Category: <span>Parasha</span>

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Re’eh
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Re’eh

FOR ONE AND FOR ALL “Behold I am setting before you this day a blessing and a curse” [Devarim 11:26] The opening words of today’s portion have occasioned much discussion amongst the commentators. The nuance of grammatical form of the verse is lost in the English translation. The verse begins with a command in the...

Ekev
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Ekev

ISRAEL’S EMBASSIES This week’s portion includes the passage well-known to us from the siddur: the second paragraph of the Shema. The conclusion of this passage seems difficult to accept at face value: “so that your days will be lengthened on the land which the L-d promised to your ancestors, to give to them.” The Torah...

Va’etchanan
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Va’etchanan

IS IT SAFE TO COME TO SHUL ON SHABBAT? We have been back at shul for a few weeks now, and it has been a pleasure to welcome all of you who have stepped through our doors, both for the weekday and Shabbat services. A number of you, though, are understandably still cautious, and rightly...

Devarim
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Devarim

LESSONS OF LISTENING It is often assumed that talking therapies are new, having developed from the work of Freud and others. In fact, “healing through words” is known in a number of ancient cultures, not least in our Jewish tradition. The Talmud (Yoma 75a) interprets the verse in the Book of Proverbs (12:25) “if one...

Mattot Massei
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Mattot Massei

TRANSFORMATIONS One of England’s transformational personalities is choirmaster, Gareth Malone. Whether it is Military Wives or Hospital Staff or simply individuals stuck at home during lockdown, Gareth manages to draw song and harmony out of people, who never knew they had it. He releases a musical and emotional energy that breaks barriers and builds lives....

Pinchas
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Pinchas

LIFE AND QUALITY OF LIFE We have three daily services: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening, or Shacharit, Mincha and Ma’ariv. The name Shacharit is connected to the word Shachar, which means dawn. The name Ma’ariv comes from the word Erev, which means evening. So what would you expect Mincha to mean? Well, in the Torah it...

Chukat – Balak
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Chukat – Balak

HEALING FROM THE SERPENT AND COVID The first of this week’s parashot describes how the Israelites are punished by G-d with an attack of fiery snakes. They had complained about their bread and water. In the plague that followed, the serpents “bit the people and many of the Israelites died” (Numbers 21:6). The cure G-d...

Korach
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Korach

TURNING JUDAISM OUTWARDS Earlier this week, was the yahrzeit of one the greatest Torah teacher and leader of the twentieth century: Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitche Rebbe, who died in 1994. He espoused a Judaism that saw the good in every human being and inspired his followers to reach out to all parts...

Shelach Lecha
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Shelach Lecha

JOURNEYING FROM LOCKDOWN On the face of it, the episode of the spies was a tragedy. The Children of Israel were on the threshold of the land of Israel. They had asked for reconnaissance about the land, which G-d and Moses agreed to give them. Twelve distinguished representatives set off on their expedition. The negative...

Beha’alotecha
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Beha’alotecha

A JEWISH WHISTLE BLOWER’S CHARTER Hardly a week goes by without the news media broadcasting or publishing a story about untoward practices. It is the stuff that sells newspapers and increases viewer ratings. Journalists will justify their revelations on the basis that it is “in the public interest.” Are there Jewish criteria for whistle blowing?...