Category: Rabbis blog

Noach – Sermonette Would Noach have coped with the Covid 19 pandemic? Well he certainly understood the concept of shielding, pulling the drawbridge up in his Divinely inspired Ark and shutting himself away from the deluge that was destroying mankind and other forms of terrestrial life. Today we would laud Noach as the great scientist with keen predictive and forecasting skills. Much like the scientists of today he forewarned the generation of the impending doomsday. The Torah is not explicit on this point, but the Midrash reads between the lines. The Ark was built over a 120-year period! The current tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa only took six years to build! Why did Noach take so long? One could argue that Noach was working alone. But still 120 years.! The Midrash explains that this was by Divine design so that Noach would gain the greatest exposure to his generation to hopefully induce his society to repentance and bring them back from the brink of destruction. Sadly Noach failed on...

Bereishis- A short meditation  Rabbi Bergson Deep within the human psyche is the desire and need to know ones roots. Where we came from defines who we are. The bold opening to the Torah gives us the answer to this deepest of existential questions. We are man/woman created in the image of God. "He blew into us a breath of life." As the Zohar teaches "One who blows blows from deep within His essence" Out genetic code connects us back to our ancestors thousands of years ago. Our genes may contain our physical and personality makeup but we have a Divine gene that connects us to something deeper. Our soul's trace back to the original "blow" that God blew into Adam's "nostrils". We come from deep within the Source of All. God created the world in 6 days so we also go out into His garden to cultivate and guard it, to conquer and to create within it. But comes Shabbat and we come back to our source. We stop defining ourselves by...

Sukkot -  Faith in the face of uncertainty This Sukkot many of us will sadly be unable to attend a Sukkah. Sukkot is described in the Torah as "Zeman Simchaseinu" - the time of our joy. How can we grab onto this spiritual opportunity at this time? The answer lies in a debate by our sages as to the reason for the Mitzvah of the Sukkah Rabbi Eliezer held that the sukkah represents the clouds of glory that surrounded the Israelites during the wilderness years, protecting them from heat during the day, cold during the night, and bathing them with the light of the Divine presence. Rabbi Akiva on the other hand saw the Sukkah in its literal sense: a hut or booth reminding us of how we lived in temporary shelters throughout our sojourn in the dessert. Rabbi Eliezer's approach makes sense in that we are remembering our miraculous existence in the dessert. Rabbi Akiva's approach on the other hand requires more subtlety to appreciate as...

The Music of Life  It has always fascinated me that we read Parshat Haazinu in between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur during the period known as the "ten days of repentance". Let me explain: During this period we intensify our efforts at returning to Hashem through the three methods mentioned in the famous "Unetaneh Tokeh" prayer on Rosh Hashana- Teshuva(returning), Tefilla (Prayer) and Tzedaka (charity) 1) Teshuva - which in a nutshell  requires three separate stages a)  Azivat Hachet - ceasing to the sin or negative behaviour b) Charatah - sincerely regret what we have done to damage our relationship with Hashem c) Kabbalah Leasid - To commit for the future to never repeat the sin. d) These three aspects of Teshuva are expressed and articulated verbally as a confession known as Vidui. 2) Teffilah - Most have the custom to intensify the recital of Selichot (penitential prayers) at this time 3) Tzedakah - The ten days of repentance are an opportune time to increase in acts of charity and kindness. This is the source for the Yom Kippur appeal Coming back...

Personal Reflection before Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is both an intensely communal time as well as deeply personal time of reflection on our past year and our shortcomings. As a community we prayer together more so on Yom Kippur than on any other day in our calendar. The Shaliach Tzibbur (communal emissary) prefaces the Kol Nidrei Service with the following words: "With the consent of the Almighty, and consent of this congregation, in a convocation of the heavenly court, and a convocation of the lower court,3The court of man. we hereby grant permission to pray with transgressors" Yom Kippur is the day we try to achieve atonement. It is the day that historically God forgave the Jewish people for the sin of the golden calf. However, we acknowledge that we cannot achieve this alone. It is only as part of a community that we can find personal redemption, cleanse our souls, and atone for our sins. We must even invite the transgressors to join us in prayer. As...

