Another Pesach

By in Poetry

Another Pesach
arrives
but
no Passover
the memory of
liberation
overtaken by
another god
the fortress state
and its henchmen
a state of
perpetual war
the blood of
the massacred
on October 7
desecrated
the young blood of
the nation’s defenders
sacrificed
on the altar
of the right
of might
the remaining hostages
abandoned
empty spaces
at seder tables
never
to be filled.


Meanwhile
in Gaza
a people
doubly-oppressed
from within
and without
crushed
blood
shed
cries out
from the rubble
no doorposts
no lintels
to offer a sign
no provisions
left
not even
the bread of affliction
much less
the bread of freedom
nowhere
to flee.


Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Nisan 5785/April 2025

WHAT IS ‘PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM’? – ‘Thought’ on T’tzavveh, PJ E-Bulletin

By in LJ eBulletin

This week’s parashah, T’tzavveh opens with a significant phrase: ‘You, you shall command [Attah t’tzavveh] the Israelites’ (Exodus 27:20a). While the Torah relates many engaging stories, it is also the repository of the mitzvot, ‘commandments’, that define the relationship between the Jewish people and God. The grand narrative of the Exodus from Egypt may be understood, simply, as a tale of liberation from oppression. However, the message, continually repeated, as Moses tries to persuade Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves, is more challenging: ‘Thus says YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go that they may serve Me – Shalach et-ammi v’ya’avduni”’ (Exodus 9:1). The Israelites were liberated from the tyranny of Pharaoh in order to serve a more powerful Master.

While the teachings of the Torah concern every aspect of domestic, social, economic and political life, their foundation is the service of God. After the destruction of the last Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, the centrality of Divine service continued through Rabbinic Judaism, which established the framework for Jewish life in the form of the halachah, the system of law articulated first in the Mishnah, edited around the year 200 CE. Whether or not one is a student of Rabbinic literature, every Jew who participates in Jewish rites is reminded of the obligation to serve God each time we recite a blessing which includes the words, ‘… asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivvanu l…’ – ‘… who makes us holy with His commandments and commands us to …’ (literal translation).

We are at a crucial moment in the history of Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism in Britain, as the two organisations negotiate a merger with the goal of becoming a single entity, ‘Progressive Judaism’, a name that directly reflects the global movement to which both LJ and MRJ are affiliated: the World Union of Progressive Judaism, founded in 1926 at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London (https://wupj.org/about-us/history/).

What is Progressive Judaism? There is no single answer. However, there is a clue in the word ‘Progressive’. Progressive Judaism is not only, like Orthodox Judaism, a response to Modernity, to the consequences of intellectual Enlightenment and political Emancipation. Progressive Judaism provides a framework for working out how to live Jewishly in a rapidly changing modern/post-modern world; an attempt to re-interpret and re-engage with our Jewish inheritance in the context of the needs of the present. In the past fifty years since Rabbi Jacqueline Tabick became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi at Leo Baeck College, Progressive Judaism has been in the forefront of change in the British Jewish community, to the extent that, today, 50% of the progressive rabbinate is female, and 20%, LGBTQ+. Just as important, from its inception in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, Progressive Judaism has acknowledged that individuals – and not just communities – have a role in defining and perpetuating Jewish life. As a consequence, ‘informed choice’, rather than the notion of being simply ‘commanded’ has been the hallmark of Progressive Judaism.

But, of course, Jewish life depends on individuals choosing to contribute to building and maintaining community. More than twenty years ago, I first set out what I call the compelling commitments that frame the choices we make (‘Bridging Choice and Command’, MANNA Essay, MANNA, No. 78, Winter 2003). At this critical juncture in the history of the two progressive movements in Britain, when we are trying to work out what it means to be ‘progressive’, I offer these ‘compelling commitments’ as a contribution to our reflections. Emerging out of our on-going experience they are not set in stone, but at their heart, we find these three – each one with a particularist and a universalist dimension:

Compelling Commitment One: Embracing Jewish Teaching and engaging with knowledge in the wider world

The commitment to nurture and cultivate our own Jewish lives and the life of the Jewish people as a whole, by continuing to learn and engage with the Torah, with our Jewish stories, teachings and traditions, and by participating in the various ritual acts, which celebrate Life with Jewish flavours, colours and tones.

