Off the Pulpit: All of Israel

July 20, 2018

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

The book of Deuteronomy begins by telling us that Moses spoke these words “to all of Israel.” As the Vilna Gaon points out, it is obvious they were spoken to all of Israel, but the phrase...

Person in the Parsha: Devarim

July 13, 2018

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“THE PATH TO ELOQUENCE”

It is an experience common to all freshmen. One comes to a new campus, knows no one, and tries to orient himself by identifying the senior...

Off the Pulpit: Honoring ‘And’

July 13, 2018

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE

Can one combine Torah and secular study, religious devotion and participation in the world? In a letter written shortly before his death, Rabbi Shagar (Shimon Gershon Rosenberg) put it this way:

“It should be interpreted in...

Person in the Parsha: Matot-Masei

July 06, 2018

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: Thunder Road

July 06, 2018

“From the crooked timber of humanity” said Immanuel Kant, “nothing straight can be made.” This famous shot of pessimism from one of history’s preeminent philosophers makes an interesting contrast with the rabbinic comment in the Talmud: “Thunder was created only to...

Person in the Parsha: Pinchas

June 29, 2018

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“A LESSON LEARNED FROM THE SONS OF KORACH“

It was a decision I made long ago. I made it instinctively. It was not based upon any lesson that I had...

Person in the Parsha: Balak

June 22, 2018

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“ONLY WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR”

“We only hear what we want to hear. We only see what we want to see.”

This statement about human nature, pessimistic though it may be, rings...

Person in the Parsha: Chukat

June 15, 2018

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“HAVE YOU SEEM MY GOD?”

There are many reasons why I love to walk the streets of Jerusalem. One of them is the opportunity to read the signs and posters that...

Person in the Parsha: Korach

June 08, 2018

By 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...

Person in the Parsha: Shelach

June 01, 2018

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB 

“CALEB AT THE CROSSROADS”

Imagine standing at a crossroads. We have all been there. We have all experienced moments in our life’s journey when we had to make a crucial...