We feel ashamed of a country that was actively involved in the Holocaust now engaged in passing a law to have all references and teachings to say the contrary. I am afraid that the next step will be for the Polish government to close down all the concentration camps that show the horrors the Nazis…
The Art of being Jewish
A very energetic member of Belsize Square Synagogue whom I sat with last Sunday during the shul’s annual Channukah Market, told me he came up with the trademark Belsize Square should promote itself and stands for “The Art of being Jewish”. A market with members making coffee, while not in court as Queen Counsellors, or…
Remembrance weekend
While in the UK the fallen in the wars are remembered, we had a remembrance weekend starting with our usual Friday Kristallnacht service and on Sunday a Music at Belsize concert “Romantic Vienna and the Jews” featuring the Wallace ensemble under Ben Wolf and the Chair of the committee Phil Keller conducting Mahler and…
Another case of limitation of treatment
Seven years after my post in Stockholm on the question on who has the right to decide on life or death, Charlie Gard’s case has made the headlines, at least here in Great Britain. Charlie suffers from mitochondrial depletion syndrome which affects the cells’ ability to generate energy. Specialists at the hospital say he has…
Orthodox Jewry splits
As the objective of this blog is to inform on attitudes towards Judaism, I feel it is my obligation as a Religious Minister especially living in the UK where the issue has grown out of proportion, because of the lecture on homosexuality given by Senior Rabbi Dweck of the Spanish and Portuguese Community. Here is…
Maintaining decorum in the Synagogue
In conjunction with preparing a short study session for the Tikkun Leil Shavuot on the subject of talking in synagogues and the blessing the Tosfos Yom Tov Lipman Heller wrote for those who do not talk during prayers. I found an interesting article by (Irving N. Levitz, “Talking During Tefillah: Understanding The Phenomenon” in The…
L’Dor vaDor
Last weekend two Synagogues that are the guardians of their unique musical legacy, the Pestallotzistrasse from Berlin and Belsize Square from London, showed their very best. These synagogues are the embodiment of the great tradition of the Liberale German Jewry and its renowned liturgy, together with to my knowledge, two others, one in NY and…
Cantor’s meet in Prague
Jewish Prague, once the centre and light for all Europe with famous ruling chief rabbi’s as the Maharal an Tosfot Yom Tov Heller. Now lives from showing its Synagogues as museums. We gathered four days with the European Cantors Association and had master classes with Cantor Naftali Herstik with my son Yohel, lectures with Cantor…
Selichot Choral service
Tonight in almost all Synagogues over the world we prepare for the coming days of awe. A service which reminds principally of the services of the High Holydays. In Belsize a very musical one. Rehearsing already with my Choirmaster and the Synagogue’s Musical Director Dr. Benjamin Wolf and organist Maestro Mike Cayton, both very instrumental…
The New Synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse- A unique testimony to and symbol of German Judaism
The actual sanctuary as before it’s destruction in WWII and the place where we stood on during the celebration and memorial services , this how it looked like in all its splendor. What is left of it, is the courtyard we stood during the commemoration as pictured in my previous post and in this…
Louis Lewandowski Part I.
Louis Lewandowski (1821 – 1894) transformed Jewish worship into a musical experience. That is what we experienced today Sunday 11th of September, in the actual place the sanctuary stood, other big edifices have been destroyed this day, but nobody mentioned it on our commemoration, I later was reminded on a special report on One World…
A thought on the controversy of how to go to the beach
I was very surprised by the statement a mayor in France made in that topless women is more French than the muslim burkini attire. I just came back from my holidays and it is exactly this that I saw. I could not understand how muslim men and women go to beaches were others sunbath topless? And…