And: The commitment to engage with the accumulating wisdom of the world, to study and to learn about the major developments in human knowledge, and to find ways of ensuring that the developing wisdom of humanity in all its dimensions connects with and informs Jewish teaching.

Compelling Commitment Two: Sustaining the Jewish Community and repairing the world

The commitment to honour both those that have gone before us and those who are yet to be born, by becoming links in the chain of the generations of our people, and by maintaining, restoring and re-creating Jewish communal life in Britain, in Israel, and throughout the world.

And: The commitment to love not only our neighbours, but also the stranger in our midst; to liberate the oppressed, protect the vulnerable, and support the fallen; to pursue justice and to seek peace; to participate in the great task of Tikkun Olam, the repair of the world.

Compelling Commitment Three: The Eternal is our God and The Eternal is One

The commitment to explore the meaning of existence, to journey, to search, and to listen out for the voice of the Eternal, who calls each Jew to become part of Am Yisrael, the people who ‘struggle with God’, and to strive to sanctify Life each day through our actions and our relationships.

And: The commitment to acknowledge that the Eternal is One, and to work together with all the peoples of the world to recognise the essential unity of existence in all its diversity.

Unlike the traditional understanding of the ‘commandments’, these ‘compelling commitments’ offer a framework for our lives, without spelling out exactly what each and every Progressive Jew should be doing each and every moment of the day. It is the responsibility of each one of us to decide for ourselves, and in relation to those around us, how to put our sense of commitment into practice. [999 words]

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

This week’s parashah, T’tzavveh opens with a significant phrase: ‘You, you shall command [Attah t’tzavveh] the Israelites’ (Exodus 27:20a). While the Torah relates many engaging stories, it is also the repository of the mitzvot, ‘commandments’, that define the relationship between the Jewish people and God. The grand narrative of the Exodus from Egypt may be understood, simply, as a tale of liberation from oppression. However, the message, continually repeated, as Moses tries to persuade Pharaoh to free the Israelite slaves, is more challenging: ‘Thus says YHWH, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go that they may serve Me – Shalach et-ammi v’ya’avduni”’ (Exodus 9:1). The Israelites were liberated from the tyranny of Pharaoh in order to serve a more powerful Master.

While the teachings of the Torah concern every aspect of domestic, social, economic and political life, their foundation is the service of God. After the destruction of the last Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, the centrality of Divine service continued through Rabbinic Judaism, which established the framework for Jewish life in the form of the halachah, the system of law articulated first in the Mishnah, edited around the year 200 CE. Whether or not one is a student of Rabbinic literature, every Jew who participates in Jewish rites is reminded of the obligation to serve God each time we recite a blessing which includes the words, ‘… asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivvanu l…’ – ‘… who makes us holy with His commandments and commands us to …’ (literal translation).

We are at a crucial moment in the history of Liberal Judaism and Reform Judaism in Britain, as the two organisations negotiate a merger with the goal of becoming a single entity, ‘Progressive Judaism’, a name that directly reflects the global movement to which both LJ and MRJ are affiliated: the World Union of Progressive Judaism, founded in 1926 at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London (https://wupj.org/about-us/history/).

