Heard at Sinai Indaba

SIMON APFEL

“Sinai Indaba is an opportunity to refresh our minds and souls,” says Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, who founded the Indaba in 2011.

This year’s line-up of speakers embodied that freshness, relevance and immediacy. Here is what they had to say: 

Rabbi Dr Sam Lebens 

• “You live in a dream. We’re all being dreamed by G-d. But even if you’re fictional, maybe it’s up to you what type of story you’re in?” 
• “There was a man called Abraham. He was a real person. But he was also an expression of an idea that G-d wanted to represent in the world. He was born of a metaphor. What are you a metaphor for? That is up to you.” 

Charlie Harary 

• “The core of connecting in a relationship is to communicate. And communication is not what you say, but what you hear.” 
• “There is no tomorrow. Tomorrow is a gift we may not deserve. We act now. We don’t wait.” 

Rabbi Binny Freedman 

• “One of the inexplicable, wonderful things about a relationship with Hashem is the realisation that in all of G-d’s greatness, there is still room for me. And that Hashem actually created me, which means I am important enough to be created, and even more, that without me all of creation would be missing something.” 
• “Each of us has the opportunity to contribute to making a better world, and everything that we encounter affords us an opportunity to do just that.” 

Raquel Kirszenbaum 

• “The more you have of what society tells you to want, the less happy you are.” 
• “The Jewish question is not ‘why’, it’s ‘for what’ – what do I do with this, how can I make it better?” 
• “What you carry is not your choice; your choice is how you carry what G-d gives you.” 

Yaakov Katz 

• “I am often asked how Israelis can sit in coffee shops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem when rockets are landing in the South. How can people board a bus down the block from another bus that had just been blown up by a suicide bomber? I think the answer mostly has to do with one word – resilience.” 
• “Israel needs to remember that Trump is for Trump. There’s no ideology there. The question Israel is asking is what is Trump after.” 
• “In the 1950s, you know what Israel exported? False teeth and oranges. Now, not even 70 years after its creation, 50 per cent of our exports are technology.”  
• “In Israel, we innovate and create, not despite the threats along our borders, but because of them.” 

Rabbi Dov Greenberg 

• “A great lover is a great forgiver.” 
• “Neuroses and charoses – both Jewish delicacies.” 
• “Celebrate the imperfections of your spouse – this is the message of breaking the glass at the chuppah  and shouting ‘mazeltov!’” 
• “To bring the world into being, G-d withdrew his presence, and in that space he allowed for otherness. If we want to be G-d-like in love, we too have to create a space for otherness.” 

Rabbi Reuven Leuchter 

• “The parable of a person being a world is very accurate. There is a surface crust, which is likeable, presentable. But inside there’s a constant raging fire.” 
• “People expect a rabbi to explain away their situation, to show them the difficulty is imaginary. This is wrong. This is speaking to a person, where he is not.” 
• “Your self-worth is compared to a maze. You have to find your way to the core.” 

Nili Couzens 

• “Your whole life is setting you up for greatness.” 
• “When your kids have a trait, they think everybody has that trait. Our role as a parent is to be able to tell them, ‘this is what’s great about you!’” 
• “Don’t be the weak substitute teacher in your own house. You’re the one in charge.” 
• “The real you is your soul – your body is just your scuba suit. If you want people to see your soul, you have to turn down the volume on your body.