Parshat Vayetse: Stairway to Heaven
We all dream of ladders to heaven. Whether it’s Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven or Yaakov’s dream in this week’s parsha, there’s...
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Nov 274 min read
Parshat Toldot: The Narrow Space of Trauma
We are a nation existing in the shadow of trauma. The events of this past year have shaken us to the core, leaving scars and wounds that...
Nov 65 min read
Parshat Lech-Lecha: Crisis, Courage and Covenant
Rather than demanding promises from humankind, God unilaterally commits to a promise never to destroy the world again. This is a radical...
Oct 295 min read
Parshat Noach: The Legacy of Avi Goldberg ז"ל: Unity without Uniformity
By all accounts, Rav Avi Goldberg, the 47-year-old father of eight who was tragically killed this week, was an extraordinary person. His...
Oct 255 min read
Parshat Bereshit: The year we learnt to surrender
The past year has been a lesson in surrendering our human need for control. As human beings, we crave certainty. We build our lives...
Oct 112 min read
Turning and Returning: Forgiving God, Forgiving myself
I don’t think I thought about God Or self transformation Or return Or love Instead there was guilt and shame Appraisals Scales and...
Sep 186 min read
Parshat Ki Tavo: Can we tell a Bigger Story ?
This week, my brother married his childhood friend of many decades. Despite, and perhaps even because of, their long journey and the...
Sep 66 min read
Parshat Shoftim: Loving Torah More than God
One of the earliest post-Holocaust stories, “ Yossl Rakover Speaks to God ” by Zvi Kolitz, is a visceral and raw account of the ramblings...
Aug 295 min read
Parshat Re'eh - Which Mountain Will You climb?
וְהָיָה, כִּי יְבִיאֲךָ ה אֱלֹקיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בָא-שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ--וְנָתַתָּה אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה עַל-הַר גְּרִזִים,...
Jul 316 min read
Parshat Matot Masei : “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here”: I or We?
It seems an odd way to conclude the book of Bamidbar. The Parsha covers laws about oaths and vows, the request of the tribes of Reuven,...
Jul 236 min read
Parshat Pinchas: Breaching Boundaries and Conflict Resolution - 17 B’Tamuz and Today
Today we live in a world riddled by conflict on the global, national and communal level. The most pressing question for contemporary...
Jul 105 min read
Parshat Chukat: The Power of Silence
The philosopher Theodor Adorno speaks about the notion of silence as an absolute expression of permanence. The silence that followed the...
Jul 15 min read
Parshat Korach: On echo-chambers. polarisation and the importance of arguing well
Everywhere you go in Israel, you will see the sign "יחד ננצח" - together we will win. Many speak about the imperative to unite and speak...
Jun 255 min read
Shelach Lecha: Falling in Love Again
For several years before October 7th, we had fallen out of love with our people and our land. As the Israeli singer Hanan Ben Ari implied...
Jun 198 min read
Parshat Beha’alotecha: The possibility at the heart of Crisis
Bnei Yisrael are ready to enter the land. The men have been counted for battle. The tribes are encamped around the Tabernacle. The...
Jun 58 min read
Parshat Bamidbar: The hostages or the war?
There are many today who frame our current reality as either/or. Either the hostages OR the War. Either we save those suffering...
May 298 min read
Parshat Bechukotai: Is the model of sin and punishment still relevant today?
What is religion? We tend to think of being religious as having belief in and being dependent on God, but I would argue that much like...
May 215 min read
Parshat Behar (Bechukotai): What sits at the heart of an ethical society?
The parshiot of Behar-Bechukotai are often read together, but as this year is a leap year they are read separately. However, there is a...
May 99 min read
Parshat Kedoshim: On Antisemitism, Spinoza, Holiness and the Modern Days of Awe
Many people have been pondering the connection between the woke movement in America and fundamentalist Islam. How have they made such...
Apr 191 min read
Pesach: On Hidden Miracles and Righteous Women
In this video blog on Pesach, in light of the last week, I explore the idea of our relationship to miracles - both in the Bible and today...
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