Mazkirut… giving Bogrim a shot in the foot!

On the 8^th of November the three movement workers along with 7 Bogrim descended on Bristol for Mazkriut. Mazkirut is a combination of both a decision making forum and a social event for our Bogrim, a chance for our Bogrim to let their hair down and spend time in a Liberal Jewish community. We were hosted by our Bogrim that go to university there and arriving to a hot dinner on a chill November eve was fantastic. After dinner we had a delightful boneg (oneg in a bowl) which involved picking pieces of paper out of a bowl and doing what was written; this ranged from singing our favourite song to doing an emotionless dance  off to singing Birkat Hamazon at the top of our lungs. We then ventured out to the pub for a bit social time, catching up with friends we may not have seen for a while and generally just having a laugh.

The next morning we drove to The Bristol & West Progressive Jewish Congregation to have a puelah on important moments in the Torah and join in with their Shacharit. They were extremely welcoming and I can’t wait for the opportunity to go back. That afternoon we headed back to Lee’s house for lunch, classic LJY-Netzer wraps, probably the best meal in existence and discussion on how best to support the ARDC who are in desperate need of money after one of their backers have stopped funding them. For Seudah we travelled to Zara Tobias’s (a true Bristolian), clotted cream scones and crisps were enjoyed by all. Zara also whipped out a book that had been going round her Shnat-Netzer gap year group, where people wrote messages and then posted it to the next person, truly showing that on Shnat you make real lasting friendships. We decided to splurge and go to Fallafal King for dinner, run by Israelis of the food was delicious but so was the atmosphere, with smiles all round. Boneg had proved such a success the night before that we decided to give it another go, it was a great last night of a fantastic weekend. On the Sunday, after an excellent sikkum and locking Graham in a cupboard we all headed our separate ways but the memories of a fantastic weekend will last a long time.