Post List

Favouritism or Choice?

We all like to go and see a good film. So there you are, popcorn in hand, choc-ices dripping, the film rolls and it reveals a handsome young man who is despised by his brothers, a family racked with internal jealousy, plotting and intrigue, a father who is trapped in the past, locked still in family personality and character traits which should no longer exist. There is an attempt on…

Facing up to the enemy

Shabbat Vayishlach In this portion we see Ya’akov returning to the land after 20 years, returning to face all the issues he had so quickly avoided on his departure. Ya’akov, the one who fled from his brother, unable to confront what had happened, the fear of reprisals, the fear of the unknown, all this dogged his footsteps. We see now a changing Ya’akov, slowly beginning to learn the spiritual lessons…

Parashat Vayetzei

The Reluctant Chosen Ya’akov is on his journey of becoming a man of God. He has a lot of growing up to do, emotionally and above all spiritually; here is the man who while sleeping on the future Temple site is blissfully unaware of the presence of God, so spiritually deaf is he and as yet untrained in the ways of God. His life is hallmarked by his constant struggles…

Parashat Toldot

There was an old woman who swallowed a spider, That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, I don’t know why she swallowed the fly, Perhaps she’ll die. Remember this humorous yet ridiculous song? I thought about this when thinking about this week’s Torah portion. Yitz’chak was forty years old when he took Rivkah, the daughter of B’tu’el the Arami from Paddan-Aram…

Parashat Chayei Sarah

A woman of valour, who can find? This is a very important portion. It speaks of so many things that are historical patterns that have echoed throughout the ages since, the battle between Yitzchak and Ishmael, the choices made in the fleshly, carnal, physical realm rather than in the spiritual, and the lives and legacies of Sarah and Rivkah. Yet it’s named after the life of Sarah, the only Matriarch…

Parashat Vayera – Spiritual Deception

Last week we considered how ‘mercy wins out over judgement’ as the core concept that lies behind the spiritual reality of the physical universe. Through Avraham, the route to redemption begins to take hold, revealing the power and ability of God to turn around any situation, however evil, for good. Those whose spirits are regenerated will see the tension between the spiritual and the physical and will see the triumph…

Parashat Lech Lecha (Go Out)

An old Rabbinic tradition tells of the Jewish community of Horodna. One winter’s night there was a heavy snowfall. The next morning the men of Horodna got up before dawn, put on their fur coats and hats and boots, and set out in the deep snow for the Shul. Whilst on their way, they heard what sounded like someone singing. In the dim pre-dawn light, they were surprised to see…

Shabbat Noach: Knowing how to rest

It is said: Nomen est omen, you are your name. Here we have the first portion in the Torah named after a person, Noach, and his name comes from the Hebrew verb ‘lanuach’ which means to rest. His father chose the name because he felt that through him (Noach) rest would come, or comfort, as some translators have it, from the toil of the land. In some way Noach, as…

Parashat Bereshit

The point of it all Here we are once more, our scroll rolled back to the start and the well-worn path of the history we seem to know so well starts up again. These early verses are so enigmatic; it’s almost as if we’re called to dig deep to understand the broad sweep of the truths contained therein. All of our history is contained in these few verses – and…

Sukkot

Sukkot, coming as it does towards the very end of our festival year, is a time of great rejoicing. Its English name, variously translated from the Hebrew, is commonly known as the feast of Tabernacles. Its origin of course, like most Jewish festivals, is connected with an actual historical event. The ‘narrative’ year begins in the Spring with Passover, which tells of our deliverance from Egypt, and runs through to…

Weekly Drash