Sedra: Shabbat Pesach
Rabbi Jonny Roodyn looks ahead to this week's portion of the Torah
The children of Israel are finally free, leaving Egypt behind and marching into the great unknown.
Sorely regretting his actions, Pharaoh follows in hot pursuit with 600 horse-drawn chariots, as well as infantry and archers. With the Red Sea in front of them and their former captors behind them, the children of Israel find themselves in an impossible position and it seems like their newfound freedom will be extremely short-lived.
The seventh day of Pesach commemorates the remarkable miracle of the splitting of the sea. The sea divides for just long enough to allow the Red Sea pedestrians to walk through and then comes crashing down on the Egyptian army, sending them to the bottom and untold spoils to the shore.
Miracles come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some are obvious, like the splitting of the sea and others less so. All rules are meant to be broken at one point or another and the Creator of the universe has the ability to suspend what we perceive as the natural order so as to achieve His desired results.
Truth be told, nature is also miraculous; it’s just that we are so used to it that we take it for granted. In fact, this is representative of our continued existence as a nation, which itself is nothing short of miraculous.
So, raise your glass this Shabbat and drink a toast to miracles great and small and remember the words of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, that “A Jew who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist.”
- Rabbi Jonny Roodyn is education director of Jewish Futures and serves Finchley Federation Synagogue
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
