Daily Video Updates
Dear All, With so many of us stuck at home and isolated from one another I’ve decided to put together some videos for you from within London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue. […]
Torah Thoughts Informed by my AshkeSephard Worldview
Dear All, With so many of us stuck at home and isolated from one another I’ve decided to put together some videos for you from within London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue. […]
Throughout the month of Elul and the High Holy Days we recite the selihot (apology) prayers. One of the most important elements of this service is the vidui, or confession. […]
ב שְׂאוּ, אֶת-רֹאשׁ כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, The rabbinic name for Sefer Bemidbar is the same as its English name, ‘Numbers.’ The rabbis called it Sefer Hapikudim, ‘The Book of Countings,’ as […]
This week’s Torah reading is central to one of the greatest controversies in the history of England, the Levirate marriage of King Henry VIII, and Sephardim helped to cast the […]
One of the few practices that every Jew performs is the ritual washing of hands upon leaving a cemetery (Shulhan Arukh, YD 276:4). The rinsing is meant to spiritually cleanse […]
“Two Jews, three opinions” is nothing new to the Jewish community. However, a Biblical prohibition would seem to indicate that this isn’t a laughing matter. The verse states “Ye are […]
There is only one Biblically mandated blessing and it appears in this week’s parashah. This singular obligation is to recite Birkat Hamazon, Grace after meals. The verse states: And thou […]
The 15th day of the Jewish month of Av is a minor festival called Tu B’Ab. It is considered a joyous day, when in Biblical times young people went out […]
Over the past ten years I’ve visited about fifty sites relating to the history of the S&P. These include historic and living synagogues, cemeteries, schools, and locations in Spain and […]
Port cities are central to the history of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews. To escape the Inquisition the Western Sephardim found safety in international centres of trade, such as Amsterdam, […]