The language of pleading eyes: A Mother’s Day story
May 7, 2014
“The music of his life suddenly stopped.” So reads a line in Chaim Nachman Bialik’s powerful poem, “After My Death.”
Rabbi David Wolpe
David Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi at Sinai Temple. His most recent book is “David: The Divided Heart” (Yale University Press).
Matzah, en route to freedom
April 9, 2014
Why matzah? It is an improbable symbol for such a grand holiday. With none of the embracing symbolism of a sukkah or the beauty of a Chanukah menorah, the unassuming cracker is the centerpiece of Passover.
Am I an e-slave?: The pressure of human interaction
April 9, 2014
I am not the right person to preach on electronic servitude, given my tons of incoming mail and messages and a touch of OCD.
Maimonides, the man and the exceptional genius
April 2, 2014
To call someone “the greatest” in any field is to invite argument.
Rabbi David Wolpe in Thailand: Have you ever seen a menorah dance?
November 6, 2013
Traveling reminds us that the old is distinctive and the new melds together. I had never been to Thailand, or indeed to any country in Southeast Asia. As the bus rolled through the streets, nothing in the facade of the 7-Eleven convenience store or the crushed muddle of Bangkok traffic proved startling.
Can liberal Judaism survive?
October 3, 2013
As an old Yiddish saying has it, Jews are like other people, only more so. The Pew study of Judaism in America reminds us of this truth. Although startling to some, the rise of orthodoxy is to be expected. In a world in which traditionalism/fundamentalism is growing in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other faiths, Jews do what others do and turn forcefully to more orthodox modes of faith and worship. This is not a phenomenon peculiar to Jews, but a worldwide wave.
In the rabbi’s words: A time of transformation
September 3, 2013
Many Jews will point to the Hebrew word het for sin, which is an archery term, and insist that Judaism teaches that sin is just “missing the mark.” That simplification does a grave injustice to the Jewish tradition.
Have we forgotten what Bar Mitzvahs are all about?
August 15, 2013
The egregious, licentious and thoroughly awful video that is circulating ‘celebrating’ a Bar Mitzvah contains so much that is offensive that it requires restraint to hold oneself to three ways in which this display slaughters the spirit. Still, in the face of excess what could be more appropriate than abstinence? So here are only three of the worst things about this travesty:
Rabbi Wolpe: Why I went to church last Sunday
July 31, 2013
Rabbis don\’t make it a practice to attend church. When I read that Rick and Kay Warren would be returning to Saddleback after their son Matthew\’s tragic suicide however, I resolved to go.
Jewish embrace of LGBT people recognizes the dignity of all
June 28, 2013
Attitudes toward same sex marriage in Judaism have undergone a dramatic change in the last quarter century. The prohibition recorded in Leviticus 18 has been affirmed by some, negated by others and reinterpreted by still others. Did the Torah intend loving same sex relationships? Did it understand homosexuality as a fundamental orientation rather than a choice?
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