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Showing posts from December, 2021

Parshat Shemot: Shakespeare’s ‘Greatness’

William Shakespeare knew exactly how to crystallize human traits and experiences into timeless sound bites. In Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5, Malvolio reads Maria's letter (believing it to have been written by Olivia's hand): "If this letter falls into your hands, think carefully about what it says. By my birth I rank above you, but don’t be afraid of my greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them...." This quote has been occupying my mind recently. Not because I think of myself as being great (in any of the dimensions described!) I am simply trying to understand how it can apply to the person we are going to meet for the first time in today's Parsha, namely Moses or as we know him - Moshe Rabeinu - Moshe our teacher. The so-called ‘Prince of Egypt’ appears to have ticked all three boxes! Exodus 2: A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and whe

Parshat Vayechi: It’s All About Us!

I recently thumbed through my old primary school report book. Do you remember those? Junior 4 (the final report), when I was 11 years old and seven months. Arithmetic: Beginning to develop some thought but needs much guidance. Geography: A slow worker. Tends to answer without sufficient elaboration. Writing: Letters not well formed. Craft: Average. Is satisfied with rather mediocre results. (Which is my favourite comment so far). Reading: Loves to read and reading aloud, is very expressive. My love of reading was not news to either myself or my parents, for in Infants 2 (when I was seven) my teacher wrote: "In reading, Claude has certainly shown very good progress and now enjoys reading his books". I may have been an 'F' student when it came to woodwork and needlecraft. Maths was never a strong point but from early on I discovered books and as a result the pleasure that emanates from reading them - and I haven't stopped lapping them up! I have been reading a

Parshat Vayigash: Yehudah

Last Monday, on the last day of Chanukah, my friend Lenny passed away before he’d reached his fifth decade. Whilst I refer to him as a friend, I didn't really know him that well but one thing I can say unequivocally is that I loved him and what's more, I know that Lenny loved me. Lenny loved everyone. Yehudah Leib ben Shlomo zl was a very special individual. His second name of 'Leib' is Yiddish for 'Lion'. He was literally named the 'Lion of Judah'. Taking this one step further, the word 'Lev' in Hebrew means 'heart' and I couldn't think of a more appropriate moniker to describe him. However, on Shabbat, we are not allowed to give hespedim, eulogies and so in his blessed memory, I would like to respectfully dedicate the following: Genesis 44: בראשית מ״ד:י״ (יח) וַיִּגַּ֨שׁ אֵלָ֜יו יְהוּדָ֗ה... (18) Then Yehudah approached him... These words appear at the very beginning of the Parsha and they are informing us that something extraord

Parshat Miketz (Shabbat Chanukah): The Dreidel

Isn't Chanukah wonderful? We light our Chanukiyot to remind us of the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days. We eat latkes and donuts to remind us of the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days (and wonder if the real miracle of Chanukah is the fact that after 2000 years of lining our arteries with cholesterol, we are still around as a living, breathing nation)! We give presents to kids because of that other festival and that's partly why some people give Chanukah gelt, to differentiate it from its gentile neighbour. And we spin a dreidel because?...now that's a very good question! Why do we spin the dreidel? Tradition tells us that the Jews used dreidels when they were suffering under the harsh rule of the Selucids in Ancient Syria led by the evil Antiochus IV known as Epiphanes (which means 'the illustrious one ', a complete misnomer).   As they were forbidden from studying Torah Shel Baal Peh (the Oral Law) they used to keep these spinn