Dear Friends, A few weeks back, I wrote a bit about the malignantly-misunderstood Friedrich Nietzsche and his unfair association with Nazism. What is perhaps a much worse historical judgement is that which falls on a different ‘villain’: Niccolò Machiavelli. In the generation after his own lifetime and for many that followed, Machiavelli was labelled evil, […]
Dear Friends, Something remarkable happened last night, something no one thought possible, and something that really struck me in a surprising and unexpected way. No, I don’t mean that Spurs won (although that fits the same criteria), but rather that, during the match between them and Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund, a *successful* minute of silence […]
At one point in my life, I kept a list of all sorts of phrases and words that would make really good names for a rock band. Now, I never actually played or formed a band– the drama of that seemed exhausting. The fun part was in the naming of the band. As any good marketing […]
Dear Friends, Few people have been more misunderstood than the much-maligned philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. For many, the name of Nietzsche conjures up images of jackbooted fascists, and to some he is considered to be the intellectual underpinning of Nazism, with his ideas of will, nihilistic tendencies, and the oft-quoted notion of the übermenschen. Yet indeed, […]
Dear Friends, One of the (many) things I love about Judaism is its infinite potential to reinterpret texts. In some ways, this aspect of our ancient tradition is incredibly modern; like postmodern philosophers, our Sages were happy to read texts out of context, in their own right, and often ignorant of the authorship or background […]
Dear Friends, In my free time, I like to read history of all sorts: ancient, modern, military, social, etc. At the moment, I’ve been reading a lovely book called “The Future of War: A History.” In the book, the author, Sir Lawrence Freedman, looks at the historical record for times and places where individuals and […]
Dear Friends, I hope that Hanukkah has provided a welcome bit of light and warmth in these dark days of winter. As we light the Hanukkiyah each night, hopefully the light of redemption increases just a bit more, up and up until we have the full complement of all eight nights- but even then, we […]
Dear Friends, I’ve been on leave this week and next as Mikayla’s parents have been visiting us from the States and we’ve been enjoying spending some time with them. I did want to share a few words about Chanukah and remind you of a few exciting things coming up. All too often, the revolutionaries of […]
Dear Friends, I’m sharing below words which will be published in the JC this weekend in honour of Mitzvah Day. You can also find my Sidrah column in this week’s JC. In 1940, the Jewish newspaper of the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos published an anonymous op-ed from an author who signed only, ‘Your Mother.’ In […]
Being a rabbi- It’s generally my job to know what to say in difficult situations. This past week however, has been a significant challenge. I’m sure none of you are unaware that last Shabbat saw 11 people murdered at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Words often fail to capture the weight of […]