The special contribution made by the thought of Chief Rabbi Sacks is that it not only continues the venerable Jewish philosophical tradition of maintaining traditional faith in the face of external intellectual challenges, but also moves beyond this tradition by showing how core Jewish teachings can address the dilemmas of the secular world itself.

Addressing the Chief Rabbinate Conference committee in London on the last Sunday in February 1990 – some 15 months after commencing its search for a successor to Lord Jakobovits – United Synagogue president Sidney Frosh, who had headed the seven-man “sifting” (selection) committee, revealed that during the previous year, his team had had “correspondence from all over the country, offerin

Note: Modern-day Armana in Egypt was the site of an ancient city called after the Pharaoh Akhenation, who brought Egypt to the realisation of monotheism

Science works on the principle that any theory has to be repeatable under the same experimental conditions and that a theory which has this characteristic will predict related findings when these are tested.

The potent sanctity of this day –
So awesome and fearful –
Let us relay.
On it Your kingship
Is universally hailed,
As is Your throne,
With our prayers
Assailed.
You judge,
You know,
You testify;
You record,
You let
Nothing slip by.
The good deeds
We ourselves forgot,
Loom large,
To create a happy lot.
Your chronicle is read,
In detail fine;
Man’s signature confirmed

THE RIGHTS OF STRANGERS

You can download the whole work here.

Introduction

Vanessa Ochs
JPS (distributed in UK by Eurospan) £14.50

In an extract from her new book, "Sarah Laughed", Vanessa Ochs explores what women can learn today from the episode of the daughters of Zelophehad, who petitioned Moses to inherit their father's estate.

Avraham David Moses was one of eight people gunned down in a terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshivah in Jerusalem on March 6 2008. In an extract from his forthcoming book Mourning under Glass, his father Naftali Moses turns to the Zohar to try to come to terms with the loss of his 16-year-old son.

For book details, see www.tragic-death.com

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To Be Continued
Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple
MandelbaumPublishing, Australia, £16 (plus postage)

They sent me to a clerical outfitter in London's West End to get a ministerial cap and gown. Now I could look the part when I stood in front of a congregation, though some of my fellow students suspected that there was sha'atnez in the robes supplied by this particular shop.

Silver From the Land of Israel - A New Light on the Sabbath and Holydays from the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook

By Rabbi Chanan Morrison,
Urim Publications, $27.95

THE HIGHEST LOVE

Is there something idealistic and holy in loving the Jewish people? Or is this just another form of nationalism, an emotion far less noble than a universal love for all peoples?

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The minimal obligation during Chanucah is to light one candle each night of the holiday. The academies of Hillel and Shammai, however, disagreed as to the optimal way to light: