It actually never came home again. The nostalgia of 1966 still lingers on, and England’s best efforts at this year’s FIFA World Cup stopped short at an impressive third place but it wasn’t enough to bring it home.
Perhaps it did come home, though, off the pitch and within our community.
Hebrew is a very telling language. Its words truly reflect the concept they wish to describe. Let’s look at a few examples.
A school is a beit sefer, the “home of a book”, a hospital is a beit cholim, the “home of the sick” a beit avot is a home for our elderly, and a beit kafeh, a coffee shop, is a “home of coffee”. Even a cemetery is called a beit kevarot, a “home for the buried”. Our shuls, of course, are a beit knesset, a “home for gathering”.
In Judaism, our communal organisations are not cold, clinical buildings but rather they are homes that radiate warmth and love.
The last year has thrown its burden of challenges at us. The palpable threat of Jew-hate on our streets, an unresolved war with Iran, continued political changes in the UK, fractures in Israeli society and the cost of living are all at the forefront of our minds.
We, however, find comfort because we have a home. Our community is our home. We support each other and feel at ease in the refuge of sanctuary.
So yes! It came home this year. BES is home, and we can raise our trophy with pride because Borehamwood contains the most remarkable Jewish community that inspires us all with a
warm embrace.
Hannah, Geffen, Dekel, Erez, Aviv Oz and I wish you all a year filled with peace, health, happiness and, of course, fun. May we all be written and sealed in the Book of Life!