“It turns out that trust is in fact earned in the smallest of moments. It is earned not through heroic deeds, or even highly visible actions, but through paying attention, listening, and gestures of genuine care and connection.” (from “Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.” by Brené Read more…
About 18 months ago I gave a sermon about Deuteronomy 10:1-2 and Menachot 99a:12. I want to talk about this thought provoking text again today because I want to reflect on the centrality of texts to my life. Rav Yosef teaches a baraita: This verse teaches that both the tablets of the Covenant and the pieces of the broken tablets are placed Read more…
ומעץ הדעת טוב ורע… Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat thereof you will surely die. (Genesis 2:17) What happens in the moment of eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree of knowledge Read more…
You will know from my recent sermons that I’ve been researching my family tree as a gift to myself for my birthday. I’ve met, on paper at least, the bootmaker, the tailor, the grocer, the judge, the businessman, the tabaco stripper and I’ve walked London, looked up google street view Read more…
I want to talk to you about three things this morning and, since it’s a sermon I will only skim the surface, but I’ll be great, you know I’m doing great, everyone thinks I’ll be great. I could ramble incoherently for a few minutes and then finish with a flourish Read more…
Last night I visited the Republic of Frestonia – or at least I would have done if I had been there from 1977 to the 1980s. The Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia attempted to secede from the United Kingdom in 1977 in protest to plans to redevelop the area. Read more…
I’ve just finished teaching a year of classes to rabbinic students. We’ve been learning about rabbinic literature – the thing that makes Judaism what it is today. Rabbinic literature is the response to the Bible in an uncertain world some 2000 years ago. It is an articulation of a world Read more…
With the dust slowly settling on yesterday’s election results, it wouldn’t surprise you to know that I’m often asked if Judaism is implicitly socialist or capitalist (or latterly neo-liberal). Of course, it’s a nonsense question. If we’ve learnt nothing else about how religion can be abused over the centuries, it’s Read more…
A Sermon for Parashat Yitro: I want everyone to imagine you have a trophy cabinet that records the moments of growth in your life. You know, like they have at schools. What do you put in that cabinet? Is it the awards, certificates, trophies, exam results. Surely yes. But where Read more…
Last weekend was the magnificent occasion of the ordination of seven new rabbis here at West London Synagogue. It marks the beginning of my 12th year in the rabbinate. When I joined the college there were three students in the year above me. Rabbi Neil Amswych (now serving in the Read more…