Rabbi Claude's Scribbles

On Sunday afternoon, I stood with my back to the National Gallery facing Nelson’s Column.  Trafalgar Square was bathed in a sea of blue and white flags fluttering in the light breeze.  The speakers, whose faces I could not make out, came onto the stage and one by one, fighting back tears, related their heartbreaking and shocking testimonies, describing their experiences on Shabbat 7 th October.  How they had lost loved ones, either through being murdered or seeing them dragged away into the hellhole that is Gaza.  Many of those who bravely tried to defend their families, friends and kibbutzim were massacred by an overwhelming and unbelievably cruel foe. As one of the speakers was tearfully informing us that her brother and his family had been amongst the more than two hundred people kidnapped, I was handed a poster that just happened to display their details under a large bold white-on-red headline marked ‘Kidnapped’.   Reading the events in the news hadn’t hit me yet.   Standing al

Dedicated to the memory of Yaakov Aharon ben Moshe, Jake Marlowe - may Hashem avenge his murder. I'd like to ask a very simple question regarding this week's protagonist, Noach.   In his act of saving his family (and a shipload of animals) from the flood that wiped out every living creature (aside from the fish), would you consider him to be courageous? There is a fascinating Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 36.3) which compares Noach with Moshe Rabbeinu: “Noach, man of the soil, began, and he planted a vineyard” (Genesis 9:20). “Noach, man of the soil, began [vaya ḥ el]” – he became profaned and unholy [ ḥ ulin].   Why?   “And he planted a vineyard.” Should he not have planted something else, that was constructive, a fig tree branch or an olive tree branch?   Instead, “he planted a vineyard.” ‘Man of the soil’ – There were three people who were enthusiastic about the soil but ultimately nothing constructive came from them.   They are: Cain, Noach, and Uziyahu.   Cain – “Cai