<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Nefesh Leeds]]></title><description><![CDATA[Emerging new Jewish community in Leeds; a welcoming and open minded space, to connect and engage with Jewish spiritual wisdom and practice.]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:01:45 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.nefeshleeds.org/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[When two worlds collide...]]></title><description><![CDATA[... in a really wonderful way... That's what happened last Thursday, when it was the second night of the festival of Pesach (Passover), and the evening before the day that commemorates Jesus' crucifixion - Maundy Thursday. Student Rabbi Anna Dyson and Curate Jo Barrington It used to be not so. There are layers and layers of history between our two religions, and in previous eras, the stories, including the original one that launched the whole new religion of Christianity, are stories of...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/when-two-worlds-collide</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d4f9beb75c5d3058250eee</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:45:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_4054f9c750b24addb6274d2fcee34311~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Meeting Keith]]></title><description><![CDATA[Towards the end of October, 2023, I met a friend for dinner. We had been friends for many years, and felt able to talk about most things, so I assumed we could talk, and listen to, and learn from each other regarding the painful events earlier in that month in Israel, and what was unfolding in Gaza too. But I was wrong. It was a painful conversation. We tried to share the stories we'd read or heard about, but it became clearer and clearer to me that she had gone deep into some dangerous...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/meeting-keith</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69579a5aac028de755722c77</guid><pubDate>Fri, 02 Jan 2026 10:49:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_f3147c30d6844d4fb3ced5e34257a665~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[And there was morning, and there was evening, the seventh day...]]></title><description><![CDATA[And on the morning of the seventh day, I went to church. Today is Sunday 21 December: The penultimate day of the eight day festival of Chanukah, the winter solstice, the new Hebrew month of Tevet and the Sunday before Christmas. And on this seventh day, this year, it also marks a week of shiva (mourning) for the Jews murdered on Bondi Beach, I went to church this morning because I was invited by my friend, vicar Heston Groenewald to his church in Hyde Park, to say a prayer for peace alongside...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/and-there-was-morning-and-there-was-evening-the-seventh-day</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69480bdd4980c817976dd04a</guid><pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2025 15:42:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_a3ceea0bd6284c7eac3a85e53e5d5bf7~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hybrid Shacharit in the Park]]></title><description><![CDATA[One of the silver linings of COVID times was the sudden abundance of events going online. For someone like myself, finding myself living in a city where the type of Judaism and Jewish practices/gatherings that I align to don't really exist, it was a joy to suddenly feel not only invited, but able to be fully present, and equal amongst all the others in the Zoom room. I attended ceremonies, prayer services, study groups from across the world (well, admittedly, mainly Israel and USA) and the...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/hybrid-shacharit-in-the-park</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6932b97e3a0f1e8068384da0</guid><pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:12:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_2b61083cf9fe49d39664dabb6402bf5e~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reflections from the High Holydays (part II)]]></title><description><![CDATA[Of all the things I was most anxious about leading Rosh HaShanah, it was the Aleinu HaGadol. The prayer towards the end of the service that, only once a year, do we bow down, and fully prostrate in front of the opened Ark with the Torah. When I say 'we', I must clarify; it is a tradition that I have observed for many years, and I myself have never done. I have seen the rabbis, cantors and leaders, and some members of the community, fully prostrate, but for me it was always an anxiety-inducing...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/reflections-from-the-high-holydays-part-ii</link><guid isPermaLink="false">692850c1ce8000f2f4b39291</guid><pubDate>Thu, 27 Nov 2025 13:55:28 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_a586ecfa69b4458db70d8ab0e2d501c4~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_275,h_183,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[It's no joke: A student of Hegel and a student rabbi are on a train...]]></title><description><![CDATA[On an overcrowded train to London on the weekend, I got up a few minutes before we arrived at St Pancras, to ensure I was near the door when it stopped so I could exit quickly and get on the Northern Line as quickly as possible. As I stood there, another chap had the same idea, and was gathering his things together, including the book he was reading,. The title intrigued me although it's precise name eludes me right now, but it was authored by the philosopher Hegel, and judging by the...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/it-s-no-joke-but-a-heartwarming-anecdote-a-student-of-hegel-and-a-student-rabbi-are-on-a-train</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69244d468ec905647bd72984</guid><pubDate>Mon, 24 Nov 2025 12:44:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_57af79286dc14a91a280be1240477e56~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reflections from Manchester (Part I)]]></title><description><![CDATA[I had been invited to lead the services for Manchester Reform's High Holy Days this year, which means I was three miles down the road, preparing to lead the whole of Yom Kippur, when we were told that services were cancelled and we had to leave the site as, at that moment in the moming, just 20 minutes after the attack in Heaton Park, there were fears that there could be more. So I left. I drove home as instructed by our security team. And I felt terrible because I was in a position of...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/reflections-from-manchester-part-i</link><guid isPermaLink="false">691ca30fcf1100bb61d7d689</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:59:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_a5e2bb04eb394d63b9797ec34d6adbcd~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Kriyat Shema]]></title><description><![CDATA[My classes are BACK! After the month long break as we journeyed our way through the High Holy Days (more on that in future posts; there's a lot to digest and process....), my rabbinical classes have resumed and I find myself immersed in, and ruminating over details in our holy texts that I'd never noticed before. And when we all log in to the zoom, and are waiting for our teacher to arrive, the most popular question by far that I am asked by my fellow students (all USA based) is, "What time...