Rosh Ha-Shanah‘The head of the year’a ‘day of blasting’on the first dayof the seventh monthas we are taughtin the Torah. [1] Halfway throughthe cycle of monthsthe yearturnsa milestone momentfor us to pauseand turnour headsto our heartsbeatingto every shofar blastthe roar of ‘T’ki’ah’broken ‘Sh’varim’the rapid-fire of ‘T’ru’ah’ [2]wordless missivesfrombeyondcalling usto accountfor all we have doneand failed […]
*Elul Elulthe moonbetween seasonsNorthand Southbetweenthe fierce intensitiesof Summer and Winterbetweenthe winds of changethat stir Autumn and Springthe moonbetween nature’s rhythmsthat shinesas it waxes and wanesa solitary beaconin the nightsearching us outinsinuating pale lightinto our minds’tight crevices revealing usto ourselvesin the space betweenthe old yearand the newreminding usto turninwardto listen to our hearts’ broken beat of […]
Wandering Jew ‘Rootless Cosmopolitan’[1] Descendent of ha-Ivrim ‘the Hebrews’ those eternal ‘border-crossers’ forever moving from place to place for whom place is ever-mobile. The tent-tabernacle pitched and dismantled at every staging post in the stony wilderness where place shifted with the winds. And then after the sojourn in the land after the place of the […]
Tishah B’Av 5783 People gathered in defiance from winter to summer Democracy’s sentries of Hope with flags held high on the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem flags and fires now aflame in the summer heat. Burning beacons of Ha-Tikvah ‘The Hope’[1] ‘to be a free people in our land the land of Zion and […]
The season turns shedding summer’s seemingly seamless mask leaf by leaf laying bare the bark of Life branch-braiding-branch stark and raddled textured with complexities uncertainties certainties we camouflage but cannot escape. So, we celebrate our blessings while they last build fragile temporary shelters of light and shadows and take refuge in Eternity. Rabbi Elli […]
Rosh Ha-ShanahNew YearNew moon of TishriDawning darklyFirst starsSparkling pathwaysFrom the pastInto the future HinneiniHere I amStanding on the thresholdOf the new yearReadyButRetreating T’shuvah?I turn back from the brinkSarah’s laughter Ringing in my earsNew life?New beginning?Is it possible?For me?
DEDICATED TO THE UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE (COP 26), GLASGOW, 31.10.21-12.11.21 Learning from Noah Warning from Noah flood waters drenching half the Earth. But this time no saving remnant and no prospect of a remnant saved not even an olive-branch-bearing dove. Meanwhile where the sun bakes frenzied fires igniting incinerating everything in their wake. And […]
Eight Poems by Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah On 21st February 2018, I spent a day that began at midnight, accompanying 200 Lower Sixth Formers from Brighton College – together with their Head Teacher, Deputy Heads and the Heads of the College Houses – on a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On the plane journeys there and back […]
Sukkot – The Season Turns The season turns Shedding Summer’s seemingly seamless mask Leaf by leaf Laying bare The bark of Life Branch-braiding-branch Stark and raddled Textured with Complexities Uncertainties Certainties We camouflage but cannot escape So we celebrate our blessings While they last Build fragile temporary shelters Of light and shadows And take refuge […]