Tag: Israel
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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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700 DAYS
There are numbers that feel heavy to say, heavy to hold. This Friday marks 700 days. Seven hundred days since families were shattered and hostages were taken into captivity in Gaza. After so many months, as the world’s attention shifts and fades, hope can feel thin, and the act of remembering can feel like a…
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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 explores the symbolic power of the silver trumpets: tools that call to community, to action, and to memory. Just as the Israelites finally moved when…
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Planting Hope in Fragile Soil
This Shabbat, we find ourselves at a crossroads of deep reflection and joyful celebration. The Torah portions of Tazria and Metzora speak about illness, healing, isolation, and return. They tell of individuals who are cast out of the community because of tsara’at, not as punishment, but as a way to heal. And when they are…
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We will dance again—Simchat Torah 5785
On Simchat Torah, we gather,with hearts heavy,remembering those taken from us,in the fields where life once bloomed.Kibbutzim quieted by sorrow,echo with voices we still hear,their absence a wound, raw and open. We hold in prayerthose still lost in the shadows,abducted, but never forgotten.In our yearning, we reach for them,as we have always reached for peace,with…
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Isaac and Ishmael – Their Untold Story | Rosh Hashanah Sermon by Rabbi Adrian M. Schell
In this moving Rosh Hashanah sermon, Rabbi Adrian M. Schell takes us through the untold narrative of Isaac and Ishmael, two estranged brothers separated by trauma and reunited only by their father Abraham’s death. With a focus on themes of resilience, reconciliation, and renewal, the sermon delves into their shared trauma and reflects on the…
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Peace is something we cultivate with patience and care – Parashat Ki Teitzei
In Parashat Ki Teitzei, we encounter the beautiful mitzvah of Shiluach HaKen—the commandment to send away the mother bird before taking her young (Deut. 22:6-7). At first glance, this may seem like a small gesture, but it holds a profound message about the importance of compassion and responsibility towards all living beings. Jewish tradition calls…
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Two Cities—two lessons—one people
This Shabbat we learn of two cities and two lessons. Each of these cities offers us a value and a cautionary note. We relearn these values and we recall their accompanying cautionary notes.The first city is from the Torah portion. It is Hebron. In this week’s Torah portion Sarah dies at the age of 127…
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Gusti Braverman’s encouragement for unity and engagement
Last Shabbat we had Gusti Yehoshua Braverman (pictured above) from the World Zionist Organisation visit Bet David. In her talk prior to the Shabbat service she highlighted the importance of the World Zionist Organisation and of the Progressive Judaism in Israel, and how important it is that we—Progressive Jews—need to made our voices be heard…
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My Chanicha Patrizia
Our Parashat Matot Masei, which brings the Children of Israel to the plains of Moab on the border of the Land of Israel, deals with the nexus between two of the founding stories of Judaism. The story of peoplehood frames the Jewish People as a family and a tribe bound together by a shared history…
