Category: Parasha
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Yom Kippur 5779: “Radiance”
In 1914 the European journal of psychoanalysis published an anonymous article. The editors justified printing the article because the author was “personally known to them” and had experience in psychoanalysis. It was subsequently revealed that the author…
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Rosh Hashanah Day 2 5779: “Yesterday’s Paper Telling Yesterday’s News”
Almost ten years ago as we prepared to host our first Pesach sedarim in Princeton, a car pulled up in front of our home and stopped with a screech in a cloud of dust. Moments later…
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Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5779: “Speaking Poetry to Power”
In 1937, at the height of Stalin’s terror, the great Russian author Boris Pasternak was invited to attend a conference of Soviet writers. He knew that if he attended and participated in the conference, he would…
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Nitzavim 5778: “Why Courage Matters”
In 1970, David Ifshin was president of the National Student Association and an activist in the movement to end United States involvement in the Vietnam War. In one of the most controversial and extreme actions undertaken by opponents…
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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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Pinchas 5778: “Transitions”
When I was in yeshiva I was told a cautionary tale of a rabbi who got into a great deal of trouble when he was caught with an entire filing cabinet in his office that was…
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Korach 5778: “Stay Away From the Tents of the Wicked”
Today is the yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. My grandmother was married to a veteran Lubavitcher Chassid who died before I ever got to know him, but I grew up knowing that my grandmother had an extensive extended…
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Baha’alotcha 5778: “The Menorah and Holistic Enlightenment”
Rabbi Aryeh Leib Steinman was the last living Lithuanian Talmudic scholar and rosh yeshiva whose education primarily took place in pre-War Europe. At the time of his death last winter, he was recognized as perhaps the most influential…
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Naso 5778: “Royalty”
I have discovered a new source for sermon inspiration. The sign outside of the Broadway Methodist Church often displays an inspiration quip or message and this week the sign said “Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan.” And indeed,…
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Behar-Behukotai: “Counting to Sinai”
Almost seventy years ago on the English calendar a very momentous conversation occurred. In the aftermath of Ben Gurion’s declaration of Israeli independence the only religious member of the provisional government, overcome with emotion recited the…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 