In November 2014, exactly ten years ago, Brittany Maynard fulfilled her final wish. At just 29 years old, she ended her life to avoid the prolonged suffering and decline brought on by the devastating illness she had been battling. Featured on the cover of People magazine and in numerous news outlets, Brittany’s story became a[…]
It’s a curious thing, Jews and charity. When the need arises we seem to always rise to the occasion – sometimes in ways most unexpected. This past Saturday night, Jan. 06 there was a most tragic event that occurred in the Mill Hill neighbourhood, just a stone’s through from my office. A gentleman, Vijay Patel,[…]
I have watched carefully the different responses to the case at hand. Many of course were dancing with jubilation. Others were quick to condemn such a reaction. When Jonathan Pollard was convicted of spying for Israel and then had the book thrown at him with a disproportionate and unprecedented sentence, the Jewish world rallied together.[…]
I’m a big fan of Larry David. To be sure much of his humour is crass and crude. But what I admire is how he calls it as he sees it, and chooses the non-politically correct path in life. In that regard, he’s a man after my own heart. But there’s a big difference between[…]
Dear Rabbi I was reading a lot about the Charlie Gard story and wondered about the Jewish perspective on who has the rights to determine the life of a baby – the parents or the doctors? Victor Dear Victor Neither the parents nor the doctors have the right to determine the life and death[…]
Dear British Citizen and Fellow Jew For the past several weeks I have been posting on Facebook and Tweeting about the current general election underway today. “Typical North American Rabbi,” is the natural response. “They all get het up over politics.” To be sure, I’d like to make something abundantly clear for the record. As[…]
Today we celebrate Yom Yerushalayim. More than 3000 years ago King David himself established Jerusalem as his undisputed Capital – long before anyone else contested it. Alas later we were exiled and for a lengthy period of time we remained without a homeland. Fifty years ago Jerusalem came back into our hands. To grasp how[…]
It is said if you want to get your family around the dinner table together, just switch off the wifi in the house. The whatsapp outage last night caused pandemonium throughout the world. Without ticks appearing next to a sent message all sorts of paranoia kicked in. “Am I being ignored?” “Is there something wrong[…]
Miriam Peretz lost two sons battling terrorism in Israel. That’s how she sees it anyway. Others will merely argue they should never have been in Gaza or Lebanon. In other words, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. One man’s definition of murder is another man’s definition of martyrdom. How ironic was it therefore[…]
The Midrash relates the following episode: In the days of the Roman Empire, in the city of Tzipori, a town just west of Tiberius lived a simple man named Yusta. He served as the local tailor, sitting and sewing all day at his spot along the main street of the town. During a visit to Rome,[…]