Category: Yom Kippur
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YK 5786: Praying with Sinners and Praying for Sinners
Many years ago my father in law shared a helpful mnemonic for remembering the six fast days of the Jewish calendar. They are, the black and the white, the man and the woman, and long and…
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Yom Kippur 5785: Yizkor
A seven year old girl, who attends a shul with her family where a friend of mine is the rabbi, recently learned in school about the custom of eating challah with honey starting on Rosh Hashanah…
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Yom Kippur 5784: “Qualitative & Quantitative”
Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah. The fully righteous are written and sealed immediately for life. The fully wicked are written and sealed immediately for death. And those in the middle have their judgment suspended…
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Yom Kippur 5783: “V’Takneinu B’Eitzah Tovah: Inspired for Redemption”
Where do you go for help when you are facing a hard decision? This summer in Israel I had a chance to chat and learn with an old teacher of mine and he told me a…
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Yom Kippur 5782: “The Holiday for Human Beings”
Here is a riddle that I learned from my children: What is black and white with a long blue tail and giant yellow wings? A penguin with delusions of grandeur. Well, if that is a penguin…
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Yom Kippur 5781: “Prayer in a Time of Crisis”
I had a remarkable experience last week, unlike anything I have ever encountered. It was positive and I hope I never have to repeat it. On each morning of Rosh Hashanah, I completed my own tefilot…
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Yom Kippur 5780: “The Prophet of Distillation”
The first and last time I tried to recite Tashlikh prayers in Israel was unlike anything I had ever seen before. When I was 18, I left home and traveled to Israel to study in a…
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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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Yom Kippur 5778: “Auschwitz and Sinai in 5778”
Ten years ago, Sara and I along with “Baby Noam,” were starting our lives as graduate students in Jerusalem. I was learning each day at Yeshivat Har Etzion, Sara was studying at Beit Morashah in Talpiyot,…
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Yom Kippur 5777: “This Has Been a Test of the Emergency Broadcast System”
I’m going to tell a story about a fierce debate about something with no practical application whatsoever. Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages had a dispute about the legal status of an oven constructed out of small…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 