Person in the Parsha: Bamidbar

May 06, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“HOW IS BAMIDBAR RELEVANT TODAY?“

Although the rest of the world refers to the Five Books of Moses as the Pentateuch, traditional Jews refer to it as the Chumash,...

Off the Pulpit: Self-criticism

May 06, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

One of the lessons I have learned over decades in the rabbinate is how hard it is to criticize one’s own. People who will criticize other countries, or the other party, will not turn a disapproving...

Person in the Parsha: Behar-Bechukotai

April 30, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“BULLYING“

It is an old word, and it describes a behavior that has been around since the very beginning of history. Yet the word seems to me to be...

Off the Pulpit: Don’t Trouble Yourself

April 30, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

There is a beautiful story told of the Brisker Rav, Reb Hayyim Halevy Soloveitchik. Once a man arrived late at night in Brisk. All the houses were dark save one so he knocked at the door....

Person in the Parsha: Emor

April 23, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“LIKE ALL OTHER BOYS”

The custom is fairly prevalent nowadays, but it was not a common practice thirty years ago when my friend raised his sons. He would seek...

Off the Pulpit: Why do some people hate Jews?

April 23, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Hatred of Jews is the most intractable and sustained hatred in human history. Moreover, it is a hatred for which many reasons have been given by the haters, all of them demonstrably untrue.

Jews have been hated...

Person in the Parsha: Acharei Mot/Kedoshim

April 16, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

 “HOLINESS: A DEFINITION”

He never returned phone calls. He certainly never returned e-mails. He rarely smiled.

He had very sophisticated tastes in wine and fine liquor....

Off the Pulpit: The Great Innovation

April 16, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

The Roman historian Tacitus relates that when Pompey and his troops entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple in Jerusalem in 63 BCE, they found it “untenanted.” It was a mystery to them to find nothing...

Person in the Parsha: Tazria-Metzora

April 09, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

“GOING AT IT ALONE“

“No man is an island.” “It takes a village.” These are just some of the clichés that are used to convey the importance of...

Off the Pulpit: The First Mitzvah and the Last

April 09, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

In Maimonides’ listing of the 613 commandments, the first is believing in God. The last is a king not amassing great personal wealth.

In a certain way, those two commandments, one positive and one negative, are intimately...