Religion

Providence and living consciously

Jul 09, 2020 Go comment!

There is a constant interplay between divine providence and freewill in our lives. This is active not passive. It’s not co-incidence or happenstance. It means that there is meaning and purpose to the situations we are placed in, and we can (and should) ask, “Why am I here, and what must I do?” This is a logical response.
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Two coronas, poles apart

Jul 02, 2020 Go comment!

COVID-19 has hit our community hard. Too many have felt its impact, and are suffering. The effects of this pandemic aren’t only physiological, but also emotional, financial, and psychological.
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Visiting the sick good for our spiritual health

Jun 25, 2020 Go comment!

There is a fundamental mitzvah that is alluded to in this week’s parsha. When Moshe addresses the Jewish people in the stand-off against the rebel faction led by Korach, he says the following, “If these die like the death of all men, and the visiting of all men is visited upon them, then it is not Hashem Who has sent me.” (Numbers 16:29)
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Humility is our strongest suit

Jun 18, 2020 Go comment!

Two centuries ago, Polish noblemen would do anything to avoid giving business to a Jew. Ivan the poretz was willing to make an exception. He needed to have an exquisite suit made for an important personal celebration, and Moshe was the best tailor in the region. As much as it nauseated him, the squire knew he just had to use Moshe.
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Heed your calling for greatness

Jun 11, 2020 Go comment!

Even though we find ourselves in the midst of the Hebrew month of Sivan, our parsha this week, Behalotcha, takes us back to an auspicious date just more than a month ago.
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Gathering physically isn’t essential, preserving life is

Jun 04, 2020 Go comment!

Like the United States president, President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared that places of worship are “essential places that provide essential services”, and must therefore reopen.
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Freedom hopelessly inadequate without rules

May 28, 2020 Go comment!

As limiting as laws and rules may seem, they are integral to liberty. Although the Torah establishes a system of rules which govern our lives, its guidelines actually give us a framework for navigating our freedom.
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Why did G-d give us the Torah?

May 28, 2020 Go comment!

After the festival of our liberation, Pesach, comes Shavuot, the festival of the receiving of our Torah. The days of Sefirah (the counting of the Omer), beginning on the second night of Pesach and ending on the eve of Shavuot, connect these two great festivals.
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Why do we eat cheesecake on Shavuot?

May 28, 2020 Go comment!

Who makes your favourite cheesecake? This question reminds us of baking competitions and communal Shavuot dinner desserts. It’s popular custom to partake of dairy products and honey during this wonderful festival, when we celebrate Hashem giving us His Torah and the harvest season in the land of Israel.
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The ice cream of the crop

May 28, 2020 Go comment!

I don’t think I’m the only one going into Shavuos with a gulp in my throat, knowing that if, G-d forbid, Moshiach doesn’t come in the next 48 hours, we’ll be spending our first Shavuos at home.
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Homemade Torah

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

This Shavuot, instead of being in shul with our communities, learning from our rabbis, we’re at home, learning with our families.
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Torah – the true north to our moral compass

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

One of my teachers, Rabbi David Aaron, tells the story of a student whose father had recently passed away. “My father,” the young man said, “was an atheist, and a fantastic human being. It’s true that he didn’t have the Torah in his life, but frankly I don’t think he could have been more moral even if he had the Torah. So why do we need the Torah?”
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A wedding to remember

May 21, 2020 1 Comment

We have all seen recent pictures of brides and grooms marking their special day around the world, but there is something eerily absent in these celebrations: the crowd.
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G-d is one – and so are we

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

Unlike most other holidays, Shavuot doesn’t have many ceremonial rituals. Paramount to the traditional celebration in better times was convening in shul to hear the ten commandments, often followed by a deluxe dairy feast.
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The gift of Ruth: cleaving to social intimacy

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

It feels strange to be approaching Shavuot having had very little meaningful contact with people outside my immediate family since before Pesach.
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Why a crisis needs a woman in charge

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

I recently read an article in the Guardian asking, “Are female leaders more successful at managing the coronavirus crisis?” (25 April 2020). The writer looked at the results of countries like New Zealand, Germany, Finland, and Denmark, all governed by female leaders, up against the less exemplary record of some of their male peers – no names named, but I know who you are probably thinking of. Not just in their COVID-19 statistics, but in the way that the messaging has been broadcast – strong and clear, but compassionate, empathetic, and inspirational at the same time, creating a sense of trust in the leadership.
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Omer – a dual counting

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

All our Jewish holidays enumerated in the Torah have a dual foundation: a historical foundation and an agricultural one. This should not surprise us. We often forget in our very urban times that from the people’s entry into the land of Israel (in about 1400 BCE) until the exile after the destruction of the Second Temple, we were an agricultural people, living off the land.
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Pizza pizzaz with delectable dulce de leche cheesecake

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

With Shavuot just around the corner, these two specially-created Sharon Glass recipes are sure to be winners with your family. Indulge in a little bit of decadence with the dulce de leche cheesecake (it’s just sublime)! It’s dairy time, so while the pizza dough will take you just minutes to make, you can use any topping and vamp the pizzas up a bit. Change the shape, and see how interesting you can make them. Have fun!
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Blintzes in a blitz

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

CHEESE BLINTZES WITH ORANGE CONFIT (or without it’s just as delicious)
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The most difficult commandment?

May 21, 2020 Go comment!

Revelations bring revolutions. And the greatest revelation in history brought about what is arguably the most far-reaching of all social revolutions. The revelation at Sinai – witnessed not by one lone prophet or a prophet and his close disciples, but by the entire nation of Israel, millions of men, women, and children – changed the world forever. That day was Shavuot, when we heard the voice of G-d thundering down the ten commandments, G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people, and we became His ambassadors to the world at large. Virtually every civilisation defers to the ten commandments as the basic universal principles of morality and ethics.
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