Category: Uncategorized
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How we use our voices matters
How we use our voices matters. Where we stand is never neutral. This week’s portion, Tazria-Metzora, asks: can silence be as corrosive as harmful words? I explore the thin line between being a bystander and becoming a sacred witness. Read this week’s reflection on why our testimony is a vital act of repair for our…
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A spiritual Bar Mitzvah
Thirteen years ago today, on 10 April, I stood with my colleagues to begin a journey that has defined my life in ways I could never have fully imagined. This milestone feels particularly poignant because, in our tradition, the number thirteen represents a transition into a new stage of responsibility and maturity.
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The Wilderness Was Always The Point
The expectation of a stable, secure world as a precondition for real life, for serious community, or for spiritual depth, is, in the Torah’s own terms, a category error. Safety as a precondition is not available. What is available is vulnerability, and a community that knows what to do with it. The question facing us…
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God is Not a Monster
How do we find a meaningful Jewish response to the Sydney terror attack? In this week’s sermon on Parashat Mikeitz, Rabbi Adrian (Wimbledon Synagogue) challenges the idea that tragedy is part of a divine script. If we claim that everything happens for a reason, we risk portraying a “Puppeteer God” who is cruel. Instead, we…
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May our light outshine their hatred.
It seems that all too often in recent years, just as we prepare to kindle the lights of a joyful festival, a shadow is cast over our celebration. The news from Sydney this morning is shocking, heartbreaking, and feels incredibly close to home, despite the distance. …
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The Festival of Contradictions
A Thought for Hanukkah Preparing for Hanukkah, I found myself reading a fascinating lecture by the scholar Yehoyada Amir, titled The Contradictory Sides of Hanukkah. It struck me how we often take the story of the Maccabees for granted, yet Amir reminds us that this festival has constantly shifted shape to suit the needs of…
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Stop Creating Monsters
Rabbi Adrian Schell welcomes Secretary of State Steve Reed to Wimbledon Synagogue for Shabbat Vayishlach. This sermon explores the spiritual antidote to populism by connecting it to Jacob’s wrestling with Esau. In this crucial discussion of faith and politics, the Rabbi challenges us all to see the humanity in the ‘other’—the refugee, the opponent, or…
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Have You Only One Blessing?
Reflecting on a recent visit to a Buddhist temple and the narrative of Parashat Toldot, I explore the tension between spiritual scarcity and abundance. While the story of Jacob and Esau suggests a finite amount of blessing—where one brother’s gain is the other’s loss—a progressive theology reminds us that an Infinite God cannot run out…
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Blog Post One
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Blog Post Two
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