Category: Vaera
-
Vaera 5783: “And I Appeared to Them”
As you know I live in Chicago but, thanks to the Internet, I sometimes listen to the radio in New York. Over the past two weeks, I have been listening to an “oral history call-in” that…
-
Vaera 5780: “Shortness of Breath”
Many of you know this morning’s Torah portion very well. You know the plagues that were inflicted on the Egyptians. If I say, “dam, tzfarde’ah…” you know what comes next (kinim). If I say “let my…
-
Vaera 5778: “A User’s Guide to Prophecy”
How do we know whom to trust? How should we make decisions under pressure? When and how should we be strong and when and how should we be flexible? What arguments are convincing to others and what arguments…
-
Vaera 5777: “Promises to Keep”
As the curtain opens on Act II Scene 1 of the exodus from Egypt we find Moshe at what is perhaps the lowest point in his career. He had accepted a mission from God to free his…
-
Vaera 5775: “Can Religious Tolerance Have Passion?”
Usually when we find a contradiction in a text, we interpret that as a weakness in the text itself. When we edit things that we write, we try to remove any contradictions that may be there.…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 