Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Sermon Ki Tissa 2019 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Torah of Trauma  One of the most stunning lines from Psalms comes from Psalm 148: ‘ HaRofeh lishvurey lev umechabesh le’atzvotam ’ – ‘God is the Healer of the brokenness of heart and the binder of their wounds.’  Brokenness is a universal human experience: everyone has encountered brokenness in their lives, their world or in themselves. Of course, while brokenness is the great leveler, our experience of brokenness is not a level playing field. Some of us are subjected to greater trauma than others; some of us may have more access or resources to heal from or repair the brokenness we face. Nonetheless, I’d wager to say that as I give this sermon, there will a number of you who are encouraged to reflect on what is broken in your lives. It seems as inevitable as death.  To the mystical Kabbalists of the late Medieval period, brokenness was not just as inevitable as death but also inevitable to life. Accordin...

Sermon Parashat Kedoshim  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  'Lifnei Iver' - A Life with Visual Impairment “V’lifnei iver lo titen michshal…” – “Do not place a stumbling block before the blind” (Lev. 19:14). This is, of course, one of the famous ethical commands that lies embedded in the middle of the ritual heart of Vayikra (Leviticus). Wedged in between chapters 18 and 20 that deal with ritual, sexual and cultic prohibitions (the so-called ‘arayot’, ‘nakedness’), chapter 19 of parashat Kedoshim brims with compelling ethical instruction. We are taught to love the stranger, not curse the deaf, pay a worker’s wages on time, not favour the rich or the poor, use equal weights and measures, to not hate our fellow in our heart.  It would be easy then to explore the ethical commandments of Kedoshim in this sermon. It would be easy to tie it in with a particularly relevant or timely theme: after all, there are plenty of moral quandaries in today’s world that need addressin...