Category: 5782
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Tazria 5782: “Verbs and Nouns and Complicated Identity”
At our Passover seder, we take turns reading the paragraphs of Maggid. Each participant around the table reads a paragraph, in whichever language they wish, from whichever edition of the Hagadah they select from our collection…
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Shmini 5782: “Kashrut in a World of Uncertainty”
This time of year, without exception, my workflow begins to change and my inbox and phone are taken over by people asking Pesach questions. I think I am asked to provide more halakhic guidance in the…
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Pekudei 5782: “A Piece of Redemption”
I want to make a confession. As I’ve absorbed the news from Ukraine this past 8 days, I have been absolutely captivated by the names of the towns and cities of Ukraine. Odessa, Berditchev, Anapol, Kyiv,…
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Tetzaveh 5782: “Erase Me From Your Book”
Right now it’s 10:40 AM. Do you know where your children are? The Tot Shabbat kids and their parents are downstairs now and they could be singing these words. Torah Torah Torah….Torah, Torah, Torah…Torah Tzivah Lanu…..Moshe! …
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Terumah 5782: “The Wandering Jew”
I have in my hand a tractate of the Talmud. This is Massechet Beitzah, a volume of the Talmud I grabbed off a shelf in my office and it’s printing tells the story of the Jewish…
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Yitro 5782: “A Stranger in a Strange Land”
When I was a freshman in college I followed up on a referral, made a few phone calls, and left campus to spend Shabbat at the home of the Bostoner Rebbe. The rebbe, in those years…
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Beshalach 5782: “Follow the Science”
Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva were once walking on the outskirts of Yerushalayim, and there was another person with them. A sick person approached the group, and said: My rabbis, tell me how I may be…
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Bo 5782: “Go to Pharaoh”
In the days of Rabbi Yitzhak Kalish of Varka (1779-1848) there was a Polish minister who wanted to collect every copy of Hoshen Mishpat in Poland and burn it. Hoshen Mishpat is the section of the…
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Shemot 5782: “A Long Time After That”
Have you ever endured something hard and unpleasant that seemed to last a lifetime, and then, just when you thought that your suffering and hardship would end, it turned out that it was not over? Sound…
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VaYigash 5782: “Approaching and Holding Back”
On the night of November 21st of 1196, a mob of crusaders burst into the home of Rabbi Elazer ben Yehudah Kalonymous, most famous for his book of Jewish ethics and practice, “The Perfumer” or Sefer…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 