Off the Pulpit: You are not your group

July 24, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

The Rabbis ask — why is God said to love the righteous? Because their worth is due neither to their heritage nor to their family. Not anyone, they goes on to explain, can be a Priest in the...

Person in the Parsha: Devarim

July 17, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“WORDS, MERE WORDS“

I have kept my time-worn copy of Roget’s Thesaurus in my personal library since I was in the seventh grade. It was given to me by my teacher,...

Off the Pulpit: The Holy Fire

July 17, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

In December 1950, a Polish construction worker unearthing the foundations of a building found a buried cannister. Miraculously, the legacy of a great spirit was preserved in that improbable vessel. Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe...

Person in the Parsha: Matot-Matsei

July 10, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“HONESTY AND INTEGRITY”

Every so often, I come across a sentence of another person’s writing which expresses one of my own thoughts in a language far superior to my...

Off the Pulpit: Both sides now – This I believe

July 10, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

You can combat the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic elements in Black Lives Matter and still fight side by side with the black community against racism.

You can be a staunch Republican and still believe that most Democrats...

Off the Pulpit: The new wilderness

July 03, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Throughout the desert, the Israelites rebel, quarrel and fight. They demand meat, have fond (and false) memories of Egypt, seek to usurp the leadership of Moses and demonstrate repeated ingratitude to God. To a reader who comes...

Person in the Parsha: Pinchas

July 03, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

“WAKING UP TO A NEW WORLD”

These days, we all find ourselves living in a new and different world. It was just this past Purim that we...

Person in the Parsha: Chukat – Balak

June 26, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“BALAAM AND DOSTOEVSKY”

Frustration. Disillusionment. But also insight and a lifelong intellectual perspective. That is how I would describe the experience I am about to share with you, dear...

Off the Pulpit: Fall, fail rise

June 26, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

David had the strength to defeat Goliath. Yet he had moments of despair, as expressed in the Psalms “I am worn out calling for help” (Ps. 69:3). Jeremiah was a prophet of legendary power and will, but he...

Person in the Parsha: Korach

June 19, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“BETTER THEY LEARN FROM ME…”

Conflict resolution is one of the most important tasks in human relations at every level. Open up any newspaper, and you will read of schoolchildren bullying each other,...