…series include Ethics, Leadership, Spirituality, and Life-Changing Ideas. One chapter per parsha, one book per theme. Rabbi Sacks also published volumes of parsha essays, one for each of the 5 books of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) each book containing multiple essays per sedra. The new book contains a foreword written by President of Israel, Isaac Herzog….
…book “Just Six Numbers”. Have any of you read this book? It is a fascinating book. I don’t understand a word of it, but – But he argues, as do many scientists nowadays, that the universe is incredibly finely-tuned for the emergence of life. There are six, and only six, mathematical constants which govern the entire emergence of the universe,…
…still remains, revolutionary. It has been written about a certain amount so I am not saying anything completely original here. There is a lovely little book about it, or a little bit of a book about it, by Yosef Chaim Yerushalmi called “Zachor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory” and a Catholic historian called Thomas Cahill wrote a book about it…
Rabbi Sacks had a tradition, to deliver a pre-Rosh Hashanah shiur every year at the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS). This Ellul shiur (lecture), which was his 11th as Chief Rabbi, was delivered and recorded in September 2011. Mekorot (sources) are embedded within the video and will be shown on screen. For an alternative to the video, you can…
…little book called Mindset. I think you ought to read this book. This book (although I don’t know if Carol Dweck is Jewish, it sounds Jewish to me, sounds Sephardi to me) is precisely on that machloket Chazal about Noach. Although she doesn’t mention Chazal or Noach or anything Jewish at all, she was very interested in this question: why…
…“I just want to thank you for your book, Radical Then, Radical Now.” There’s not one word about Islam in that book. It is a book of Jewish pride. And that was when I realised… (Incidentally, was serialised in the Times. It was serialised by a gentleman called Michael Gove, who was the deputy editor of The Times. And now he’s Secretary…
Find all 50 life-changing ideas listed below. Click on any of the parsha titles to read the full essays. FROM THE BOOK OF BEREISHIT: BEREISHIT: God believes in us even if we don’t always believe in ourselves. Remember this, and you will find the path from darkness to light. NOACH: Next time you meet someone radically unlike you, try seeing…
…confidently, under the shadow of His wings. [1] See D. J. Clines, The Theme of the Pentateuch (Sheffield: JSOT, 1978). [2] Mechilta, Parshat Bo 14. [3] Judah Halevi, The Kuzari, II:9–12. How was Reuben and Gad’s request not to enter the Land of Israel different from the previous story of the spies? Do you think the request these two tribes…
…Learning Torah is even greater than offering sacrifices. Now we have here two different routes, (point two), we have here two different roads offered up, opened up by the Sages. When the Temple was destroyed, what replaced sacrifices as a way of serving God? Route one was tefillah, prayer; Route two was Talmud Torah, learning. And we see both of…
…who denied the authority of the prophetic books except the book of Joshua. The existence of haftarot in the early centuries CE is, however, well attested. Early Christian texts, when relating to Jewish practice, speak of “the Law and the Prophets,” implying that the Torah (Law) and haftarah (Prophets) went hand-in-hand and were read together. Many early Midrashim connect verses…