As we come closer to the High Holy Days, the question of repentance and change draws nearer. Lucy Benjamin’s PhD thesis dissertation is on Hannah Arendt and climate change. Reflecting on the High Holy Days and teshuvah she writes: "As…
Reading this next passage might suggest that the rabbis were not especially interested in nature and what we now call the environment (as if we, too, were somehow not part of it.) Interpretations, however, insist that whatever we do should…
Martin Buber’s teachings on I-Thou emphasise how different it is to enter into a full encounter with another person rather than our more habitual mode, which he describes as I-He or I-She: here the other person is taken for granted…
We introduce this poem of Dannie Abse (1923-2004), suggested by Rabbi Howard Cooper, to reinforce yesterday’s emphasis upon consciousness, paying attention and listening. It repays repeated readings, noting the punctuation. Mysteries At night, I do not know who I…
This summer, 12 RSY-Netzer madrichim (leaders) took 262 chanichim (participants) on Israel Tour. Our 6 Israel Tour groups had the most incredible summers of their lives, travelling around Israel, learning all about RSY-Netzer and creating unforgettable memories. The great success…
Rabbi M. Miller of Gateshead z”l quotes Yalkut Shimoni on Jeremiah 2:4 with its terrible warnings (prob. early 13th Century CE) in his sermons (Vol 1 p 285) As the intensity and consequences of global warming increase - floods, fire,…
A new Reform community was launched at Reform Judaism’s Annual Dinner on 12 September at the London Marriott Hotel Regents Park lauded as “the best ever”. The evening saw moving personal testimonials of the impact of Reform Judaism and the…
These days with all the distractions we face - radio, TV, computers, smart phones, Alexa - it is difficult to find the proper kavanah (concentration, intention) for teshuvah. Perhaps it was ever thus: Rabbi Mendel of Rimanov (d.1815) often complained:…
Rabbi Lawrence Toster (z”l) was one of the pioneers of ecological Judaism. He died this last year. This is an extract from a sermon: In Jewish theology, abundant rain is an expression of divine blessing and approval, a means of…
Rabbi Andrea Zanardo suggests that in the Rabbinic interpretation, the destruction of the Temple, the end of the most intimate relation between God and the human beings, happened twice as a punishment for not keeping the Sabbatical Year. During the…