*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 […]
A commentary on the Torah portion, Tazri’a-M’tzora LJ E-Bulletin, 04.23 Jewish practice, rooted in Jewish teaching, is visceral. It concerns what Jews do with our bodies from the kitchen to the bedroom, how we mark our homes, what we wear, and how we celebrate Shabbat and the festivals with food, rituals and song. The Book of […]
Joseph and their life of many genders: LJ Thought on Va-yeishev – Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah Parental favouritism is a central theme of the Torah narratives about our ancestors and comes to the fore with the birth of the twins, Esau and Jacob, to Rebecca and Isaac (Genesis 19:22-26). Isaac favoured Esau and Rebecca favoured […]
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 […]
THE CHALLENGE OF YOM KIPPUR BEGINS AFTER THE SACRED DAY IS OVER Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is the concluding day of the ten-day journey of t’shuvah, ‘return’; of repentance. But what is the point of our repentance? Repentance is not an end in itself. If it were, the journey would only be from […]
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?
Introduction Hello everyone. I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person. As someone designated ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’, I need to keep Covid-safe. I have been asked by Rebecca and René to speak about individual and personal theology, so here is my take on the theme. An LSE Sociology graduate-come-Marxist anti-racist activist turned radical feminist […]
SERMON FOR JEWISH LGBT + GROUP EREV SHABBAT SERVICE, 27.05.21 via ZOOM Shabbat shalom everyone. It feels good to be here with you this evening, celebrating Shabbat together as LGBT+ Jews, albeit, virtually. This Shabbat, in Israel and progressive communities across the world, we begin reading the third book of the Torah. The book is […]