The Cosmic Diamond launched
More than 300 people attended the launch of Rabbi Chaim Ingram’s second book of essays The Cosmic Diamond…the sequel to his much-acclaimed Fragments Of The Hammer.
Rabbi Chaim Ingram signing copies Photo: Sandy Matrai
Rabbis Yehoram Ulman, Paul Lewin and Menachem Channen and Phillip Segal spoke in warm tribute at the launch at Sydney’s Central Synagogue.
About 150 books were signed and sold.
Rabbi Ingram told J-Wire: “My father passed away in London exactly three months ago.
I was blessed to be there with him during the last week of his life and, of course, for the funeral and the shiva. Many people here in Sydney have remarked to me how sorry they were that they were not able to pay a shiva visit to offer condolences to me at the time. I very much hope that they will come to the launch on what would have been his birthday.”
The book, a collection of essays based on the weekly Torah reading, is a sequel to Fragments of the Hammer which was launched at the end of 2013. “A few people have asked if Cosmic Diamond is significantly different from Fragments” said Rabbi Ingram with a smile. “I have told them: it is – but you will have to read it in order to find out how!”
But Rabbi Ingram did add: “If people think they are getting a book of bland Orthodox essays they are in for a surprise! Indeed some may find a few chapters of the book distinctly unorthodox. I do not shy away from treating with a critical eye such subjects as gender-relations and separatism in the Charedi community. Other subjects I deal with range from evolutionism to the meaning of love; from angels to gun control; from prison reform to effective leadership; from vigilantism to Kabbala; and from disengagement to growing old.”
The book carries at the front an approbation by British and Commonwealth Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. In it he says “Rabbi Ingram has produced yet another outstanding book which is a credit to the Rabbinate of the Australian Jewish community …His essays …demonstrate the timeless relevance of the Torah and how its values can be applied to our contemporary world”.
Photogphy courtesy Sandy Matrai.
