by Rene Pfertzel | May 10, 2026 | Divrei Torah
A reflection on the double portion of B’har-B’chukotai Maidenhead Synagogue – 8 May 26 The Torah portion this week teaches us how to walk through difficulty without losing our souls. A single question runs from one end of the parasha to the other: when...
by Rene Pfertzel | May 4, 2026 | Blog
London, Monday 4 May 2026 / 17 Iyyar 5786 The current situation is fraught with crisis. How do we hold steady? That question has been with me for quite some time, in our community and in conversations across the wider Jewish world. The pressures are familiar to most...
by Rene Pfertzel | Apr 10, 2026 | Divrei Torah
Maidenhead Synagogue 11 April 2026 / 24 Nisan 5786 Leviticus 10 There is a moment in this morning’s parashah that I have returned to again and again in recent weeks, not as a scholar but as a human being trying to make sense of what it feels like to live in our...
by Rene Pfertzel | Mar 27, 2026 | Blog
For most of my adult life, I celebrated Jewish festivals in relative peace. The festivals arrived in their familiar rhythm, the preparations began, and the community gathered. There were always anxieties in the background, of course. Jewish communal life has never...
by Rene Pfertzel | Mar 22, 2026 | Divrei Torah
Maidenhead Synagogue, Shabbat Vayikra – 21 March 2026 / 3 Nisan 5786 There is a particular kind of tiredness that does not come from lack of sleep. It is the tiredness that accumulates when the world produces, week after week, new reasons for grief. Jewish...
