Sermons
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King Henry VIII was married to Catherine of Aragon but wished he were married to Anne Bolyn. King Henry, at the time, was Catholic and there was no way to arrange a divorce. Instead, Henry argued that his marriage to Catherine was never legitimate since she was the widow of Henry’s dead brother Arthur and the Book of…
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This has been a hard summer for Lovers of Zion. At the beginning of the summer, right here in Chicago, at an event associated with the gay-pride weekend, a flag decorated with a Jewish star was maligned as a symbol of oppression. One week later, the government of Israel indefinitely postponed the implementation of the so-called…
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The great Shakespearian scholar, Stephen Greenblatt enrolled in Yale University in 1961. The grandson of East European Jewish immigrants he was immediately aware that Yale was a community built by people very much unlike himself and for people very much unlike himself. This was the era of the “Gentleman’s C” – where overzealous studiousness was frowned upon by…
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There is a kind of magical thinking that emerges twice in our Torah portion and understanding the role and place of the magical, the paradoxical and inexplicable in the Torah, can help us correctly diagnose and evaluate some contemporary issues too. We read this morning of Moshe’s mysterious sin which results in his being denied the opportunity…
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One of the most common pieces of advice one receives after bringing home a newborn infant is “sleep when the baby sleeps.” Somewhat less common advice is “write a drasha when the baby sleeps.” I understand why that advice is so uncommon. I wrote a very, very long drasha, my chief editor was unable to offer any comments…
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I want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a happy National Crouton Day. Today is also National Fruit Cocktail Day. One observes National Fruit Cocktail Day by eating a canned fruit cocktail, discussing fruit cocktails with friends, and using “#FruitCocktailDay” when posting on social-media. May is also Motorcycle Awareness Month, National…
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I truly love being asked to provide halakhic guidance. It’s literally what I went to school to learn how to do – which is more than I can say about some of the other questions that I am asked about. Sometimes people apologize when they ask me a halakhic question which is so unnecessary. At…
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Those of you who sat through the Torah reading this morning may have been wondering, “is this the longest Torah portion or the longest double-portion that occurs each year?” The answer is that Vayakhel Pekudei is not actually the longest Torah portion of the year but it is the most boring. The boredom comes, not…
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In one of the first pages of his first published collection of teshuvot, halakhic responsa, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein describes and offers a judgment concerning a terrible dilemma. A Jewish man had contracted a highly contagious disease, perhaps tuberculosis, and was about to be admitted to a hospital. This hospital had a specialized protocol for handling highly contagious diseases…
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- Year
Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 