All the world, all of it, is a very narrow bridge, but the essential thing is never to be afraid This afternoon I would like to share with you a wise saying that has helped me to be here today: Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav said: Kol-ha-olam kullo gesher tzar m’od, v’ha-ikar lo l’phacheid k’llal All […]
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.[1] So says Juliet to her Romeo, as she struggles with the burden of his family name of ‘Capulet’. Of course, she is right. And yet as soon as we utter or write the word, ‘rose’: the varied […]
The Joseph story, which continues in this week’s parashah, Mikkeitz, is very familiar. One of the issues arising from this familiarity is that we can overlook details that don’t seem to be germane to the main plot. Perhaps, this doesn’t matter – after all, it is a brilliant story; indeed, it forms a mini novella […]
Dear friends and honoured guests: As we gather together on Remembrance Sunday, we are aware that up and down the country, people of all ages, living in towns and villages, in cities and in the countryside, are united in remembrance of those who died in two World Wars, and other conflicts since – in the […]
Dear friends and honoured guests: As we gather together on Remembrance Sunday, we are aware that up and down the country, people of all ages, living in towns and villages, in cities and in the countryside, are united in remembrance of those who died in two World Wars, and other conflicts since – in the […]
This year we will mark the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht. As each year passes, there are fewer and fewer survivors still alive, who can tell us about their traumatic experiences of the Sho’ah. We speak of Kristallnacht – ‘the night of broken glass’ – but we know that so much more than glass was broken […]
The Hebrew month of Cheshvan is drawing to a close. Wedged between Tishri, a month packed full of commemorative days and festivals – Rosh Ha-Shanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret/Simchat Torah – and Kislev, which concludes with the celebration of Chanukkah, Cheshvan seems to be a singularly unremarkable month. Indeed, because it is the […]
Today is a paradoxical moment and Jewish teaching is full of paradoxes. On the one hand, it is Shabbat and the congregation has gathered, as it does each week, for the morning service. On the other hand, today is an exceptional occasion: the Bar Mitzvah of Sam. Jewish life: and the on-going rites and cycles […]
Our Shabbat service began this morning, as it always does, with words spoken by a Moabite sorcerer, sent by Balak, King of Moab, to curse the Israelites. How bizarre is that? This week’s Torah portion is parashat Balak, and as the story of the sorcerer, Bilam, unfolds, we learn that every time he prepared to […]
This Shabbat morning, we are celebrating a very special moment: Joshua’s coming-of-age as he becomes Bar Mitzvah and begins his journey towards Jewish adulthood. Joshua has studied very hard for this day – focusing on key areas of Jewish learning that demonstrate that the Jewish inheritance now belongs to him. And so, in preparing to […]