by Rene Pfertzel | Jan 23, 2026 | Divrei Torah
Maidenhead Synagogue, 23 January 2026 – Sh’vat 5786 – Parashat Bo (Book of Exodus) Today, I have allowed myself to be more political than usual. I do so because I believe that what is happening in our Western democracies is not a partisan issue but a...
by Rene Pfertzel | Jan 9, 2026 | Divrei Torah
Maidenhead Synagogue 10 January 2026 / 21 Tevet 5786 Most of us know what it feels like to be “on fire”. Not in the glamorous sense; more in the modern sense: the constant heat of expectations, the pressure to perform, the endless stream of messages and news, the...
by Rene Pfertzel | Dec 29, 2025 | Blog
The Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 5b) records a remarkable teaching. Rabbi Yochanan, one of the great healers of his generation, visited one of his students, Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba, who was sick. He asked, “Is your suffering dear to you?” – meaning, do...
by Rene Pfertzel | Dec 21, 2025 | Divrei Torah
Shabbat Mikkeitz / Shabbat Chanukkah Maidenhead Synagogue – 20 December 2025 / 30 Kislev 5786 This morning, we read one of the most psychologically dense scenes in the entire Torah. Joseph, now viceroy of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself, sees his brothers arrive...
by Rene Pfertzel | Dec 15, 2025 | Blog
15 December 2025 / 26 Kislev 5786 Once again, a Jewish festival and a massacre. On the first night of Chanukkah (Sunday, 14 December 2025), Jews gathered on Bondi Beach in Sydney for “Chanukah by the Sea”. They came to do something ordinary and ancient: to light...
