Category: Parasha
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Rosh Hashanah Day 2 5778: “The World Was Created for Me”
Some of you may know that our brothers and sisters in Israel are suffering through an acute crisis right now. It is a crisis that could have been predicted—indeed it was predicted many years ago—and yet…
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Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5778: “Why Good People Disagree”
The opposite of a truth is a lie. But the opposite of a profound truth, is sometimes another profound truth. This quote, attributed to the physicist Neils Bohr, is illustrated by the Torah readings on the…
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Shoftim 5777: “The Many Wives of Henry the VIII and the Many Lives of Biblical Verses”
King Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon but wished he were married to Anne Bolyn. King Henry, at the time, was Catholic and there was no way to arrange a divorce. Instead, Henry argued that…
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Matot Ma’asei 5777: “Summertime”
This has been a hard summer for Lovers of Zion. At the beginning of the summer, right here in Chicago, at an event associated with the gay-pride weekend, a flag decorated with a Jewish star was maligned…
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Balak 5777: “Integrity & Blessing”
The great Shakespearian scholar, Stephen Greenblatt enrolled in Yale University in 1961. The grandson of East European Jewish immigrants he was immediately aware that Yale was a community built by people very much unlike himself and for people…
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Hukkat 5777: “Universal Human Rights and Particular Jewish Goods”
There is a kind of magical thinking that emerges twice in our Torah portion and understanding the role and place of the magical, the paradoxical and inexplicable in the Torah, can help us correctly diagnose and evaluate some…
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Shlach 5777: “Jewish Unity without Chauvinism”
One of the most common pieces of advice one receives after bringing home a newborn infant is “sleep when the baby sleeps.” Somewhat less common advice is “write a drasha when the baby sleeps.” I understand why that…
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Emor 5777: “National Crouton Day, Mother’s Day, & Lag BaOmer”
I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a happy National Crouton Day. Today is also National Fruit Cocktail Day. One observes National Fruit Cocktail Day by eating a canned…
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Shmini 5777: “A Unified Theory of Halakhah”
I truly love being asked to provide halakhic guidance. It’s literally what I went to school to learn how to do – which is more than I can say about some of the other questions that…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 