Sermons
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Before I speak, I’d like to say something… Actually, I’d like to say three things, which I will try to tie together. I suspect many of you saw the large poster when you came into shul this morning advertising an event we are running with AIPAC a week from this Thursday evening. I think it will be…
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“Har HaBayit B’Yadeinu – the Temple Mount is in our Hands” that cry, by IDF Col. Motta Gur remains one of the most dramatic moments in Modern Jewish history, a climactic memory of the Six Day War, and a date which is commemorated as Yom Yerushalayim in many congregations, including this one. But, three days…
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Thankfully, when it was my turn for guard duty at Yeshivat Hamivtar, outside Efrat, the most interesting parts of the experience were the conversations with the reserve-soldiers who would be paired with us for a three-hour guard shift, one from 12 until 3, another from 3 until 6. There was the Internet Service Provider customer-service representative who…
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Large volumes of Talmud on the shelf of my childhood home set our family’s home apart from the homes of every one of my friends. Relics from my father’s own past as a yeshiva student, they were artifacts from a different universe. “Did you know, David” my father once asked me, “that there is an…
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Without question, the best job in all of Jewish folklore was the job of being the wagon driver of the Baal Shem Tov. Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Hassidic movement, was a constant traveler and would journey from town to town, sometimes alone, sometimes with one or more disciples, spreading his message of…
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It has been noted that in ancient times, people were more bothered by the philosophical challenge of “rasha v’tov lo” the prospering of the wicked. In modern times, we tend to be more bothered by the philosophical and religious problem of “tzadik v’rah lo” a righteous person who unjustly suffers. But, in Tanakh, we can also…
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A biology course that I took in college taught me something important about religion. Steven J. Gould, the great evolutionary biologist, taught a survey course at Harvard which he ambitiously called “A History of Life.” Professor Gould was a devoted educator, with a strong sense of commitment to his students – even those students who were…
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Following Shacharit on Yom Kippur of 5610, in September 1849, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the famous and pious Vilna rabbi – founder of the Mussar Movement, dedicated to injecting the pursuit of ethical excellence into traditional Jewish observance, ascended the bimah of the Vilna synagogue. He explained to the congregation that because of the raging cholera…
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This was a difficult sermon to write. I had cleared a few hours one afternoon to write. I thought leaving the office and heading to a nearby coffee shop would present me with fewer distractions. I got to the coffee shop, ordered my drink, sat down, took a few sips, and then spent the next…
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Rabbis share professional advice with each other. There are “tricks of the trade” and received wisdom that we pass to each other from rabbi to rabbi, from year to year. One such professional rule of thumb is that we should wait five years before repeating any joke that we tell as part of a sermon. We…
- 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 