UK News

Rebbetzin Sara Osdoba of the Hull Hebrew Congregation was asked by the BBC to write a diary during the Holy Days and Festivals.

In her diary which is featured on the BBC’s website, Rebbetzin Osdoba speaks about the significance of the Jewish festive period, the important role women play within the Jewish community and, in particular, her active role as a Rabbi’s wife in Hull.

"Once I married a Rabbi, I soon came to learn that I would have to share him with a community," she writes.

"In fact, in the Jewish world, the wife of the Rabbi even gets a title – Rebbetzin."

Discussing the significance of food, she writes: "It's the traditions, the food, the songs and the bonding of the generations. It's when the past seamlessly blends with the present, and when the future of my children is also created."

"Generation gap? Not tonight at our New Year table!"

The BBC diary also includes audio in which Rebbetzin Osdoba speaks about life as Jewish woman.

To read more and to listen to her diary, click here.

Nearly killed by terrorists, Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin of London dedicated himself to helping drug addicts, including Muslims, writes Aidan Jones of the CS Monitor.

Picking his way through the smoke-filled London Underground and beyond the mangled subway car, Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin was unsure of what had just happened. Only later, when the news bulletins revealed that the explosion had been caused by a suicide bomber, did he begin to understand.

It was July 7, 2005, the day that four Muslim extremists detonated backpacks filled with explosives on London's public transit system, indiscriminately killing 52 commuters.

"The carriage [the bombers were in] was just one in front of me. What if the guy had seen me when he was getting on?" the Rabbi asks. "Would he have chosen my carriage? Would he have stood next to me?"

Determined not to retreat into what he calls the "paranoia attached to the Jewish experience," Rabbi Sufrin set about doing his part to bridge the divisions cleaved that day.

As he sips herbal tea in his compact office at the Chabad Lubavitch Centre – spiritual home to local Hasidic Orthodox Jews – the rabbi explains his reasoning with beguiling simplicity. The center is in Gants Hill in east London, a sometimes scruffy London suburb home to an estimated 15,000 Jews and 30,000 Muslims.

"If [a bombing] can be someone's message in evil, then we have to find the opposite in good," he says.

He didn't have to wait long to try to rebalance the equation. A Muslim man in his 20s, racked by heroin addiction, appeared at the center's door. Desperate to quit his habit, he had sought out Drugsline, an addiction support group founded by Sufrin 18 years ago and housed in the building.

A Muslim who would cross the religious divide was unusual. But to seek help for drug addiction – a taboo among both the Jewish and Muslim communities – was a first.

"He knew the consequences of telling his imam – just as Jewish kids know that most synagogues will stigmatize them rather than help. He had nowhere else to go," says the rabbi in a characteristic punchy burst.

"The similarities between our peoples are striking. Some parts of both our communities are very insular and will not face up to the trials of the modern world. But drugs don't care for religious distinctions: If you are Jewish or Muslim and have a drug problem, you are likely to face [ostracism] from your family and community. It cannot be right to abandon people when they most need help."

To those who know him, Sufrin's response to the young Muslim was entirely predictable: He opened the door and offered the same crisis intervention, advice, and counseling he has offered to Jews since 1990.

What came next was less expected.

Procuring a £115,000 ($190,000) grant from the local government council, and with the support of a progressive local Muslim imam, Haroon Patel, the diminutive rabbi launched a ground-breaking interfaith drugs project.

Dubbed "Joining the Loop," it provides advice in Bengali, Urdu, and Gujarati – three languages spoken by Southeast Asian Muslims – and crisis support to Muslim addicts and their concerned families with nowhere left to turn.

Several local mosques agreed to promote Drugsline's services – a step that itself was remarkable, given the enmity and mutual suspicion between the two faiths.

But taboo-busting is nothing new to Sufrin. His more than 18 years of drug rehabilitation work has been showered with criticism from sections of the Jewish community – which even bestowed him with the not entirely playful moniker of the "Drugs Rabbi."

But Sufrin remains sanguine in the face of his doubters. "Nobody from a 'good Jewish family' talked about drug addiction," he explains. "It happened to someone else's kids.

"That picture has changed quickly, and more and more teenagers are at risk of falling into drug use, even from the ultra-Orthodox families – whether they choose to see it or not. I hope we are softening attitudes with our work."

Each year about 1,000 drug users and their families contact Drugsline for advice on how to handle addiction. Most are Jewish and drawn by Drugsline's reputation for compassion.

