Jeremy’s Notes

Re-eh

What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel,

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Lev Returns to Kehillat Kernow

By popular demand, Lev Taylor, Reform Judaism’s student rabbi returned to take a service at Kehillat Kernow for Shabbat Va-ethannan on Saturday, 17th of August. Lev is one of four

Jeremy’s Notes

Va’ethannan

The names we give today to the five books of the Torah are revealing. In the beginning is Bereshit, which, with vibrant intensity balanced by serene elegance, launches the Torah,

Jeremy’s Notes

Mas’ei: map of the past, map of the future

Forty years of wandering through wilderness, mountains and desert are coming to an end and the future is about to arrive. What stories of hardship, inspiration, rebellion and faith we

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Newsletter for August 2019

It’s the latest Kol Kehillat Kernow for August added to the Newsletter page. If you are a Kehillat Kernow member or a registered website user, you may view the full

Jeremy’s Notes

Pinchas

Balak and Balaam are a right pair, two nasty pieces of work determined to curse and persecute an innocent people. Balaam is a right pair in himself, a two-sided coin,

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Weekly Commentary on Chukkat

Fair-weather believers seem to be the underlying narrative in the B’Midbar parshot, from the pusillanimous ten spies to the blasphemous insurrection of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and on to

Jeremy’s Notes

Sh’lach l’cha

Can you have too much of a good thing? Certainly, the Israelites had. After complaining about their limited diet. God sends them quails, so many that the people gather staggering

Jeremy’s Notes

Naso

Was perhaps Spike Milligan supposed to represent a Nazirite when he emerged from a hole in the desert, jumping up and down, half naked, three-quarters mad and one whole funny

Jeremy’s Notes

B’chukkotai

In one or two recent services, we have discussed the challenges of some of the laws appearing in the weekly readings when we examine them in the light of contemporary

Jeremy’s Notes

Emor

Kedoshim, the parsha before Emor, is reminiscent of Mishpatim, which comes shortly after the Israelites have left Egypt, in that it delivers a whole raft of instructions and laws, all

Jeremy’s Notes

Acharei Mot

Your mother, stepmother, sister, half-sister, aunt, granddaughter, sister-in-law and daughter-in-law are not relatives you should marry or have sexual relations with according to the instructions given through Moses to the

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Banner Turnout for Pesach 5779

The largest Seder in Kehillat Kernow history happened this year with 80 people attending the first night of Pesach at Trelssick Gardens in Feock, Truro.People came from near and afar

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Metzora

“Unclean! Unclean!” That’s what you would have had to shout out if you were struck by the leprous curse in the days of the Israelites. You would have also had

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Obedience at Disobedience

The Film/Food/Book/Fact Club met April 6th at Malpas Village Hall for another fantastic evening of good food, conviviality and discussion to view the film, ‘Disobedience,’ based on the book by

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Newsletter for April 2019

It’s the latest Kol Kehillat Kernow for April added to the Newsletter page. You can view the full version if you are a Kehillat Kernow member. Please apply to become

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Pesach in Cornwall

Spring is coming and, with it, one of the most wonderful festivals of the Jewish year: Pesach. It is fitting that, at the same time as the world around us

Jeremy’s Notes

Sh’mini

Instructions for the many sacrifices mandated by God continue apace in Tzav. It cannot have been easy to remember and follow all the stages of each of these sacrifices to

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Planting for the future

Envision Abraham sitting under the terebinth tree on the Plains of Mamre hosting the angels of God as they are about to reveal the future birth of Isaac. A seminal

Jeremy’s Notes

Va’yikra – Leviticus

What a story has unfurled over the Book of Sh’mot (Exodus). An Israelite, brought up in the heart of Egypt, married to a Midianite woman, is chosen by God to