Off the Pulpit Archives

Each of us has witnessed things that if unshared, the world will never know. I would like to tell you of a remarkable event I once saw, so that the image will live on. There is a custom in Israel...

Spirituality in modern teachings often emphasizes self-actualization. As a unique human being, you are called to develop your potential, your spark of godliness. The second side of this is the call of the ‘other.’A truly ethical life, in this view,...

I spent my junior year abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. There I studied literature and wrote a letter to my parents about how deeply I was enamored of the great British poets – Wordsworth, Burns, Byron and others. I will never forget...

In the book of Numbers, we are told that silver trumpets will summon the congregation and set the camps to march (10:2). In a beautiful comment, Rabbi Soloveitchik delineates the difference: “An encampment is created out of a desire for...

The best resolutions are elastic—they cannot be broken with a single act. If you swear never to touch red meat, one burger ruins the resolution. If, on the other hand, you pledge to eat healthier food, each day you have...

When we light the Hanukkiah we celebrate the last triumph of Jewish sovereignty until modern times. As the Rabbis instruct us, baseless hatred put an end to Israel as an independent nation. Historically this is not an idle homily. Jews...

Abraham greets angels in the book of Genesis (Ch. 18). Many years later, his grandson Jacob has a dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder. Long after his dream, at the end of ch. 32, Jacob does not only...

Sometimes life does not give you what you wish. Take the example of Moses ben Chanoch. A scholar in Babylonia, he took to the sea to raise money for his academy. He was captured by Pirates, and eventually ransomed by...

We were in the middle of the Book of Esther, where the new queen is being prepared by the eunuchs of the court for a fateful meeting with the king. “I’ve got the movie,” Kirk Douglas said, eyes sparkling as...

In Jewish parlance, an unlearned person is called an “am ha’aretz” — literally, people of the land. Often this term is used disparagingly, to indicate someone ignorant, as opposed to a chacham, a learned, wise person. Judaism famously values study...