Off the Pulpit: Jewish doctors!

May 15, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

In the 12th century the great sage Maimonides wrote, “One who is ill has not only the right but the obligation to seek medical aid.” Jews have long been over-represented in the medical field. To take...

Person in the Parsha: Behar-Bechukotai

May 08, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“THE WORK-STUDY PROGRAM“

It is quite a long time now since I first heard the term “work-study program.” This was a special federal program designed to assist young adults with limited financial means...

Off the Pulpit: The most important word

May 07, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

“The Lord is my shepherd…” Few passages in the Bible are more familiar than the 23rd Psalm. It is recited at funerals, at the bedside of the sick and in times of consolation. Its brevity and...

Person in the Parsha: Emor

May 01, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“THE UNBURIED CORPSE”

Dead. Unburied. Abandoned. Forgotten.

What can be a worse fate?

I once read a very moving novel about the events immediately preceding World War I and the fate of those...

Off the Pulpit: Empty Seats

May 01, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

I have a book called “Synagogues Without Jews.” It contains photographs of synagogues, many of them beautiful, where the Jewish community no longer exists. All that remains is the empty sanctuary. It bears mute, eloquent testimony...

Person in the Parsha: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim

April 24, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“IT’S ALL COMMENTARY”

I am proud of my large library of Jewish books.

My collection, which my wife half-jokingly refers to as my addiction, began on my 11th birthday with a gift from...

Off the Pulpit: Freedom first

April 24, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Passover is done, but may I bring one more word about matzah?

Rabbi Simcha Bunim, a great chasidic master, once pointed out the strange sequence in the seder. Matzah represents freedom and the bitter herbs slavery....

Person in the Parsha: Tazria-Metzora

April 17, 2020

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 social groups, of...

Off the Pulpit: A Truth of Life

April 17, 2020

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

“There was not a house in which there was not death.” The Torah says this with regard to the Egyptians, but it is also a universal truth. Sooner or later in every house in which there...

Person in the Parsha: Tsav

March 27, 2020

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“INCREASING GRATITUDE”

There are certain phrases or expressions that many of us find hard to say. “I love you” is one of them. Another such phrase is “thank you”.

Although these words...