From Rupture to Repair People do not send telegrams anymore, which is a pity. So perhaps only people of a certain age can fully appreciate the joke about the Jewish telegram. Do you know the joke about the Jewish telegram? The Jewish telegram works like this: “Start worrying. Details to follow.” All right, it is a joke, but it also captures something wonderfully Jewish. Much has been said about Jews and anxiety, not least by Jewish psychoanalysts, who made quite a professio

A PEOPLE THAT DWELLS APART A ritual after withdrawing from those who left us alone You can find the Havdalah for the Tents of Israel below. A downloadable copy is available. https://open.substack.com/pub/rabbiandreazanardo/p/a-people-that-dwells-apart?

Havdala for the Tents of Israel This week, in many Reform synagogues and in Israel, we read Parashat Balak. It is one of the strangest stories in the Torah. It has puzzled readers for centuries, and I do not promise to clarify everything — only to make it relevant for today. So let us begin with the basic plot. Balak, king of Moab, sees the Israelites approaching and becomes afraid. Already, this is not entirely obvious. The Israelites are not coming to wage war against Mo

The Red Heifer and the Historian’s Clues. This week, as we read Parashat Chukkat, I find myself thinking of the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, who died only a few days ago at the age of eighty-seven. He was one of the greatest historians of his generation. I still remember the summer of 1988, when, during the breaks in a summer job delivering telephone directories, I carried one of his books with me. There I was, waiting for the next bundle of telephone directories to be

Parashat Sh’lach L’Cha Today’s Parasha, Shelach Lecha, covers a very well-known episode of the Israelites’ journey from Eretz Mitzraim to Eretz Y’Israel – sending the so-called spies out to do a recce of the land and people. So, these emissaries were sent, one macher (or chieftain representative) from each of the tribes to scout the land. They return to report back. 12 Jews. Two opinions. Who’d have guessed… The majority, whilst reporting positively that Canaan was indeed flo

Parashat B'ha'alot'cha This week’s parsha seems to be all about complaining. Firstly, let me explain and translate the verb to complain in cases anyone here doesn’t understand that. It simply means to kvetch. Our portion starts in Bemidbar chapter 11, verse 1 with the people looking to complain – it doesn’t actually say about what – just that they want to complain. Later in the chapter – verse 11 – Moses complains to G-d. Maybe part of our heritage is the propensity to co