Category: 5778
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Ki Tissa 5778: “Building Jerusalem: In Those Days at This Time”
Today is an auspicious day on the Jewish calendar. It is the 16th day of Adar, the anniversary of a very important event in Jewish history. According to Megilat Ta’anit, an ancient list of important dates…
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Terumah 5778: “Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood”
I hope you noticed that I was away last Shabbat. I certainly noticed. I spent Shabbat in New York City so that I could attend a wedding Saturday night. The wedding was lovely and a lot of…
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Beshalach 5778: “God Seeks the Pursued”
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,…
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Bo 5778: “Planned Obsolescence”
Recently Apple admitted that iPhone software updates caused the phone to intentionally operate at a slower speed in order to preserve the lifespan of the phone’s aging battery. This admission launched a renewed look into something…
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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…
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VaYechi 5778: “The Johnson Amendment Paradox”
In 1954, Senator Lyndon Johnson added a few lines to the Federal Tax code that was signed into law by President Eisenhower. The so-called “Johnson Amendment” forbade any 501(c)3 non-profit organization or religious organization from endorsing…
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VaYigash 5778: “Leadership Under Pressure”
In Parashat VaYigash the story of Yosef and the story of Yehudah and the story of Yaakov all reach a climax. As these strands of the story are closer and closer breaded together, each of these heroes…
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Miketz 5778: “In History God Casts a Vote”
Many years ago, when I was a college student spending Hannukah at my mother’s apartment, we gathered ogether with some of her closest friends to light candles. One of them, who could have been an Upper…
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VaYeshev 5778: “She is More Righteous Than I”
Our parashah this morning tells of Yosef ’s rise as the favored son of the patriarch Jacob, the owner of his own coat of many colors and the teller of dreams that appear to be delusions of…
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Chayei Sara 5778: “Thoughts and Prayers”
During the first year that I learned at Yeshivat Hamivtar, I took advantage of the pre-dinner break each day to exercise. Usually I went jogging alone along the security path that wended its way over and through…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 