Category: Year
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Ki Teitzei 5782: “Fugitives & the Beit HaMikdash”
When my father came to America in 1949 on the RMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest ocean liner in the world, among his fellow passengers was Winston Churchill, (then leader of the opposition) on his way to…
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Devarim 5782: “Objectively True Subjectivity”
There is a proverbial story, made popular by the Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer about a rabbi who was visited by a quarreling couple. The wife first shared her complaint about all the terrible things her…
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Matot Ma’asei 5782: “A Journey of Forty Years Begins with a First Step”
One of the strangest moments of dissonance that exists in our prayer life occurs very frequently on Friday night when we sing along cheerfully, melodiously, in harmony to the words of Psalm 95: אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה אָקוּט…
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Pinchas 5782: “Crises & Routine Failures”
When Moshe asked God to designate Moshe’s successor, whom did Moshe have in mind? וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־ה לֵאמֹר׃ יִפְקֹד ה אֱ-לֹהֵי הָרוּחֹת לְכׇל־בָּשָׂר אִישׁ עַל־הָעֵדָה׃ And Moshe said to God as follows: Let the LORD, Source…
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Shlach 5782: “Agency”
Last week, Sophie and I took a short trip to the border region between Wisconsin and Michigan. We went there because I wanted to visit a piece of protected forest called the Sylvania Wilderness which is…
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Baha’alotcha 5782: “Nostalgia”
The best peach I ever ate was back in July of 1991. It was an absolutely perfect peach; I never expect to meet its equal. But even though there are exceptional meals, perfectly ripe fruit, exquisite…
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Behukotai 5782: “Wrathful Indifference”
Think of a phone call that made a difference in your life. Reflect on what it feels like to be the subject of someone’s care and concern and love and how empowering and supportive that can…
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Kedoshim 5782: “Fragmentary Judaism”
Some books are able to convey the essential point of the book just in their title alone. An excellent example of that is Professor Leora Batnitzky’s book How Judaism Became a Religion. The premise of her…
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Acharei Mot 5782: “Life and Ritual in the Shadow of Death”
When the first atomic bomb was exploded in a test detonation near Los Alomos laboratory, Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb” quoted Hindu scripture and said, “Now I am become…
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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…
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 