Rabbi Aaron Goldstein's blog



God's will in our time

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., May 16, 2012

Barack Obama has been both praised and criticised this week after he became the first sitting US president to publicly support gay marriage.

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Why Bat Mitzvah is equal to Bar Mitzvah - Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., May 9, 2012

This week’s Torah portion, Emor, has all to do with priests, the cohanim: who they could marry, who they could bury (since they could not become defiled by interring those who weren’t first degree relatives), and who in general was fit to be a priest. Something that emerges clearly from the text is that priesthood was seemingly a completely male institution.

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Best Bat Mitzvah Dvar Torah I have ever heard

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., May 9, 2012

This Shabbat, April Miller read beautifully from Torah and gave this incredible Dvar Torah that wowed us all at NPLS. To have been involved in the thought process was to have been involved wtih a special mind that we hope to nurture.

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In praise of local councilors

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., May 9, 2012

Antigonus of Socho received Torah from Simeon the Righteous. He used to say: Do not be like servants who serve their employer in order to receive reward; rather be like servants who serve their employer without thought of reward. And let the fear of Heaven be upon you (Avot 1:3).

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Step by Step Sauwa Sauwa

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., May 2, 2012

I was honoured to be present at the inspiring performance of Step by Step Sauwa Sauwa, a magical performance of music and dance by Israeli Jewish and Arab children from the Leo Baeck Centre, Haifa and Ein Mahel, sponsored by Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue, held at West London Synagogue.

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What consumed Nadav abd Abihu: a teaching for young and old

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., May 2, 2012

“On the Eight day Moses called Aaron and the elders of Israel (Lev 9:1)”

The MidrashTanhuma – thoughts of our ancient Rabbis – teaches: “Beloved are the elders, and if they are young their youth is secondary to them…God ages them [the youth] quickly.”

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Keeping the memory alive

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., April 19, 2012

Between 1941 and 1945 over 15,000 young children were sent to Terezin: only 100 survived. This June is the 70th year since the deportations began from Czech and Slovak villages, towns and cities; including those where our Synagogue's Torah Scrolls belonged - Kladno, Kolin, Plzen, Spisska Nova Ves, Trebon.

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Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles on significance of 'blood' following Toulouse

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., March 25, 2012

Today we begin the book of Vayikra, or Leviticus, and it is a time we rabbis dread. It is almost all about sacrifices, not the biggest crowd-pleaser, so what in the world are we meant to talk about? Truth be told, however, that the sacrificial system in the Torah can tell us a lot about our nature.

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Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles on a response to murder in Toulouse

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., March 25, 2012

Last weekend I was privileged to attend the Biennial Conference of the European Union of Progressive Judaism in Amsterdam, which saw over 300 participants gather from all over Europe- the best-attended conference to date. Choosing Amsterdam was of course of extreme historical significance.

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Support Campaign for Equal Marriage - not a Golden Calf

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., March 10, 2012

Moses said to God: Show me, I beseech You, Your glory. (Ex 33:18)

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Telling the stories that really matter - our own

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., March 5, 2012

By telling stories, do we often forget or deliberately omit talking about serious issues that our stories raise. At Jewish Book Week, widely accepted as one of the best cultural offerings London has to offer in the year, there will have been an incredible amount of discussion, debate and talk about the issues raised in the stories and narratives of fact that were presented.

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Organ Donation

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., March 1, 2012

I was happy to hear Rabbi Danny Rich, the chief executive of Liberal Judaism calling on "Jews of all denominations to register as organ donors."

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Rabbinic Conference Statement on JFS lesson plan for LGBT education

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., January 20, 2012

The Rabbinic Conference of Liberal Judaism has been appalled by an article in the Jewish Chronicle claiming that JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality), an organisation offering reparative or conversion therapy to homosexuals, was referred to during a lesson on homosexuality at the JFS, a state-funded secondary school.

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Why Does the Heckler Get a Veto?

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., January 10, 2012

I am rather taken by this article that comes from the States but I find its sentiment often applicable to the UK as well.

Published Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Why Does the Heckler Get a Veto?
The Polymath

By Jay Michaelson

Communal Participation: Dialogue is best fostered by full engagement.

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Focus on an extreme minority or shout at all Charedim?

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., January 2, 2012

Our attention this past year has been so grabbed by issues of global significance, that it is sometimes easy to ignore societal trends unless they explode into an act that outrages us. The riots in areas of London and other places in England were such a case in point.

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How to respond to being out of a new European Treaty

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., December 12, 2011

As some party and use vitriolic language, let us sleep with discomfort tonight. May the leaders of Europe’s nations wake in the morning able to work with the new reality that they have taken us into, using at times distance and at times closeness as opportunities to collaborate to turn overturn uncertainty and create realistic expectations.

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Stepping Back

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., November 18, 2011

This week those words came from a stand-out line from an excellent interview by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs, with the crossbench peer and social entrepreneur, Lord Victor Adebowale. “I’m a 6 foot black guy from Wakefield who isn’t rich, didn’t go to Eton or Oxbridge, isn’t a lawyer – what the hell am I doing here?!”

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Peh-resh-samekh: Gilad Shalit - Individual versus Collective

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., October 14, 2011

Just like the leitmotif of the Exodus from Egypt that is mentioned in virtually every worship service for Jews, I am reminded of historical events linked to current day festivals every erev – evening – service, like last night that I read the Haskivenu prayer: Haskivenu, Adonai Elohaynu, l’shalom, v’hamidaynu malkaynu, l’chayyim. Ufros alaynu sukkat shlomekha.

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Speaking for marriage equality

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., October 14, 2011

Equality is not currently afforded in English law to lesbian women and gay men. While we can perform a Jewish marriage in our synagogues and act as civil registrars, we cannot act in the same way for a same-sex marriage in our place of worship. Rather, a lesbian or gay couple desiring a religious blessing on their civil partnership is forced to have two separate ceremonies in two separate venues.

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Thinking counter-intuitively about Israel and Dale Farm on Yom Kippur

By Rabbi Aaron Gol..., October 11, 2011

I do not agree with every Orthodox Rabbi on a regular basis but Rabbi Naftali Brawer, whom we know so well from his time at Northwood United Synagogue, is an exception.

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