Sermons
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I. There was once a man who moved to a new city just a few days before a family wedding. Since he was new to the city he did not yet have a regular dry cleaner and so he walked about the city searching for a dry cleaner. He couldn’t find one. Until, while he was…
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I. Jews cannot agree about anything. Looking around today, at our shul, at other congregations in this city, and at synagogues of every denomination and every variety in every corner of the world, you might think that there was no controversy about this day, Rosh Hashanah, being the “birthday of the world” – the anniversary of Creation itself. …
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I. Many of my friends and colleagues are wondering about one question on Rosh Hashanah 5776: Is it possible to speak about a politically controversial topic in a way that unifies a community? I know of one rabbi who was able to do this. More than 20 years ago, Rabbi Yehuda Amital, a man who would…
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A friend of mine was once confronted with a religious dilemma. He was spending a year studying in a yeshiva in Israel and shortly after his arrival he had to decide whether to observe two-days of yom tov as had been his custom in the diaspora, or to observe only one day as is the practice…
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In August, 1967, just two months after the Six Day War, David Hartman walked into the Montreal shul where he served as rabbi. He saw the congregation seated on the floor, reciting kinot, mournful dirges composed for this mournful day and he said to his congregation, “Jews are happy, Jews are dancing today in Yerushalayim.” And…
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All of us advanced students who learned in the kollel at Yeshivat Hamivtar adjacent to Efrat had to take turns performing shemirah – nighttime guard duty. And so, after an afternoon at an army base where I was trained to use an M-16 rifle in a language I only 70% understood, I too joined the…
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I. Once upon a time there was once a wealthy merchant who was obsessed with stories about Eliyahu HaNavi – Elijah the Prophet. One year before Pesach he spoke to his rabbi and complained that for all of his yearning to meet Eliyahu, he was always disappointed that Eliyahu did not appear at his Pesach seder. “I want…
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Sometimes in an argument two people can use the same word, or two groups can make reference to the same concept, but they can mean that word or concept in opposite ways. That dynamic can be seen at the threshold of Parashat Korach in the opposite ways that kedushah – sanctity – is deployed within just a…
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Perhaps you saw reports in the papers this week that Israeli computer viruses had infected the European hotels where P5 +1 talks with Iran have been taking place. Whenever I hear about Israeli intelligence operatives getting the best of their American counterparts, I’m reminded of the old story about the American president who is flummoxed by…
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The preface to Micah Goodman’s book “Maimonides and the Book that Changed Judaism” begins with this delightful story: I first encountered The Guide for the Perplexed when I was nine years old. It was at Yehuda HaLevy Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood where my parents prayed. After the services one Shabbat morning, while waiting for the bustling…
- Parasha
- Acharei Mot
- Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
- Baha'alotcha
- Balak
- Bamidbar
- Behar
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- Behukotai
- Bereishit
- Beshalach
- Bo
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- Devarim
- Eikev
- Emor
- Ha'Azinu
- Hol HaMoed Sukkot
- Hukkat
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- Kedoshim
- Ki Teitzei
- Ki Tissa
- Kol Nidre
- Korach
- Lekh Lekha
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- Miketz
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- Nitzavim-Vayeilech
- Noach
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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 