BHPS Sermon | 28th January 2012
GOING OUT AND COMING IN AND GOING OUT AGAIN:
THE BAT MITZVAH OF MIRIAM SEGAL
We have come here today, not simply to celebrate Shabbat......Shabbat Chanukkah Sermon 24th December 2011
THE STORY OF CHANUKKAH: THE FIRST STRUGGLE FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
Did you listen to Radio 4’s, In Our Time, when the panel of experts assembled by Melvyn Bragg,.....Shabbat Sermon 26th November 2011 | THE BAT MITZVAH OF CONNNIE WARD-LEE
BEING YOUR OWN PERSON – THE BAT MITZVAH OF CONNNIE WARD-LEE
Every Bar or Bat Mitzvah is a unique and special occasion, and every Bat or.....
Sukkot 5772 – 13th October 2011
THE SUKKAH OF COMMUNITY
On Sunday, a group of friends came round to help us build our sukkah. We couldn't do it ourselves, because last year, one of these friends.....Yom Kippur morning 5772 – 8th September 2011
IN SEARCH OF ‘A FUTURE AND A HOPE’
Why are we here today? Each one of us will have our own answers to that question – and those who are not.....
Kol Nidrey 5772 – 8th September 2011
LIFE AS ART
The sun set a short while ago, and now, in the darkness we have embarked on the unique journey that is Yom Kippur. When I was preparing for.....
THE AUTUMN FESTIVALS OF THE JEWISH CALENDAR
Yom Kippur is the day when Jews across the world, gather together from sunset to sunset to confess their sins and failings, and journey towards forgiveness and atonement. But the.....
Rosh Ha-Shanah Shacharit 5772 – 29th September 2011
A FUTURE FOR ISRAEL AND PALESTINE?
LEARNING FROM A MESSENGER OF PEACE
A new year has begun. Will it be any different than the old one? Is there anything we can do.....
Erev Rosh Ha-Shanah 5772 – 28th September 2011
ARE HUMAN BEINGS CAPABLE OF CHANGE?
Every morning when I go downstairs to feed our two cats, I always open the door on the area of the house that that they.....
As the new Year Approaches: Stationed and Ready to Go?
The season known colloquially as, ‘the High Holy Days’ has arrived. This evening at 9 PM I will lead a study session on ‘The conditions for Forgiveness’, which will be.....
Challenging Autocracy – Shabbat Sermon 25th June 2011 | 23rd Sivan 5771
What have been your thoughts about the upheavals going on in the Arab world? Are you pleased that the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria have been.....
Listening Out for the Voice of the Eternal | Shavuot Sermon 08. 06. 2011 – 6th Sivan 5771
According to rabbinic tradition, Shavuot – the Festival of ‘Weeks’ – is z’man matan Torateinu: ‘the season of the giving of our Torah.’ After the Temple was destroyed by the.....
Living in the Wilderness – 28th May 2011 / 24th Iyyar 5771
What are your thoughts about the lack of rain over the past few weeks? I'm not very keen on rain myself, but when you have a garden, the absence of.....
OF ONE JEWISH LEADER AND MANY KINDS OF JEWISH LEADERSHIP 20TH Adar II 5771 – 26. 03. 2011
As I mentioned at the beginning of the service, sadly, three of our members died during the past week: Cyril Davidson and shul President, Ivor Miskin, and L’Chayyim volunteer, Pam.....
Becoming a Leader – 17th Sh’vat 5771 – 22. 01. 2011
A few moments ago, the person standing here in the pulpit, leading the Shabbat Morning Service, was a young woman: Kate Goffi. Today, we are witnessing the moment when Kate.....
HINNEINI – ‘HERE I AM’ 20th Kislev 5771 – 27. 11. 2010
When does childhood end and adulthood begin? Until modern times, childhood was very short, and children assumed adult responsibilities from one day to the next, as they were put to.....
A COUNTRY OF MANY COLOURS, 29th Cheshvan 5771 – 06. 11. 2010
I have gone to Israel many, many times. My first visit was in blistering heat in July 1978. I then spent seven months living on a small radical kibbutz less.....
LIVING AS A JEW IN A MULTI-CULTURAL SOCIETY, Yom Kippur Shacharit 5771 – 18. 09. 2010
A Bar or Bat mitzvah at this synagogue is always deeply moving to witness – and very impressive. I am always impressed by two things, in particular: how each Bar.....
