Here Is Wonder

My grandmother Ruth, who is in her late 90s, has Dementia. For a good while, compounded no-doubt by the lockdown, she has been withdrawn and absent when engaged in conversation. My visits (and virtual calls) have largely been met with silence and, in all honesty, I began to wonder if my grandmother even recognised me anymore. I made my peace with the situation; she was silent but not uncomfortable. If anything she looked stable and content. Then yesterday the most extraordinary thing happened! I video-called my mother, not knowing she was at my grandmother’s home. Grandma Ruth answered the phone and said, “David!”. I was astonished! Then I saw my Grandma turn to my mother and say, “He’s the one training to be a Reform Rabbi, right?” I was flabbergasted! Grandma Ruth, an observant Orthodox Jew, turned back to me, and with a smile said, “Nu, so what do Reform Jews keep?!” My mother smiled; I smiled; my Grandma’s carer smiled! We all laughed! Grandma Ruth had just made

Protest is one of the most powerful, and oldest, tools at our disposal for Tikun Olam; Repairing the World. When we perceive injustice it is our duty to stand up to those responsible - whether they be witting or unwitting participants- and urge them to change their course. Protest can take many different forms. Sometimes it simply requires one to propose an alternative to, or speak calmly with, their government and leaders. Other times - if for instance the injustice continues to go unaddressed for a sustained period of time - it may be required to take on a more disruptive form. Over the past year or so, two large-scale and disruptive, protest movements have emerged. First is the global environmental movement which often falls under the banner of Extinction Rebellion. They promote “non-violent civil disobedience” in an attempt to encourage governments to take action over climate change. Their acts of protest have included closing five major bridges across the River Thames, planting t

Life always contains an element of uncertainty but for many people the last few weeks will have aroused a strong feeling of life's ambiguity.  Our knowledge of Coronavirus - as learned through the media, government and medical service providers - understandably leads us to feel anxious; this is uncharted territory. As adults, we are not used to such levels of unpredictably and the varied responses of different countries to the virus may lead us to believe that no one really knows what they are doing. Even worse, we may think that other governments are responding appropriately whilst our own is lagging behind.   I do not know how the next couple of months will play out; there are people much smarter then me - predominantly health experts - who are working round the clock to find the best way of getting us through the coming months. As we are learning, there are many factors that need to be carefully considered and balanced in order to increase the effectiveness of a coordinated 

The other day I was invited by my children's school to take an Online Safety Course for Parents & Carers . The course, created by the National Online Safety (NOS), is made up of 23, three-six minute, videos. Each video focuses on a different area of online safety such as 'online bullying', 'pornography' and 'screen addition'. The course will likely take you somewhere between two-three hours depending on your attention span and how many cups of tea you require to sit through all the videos. Overall I found the course extremely useful with the vast majority of videos able to clearly distill the challenges of being online into steps that a parent or carer might wish to take to address them. I was particularly impressed with the non-judgemental tone of each video and each of the presenters will put you, the viewer, at ease. As a parent, and educator who works with school-age children, I found that many of the videos offered a useful reminder that children,

In this short blog I will share some tips and suggestions on how you can better support your child's learning of Hebrew. Before we begin, in case you remain unconvinced, I would like to say a little about why I think it is useful for children to have at least some familiarity with this ancient (and modern) language. [Feel free to skip this part if necessary]. Why Hebrew Still Matters In Judaism, the Hebrew language is sometimes referred to as lashon hakodesh - either the “sacred language” or the “holy language.” This phrase has been applied to Hebrew since at least the latter part of the second century CE. A little over 1,800 years later Hebrew continues to be taught, spoken and sung across the world. In many ways the simple fact that Hebrew is in one form or another utilised by almost every Jewish community across the planet makes its study a worthy and valuable pursuit. Almost all Jewish communities (and to a large extent Jewish individuals), whether Liberal or Orthodox, Chinese

The other day, as I wrote my bi-annual Cheder Update for the Hebrew School I head up in London, I began reflecting on the larger role of children in Jewish communal life. Over the years, in my conversations with people from a wide-range of communities, I have found some people's preference for their communities to create 'children only' or 'family only' spaces. The logic here - and I do see the logic - is that children disrupt those people who are capable of 'participating' in the 'proper' or 'main' services or activities. Here, children are at best a mild distraction and at worse, a deterrent to fee-paying members. Those who are more sympathetic to families will often remind me that children (and their parents) will find the 'main' service and activities boring and un-engaging. In short, 'main' services are not for them. Instead, they suggest that children and their families should be encouraged to attend cheder (Hebrew sch

The other day I attended a meeting of cross-communal Jewish organisations. At the table were people who held a range of beliefs and practices. One of the challenges of such umbrella groups is how they accommodate such a diverse range of deeply-held religious ideologies. The inherent tensions of this debate were highlighted during an impromptu discussion as to whether a key feature of a website should remain active on Shabbat or if they should be turned off for all users during this 25 hour period. Though the thing itself may seem trivial the issues surrounding it do have wide-reaching implications. I believe people on both sides of the debate are driven primarily by this simple question; "How can my religious practices and beliefs be accommodated and respected by other people?" The key words here is other for it refers, not to the general non-Jewish population, but to other self-identifying Jews. This type of other often prompts a very different kind of conversation; partic

The other day my family and I visited The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden; the town where the author lived for almost 36 years. The centre is a well-curated space with many visual and hands-on exhibits for children (and adults) to explore. The team, as well as guest educators, also run interactive sessions throughout the day which explore the themes of Dahl's stories for children. My kids particularly enjoyed a 'mouths-on' drama session called, yucky foods! However, as I walked around the museum, I noticed that some of the more sinister aspects of Dahl's life were noticeably absent. Professor Jeremy Treglown, A Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of English Studies and author of the first full biography on Dahl, has detailed both the better and lesser known aspects of his character, "Misogynist, anti-Semite, misanthrope--Roald Dahl was reputed to be these as well as war hero, devoted father, and philanthropist. To millions however, he

The other day we were listening to the soundtrack of "& Juliet"; a musical exploring 'what' would have happened and the end of Romeo and Juliet had the latter not taken her own life at the end of the play. The show is actually a jukebox musical meaning that it takes established songs - here, largely pop songs from the late 90s to early 2010s - and uses them to tell an original story. One of the songs featured is the show is the 2001 Britney Spears song, "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman". The lyrics include: I'm not a girl don't tell me what to believe (Not yet a woman) I'm just tryin' to find the woman in me, yeah (All I need is time) all I need is time (A moment that is mine) that's mine While I'm in between Whilst this song was playing Aviva, my six year old daughter, asked what the song was about and why a 'man' was singing about "not being a girl". [To her it was 'obvious' that 'he' was

The other day I had the honour of spending the day with a group of Holocaust survivors. Myself and the talented Lev Taylor lead a Tu Bishvat Seder in the morning and I was touched by how warm and welcoming the group were to us, two (relatively) young rabbinical students. In the afternoon we sat down with them to lunch and one of the group told me that, after the Holocaust, she no longer believed in God. She said no God would allow such a monstrous thing to befall people. She also said that since she stopped believing in God she felt that she had lost "her anchor". This articulate woman then asked me, "how" God could allow things such as the Holocaust to happen? Whilst I was glad that this lady was able to find some grounding in the Jewish world in which she now lived, I could feel her pain, anger and frustration towards God and her disbelief that people (like me) could champion such a God. I responded by saying that any attempt to justify or explain a 'Godly'