Sermons
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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 experiences that we cherish forever, we also have a tendency, as human beings, to view the past with rose-colored…
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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 be. Can it feel the same way if someone bumps into you on the street by accident? Sometimes it…
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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 book is that “religion” came to mean something very specific in 18th century Europe. In the emerging modern west,…
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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 Death, the destroyer of worlds”. Oppenheimer was expressing the super-human, god-like power of nuclear fission. This power is creative…
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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 or bring with them. There is always a fraught moment when we get to the four children. Nobody wants…
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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 weeks before Pesach than at any other time of the year. Do canned tomatoes need special KLP certification? Do…
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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, Uman, Mezhibozh and others jumped out of the depths of Jewish memory and onto the front pages of our…
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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! The very first thing we are meant to teach children about Judaism is the verse Devarim: תּוֹרָה צִוָּה לָנוּ…
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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 People. These lines are the Mishnah edited in Eretz Yisrael by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi in the year 200. These…
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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 had a large beis medrash with a small dormitory above in which a constant stream of visitors could be…
- Parasha
- Acharei Mot
- Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
- Baha'alotcha
- Balak
- Bamidbar
- Behar
- Behar-Behukotai
- Behukotai
- Bereishit
- Beshalach
- Bo
- Chayei Sara
- Devarim
- Eikev
- Emor
- Ha'Azinu
- Hol HaMoed Sukkot
- Hukkat
- Hukkat-Balak
- Kedoshim
- Ki Teitzei
- Ki Tissa
- Kol Nidre
- Korach
- Lekh Lekha
- Ma'asei
- Matot
- Matot Ma'asei
- Miketz
- Mishpatim
- Naso
- Nitzavim
- Nitzavim-Vayeilech
- Noach
- Pekudei
- Pinchas
- Re'eh
- Rosh Hashanah
- Shavuot
- Shekalim
- Shemot
- Shimini Atzeret
- Shlach
- Shmini
- Shoftim
- Tazria
- Tazria Metzora
- Terumah
- Tetzaveh
- Toldot
- Tzav
- Va'Etchanan
- Vaera
- Vayakhel
- Vayakhel-Pekudei
- VaYechi
- Vayeilech
- Vayera
- VaYeshev
- VaYetzei
- VaYigash
- Vayikra
- VaYishlach
- Yitro
- Yom Ha'atzmaut
- Yom Kippur
- Passover
- Shavuot
- Year
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 