Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Rosh haShanah Sermon 2014  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  The Good News and the Bad News As is fitting for this time of year, there’s some good news and bad news. Which would you like first?  The bad news is that religion is a transformative power in the world.   Whether we are personally religious or not, there’s no denying that despite Richard Dawkins’ better hopes, religion is alive and kicking. And it’s especially the ‘kicking’ part that is troubling. This world, this young century, this year, these last few months have seen no shortage in how religion can ‘transform’ our world. The new millennium was dragged in kicking and screaming by the attack on the Twin Towers of 9/11, already an unbelievable 13 years ago. To say that this caused a cascade of disastrous political events would be an understatement.  Violent religious fundamentalism – be it Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and yes, even Jewish – has a lot to answer for. The reasons why ...

< source > Movement for Reform Judaism Elul Thoughts 2014 There is the tried-and-true Chassidic story of the notorious gossip sent out by his rabbi to empty out a down pillow case in the village square. As the tiny feathers dance in the wind beyond his grasp, the rabbi remarks that these represent the consequences of his thoughtless words. It is a compelling story and as we move through Elul, we may resolve to be more careful with our speech. Intentions, however, still need to be grounded in practice. How to go about that in our fast-paced world where an inflammatory opinion is just one click away? We have to reverse-engineer the scattering of our words. Can we find ways to make our voice meaningful, measured and compassionate? How can we control our reactions when a cauldron of emotions and opinions is poured over us daily in the media (social and traditional), in our communities and among our friends and family? It is traditional to recite Psalm 27 ...

photography: Esther Hugenholtz שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה, שִׁיר חָדָשׁ; שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה, כָּל-הָאָרֶץ. ' Shiru la'Adonai shir chadash, shiru la'Adonai kol ha'Aretz '  'Sing unto the Eternal a new song, sing unto the Eternal, all the Earth!'  ~ Psalm 96:1 Music has always been an inextricable part of my spirituality. I didn't grow up in a 'musical' family (we were the sort who cultivated the 'visual arts') but the musical choices of my older brothers did rub off on me: Bob Marley, Queen, Nirvana, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Tracy Chapman.  Queen and Bob Marley were especially formative to me. It was in this music that I found my earliest spiritual inspiration. When I was 19, I discovered Tracy Chapman and was so inspired that I decided to teach myself to play the guitar and have been writing songs ever since. Once I started getting involved with the Jewish community, I also started composing liturgical and religious music. As a ...

photo credit: Dave Middleton Sermon Parashat Ekev  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  Into the Wild  There’s something a bit mad about leaving the creature comforts of your modern life – central heating, indoor plumming, WIFI, a hot bath and microwave –to go out into the wild to pitch your tent, get rained on, eat beans on soggy toast and shiver on a thin mat and an inadequate sleeping bag. Oh, the joys of camping.  And yet we do this every year, with great enthusiasm, much greater than might expect since according to one camping website (biased data perhaps!), 18 million Brits go camping every year. What is it about the attraction of going ‘into the wild’ and leaving it all behind? Every summer, we embrace the ritual of fleeing our mundane lives by going on vacation. And although some vacations are spent in greater luxury than what one may be used to during the year, the fact of the matter is that most vacations embrace an ethos of simplicity. We like goi...

Parashat Devarim  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz From Rebuke to Reconciliation  After the parshiyot of the last few weeks talking about the failure of the spies to show courage and the conquest of Cana’an, the first parashah of Devarim (Deuteronomy) repeats much of the same theme and I’m inclined to move onto a new type of Torah. Some ‘Torat imi’ to paraphrase Proverbs, ‘Torah’ from my mother.  When my older brothers and I were children and would devolve into the usual sibling conflict, we’d play every card of the blaming game. Rather than taking sides, my mother would always say, “you are responsible for your own actions, not for the actions of someone else.” This would inevitably be followed by our predictable protestations, to which she would answer, “thinking that you’re in the right is not the same thing as having your right acknowledged”. (It works better in Dutch!)  My mother’s message was clear: don’t shift the blame, be critical of yourself and tak...

(This is a reworking of a midrash as a children's story written for 'Shabbatots', Sinai Synagogue's Early Years Education)  Throwing the Moon a Party – a Short Story Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  Long, long ago, when God created the Sun and the Moon on the fourth day of Creation, God made them both very, very beautiful. Both were very round, very bright and very, very large. The Sun and Moon lived in the sky and they worked together very well and were best friends.  The Sun worked hard to shine on the earth by day. Because of him, plants and crops could grow so people could eat and the Earth was bright and warm. People loved the sun. Who doesn’t love a warm summer day? (Especially in Winter!)  The Moon also worked very hard to shine on the Earth by night. Because of her, people could find their way in the dark to go home to sleep. No-one bumped into each other and no-one got lost in the middle of the night! People felt safe. The night is a special...

Parashat Mattot  Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  Holding onto Humanity   I knew that this day would come: the day that I would have to give a sermon that I dread giving. A sermon that is uncomfortable, difficult, confrontational. And not just in a theoretical but in a very real way, through polarizing opinion and lived experience.  It would be tempting to hide from the stuff that provokes strong emotions: anger, hopeless, judgment, helplessness, revenge, nihilism, perhaps even hate. It certainly is tempting to focus on the innocuous parts of this week’s reading, or go straight to the Haftarah. Just like it is tempting to switch off the TV and the computer and to bin the newspaper.  Although that would be the safe choice, it may not be the appropriate one. Sometimes we have to dive into the painful conversations. When the world around us is in turmoil, silence fails to show the moral courage that our tradition demands of us.  I came home Thursd...