Rabbi Claude's Scribbles

Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I feels wonderful to be back after my recent Covid infection and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you most sincerely on behalf of Stephnie, Benjamin and myself for your thoughtful messages and support during this challenging time for our family. I can't express how touched we were. This has not been an easy week for the rest of the world either. On Sunday, a Hamas terrorist in Jerusalem dressed up as a Charedi man, shot dead a young man, Eli Kay, zl who also happened to be the grandson of Rabbi Shlomo and Lynndy Levin of South Hampstead Shul and the nephew of Rabbis Eli and Baruch Levin, the latter being the Rabbi of Brondesbury Park.   By all accounts, Eli was a very special individual whose love of the land of Israel knew no bounds.   He had been a lone soldier who recently emigrated from South Africa and was on his way to the Kotel, where he was a guide.   He was carrying his tefillin when he was gunned down in cold blood. On that

"We are doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children, and those who will follow in their footsteps." Queen Elizabeth II - Speech to the COP26 Conference, 1st November 2021.   This week's Parsha has a very special place in my heart as it is my Bar Mitzvah sedra.   My Hebrew birthday was two days ago on 29th Mar-Cheshvan, which also happens that be the same date in October in the Gregorian calendar on which my parents were married…as I explained last week. In addition to its special personal status, I have always considered Toldot to be one of the seminal parshiot in the Torah as it describes in vivid detail the 'succession plan' of our Patriarchs following the death of Avraham at the end of last week's reading. In considering this, the name of the Parsha, ‘Toldot’ as a word is difficult to translate and although I have researched a number of different versions, the one that I was taught and that I have always under