One land: Two peoples; Two states The creation of an independent, sovereign State of Palestine, alongside a secure State of Israel, is the only just and humane solution to the on-going conflict between the two peoples. On November 29 2012, the 65th anniversary of the United Nations’ historic vote to partition the disputed land on the […]
Practising Self Restraint My wife is a Buddhist. Don’t get me wrong – she’s also Jewish: a Jewish Buddhist. The official term, coined by Roger Kamenetz in his best-selling book, The Jew in the Lotus is a ‘Ju-Bu’ – although she’s a Jew-Bu: a Jew who incorporates Buddhist teaching and reflective practice into her Jewish […]
The Torah tells us so little about Miriam – just 31 verses in all! – But it suggests so much more… Intriguingly, after a lacuna in the text of 38 years, the narrative at Numbers chapter 20 in parashat Chukkat reopens with Miriam’s death. The eldest of the three sibling leaders, it is not surprising […]
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, April 2012 Historian Robert Wistrich calls anti-Semitism ‘the longest hatred.’ Indeed, anti-Semitism, the hatred of Jews, endures to this day. On March 19th 2012, a gunman opened fire on a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing a 30-year-old Rabbi, his two young sons, and the daughter of the Principal of the school, […]
What should Jewish schools teach apart from the usual ‘core’ curriculum subjects? The recent Jewish Chronicle front page exposé, headlined, ‘Jewish school pupils taught how to cure gays’ (20.01.12), whatever the actual facts of the story, raises crucial issues about the role of Jewish schools in equipping Jewish children to live in today’s world. There […]
FLAMES OF HOPE We are in the midst of the dark days of winter – but there is light just over the horizon: at the winter solstice, on the darkest day of the year, Brightonians will gather on the beach once more, with lanterns, to usher in the first glimmers of the longer days to […]
Hove Methodist Church Good evening everyone. It is a great pleasure to be here and to have an opportunity to reflect on the question: what does it mean to be a leader of a faith community? My first thought when I thought about the theme of this evening’s gathering was to be a little light-hearted: […]
Good evening everyone. I’ve been asked to speak to you about Yom Ha-Sho’ah – literally, the day of the Sho’ah: the day set aside sixty years ago for the commemoration of what we Jews prefer to call the Sho’ah, rather than, the ‘Holocaust’. If Sho’ah is an unfamiliar word to you, the word, ‘Holocaust’, actually […]
So, spring has sprung, and as the light and warmth increases, we open our doors and windows to the world outside, and get down to some serious spring-cleaning. It is interesting to note in this connection, how the Torah introduces the Festival of Pesach – or rather the preparations for the very first Passover, which is what Pesach […]
Leadership As I mentioned at the beginning of the service, sadly, three of our members died during the past week: Cyril Davidson and shul President, Ivor Miskin, and L’Chayyim volunteer, Pam Magrill, finally let go, yesterday in the late afternoon – zichronam livrachah, may their memory be for blessing.[1] Each one of these unique and […]