Off the Pulpit: Building a Life

May 06, 2022

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

“What should I do with my life?” The question pursues us to the very end of our days. Whether we are fulfilling our destiny in this world is a constant challenge and provocation.

Some believe each...

Person in the Parsha: Kedoshim

April 29, 2022

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“I GET NO RESPECT!”

I love visiting residences for senior citizens. For one thing, being around truly older people invariably helps me feel young by comparison.

Recently,...

Off the Pulpit: What would you give?

April 29, 2022

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

The first mention of love in the Torah occurs when God tells Abraham to offer up Isaac, “whom you love.” (Gen. ch. 22)

Why should the Torah choose this improbable moment to mention love for the...

Off the Pulpit: To Hold with Open Arms

April 21, 2022

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

When the renowned Rabbi Milton Steinberg recovered following his heart attack, he walked out into the bright midday sun. He thought, “How precious – how careless.” Life is so precious, and we are so careless with...

Off the Pulpit: Passover and Real Freedom

April 15, 2022

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Ask most schoolchildren the meaning of Passover and they will say “freedom” or perhaps, “freedom from slavery.” They aren’t wrong, but the answer is incomplete in a very important way.

The famous Passover phrase, “let my...

Person in the Parsha: Pesach

April 08, 2022

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“IMAGINE THAT!”

There was a time when I would only go out of my way to listen to speakers who were older and more experienced than I. Recently, however, I have changed my...

Off the Pulpit: We Were Poets and Were Young

April 08, 2022

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

How do we make the past come alive to a generation that did not live through it? Each person wishes their stories to live in the echoes of later generations. The 19th century English poet Flecker,...

Person in the Parsha: Metzora

April 01, 2022

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“A TIME FOR SILENCE, A TIME FOR SPEECH”

He did most of his writing and public speaking almost exactly one hundred years ago. He had no secular education, and...

Off the Pulpit: The Solidarity of Grief

April 01, 2022

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

I’ve often been asked to join a minyan, a quorum of ten. But I am never asked to join “so we can say Barchu” (a prayer only recited with a minyan) or “so we can do...

Person in the Parsha: Tazria

March 25, 2022

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“MY EARLIEST MEMORY”

Have you ever been asked the question, “What is your earliest memory?”

I have been asked that question many times. There was a time, long ago, when I was a...