Rosh Hashana 5781 - Trust The Hebrew word for security is Bitachon The Hebrew word for trust is also Bitachon! In all the surveys on the impact of Corona the greatest impact has been people feeling insecure. People are uncertain about their futures. Job insecurity. Food insecurity and health insecurity. The Charity "The Health Foundation" on its website notes in a very recent survey that "More than two-thirds of adults in the UK (69%) report feeling somewhat or very worried about the effect COVID-19 is having on their life. The most common issues affecting wellbeing are worry about the future (63%), feeling stressed or anxious (56%) and feeling bored (49%)." The Jewish answer to insecurity has always been faith and trust in Hashem who is the True Provider. Trust in God is our only security. That is why Bitachon (Faith/Trust) leads to Bitachon (Security). The Key theme of Sukkot represented by the Mitvza of Sukkah is to rejoice and celebrate life despite our inherent human insecurities. We live 7/8 days in...

Nitzavim - Vayelech - Paralysis or Moving forward One of the hardest aspects of the Corona Pandemic that we are living through right now is the constantly changing rules and restrictions (which of course have just changed again). It not only affects our practical plans but for many people a level anxiety has begun to creep into life which really affects ones emotional well-being and mental health. I think the name of this week’s portion really encapsulates what is happening to us as individuals, as a community and as a society. This week's parsha is a double portion -Nitzavim Vayelech and the meaning of the two words creates a contrast. Nitzavim means standing. Vayelech means walking or moving. For me the pandemic makes me feel like time is "standing still". For some they may feel like they are being held still in a stress position unable to proceed normally with their lives. In contrast to Nitzavim we have Vayelech which is a about moving forward with our lives. Moses speaks to...

Ki Tavo "Blessed are you when you come in and blessed are you when you go out"  Deut 28:6 Moses blesses the people if they listen to the words of Hashem. The above verse is unusual as you would expect the reverse "blessed are you when you go out and blessed are you when you go in". A person first leaves their location thus going out and only then returns? This question gave the sages licence to dig deeper into the text for extra layers of meaning. Rashi our classic commentator cites the Talmud that explains the blessing as "May your departure from the world be as free of sin as was your entry into the world." This addresses our question on the order as it no longer refers to physical location but rather the spiritual dimension of our lives. Another Midrash looks at the blessing as referring to back Moses life. Moses came into the world and brought Batya daughter of Pharaoh close to God. And...

Ki Teitzeh During the month of Elul and up until Shemini Atzeret we recite daily Psalm 27  which begins "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; from whom shall I be frightened?" Reciting extra psalms has been a spiritual discipline since the days Kind David authored them with divine inspiration. But why do we recite Psalm 27 during this season? The Midrash explains that the phrase "my light" is a reference to Rosh Hashana. This is derived by a cross reference to a later verse "And He will reveal your righteousness like the light, and your judgments like noon" (37:6) which connects judgement with light and of course Rosh Hashana is the day of judgement. We can also suggest that light is related to new beginnings just like creation began with the first creation "let there be light". Rosh Hashana is often seen a day of dread and fear of Divine judgement. Whilst this is true and is the reason, we call this period...

Elul As we approach Rosh Chodesh Elul we begin the process of reflecting on the year gone by as we prepare to crown Hashem as King once more on Rosh Hashana (This is the essence of the Mitvza of blowing shofar) The sages have always found deep meaning in Hebrew words and the names of our months contain especially profound teachings as they represent the essence of the spiritual energy of that particular month which we can tap into. Elul in Hebrew is an acronym for the verse in Song of Songs 6:3 "Ani Ledodo Vedodi Li" I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me. Elul is a therefore a special time for us to deepen our connection with our creator. The question gnawing at the heart of a sensitive person is of course why has this year been so disastrous. Covid 19 has affected the entire globe. There are so many people who are broken physically, spiritually, emotionally, economically. We cannot fathom the ways of Hashem, but...