Sermons

Shabbat Va-yeira 5786

You can watch Rabbi Howard's sermon here or read it below.

I wonder if the storytellers of the Bible knew, two and a half millennia ago, that they were creating stories, narratives, sagas, that would be read until the end of time? They must have been aware that they were crafting, weaving, a set of stories to give one people, the Hebrew people, the Israelite people, a tapestry of meaning, of...Read more...

Shabbat Bereshit 5786.

You can watch Rabbi Deborah's sermon here or read it below

There are all kinds of soft markers of growing older:

Your bat mitzvah

Every time you jump an age category on an online form

The first time someone mentions the word ‘varifocal’

And when the clothes that you wore as a teenager come back into...Read more...

I’m not ready.  I appreciate the irony that we’re entering the final hours of such a long day, and yet now – now I’m not ready for it to end.  I don’t know about you, but I still have more prayers that need praying, more internal work that needs working out…  And among all the beautiful Jewish melodies echoing in my brain today, right now there’s a secular song playing on repeat in my head,...Read more...

Kol Nidre Sermon: CZJ 2025

Monday. 

The phone rings . 

A long-standing member of our community on the line. They’re calling to tell me that they’re leaving the synagogue.

“Why?” I ask.

“You’re just too pro-Israel” they reply.

We are??

Tuesday. 

My email inbox...Read more...

Rosh Hashanah 5786

You can listen to Rabbi Eleanor's sermon here or read it below.

The author of one of the best books on teshuvah, a book I return to often at this time of year, was born 250 years ago this December; although at this time of viddui, of confession, I can also admit that I rarely need a specific excuse to reread her work. In this season especially, you could be forgiven for thinking that Jane...Read more...

In our own time (Shabbat Ki Tavo 13.08.2025)

You can listen to Rabbi Eleanor's sermon here or read it below.

Think of a trio of women, one of whom is named Zoey, whose voices are sweet and strong and powerful…and some of you will know that – this time – I’m not thinking about FRS clergy or service leaders, but rather about a fictional girl group called Huntr/x. The title of this summer’s...Read more...

Parashat Ki Teitze 5785

You can read Rabbi Deborah's sermon below or listen to it here:

If you saw me do this  (thumbs up) to you across the room what would it mean?

Voices in the room- encouragement, approval, good job, yes, I see you

I think it’s a pretty straightforward gesture, a sign of approval, encouragement, maybe even...Read more...

Shabbat Pinchas 19/07/25

You can read Rabbi Deborah's sermon below or listen to it here:
 

Some years ago, at Limmud, I went to a talk by an educator called Miriam Brousseau. She was speaking about the early days of her teaching career when she was first set loose on a class of kids. She was so passionate, so excited, so ready to gift these children the joys and treasures she felt she had to share. She...Read more...

Shabbat Naso 5785 

You can listen to Rabbi Deborah's sermon here or read below

There’s an old joke you probably know - the one about the Jew who gets stranded on a desert island. After many years, he’s finally rescued, and his rescuers are amazed to find that he’s built not one, but two synagogues.

They ask him: “Why two? You’re the only person here!”

And he replies: “This one is...Read more...

Shabbat Emor

I feel a bit apprehensive about talking today, sharing some thoughts with you. I never used to feel this: I have always enjoyed the opportunity, the privilege, it’s an honour really bestowed by the community, the space given to speak about things that matter to me - and I have spent a career hoping that what I find myself speaking about might be stuff that can stimulate reflection, that might be of interest to the...Read more...

Reflections for Shabbat Atzmaut

Not a sermon, but a few words that feel like they could be helpful for us as a community.

I've been working my way through the copies of Manna in the atrium. This shabbat I wanted to take you to the winter of 2004 when Rabbi Professor Tony Bayfield declared that he 'is not the Archbishop of Canterbury'. 

Perhaps that seems relatively obvious to us... but he was writing it as a...Read more...

Enquiringly he enquired (Shabbat Sh’mini 26.04.2025)

You can listen to Rabbi Eleanor's sermon here or read it below.

Over the past few months, a certain song has made a new breathing exercise famous. It isn’t our usual slow breathing for a reflective moment, and I’m not going to demonstrate it, because I really don’t know how Doechii does it without hyperventilating. I will tell you that it arises in her...Read more...

I’ve learnt much Torah from Taylor Swift—Olivia and I have this in common. This week, it’s her lyric “nightmare dressed like a daydream” that encapsulates the beauty and challenge of the diversity of our Jewish world, where it's possible for something to be both someone’s wildest dream and another’s worst...Read more...

Skill fade to Snow White (Shabbat Vayakheil 22.03.2025) 

You can listen to Rabbi Eleanor's sermon here or read it below.

Yesterday Disney released its live action version of Snow White, starring Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen who needs to know that she is the fairest of them all.  Remaking an eighty-year-old film has proved somewhat...Read more...

Shabbat Zachor 5785

Shabbat Zachor 5785

If you were the kind of person who read popular social science books in the '90s or '00s, chances are you read one of these two books:

No Logo by Naomi Klein, a foundational exploration of the role that big brands like Nike and Pepsi play in our world—a book that sparked at least two summers’ worth of programming at RSY summer camps.

And The...Read more...