Category: Rabbis blog

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment. Rabbi's Corner - Lighting up your own soul This week’s Parsha begins with the commandment for lighting the Menorah in the Tabernacle each day (and later in the Temple). "Speak to Aaron and say to him, “When you mount the lamps, let the seven lamps give light at the front of the lampstand.” On the surface the verse seems to be an explicit commandment directed only at the Kohanim. However, the Talmud (Yoma 24b) records that the actual lighting of the Menorah is not considered "service" (Avodah). Non Kohanim are only precluded from Avodah elements of the service. In this case it is only the preparation of the lamps that is defined halachically as an act of service that is forbidden to a non-kohen. But the lighting itself any Jew could perform! This view is codified by Maimonides in his great code...

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment. Rabbi's Corner - Every Voice matters This week I read a story that summed up for me the difference between Israeli society and that of its enemies: An Arab Woman Randa Aweis received a lifesaving Kidney transplant from Yigal Yehoshua, a Jewish man who was killed by the Arab rioters in Lod. Yigal was a man who believed in co-existence and was pained by the civil unrest that had erupted in Jewish-Arab cities. Tragically he lost his life by the hands of murderous haters who do not hold life sacred. And yet even in death Yigal gave another lease of life to this lady irrelevant of who she was. In contrast Hamas fired rockets at the Israeli convoy that was sent to provide humanitarian aid. This past week has been draining watching the hate fest circulating social media and...

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment. Rabbi's Corner - Re-imagining ourselves in God's Image We Jews do a lot of praying (Teffilah) but what exactly is this strange phenomenon? The Siddur provides us with formulaic prayer a kind of template where we can "pour out our souls before God". Of course prayer can be uttered at any time in any place and in any language as God is Omnipresent and so we can connect to him whatever our emotional or psychological state. King David expresses this idea so powerfully "If I ascend to the heavens, there You are, and if I make my bed in the grave, behold, You are there." (Psalm 139:8) We can think of Teffillah in terms of what we do: We praise God for what we have. (In Hebrew Shevach) We ask God for our needs? (In Hebrew Bakashot) and we thank God for what we...

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment. Rabbi's Corner -   Does it matter if we believe in One God? Does God really care about the seeming trivial insignificant aspects of human life? Is it not enough to believe in God in my heart? Why do I need to prove that through rituals that seem totally alien to me and irrelevant to my life? These and many other questions are not new but I think they are particularly relevant to our current times when not only religion has been marginalised but religious language itself has regressed into the "shadows of the human soul". Religious faith is not just a set of beliefs and behaviours that support and embody those ideas. Religious faith gives a person a whole new vocabulary with which to think about and frame reality. For example the narrative of our origins that is promulgated...

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment. Rabbi's Corner -  Lag Boomer Lag Boomer is the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer. It is considered a "festival" Why? It is the Yahrzeit of the holy Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a second century sage (Tanna), one of the disciples of Rabbi Akiva. Originally the Omer period was a time of celebration and anticipation as we prepare for the giving of the Torah. This period was marred with the death of 24 thousand students of Rabbi Akiva. Despite their immense scholarship and piety they lacked in according proper honour to each other. The Talmud is mute as to exactly how they lacked respect. Some have suggested that each one was so certain of their position that when rejecting the others view, that rejection became personalised. Of course Rabbi Akiva is the author of the statement "Love of ones...

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment. Rabbi's Corner -  Love must start with self  ‘And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Rabbi Akiva says: This is a great principal in the Torah Leviticus 19:18 Contained in this Mitzva are some of the deepest concepts in Judaism. First we see from the fact that the Torah mandates that we love our fellow as yourself,that we can really only extend love to another when we first love ourselves. Love of our fellow is predicated on us having a healthy self-concept. But herein lies a paradox. If I am filled with self love does that not lead to a self-orientated perspective. Even if I am able to make room for another in my life to love, surely this is not the same love that I have for myself? Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) addresses this issue in chapter 32 of...

Rabbi Surgery Please note that the Rabbi is available to meet congregants on Monday and Thursday. Please call 07917 548 386 if you would like an appointment.   Rabbi's Corner - Inner Transformation vs Compartmentalisation  The word Tzaraat is translated as a Leper but in truth this is a mistranslation most likely rooted in the Septuagint. See here for great article on this https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-a-metzora-the-same-as-a-leper-tazria-metzora/ by Daniel Kennemer founder of Mt Carmel Arabic Immersion. Hence, we will not translate the word and for this article we simply refer to Tzaraat as the affliction and Metzorah as the person with the affliction. The Torah's description of the Metzorah affliction is rather perplexing as it effects both the skin, people’s garments and even their homes. The person afflicted must leave the camp (only once the Kohen diagnoses the Tzaraat) and quarantine in total isolation until the affliction subsides. Prior to purification the Metzorah would be considered a source of spiritual impurity and if you came into contact with a Metzorah, you would become...

Rabbi's Corner - Living for a higher purpose beyond self This week we read of the 8th day of the inauguration of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) where Hashem's presence resided. Numbers in Judaism have great significance. God creator of the universe is the greatest mathematician of all. The relationship between numbers that exists within nature is truly awe inspiring. Even more inspiring is the fact that the grey matter of our brains can fathom the underlying laws of creation in the language of numbers. The number 8 in Judaism is particularly significant. We just had Seder night that ended with a song about numbers from 1 to 13. Just as science has discovered fundamental constants within nature, there are also 13 fundamental "spiritual" constants "So who knows 8? I know 8. 8 are the days in which a baby is born and 7 are the days of the week (Whoo Haa! if you sing it the American way!) 7 in other words represents creation and everything within it....

Rabbi's Corner  7th Day Pesach we commemorate the splitting of the sea of reeds which saved the Israelites from impending destruction by the Egyptian oppressors. The image of the sea splitting is particularly powerful and teaches us profound lesson for our lives. Life's journey has many obstacles some of which may make us feel trapped. We may think to despair and give up compelled by the "logic" of the situation. The splitting of the sea is the model for the faith of the Jew who surrenders to Hashem. He or She understands that logic is a useful tool to analyse information and for helping make decisions. But ultimately God created logic and is thus not bound by its dictates. Emunah- Faith connects us to the core of our soul that transcends time and space and logic. When we access Emunah then we are able to overcome any obstacle. This does not always mean an overt miracle will occur to save us by what we...

Rabbi's Corner - Telling ourselves the right stories The Exodus is a cornerstone of Judaism. Every day we mention the going out of Egypt -Yetziyat Mitzraim. Once by day and once by night incorporated into the recital of the Shema as the third paragraph. Every Shabbat we invoke the memory of the Exodus in our recital of Kiddish on Friday Night (Zecher Litziyat Mitzrayim). And of course, we have Seder Night which is dedicated to telling the story over to ourselves and the next generation. Every culture and society tells itself stories since ancient times. The Greeks told stories of tragedy and of a pantheon of gods all vying for power in never ending battle between forces. The Romans told themselves stories of power and dominion. Postmodern societies are currently telling themselves stories about personal autonomy, human rights and the pursuit of pleasure. All humans tell themselves stories as this is the fundamental way, we develop our identity. The exodus is our unique Jewish story about how...