Religion

Home and heart: why Sukkot is the shelter we need

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

Many years ago, I had the privilege of studying at the Drisha Institute in New York, where women are paid to sit and study Talmud. After enrolling, I discovered that the tractate of Talmud we would be studying was about the sukkah.
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Sukkot a message for the ‘me’ generation

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

Of all the festivals, Sukkot is surely the one that speaks most powerfully to our time. Kohelet could almost have been written in the 21st century. Here is the picture of ultimate success, the man who has it all - the houses, the cars, the clothes, the adoring women, the envy of others. He has pursued everything this world can offer from pleasure to possessions to power to wisdom and yet, surveying the totality of his life, he can only say, in effect, “Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.”
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Making delicious food to eat in the sukkah

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

As we get ready to perform the mitzvah of sitting and eating in the sukkah, we sought out a couple of delicious recipes to prepare that will work wonderfully for just that experience – one from our own local ‘Butcher’s Wife’ and one from an international chef.
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Kol Nidrei prayer about power of words

Oct 10, 2019 Go comment!

According to our sages, Yom Kippur is a day with a unique power to remove from us the stain of transgression. It’s Hashem’s gift to us, and He urges us to use the opportunity that it affords us.
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Kindness changes everything

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Amidst the smouldering ruins of Jerusalem, a conversation takes place between two great Jewish leaders of the time. Their words reverberate through history, and have a life-changing message for us as we approach Rosh Hashanah 5780, almost 2 000 years later.
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Risking life and limb for pilgrimage to Shechem

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

It’s midnight. The dark hills of Shechem (Nablus), a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, beckon in the moonlight. Escorted by the Israeli army, our armoured convoy of 10 buses slowly begins its descent into the narrow valley that for 4 000 years has nestled between two mountains.
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Admitting guilt obliges us to accept responsibility for our sins

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Guilt is out of fashion these days, like sports jackets, courtesy, humility, and handkerchiefs. It has a sepia-tinted Victorian air about it. It belongs, so it seems, to that foreign country, the past. They do things differently there.
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The art of a good apology

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

The high holy days are a time of introspection, and for many, it’s a chance to apologise to those we may have offended, hurt, or cut ties with over the past year. But how do you apologise sincerely, genuinely, and make real amends?
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The soul-searching cry of the shofar

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Every Rosh Hashanah we go back to the point at which G-d decides whether mankind as a whole is worth recreating, and whether we as individuals are worth re-investing in for another year.
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The day of remembrance

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Rosh Hashanah is almost upon us, we can just about taste the sweetness of the honey-drenched apple slices and the sound of the shofar lingers evocatively in our ears a little longer each day.
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The phenomenon of Jewish renewal

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

History has been merciless. Nations have risen and fallen. In spite of the seeming invincibility at times of empires which have reached glorious crescendos of power and dominion, convulsions inevitably occurred which shook the world, causing these formidable super-powers to disintegrate or merge into other nations.
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How to pray in a meaningful way

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur attract more Jews to shul than any other time of the year. Unlike other new-year celebrations, ours includes a significant amount of time in shul praying.
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Are we creation’s purpose, or an afterthought to the mosquito?

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

“Today is the birthday of the world.” We say these words repeatedly after hearing the sound of the shofar. It’s a moment of solemn celebration. We sense the excitement of renewal, and its accompanying sense of responsibility. It’s a birthday celebration with the gift of opportunity to ensure that this year, 5780, has an impact on our lives and the lives of those around us.
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Home for the high holy days

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Round challot, apples and honey, and a roast in the oven don’t just mean it’s yom tov, it signals family time.
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Hot and breezy? It’s time for new beginnings.

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

“Apples dipped in honey, we do eat. We daven to Hashem to make the new year sweet.”
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The power of praying en masse

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

I clearly remember the most powerful time I led a congregation in prayer. It was in the thick of the Second Intifada in 2002, and the South African Rabbinical Association, along with the chief rabbi, had called for a mass meeting of the community. This took place during Chol Hamoed Pesach, in the wake of the gruesome attack on participants at a seder at the Park Hotel in Netanya, which left 30 dead and 140 wounded, some grievously so.
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Forgive – for your own sake

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

“Sometimes we have to find the strength to forgive, not for the other person, but for our own peace and ability to move forward,” says clinical psychologist Liane Lurie reflecting on the power of forgiveness.
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Six tips on eating before Yom Kippur

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

(JTA) Yom Kippur is one of the most, if not the most, important day on the Jewish calendar. For many Jews, fasting and being in synagogue is the focus of the day.
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Leave your stomach out of it – pamper your soul on Yom Kippur

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

Zog the alien comes to Earth. The first human that Zog meets is you. And, as you explain life on Earth, you get to the Jewish stuff – the festivals, blessings, kashrut, Shabbat, and so on – and Zog finds this fascinating.
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What can we do to renew our contract with G-d?

Sep 26, 2019 Go comment!

The curtain on 5779 is about to come down, and the dawning of 5780 is upon us. Our mystics teach that an unusual cosmic occurrence happens as we light the Yom Tov candles that usher in the new year.
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