Rabbi Wolpe - ADL Impressions

Why did Jacob love Joseph? ;“Because he was the son of his old age,” (Genesis 37:3) the Torah says. Of course, Benjamin was the son of his even older age, and from the same mother. Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Nehemiah...

Jacob returns to Beth El and prepares to build an altar to God and amidst these profound events we suddenly read this: “Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and was buried under the road below Bethel; so it was named the tree...

“When morning came, there was Leah!” (Gen. 29:25). Jacob had thought he was with Rachel, but how could Jacob mistake the sister beside him? Even if Rachel colluded, telling Leah secrets she and Jacob shared, is it credible that a...

My parents lost family in the Shoah and smuggled Jewish books and Tefillin into the Soviet Union. As a Rabbi, my father spoke about hatred of Jews and what the fight demanded of us. When I was ordained as a...

Rabbi Nahman of Breslov lived a very short and difficult life. He lost four children and his first wife to tuberculosis and saw his house burn down in a fire. Shortly after his engagement to his second wife, he discovered...

Few things are less interesting than other people’s medical history, but bear with me for one moment. A brain tumor taught me a new way to look at the Akeda, the binding of Isaac. In 2003, right after speaking at...

Imagine if you could return to that moment: Abraham hears a voice that tells him to go to a land he does not know and has not seen. Imagine if you could whisper to Abraham all the beauty and pain...

This week, we read about the near destruction of the world. Why does it come about – because, the Torah tells us, the earth “was filled with violence (6:11).” The Hebrew word for violence in the Torah, remarkably enough, is...

What is the most important sentence in the Torah?  It will probably not surprise you that the Rabbis are not in full agreement on this question (Sifra Kedoshim 4:12). Rabbi Akiba offers the verse, “You shall love your neighbor as...

Our world has a passion for novelty. That which is new captures our attention and creates a self-erasing cycle of ever more up to date personalities, events and art. In this dizzying age, what can possibly be discovered in returning...