Person in the Parsha: Shemini

April 02, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“AND AARON WAS SILENT“

He was an old man, and in many ways came from a very different world than I. And yet he taught me more than anyone else ever did. One...

Off the Pulpit: The perils of reentry

April 02, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Mitzrayim in Hebrew means narrow. We think of narrowness as a purely negative trait. Yet there are times when tighter is better: when we are held for example. “Snug” is another word for narrow – because sometimes to...

Off the Pulpit: No – With the rope around their necks

March 26, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

In April of 1903 the first pogrom broke out in Kishinev, shocking the Jewish world and causing death and destruction. Increasingly it seemed to observers that Russian Jewry was in danger. As a second pogrom in 1905 was...

Person in the Parsha: Shabbat HaGadol as Independence Day

March 19, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

I remember well when the age at which one could vote or drink was 21. From my perspective when I was a child, and frankly eager to do these things, it seemed...

Off the Pulpit: A friend I never knew

March 19, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Let me tell you about a friend I never knew. He was born in Jerusalem in 1906 and died in 1972. His name was Rabbi Mordechai Hacohen. His father was a renowned kabbalist who led services...

Person in the Parsha: Vayikra

March 12, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

“COURTESY AND CONFIDENTIALITY“

“There is no such thing as privacy anymore.”

“There are no secrets anymore.”

These are two complaints that are heard frequently...

Off the Pulpit: Stand on your feet

March 12, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

In our daily and sabbath prayers we do bow, but nonetheless stand up straight when saying God’s name. In reciting the Amidah, the central prayer of the service, the Shuchan Aruch instructs us not to lean on...

Person in the Parsha: Vayakhel-Pikudei – Shabbat HaChodesh

March 05, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“UNEXPECTED LEADERSHIP LESSONS” 

You have surely noticed the great changes in the way charitable causes do their fundraising these days. There was a time when fundraisers, who often...

Off the Pulpit: Have you read all these books?

March 05, 2021

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

When people come into my office and see the room full of books, they will often ask, “Have you read all these books?”

Well, absent the encyclopedias and dictionaries, the answer is most of them. But I...

Person in the Parsha: Ki Tisa

February 26, 2021

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

“THE INEVITABLE COMEDOWN“ 

It was over fifty years ago, but I remember the feelings very well. They were overwhelming and were not dispelled easily.

It...