How drugs wriggled their way into these close-knit, self-reliant communities has not been widely explored. But the rabbi speculates that large families, restrictive traditions, and a ghettolike mind-set have contributed to deep identity tensions among some youngsters.

"They live in a very different modern world [from] their parents and struggle to define themselves," he says.

The use of cocaine, in particular, has grown in that uncertainty. Drugsline's weekly Cocaine Anonymous group therapy sessions draw between 15 and 20 youngsters at a time.

Recognizing the risks facing pupils, dozens of local schools have taken up drug-prevention courses and hosted talks by Drugsline's outreach workers. Last year the charity spoke to more than 42,000 pupils across east London.

That's an impressive statistic for a self-funded charity started in the back office of a local synagogue.

"What he has achieved is nothing less than remarkable," says Lee Scott, a member of Parliament for the neighboring constituency of Ilford North. "It's been humbling to watch Aryeh's energy, charisma, and dedication to tackling drug addiction, often against great opposition. He is an extraordinary man."

Last June, those energies were rewarded by Queen Elizabeth II, who honored Sufrin with an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), given annually to outstanding community leaders.

Still, much more needs to be done, he adds. He wants to build on the center's interfaith drug-fighting work and extend its services across London.

His bold vision may be tempered by financial realities. A smile peeks through his wiry beard as Sufrin tips his kippah back on his head and reflects on the difficulties of fundraising during a recession.

"People are feeling poor, and that effects our finances," he says. "But who said the world was supposed to be easy?"

[Source: CS Monistor]

Chabad of Bournemouth has officially opened its new centre with 150 people turning out for the dedication of a new Torah scroll.

After three years of holding services in rented accommodation while searching for suitable premises, followed by sixteen months of planning and a million pound construction project, the new Chabad centre’s doors opened to Bournemouth's Jewish community earlier this year.

"We have been running the new centre now for some months, so we were eager to have an official opening," said Rabbi Yossi Alperowitz who directs Chabad of Bournemouth with his wife Chanie.

The donation and dedication of a new Torah scroll by Maurice and Helen Kaye in honour of their 75th wedding anniversary was combined with the official opening, providing a focal point for the city's 5,000 strong Jewish community.

The centre was officially opened by Rabbi Nachman Sudak (pictured right), head emissary to the United Kingdom, with the unveiling of a plaque.

Speaking to the crowd, Rabbi Alperowitz explained the significance of combing the two events: "Just as a Chabad House is open to every Jew, so is a Torah scroll."

The new centre, with a well stocked library, accommodates Shabbat and daily services, adult educational classes, children's classes, and a host of programs and activities for the youth and elderly. A well equipped commercial kitchen will provide kosher catering services, further enhancing Jewish life in Bournemouth.

"It has already brought new life and excitement to the community," says Mrs. Alperowitz.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski will deliver a pre-Rosh Hashanah Unity Lecture entitled Together We Can Fill The World With Light.

The lecture - which takes place this Sunday on September 13 - will be beamed to hundreds of Jewish communities around the world.

Rabbi Dr. Twerski -  a renowned author, psychiatrist and hassidic rabbi - joins Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, Adin Steinsaltz and former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau as the fourth and final speaker in the series of webcast lectures being held to mark the year of Hakhel (year of gathering).

In the UK, a number of Chabad Houses, student centres and synagogues, have d in the series of lectures throughout the year.

"The Unity Lectures have given us an opportunity to bring a world-class speaker into our Chabad house to provide a quality lecture for Jews in Leeds," says Rabbi Eli Pink, educational director at the Lubavitch Centre of Leeds.

The Unity Lectures are designed for people with all levels of Jewish knowledge, and no prior experience or background learning is required to attend and enjoy this series.

The lecture series is a project of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI), the adult education arm of Chabad-Lubavitch which offers courses and educational programs in over 300 locations worldwide.

• For full listings of the Unity Lectures in the UK, click here
• To view the previous three lectures, click here

In honour of 400 years since the Maharal of Prague’s passing on the 18th of Elul, corresponding this year to Monday, September 7 (an auspicious date on the Jewish calendar in general as it is the birthdate of the Baal Shem Tov and of the founder of the Chabad Chasidic movement), Baila Olidort, editor of lubavitch.com spoke with Dr. Naftali Loewenthal about the Maharal’s influence on Chabad Chasidic thought.

