Sermons
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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 HaRokeah.” Rabbi Elazar, a descendant of the famous Kalonymous family – the founding fathers of Ashkenazi Jewry, was sitting…
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My elementary school assemblies and concerts took place in the auditorium of the Ethical Culture Society of New York, Ethical Culture is a national movement for secular humanism, founded in the 19th century by Felix Adler who was, of course, a Jew from a rabbinic family. The auditorium was used by the society for their…
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Have you ever looked forward to something, even prayed for the day when it could happen, and then once you had the chance to do the thing that you were waiting for and praying for, you didn’t take advantage of the first opportunity? I will leave you to contemplate an example from your own life…
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Professor Hyim Soloveitchik is one of the most prominent historians of Medieval Jewish History, and the two graduate level courses I took with him at Yeshiva University were perhaps the most intimidating classroom experiences of my life. I vividly remember him explaining to us, early in the semester of the first course I took with…
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Here is a riddle that I learned from my children: What is black and white with a long blue tail and giant yellow wings? A penguin with delusions of grandeur. Well, if that is a penguin with delusions of grandeur, what are human beings? Are we sinners with delusions of grandeur? Weak and mortal beings…
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My first big event since the arrival of Covid was a vaccination party at Rush Hospital. On January 27th Sara and I drove to Rush Hospital where we were ushered into a large conference room along with an ecumenical gathering of several dozen rabbis, ministers, imams, and priests. Rush hospital had selected a cross-section of…
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Did you ever wonder what it must be like to live in one of the buildings next to the shul? I know it’s no fun when the security alarm goes off at 3 AM and wakes the neighborhood. But a few months ago the shul received a lovely email from one of our neighbors. A…
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Our daughter recently told Sara, while they were learning Humash together a few nights ago, “Moshe is so much better than Abraham and everyone else. They’re all just like: “Yes, God, okay.” Moshe has a life.” I think there is so much truth in her observation. Moshe’s personality, his passions, his anger, his humility, his…
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I am going to summarize the biblical Book of Kings: “And then there was King X, who did evil in the eyes of God and did not destroy the bamot – the private altars. And then was King Y who was a great king and followed God…except that he did not destroy the bamot –…
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Which comes first: the chicken or the egg? Is this a semantic question? Is this a philosophical question? I don’t know. How about this one: Do we store our Torah scrolls in an ark, or does the place where we store the Torah scrolls become an ark once we put the Torah scrolls there? This…
- Parasha
- Acharei Mot
- Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
- Baha'alotcha
- Balak
- Bamidbar
- Behar
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- Behukotai
- Bereishit
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- Devarim
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- Ha'Azinu
- Hol HaMoed Sukkot
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- Ki Teitzei
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- Vayera
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- VaYetzei
- VaYigash
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- Yitro
- Yom Ha'atzmaut
- Yom Kippur
- Shavuot
- Year
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 