Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz

Parashat Beha’alotcha 2016 / Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz  Our God makes demands of us.  Our God makes demands of us.  As modern Jews, we may be unaccustomed and even uncomfortable with the above statement. We relish in a world of autonomy, even permissiveness, and we associate Divine demands with another world entirely—one of unbridled zealotry and narrow-minded fanaticism.  Yet it is true, our God makes demands of us.  Our God demands our relentless pursuit of justice. ‘ Tzedek tzedek tirdoff ’—‘justice, justice you shall pursue’ (Deut. 16:20). Our God demands abiding love. ‘ V’ahavta le’arecha kamocha ’—‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Lev. 19:18). Our God demands lives guided by wise lovingkindness—‘ torat chesed al leshonah ’—‘the law of kindness shall be upon her tongue.’ (Prov. 31:26) Our God demands our unwavering commitment to peace. ‘ Sur me’rah v’aseh tov, bakesh shalom v’rad’fehu ’—‘Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and...

Parashat Bamidbar 2016 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Legacy and Destiny There are two Midrashim that discuss the circumstances under which the Torah was given at Shavuot. Each story places a radically different emphasis. Listen to them both and tell me what stands out for you. Midrash #1: The Torah was given to the people of Israel in the ownerless desert. For if it were given in the Land of Israel, the residents of the Land of Israel would say, “It is ours”; and if it were given in some other place, the residents of that place would say, “It is ours.” Therefore it was given in the wilderness, so that anyone who wishes to acquire it may acquire it. Mechilta d’Rashbi And: Midrash #2: Rabbi Meir said: When the Jews stood before Sinai to receive the Torah, God said to them: "I swear, I will not give you the Torah unless you provide worthy guarantors who will assure that you will observe its laws." The Jews responded, "Master of the world, our forefath...

Parashat Kedoshim Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Law of Kindness The last few weeks, I’ve been really engrossed in watching BBC’s ‘MasterChef’. As we speak, the final has been aired (on Friday night) and as soon as Shabbat goes out, I’ll watch it on iPlayer and can’t wait to find out who wins! I love watching the show for its adventurous and creative cooking. It’s a guilty pleasure because, as a religious Jew, I can only have 10% of the dishes they prepare! It’s a true celebration of treyf : the episode where they cooked the giant prawn with urchin sauce and noodles flavoured with octopus ink powder really took the proverbial cake! What I’ve really enjoyed about MasterChef is its unexpected and counter-cultural message of kindness . This is a Reality TV competition where the prize opens the doors to a career that could change contestants’ lives, where judges from the best and brightest of the food industry submit the contestants to their unrelenting judgement. There’s ...

Parashat Acharei Mot 2016 Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Difficult Freedom We’re still stuck with our matzot. Officially, by Reform and Israeli standards, Pesach ended yesterday night but because the end of the 7 th day of Pesach led immediately into Shabbat, many of us will not have had the chance to bake challah or buy bread. And so we find ourselves in limbo, somewhat, still eating the bread of affliction as we inch towards redemption, dreaming of delicious chametz. (I have a suspicion it’s going to be a pizza night for my family after Shabbat goes out!) The deeper symbolism behind our craving for carbohydrates is our own craving for freedom. When chametz re-enters our lives, we have completed our week of contemplating slavery and we prepare to emerge into the fullness of our daily, remarkably free lives. We leave the Holiday Torah readings behind and pick up our regularly scheduled parshiyot again: this week, Acharei Mot. Shockingly, Acharei Mot – which literally means ‘Af...

Parashat Pekudei Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The Relevance of the Irrelevant Caught somewhere between the slavery narrative of the Book of Exodus and the wilderness stories of the Book of Numbers, lies the vast expanse (dare I say ‘wasteland’) of technical details of Leviticus. The construction of the Tabernacle, the detailing of the Priestly garments, the instructions on how to perform the sacrificial cult and – to top it all of with – the purity laws regulating conduct around bodily fluids, secretions, corpses, insects and weird types of house mold: great fun! Usually, when we are presented with such difficult, grating or dull texts, we have a few hermeneutical options—that is, ways to interpret said texts so that we can make sense of them. Our first option would be to ignore the text. We’re just not going to talk about all that icky, boring, irrelevant stuff. However, this is neither intellectually nor spiritually satisfying. We can’t just ignore whole swaths of our t...

Parashat Ki Tissa Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz Intelligent Design ‘ V’emale oto ruach Elohim bechochmah uvitvunah uv’da’at uv’chol melacha ’ – ‘And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with insight and with knowledge for all his craftsmanship.’ We learn from this verse then, that Betzalel ben Uri, Master Craftsman is divinely inspired. We tend to gloss over these verses in search of what follows: the description of the Tabernacle and the laws of Shabbat. But I’d not like to take us there yet. I’d like to linger a little longer at ‘wisdom, insight and knowledge’. Why does the Torah tell us that Betzalel possesses these three qualities? The Torah is usually terse and one descriptor would have been enough. Yet we get three for the price of one! Chochmah, binah and da’at. Wisdom. Insight. Knowledge. Rashi picks up on too and gives us a very meaningful interpretation: Chochmah, wisdom: ‘mah she’adam shomea me’acherim v’lamad’ – ‘what a person hear...

The Game of Altars Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz The challenge of a visiting rabbi when preaching is how do you share a little about yourself so people get a more rounded picture of who you are. I’ve spent half of Shabbat with you already and look forward to getting to know all of you much better. As for ‘a little more of me’: I’m a science fiction and fantasy nerd (most rabbis are). And I share a particular predilection for ‘Game of Thrones’. ‘Game of Thrones’ is a highly-successful television series based on George RR Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ fantasy novels. Set in a Medieval-esque world, the series distinguishes itself from the usual ‘sword and sorcery’ type through its explorations of power and political intrigue. The premise of the show centres around different characters vying for the Iron Throne, the centralized seat of power that unites the known world. The brilliance of the show lies in how it discusses questions of character and influence: how power corrupts, al...