Rabbi Claude's Scribbles

  If I were to ask you to provide a definition of the Torah, how would you describe it? You could say that, on a superficial level, it was a history book.   Perhaps you might think of it as a guide to Jewish law and ritual.   A third idea might point to it being a manual of morality (or the lack of it, as described so vividly in last week’s Parsha when focussing on the men of Sodom).   But could you ever consider it to have elements of being a love story? I’m not necessarily referring to the relationship between our nation and Gd, although there is a deep bond that runs throughout the five books, even if it is sometimes difficult to comprehend why some events took place and whether these could be considered as pertaining to the kind of loving interaction that we can readily understand. But, looking at this week’s Parsha, I can come to no other conclusion other than its key ingredients can be summarised in one single word: Love. Chayei Sarah, literally ‘the life of Sarah’ is a

  Faith is not certainty.   Faith is the courage to live with uncertainty.   (Rabbi Sacks ztl) A few weeks ago, it was a lovely balmy afternoon and we were having a family lunch in our Sukkah.   I was explaining to Olivia, who has just turned four and Alexander, who will be two next month, that the reason we sit in the Sukkah is to remind us of the booths that Gd told us to inhabit when our ancestors were wandering around the desert. She turned to me and asked: "Daud, who is Gd?" I looked worriedly at Grandma Stephnie, hoping to elicit a suitable response, but she stared back, also not quite knowing what to say.   We both paused, took a breath and we both tried to give an explanation about what Gd is and what he does, but to be honest, nobody was any wiser at the end of our respective explanations.   She hadn't asked the 'what' question - that would have been easier - she'd asked the 'who' one! What struck us about the question, which not onl

  Who was the first businessman in the Bible? Noah.  He floated the company when the world went into liquidation!   What kind of lighting did Noah have in the ark? Floodlighting! These jokes typify the fondness that we have towards the story of the flood and Noah's rescue via his ark.  Ask a child to tell you a Biblical story and I would guess that you'll probably hear the same tale and how the animals went in 'two by two' (except if they were kosher and then it was 'seven by seven' but let's put that to one side).  Fisher Price even sells a 'Noah's Ark' toy ('Little People Noah's Ark with Bonus Animals')! The motif of someone saving others has been repeated time and time again, most notably in recent times with the novel "The Zookeeper's Wife" and its subsequent film adaptation.  It is story that truly captures our imaginations again and again and again. 

  This is dedicated to our friend Galen – Gavriel Mordechai ben Pesach Chaim zl The dismantled Sukkah has been stored away in the shed (or will be - as soon as it stops raining!) The drama of the 'Days of Awe' is fading into the distance and even the Simchat Torah dancing has taken on the status of the 'Last Hurrah' of a month of festivals. Soon the days will be drawing in and it will seem as though the brightness of the long summer will be perfectly mirrored by the darkness of an interminable winter. Even our Torah reflects this change of mood. A few days ago, we read about the last day of Moses' life and how he blessed the Nation of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land.   One can only imagine the unbelievable sight of the throng of millions of men, women and children encamped on the banks of the Jordan River. And here we are, less than a week later, rewinding the timeline by nearly three thousand years to the time when there was