Raymond Apple, at The Blogs

Jul 13, 2023, 7:33 AM

Is God our enemy? A midrash for the Three Weeks

How should God react to the suffering of His people? Should He rage? Comfort? Primo Levi says He should spit. Surely He should help

Mar 22, 2023, 3:57 AM

The fate of the Wicked Son

The Wise and Wicked Sons, as depicted by Arthur Szyk (Wikimedia Commons)

Amongst the best loved sections of the Seder is the one about the four sons, the wise, the wicked, the simple, and the one who knows not how to ask. Of course the word “son” is not to be taken...

Sep 12, 2022, 11:04 AM

Will the monarchy survive?

Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 (Source: WikiCommons)

Now that Queen Elizabeth II has died and the Prince of Wales is King Charles III, the future of the monarchy will return to the British agenda. The people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth countries held the...

Oct 31, 2021, 2:13 PM

Is Mashiach on the way?

There are swirling rumours that because of all that is happening around us, we are on the verge of the messianic era and the Mashi’ach is on his way. The word is going around that the civilised world as...

Sep 15, 2020, 6:28 AM

Self-scrutiny in the Selichot

To say that these High Holydays will be different is an understatement. But in a different sense this time of the year was always different. Once there were people who were truly awestruck by this season with its Selichot. The...

Jul 28, 2020, 3:20 PM

Tisha B’Av – the fast that will become a feast

One day the Tisha B’Av fast will become a yom-tov. The prophet says (Zech. 8:19): “The fast of the fourth month (Tammuz), of the fifth (Av), of the seventh (Tishri), and of the tenth (Tevet), shall be to the House...

May 17, 2020, 7:56 AM

State – or state of mind

The International Criminal Court building 2016 in The Hague. (Wikipedia)

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has decided that Palestine is a state. That the Palestinians constitute an entity is a fact of life. But what kind of entity? A nation? A state? Something else? There are different types of...

Apr 20, 2020, 12:41 PM

The right to privacy – should we allow prying and spying?

Today’s difficult era seems to have bred its informers who feel they have a right to spy on prayer gatherings and Seder observances and report them to the authorities. It happened with certain people in the United States who accused...

Mar 5, 2020, 11:29 AM

Coronavirus – the moral aspect

Job spoke for all of us when he said, "You see a calamity and are afraid" (Job 6:21). We all see a calamity unfolding before us and we are all afraid. Some call it an epidemic, others a pandemic. It...

Jan 22, 2020, 10:02 AM

Out of the goldfish bowl – Prince Harry and the Queen

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have trumped Brexit – at least for a few days – as the topic of conversation around the British tea table. The prince loves his grandmother the Queen, but will he be strong...

About Me

Rabbi Raymond Apple was for many years Australia’s highest profile rabbi and the leading spokesman on Jewish religious issues. After serving congregations in London, Rabbi Apple was chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, for 32 years. He also held many public roles, particularly in the fields of chaplaincy, interfaith dialogue and Freemasonry, and is the recipient of several national and civic honours. Now retired, he lives in Jerusalem.

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