Sermons
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Ten years ago, Sara and I along with “Baby Noam,” were starting our lives as graduate students in Jerusalem. I was learning each day at Yeshivat Har Etzion, Sara was studying at Beit Morashah in Talpiyot, and we all lived in the German Colony. At this very same time of year, as we were still…
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Some of you may know that our brothers and sisters in Israel are suffering through an acute crisis right now. It is a crisis that could have been predicted—indeed it was predicted many years ago—and yet it is still causing panic and confusion as events predicted long ago come to fruition. Of course, I am…
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The opposite of a truth is a lie. But the opposite of a profound truth, is sometimes another profound truth. This quote, attributed to the physicist Neils Bohr, is illustrated by the Torah readings on the first and second days of Rosh Hashanah. They express conflict and debate between two protagonists and between two distinct…
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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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Rabbi David Wolkenfeld 