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Tzav – Pesach
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Tzav – Pesach

WHY IS TODAY CALLED SHABBAT HAGADOL – ‘THE GREAT SHABBAT?’ The first reference to this name is found in Siddur Rashi (p.171.) The calculation is made that the Exodus took place on a Thursday. Hence, the 10th Nisan that year would have been a Shabbat. This was the time that the Israelites were commanded to...

Vayakhel-Pekudei
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Vayakhel-Pekudei

PRECIOUS METALS Last Friday night, at the end of the shul service, we had a magical moment. Two boys, Benjy and Natie Bulkin, came up to sing Yigdal. As their voices rang out in the shul, all of us there were filled with emotion. To hear children’s voices in shul again! Wow! We’re back where...

Ki Tissa
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Ki Tissa

HEAVY LIFTING When Rachie and I were first married, we lived in Jerusalem while I was studying at the Mir Yeshiva. I remember one occasion when I arrived at an apartment building to visit a friend. At the same time, a van arrived and the driver proceeded to unload a fridge, which was to be...

Tetzaveh
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Tetzaveh

FOUR FACES OF LEADERSHIP What does it take to lead under Covid times – or indeed at any times? What are key qualities that are needed by a Prime Minister or President, Chief Medical Officer or Head of NASA’s Mars Perseverance Team, home-schooling parent or community Rabbi? Our mystical text, the Zohar, uncovers a key...

Terumah
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Terumah

WHOLE AND BROKEN Former Prime Minister, Tony Blair spoke very movingly at one of the memorial events for the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. He mentioned how they had studied bible together. I recall Rabbi Lord Sacks once recounting a question that Tony Blair had asked him: Why is there so much detail in the...