This week, Rabbi Miriam shares a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei . She reflects: My Grandma Margot's parents saw the writing on the wall in Germany and escaped with her shortly before the Holocaust. They were refugees. She came here aged 2 and passed down the generations a sense of gratitude to the UK for being a welcoming country where our family could thrive. It wasn't easy at first, particularly having German accents in 1940s England. When we chatted be

This week, Rabbi Miriam shares a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Ki Tisa. She reflects: Football matches, protests, weddings, festivals... we have such energy and power in a crowd. But that same energy can pull a group of people in a dark direction. In this week's parasha, Ki Tisa, it leads to the creation of the golden calf - our people's biggest, blindest betrayal. I think we need an extra awareness when we're in a big crowd - what energy is being created here? Is it for

This week, Rabbi Miriam shares a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Mishpatim. She reflects: What is separating meat and milk really about? To borrow a Talmudic phrase, our current practice on separate EVERYTHING (plates, pots, brushes) is like " a mountain suspended by a hair " - an immense amount of halacha derived from a very slim Biblical reference. But I think that reference, which comes up in this week's parasha, teaches us a lot about how kashrut should be about mindfu

Rabbi Miriam's sermon - delivered Shabbat morning on 31st January 2026. Some people here will have heard of the 5 stages of grief, developed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. While Kübler-Ross herself said herself that they’re not always linear, she has faced criticism for a theory which seems so neat, with its stages to progress through, ending in acceptance. Closure. Then with grief wrapped up, you can move on.  Grief, I thin

This Shabbat, Parashat Bo coincides with Jami's Mental Health Shabbat, a time to reflect on mental health and raise awareness of mental health in our community. This week, Rabbi Miriam is joined by Victoria Dadds, Kehillat Nashira's JAMI ambassador. Rabbi Miriam reflects: It's JAMI mental health Shabbat this week, an opportunity to raise awareness and talk about a side to health which we're still learning to talk about and care for well. Victoria shares how each of us reall

Rabbi Miriam's sermon - delivered Shabbat morning on 17th January 2026. Shabbat shalom all.  It is very special to welcome my friend, the Reverend Tom Mumford from Ipswich Minster, soon to be Chaplain to support the Bishop of Selby. Rev. Tom will address us at the end of shul, so I’m going to say something brief today.  And the opportunity is too good not to start with a joke about a priest and a rabbi.  A rabbi and a priest are the only passengers on a plane, along with the

This week, Rabbi Miriam is joined by her former teacher, Father Patrick Moriaty. He share a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Va'era. Rabbi Miriam reflects: There aren't many Christian priests who know the word "parasha" but this extraordinary man, Father Patrick Moriarty, does. He taught me religious studies at school, and is in large part responsible for my decision to study Theology, then a bit more Judaism, which led to a bit more Jewish study and a bit more. And here we

Rabbi Miriam's sermon - delivered Kabbalat Shabbat 9th January 2026 Tomorrow we begin the book of Shemot, literally “names”. But names are strangely absent from the opening story, as our people’s enslavement in Egypt becomes established then embedded. Perhaps this is because slaves, along with the most oppressed people in human history, have not been dignified with names, sometimes as we know, being numbered instead.  But onto this scene comes two figures with names. They are

This week, Rabbi Miriam is joined by her teacher Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield at Limmud. He share a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Vayechi. Rabbi Miriam reflects: "Limmud  festival was phenomenal in so many ways and one was being around so many teachers. So it was an honour to learn from Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield again and for him to give this week's Insta sermon. Thank you @pardesinstitute  for Rabbi Zvi and for all the inspiration you've given so many of us."

This week, Rabbi Miriam shares a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Vayishlach . She reflects: "A 90 second sermon on something that's difficult to talk about. Particularly in a family setting like shul. But because abuse thrives in silence, it's important to share this story and speak out against it happening in our communities and our world. If the Torah can, so can we. " If you'd like to read the full story, please click the link below: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.34?l

Rabbi Miriam's Vayetze sermon - delivered Shabbat 29th November 2025 What does it look like to have a safe home? The home is usually the place where we expect to “switch off” our threat responses. A place where you are physically protected, but also one with psychological safety. If home doesn’t feel safe, the body can stay in a chronic stress state and never truly relaxes.  On the other hand, a home with good physical and psychological safety has long-term positive effects o

Rabbi Miriam's Toldot sermon - delivered Kabbalat Shabbat 21st November 2025 Our parasha is Toldot, which contains the story of Yaakov and Eisav’s brotherly wranglings. It all starts with the twins wrestling in utero, which leads their mother to ask the existential question: “לָמָּה זֶּה אָנֹכִי” “if so, why do I exist?” In a time before obstetricians, she speaks to God via an oracle or teacher and is given a prophecy that the older twin will end up serving the younger - th

This week, Rabbi Miriam shares a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Toledot. She reflects: "It's one of the biggest questions in the Torah for me, and one with a clear answer despite religious commentaries (particularly the newer ones) tying themselves in knots to justify our Avot and Imahot's flawed human behaviour. Glad to have the Ramban and Radak onside for this one. "[Yaakov] was punished for initiating such a sale because he had upset the norms of civilised society by d

Rabbi Miriam's sermon - delivered Kabbalat Shabbat 7th November 2025 I’m not sure about you, but I’m still waiting for the nice, quiet time beyond the two years of feeling tense. Don’t get me wrong, the news cycle seems better than the awfulness of even a few weeks ago. But that’s not a particularly high bar.  I expect that some people here, along with some of my American colleagues, are feeling anxious about Mamdani’s appointment. Others among my colleagues voted for him, s

As we begin the Torah anew with Bereishit, Rabbi Miriam invites us to reflect on the timeless lessons of our first parasha. She says: ”This first parasha of the Torah contains so many heartbreaking truths about humanity - our innate competitiveness, our need to possess and have power over others, our capacity for violence... but I believe also our incredible capacity for self-reflection and progress.”

Rabbi Miriam Lorie is joined by her friend Reveredn Catriona Laing and together they share their thoughts on Parshat Ki Teitzei in a 90-second video reflection.

This week, Rabbi Miriam shares a 90-second video sermon on Parashat Vaetchanan. She reflects: "When life doesn't go the way we'd always...

This week, Rabbi Miriam Lorie brings together Parshat Pinchas  and Pride and Prejudice  in a 90-second video reflection. She shares: "I...

This week’s video sermon invites us into a conversation between Rabbi Miriam and her friend and Yeshivat Maharat scholar, Sarah-Beth...

This week, Rabbi Miriam is in New York celebrating the ordination of a new cohort of female rabbis at Maharat. While there, she reunited...