Breaking Binaries by Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah
‘The Jewish textual sources, like the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place in Sussex, are repositories of seeds of Torah, which when planted in the soil of contemporary issues and priorities, and nurtured with the nutrients of our interpretations and perspectives, generate new trees and fruits of thought and practice. These seeds of Torah are not only fruitful for one particular people, the Jews, but in their universalist dimension, are made available for anyone to pick up and transplant into their own context.’
Breaking Binaries invites readers to go beyond the limitations of the oppositions and impositions that characterise binary modes of thought and practice. Examining Jewish texts, rites, and relationships, the book introduces nuance and complexity to the consideration of contemporary issues, such as gender, Jewish status beyond the Jew/non-Jew binary, Israel-Palestine, and the challenge of interfaith engagement. It concludes with a call for human beings to become earthlings for the sake of the planet.
Beyond Israel Versus Palestine
Trouble Making Judaism by Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah
‘At its heart, Judaism is about – is supposed to be about – trouble-making.’
From the prophets who admonished the leaders and people of Israel for their ethical misconduct through to the rabbis who troubled the Torah to make meaning for Jewish life, Judaism has been engaged with troubling and trouble making.
Trouble-making is about challenging and disrupting the status quo. It is also about being troubled and troubling our Jewish texts and inheritance to adapt and change in response to the lives of Jewish individuals, families and communities here and now.
The book falls into four parts. Beginning with an exploration of some trouble-making precedents – the Torah’s account of the creation of humanity, Miriam, the 2nd century scholar, B’ruria, and the first woman rabbi, Regina Jonas – Elli Tikvah Sarah goes on to explore: the struggle for gender equality and the inclusion of lesbian and gay Jews, ways of engaging as Jews and Jewish communities to foster Jewish life today, and the challenge to acknowledge, both, Israel and Palestine.
Book Reviews
Beyond the Dysfunctional Family
‘Jews, Christians & Muslims in Dialogue With Each Other and With Britain
Edited by Tony Bayfield, Alan Race and Ataullah Siddiqui’
Beyond the Dysfunctional Family represents the dialogical fruit of a group of Jews, Christians and Muslims who have been meeting together for more than a decade. The contributors have made the long journey from guarded spokespersons to vulnerable human beings who can share both their enthusiasms and fears with those they now recognise as siblings. Breaking new ground, the book reflects on the causes of dysfunctionality – historical, political, theological – and offers healing through a theology of deep respect and sense of equality. Therefore, the book is not a series of disconnected essays commissioned at arm’s length; rather, each chapter has been written out of the group experience, where every word has been probed and revised in the demanding process of the dialogue itself.
All the contributors work within the living institutions of their respective communities and yet are committed practitioners of interfaith dialogue. They bring a passion and an awareness of being on the front line. The book faces issues of religious identity, truth, violence and critical thinking with both honesty and mutual care. Further, no Jew, Christian or Muslim can avoid the great international issues in which the three Abrahamic traditions are caught up and which potentially reveal religion at its most ugly and divisive. Beyond the Dysfunctional Family reads as members of a long-estranged family explaining themselves, listening attentively to each other and searching for that space in which each can stand in loving acceptance of religious differences, a shared God and a common vision for Britain.
Contributors include:
Tony Bayfield, Alan Race, Ataullah Siddiqui, Sughra Ahmed, Rachel Benjamin, Miriam Berger, Marcus Braybrooke, Jane Clements, Elizabeth Harris, Shanthi Hettiarachchi, Michael Hilton, Dilwar Hussain, Humera Khan, Abduljalil Sajid, Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, Norman Solomon
The front cover image shows a metal sculpture as public art, with entwined symbols from the three traditions (star of David, cross, crescent moon), from the village of Frigiliana in Andalucía, Spain.
Women Rabbis in the Pulpit
A Collection of Sermons
What better way to mark the 80th anniversary of the ordination of the first woman Rabbi, Regina Jonas, in Germany in 1935, and the 40th of the ordination of Jackie Tabick, the first post-war female rabbi in Europe, than by the launch of a new book that creates a testament to women’s involvement in the ‘pulpit’. Edited by Rabbi Dr Barbara Borts & Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah Women Rabbis in the Pulpit – A Collection of Sermons is now available to buy from www.lulu.com Published by Kulmus.
Welcome to the Cavalcade
A Festschrift in Honour of Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet. Edited by Howard Cooper, Colin Eimer and Elli Tikvah Sarah
A celebration by his rabbinic and academic colleagues of Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet’s unique contribution to the Jewish and wider world. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, these essays – by Jews, Christians and Muslims – reflect Jonathan’s love of Bible and special approach to biblical exegesis, his innovations in liturgy, his creativity in poetry and song, his commitment to interfaith explorations, and the ways in which he has fostered individual and original voices who have added to the richness and complexity of religious life today. This Festschrift combines academic essays with more personal reflections from scholars and friends from around the world and contains a full bibliography of Jonathan’s published work as well as an overview of Jonathan’s achievements.
