In this week’s parasha we read: “You may slaughter from your cattle and sheep…as I have commanded you.” (Devarim 12:21) Shechita is the Jewish religious, humane method of slaughtering permitted animals and birdsfor food. It is mandated in the Torah – the source of all Jewish Law. It is the only method of producing kosher meat and poultry allowed by Jewish law. The source is the above verse. The precise method has been handed done, by Oral Tradition, since Moses, as conveyed in the verse in the phrase, as I have commanded you. Shechita is performed by a highly trained...

FOOD GOING TO WAIST Obesity is one of the UK Government’s health priorities. Almost two-thirds (63%) of adults in England are overweight or living with obesity – and one in three children leaves primary school overweight or obese David Robson, in his recent book, The Expectation Effect, argues that apart from what we eat, the way we frame food can have a significant effect on the impact it has on our bodies Research from a Canadian and French study in 2016 showed that when we anticipate what we are going to eat and focus on the flavours and textures we...

OUR VALUES, OUR CHILDREN’S VALUES This week, the Office for National Statistics released a new set of figures. For the very first time, more than half of all births in England & Wales are now to unmarried parents. In 2021, 51.3% of births were to unmarried parents compared to 49.0% in 2020. While covid clearly had some impact, the trend has been heading in this direction for the past twenty years. Harry Benson the Director of the Marriage Foundation, observes that the longer term trend against marriage matters a great deal. He cites research that married couples are more likely to stay...

FATHER OF MERCY This Shabbat we will be reciting an extra prayer before Ashrei called Av Harachamim “Father of Mercy.” Its origins lie in the wake of the First Crusade. Many Jewish communities in Germany were decimated as mobs found an outlet for their religious zeal in killing Jews before making their way to the Holy Land to wrest it from the Muslims. Thousands of men, women and children lost their lives in the communities of the Rhineland. Mainz, Worms, Speyer were ravaged over the course of a few weeks as the Crusaders made their way down Europe. Most of...

JOURNEYS With the holiday season upon us let me start by wishing you all safe travels, whether you’re going abroad or staying in the UK. Our second parasha, this week, describes the journeys and encampments that the Israelites made during their 40 years in the desert, from Egypt to the Promised Land. The list reads like a travelogue. The Baal Shem Tov (d. 1760) explains that it is so much more. It alludes to the journeys that all of us make from birth until we reach our promised land. We all start with the Exodus. The Hebrew word for Egypt,...