Pinchas – Parsha 26th July 2019

By Glen BerdNo Comments
Pinchas As Theresa May stepped down as PM this past week she emphasised how being the second only female PM out of 77 PM's goes to show that women today can achieve their potential and that there are no barriers - even to the top positions. In this weeks Parsha, Pinchas, we are introduced to 5 incredible and formidable women - the daughters of Tzelafchad. The daughters of Tzelofchad came to Moses to request a portion in the land of Israel. At that point in time it was understood according to Torah law that inheritance only passes to sons and not daughters. The Daughters of Tzelafchad are undaunted. They sense the natural injustice of this situation. What is more they are passionate lovers of the Land and want their fathers name to be eternally attached to it through them. Listen to their powerful words to Moses: "Our father died in the desert, but he was not in the assembly that banded together against the Lord in Korah's assembly,...
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We’ll Meet Again ….

We’ll Meet Again ….

By Glen BerdNo Comments
Once upon a time, in the dim distant past, there were two little girls at Crumpsall Lane Primary School .. Marilyn Berger is on the second row, second from left and Glenys Brody is on the second row, third from left. The girls were seated next to each other by the photographer for the purpose of the photograph. In the intervening years, they never sat together again. They moved onto different high schools and different lives.  Nor did they ever meet.   Fast forward to 2016 (I can't tell you how many years passed, as if I did, I would have to kill you) Now the two little girls are bigger (although not necessarily taller!) and Marilyn Berger is now Marilyn Gaus and Glenys Brody is now Glenys Berd. By a strange quirk of fate, they both found their lives taking the same different direction - moving from Manchester to St. Anne's .. and in St Anne's Synagogue, they both sat together again on Yom Tov 2016. The...
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