Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Sermon Congregational Church Iowa City Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The World As It Could Be I would like to invite you to close your eyes and draw a deep breath. Take this moment to center yourself; to remember who you are, created in the Image of God, neither beast nor angel, but made of hope and love. Breathe, and imagine the world as it could be. Take a moment and conjure one image of a better world, a redeemed world. What image comes to you? What dream would you dare dream? The Hebrew Bible is a record of this dream: God’s dream for humanity woven through, from the Garden of Eden to the days of the Prophets. A dream in the forms of whispers and visions, still small voices and roaring flame. Abraham dreamt it as he heard the call to leave his homeland. Moses dreamt it as he confronted Pharaoh in the palace. Deborah dreamt it as she charged into battle. David dreamt it as he strummed his lyre.  Still, the power of this dream lies not in the stories of rem...

Life is a strange admixture. The bitter and sweet, our sorrow and joys, are often mingled. We laugh and then we cry and find healing in laughter renewed. Most of all, we find comfort in community, faith in friendship and common ground in our shared humanity. This was Jo Cox' legacy. A year ago, I was heartbroken to hear of her murder. I could easily find common ground with Jo. Her constituency is not that far from my city (Leeds) and she was of a similar age, also the mother to young children. We share many of the same ideals. That Shabbat, I gave my most emotional sermon to date in the synagogue. So much has changed in a year. There has been one political landslide after another, both in the UK, the USA and elsewhere in the world. The script, as the commentariat would say, has been ripped up. There's no denying it's been a hard year and I've thought of Jo and what she would have made of it all. Recent events have compounded our heartache and anxiety, our an...

Speech 20th Commemoration Rwandan Genocide  9th of March 2014  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  Almost 50 years ago, in March 1965, two modern-day prophets met and marched in Selma, Alabama in the Civil Rights movement: Dr Martin Luther King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Both were latter-day prophets who had experienced the consequences of genocide and racism in their own lives: the rabbi had fled Nazi Germany and the pastor rose to challenge the colour bar.  I would like to share some of their timeless wisdom: “Racism is man's gravest threat to man - the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason” (Heschel). “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” (King)  Their words ring as true today as they did 50 years ago. The Torah states ‘tzedek tzedek tirdof’ – ‘justice, justice you shall pursue’. We are gathered here today...

The former church of my ancestors in Amsterdam As a rabbinical student, I engage in interfaith work which I find very important. For previous interfaith work, I have attended conferences (such as L.A.'s interseminarian conference 'InterSem' ) and have written articles and given lectures for both the Dutch Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. One of my more exciting assignments this past month was giving a lecture at the 'Vrije Gemeente', the 'Free Community' of Amsterdam. The Vrije Gemeente originated as a very liberal, 'Unitarian Universalist-esque' Protestant community founded in 1877. Over the centuries, they have held on to their commitment to theological liberalism and humanism. They welcome a wide range of speakers for their Sunday morning activities. Petrus Hermannus Hugenholtz (my father, z"l, had his nose!) I approached the Vrije Gemeente last year because I wanted to do an activity for them. My reasons were rather specific and rema...