The message of Parashat Pinchas is that when we appear to be confronted only with violent options, always to ask: Isn’t there anything else? If we follow the example of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, there certainly is. Read this week's d'var Torah: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin reassures Winnie the Pooh at the beginning of Pooh’s Grand Adventure, but should we accept advice from talking animals? Read this week's d'var Torah on parashat Balak: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

Class of 2025 – Rabbi Andrea Steuer Zago Kulikovsky and Rabbi Dr Hannah Marije Altorf with Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris, Principal of LBC, and Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh, Dean & Director of Jewish Studies, pictured at the Leo Baeck College Ordination service on Sunday 6th July 2025 at FRS.

This week we celebrate the ordination of two incredible new rabbis from Leo Baeck College. First, Elliott speaks to Erev Rav Andrea Kulikovsky @deakuli.bsky.social about the theology of the cloud. Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3AXV... Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... #judaism

Judaism deals with death in a very honest way, and Chukkat is our annual moment to reflect upon how we deal with it. Read this week's d'var Torah by LBC rabbinical student - and soon to be rabbi - Andrea Kulikovsky on our website: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/... #ShabbatShalom #RabbiSchool #dvartorah

Last week I was walking in the beautiful forest around Vallendar, Germany, when I passed a well. The sign above it told the story of its origin. When a bishop had cursed God after an unsuccessful hunting trip, he and his horse disappeared in a crack in the earth... lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

Stop. Look. Listen. Think. “SHOPLIFTING IN PROGRESS” Of course, that is not what was written on the hoarding on the High Street. It is what my young eyes first read, until I looked again and realised it actually said “Shopfitting” This week's d'var Torah by Rabbi Nicola Feuchtwang: bit.ly/4lg2wPR

Witnessing again the ageing men of the Torah – Aaron, Moses and a very masculine God – dominating the text and silencing the lone woman should make us squirm. Read this week's d'var Torah by Rabbi Richard Jacobi: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/... #ShabbatShalom #RabbiSchool #torahportion #dvartorah

In Naso we hear how the chieftains of Israel came to Moses on the day that he finished the portable temple in the desert... Each brought an extremely useful offering... Read this week's d'var Torah by Rabbi Mark Goldsmith on our website: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

This week we enter the Book of Numbers – the only one of the Five Books of Moses, when you stop to think about it, which has a plain sense English name. Read this week's d'var Torah by LBC rabbinic student Richard Allen Greene on our website: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

The lighting of Shabbat candles on Friday night is a special time of the week; it is a moment to slow down, whether alone or with friends or family, and to step outside weekday time. Read this week's d'var Torah on Behar-Bechukotai by LBC rabbinical student Tim Motz: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

LBC students studying Second Temple Texts and Early Judaism attended the 2025 Ethel M. Wood Lecture, given by Professor Judith Buchanan (Oxford) on ‘Courting and thwarting the “ill word”: the figure of Judith in film, art and literature’, held at King's College, London on Monday 19 May.

Leo Baeck College is delighted by the news of the successful outcomes from The Movement for Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism EGMs this morning. We look forward to working with their leadership as they work towards creating the single Movement for Progressive Judaism. Mazel tov!

In my experience meaningful change does not come about through simply learning about people; it comes from intimate, personal relationships with individuals who hold different narratives from our own. Read Rabbi David-Yehuda Stern's d'var Torah on parashat Emor: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

Thank you to all that joined us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK’s first woman rabbi, Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick’s, ordination. This week, Rabbi Dr Tabick and Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris sat down to discuss their experiences as women rabbis. Find out more: lbc.ac.uk/lbc-25-appeal/

This week’s parashah takes its name from the fourteenth word in it (is this a record?) – k’doshim – which precedes the verb tih’yu, so, how might we best translate the phrase K’doshim tih’yu? Read this week's d'var Torah on Acharei Mot–K’doshim by Rabbi Richard Jacobi: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

“We traversed a frontier and didn’t really know what the territory before us would look like. Now I look back and see the seventy faces of women who are confident and proud rabbis and teachers in Israel.” – Rabbi Alexandra Wright, ordained by LBC in 1986 Find out more: lbc.ac.uk/rabbi-alexan...

