My leaving sermon from the LJS last Shabbat: The girls have a story book, Tryannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson. It’s a sort of mix between an ugly duckling, weak character becomes hero fable. In the story, our eponymous character has a revelation through the classic plot device of seeing one’s reflection Read more…
This morning I read the following extract from an essay by Martin Buber entitled, ‘Teaching and Deed’ (an essay in which Buber is fairly clear that deeds must have the underpinning of learning): In Jewry, the way which leads to that promised time, the way of man’s contribution to ultimate fulfilment, Read more…
I know what you’re going to ask me – have I been away, was it productive, did I have a good sabbatical. In answer to all three questions let me first say thank you for giving me the space and time for it. It probably saved my life or my Read more…
Last night the LJS hosted 250 people of all faiths and none, including: the local MP, Karen Buck, Westminster City Councillors, representatives of the Israeli Embassy, members of the clergy and congregations from our local community and further afield, including representatives of Christian communities, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Hare Krishna. Interfaith Read more…
In a couple of weeks (in fact on 25th November) it is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Now it might be our second nature to realise that violence against women is wrong. Well evidently not to everyone, here are some facts from the UN: Up Read more…
Last Shabbat, we read Ki Tissa (including the golden calf story) and we celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of Lotte – here is my sermon: Lotte, your davar Torah was a tough criticism of Moses and Aaron. According to you, Aaron is a crowd pleaser who leads without example and Moses Read more…
This is an adapted version of my piece for the LJS’s monthly newsletter in March 2013. Our celebration of Pesach this year is particularly poignant. Every year we pick up and read our Haggadah, the book that has developed with our history to be our guide book during the season Read more…
This is a cross post from my Thought for the Week for The LJS. Dear Friends, I know I’m not alone in being astonished by the news regarding the amount of horsemeat that has found its way into our food disguised as beef product. The comments that I heard, regarding Read more…
At the LJS we’re holding an programme of music and poetry by Viktor Ullmann on Sunday 27th January 2013, 7pm for Holocaust Memorial Day. Viktor Ullmann was born in 1898 and studied under Schoenberg and he developed his own unique style. In 1942 Ullmann was deported to Terezin where he Read more…
Two weeks ago I took a group of our teenagers, from the Kabbalat Torah class, on a trip to Amsterdam. We took the train from Kings Cross and met beneath the statue called ‘The Meeting Place’. The statue stands many feet tall and is the image of a couple in Read more…