Dr. Loewenthal, a Chasidic scholar and teacher, is the author of Communicating the Infinite, University of Chicago Press. Dr. Loewenthal lectures on Jewish Spirituality at University College London, part of London University, and directs the Chabad Research Unit in London.

Q: As a scholar who has written extensively on Chabad Chasidic thought, how do you define the connection between the Maharal’s thought and that of Chabad Chasidism?

A: The Maharal was in a sense the first Chasidic writer, because like the later Chasidim, he communicated ideas based on the Midrashic, Aggadic and Kabbalistic dimensions of Jewish thought, seeking through them to create an ethos and a mode of personal relationship with the Divine. 

The overt form of much of his writing is the exposition of Aggadic and Midrashic passages, without using Kabbalistic terminology. However, many of the ideas he communicates are based in Kabbalistic sources such as the Zohar and Sefer Yetzirah. 

Q: Why do you think he avoided use of Kabbalistic terms in his works explaining issues of Jewish thought and mysticism?

A: The Maharal avoided mystical terminology because he wanted to create a popular form of literature which could be studied by everyone, not only kabbalists. In his time there was a barrier restricting the study of Kabbalah and the use of its terminology to a chosen few.

Yet the inner message he is transmitting is based on Kabbalistic ideas. In Chasidism and particularly Chabad, that barrier reserving Kabbalistic terminology for a chosen few had been opened: partly because of the activity of the Arizal, Rabbi Isaac Luria, who said that now “it is permitted and a duty to reveal this wisdom,” the efforts to propagate the study of Kabbalah by R. Chaim Vital, and the revelation to the Baal Shem Tov in his famous “ascent of the soul” that spreading the fountains of Chassidism - which amounts to an aspect of what might be called “kabbalah” - is imperative in order to hasten the Messiah.

Hence I see the work of the Maharal, despite its avoidance of Kabbalistic terminology, as parallel to that of Raabi Shneur Zalman and Chabad. Both wanted to create a form of thinking and discussion - a universe of discourse - in which the spiritual is being communicated.  So for the most part, instead of employing kabbalistic terms such as the names of the Divine Sefirot (Emanations), he created a terminology of his own, which can be treated as a form of religious philosophy.

Q: Was it a rational philosophy, as in the tradition of Maimonides?

A: No. The Maharal strongly emphasized the limitations of Reason: Reason itself cannot guide a person. He insisted that a person cleaves to G-d at a level which is beyond Reason, as he writes at the beginning of the Introduction to Derech HaChaim.

Further, the Maharal sought to create through his writings a universe of discourse exploring and transmitting the spirituality of Judaism in both personal and national terms. This dovetails with the literary endeavors of Chasidic figures like Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi and his successors.

Q: Is there any indication in Chasidic texts suggesting that Chabad directly traces its ideas to the Maharal?

A: Rabbi Shneur Zalman wrote on the title page of Tanya that it is based on “books and on authors.” There is a Chabad tradition that the ‘books’ he refers to include those of his ancestor the Maharal, while the ‘authors’ include Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, who was an older colleague of Rabbi Shneur Zalman and in some ways was also his teacher.   

I find it interesting that this R. Menachem Mendel also leads us back to the Maharal as an influence on Rabbi Shneur Zalman.  Dr. Bezalel Safran has written an extensive discussion of the thought of the Maharal and compares it closely with the thought of R. Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk (in Betzalel Safran Hasidism, Continuity or Innovation? Harvard, 1988). 

One can suggest that elements of the Maharal’s perceptions of spirituality, reaching him both by the Maharal’s printed works and through their influence on his colleague Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, were systematized in Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s Tanya.

Q: What are some examples of the direct influence of the Maharal in the substance of Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s teachings?

A: An important theme in Chasidic thought is what has been called Panentheism, the idea that “all is within G-d.” The theme of the second section of Tanya is that the first line of the Shema means not merely that there is One G-d, but that there is only G-d, because all is within G-d.

The Maharal gives forceful expression to this concept in Gevurot Hashem (NY, 1969; Israel, 1980, p.181) where he states that belief in G-d means not only the belief that G-d controls existence and gave the Torah, but also that “G-d is everything and that there is nothing outside Him.” Merely to believe that G-d “exists,” says the Maharal, is not enough. One must believe that all is G-d and is within G-d, very close to Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s teaching.

Another possible example is the Maharal’s use of the theme of Tzelem Elokim, the “Divine Image.”  In his writings this idea takes a number of different forms. According to Safran, these relate not only to the Divine indwelling in the individual but also to that in existence as a whole.

