January 18, 2015 Nine members of Beit Warszawa congregation came to the Baha’i center to meet people from the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim communities in Warsaw. The theme was : Overcoming Prejudice and Acknowledging Similarities. A representative from each group addressed the audience. Rabbi Gil Nativ read the Prayer for Peace by Rabbi Nachman […]
BeShalach 5775
30th January, 2015/10 Shvat 5775 Shirat HaYam –‘Song of the Sea’ or ‘Song on the Sea’ is one of the most beautiful and one of the most ancient pieces of Hebrew Poetry. I recall Prof. Moshe Greenberg saying that the deliverance of our ancestors from the mighty Egyptian Empire was such an incredible event, that […]
VaYechi – 5775
What made Judah the “Lion-King” of his brothers? 2nd January 2015/11 Tevet 5775 In the last four ‘parashot’ (pl. of parasha=portions) of Genesis, Joseph emerges as the most talented among the twelve sons of Jacob, and the one whose meteoric rise to power in Egypt eventually changes the entire history of our people. However, parallel […]
VaYigash – 5775
Shabbat 26-27 December, 2014 Pharoe, impressed by the old semitic shepherd standing in front of him asks: How many are the years of your life [Gen.47:8]? However, Jacob replies using a different noun: “The years of my sojourn (=meguray) are thirty and a hundred years… [ibid:9] why ‘my sojourn’ and not ‘my life’? The simplest, […]
Vayishlach
5th December 2014/13 Kislev 5775 “When my brother Esau asks you: Unto whom do you belong? Where are you going? Unto whom these [animals, livestock] are sent ahead?” These are three questions that Jacob anticipates Esau to ask when he meets with each of the messangers that Jacob sends ahead. Do these three questions remind […]
Sermon for Nitzavim-vaYelech 5774
Shabbat 19-20 Sep. 2014 How time flies! This Shabbat is already the seventh and last of the 7 Sabbaths of Nechama- Consolation, which is also the last Shabbat before Rosh haShana –beginning of the Hebrew year. Since the common denominator of the last 7 Sabbaths of our year are Haftarot which are taken from the […]