PARENT AND TEACHER The Times reported this week that more than 700,000 people have fled Russia, to avoid the military draft. This calls to my mind an earlier era of refuseniks – Jews who were denied permission to leave the Soviet Union for Israel. Under communism, it was forbidden to teach Torah. An underground network was set up in Moscow to teach Torah at all levels. It was managed from London by Dayan Ehrentreu and a man from Hendon called Ernie Hirsch. Together, they have the merit of bringing hundreds of young Russians closer to their Jewish roots. I was...

GO FOR GROWTH In my Rosh HaShana sermon I quoted the well-known story of the Chassidic Master, Zusha of Hanipol (1718-1800), who said that he was not worried that on the Day of Judgement they will ask him: “Zusha, why weren’t you like Moses? Zusha, why weren’t you like King David?” “I will reply: ‘I’m not a Moses. I’m not a David.’ But I am worried that they will say to me: ‘Zusha, why were you not Zusha? Why were you not the Zusha you could have been?’” We all acknowledge that we have different talents and different limitations. Each...

ROYAL CHOICES The pageantry of the Queen’s funeral was a once-in-a-lifetime event, watched by billions of people, across the world. But perhaps, even more impressive was the respect and affection shown to the Queen by hundreds of thousands of people from the time she died. The crowds outside the palaces. The queues to file past her coffin in Westminster Hall. The throngs lining the route of the funeral. We have parallels in Judaism. The days of national mourning for the Queen have their echo in Jewish law, which states that when a Monarch or Nasi dies, everyone tears a garment...

Welcome Message at the Memorial Service for Queen Elizabeth II Over the past few days, we have heard an outpouring of reflections on the personal impact Her Majesty had on so many people’s lives. This, in addition to the extraordinary volume of her public duties. The question that reverberates is how did she do it? How was she able to adapt to the changing needs of her people without compromising her real values? Surely, it was her deep faith that enabled and empowered her to take on any and every challenge.  In 1947, a 21-year old Princess declared that she...

IN LIZ WE TRUSS Our new Prime Minister has chosen her Cabinet. Unsurprisingly, it is made up of individuals who expressed support for her during her campaign. The challenge facing the Prime Minister – indeed, any leader, is how to balance supporters who will reinforce your vision, with those who will confront you to consider alternative perspectives. Matthew Syed, in his book, Rebel Ideas, stresses the importance of bringing together people with different perspectives who will not be afraid to offer cognitive diversity. Former Prime Minister David Cameron, in his autobiography, For The Record, writes: “Iwanted the big beasts inside...