Rabbi Wolpe - ADL Impressions

The Talmudic sages enumerate three great miracles in the desert. First was the manna, which fed the wandering Israelites. Second was Miriam’s well that provided water. Third was the covering of clouds that offered shade in the scorching days. Although...

Human gestures are almost always ambiguous. A person whose hands are raised toward the sky could be praying, cheering, or the victim of a hold up. Without the context and the intention, one cannot know. So what does it mean...

Many years ago, I listened to an interview with neuroscientist Colin Ellard, who wrote a book called You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon, but Get Lost in the Mall. He explained that when we...

Imagine that each year at tax time you made a declaration recounting American history — the origins of the country, its battles, its failures, its triumphs. Finally, you concluded, “and therefore I bring these taxes to the government.” It is...

Perhaps the oldest magic trick is to make something disappear.  As an audience, we are astonished – how does anything suddenly vanish? The Torah reminds us that we perform this astounding bit of prestidigitation all the time, only we do it with...

My brother Paul and I had a record of Bible songs when we were children. We listened to them constantly as we learned about biblical heroes, like the mighty King Rosenfeld, featured in the “Daniel” song: “Dan-Dan-Daniel, came out of...

In the space of seven verses, the Torah seems to contradict itself three times. First, we are told, “There shall be no needy among you” (15:4), then “If, however, there is a needy person among you” (15:7) and finally, “The...

For those of you who missed Off the Pulpit – it is back in a new form. Each week, I will be writing 4-500 words on the Torah reading, the parasha, for the ADL, and we are sending to the...