Religion

Journey to serenity starts with accepting what we cannot change

Oct 18, 2018 Go comment!

Every rabbi has an airport story. In fact, some rabbis tell so many incredible stories of providential encounters on airplanes, that I wonder if it is physically possible for them to have travelled on as many airplanes as they have stories!
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Cure loneliness by showing up and caring

Oct 11, 2018 Go comment!

When G-d created Paradise, each new creation was accompanied by the declaration, “Ki tov”, (It is good). Only human loneliness was deemed unworthy of G-d’s support – lo tov he-i'yot le-vado (It is not good for man to be alone.)
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Home is Hashem on Sukkot

Sep 20, 2018 Go comment!

The most difficult question I have been asked about Judaism is, “Which is your favourite festival?” Ooh, I don’t know! I love the traditions of Pesach: sitting with family and community members and speaking about Hashem’s love for us and kindness in taking us out of Egypt, tasting matza, and singing Dayeinu.
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What is the difference between hearing and listening?

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

Why is it that music has such a deep effect on us? Sometimes it seems as though music has a direct line to our souls. It affects our mood and our emotions. It can make us laugh or cry. It can make us get up and dance, and it can make us stop and think. It can soothe us, uplift us, and stir us to the depths of our being.
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Shofar an almighty alarm clock

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

There are many lovely explanations for why we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, but one of the most powerful is given by Moses Maimonides. For Maimonides, the shofar is G-d’s alarm clock, waking us up from the “slumber” in which we spend many of our days. What did he mean?
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New year brings new light, new life

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

Hey, does anybody here still make new year’s resolutions? Or are we all over that phase? Maybe you do still make resolutions, and yours goes something like mine?
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Facing our potential as we face our creator

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

People over-estimate themselves.
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Making our world Hashem’s home

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the month of Tishrei, is the day on which we beseech Hashem to grant us our needs for the year to come.
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Slave, rebel and humble infinity

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

“… two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read … And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
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The spiritual story behind a South African shofar-maker

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

How did a Rustenburg pharmacist become the manufacturer of shofarim that have found their way to every corner of the globe? For Marinda du Preez, it started with a visit to Israel over the high holy days, from Rosh Hashanah to Sukkot, in 1998.
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Bringing a modern consciousness to ancient prayers

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

In just a few days, many of us will be standing in shul, listening as the chazan intones the familiar yet soul-stirring incantation of the prayer, U’netaneh Tokef.
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Today is the birthday of the world

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

During the blowing of the shofar, we declare Hayom harat olam! (This is the birthday of the world!) Wait, we all know that Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, but here we are celebrating the birthday of the world, nothing less! Let’s try to understand this.
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The case for rationality and belief in G-d

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

What is the nature of Jewish faith? And are we rationally entitled to believe in G-d?
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Satire - A survivor’s guide to Rosh Hashanah

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

By the time you read this, the end will be upon us. The time has finally come. We all knew that the day would arrive, much as many of us opted to feign ignorance or hoped against all odds that it wouldn’t.
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Need for zero tolerance for all forms of abuse in community

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

The South African Jewish community has made strides, but it is still a long way from being a community that is safe from abuse.
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SA Jews have a lot of freedom to celebrate

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

From ancient to modern history, being Jewish has far too frequently become a matter of life and death. Throughout the crusades, pogroms, the Holocaust, and contemporary terrorist attacks, Jews have experienced being shunned, exiled, forced to practise in secret – or, at the very least, encouraged not to stand out.
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Giant apple-cinnamon-sugar Chelsea bun

Sep 06, 2018 Go comment!

There’s something about a giant bun filled with mounds of cinnamon that makes me feel happy. I just want to eat more and more. And why not? You’ll also want more and more.
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The Arameans are still trying to destroy us!

Aug 30, 2018 Go comment!

As the Five Books of Moses come to an end, Moses sets the scene for the grand entrance and settling of the Jewish people into the Promised Land: “When you come to the land that The Lord your G-d is giving you as an inheritance, you shall acquire it and settle it.” (Deuteronomy 26:1).
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Successful marriage is a work in progress

Aug 23, 2018 Go comment!

My dear friends Herby and Sandra Rosenberg celebrated their 58th anniversary last week. I asked them for the basis of the success of their enduring and endearing relationship.
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Here comes the judge

Aug 16, 2018 Go comment!

Don’t be judgmental. Unless, of course, you happen to be a judge. Then it’s your job. This week’s parsha, Shoftim, lists the Biblical command for judges to be appointed in every city and town to maintain a just, ordered, civil society.
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