Our final reflection on the women of the Exodus story turns to Batya , Pharaoh’s daughter. Earlier, we explored the courage of the midwives Shifra and Puah , followed by Moses’ family: Miriam, his sister ; Yocheved, his mother ; and Tzipporah, his wife . Now we turn to Batya, whose moral courage and compassion also played a pivotal role in the story of the Exodus. Meet Batya Pharoah’s daughter is named “Batya” by the Rabbis and connected with a woman mentioned in I Chronicle

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Pesach is a time for family, reflection, and celebration. Whether you’re planning your first Seder or looking to refresh your traditions, having the right resources can make the evening more engaging, meaningful, and fun. From Haggadot to discussion guides, recipes, and activities for children, here’s a curated selection to help you prepare. Recommended haggadot Online : A selection of online haggadot including “the 10 minute seder”, “comedy seder” and “colouring book Haggada

We continue with our series that seeks to explore the women who shaped the Exodus story. Last time, we met Shifra, Puah, and Miriam , women whose courage shaped the earliest moments of the Exodus. In this piece, we turn to Yocheved , Moses’ mother. Meet Yocheved First introduced to us as a nameless “daughter of Levi”, we discover Yocheved’s name only later in Shemot - the Torah thus helps to illustrate how slavery would strip a person of all identity. She was married to Amra

In the 5,500 words of the classic Haggadah, women are almost entirely absent. Miriam appears just once, in a quotation from the book of Micah during the Maggid section: “I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” That is the only mention of Moses as well, the central hero of the story, yet countless other men are named throughout. This series seeks to explore the women who shaped the Exodus story, whose courage, wisdom, and leadership often went unrecorded in the texts we r

Rabbi Miriam's sermon - delivered Shabbat morning on 21st March 2026. My son was sent home with an intriguing homework assignment a few weeks ago as part of the Ancient Egyptian curriculum. Mummify a tomato. We had to scoop out the tomato’s innards, then stuff it with a mixture of salt and bicarbonate of soda. Then record what happens. Well, I can report that weeks later, the tomato is not mouldy. But it is still kind of gross. The salt and bicarb dehydrated the tomato whil

Food on Pesach - a new philosophy In an ideal world, the laws of Pesach should encourage us to eat simply for a week. Chametz is a symbol of puffed-up, complicated food, while matza is a symbol of honest simplicity. It’s an invitation to embrace fresh fruit and veg, fish and eggs, soups, salads and jacket potatoes, herbs and lemon juice. None of these need to be bought at kosher shops, Of course, we want to make the Chag special and eat delicious food, some of which will be

Questions? Be in touch with Rabbi Miriam on whatsapp or email While there are many halachot to learn about preparing your home and kitchen for Pesach, this guide is meant to be a source of easy-to-access information that will hopefully ease your preparations. In addition to not eating chametz, we also must remove chametz from our possession. The type of chametz we remove from our homes is "significant chametz" (like a whole pretzel or half a biscuit) and chametz that might co

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 year, Purim has felt a little different. The usual costumes and celebrations come against a backdrop of worry, both in Israel and at home. On Purim night, Rabbi Miriam Lorie shared the following words after saying tehillim to help frame the moment: Does Purim feel jarring this year? Purim is bavdalah If you were feeling ambivalence coming to Purim tonight, with all its fun and costumes and silliness, given the context in Israel and the world this week, you will not have

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 week, Rabbi Miriam Lorie joined BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought. She explains that: "My work is full of privileges. And a particularly unique privilege is hospital chaplaincy. I'm not paid for it, yet I stick with it because of the extraordinary and ordinary encounters I've had in those wards. I hope the conversations lift the patients and help them feel heard - this is of course the primary objective. But however much I give, it's something I'll always gain from more.

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

This week, Rabbi Miriam Lorie joined BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought. Listen here They say that a shoemaker’s children go barefoot, but my lovely mum is an optometrist, and she did make sure to test my, my brother and sister’s eyes as we were growing up. And Scott, it’s confession time, because I was not a good patient. When mum said "is it better 1 or 2?” I would say “3”. And she had one of those swivelly office chairs with a lever for adjusting the height that was exactly

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