Menorah candles banned on cruise

For the first time since December 2019, when the word corona still simply meant a crown, my wife and I were invited to celebrate the happy return of cruising to Australasia by once again leading the Chanuka programme for the Jewish guests (and other interested parties) on the Ovation of the Seas…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

Why must I put “Jewish” on my census form?

Two questions from those not keen to put their Jewish religious affiliation on their census forms.  And the answers to why they should. Read more

An article by Jonathan Pollard’s wife makes an impression

On 20^th Kislev (15^th December), five days before Chanuka, my wife and I celebrated 28 years since first arriving on the shores of Sydney, our new home…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

Personal recollections

I first met Rabbi Lord Sacks. as a student at an Encounter with Chabad Shabbat at Lubavitch House in north London…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

How our Succas taught an amazing COVID lesson

On Rosh HaShanah, we re-affirmed our belief in an omnipotent G-D.  On Yom Kippur we cried out to Him to renew our relationship.   Read more

Whose shofar are we blowing?

Harry Browne, chairman of the shul building fund, approached Jack Greene for a donation. Read more

All lives matter – protesting the protesters

Dear Rabbi.  Last week you called out the protest demonstrations in Australia, arising from the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, as “irresponsible”. Read more

COVID-19 and a shule-less Shabbat

There is but one G-D.  There is not (as in certain foreign belief systems) a benign “Force of Good and a separate, demonic “Force of Evil”. Read more

Should a married man be alone with another woman?

Dear Rabbi.  I was intrigued to read the story last week about a US politician refusing to have a female reporter accompany him alone on his 15-hour ‘ride-a-thon’ campaign.  Is society finally catching up with Halakha? Yours, H. J. Read more

Is every day like Purim?

In Spirals of the Soul (p. 115) I cite the AriZa”l, R’ Isaac Luria, who famously declares that Yom Kippur, known in the Torah as Yom Kippurim, “is like Purim” – Yom K’Purim. I go on to suggest that the implications of this go far deeper than a play-on-words. Read more

A micro-second of illumination is all we need

I have been privileged to lead Chanukah services on cruise ships for the past five years…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram.  Read more

One citizen’s rights wrongs another

It was only just over a year ago that the Yes campaigners for the same-sex marriage vote were at pains to assure voters that religious institutions would continue to be protected…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

Changing our perspective on climate change

Dear Rabbi:  I am very hazy as to the Jewish perspective on human-induced climate change. The rabbis I have asked seem to cloud the issue and one told me the topic is too hot to handle. (No puns intended, of course!) In desperation I turn to you! What’s your take on it all? Should religious Jews be doing more about it? Yours, Confused. Read more

Why are we Jewish?…a two-part essay by Rabbi Chaim Ingram

In the first part of this essay, I cited the JCA/Monash University Gen17 survey and discussed the disturbing implications of the finding that “remembering the Holocaust” (95% of respondents) appeared to be the main identifier of Jewish identity in Australian Jewry…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

Why are we Jewish?…a two-part essay by Rabbi Chaim Ingram

If I am I because I am I

and you are you because you are you

then I am I and you are you.

But if I am I because you are you

and you are you because I am I

then I am not I and you are not you

(R’ Menachem Mendel of Kotsk 1787-1859) Read more

Games of self-delusion?…asks Rabbi Chaim Ingram

Are you a fan of Game of Thrones? Or not? Either way, read on …. Read more

G-d bless you mighty Micronesia

Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo. If you don’t know where to find these countries on the map, search for them right now. Read more

Chanukah on the high seas

Once again this year, I was privileged together with my wife to lead Chanukah services and run programs on an ocean liner in a room of our own viewing the Pacific Ocean…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

How in(secure) are we?

Queueing at passport-control at Ben-Gurion Airport (one of the few places in Israel where queues really do exist!), two young women just ahead of me turned around (I suppose they gleaned from my appearance and demeanour that I was not a first-timer like them!) and nervously asked me what sort of questions they were likely to have to answer…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

How long do you plan to live?

There is one thing that all of humanity, indeed every living organism, has in common.  That is that we all grow older, day by day, year by year!…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

Locking into our collective long-term memory…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram

One of the symptoms of growing old is forgetting what you did yesterday – and remembering with stark clarity something you did fifty years ago! Read more

Chanukah on The Ovation of the Seas

Once again this Chanuka, it was my delight and privilege to be invited, together with my wife, by Royal Caribbean to be rabbi-in residence on a cruise voyage, this time on the new gigantic addition to its fleet, Ovation of the Seas…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

Why I rejoice in a Trump victory…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram

Somehow, we failed to see the signs…in the early days of the campaign when he was the leading Republican contender in all the polls and garnering all the attention, everyone said he isn’t a serious candidate and will falter. Read more

Kol Nidre: The secret of its survival

 

What is the secret of Kol Nidrei...asks Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

A Sydney rabbi open letter to a New Yorker Rabbi Lookstein

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein is rabbi emeritus of the Kehilat Yeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and former principal of the Ramaz School who was to have delivered the Invocation at the National Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Read more

Keeping it forever

Rabbi Chaim Ingram pens an essay for in honour of the Shabbat Project…. Read more

A Jew for all Seasons…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram

The Proms are an annual institution in London. From July to September each year, the Royal Albert Hall on the south bank of the Thames hosts an array of nightly concerts of mediaeval, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music to suit all tastes. Read more

Who holds the Trump card?…asks Rabbi Chaim Ingram

Extraordinary things are happening in the USA.   Read more

Je suis parce que je pense…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram

Jewish communities are still reeling from the events of eight days ago at Hyper-Cachere in Paris. Read more

Can the Chanukah light vanquish global darkness?

Never have we needed Chanukah, the Festival of Light, more than during a week when global news events have plunged the world into deep darkness…writes Rabbi Chaim Ingram. Read more

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