Category: Parasha
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VaYigash 5782: “Approaching and Holding Back”
On the night of November 21st of 1196, a mob of crusaders burst into the home of Rabbi Elazer ben Yehudah Kalonymous, most famous for his book of Jewish ethics and practice, “The Perfumer” or Sefer…
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Miketz 5782: “Holy Ground”
My elementary school assemblies and concerts took place in the auditorium of the Ethical Culture Society of New York, Ethical Culture is a national movement for secular humanism, founded in the 19th century by Felix Adler…
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VaYishlach 5782: “A Reconciliation Postponed”
Have you ever looked forward to something, even prayed for the day when it could happen, and then once you had the chance to do the thing that you were waiting for and praying for, you…
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Ha’Azinu 5782: “Rote Memorization”
Professor Hyim Soloveitchik is one of the most prominent historians of Medieval Jewish History, and the two graduate level courses I took with him at Yeshiva University were perhaps the most intimidating classroom experiences of my…
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Yom Kippur 5782: “The Holiday for Human Beings”
Here is a riddle that I learned from my children: What is black and white with a long blue tail and giant yellow wings? A penguin with delusions of grandeur. Well, if that is a penguin…
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Rosh Hashanah Day 2 5782: “Not a Shehechiyanu Moment”
My first big event since the arrival of Covid was a vaccination party at Rush Hospital. On January 27th Sara and I drove to Rush Hospital where we were ushered into a large conference room along…
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Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5782: “Inward and Outward”
Did you ever wonder what it must be like to live in one of the buildings next to the shul? I know it’s no fun when the security alarm goes off at 3 AM and wakes…
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Nitzavim 5781: “We are Enough”
Our daughter recently told Sara, while they were learning Humash together a few nights ago, “Moshe is so much better than Abraham and everyone else. They’re all just like: “Yes, God, okay.” Moshe has a life.”…
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Re’eh 5781: “The Place I Shall Choose”
I am going to summarize the biblical Book of Kings: “And then there was King X, who did evil in the eyes of God and did not destroy the bamot – the private altars. And then…
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Eikev 5781: “The Tablets and the Lost Ark”
Which comes first: the chicken or the egg? Is this a semantic question? Is this a philosophical question? I don’t know. How about this one: Do we store our Torah scrolls in an ark, or does…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 