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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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Our Civic Covenant: Faith and Democracy
In a time of deep societal division and rising anxiety, Rabbi Adrian Schell delivers a powerful address for Civic Shabbat, “A Covenant of Courage.”Drawing on the ancient call to Abraham in Parashat Lech Lecha and the prophet Micah’s vision of peace, Rabbi Schell explores the urgent challenge of our time: the breaking of our “civic…
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The Lonely God and the Creation of Relationship
There is a strange tenderness in the second creation story.The first chapter of Genesis is full of grandeur and order: light and darkness, sea and sky, evening and morning. Everything unfolds with rhythm and precision, and when it is done, God looks at the world and calls it very good. Then the tone changes. The…
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How Can We Rejoice? A Sukkot Message Two Years After October 7th
My sermon for Erev Sukkot addresses a direct and painful collision in the Jewish calendar: the beginning of ‘z’man simchateinu’, the season of our joy, falls on the exact second anniversary of the October 7th atrocities. It explores how the sukkah itself, with its flimsy walls and lesson in vulnerability, will not let us hide…
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Probabilities Don’t Hug You Back: A Neilah Sermon for a World Without Guarantees
This Neilah sermon begins with a story from the town of Chelm, where a drought has caused a crisis of faith, and the people demand proof that God is listening. Into this debate steps Jossele, who argues that while he can’t be certain about God, he knows that a life of kindness, forgiveness, and charity…
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The Town of Stopped Clocks: A Kol Nidrei Message on Forgiveness and Time
This sermon for Kol Nidrei begins with a story of a town where every clock is stopped at the precise moment of a deep personal hurt. This powerful metaphor explores how we all carry “stopped clocks” in our own hearts—frozen moments of resentment where we have defined ourselves, and others, by their worst mistakes. The…
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What Do You Hear When the World Comes In?
There is a particular sound to the world when heard from inside a sukkah. The solid walls of our homes are designed to keep the world out; the thin walls of the sukkah invite it in. The rustle of the wind through the s’chach, the distant sound of traffic, the neighbour’s conversation—all of it becomes…
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Take Words With You: A Jewish Guide to a Hopeful New Year
Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the work of ‘teshuvah’ (return) can feel daunting. But what if the essential tool for change isn’t guilt, but language? Rabbi Adrian Schell explores the ancient Jewish “technology” of using words—for apology, for prayer, and for rewriting our own stories—as we prepare for the new year. Drawing on the…
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The Pain of Being Unseen: A Rosh Hashanah Message of Hope and Recognition
On Rosh Hashanah, we stand before the Divine with a profound and deeply human hope: to be truly seen. This sermon explores the quiet, sinking feeling of being overlooked that we have all experienced and connects it to the central prayers of the High Holy Days. It asks: What is the greatest blessing we can…
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When Conscience and Command Collide: Faith and Ethics in the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) Story
When Conscience and Command Collide: Faith and Ethics in the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) Story In this powerful sermon for the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5786, Rabbi Adrian Schell of The Wimbledon Synagogue offers a profound re-reading of the Binding of Isaac (the Akedah). What if Abraham’s journey up the mountain was not an…
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