my colleagues and community.

I just stepped off of the World Union of Progressive Judaism’s executive board, where I had the specific responsibilities of working with the Youth and Young Adults movements around the world, and am now the Vice-Chair of arzenu, the Progressive Movement's voice in the Zionist Institutions, and serve on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Come to a service at SWESRS, and there is a good chance you’ll see my family, including my wife – Dr Jemma – and our four children – Toby, Mollie, Henriette, and Dov.

I am looking forward to further building a Jewish community with you - please introduce yourself to me when you are in the building!

 

 

 

Rabbi Lev Taylor

I came to SWESRS on a student placement in Spring 2021, and loved it so much I decided to stay. The people are friendly and inclusive, and the leadership has a wonderful vision for future growth.

I grew up in a small Liberal Jewish community in Reading. Our centre was a kibbutz-style farm in the Berkshire countryside, where we went for all the major festivals. I spent Tu Bishvat planting trees, Shavuot harvesting rhubarb, and Sukkot camping out under the stars. I grew up with such hippy, earth-based Judaism that, when I came to London, I wondered what farms Jews went to there for their holidays!

I studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Warwick University, then went on to work in the charity and education sectors. I spent my first career as a campaigner, mobilising people on issues like workers’ rights, climate change, and global health.

Around that time, I got involved with left-wing Jewish movements in London. I found that socially-conscious and spiritually meaningful Judaism was really important to me, and decided to dedicate my life to it.

I enrolled at Leo Baeck College, and spent my time studying, while also serving the communities of Cornwall, Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, and Edgware. I graduated in July 2021, when I was ordained by Rabbi Mark Solomon.

I am Rosh Yeshiva of the Queer Yeshiva, which has a yearly summer intensive, and I have run the Babel’s Blessing Bnei Mitzvah for many years.

If you would like to find out more, join the synagogue, or have any lifecycle event, just get in touch. I would be so happy to meet with you.

You can read my sermons on my blog: www.simlev.blog

Recent Sermons

  • Passing on the Courage as a Candle

    We are God’s candles in the world. Let us pass our courage onto others, and therefore bring more light, more kindness and eventually we pray, more peace, to this world.... Read more

  • You Promised a Dove: A Yom Kippur of Healing

    On this Yom Kippur, this intentional day of shattering ourselves through hunger and thinking, and prayer, what I want us to walk away from this morning service with, is this incredible Jewish idea:  When we are broken, our shattered pieces can be united into something even more holy.... Read more