Category: Toldot
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Toldot 5785: Contranyms
Contranyms, sometimes called “Janus words” are words that mean the same as their opposite – like the figure Janus in Greek mythology who had two faces that looked in opposite directions. To bolt is to secure…
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Toldot 5783: “And She Went to Inquire of the Lord”
Many of you know that our twins have been serving as weekday gabba’im since they each became bar mitzvah about 18 months ago. It has been a big relief for me to have them help to…
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Toldot 5780: “Sharing the Torah”
If you had received a private message from God that would determine the future of your family and the fate of nations, would you share that news? If you were sent on a mission by God…
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Toldot 5779: “Exiled Among Nations”
At this time tomorrow, in 24 hours and fifteen minutes it will be the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, one hundred years to the minute that the First World War came to…
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Toldot 5777: “He Hunted With His Mouth”
During the 1968 presidential campaign, Vice President Hubert Humphrey made a campaign stop to Brooklyn to visit Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the leader of the Satmar Hasidic court, known simply as the “Satmar Rav.” During the meeting,…
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Toldot 5776: “Prophetic Ambiguity”
David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel was a short man but a larger than life figure. In addition to an outsized role in Israel’s first governments, he was a dominant figure in Israel’s…
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Toldot 5775: “By Your Sword Shall You Live”
Thankfully, when it was my turn for guard duty at Yeshivat Hamivtar, outside Efrat, the most interesting parts of the experience were the conversations with the reserve-soldiers who would be paired with us for a three-hour guard…
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Toldot 5774
One of the most distinct features of Jewish history, as recorded in the Torah, is that numerous women suffered from infertility before eventually conceiving and giving birth to healthy children. Our matriarchs Sarah, Rivka, and Rachel…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 