Jews having a lot to say is not so much a stereotype as a truism, just as much as the old adage “two Jews, three opinions” is. This week’s Torah portion perhaps speaks to that more than any other, although not necessarily explicitly. Read more by LBC student Emily Carp: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

This week, we commemorate Israel’s National Days, marking important moments in the Israeli-Jewish calendar, encompassing Yom HaZikaron – the Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror – and Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day.

This year marks some grim anniversaries: on Jan 27th 1945 the Auschwitz-Birkenau site was captured by the advancing Soviet army, and on April 15th 1945, the British army liberated the camp at Bergen-Belsen. Read Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh's reflections on Yom Hashoah: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

Our Spring 2025/Pesach Newsletter is out! Catch up on all the goings on at LBC since Chanukah - if you're not on our mailing list you can find our newsletter here: mailchi.mp/lbc.ac.uk/ne... If you'd like to join our mailing list, click this link: eepurl.com/idFXIL

Mazal tov to LBC faculty member Dr Sandra Jacobs who has edited a new collection of essays (written by colleagues) on aspects of ancient law: (de Gruyter; BZAW 504) The Dynamics of Early Judaean Law: Studies in the Diversity of Ancient Social and Communal Legislation doi.org/10.1515/9783...

Rabbi Sybil Sheridan is part of the first generation of theUK's women rabbis. In this blog, she reflects on the evolving role of women in the Progressive Jewish world since her own ordination at Leo Baeck College in 1981: lbc.ac.uk/rabbi-sybil-...

Our parasha gives us some guidance as to how we tot up our mistakes, how we weigh them and how we fix them within systems of a communal, religious and political action. Read this week's d'var Torah on parashat Vayikra by Rabbi Anthony Lazarus Magrill on our website: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

“I never felt disrespected as a woman in the rabbinate, only ever cared for.” – Rabbi Miriam Berger, ordained by LBC in 2006. In this blog post, Rabbi Miriam talks about her experience as a woman rabbi: lbc.ac.uk/rabbi-miriam...

The blessing of uncertainty is not only in preventing our faith from becoming idolatry, but also in making sure that our fear, sadness, anger, and grief does not evolve into baseless hatred for others who see things differently from ourselves. Read this week's d'var Torah: lbc.ac.uk/d-var-torah/...

In September 2011 Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris was appointed Principal of Leo Baeck College, the first woman to lead a rabbinic seminary in the World Union for Progressive Judaism. In this blog post, she talks about her experience as a woman rabbi: bit.ly/DKH-story-social

Leo Baeck College | at the Heart of Progressive Judaism This year @leobaeckcollege.bsky.social is celebrating 50 years of ordaining women as rabbis. Read the stories of women rabbis (including me)

Deep within these chapters of Exodus, at the beginning of this week’s parashah, hidden in the recess of the crevice of all the words, we find three verses about Shabbat... Read this week's d'var Torah on parashat Vayakhel by Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen on our website:

Introducing Leo Baeck College’s Spring/Summer appeal: help us raise £50,000 to celebrate 50 years of women rabbis in the UK 2025 marks 50 years since Rabbi Dr Jackie Tabick’s ordination. During these 5 decades LBC has ordained more than 70 women rabbis. For more info visit: lbc.ac.uk/lbc-25-appeal/

In Parashat Ki Tissa, Moses doesn’t cease his uniquely close encounters with God and continues to communicate with the people he leads; yet makes close encounters with divinity bearable for the people... Read this week's d'var Torah by Rabbi Eleanor Davis on our website:

With Parashat T'rumah, the high drama of the Book of Sh'mot, Exodus, comes to a screeching halt. Read this week's d'var Torah by LBC rabbinical student Richard Allen Greene on our website at https://buff.ly/4i8cyAW #ShabbatShalom #RabbiSchool #torahportion #dvartorah #Torah

In Parashat Mishpatim, God teaches us about Shabbat – the Day of Rest. Read this week's d'var Torah on parashat Mishpatim by LBC rabbinical student Kohenet Yael Tischler on our website: https://buff.ly/416CRAE #ShabbatShalom #RabbiSchool #torahportion #dvartorah #Torah

