Category: Devarim
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Devarim 5785: Why Do We Fast?
There are a handful of Talmudic passages that have become popular Jewish song lyrics. Which of course causes me to ponder all of those lines in the Talmud that have not become Jewish song lyrics. As…
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Devarim 5784: “No Words”
No Words אין מילים There are no words. In Hebrew as in English, the phrase signals our awareness that we are confronted by a circumstance that confounds are ability to understand using our usual conventional words.…
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Devarim 5782: “Objectively True Subjectivity”
There is a proverbial story, made popular by the Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer about a rabbi who was visited by a quarreling couple. The wife first shared her complaint about all the terrible things her…
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Devarim 5781: “Whose Words?”
Last week the New York Times reported on a scandal that is being called “sermongate.” The newly elected president of the Southern Baptist convention was caught delivering a sermon that had been delivered just a short…
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Devarim 5780: “The Background Music of Life”
לַכֹּ֖ל זְמָ֑ן וְעֵ֥ת לְכָל־חֵ֖פֶץ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a…
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Devarim 5779: “Why We Fast”
Today is the 9th of Av. Because it is Shabbat, the fast day is postponed to tomorrow and we are left with an ominous date on the calendar and a bit more time to prepare for…
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Devarim 5778: “How?”
One of my teachers pointed out that two of the most common criticisms of Orthodox Judaism directly contradict each other. One criticism is that Orthodoxy is a fossil, never changing and frozen in the past. The other criticism…
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Devarim 5776: “From Jerusalem to Lawndale: Tisha b’Av 5776”
I’ve just read the opening paragraphs of an article published in the Chicago Tribune this past week reported by Alexandra Chachkevitch and Peter Nickeas. The story shook me to the core and I had to fight back…
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Devarim 5775: “The Vision of Yeshayahu”
In August, 1967, just two months after the Six Day War, David Hartman walked into the Montreal shul where he served as rabbi. He saw the congregation seated on the floor, reciting kinot, mournful dirges composed for…
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Devarim 5774: “Family History and National History”
I want to begin by thanking all of you for your sympathy and support following the death of my grandmother last week. Sara and I are very grateful. I’m returning to New York on Wednesday and our…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 