November 27, 2015
1:09 pm
1:09 pm
Writer: Rabbi Ariel Abel
Ariel Abel is rabbi of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation
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November 27, 2015
1:03 pm
1:03 pm
Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about.. Transgender?
by Rabbi Ariel Abel Vicky Thompson was a transgendered woman who vowed she would kill herself if she was sent to an all-male prison. Earlier this month, Vicky was found dead in her cell in Leeds’ Armley prison. What does the Torah say about this? When Judah condemned Tamar to death for prostitution, it was […]
November 13, 2015
1:31 pm
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Sedra of the week: Toledot
By Rabbi Ariel Abel This week’s reading relates how Isaac and Rebecca were childless. They prayed and were blessed with twins, Esau and Jacob. The pregnancy was difficult, the unborn children appearing to struggle with each other in utero. Rebecca was told through prophecy that each of the twins would become competing nations. In rabbinic […]
November 6, 2015
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Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about… Gang violence
by Rabbi Ariel Abel Last month the latest of 50 gang attacks in just 16 months hit my home town of Salford. The shooting was a case of mistaken identity and landed a mother and her son in hospital, critically ill. So, what does the Torah have to say on the subject of gang warfare? […]
October 30, 2015
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Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about.. Life on Mars?
By Rabbi Ariel Abel Finding LIFE on Mars is perhaps just round the corner. Reports of rivers of brine on the surface have raised the possibility there is life where there is water. So, what is the Torah’s view on extra-terrestrial life? The earliest records of life from elsewhere in the Torah begin with reference […]
October 16, 2015
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Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about.. the National Anthem?
by Rabbi Ariel Abel Last month the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, stood silently through the National Anthem and refused to sing during a Battle of Britain memorial service. What’s the Torah view of this behaviour? When the Kings of Judea and Israel were anointed, the people shouted: “Long Live the King”. According to Jewish […]
October 2, 2015
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Torah for Today: What does the Torah say about…baby-swapping?
By Rabbi Ariel Abel Every childbearing parent’s worst nightmare came true when the children of the Casanellas and Cushworth families were swapped shortly after birth in El Salvador. Against a background of accusations against the gynaecologist doctor, the babies were reunited after three long months following DNA testing with their biological parents. What is the Torah’s […]
September 25, 2015
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Sedra of the week: Ha’azinu
By Rabbi Ariel Abel Seventy lines of prose comprise the song, which is the main focus of this week’s reading. Moses asks the heavens and earth to listen in on behalf of God who informs them His word is reflected in the dew which crowns earthly vegetation. This teaches the importance of loyalty to the […]
September 4, 2015
3:03 pm
3:03 pm
Torah for Today! What the Torah sayd about …the Queen’s reign
Our beloved monarch Queen Elizabeth II, for whose health and prosperity we pray each Shabbat in synagogue, will become the longest-reigning monarch in British history next week. What does the Torah say about the longevity of kings and queens? Longevity of kings is the theme of several blessings which emerge in the early scriptures. A […]
August 20, 2015
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Sedra of the Week: Shoftim
By Rabbi Ariel Abel This week’s Sedra starts with the concept of judges being present at every city gate. This concept of the “judge by the gate” reappears in the Eshet Chayil song in Proverbs which reads: ‘Her husband is known in the gates, where he sits with the elders of the land’. It was these […]
July 31, 2015
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Torah for Today: What the Torah says about…. The Greek Bailout?
by Rabbi Ariel Abel In this week’s Torah for Today, we answer what the Torah says about… The Greek Bailout…. Greece has faced perhaps the greatest economic crisis in its national history. In October 2009, Greece announced that it had been understating its deficit figures for years, triggering economic mass divestment from lending banks and investors. […]
June 26, 2015
12:41 pm
12:41 pm
Sedra: Chukat
By Rabbi Ariel Abel This week’s reading begins with the theme of ritual purity. The principle underpinning the ceremony of purification was that whoever was pure could enter the Sanctuary, and, later on in history, the Temple Mount area. One of the details of the purification processes was that those who handled the materials involved […]
April 23, 2015
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Sedra of the week: Tazria Metzora
By Rabbi Ariel Abel Tazria and Metzora constitute a medical manual to be administered by an Israelite priest. The first topic is women’s health. After giving birth, women retired from active society and were waited upon for 40 or 80 days, in the case of bearing a boy or a girl, to enable full recovery […]
April 17, 2015
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Sedra of the week: Shemini
By Rabbi Ariel Abel The third word in this week’s reading is “shemini” which created the concept of an “eighth day” beyond the seven-day week, indicating a higher realm, something supernatural. It is this supernatural spirit which we experience as simcha – spiritual joy. The highest form of spiritual joy descended to earth the day Aaron […]
January 8, 2015
4:45 pm
4:45 pm
Sedra: Shemot, by Rabbi Ariel
In this week’s reading, Egyptians resent the rise in the Hebrew population. The Pharaoh orders the chief midwives to cull male births. Xenophobic politics were fuelled by a jealousy of the Hebrews, who had been allowed to live in the best part of Egypt, a privileged location called Goshen. The Egyptians, who had been urbanised […]
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