What is Progressive Judaism? There is no single answer. However, there is a clue in the word ‘Progressive’. Progressive Judaism is not only, like Orthodox Judaism, a response to Modernity, to the consequences of intellectual Enlightenment and political Emancipation. Progressive Judaism provides a framework for working out how to live Jewishly in a rapidly changing modern/post-modern world; an attempt to re-interpret and re-engage with our Jewish inheritance in the context of the needs of the present. In the past fifty years since Rabbi Jacqueline Tabick became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi at Leo Baeck College, Progressive Judaism has been in the forefront of change in the British Jewish community, to the extent that, today, 50% of the progressive rabbinate is female, and 20%, LGBTQ+. Just as important, from its inception in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, Progressive Judaism has acknowledged that individuals – and not just communities – have a role in defining and perpetuating Jewish life. As a consequence, ‘informed choice’, rather than the notion of being simply ‘commanded’ has been the hallmark of Progressive Judaism.

But, of course, Jewish life depends on individuals choosing to contribute to building and maintaining community. More than twenty years ago, I first set out what I call the compelling commitments that frame the choices we make (‘Bridging Choice and Command’, MANNA Essay, MANNA, No. 78, Winter 2003). At this critical juncture in the history of the two progressive movements in Britain, when we are trying to work out what it means to be ‘progressive’, I offer these ‘compelling commitments’ as a contribution to our reflections. Emerging out of our on-going experience they are not set in stone, but at their heart, we find these three – each one with a particularist and a universalist dimension:

Compelling Commitment One: Embracing Jewish Teaching and engaging with knowledge in the wider world

The commitment to nurture and cultivate our own Jewish lives and the life of the Jewish people as a whole, by continuing to learn and engage with the Torah, with our Jewish stories, teachings and traditions, and by participating in the various ritual acts, which celebrate Life with Jewish flavours, colours and tones.

And: The commitment to engage with the accumulating wisdom of the world, to study and to learn about the major developments in human knowledge, and to find ways of ensuring that the developing wisdom of humanity in all its dimensions connects with and informs Jewish teaching.

Compelling Commitment Two: Sustaining the Jewish Community and repairing the world

The commitment to honour both those that have gone before us and those who are yet to be born, by becoming links in the chain of the generations of our people, and by maintaining, restoring and re-creating Jewish communal life in Britain, in Israel, and throughout the world.

And: The commitment to love not only our neighbours, but also the stranger in our midst; to liberate the oppressed, protect the vulnerable, and support the fallen; to pursue justice and to seek peace; to participate in the great task of Tikkun Olam, the repair of the world.

Compelling Commitment Three: The Eternal is our God and The Eternal is One

The commitment to explore the meaning of existence, to journey, to search, and to listen out for the voice of the Eternal, who calls each Jew to become part of Am Yisrael, the people who ‘struggle with God’, and to strive to sanctify Life each day through our actions and our relationships.

And: The commitment to acknowledge that the Eternal is One, and to work together with all the peoples of the world to recognise the essential unity of existence in all its diversity.

Unlike the traditional understanding of the ‘commandments’, these ‘compelling commitments’ offer a framework for our lives, without spelling out exactly what each and every Progressive Jew should be doing each and every moment of the day. It is the responsibility of each one of us to decide for ourselves, and in relation to those around us, how to put our sense of commitment into practice.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

DEDICATING THE FLAMES OF CHANUKKAH (5785-2024)

By in Festival Sermons

At Chanukkah, the Festival of ‘Dedication’, as we recall our ancestors’ struggle against tyranny by kindling light, we invite the gathering flames to inspire our own struggles against oppression and injustice.

This year, almost fifteen months since the horrors of October 7, 2023 and its aftermath, we dedicate our nightly kindling to all those whose lives have been devastated in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, in the hope that the violence will soon cease, and that all those who have been bereaved, injured, and traumatised, will be enabled to rebuild their lives in Peace and Freedom.

