In our daily and sabbath prayers we do bow, but nonetheless stand up straight when saying God’s name. In reciting the Amidah, the central prayer of the service, the Shuchan Aruch instructs us not to lean on anything, but to stand before God (O.H. 94:8). Bowing is a posture of submission and Judaism certainly instructs human beings to submit to God’s will. But submission does not erase individuality or even an element of defiance. There is a long tradition of Jews arguing with God, questioning God, placing their fallible, mortal judgment next to God’s own decrees. It began with Abraham…
Posts by Rabbi David Wolpe
Have You Read All These Books?
When people come into my office and see the room full of books, they will often ask, “Have you read all these books?” Well, absent the encyclopedias and dictionaries, the answer is most of them. But I am continually giving books away and ordering new ones, so every room of books I have (and I have too many) is filled with aspirational books – books I plan to read someday. And that is my answer when someone asks me what to read on Judaism. Read whatever book will lead you to more books. The great critic Randall Jarrell advised “read…
Why We Have The Megillah
Among the Dead Sea Scrolls every book of the Hebrew bible is represented except the book of Esther. Allusions are made to phrases from Esther so the book was known in Qumran, but not considered sacred and therefore not preserved. Some of the Christian church, particularly in the East, also omitted Esther from the canon of sacred books in the early centuries. Why this uncertain status? We cannot know for sure, although the absence of God’s name, or perhaps the rejection of Purim as a holiday may have been a reason. Yet the Rabbis found God in the Megillah, or…
Animal Rights and Wrongs
Can you spot the difference in these two injunctions? Ex 23:4. “When you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering you must take it back to him.” Ex. 23:5. “When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and wish to refrain from helping him, you must nonetheless raise it with him.” In the first instance, you come across the animal of the person you hate. You must nonetheless return it, because you are otherwise colluding in depriving another person of what belongs to him. But in the second instance, you do not encounter the animal –…
Hard Hearts
The Torah tells us ‘Do not harden your heart (Deut 15:7).’ The verse is speaking particularly about the poor, who turn to you for help. Hard-heartedness is a general affliction as kindness is a general attribute. Every human being is at times beleaguered, no matter their social status. In our sadly shrill society, when discourse operates by insult as often as by argument, there is a constant turning away from the humanity of the other. In a beautiful passage, G.K. Chesterton says of Charles Dickens: “Dickens did not dislike this or that argument for oppression; he disliked oppression. He disliked…
Judaism Works!
The world of work is changing and especially given the pandemic, many people face an uncertain future. Judaism seems a cerebral tradition, and the knowledge economy well suited to a bookish people. Yet the Talmudic Rabbis had jobs involving their hands and our tradition has a lot to say about all types of labor. In this uneasy age, when menial jobs are newly understood as essential work, it is worth reminding ourselves of Judaism’s understanding of work. “Six days shall you work,” says the commandment concerning the Shabbat. Work is as essential to human dignity as resting from work. Human…
Of Hearts and Homes
There is a poignant story on kindness and status told about R. Levi Yitzchak of Bereditchev. He was passing through a town and asked of a well-known and respected member of the community if he could stay for the night. The man, having no idea it was the famous Rabbi who asked, refused, insisting “My home is not an inn for wayfarers.” The Rabbi eventually found a warm welcome and a place to stay with a poor teacher. Later word spread that the renowned Reb Levi Yitzhak was in town and the man, now abashed, asked for forgiveness. “I did…
American Law and Jewish Law
Many scholars of Jewish and American law have noted a fundamental difference in the underpinnings of the two legal systems. American law is built primarily on a notion of rights and Jewish law on obligations and responsibilities. As with all such generalities, there are many exceptions. But everywhere in Jewish law is the question of what I owe to others and what I owe to God. Ramban wrote that one can be “a scoundrel with the permission of the Torah” – in other words, one can formally obey the rules of the Torah and yet be an unkind person. In…
What Makes Us Different?
In figuring out our own identities, we both distinguish ourselves by deciding internally who we are as well as comparing ourselves with others. For the Jewish people, we often wonder what makes us different from any other nation? How are we alike and how are we different? One answer is in an often asked question in Jewish legal literature: Why, for many mitzvot like charity or visiting the sick, is there no blessing? The Torah Temimah answers that the formula of a blessing, “who has sanctified us with his mitzvot and commanded us” is designed to emphasize that we are…
The Direction of Time
When I was in school we learned about a supposed difference between the Greek and Jewish conception of time. The Greeks, we were told, thought of time in a circular fashion, that it repeated itself. The Jews, pointing to the Messiah, thought of time as linear, headed to a destination. Ecclesiastes which talks about the sun rising and setting and returning to where it rose, is the biblical book most influenced by Greek thought. In the years since, there has been a good deal of discussion and criticism of that as a too-simple dichotomy. After all, we repeat the holidays…
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