ALONIM is published six times per year. It fulfils two main functions. Firstly, it is the main contact between the membership and synagogue events. At the same time ALONIM will also advertise wider cultural community activities.

Secondly, it tries to be a magazine that’s interesting to read with articles contributed by members and, occasionally, non-members.

Contributions are welcome from all community members, whether in the form of praise, adverse criticism, articles, or letters. ALONIM is not the mouthpiece of the Council of the synagogue, nor of the editor.

Someone once noted that ALONIM is an anagram of NO MAIL. This is not what is required! Please make contact with the editor through alonim@bwpjc.org.

ALONIM features

Regular features include contributions from the Rabbi and the Chair of the Community, service details, contacts, and a diary - the ALONIM Luach.

Another regular feature is the report of the shiur, "study session" which takes place on the first shabbat of each month. These lively discussions are translated into sometimes very thought-provoking articles.

ALONIM as we spell it, [] literally means "a bulletin, leaflet, pamphlet or broadsheet" which adequately describes its function.

But from the same root we also get alvaniyim which means "foliated" or "leafy", and it is from this that ALONIM takes its leafy logo. Given that the name of our synagogue is Etz Chayyim, or "tree of life" this is a rather clever pun. But it doesn’t stop there because, ALONIM, if spelt with an aleph [] means "oak trees" which are, historically, an English symbol of strength and which are redolent of Bristol’s own sea-faring history. So we have both the echo back to the traditional Jewish text etz chayyim hee, and also to the history of the city in which we live.