I am in New York this Shabbat. Invited to preach at the installation of our former student rabbi James Feder in his first congregation, I wanted to be there. What a time to travel in the ‘Jewish’ world and to experience mood and feelings! These are interesting days to be here in Manhattan, with the new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Here, politics has very much permeated the Bimah, as countless rabbis in NYC speak about the mayoral election, even guiding their congregants which way to vote. Gone are the days when the political could be kept out of the synagogue.
This week in London, as our government continues to challenge the small boat crossings and in so doing, the perceptions of immigration, Lord Alf Dubbs, good friend of FPS, spoke about the way we refer to refugees and those seeking asylum as core to our humanity and the British values of which we’ve become proud. He reminded us all that he owes his life to Sir Nicolas Winton z’l and to the welcome of the Jewish community and Great Britain. Immigration is both separate from, and deeply connected to, our language about the other. I welcomed hearing our friend this week at a time when we needed him.
Parashat Toldot, the Torah portion this week, cements the idea and potential of difference to create animosity or distrust when it is just an idea in our matriarch Rebekah’s heart and head. Confused by her pregnancy, she wonders, if this is so why do I exist? She’s told:
Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will come from you, and one shall be stronger than the other.
Rebekah leans into this divisiveness with her support of Jacob’s deceit over his brother Esau. It’s a difficult passage to read. I learned a new text this week from the book of Jubilees, which was written in approximately 100BCE and is in the Apocrypha and not the main Tanach. When Rebekah is dying, she calls her sons and husband to reconcile and tells them that nothing matters more than love and connection. She even apologies to Esau for her unmotherly stance and offers love. And guess what? In a magnificent death bed scene we might all wish for, they all do it. They say yes. They say who else could I love like this? What is there more than love? and in the case of Esau, he forgives her for her suspect parenting.
It’s the most unexpected and beautiful text, extremely comforting to read right now.
Nothing stays the same forever. Nothing. May reconciliation and kindness be available to us all.
I so look forward to seeing you at our Civic Shabbat Service of Rededication next week, 29th November, where we will welcome our MP, Sarah Sackman KC, our Mayor Rabbi Danny Rich and many of our Councillors and honoured guests like you.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca
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