Celebrating Life

We are delighted to share with you this week's Covenant & Conversation recording for Beha'alotcha entitled “Loneliness and Faith”. Read the essay in: English (https://bit.ly/2MDjDNj), Hebrew (https://bit.ly/3eNzrJi), Spanish (https://bit.ly/2AZQAAA) or French (https://bit.ly/3h6XKUm) You can also download the Beha'alotcha Family Edition – an educational resource to engage older children / teenagers with Rabbi Sacks’ ideas – here https://bit.ly/2ARNEpY For those of our subscribers who live in Israel, you can read Rabbi Sacks' essay for Shelach Lecha here in English (https://bit.ly/3hd9Hb4) or Hebrew(https://bit.ly/3hfyyLF) Shabbat shalom!

e are delighted to share with you this week's Covenant & Conversation recording for Behar-Bechukotai entitled “The Power of a Curse”. Read the essay in: English (https://bit.ly/35SCLQ7), Hebrew (https://bit.ly/3cuItdt), Spanish (https://bit.ly/2Z03LvG) or French (https://bit.ly/2T30c3M) You can also download the Behar-Bechukotai Family Edition – an educational resource to engage older children / teenagers with Rabbi Sacks’ ideas – here https://bit.ly/2zwTlJ5 Shabbat shalom!

We are delighted to share with you this week's Covenant & Conversation recording for Acharei-Mot Kedoshim entitled “The Ethic of Holiness”. Read the essay in: English (https://bit.ly/2xmAgbY), Hebrew (https://bit.ly/3bPpcTz), Spanish (https://bit.ly/2xh7Hwn) or French (https://bit.ly/2YiDjNg) You can also download the Acharei-Mot Kedoshim Family Edition – an educational resource to engage older children / teenagers with Rabbi Sacks’ ideas – here https://bit.ly/2YgzmbO Shabbat shalom!

As we approach Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha'Atzmaut here is a short video, the audio of which is taken from a double CD of words and music about Israel that my office produced in 2008. The full album can be downloaded from iTunes for a small cost which goes to tzedakah (charity) here: https://apple.co/3eRy6lj. More details about the project can be found here: http://rabbisacks.org/israel-home-of-hope/.

We are delighted to share with you this week's Covenant & Conversation recording for Tazria-Metzora entitled “Words That Heal”. Read the essay in: English (https://bit.ly/3bvpAX5), Hebrew (https://bit.ly/2XUmjwB), Spanish (https://bit.ly/3bryuFi) or French (https://bit.ly/2wVhYhA) You can also download the Tazria-Metzora Family Edition – an educational resource to engage older children / teenagers with Rabbi Sacks’ ideas – here https://bit.ly/2KqXZdK Shabbat shalom!

Where was God? Where was Humanity? How has the Holocaust impacted my own faith? Where do I find hope in the Holocaust? What is the place of the Holocaust in 21st-century Jewish identity? What is the relationship between the Holocaust and the establishment of the modern State of Israel? These are just some of the questions I offer my personal perspective on, as part of a new educational video series I have made in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Trust and released to coincide with Yom HaShoah. We have tried to make it a useful educational tool for the formal and informal teaching of the Holocaust. So for each of the ten challenging spiritual and ethical topics covered, we have included videos, discussion questions, transcripts, and historical background / additional information. The whole series is available for free and accessible now via my website www.RabbiSacks.org/Holocaust. I hope you take a few moments to explore it in detail, share it, engage with it, use it in your school, on visits to concentration camps, or wherever else you feel it can add value to important conversations about the Holocaust. Because "Never Again" must mean "Never Again".

On Sunday, Rabbi Sacks, Israeli musician Ishay Ribo and Israeli newscaster and World Mizrachi Shlicha Sivan Rahav Meir held a Facebook Live encounter of words and music. You can watch their conversation here: https://youtu.be/xClZGyj3Cx0. If you want to read a translation of the songs performed by Ishay, please click here: https://youtu.be/xClZGyj3Cx0

We are delighted to share with you this week's Covenant & Conversation recording for Shemini entitled “Limits”. Read the essay in: English (https://bit.ly/2XwVdeX), Hebrew (https://bit.ly/34LFWbT), Spanish (https://bit.ly/2V4DxW9) or French (https://bit.ly/3b7oYXG) You can also download the Shemini Family Edition – an educational resource to engage older children / teenagers with Rabbi Sacks’ ideas – here https://bit.ly/2K4p5XY Chag Sameach and Shabbat shalom!

Download an Omer calendar for 5780 here which features a daily inspirational quote from my soon-to-be-published volume of my Covenant & Conversation series on Life-Changing Ideas -> https://bit.ly/2JNnlSV

Quite a few people have asked about whether transcripts are available for the recent WhatsApp messages on Pesach. All the commentaries can be found in Rabbi Sacks’ Haggadah. This year, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, our friends and partners at Koren Publishers have made the Koren Sacks Haggadah available as a feee download. To access your copy please here -> https://mailchi.mp/korenpub.com/djwicqk7tu. Chag kasher v’sameach.

In these final Pesach messages, Rabbi Sacks looks at why we end the Seder service in song. Wishing you and your family a Chag Kasher v'Sameach and a speedy and complete refuah sheleima to all those affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

I wanted to highlight a beautiful project that is taking place in Israel on Seder night called “Am Echad b’Shulchan Echad”, "One People, One Table". The idea is that on the first night of Pesach, people will move their Seder tables to balconies or open windows so that even in the confinement of isolation and the resultant physical separation, Jews throughout Israel can still be reunited spiritually through the sounds of children singing Ma Nishtana and the songs of the Seder service. Even though this year it is necessary to close our doors, this project is an example of how we can still open our hearts to one another and become a single, extended family. Kol hakavod to all those involved.