Category: 5774
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Re’eh 5774: “If You Talk Here, Where Will You Pray?”
Some of you may remember the group of Christians who visited our shul before Tisha b’Av from Living Water Bible Camp in rural Wisconsin. This Christian camp had a summer program devoted to comparative religion and…
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Eikev 5774: “We Must Love One Another Or Die”
Three or four years ago, our community in Princeton had difficulty finding a babysitter for the last days of Pesach. Pesach coincided with Easter that year and our usual babysitters for Shabbat morning were all celebrating one of…
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Devarim 5774: “Family History and National History”
I want to begin by thanking all of you for your sympathy and support following the death of my grandmother last week. Sara and I are very grateful. I’m returning to New York on Wednesday and our…
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Ma’asei 5774: “Reflections from Uganda”
I. The Uganda Plan is one of the most derided episodes in the history of Zionism. Stymied in his initial attempts to receive international backing for a Jewish national home in Palestine, Theodor Herzl pushed instead for…
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Matot 5774: “Shall Your Brothers Go Out to War and You Sit Here?”
I. Last Monday afternoon, AIPAC’s first rabbinic mission to Israel visited Ziv Hospital in Tzfat. This medium-sized hospital provides medical care to the Eastern half of the Upper Gallil and the Golan. For the past year, however,…
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Korach 5774: “Bring Back Our Boys”
I. In just a few moments we are going to say something absurd. After we have a chance to recite our personal Mussaf prayers, the Hazan will lead us in the “tefilah shel tzibbur” the prayer…
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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…
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Emor / Yom Ha’atzmaut 5774: “These Are the Festivals of the Lord, Holy Occasions When You Declare Them”
When my family lived in Jerusalem 6 years ago we met and befriended a Christian family who lived in our neighborhood. We met at the local playground where we took Noam almost every day. I don’t…
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Tazria 5774: “From Purity to Sanctity”
Ivory Soap is 99.44 % pure. What does that even mean? 99.44% pure what? Is it even clear why that’s a good thing? To be quite frank, I’m much more concerned that my soap will be…
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Pekudei 5774: “Torah is Portable”
If you’ve seen the YouTube video advertising the Purim shpiel, you know that my greatest accomplishment in the six months that I’ve been at Anshe Sholom is making sure that shul finishes on time…For a Yekke,…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 