  • We dedicate the 1st flame of Chanukkah to the 251 people taken hostage and 1200 massacred by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. We think in particular of the 38 children, 364 young people murdered at the Nova Music festival, the kibbutzniks slaughtered in twenty-one kibbutzim – including 90 members on Kibbutz Be’eri alone – and the 71 foreign nationals.
  • We dedicate the 2nd flame of Chanukkah to the more than 35,000 Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 during Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas.
  • We dedicate the 3rd flame of Chanukkah to the almost 100 Israeli civilians killed since October 7, 2023, including fourteen hostages in Gaza, and thirty-three additional hostages thought to be dead.
  • We dedicate the 4th flame of Chanukkah to the 1.6 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza, living in tents, without sufficient food, and under constant threat of bombardment.
  • We dedicate the 5th flame of Chanukkah to the 135,000 people displaced in Israel, including 60,000 in the North.
  • We dedicate the 6th flame of Chanukkah to the more than 500 Palestinians killed in the West Bank by settlers and the IDF soldiers since October 7, 2023.
  • We dedicate the 7th flame of Chanukkah to the 3,960 Lebanese killed during Israel’s retaliatory war against Hezbollah during the autumn of 2024.
  • We dedicate the 8th flame of Chanukkah to the 101 Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza.

THE FESTIVAL OF CHANUKKAH: A CELEBRATION OF FREEDOM FROM OPPRESSION – Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

By in Festival Sermons

Chanukkah, meaning ‘Dedication’, is an eight-day festival which celebrates freedom from oppression with the kindling of flames each night. The Hebrew date of Chanukkah is the 25th of the month of Kislev. This year, it begins after sunset on December 25th.

History

In 167 BCE, the Jews of Judea rose up in revolt against the oppressive regime of the Seleucid Emperor, King Antiochus IV. The revolt was led by Judah the Maccabee (‘Hammer’), the eldest son of Mattathias, the priest of Mod’in. In 164, Judah and his followers recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been turned into a pagan shrine, cleansed and rededicated it, and re-lit the seven-branched candle-stick, the M’norah. The event was marked by an eight-day celebration, resembling the Festival of Sukkot (‘Tabernacles’), which they had missed.

In later centuries, the early rabbis taught (Talmud: Shabbat 21b) about the miracle of a supply of Temple oil only sufficient for one day that lasted for eight days in order to emphasise that the triumph was ultimately spiritual: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit declares the God of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

How to Kindle the Flames of Chanukkah

The principal ritual of Chanukkah concerns the kindling of flames by a ‘servant’ candle (shamash) on a nine-branched Chanukkah M’norah, night after night for eight nights: one flame on the 1st night, two on the 2nd, three on the 3rd, and so on. The candles are placed from right to left, and lit from left to right to give pride of place to the candle for each day. Ideally, the lit Chanukkah M’norah should be put in the window, in order to proclaim the miracle. Whether or not one believes in ‘miracles’, the accumulating flames of Chanukkah celebrate the miracle of the triumph of the human spirit over the forces of tyranny and persecution.

Dedicating the Flames of Chanukkah

As we recall our ancestors’ struggle against tyranny by kindling light, we invite the gathering flames to inspire our own struggles against oppression and injustice.

This year, almost fifteen months since the horrors of October 7, 2023 and its aftermath, we dedicate our nightly kindling to all those whose lives have been devastated in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, in the hope that the violence will soon cease, and that all those who have been bereaved, injured, and traumatised, will be enabled to rebuild their lives in Peace and Freedom.

  • We dedicate the 1st flame of Chanukkah to the 251 people taken hostage and 1200 massacred by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. We think in particular of the 38 children, 364 young people murdered at the Nova Music festival, the kibbutzniks slaughtered in twenty-one kibbutzim – including 90 members on Kibbutz Be’eri alone – and the 71 foreign nationals.
  • We dedicate the 2nd flame of Chanukkah to the more than 35,000 Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 during Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas.
  • We dedicate the 3rd flame of Chanukkah to the almost 100 Israeli civilians killed since October 7, 2023, including fourteen hostages in Gaza, and thirty-three additional hostages thought to be dead.
  • We dedicate the 4th flame of Chanukkah to the 1.6 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza, living in tents, without sufficient food, and under constant threat of bombardment.
  • We dedicate the 5th flame of Chanukkah to the 135,000 people displaced in Israel, including 60,000 in the North.
  • We dedicate the 6th flame of Chanukkah to the more than 500 Palestinians killed in the West Bank by settlers and the IDF soldiers since October 7, 2023.
  • We dedicate the 7th flame of Chanukkah to the 3,960 Lebanese killed during Israel’s retaliatory war against Hezbollah during the autumn of 2024.
  • We dedicate the 8th flame of Chanukkah to the 101 Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza.