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/kriyat-shema</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68f891554d132695a28316cb</guid><pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 08:36:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_ca8511c167544b76a407711a9cf37dbb~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_360,h_480,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[I forgot what it is to breathe]]></title><description><![CDATA[I’ve struggled to articulate some of the feelings these last few days, and months, two years. This was written by a dear friend in Jerusalem, and with her permission, I am publishing it here in the hope that it gives an insight into not just how she’s feeling, but the repercussions on our inner souls of everything that’s happened in the last two years… *** They all had faith but I didn’t. They crowded in the streets and the squares, happy, celebrating, their  joy exuberant, their faces ...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/i-forgot-what-it-is-to-breathe</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68ed0465c5e7336952dffd16</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:06:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_a9469ac3549947cfb0951dd250cd5d1a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Shabbes on Court 1]]></title><description><![CDATA[I have deliberated all week whether to write about this as it so blatantly contravenes Shabbat protocols and I was concerned about the...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/shabbes-on-court-1</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6870ed65e3d13fcb032ba499</guid><pubDate>Fri, 11 Jul 2025 11:27:42 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_75dd80947f3c468ea06925ac4b440a40~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_768,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Give Peace a Chance...]]></title><description><![CDATA[I've had a realisation this week that we need to really talk more about Peace. What is it really? How much responsibility do we take for...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/give-peace-a-chance</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6855464081a65c997a907dad</guid><pubDate>Fri, 20 Jun 2025 12:10:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_016cd415b0354b61b96c79aeaa008244~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Shavuot Unbound]]></title><description><![CDATA[Even though I'd been counting the Omer, Shavuot still seemed to spring out of nowhere and suddenly on the weekend I was kicking myself...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/shavuot-unbound</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68404d569ea23bff7cdd4766</guid><pubDate>Wed, 04 Jun 2025 17:03:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_78b4943239414fd0a888530f0da4492d~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Third Spaces]]></title><description><![CDATA[I love my Friday morning routine: After sorting the kids out for school, I jump on to a weekly online shacharit minyan (morning prayer...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/third-spaces</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6814d5ea123f5ac95e23d640</guid><pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2025 15:56:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_7cdbe5e35dcb4ec9a9055fbb4ee4d268~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Making It Count]]></title><description><![CDATA[Last night I was at a Jewish communal event (of which I could definitely talk about) but this little post is about what happened...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/making-it-count</link><guid isPermaLink="false">680f95b19e2e9d6190d255df</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:00:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_ce13dbe19b104a2f8fc7bb13179eb62f~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What's your frame?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Today was the first day "back”; back to school for the kids and back to my work uninterrupted for the whole day. I was excited. I was...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/what-s-your-frame</link><guid isPermaLink="false">677d490e2857a23fb8fe24d4</guid><pubDate>Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:43:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_b32e5941f4f0485993c455d01cc5b294~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Recipe for a Good Day]]></title><description><![CDATA[I’m using this time to go through my inbox… and I’m finding some gems! Here’s a poem I write after a creative writing day in July 2023…...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/recipe-for-a-good-day</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6772994c9ce1bc8b2244698b</guid><pubDate>Mon, 30 Dec 2024 13:00:54 GMT</pubDate><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ik ben een Jood.]]></title><description><![CDATA[I’m glad to see the BBC giving a lot of attention to the situation in Amsterdam overnight, after initially this morning being really...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/ik-ben-een-jood</link><guid isPermaLink="false">672e2385a7380dd76ad9aeca</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Nov 2024 14:44:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_3c1e0e7688664fd2b587bbb2ba9fbe29~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_804,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Simchat Tourist]]></title><description><![CDATA[My husband’s October birthday is often an excuse for a break to a destination for some last sunny rays before winter truly kicks in at...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/simchat-tourist</link><guid isPermaLink="false">671e42435dc0eddc33331505</guid><pubDate>Sun, 27 Oct 2024 13:44:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_2c6df6d4ac414e6ba17ccb9b890ae5ed~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Lesson in Leadership]]></title><description><![CDATA[Last weekend, I was invited to be guest student rabbi at two different communities in the UK both at different ends of the country! With...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/a-lesson-in-leadership</link><guid isPermaLink="false">66e05f7c6524b71dd65f91de</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Sep 2024 15:26:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_77b6f10780044e5ab8b65079fd1fc1b1~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_500,h_500,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[“Not everyone’s idea of a party”]]></title><description><![CDATA[This was part of the voicenote from a friend I was due to meet on Friday for coffee, but I cancelled. He was very understanding, because...]]></description><link>https://www.nefeshleeds.org/post/not-everyone-s-idea-of-a-party</link><guid isPermaLink="false">66b3caecbf3c5713a4291724</guid><pubDate>Thu, 08 Aug 2024 15:08:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b035ee_7c1bea78a286431da4f521e2c10ba2c9~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Anna Dyson</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>