Latest Thought
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah: Parashat Va-etchannan 5786
Va-etchannan: Remembering and Re-membering This week’s parashah, Va-etchannan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) is the second portion of the book of D’varim, Deuteronomy. Va-etchannan includes the second version of Aseret Ha-Dibbrot, ‘The Ten Utterances’, better known by their...
Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris: The shifting faces of the Progressive Rabbi
The address at the Leo Baeck College Study Day & Viva Presentation, celebrating 100 years of the World Union for Progressive Judaism as part of the Darkeinu conference, delivered on Thursday 7 July 2026: I’d like to start with asking you to imagine a rabbi....
Rabbi Ariel J Friedlander: Parashat Matot-Masei 5786
At first glance, the double portion of Matot-Masei can be tough to connect with. A large part of the text is concerned with the division of booty after a successful campaign against the Midianites, and there is a detailed description of the physical journey towards...
Rabbi Lea Mühlstein: Imagining the next century
The keynote address for the Centenary of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, Darkeinu, delivered on Sunday 28 June 2026: We gather here at the close of our celebrations of the centenary of the World Union for Progressive Judaism with one hundred years behind us...
Rabbi DY (David‑Yehuda) Stern: Parashat Pinchas 5786
Thought for the Week: Holding On, Letting Go There are moments in life that ask us to hold on and to let go at the very same time. Inheritance and succession are two powerful themes woven through this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Pinchas. As Moses prepares to divide...
Rabbi Dr Michael Marmur: Sermon on the nature of Movement
A sermon delivered at Hineinu, the inaugural conference of The Movement for Progressive Judaism, on Saturday 20 June 2026, Parashat Chukkat 5786: Hineinu. Here we are. But where are we, actually? How is the name of this place pronounced, and what does the name mean?...
Rabbi Warren Elf: Parashat Chukkat 5786
The parasha of Chukkat, at least chapter 20 onwards, is set forty years after the Exodus from Egypt. Thirty-eight years have passed since the spies in last week’s Sedra prompted the lack of faith and belief in the entire community and the doubt that God would lead...
Rabbi Charley Baginsky: We are responsible for one another
Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Co-Lead of The Movement for Progressive Judaism, delivered BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day on Tuesday 9 June 2026. You can listen here or read it below: Reports of girls as young as eight worrying about wrinkles have sparked calls to ban...
Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein: Parashat Korach 5786
Come Rosh Hashanah who will be the Prime Minister of this country or Israel? How often does the main theme of the Torah portion seem to be a comment on the headline news of the week. A boon for the preacher if not for the congregant who came to shul to escape the...
Rabbi Lea Mühlstein: Why everyone should visit the Nova Exhibition
I first met Rachel Goldberg-Polin on 27 February 2024, 143 days after the massacre of 7 October. Her son Hersh had been abducted after fleeing the Nova Music Festival. Describing the months since his kidnapping, Rachel spoke of feeling as though she had been hit by a...
Rabbi Lev Saul: Parashat Sh’lach L’cha 5786
Such giants we will slay together Why do giants feature so prominently in our stories for children? I recently had the joy of reading some chapters from Roald Dahl's BFG to my six-year-old godson. Reading to him as he got ready to sleep gave me such warm nostalgia. I...
Mike Frankl: Antisemitism and interfaith work
Beth Shalom Reform Synagogue, Cambridge, recently celebrated the 90th birthday of one of our members. It caused me to reflect on conditions for Jews in the world back then. For example, Berlin in 1936 was not such a good place to be a Jew. There were attacks on Jews...
Rabbi Adrian M Schell: Parashat B’ha’alotecha 5786
Pride Month begins next week. Not everyone in our communities will feel the same way about it, and I think it's worth mentioning that upfront. For some, Pride brings genuine joy. June is a month of celebration and visibility. For others, it causes discomfort and even...
Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy: We need confidence without uniformity
"Anyone can be in my tent who does not want to push me out of it.” Yaron Shavit – one of the most senior and respected Progressive Jewish leaders in Israel – once told us this. The words have stayed with us ever since. They capture something often absent from public...
Rabbi Mark Goldsmith: Parashat Naso
Being Like the Children of Kehat In Naso we hear how the chieftains of Israel, the heads of the tribes, came to Moses on the day that he finished the portable temple, the Mishcan, in the desert (Numbers 7:1). Each, starting with Nachson ben Aminadav from the tribe of...
Archbishop of Canterbury: Be assured of my friendship
Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Reverend Dame Sarah Mullally remarks during her visit to the Sternberg Centre earlier on Thursday 14 May 2026. The Archbishop spoke to Progressive clergy, student rabbis and staff members in Leo Baeck College's Lily Montagu Reading...
Rabbi Shulamit Ambalu: Parashat B’midbar
There can’t be any better reflection on our national politics than the story of Jonathan’s covenant with David in our Haftarah this week (1 Sam 20). The struggle for power and succession between Saul and David, and David’s promise of protection to his friend Jonathan...
Rabbi Josh Levy and Rabbi Charley Baginsky: We stand here heartbroken and angry
Watch and read the full speech from the Co-Leads of The Movement for Progressive Judaism, Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, at this weekend's rally against antisemitism: Today British Jews stand together in all our diversity, from across the breadth of our...
Rabbi Josh Levy: Parashat B’har-B’chukkotai
Rabbi Josh Levy, Co-Lead of The Movement for Progressive Judaism, delivered this sermon at Harlow and Chelmsford Jewish Community on Shabbat morning, Saturday 9 May: So what, the rabbis ask, are you to do if your neighbour is working the land during the sabbatical...
Mich Sampson: Why I am going to Hineinu
Hineinu? Betach! When our new Movement for Progressive Judaism announced its inaugural convention Hineinu, combining the incredible music and ruach of Shirei Chagigah with the deep learning and community-building of the previous Reform and Liberal conventions, I...
Rabbi Charley Baginsky: Antisemitism is not only about Jews
Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Co-Lead of The Movement for Progressive Judaism, delivered BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day on Tuesday 5 May 2026. You can listen here or read it below: There is a difference between being safe and feeling that you belong. It is not always...
Rabbi Josh Levy: Parashat Emor
Coming together as community in the face of terror Why does classical Jewish Law require a minyan, a minimum number of people, for the recitation of certain parts of our services? The technical reason is found in this week’s Torah portion, Emor. In it, God instructs,...
Rabbi Jonathan Romain: We are a house with many doors
It may not be flattering to describe Progressive Judaism as an elephant, but if you are aware of the old story then it might be an appropriate image. The story is about a group of people who were put in a room in which there was no light at all and, unbeknown to them,...
Rabbi Richard Jacobi: Parashat Acharei Mot-K’doshim
Parashat Acharei Mot-K’doshim – Accepting Imperfections The Midrash on Acharei Mot, the first half of this week’s double portion, includes the teaching that laws about permitted and prohibited relationships were needed because people were already doing these things. I...