Blessings, Prayer & Song

Light the ‘servant’ candle, then recite:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech ha-olam a-sher ki-d’-sha-nu b-mitz-vo-tav v-tzi-va-nu l-had-lik neir Cha-nu-kah.

Blessed are You, Eternal One, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has sanctified us with commandments, and commanded us to kindle the light of Chanukkah.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְאִמוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam she-a-sa ni-sim la-avo-tei-nu v’i-mo-tei-nu ba-ya-mim ha-heim baz-man ha-zeh.

Blessed are You, Eternal One, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days, at this season.

Recite only on the first night:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam she-heche-ya-nu v-ki-y-ma-nu v-hi-gi-a-nu laz-man ha-zeh.

Blessed are You, Eternal One, our God, Sovereign of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.

After the candles are lit, say:

Ha-nei-rot ha-la-lu a-nu mad-li-kin al ha-ni-sim, v-al ha-t-shu-ot, v-al ha-nif-la-ot, she-a-si-ta la-avo-tei-nu. V-chol sh-mo-nat y-mey cha-nu-kah ha-nei-rot ha-la-lu ko-desh; v-ein la-nu r-shut l-hish-ta-meish ba-hem, e-la lir-o-tan bil-vad, k-dey l-ho-dot l-shim-cha al ni-se-cha, v-al nif-l-o-te-cha, v-al y-shu-o-te-cha.

We kindle these lights in remembrance of the wonderful deliverance you performed for our ancestors. Throughout the eight days of Chanukkah, these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make use of them, but only to look at them, so that their glow may move us to give thanks for Your wonderful acts of deliverance.

Then, sing Ma’oz Tzur:

מָעוֹז צוּר יְשׁוּעָתִי לְךָ נָאֶה לְשַׁבֵּחַ

תִּכּוֹן בֵּית תְּפִלָּתִי וְשָׁם תּוֹדָה נְזַבֵּחַ

לְעֵת תָּכִין מַטְבֵּחַ מִצָּר הַמְנַבֵּח

אָז אֶגְמוֹר בְּשִׁיר מִזְמוֹר חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ

Ma-oz tzur y-shu-a-ti, l-cha na-eh l-sha-bei-ach
Ti-kon beit t-fi-la-ti, v-sham to-dah n-za-bei-ach
L’eit ta-chin mat-bei-ach, v-tzar ha-m-na-bei-ach
Az eg-mor b-shir miz-mor Cha-nu-kat Ha-miz-bei-ach [X 2]

Refuge, Rock of my salvation, to You our praise is due.

Let Your house become a house of prayer and thanksgiving for all peoples.

When by Your will bloodshed ends and enemies cease to scream hate:

Then we will shall celebrate with joyful song the true dedication of Your altar.

B’reishit: Becoming an Earthling and Embracing Coexistence

By in World Union of Progressive Judaism e-letter

There are two creation narratives in Genesis, B’reishit. Genesis 1 presents a hierarchical account with humanity as the apex of creation empowered to dominate and subdue the other living creatures (Gen.1.28). Genesis 2 gives a more holistic account in which the human formed from the dust of the ground, has the more modest role of Gardener and Guardian (Gen.2.15).

Apart from the fact that humanity is created last, the apex of life, Creation in Genesis 1 is conjured up by words and the Creator creates by declamation: ‘And God said, “let there be light”. And there was light (Gen.1.3). In Genesis 2, on the other hand, Creation is so tangible, it is, quite literally, earthy. Rather than employing the abstract verb to ‘create’, bara (root: Beit Reish Aleph), here, like a potter, YHWH God ‘forms’ [va-yitzar] (root: Yud Tzadi Reish) the human out of the dust of the ground. Moreover, the human [ha-adam] is directly identified with the ground [ha-adamah].

