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Rabbi Hackenbroch
Towards a more meaningful life
Tetzaveh: Bells and Robes
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. -C. S. Lewis “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for honor and for glory.” One of the eight garments that the High Priest was expected to wear was a cloak with a distinctive detail in its design. At theContinue reading “Tetzaveh: Bells and Robes”
TERUMAH: Can you see the wood from the trees?
“There’s no place like home” Dorothy, Wizard of Oz There are many outstanding accomplishments for us as a natio, but building is certainly not amongst them. It may come therefore as somewhat of a surprise to discover that from the sedra of Terumah onwards the rest of the book of Shemot centers around the buildingContinue reading “TERUMAH: Can you see the wood from the trees?”
MISHPATIM: The Shoemaker’s Simple Stitches
In the mundane, nothing is sacred; in the sacred, nothing is mundane Dōgen The cure for boredom is curiosity Dorothy Parker Life can be boring. Let’s face it. If I have learned anything from this third and seemingly endless lockdown, it is that, when all the busyness of life dissipates, life’s quality increases. It isContinue reading “MISHPATIM: The Shoemaker’s Simple Stitches”
YITRO: “Let the carob trees prove it!”
“Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors” Ralph Waldo Emerson Never was there a more profound moment not just in Jewish history but arguably in humankind than the Divine Revelation witnessed by the Jewish Nation as they stood at the foot of Sinai. Cloaked in thunder and lightning, humankind heard first-hand the wordContinue reading “YITRO: “Let the carob trees prove it!””
The ONE THING NEEDED TO SUCCEED IN COVID & LIFE
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Covid and the “R” Factor- have you got it?
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BESHALACH: Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?
Then I’ll get down on my knees and pray, We don’t get fooled again, No, no! The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again As Jews, prayer has always been sacrosanct – a first, rather than a last resort. King David himself was defined by prayer: veani tefilati – “ I am my prayer”. Prayer is ourContinue reading “BESHALACH: Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?”
BO: You don’t have time? Or you don’t want to?
I’ll do it tomorrow Everyone (at some point) Time is such a crucial part of our lives. Tim Ferris in his bestselling book The Four Hour Work Week said that we should “focus on being productive, rather than busy”. It was the great Athenian general, Pericles, who said “time is the wisest counselor of all”.Continue reading “BO: You don’t have time? Or you don’t want to?”
VAERA: In a world made of steel, we can learn to heal
A voice said, Look me in the starsAnd tell me truly, men of earth,If all the soul-and-body scarsWere not too much to pay for birth. Robert Frost, “A Question” So far, this year in particular, it has been hard to stay present. The noisy news, the pitiful politics, and the limitless lockdown – all haveContinue reading “VAERA: In a world made of steel, we can learn to heal”
Selfies: Risking life for likes (PODCAST)
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SHEMOT: Who runs the world?
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” – Marianne Williamson (Author and Activist) Exodus, “The book of names” ironically seems to be intentionally ambiguous, with names of the main characters at the outset of the book. The verses seem deliberately vague. We learnContinue reading “SHEMOT: Who runs the world?”
Israel -The Vaccine Nation!
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt. As we enter 2021, we are hanging on by a thread The hospitals are at breaking point, the health workers are beyond exhaustion. The situation is bleak and grim, the lifeline everyone is pinning their hopesContinue reading “Israel -The Vaccine Nation!”
VAYECHI: Life through the windshield not the rear mirror
How can the life of such a man, Be in the palm of some fool’s hand? To see him obviously framed, Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed Bob Dylan, Hurricane Why do we do it to ourselves? We put ourselves through the ringer. Living life in the rear-view mirror. Sheryl Sandber writes in Option B, “whenContinue reading “VAYECHI: Life through the windshield not the rear mirror”
VAYIGASH: Three fathers, two brothers, one blessing
It takes two men to make one brother – Israel Zangwill A Jewish mother is walking down the street with her two young sons. A passerby asks her how old the boys are. “The doctor is three,” the mother answers, “and the lawyer is two.” Us Jews have always placed huge expectations on our children, everyContinue reading “VAYIGASH: Three fathers, two brothers, one blessing”
CHANUKAH:Culture and Anarchy Hebrew and Hellenist
Hebraism and Hellenism, – between these two points of influence moves our world. Matthew Arnold First, never go against the best light you have; secondly, take care that your light be not darkness. Thomas Wilson It was Eric Gruen, in his Heritage and Hellenism, who wrote that the Macabbean revolution sparked a process that helped to define Jewish characterContinue reading “CHANUKAH:Culture and Anarchy Hebrew and Hellenist”
VAYISHLACH: Are we meant to be comfortable with ourselves?
“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.” Bereishit 32:24 It was the great American leader and Rabbi, Joseph Soloveitchik, who asked, in his seminal work The Lonely Man of Faithn whether loneliness can be either the Kierkegaardian anguish – an ontological fear nurtured by the awareness of nonbeing threatening one’s existence –Continue reading “VAYISHLACH: Are we meant to be comfortable with ourselves?”
VAYEITZEI: Learning to nourish the voice within
It was Israel Zangwill, the close associate of Theodore Herzl, who said that the Jewish people were “a people without a land”. We are a wandering nation. As Paul Johnson, in his seminal History of the Jews notes – after the Roman sacking of the Second Temple, the Jewish nation began the long and arduousContinue reading “VAYEITZEI: Learning to nourish the voice within”
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