3 days agoעלי. The power of a word.You should learn Hebrew. In a moment, I will tell you the reason why. Before that, let me remind you where we are in the Torah reading cycle. Warning. It is, I have to say, one of the most distressing moments of the Biblical narrative. Isaac is on his deathbed…Torahportions6 min readTorahportions6 min read
Nov 19Chaye Sarah. A difficult Torah portion.A DIFFICULT TORAH PORTION This is a difficult Torah portion. If you aim to craft a Judaism palatable for the chattering classes, if you love to talk about “difficult questions” -whose answers can be found in the column of the Guardian- you most want to skip Chaye Sarah, the Torah…Judaism5 min readJudaism5 min read
Nov 12It’s not about sex. On Parashat VayeiraThere are many jokes about Jewish lawyers (not all appropriate for a synagogue, so don’t expect me to tell one!). And this is because there are many Jewish lawyers for many reasons. …Parashat Hashavua5 min readParashat Hashavua5 min read
Nov 5Abraham, the Smurfs and the Israeli electionsThe Smurfs are Jewish. Or at least some of them are. The Smurfette, for sure, is undoubtedly a Jewish Princess (please accept my apologies for evoking a stereotype). Another recognisably Jewish character is Brainy Smurf, with his glasses and love for talking. Brainy Smurf is certainly one of the smarter…Israel7 min readIsrael7 min read
Oct 9A bittersweet HagSukkot is “the festival of our joy”. But like all Italian Jews, I cannot but think of the horrendous attack at the Rome synagogue, tens of seriously wounded and the murder of a two years old toddler. It was on Shemini Atzeret, the day of the family blessing (when the…Terrorism2 min readTerrorism2 min read
Oct 8In view of SukkotLike many American cities, Detroit in the 60s became a dangerous place. Few Jewish families remained to live in the suburbs. One year on Sukkot, on Shabbat, one of those families was sitting in the Sukkah, eating warm cholent, that traditional Ashkenazi stew: meat, potato beans… To conform with Jewish…Judaism5 min readJudaism5 min read
Oct 6Why sacrifices. A Yom Kippur sermonI want to begin by mentioning one subject I am sure everybody is thinking about right now. Chicken soup. Imagine we were in Jerusalem. Yesterday, of course, we had chicken soup before beginning the fast. And that soup had been prepared with -how can I put it- the remnants of…Yom Kippur7 min readYom Kippur7 min read
Oct 6Kol Nidre 5783Eternal Our God, it’s Yom Kippur, once again. Your people meet in synagogues, this one among others. Over the next 25 hours, we will fast, we will sing, and we will pray. We will strive to achieve teshuva, repentance and change. …Judaism5 min readJudaism5 min read
Oct 1Shabbat Shuva 5783In 1983 when Afghanistan was under Soviet occupation, a group of Italian anarchist artists from the avant-garde magazine “Frigidaire” organised a memorable political prank with some anti-Soviet activists based in France. They printed hundreds of thousands of copies of a fake edition of “The Red Star”, the daily newspaper of…Judaism7 min readJudaism7 min read
Sep 27On to the next level. A sermon for Rosh HaShanahIn the UK, we celebrate New Year’s Day with the fireworks show, loud music and dancing. The light in the dark anticipates the sunrise, and the dances encourage people to look with optimism at the future. On their New Year’s Day, the Chinese dress in red and pass out gifts…Judaism6 min readJudaism6 min read
