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).
Books: The bible and history — facts or truth?
Cline\’s book is a dispassionate recounting of the central issues that preoccupy scholars and pseudoscholars of the biblical text.
Books: Too fond of Jews
By the age of 26, Winston Churchill had fought in several wars, become a hero by daringly escaping prison during the Boer War, been elected to Parliament and written several popular books (including \”My Early Life,\” which dramatically recounts his escape). Already he was well on his way to becoming what we now know him to be, the most extraordinary character of the 20th century.
Books: Seeds of peace revealed in early coexistence of Jews, Christians and Muslims
Zachary Karabell offers a different perspective on the question of Islamic rule in his history, \”Peace Be Upon You: Fourteen Centuries of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence in the Middle East\” (Knopf, 2007).
Chabon novel spins dizzying tale of alternative history, and Alaska
Shysters chase ambulances; critics chase influences. How to characterize this Chandler-Babel stew? Let\’s try the Hollywood idiom. \”The Yiddish Policeman\’s Union\” is Woody Allen meets Cornel Woolrich. No, better, deeper: S.J. Perelman meets Y.L. Peretz meets Harry Turtledove. Martin Amis meets Stanley Elkin who is chatting with Sholom Aleichem about Jorge Luis Borges.
When Ashkenazi and Persian worlds collide — community healing begins at shul
I do not want an \”us\” and a \”them.\” If you are not really ready to be part of one community, which means to have friends, to marry, to rejoice together, to grieve together, then all I can tell you is you should find another place. But I think that you are, I hope and pray and believe that you are.
The Spin on Spinoza — Rebel or Traitor?
\”Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity\”: Traditional Judaism feared and distrusted this child of the enlightenment. Although prominent Jewish thinkers, from Moses Mendelssohn to Solomon Maimon to modern Zionists, have claimed him as their own, every deliberation on Spinoza wonders — is he a Jewish thinker?
We Must Treat Others With Kindness
The Haggadah tells us \”you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\” Here is the interesting thing — because we were strangers, we are supposed to learn not how the Israelites should have acted, but — how the Egyptians should have acted. We are supposed to learn how not to oppress others. Don\’t treat others the way we were treated.
A Manifesto for the Future
In early November, I spoke at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. The topic was \”The Future of Conservative Judaism.\” I prepared for the talk by asking colleagues, friends and congregants to define Conservative Judaism in one sentence. It was a dispiriting experience.
We Must Condemn Heartless Bilge
\”It is not in our hands to explain the prosperity of the wicked or even the sufferings of the righteous.\” So said Rabbi Yannai in the Mishna some 2,000 years ago. The Talmud (Kiddushin 39b) insists \”there is no reward for mitzvot in this world.\” We have had a long time to read and understand the Book of Job, and we know that the calculus of reward and punishment is more perplexing and agonizing than we can know.
Than we can know, but not, apparently, than Rav Ovadiah Yosef, a former chief rabbi of Israel, can know. Rav Ovadiah is an ilui, a genius of halacha.
His memory is astonishing, his range remarkable. Unfortunately, his theology is appalling.
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