Paul Marmot helped to establish the Masorti movement in the UK. He started Edgware Masorti along with Neil Kaufman and Chazan Jaclyn Chernett in 1984. When Edgware Masorti started, it was the only fully egalitarian Masorti community in the UK. In those days, Edgware Masorti was part of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues along with New London, and New North London. The name was later changed to Masorti Judaism in 2012.
Paul had a powerful voice and his booming Avinu Malkeinu which he sang on Yom Kippur every year for his beloved Edgware community, surely reached the heavens.
Shortly before he died, Paul wrote about his personal journey to Masorti in the UK. We are sharing it in full here:
‘In October 1973 (with immaculate timing) we made Aliyah to Israel and a kibbutz on Emek Yisrael. The first bombs fell on the Kibbutz on the first day of the war.
On day 2, I volunteered and was inducted into IDF where I spent the next several months.
We decided then to go to a moshav in the Negev Desert alongside Gaza, and close to Kerem Shalom. The aim was to grow tomatoes in the fine sand, in a glasshouse measuring 1dunam. Having dug deep trenches, and installed the watering system, the next stage was to plant the seedlings (shtillim). The problem was it was the Yomim Noraim! | couldn’t help but notice that the American Conservative refused to plant on Yom Kippur, whilst the so called Orthodox had no such compunction!
After about three years, I began to realise that I was a bored and mediocre farmer, and we moved back to the city and a good job in industry. Our home became Rehovot for some more years. One day back on Army leave, while living in Rehovot, my father said he had just been to Shul, and he was sure he had found our shul. On my next leave I tried it out and found what I had always wanted. It was traditional Judaism with a humane face. It was a Masorti Shul that we went to as a family regularly.
Back in England, we cast around without success, and eventually joined Edgware Reform. There my three kids went to a Youth Service run by Jaclyn Chernett. On Shabbat I stood next to Neil Kaufman, and we both realized that Jaclyn was effectively running a Conservative service. The three of us went to Rabbi Leigh and asked permission to run an alternative service upstairs. It was an enormous success, but it caused great pain to some nice people who did not like our new ways.
The honourable thing was to leave and found our own Shul which we called “The Conservative Synagogue of North West London”. After three moves, the Shul was renamed Edgware Masorti synagogue, and it grew exponentially and spawned at least three other synagogues.
There were at that time, two other Shuls who had like us, used the great Rabbi Louis Jacobs as their spiritual Leader. They were New London, and New North London.
We formed a committee with them, and the three of us went to meetings with some very impressive people. Rabbi Louis remained our spiritual inspiration, but never attended any meetings. Out of these wonderful and exciting meetings, the Association of Masorti Synagogues was born.
Since then, many other Shuls and communities have joined, and I am so very proud that Neil, Jaclyn and I played a small part in such a wonderful endeavour.
