Shabbat Shoftim

Humans and Trees Read more

Douglas Murray

I do not think that Israel has a better more articulate or fearless non -Jewish supporter of Israel than the British journalist, author and commentator Douglas Murray. Read more

Shabbat Re’eh

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Robert Wistrich and Jew Hatred

Many, many books have been written about the Holocaust and antisemitism. Read more

Shabbat Eykev Do as you would be done by

The weekly reading of Eykev follows the pattern of the previous three weeks. Read more

Comfort Ye! Comfort Ye!

The Shabbat after the fast of the Ninth of Av, is called Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Comfort. Its name comes from the 40^th Chapter of the Biblical Prophet Isaiah and let us ignore the debate about how many Isaiahs there were. Read more

Shabbat Vaetchanan – The Shema

Apart from the opening statements of the so-called Ten Commandments, there is very little that we would call theology in the Torah. Read more

The Ninth of Av: Fasting and Self-flagellation

Both Christianity and Islam have long and controversial traditions of penance that involve flogging oneself with whips or scourges that inflict pain. Read more

Shabbat Devarim: What’s in a Name? 

Why do we call this the fifth book of the Torah that we start this week, Devarim?  Read more

Who was Peter Bergson?

The anniversary of Hillel Kook’s death was this week. A Jewish Walter Mitty and a colorful, complex, dual personality also known as Peter Bergson. Read more

Shabbat Mattot Massei Rosh Chodesh Av Tuesday – Conquering the Land

This week, two sections of the Torah are read as we come to the end of the fourth Book of the Torah. Read more

Why did we go wrong?

Why are we having difficulty coming to terms with this reality, the realization of how much we are hated ? Read more

Shabbat Pinchas: Zealots  

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Shabbat Balak – Listening to Magicians

It seems strange that the whole part of the Torah we read this week should be named after a Midianite/Moabite King, Balak, and devoted to a non-Jewish magician Bilam. Read more

A murder during the British Mandate

Alexander Rubowitz, a sixteen-year-old Jerusalemite, left his home on May 6, 1947, and never returned. Read more

Shabbat Chukat: The Unknowable

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

Shabbat Korach – Rosh Chodesh: Miracles

One of the amazing features of the Torah, over and above its significance as the foundation of Judaism, is the way it conveys human nature with all its greatness and pettiness, triumphs and failures. Read more

Shlomo Ben Yosef (1913-1937)

Once again, we find ourselves torn between negotiation or warfare. Read more

Shabbat Shelach Lecha – Mental Fortitude

The reading this week is mainly concerned with the 12 men sent by Moses to tour the land of Israel prior to the invasion. Read more

Frantz Fanon

As a student I was a fan of Frantz Fanon, a black Frenchman born in Martinique. He was a psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and writer whose work was and remains influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory, and Marxism. Read more

Shabbat Beha’alotecha – A Just War

Amongst the many topics in this week’s Torah reading is the seemingly incidental one of the two silver trumpets. Read more

Chief Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz

As South Africa goes to the polls to re-elect a corrupt, evil, disaster of a regime,  one feels so sorry for those naïve idealists hoped for something better. Read more

Shabbat Behukotai: What am I worth?

As we reach the end of the book of Leviticus, we’ve run through a series of laws, ethical and ritual, that relate to other human beings, the Land, and God. Read more

R. Akiva Winner or Loser?

Rebbi Akiva, born in 50 CE, was one of the greatest rabbis of the Talmud. He was also one of the most controversial. Read more

Shabbat Behar: Why Homeland Matters

“God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and told him to tell the Children of Israel that when they come to the Land of Israel, they should give the land a rest (a Sabbatical)…every seventh year.” Read more

Josephus Hero or Traitor

The man we know as Josephus (the Romans called him Flavius Josephus ), was an aristocratic Judean, born in Jerusalem in 37 CE and died in Rome somewhere around 100 CE. Read more

Shabbat Emor: Differences that Bind

The book of Leviticus is concerned with difference. Read more

Shabbat Kedoshim: Morality

Chapter 19 of Leviticus, known as Kedoshim, Be Holy, includes a range of laws that concern ethical standards that were relevant then and today. Read more

Shabbat Acharei Mot: Forbidden Sex

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Slavery today

We tend to think of slavery as something belonging entirely to the past. Read more

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