Nathan Alfred, at The Blogs

Oct 15, 2023, 12:01 AM

Shabbat shalom – a wish for a peaceful sabbath

Last Saturday morning I woke up expecting to go to synagogue - to celebrate Shemini Atzeret and the end of the Jewish holiday season. I never made it. Instead I spent the day glued to the news as detail...

Feb 22, 2023, 6:03 AM

Teaching Their Chapter – Meaningful European Bnei Mitzvah

A bat-mitzvah ceremony. PHOTo CREDIT: Anne Rifkin-Graboi

Julia was a shy 12-year-old lacking self-confidence. The prospect of a Bat Mitzvah frightened her - chanting prayers in Hebrew, reading from the Torah, and giving a sermon. But when I showed her the Parasha about Miriam, being punished for...

Sep 30, 2022, 4:26 PM

Cheating in Chess: A Lesson for Yom Kippur?

Alfred-Marzolo, ECC Neum, 2000, before white's twelfth and final move. PHOTO CREDIT: Nathan Alfred

As a rabbi, I’m preparing for the Days of Awe -- reflecting about cheating in chess, my favorite hobby and my own experience facing off against a top player. The 2023 version of the European Club Cup begins next week...

Jul 22, 2022, 6:06 PM

Featured Post

Rock the Casbah: Algeria’s deep Jewish connection

Abdellah Ben Salem Mosque, until 1975 the Great Synagogue of Oran; PHOTO CREDIT: Nicolas

Don’t expect flights from Tel Aviv to Algiers opening up any time soon - there are no Jewish communities left in the country. But what a glorious Jewish past!

May 3, 2022, 11:19 AM

Should a Chess Club keep Shabbat?

JeruChess players modelling their anti-COVID club masks. PHOTO CREDIT: Alon Cohen

Should a chess club open on Saturdays? When the club in question is JeruChess and it is located in a Jewish area in the western part of Jerusalem, and the players are Israeli Arabs from the east side of...

Mar 22, 2022, 5:34 PM

First bat mitzvahs: From Bali to Vilna

Judith Kaplan’s Bat Mitzvah took place 100 years ago. On March 18, 1922, she ascended to the bimah at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism in New York City, read the Torah blessings, and chanted verses from the...

Mar 7, 2022, 11:22 PM

Fight or flight from Odessa

The key which used to open the door to her home in Odessa is all that remains for Rabbi Julia Gris, a Russian citizen and the rabbi of the city’s progressive Jewish community, Shirat Hayam. For Elena Izmailova, Chairwoman of...

About Me

Rabbi Alfred grew up in London and read Classics at King's College, Cambridge. After time spent in Budapest playing chess, he studied rabbinics in London and Jerusalem, receiving semicha in 2008. He led communities in Europe (Belgium and Luxembourg) and in Asia (Singapore), and now lives with his family in Jerusalem. Most recently he was the spiritual leader of the Free Synagogue of Flushing, the oldest reform shul in Queens, New York.

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