I would suggest that the systematization in Tanya presenting the idea of the Divine Soul in the individual, and the Divine “Radiance which fills the worlds” in existence in general, while using themes from the Lurianic Kabbalah, are also consonant with the Maharal’s teachings and may even be inspired by them.

Q: What was the Maharal’s unique contribution to the virtues and ideals that the human being should aspire to in terms of his relationship with G-d, and how was this reflected in Chasidic thought?

A: One typical Chasidic focus is the concept of bitachon, a miraculous form of trust in G-d. We see this clearly in Maharal’s writings: “When something befalls a person that seems bad to him, he trusts in G-d, and G-d transforms it to good, because of his trust.” (Netivat Olam, Netiv Ahavat Hashem 1, p.43)

Another is the idea of seeking personal shiflut, lowness, bitul, self abnegation or ayin.  The more the person is “low,” the more he is “as nothing,” the more he receives life-force from the Divine (Derech HaChayim on Avot 1:12).  One should seek “to abnegate oneself until one does not exist” (Netiv HaAvodah, ch.10). These sound just like Chasidic formulations.

 Q: Can you give some examples where actual texts of the Maharal are used by the Chasidic Masters?

A: In Gur Aryeh, the Maharal’s supercommentary on Rashi on the Torah (which itself is a link in the chain leading to the studies on Rashi of his descendant, the Lubavitcher Rebbe), there is a discussion of Rashi’s comment that when Jacob met his long-lost son Joseph, he said the Shema.  The Maharal explains that despite the earthly joy of being reunited with his son, his mind was actually focused on the Divine.

This was a favorite passage of the Maharal cited by Chasidic authors such as Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, the Sfas Emes and the Shem MiShmuel (R. Shmuel of Sochatchow). The Kotzker recommended study of the works of the Maharal  to his followers.

Various authors have pointed to themes such as devekut, the Tzaddik, and the idea of being “mekushar,” or bonded, to the Divine, in the Maharal’s writings, much as in the later movement of Chasidism.

However, one must bear in mind that the Musar movement also was somewhat influenced by the Maharal, as were other streams of Jewish thought.

Q: Which of Maharal’s socio-ethical themes influenced Chasidut?

A: On a social front, the Maharal was critical of corrupt leadership, and also highly critical of the elitist educational system. In his time, scholars taught the sons of the rich for high fees. The Maharal wanted education to be available for the poor, which should be subsidized by the rich (see Netiv HaTorah ch.10). He established the Hevrah Mishnayot concept which was supported by his disciple the Tosefot Yom Tov and spread far and wide in Eastern Europe as a popular mode of adult education.

The Maharal also vigorously campaigned about certain laxities in Jewish law in his time, and the unfortunate then common practice of slander.

This can be seen as a precursor to the critical view in the early Chasidic writings of the elitist educational system in 18th century Poland, as well as the new piety introduced by early Chasidim as reflected in meticulous attention to details in the observance of mitzvoth.

Q:  Would you say that the Chabad outreach program as we know it today is in some way an expression of Maharal’s approach to education?

A: It is true that the Maharal was concerned that what he saw as a sound Jewish education should be made available through the broad strata of society, and rejected ivory tower elitism. He wanted Mishnah to be the main focus at earlier stages of study, rather than Talmud, and he recommended a more straightforward approach to Talmud study than was common in his time.  

There are some parallels here with contemporary outreach and adult education approaches which admittedly have been spearheaded by Chabad.  However, I think more close to the specific Chabad goal is the direct attempt to communicate spirituality through his voluminous writings, which were largely published in his lifetime. 

 Whether his commentary on Pirkei Avot (Derech HaChaim), on the Exodus (Gevurot Hashem), on themes in Midrash and Aggada (Netivot Olam, Commentary on the Aggada) or his other works, all seek to express the deep spirituality within Jewish teaching.  It is true that, unlike Chabad, for the most part he avoided kabbalistic vocabulary. But the inner spirituality that he sought to express was the same.  

As I elaborate in my book, Communicating the Infinite, Chabad saw its core mission as communicating spirituality to everyone. This was developed most radically in the dramatic outreach program of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that sought to bring Jewish education and Jewish spirituality to every Jew. The idea that a group of people should attend a Tanya class in a Chabad House somewhere can be seen as a latter-day extension of the spiritual goals of the Maharal.

[By Baila Olidotr, Lubavitch.com]