Here, you’ll find thoughts as they come, as they originate from my daily life, or my current inner conversations. They represent my own views, and not the view of my synagogue, or my movement.
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...
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...
A Jewish take on navigating a turbulent landscape. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who spent much of his short life in the grip of spiritual anguish, taught his disciples that despair is the one condition from which there is almost no return. He...
Naming the crisis without shame Mental health is no longer a marginal conversation. It is one of the central moral and pastoral questions of our time. Depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and emotional exhaustion shape the daily lives of many...
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...
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...
Maidenhead Synagogue Sukkot 5786 - 6 & 7 October 2025 When we stand before a sukkah, what do we see? It's apparently a simple question. After all, we're looking at a temporary booth made of wood and branches, decorated perhaps with paper chains...
Thursday 14 August 2025 On Sunday afternoon, Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-lead of Progressive Judaism, took part in a rally in support of the hostages. As they were talking and expressing their views, they were booed and then...
Historically, Jews could read and fit into the political landscape with some clarity: the far right was hostile (with its explicit antisemitism), while liberal and left spaces offered refuge and solidarity. Conservative spaces were more complex,...