Here Is Wonder

This weekend synagogue’s around the country will be taking part in Jami’s Mental Health Shabbat. This is an important opportunity for Jewish communities - for our community - to raise the profile of mental health. Good mental health is something upon which all humanity depend; as a group or an individual we can only flourish with good awareness of, and tactics for looking after, our minds. When I was younger mental health was not something commonly spoken about, particularly in public, but thankfully times have changed. I feel comfortable speaking with family, friends and others about their challenges with mental health and likewise, comfortable sharing my own struggles and successes too. Indeed, speaking with others is perhaps the first and most vital step to addressing one's own battles with mental health. It is through our conversation and interactions with others that we realise we are not alone in our struggles and may find support, camaraderie and methodology in addressing...

As news & social media feeds bombard us with conflict, here are 7 moments to remind us of our shared humanity . 1 Buckinghamshire Faith Leaders from Bahá'í, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Quaker communities highlighting their mutual friendships and values Click here to read more 2 This gathering of Jewish and Muslim Women who are fighting fight for safety & empathy Click here to read more 3 Archbishop Justin Welby, Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra and Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg calling for solidarity and unity between communities in the UK, and rejecting any form of hatred or discrimination. Click here to read more 4 Maidenhead Faith Leaders Imam Abid Hashmi, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain and Reverend Sally Lynch coming together to foster peace and encourage good relations between the communities amid the Israel-Hamas war Click here to read more 5 This Raw and Honest Conversation Between Two friends - a Rabbi and an Imam Click here to read more 6 The Jewish and Muslim Groups Acknowled...

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov would chant the following mantra:  “Ribono shel Olam”.  Whilst we often translate “olam” as “universe” or “world” the Hebrew root connects to notions of “concealment” and “hiddenness”.  Therefore, we might understand “Ribono shel Olam” as meaning  “Sovereign of that which is Hidden”.  Chanting this mantra can be a humbling experience as it draws one's attention to the limitations of their own knowledge.  No matter how much I know, there will always be more for me to discover. Over the course of my lifetime I will only reveal a tiny fraction of all that is even theoretically knowable.  With this in mind I must use my time wisely, in order to reveal a singular truth:  That everything in existence is connected.  That everything has within it the Divine spark!

This week’s Torah portion - the excerpt from the Hebrew Bible that Jews will read this week - is called Vayishlach . This story sees Jacob experience several key moments of transition and focus which help him to strengthen his, and his family’s, identity. Jacob’s estrangement from his brother Esau is finally reconciled allowing the two to depart, not as strangers, but as friends. For Jacob, this is the much needed antidote to fear and anxiety that have overshadowed him since the day he was born. A short while later, and finally able to stop running, Jacob wanders alone and wrestles with a stranger - wrestles with his own identity and the next steps to take on his journey. As he looks to the future, he wonders what the next chapter of his life will hold and ponders the short and long term decisions he must now make. Through this wrestling Jacob eventually emerges as ‘Israel’ - a name acknowledging that, with Divine guidance, he will have the ability to plot a new course.   Late...

As part of my journey to correct the tragic deficit in women’s voices on my bookshelf I asked people for the authors & books that most enriched their Jewish learning and living. These were their recommendations: Rachel Adler’s Engendering Judaism Judith Antonelli's In the Image of God Ada Rapoport Albert's Hasidic Studies: Essays in History and Gender Sue Elwell & Nancy Fuchs Kreimer's (Eds.) Chapters of the Heart: Jewish Women Sharing the Torah of Our Lives Rabbi Jill Hammer and Holly Shere's Siddur HaKohanot Marcia Falk’s The Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily Life, the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festival Rabbi Emily H. Feigenson's Beginning the Journey: Toward a Women's Commentary on Torah Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb's She Who Dwells Within Rachel Beth Gross'  Beyond the Synagogue Aliza Lavie's (Ed.) A Jewish Woman’s Prayer Book Naomi Levy's Talking to God Simi Peters's Learning to Read Midrash Renee Levine Melammed's Heret...

I received my rabbinical ordination (s'micha) on Sunday, 3 July 2022 / 4 Tamuz 5782. My Presenters were Rabbi Jeremy Gordon & Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers. I was ordained by Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh. This was my address. --- I was raised by loving parents in a small shtetl called Hendon.  My childhood home was a beacon of Jewish practice and my formative years bathed in the glow of the richness of Jewish ritual and theology.  However, around the time of my Bar Mitzvah - my Jewish coming of age - I began to find the former cumbersome and the latter archaic and dogmatic.  I might never have re-immersed myself in Jewish life had it not been for one other vitally important thing ever present in my life - chesed .  Sometimes English speaking Jews translate chesed as kindness, but this does not do justice to our tradition.  The Hebrew root for chesed -  ח-ס-ד - appears in the Tanakh (The Jewish Bible) around 250 times and these can be translated in almost ...

Today (Friday, 28th May 2021) marks one week since the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire came into effect. Thank goodness, at least at the time of my writing, it appears to be holding.  Whilst British Jews have been rightfully distracted and alarmed by several anti-semtic incidents across the country, it is also prompting many of us to question why Hamas, and in-turn the Palestinians, continue to garner such wide-spread support across the UK and around the world. Many Jews may wonder why pro-Palestinians rarely critique Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket-fire and the resulting deaths that occur, nor the physical and psychological impact these attacks leave on Israel’s citizens. Rather, Palestinian supporters appear to hold Israel almost solely responsible for events in the Middle East.  One of my acquaintances, frustrated with this narrative, posted on social media that, “People seem to think [Hamas’ actions] are ok [and] regard them as freedom fighters”. He goes onto list a range of reasons ...

Over the course of my life I have experienced the deaths of several family members. Thankfully, the majority of these have been both peaceful and at a “good age”. When my grandfather passed away at the age of 90, I was sad but not distraught; reflective but not distressed. Now, just under two years later, my grandmother - Grandma Ruth - is also dead. However, the end of her life marks the passing of more than simply a single person; it marks the death of so many memories. At 96 years old Grandma Ruth was the last surviving member of her family, outliving all eight of her siblings. Likewise my grandfather; I have no grand-aunts or grand-uncles left. Indeed, to me her death marks the passing of a generation; the end of a lived connection to so many of my family and to our past. Grandma Ruth was the last link to parents a well as several of her siblings; murdered in the Holocaust. In my Grandma’s lounge, now still and empty, there hangs two small black and white photos of her parents. Th...

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 n...

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...