Category: Shlach
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Shelach 5785: How Can We Be Safe?
As parents one learns to anticipate certain questions from our children. There are other questions which surprise us. Many years ago, one of my children asked me “Was Napoleon a ‘Good Guy?” I was not entirely…
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Shlach 5784: Spy vs. Spy
We inaugurated a new tradition this Shabbat by having all of the Torah reading this morning read by men named Joshua. Yeshar Koach to all the Joshua’s who participated this morning and Mazal Tov to all…
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Shlach 5782: “Agency”
Last week, Sophie and I took a short trip to the border region between Wisconsin and Michigan. We went there because I wanted to visit a piece of protected forest called the Sylvania Wilderness which is…
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Shlach 5781: “Grasshoppers & Antisemitism”
There is an old joke about a Jewish man who bought the weekly antisemitic newspaper. His friends were confused and eventually asked him why he was purchasing the antisemitic newspaper. He replied that whenever he reads…
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Shlach 5779: “But As For the Children”
“Are we there yet?” I am dreading that question. By this time tomorrow, I will be packed up and about to embark on a trip to Israel with our two youngest children. Sara and their older…
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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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Shlach 5776: “The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself”
In 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt spoke at his first inauguration, the country was in the grip of the Great Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed, millions faced homelessness and hunger. In a nation without Social Security, close to…
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Shlach 5775: “We Were Like Grasshoppers in Our Eyes, and So Too in Their Eyes”
Perhaps you saw reports in the papers this week that Israeli computer viruses had infected the European hotels where P5 +1 talks with Iran have been taking place. Whenever I hear about Israeli intelligence operatives getting…
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Shlach 5774: “Defiantly They Marched: Fundamentals without Fundamentalism”
The sin of the spies – the het hameraglim – is the most severe sin in the Torah and it has the most serious and severe consequences – the journey to Eretz Yisrael grinds to a…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 