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Showing posts from October, 2019

Shabbat Chol Hamo'ed Sukkot - 'Kohelet - Sunlight and Shade'

בס"ד This is dedicated to my maternal grandmother Chaya Rivka bat R’ Kalman Bienenzucht whose yartzheit was on Shabbat A few weeks' ago, The Beatles' Abbey Road album returned to #1 in the pop album charts (UK) and one of the best songs on the album is "Here Comes the Sun" by George Harrison. Mishnah Sukkah 1:1 (1) A sukkah which is more than twenty cubits high is not valid. Rabbi Judah validates it. One which is not ten handbreadths high, or which does not have three walls, or which has more sun than shade, is not valid .... The Gemara (Sukkah 22b) raises an interesting question - what if there equal amounts of sunshine and shade - will the Sukkah be kosher? It replies with the answer, that it all depends on which angle you view both the sunlight and shade. In the case where you look at the schach and see them being equal, then the sukkah would be pasul (i.e. non-kosher) but if you look at the ratio on the ground, where the beams of sun

Parshat Haazinu: Extinction Rebellion & the Torah's Approach to Making Your Mark

“Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR) is a socio- political movement with the stated aim of using civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to compel government action on climate breakdown , biodiversity loss , and the risk of social and ecological collapse (Wikipedia)” "The group was established in the United Kingdom in May 2018 with about one hundred academics signing a call to action in support in October 2018 and launched at the end of October by activists Roger Hallam and Gail Bradbrook , and others  from the campaign group Rising Up!...." XR’s website, at the time of the group's inception in the UK, stated the following aims: Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency , working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change. G overnment must act now to halt biodiversity loss (ie extinction of animal and plant species in their natural habitats) and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to n

The Scribbler is back!

It's been a while but here I am again...older, maybe a tad wiser and keen to share some ideas. As you may know, I qualified as a Rabbi earlier this year and am very blessed to be leading a wonderful community. I thought it would be fun to share my sermons with a wider audience, so I will be posting them here. Feel free to comment but please try to be polite!