Over the course of this very long, exceptional day, we will recite many prayers, utter confessions, and make pleas for forgiveness. We will also study Jewish teaching. The highpoint of the Shabbat morning service is always the reading of the weekly Torah portion, followed by the haftarah, the ‘concluding’ reading from the second section of […]
The ten-day journey that began on Rosh Ha-Shanah has reached its destination. We have arrived at Yom Kippur. We have stepped out of the insistent rush of our 24/7 existence in order to embark on an otherworldly journey; one that we take slowly, prayer by prayer, reflection by reflection, confession by confession, nourishing our souls […]
In my Erev Rosh Ha-Shanah sermon I mentioned that the Jewish New Year has many names. Yesterday evening, as we paused in the twilight, my focus was on the New Year as harat olam, the ‘birthday of the world’. This morning, I invite us to think about this day by considering another of its names: […]
Word-lessto expressthe horrorof destructionthe fathomless abysswe read wordsancientrepeatedfor millennia:Eicha?How?we read wordsresistingdenyingthe silencethat admonishes uschallengingour incomprehension.We listen to ourselveschantingwordsthat echoin the silencehopingprayingfor a responsethat will assuagethe silencetransform wordsinto meaning.And sowe forgetagain-and-againthat meaning is wroughtis re-memberedin deedsnot in wordsis held in our handsoutstretchedreachingfor life.Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah
Va-etchannan: Remembering and Re-membering Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah – MPJ E-Bulletin, 24.07.26 This week’s parashah, Va-etchannan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) is the second portion of the book of D’varim, Deuteronomy. Va-etchannan includes the second version of Aseret Ha-Dibbrot, ‘The Ten Utterances’, better known by their designation in Christian Bibles as the ‘Ten Commandments’. While the Deuteronomy version […]
Brighton and Hove Interfaith Contact Group AGM19 April 2026 Brighton and Hove Interfaith Contact Group AGM 19 April 2026 Is interfaith dialogue relevant in troubled times? My response to the question that has been put to us in a nutshell: Interfaith dialogue is essential in troubled times. It is essential for at least four reasons: […]
Chag Ha-Sukkot, ‘The Feast of Tabernacles’ (Leviticus 23:34), also known in biblical times as Chag Ha-Asif, ‘the Feast of Ingathering (Exodus 23:16), became Z’man Simchateinu, the ‘Season of our Rejoicing’ in rabbinic teaching because of the command to ‘rejoice’, reiterated in the Torah (Lev. 23:40; Deuteronomy 16:14). And yet, just five days before Sukkot: Yom […]
The ‘Sabbath of Sabbaths’desecrated at 9.31 am in the midst of morning prayers in a north Manchester suburb it could have been so much worse security volunteers holding-fast the door the arrival of armed police at 9.38 sealing the fate of the attacker still two congregants dead three wounded the rabbi’s white robe stained with […]