An earthling, formed from the dust of the ground, the human also partakes of the Divine. In Genesis 1, the connection with the Divine is abstract: the human is created in the image of God (who has no image). In Genesis 2, the connection is visceral: ‘YHWH God … breathed into hir nostrils [b’apav] the breath of life [nishmat chayyim]’ (Gen.2.7). The human is infused with the Divine.

Although the first and second narratives concerning the creation of humanity are distinguished by the emphasis on human domination in the first and guardianship in the second, both present unequal relationships: the unequal relationship between the human and the rest of Creation in Genesis 1, and the unequal relationship in Genesis 2 between the human and the animals whom the human names (2.19-20), and between the man and the woman (2.23).

Nevertheless, there are also hints in both accounts of coexistence with the Earth and its creatures. Significantly, in Genesis 1, a feature shared in common by both, humans and animals, is that they are vegetarian. As we read (Gen.1.30):

And to every land animal, and every bird of the sky, and all that creeps on the Earth which is a living being [nefesh chayyah], [I give] all green vegetation for food.

Later, after the flood which has destroyed all the vegetation, that shared bond between all living creatures is broken when humans are permitted to eat meat, albeit, not the blood, which is identified as the nefesh, the ‘being’ of the animal (Gen.9.3-4).

With the identification of an animal’s blood as their nefesh, ‘being’, we have another significant connection between humanity and the animals. Although the second Creation narrative singles out the human for nishmat chayyim, the ‘breath of life’, each creature, according to the first account, is a living being, nefesh chayyah. I have translated the word nefesh as ‘being’. The more familiar and usual translation is ‘soul’. But the concept of soul – a consequence of the binary division between body and spirit – is not found in the Hebrew Bible. Nefesh has a much more material resonance in the biblical landscape, hence, the identification of the ‘blood’ of an animal as its nefesh. Significantly, all the words that have been spiritualised in post-biblical discourse – ru’ach, n’shamah and nefesh – have a materiality about them: ru’ach, ‘spirit’, that which moves unseen, is ‘wind’; n’shamah is ‘breath’, which by definition is a physical dynamic property, albeit invisible; nefesh; the inner ‘being’ is identified with blood, because that is the substance that flows around inside the body, not least, activating our beating hearts. Ru’ach, n’shamah and nefesh are all invisible, but they are all, nevertheless, tangible, physical forces.

The Creation narratives in B’reishit may be read as mythological stories about how things began, and also as cautionary tales about human arrogance. They may be read for their teachings concerning the need for human beings to exercise responsibility in relation to the Earth and its myriad forms of life, and for their suggestions concerning the essential affinity between the human and the Earth – adam-adamah – and between the human and the other creatures that are also designated as nefesh chayyah, living beings. As earthlings, human beings are not just burdened with the role of being guardians, we are blessed with the same gift of existence as all the other forms of life. This blessing, experienced with every precious breath we take, is an invitation to coexistence.

This blessing also has practical implications for the treatment of other creatures, and for the harnessing of the green life of the planet to human needs. For example, from a Jewish perspective, the dietary laws which are rooted in binary teaching concerning what may or may not be eaten, initially set out in the Book of Leviticus chapter 11, have been reframed in some circles to reflect ecological considerations. Kashrut, a noun based on the Hebrew root Kaf Shin Reish, means that which is ‘fit’. In recent years Jewish definitions of food fitness have expanded to include our responsibility for animal welfare and the environment, with organic, local, and free-range food production, and the need to protect species diversity, becoming major priorities.[1]

