Homilies

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 16 July 1965. And speaketh truth in his heart. (Psalm 15, 2) A great text like this one is capable of bearing more than one meaning. The Psalmist’s appeal to a life of integrity can be understood in three different but complementary ways. First, the meaning can be that the…...

Originally published in Zionist Record and S.A. Jewish Chronicle, 24 September 1965. “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 3, 17) The ‘ways’ spoken of in the verse are the wide, clearly marked roads running from town to town, the recognised routes, the sure means of reaching one’s destination. The…...

Originally published (without last paragraph) in The Jewish Chronicle, 11 February 1966. Republished in Zionist Record and S.A. Jewish Chronicle, 18 February 1966, with the last paragraph added. Nineteen hundred years ago the great Jewish leader, Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, wished to expose in detail certain sharp practices. He was convinced that it was desirable that the…...

Originally published in Zionist Record and South Africa Jewish Chronicle, 9 October 1964. According to Rabbinic ruling the Jewish farmer in ancient times had to give a portion of his produce to the priest. The average donor, we are told, gave a fiftieth, the niggardly donor a sixtieth, the generous donor a fortieth. The minimum amount…...

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 18 December 1964. The rabbis of the Midrash give a number of reasons why it is fitting to compare the righteous to the stars. Urban dwellers though many of the rabbis were, their night sky was not obscured as ours is by the glare of electricity. No doubt it was…...

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 26 February 1965. One of the reasons the Torah is called a Torah of life is that it is capable of catering to our spiritual needs at every one of life’s stages. From infancy, childhood and adolescence, through maturity and middle age to old age, Judaism provides us with the…...

Originally published in The Jewish Chronicle, 7 May 1965. Mankind has never been without its givers, men and women who have contributed generously and without stint of their wealth, talents, skills, time and effort in the service of others. The rabbis saw the Jews as great givers. They wryly remarked that whenever Israel’s gold is solicited…...

Originally published in The Jewish Gazette, 5 January 1973. The Hasidic master Rabbi Menahem Mendel, of Kotzk, is reported to have said that he could not help admiring Pharaoh. Bloody tyrant though Pharaoh was, and for that reason to be condemned, one has to admit that he did not give in easily. A lesser creature would…...

Originally published in The New Londoner: The Magazine of the New London Synagogue, 1:3 (January 1966). The declaration that Judaism is an optimistic faith, it is nowadays widely acknowledged, requires some qualification. For one thing a religious policy of looking on the bright side is inadequate for the sorely troubled twentieth century. It is no accident…...

Sermon originally delivered at the New London Synagogue, 23 May 1964. That little gem of a book ‘Ethics of the Fathers’ contains, as everyone knows, the sayings of the great teachers of Judaism down to the beginning of the third century. The sayings are generally prefaced by the words ‘He used to say’. These are…...

Sermon delivered probably in New London Synagogue, c. 1964. My times are in Thy hand (Psalm 31: 16). Someone has described the Biblical record as eternity expressing itself in time, it is certainly true that the Biblical authors were profoundly concerned with the theme of time. A good example is the way in which the Bible…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 23rd July 1954. A special Bible Supplement was published recently by The Times, dealing with the historical, social, and literary aspects of the Book of Books, and prefaced with the words still fresh in our minds from the Coronation service: “The most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 7th May 1954. An empty-headed man cannot be a sin-fearing man nor can an ignorant man be pious. (Ethics ii, 6) A famous Jewish moralist was fond of saying that yirat shamayim, the fear of heaven, is an art and a science requiring as much brain power and application as…...

Originally published in the Jewish Review, 24th September 1954. The Psalmist’s oath: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning” was kept by the Jewish people. After the destruction of the second Temple, some extremists wished to renounce the use of meat and wine, because these could no longer be offered…...

Originally published in the Jewish Chronicle, 2nd July 1954. Yannai said: It is not in our power to explain either the prosperity of the wicked or the afflictions of the righteous. (Ethics iv, 19.) The problem of pain, of why the wicked prosper and the righteous meet with adversity, is the most stubborn obstacle to a…...

Originally published in Giffnock Synagogue Bulletin and in Western Wall, September 1954. The cult of self-expression is one of the most popular in modern times. In its name people have been known to commit the most ridiculous excesses and to have shown scant regard for the most cherished beliefs and customs of the ages. The cult…...

Originally published in Venture 2.1 (June 1957), pp. 17-18. Searching for the Torah The Rabbis noted that the two middle words of the Torah are larosh darash, meaning ‘he diligently inquired.’ It is a mistake to think of Judaism as a static faith in which everything is given, as it were. There is room in Judaism…...

Originally published in Venture 1.3 (November 1956), pp. 11-12. The Bible To understand the Bible correctly we have to recognise that its eternal truths are expressed against the background of an ancient civilisation very different from our own. To take the Bible seriously, we must not take it literally. We need not be perturbed the fact…...