Shabbat Chukat: The Unknowable

There are various words for law in the Bible. Read more

Shabbat Shmini: You are what you eat

After dealing with the sacrificial system and with the roles that priests play within it, the Torah turns to the laws of kashrut. Read more

Why Purim matters

Purim matters so much this year. It tells a never-ending story. We were threatened with destruction. We responded by finding ways to combat the threat.  We did not capitulate. We called out evil as it was. Read more

Shabbat Vayehi – Fear not

As we complete the book of Bereishit, Genesis, this week, Jacob has died, and the brothers now turn to Joseph and say, “Our father asked us to beg you to forgive us for what we did to you”( Genesis 50:15-21 ). Read more

About miracles

I am wary of miracles. Not that amazing, unpredictable, and seemingly miraculous things do not happen all the time. Read more

Elegy for New York

I made the mistake, once, of thinking New York was the best place for Jews outside Israel. Read more

1984 is now

In August, Adam Gopnik published an article in the New Yorker of the August 28, 2023, issue, with the headline “The Biggest Losers.” Read more

Shabbat Toldot: Esau or Ishmael

Last week, we read about how Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their father. And in fact, they lived together at the same place, Be’er Lechai Roi. Their coming together seems to have been complete. Read more

Unimaginable pain

The unimaginable pain on seeing the evidence of children tortured, limbs cut off and burnt to death, screams for an explanation. Why did God let this happen? Read more

Succot: Fun or Politics

Succot is the most innovative and multifaceted of all our Festivals. Coming after the solemn Holy Days it is the most fun, too. And it concludes with a day of national unity, something that seems as unlikely and remote now, as it ever did in the past. Read more

Clive Marks ז״ל Lamed Vavnik

In my long life in Jewish affairs, I have met very few prominent public figures who were or are righteous in the true sense. Read more

Shabbat Ki Tavo: The Land of Israel

“When you enter the land that your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take the first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that your God giving you, and put them in a basket and go to the place that God chooses and to the priest in charge at that time and say to him, “I acknowledge this day before your God that I have entered the land that swore to our fathers to assign us.” ( Deuteronomy 26:1-2). Read more

The British Mandate

The British Mandate of Palestine was established on July 24^th, 1922. Read more

Synagogue or Temple

This month of August is the season of travelling, going on vacation in the northern hemisphere. Read more

Shabbat Eykev: Chosen People

It still amazes me how often I hear non-Jews claim that we Jews are so arrogant and exclusive because we claim to be the Chosen People. And they happily ignore that Christianity and Islam proudly claim to be the Chosen People of God or Allah. Read more

Sadness and Joy

Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of Av, reminds us of the greatest catastrophes in our history. Read more

Shabbat Mattot & Massei: Where should you live?

As the children of Israel approach the land of Israel, they had to pass through what is now Transjordan. The domains of Sihon the Emorite and Og of Bashan. Read more

Blasphemy and Brian

In 1997 “The Life of Brian” by Monty Python comedians was a tremendous hit in Britain and a scandal. Read more

Israel at 75

I have recently read two great books. “Israel’s Declaration of Independence: The History and Political Theory of the Nation’s Founding Moment” by Neil Rogachevsky and Dov Ziegler (Cambridge University Press). Just published. And the 2019 “A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion” by Tom Segev (Picador). Read more

Firstborn

I am a firstborn male. And I fast on the eve of Pesach because all the Egyptian firstborns were struck down by the tenth plague and I (metaphorically) survived! Read more

Shabbat Vayikra: Sacrifices

At this time of the year, the Torah readings are all to do with sacrifices. I shall confess that the thought of killing animals does not fill me with any great enthusiasm. Read more

Shabbat Vayakhel Pekudei: Repetition is Good

It is an interesting phenomenon that the major events of the Torah that play a crucial role in the life of the people from a philosophical point of view are repeated in slightly different ways. Read more

Don’t kiss!

Here is a hilarious if sacrilegious clip, in the spirit of Purim, from over five years ago when no one had even heard of something called Covid. Read more

Shabbat Ki Tisa: What does God look like?

The dominant theme of the Torah this Shabbat is the episode of the Golden Calf. Read more

Why I am a liberal

I recently came across a book called “The Call of the Tribe: Essays” by the Peruvian Nobel Prize Winner Mario Vargas Llosa. Read more

Why?

Innocent worshippers were shot outside a synagogue. Read more

Israeli Theocracy

In the febrile political polemic of our times, language is a victim as people use words loosely, inaccurately, and without thinking of their significance or meaning. Read more

Shabbat BeShalach: Women at Sea

Rashi, commenting on this week’s amazing events at the Red Sea, quotes the Midrash ( Mechilta 15:22) that at the Red Sea, God was seen by the humblest maidservant in a more powerful way than even the greatest of the prophets. Read more

National Anthems

There is something so dated, archaic, and non-sensical about National Anthems, and indeed flags, that takes us back to a world of ancient tribal warfare, conquests, and long-lost identities. Read more

Shabbat Vayehiy: Favouritism

As we come to the end of the Book of Bereishit (Genesis), we can look back and see a thread in the narrative of human beings grappling with the moral and spiritual challenges that we all face. Read more

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