Parashat Balak: Spiritual audacity

Balak feared what he could not control. He saw the Israelites from afar, numerous, restless, full of stories he didn’t know. And so he did what frightened rulers have often…

Parashat Korach: When Cain Speaks Again

In this week’s parasha, we encounter more than a leadership challenge. Some mystical sources reveal Korach as the reincarnation of Cain, while Moses carries the spirit of Abel. That ancient…

Marching With the Sound of Hope

In this sermon, Rabbi Adrian Schell continues the courageous conversation taking place in his community, addressing grief, moral disorientation, and hope in turbulent times. Drawing on Numbers Chapter 10, he…

Finding the Way Back from the Wilderness

We know the wilderness well in our tradition. It's the place where Israel wandered, lost and disoriented. A place of testing and trial, but also of revelation. Sinai happened in the wilderness, not in the comfort of a promised land. Elijah found God not in the fire or the storm, but in the still small voice, alone, broken, and afraid in the desert.

So, what does it mean for someone today to find themselves in such a wilderness?

The Sabbath of the Land, the Sabbath of the Soul

The Sabbath and Shmita teach us that the land is not merely our resource, but our partner in God's covenant—a caregiver that Resh Lakish likens to a devoted handmaiden raising the king's children. When we honour the earth's need for rest, we rediscover our own worth beyond productivity, learning to breathe not as owners, but as kin in a world yearning to be whole.

What Makes Us Whole?

In Parashat Emor, we find one of the Torah’s more difficult passages — a section that limits which kohanim, which priests, can serve at the altar. A priest with a visible difference — blind, lame, injured, or with a disfigurement — is instructed not to offer the sacred sacrifices.

To modern ears, this can feel jarring. It brushes up against our values of equality, inclusion, and dignity. But maybe we can approach this not as a closed door but as a doorway into deeper conversation.