Sermons
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I vividly remember pushing Noam in a stroller in a crowded Washington Heights pharmacy on a Friday afternoon when he was perhaps four months old. I turned a corner and his stroller bumped into another stroller inhabited by a baby Noam’s age. The woman pushing the stroller saw Noam and exclaimed to the baby in…
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Rabbi Yehuda Amital z’l was a tremendous scholar and a sophisticated speaker but he spoke and wrote in a plainspoken style. And one of his plainspoken and pithy observations about Parashat Bereishit has been lovingly preserved among his students. אני לא מבין שום דבר בפרשת בראשית – אני לא יודע מה זה תוהו, אני לא…
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Two years ago, I prepared a whimsical and informative Dvar Torah for Shimini Atzeret which I printed before yom tov, brought to shul, and have never delivered. Last year I spoke about the impossible task of commemorating a tragedy that was still ongoing. Today, as we mark the second yahrzeit of those killed on October…
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In recent days I may have shared with a few of you how much I appreciate the first coffee after Yom Kippur and several of you sent me very sweet notes on Friday morning hoping that I’m enjoying that coffee. Well, friends, I have something to share with you. My first coffee after Yom Kippur…actually…
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Many years ago my father in law shared a helpful mnemonic for remembering the six fast days of the Jewish calendar. They are, the black and the white, the man and the woman, and long and the short. The “black” fast is Tisha b’Av when we cover the shul in black drapes and sit in…
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Why was Noah instructed to build an Ark? This seems like an obvious question but there is a profound dispute between Rashi and Ramban, our greatest medieval commentaries about precisely this question. After giving Noah exact instructions about the construction of the Ark, God shares what is in store for the world: וַאֲנִ֗י הִנְנִי֩ מֵבִ֨יא…
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One of the ways that technology has addled my brain is that I find it nearly impossible to do household tasks unless I’m listening to a podcast. This is often very annoying for members of my family who sometimes expect to tell me things or ask me questions while I’m washing dishes. It also doesn’t…
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Rabbi Berel Wein, who died last Shabbat at the age of 91, was one of the longest serving rabbis of our time; his career spanned over sixty years. In addition to decades of service as a congregational rabbi he also was an educator, yeshiva founder, and director at OU Kosher. He is perhaps most famous…
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Einstein is frequently credited with the observation that the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. The authoritative collection of Einstein quotes published by Princeton University Press lists this one in the section of quotes attributed to Einstein by mistake. But whoever coined the phrase, it…
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There are a handful of Talmudic passages that have become popular Jewish song lyrics. Which of course causes me to ponder all of those lines in the Talmud that have not become Jewish song lyrics. As the post Tisha b’Av wedding season picks up next week, I am thinking of the ubiquitous wedding song: Keizat…
- 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 