Start with a long Shofar blast. We are called by the voice of the Shofar. This week the month of Ellul began and the Shofar will be blown every day around the Jewish world (except, traditionally, on Shabbat, but here we are!) The Shofar blast is a call to action, an alarm bell, intended, accordingRead More
It has been a bit of a week. Lots of serious illness, and several close deaths. One of those was of Rabbi Israel Elia, the rabbi that performed our wedding nearly 19 years ago. Rabbi Elia was a Tunisian Jew who trained here in the UK as a young man, and served the Spanish andRead More
I am really glad we have so much joy and love to celebrate in our service this morning; the love of couples, and the love of Judaism, particularly because in Jewish terms we are in the very saddest part of the year, and because as British citizens, the last week has been pretty torrid. OnRead More
Shabbat Chukkat – Interfaith Service Questions are a bit of a professional hazard in our line of work. This week I had the unparalleled pleasure of being questioned by the year 4 and year 6 pupils at Kenilworth Primary School in Borehamwood, whose inspiring RE teacher, Mrs Alam, is here with us today. I wasRead More
Do you believe in democracy? I am not sure whether I do anymore. But I do believe in a notion of it. As Winston Churchill remarked in 1947: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.”[1] Now, facing yet another election on July 4th makes me reflect on the nature of our democracy and whether we/I canRead More
It doesn’t seem to matter who I ask. The only thing anyone wants to tell me about Shavuot is cheesecake. Shavuot is one of the most important festivals of the year. But Cheesecake is all anyone knows. So this year, I’m just going to embrace it. We are going to take one minute to turnRead More
Audrey spoke beautifully about the two main focuses of the book of Bemidbar and her Parashah: being in the wilderness literally and metaphorically, and that individuals matter. Each journey can both enrich and challenge us at the same time. And, that might be the point of our journeys: to grow while on them and notRead More
Harry, Kate and Alex, we are at a time in the year where we really need something to celebrate, especially this year. So thank you for giving us so much to celebrate! We are in a period known as the Omer – where we walk from the freedom of Pesach to the responsibility of receivingRead More
Today we celebrate the end of Pesach. Has this week made a difference to us as individuals and as a community? As a community we have had a memorable Pesach by marking it with the services and a meaningful communal Seder. This year having hostage photos at our Seder tables and then seeing the releasedRead More
I have a precious and diverse collection of haggadot. From an Ethiopian haggadah to haggadot that focus on modern heroes, a haggadah produced specially for American servicemen during the second world war, to an archaeological haggadah, each one speaks to different moments in Jewish thought and history, and my favourites also try to ensure thatRead More
As Jaden mentions in his D’var Torah one of the peculiarities of Parashat Tazria is the examination and validation by Priests of scaly infection called in Hebrew nega tzara-at – plague of infection on body, garments and buildings. There is hardly anything in the Torah about healing or of a medicinal nature. So why wouldRead More
Last Shabbat I was invited to speak at Oxford Jsoc for International Women’s Day. I did explain that I am also able to speak the other 364 days of the year (365 this year). We had a wonderful Shabbat there, staying over in the Jewish community centre where there is an Orthodox synagogue, a secondRead More