LIVING NOW, Erev Yom Kippur 10th Tishri 5770 – 17. 09. 2010
The day that started as the sun set this evening is a very special day – Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. We all know this, of course; that's.....
LIVING IN THE AGE OF ANXIETY, Erev Rosh Ha-Shanah 5771 – 09. 09. 2010
Here we are again on the threshold of another new year: are we ready to look back - and to move forward? What were we thinking as we journeyed here.....
A TIME TO RE-DISCOVER THE ART OF LIVING, Rosh Ha-Shanah Shacharit 5771 – 09. 09. 2010
I didn't write this sermon – or the one I gave last night, or, the two I will deliver on Yom Kippur; I dictated them onto my computer screen using.....
THE CONTINUING JOURNEY 10. 07. 2010
I would like to begin by saying, ‘happy birthday, Sam’. It's quite a way to celebrate your 13th birthday… leading a congregation on a Shabbat morning; I wonder if it.....
RABBI SARAH’S SERMON AT LJS, 19.06.10
As we all know, a few weeks ago there was a General Election, and we now have a new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government, and a new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime.....
60 second sermon BBC Southern Counties, 02.05.10
During the last few weeks the airways have been dominated by the upcoming general election, the competing claims of the different political parties, and, in particular, by the personalities of.....
BHPS 75th Anniversary
Some of those who are gathered here today can remember back to 1935. For those who can't – and that includes me – just try and imagine what life was.....
Remembering That We Were Strangers – Pesach March 2010
‘For you were strangers in the land of Egypt’: How many times does the Torah repeat that phrase? And now we have arrived once again at the season for remembering.....
Building the Mishkan and Creating an Inclusive Community
This week our regular Shabbat morning service has a very special quality as we celebrate the moment that Jacob leaves his childhood behind and becomes Bar Mitzvah. In a profound.....
LIVING AS A JEW IN EVERY PLACE 27 February 2010
I usually write my sermon on a Friday. But BT informed us that we wouldn’t be connected to the internet in our new home until midnight on Thursday – ten.....
06.02 ‘THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING’ 2nd Feb 2010
This Shabbat we have come together to celebrate both the seventh day of the week and the Bat Mitzvah of Leah Segal. But today is not simply a double celebration. .....
23.01 LESSONS OF THE EXODUS 23 Jan 2010
This Shabbat we are marking the moment when Sam Watling becomes Bar Mitzvah – literally, a ‘Son of the Commandment’ – and so becomes a link in a chain of.....
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A JEW?
We have gathered here today on this winter’s Shabbat morning to celebrate with Jerome and his family as he becomes Bar Mitzvah. Today, Jerome leaves his childhood behind and begins.....
LEARNING FROM JACOB’S JOURNEY
THE BAR MITZVAH OF JOSHUA WINSTONE
We have come here today – the highpoint of the Jewish week – to celebrate a very special highpoint in Josh’s life: the day when.....ACNOWLEDGING THE OTHER – AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS ALL OTHERS
I look forward to Yom Kippur. When I first became a student rabbi, I used to be very anxious about whether I would be able to fast all day and.....
A DAY OF RECKONING
ACKNOWLEDGING OUR CAPACITY TO NURTURE AND DESPOIL THE EARTH
In June, while taking a few days break in Cornwall, Jess and I visited the Eden Project at Bodelva, just off the.....CROSSING BOUNDARIES: LESSONS OF 1969 AND 1989
Do you recall the moon-landing on July 21st 1969? (1) I remember watching the images on television – and also gazing at the moon through the window: my eyes flitting.....
TENDING OURSELVES IN THE GARDEN OF YOM KIPPUR
We began this evening with silence. Erev Yom Kippur is marked out by the haunting melody of Kol Nidrey, the Medieval text, opening with the words ‘All vows’, which has.....
ELUL: THE TIME FOR TURNING
The season of autumn has begun in earnest: it’s colder in the mornings; more wind and rain than sunshine; the leaves are beginning to turn. A line from a Simon.....
TRUTH IS PLURAL
On Wednesday, I travelled to the Sternberg Centre in Finchley, North London, to participate in a meeting of a Jewish – Christian – Muslim Dialogue group that I have been.....
VALUING OURSELVES – LESSONS OF BALAK
The Bat Mitzvah of Maia Orme
Today is the anniversary of the birth of the United States of America in 1776. It might also have been the eve of.....OF THE LUCKY ONES WHO SURVIVED
I don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about email; I realise that it’s a swift form of communication that can save a lot of paper, but I guess.....