Rabbi Miriam Berger

Cantor Zöe Jacobs

Rabbi Howard Cooper

Rabbi Miriam Berger

Hello, I am Rabbi Miriam Berger and I received S’micha - my Rabbinic ordination – in the summer of 2006.  Having spent my final year at college as a Student Rabbi for Finchley Reform Synagogue, I have stayed on to take up the post of Rabbi. In 2008   my role at the synagogue changed from associate to principal rabbi.  

The Rabbinate is no quick career path.  I have known from a very young age that I wanted to become a Rabbi and therefore took a very direct path.  On leaving The Henrietta Barnett School I went to read Theology at the University of Bristol.  After 3 wonderful years in Bristol I spent a year studying at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.  Only then could I start my 5 year journey at the Leo Baeck College training to be a Rabbi.  In June 2008 I married my wonderful husband Jonni who fortunately understands what an all encompassing role the rabbinate is and the extent to which the community and synagogue is intertwined in our lives.

Click here to contact Rabbi Berger.

Cantor Zöe Jacobs

Having recently returned to England, I am delighted to be joining the clergy team at FRS. I received s’micha (cantorial ordination) this past May, 2009, from the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in New York and Jerusalem, where I have spent the past six years studying.

Upon realising I wished to follow a path into Jewish professional life, I opted to study Jewish History at the University of Southampton, where I chaired the Jewish Society. After graduation, I spent a year working for the Movement for Reform Judaism as the Reform Students chinuch (education) fieldworker while also working with B’nei Mitzvah and Post-B’nei Mitzvah students both at FRS and Southgate and District Reform Synagogue.

While at HUC, I was lucky to have two cantorial internships: The first at Central Synagogue in New York City, where I continued to teach throughout my time in New York, and the second at Or Chadash - the Reform Temple of Hunterdon County, in New Jersey. The opportunities with which I was presented while working with these communities, coupled with the experience I gained as co-president of the Cantorial School student body leave me excited as I begin my full-time work in the Jewish community.

It was at FRS that I learned to love Judaism, and to love being a teacher of Judaism. Fueled by this experience and the broader love of Jewish liturgical music I have gained while at HUC, I feel very fortunate to be involved in the dialogue that will forge new musical paths, enhancing and enriching the voice of the FRS community on the journey towards its 50th Anniversary and beyond.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the weeks ahead, and invite you to contact me for any reason, but especially if you’d like to get involved in the musical life of the community.

Click here to find out more about music at FRS.
Click here to find out more about our monthly Shira
Click here to contact Cantor Zöe Jacobs

Rabbi Howard Cooper

Since graduating from the Leo Baeck College in 1980 and training as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in the early 80s, I have pursued a dual professional career, combining rabbinic work with a therapy practice and an increasing involvement in various writing projects. Over the last 30 years I have lectured, taught and written on a variety of themes - Jewish, psychological and spiritual - both here and abroad, and written and/or edited a number of books, the latest of which 'The Alphabet of Paradise: An A-Z of Spirituality for Everyday Life' was published here in 2002 and in the States in 2003. I was awarded an MA (with Distinction) in Creative Writing & Critical Theory by the University of Sussex in 2004 and was honoured to be involved in composing some of the new creative material for our new Reform siddur.

Having been Director of Education at FRS from 1982-6, I joined Rabbi Jeffrey Newman's first Rabbinic Team in 1989 and since then have been involved professionally in various aspects of FRS, in particular running the 'Exploring Spirituality' programme since 1995. I recently completed 20 years as External Consultant to the Leo Baeck College's Pastoral Care & Community Skills programme and decided that was enough. This is the same amount of time I have been a season ticket holder at Barnet Football Club, a commitment that also feels almost (but not yet quite) enough.

Click here to read Rabbi Cooper's blog