Sermons
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Sometimes a story can be so familiar that we don’t realize that we don’t truly know it at all. After many years of childless marriage, Avraham fathers a child, Yishmael. Yishmael was the answer to Avraham’s prayers. Literally. His name means “God will hear.” But then, some years later, Avraham and Sarah have a child…
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Bette Davis famously said “old age ain’t no place for sissies.” This is a quote that launched a thousand novelty t-shirts and coffee mugs and tote bags. If I were designing one of those inspirational coffee mugs I would add on the words “and adulthood is no place for cowards.” There is a long intellectual…
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The first and last time I tried to recite Tashlikh prayers in Israel was unlike anything I had ever seen before. When I was 18, I left home and traveled to Israel to study in a yeshiva for the first time. Instead of Rosh Hashannah in New York where Tashlikh is recited on the shores…
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There is a prayer that is printed in your machzorim called Tefilah Zakah that some people recite before Yom Kippur begins. The culmination of the prayer is a poignant recognition that even the power of Yom Kippur itself cannot effect atonement for sins between people. We must ask forgiveness of those whom we have hurt…
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One Shabbat morning in the summer of 1870, Duber Ginsberg, an immigrant from Mariampol Lithuania walked into his erstwhile shul while wearing a straw hat whereupon he was promptly thrown out for his impudence and irreverence. Not one to suffer indignity without a response, Duber Ginsberg promptly founded his own shul, soon to be called…
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I have an annual change in diet between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The asseret yamei teshuvah, the ten days of repentance, for me, are ten days to wean myself off caffeine before Yom Kippur. The Shulchan Arukh also recommends that we change our diets next week: :אף מי שאינו נזהר מפת של עכו”ם בעשר’…
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Today is the 9th of Av. Because it is Shabbat, the fast day is postponed to tomorrow and we are left with an ominous date on the calendar and a bit more time to prepare for the darkest and saddest and most somber day of the Jewish calendar. Why do we fast? We fast because…
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Just a few weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon, Sara and I walked with our children to shul just before our first Shabbat together in Yerushalayim. In the late afternoon on Fridays in Yerushalayim, almost everyone on the street is also walking to shul. I may have mentioned that to Sophie or somehow pointed out…
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The quest for authenticity is one of the enduring challenges of living as social beings within a community. We are constantly judging one another and being evaluated by one another and noticing the actions and character traits of one another. How do we cultivate an inner spiritual life when we know that our outer actions…
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“Are we there yet?” I am dreading that question. By this time tomorrow, I will be packed up and about to embark on a trip to Israel with our two youngest children. Sara and their older brothers have been there for almost two weeks and at last it will be our turn to join them.…
- 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
- Shavuot
- Year
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 