The observance of Shabbat provides another opportunity for practising coexistence. Caught up in the 24/7 culture of contemporary life, it is hard to set aside a day of complete cessation. But perhaps, as we face ecological devastation and climate catastrophe, as we count the cost of near-global industrialisation and reckless consumerism, as we begin to acknowledge our domination of all other life forms on the planet, as we run out of breath, we may begin to see in Shabbat an invitation to take a breath and rediscover ourselves as earthlings, and equally important, to give the Earth a rest, too. 1000 words

  1. See: The LJ leaflet Ethical Eating by Rabbi Janet Burden https://www.liberaljudaism.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Ethical-Eating-MAR-2020.pdf See also: https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/eco-kashrut-a-kashrut-for-our-times/

    https://ecojudaism.org.uk/ The Eco Synagogue initiative Focuses on the practical application of ecological considerations to congregational life, including, synagogue food policies https://www.jvs.org.uk/2018/03/12/ecosynagogue-launches-london/ For an individual example of eco-agriculture in action in Britain: https://sadehfarm.co.uk/savesadeh ↑

Simchat Torah 5785

By in Uncategorized

‘We will dance again’
Defiance
From the pit of
Loss
Grief
Mourning
The night of
Dancing
Eclipsed
By a dawn of
Blood.

And now
The cycle has
Turned
One year on
Are we ready
To dance
Again?

The joy of Life
Does not yet
Lift our feet
Too much life
Lost
The impulse for Joy
Stolen
With the captives
Then
like them
Abandoned
In the long ache of
Waiting
Waiting.

But perhaps
Recalling our ancestors’
Long treks through
Every wilderness
We can
Rejoice
In the Torah
Rooted
Resilient
Through every raging
Uprooting storm
Grasp
Our ‘Tree of Life’
In our arms
And let our broken hearts
Beat out a dance?

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah

Yom Kippur 5785

By in Poetry

Yom Kippur 5785

Yoma
‘The Day’
Out of the
Daylight of
Every day
A cave of a day
Glowing
In the white-blank
Glare
Of Eternity
Drawing us in
To its mysteries
Searching
Us out in its
Fierce gaze
A spotlight
Into our souls.

And yet
Even in the harsh
Light of scrutiny
Yoma
The Day
Shadowed
By the freight of
The past
The Day
Out of time
Burdened
By times
Furrowed in fear
And trembling
Trapped
In an attic
In a cellar
In a ghetto
Crammed with deportees
In a camp
Cloaked
With the soot
And stench
Of smoking chimneys
In bomb-shelters
When sirens roared
Enemy attack
In the midst of
The sacred rites.

And now
This past year
That began
In depravity
Massacre
Violation
On October 7
The call to
‘Choose Life!’
Hollowed out
By the
Howl of
Death
Destruction.

And
In the rock of The Day
That has survived
With all its burdens
Preserved by our
Fidelity
To its hallowed
Purpose
Cracks
Fissures
That can only
Be sealed
By our commitment
To choose
Life
Once again.

Sukkot 5785

By in Poetry

Festival of ‘Tabernacles’
And ‘Ingathering’
Season of
Temporary
Shelters
Set up in fields
At harvest time
This year
Reaping
The harvest of
Twelve months of
Destruction.

Burnt-out
Homes in
Shattered
Kibbutzim
Village-islands of
Collective
Life
Labour
Democracy
Their
Surviving
Battered
Inhabitants
Scattered
To live
Temporarily
Elsewhere.

And
In another
Elsewhere
Flimsy tents
Temporary
Shelters
In the rubble
Ruined
Homes
Schools
Hospitals
Open to the elements
Their battered inhabitants
Wanderers
In the wilderness of
Concrete and dust
Carrying their lives
On their backs
As they bear the pain of
Endless
Displacement.

And all this
Devastation
Defying
The ever-present
Gaze of
The Eternal
Summoned
By our hands
Grasping
Palm-branch
Willow
Myrtle
Fragrant etrog
And waving
Nature’s bounty
In all directions
East
South
West
North
Heavenwards
And towards the
Gasping
Blasted
Earth.