Everyday Jews: Why the Jewish People Are Not Who You Think They Are by LBC faculty member Dr Keith Kahn-Harris will be published by Icon Books on 13 March 2025 Join him for a launch event at JW3 on 11 March at 7pm. Details and tickets here: https://buff.ly/4b7Mbsk

Celebrating LGBT+ History Month 2025, this short film captures the voices and experiences of some of our alums and rabbinic colleagues. We are grateful for their openness in sharing their journeys. View it here: https://buff.ly/3WQdkKD #lgbtqiaplus #lgbtqiaplus🌈 #LGBTPlusHistoryMonth

Celebrating LGBT+ History Month 2025, this short film captures the voices and experiences of some of our alums and rabbinic colleagues. We are grateful for their openness in sharing their journeys. View it here: https://buff.ly/3WQdkKD #lgbtqiaplus #lgbtqiaplus🌈 #LGBTPlusHistoryMonth

It's LGBT+ History Month - look out for our new film launching this week on our YouTube channel. 🏳️‍🌈 #LGBTPlusHistoryMonth #lgbtplushistorymonth2025 #lgbtplushistorymonth

Shabbat Beshallach is celebrated around the world as ‘Shabbat Shirah’ – The shabbat of song. Read this week's d'var Torah by Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers on our website https://buff.ly/4hHiL6y #ShabbatShalom #RabbiSchool #torahportion #dvartorah #Torah

Parashat Bo is one of my favourite Torah portions. For one thing, it’s the culmination of the whole drama of the Exodus, the last of the Ten Plagues and the moment when Pharaoh finally agrees to the famous request “Let my people go!” Read more at https://buff.ly/3PVNocF

As we commemorate #HolocaustMemorialDay and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Leo Baeck College’s Senior Librarian, Cassy Sachar, has picked 8 books from the College’s extensive collection pertaining to the Shoah. Watch the full video here: https://buff.ly/3PRrVl1

Two parents and teachers of Torah give their heartfelt and insightful takes on how Jewish tradition and in particular Jewish liturgy, can help raise children in the modern world. https://buff.ly/4ajPqN6 1/3

The plagues bring waves of environmental disasters, and each one brings the Egyptians’ shock, terror and desperation; yet after each plague, they return to their lack of concern. Read this week's d'var Torah on Va'eira by LBC rabbinical student Tim Motz on our website: https://buff.ly/42qbkfU

Grab a cuppa and a chat - not just today, of course, but Brew Monday is a useful reminder to find time to reach out particularly to friends you haven't heard from in a while. https://buff.ly/3C2RXPe #MitzvahDayBrewMonday

This week we start reading Sh’mot, the book of Exodus. We will move swiftly from the death of Joseph and his brothers, to a new Pharaoh, who, we are told, does not know Joseph. Read this week's d'var Torah by LBC rabbinic student Dr. Hannah Marije Altorf on our website at https://buff.ly/3WmHQeL

New in the LBC Library: The South African Jewish Year Book, Fieldhill Publications, Johannesburg Published between 1929 and 1961 the LBC Library has acquired 5 volumes of this fascinating record of the South African Jewish Community. 1/3

Arguably the most significant part of Vayechi is Jacob's blessing of his twelve sons, ... among the most linguistically complex and poetically beautiful in the entire Torah. Read this week's d'var Torah by Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh on our website at: https://buff.ly/4gTiJsw #torahportion #Torah

Today, our Jewish community is even more varied than Jacob’s children. We children of Israel speak many languages and are dispersed across the world; some have louder voices than others. Read this week's d'var Torah on parashat Vayigash by LBC rabbinical student Tim Motz https://buff.ly/4a6rZqn

🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯 This pamphlet, part of the @leobaeckcollege.bsky.social collections, was sent to Jewish soldiers in the German Army for Hanukkah 1914 during World War 1. Read it here: lbc.ac.uk/library-reso...

Chanukah Sameach - Happy Chanukah! From all of us at LBC #chanukah2024 #chanukah #happychanukah #happychanukah🕎 #happychanukah2024 #chanukahlights #chanukahlights✨

Rabbi Natan Levy teaching on “Noah the Ploughman” at Limmud #limmudfestival2024 #limmud2024 #limmud