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December


Shemot – Go Forward, Coming Back
Rabbi Zvi Dershowitz

Vayechi – L’Dor Vador
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Va’yigash – Self-Recognition
Rabbi Erez Sherman

Miketz – 36 Candles
Rabbi Nicole Guzik

November


October


Lech-Lecha – Mission Impossible
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Abraham; flood; Jacob; Lech-Lecha; Moses; Ohr HaChaim; potential; Tower of Babel

Noach – Drunk and Disorderly
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: "Bird by Bird"; Abraham; Anne Lamott; chaos; drunk; Edinburgh, Scotland; Judaism; Modeh Ani; Noah; order; seder; Shema; shiva; Sidur; spiritual spine; Tohu va-Vohu

Bereshit – Dealing with Chaos

Keywords: A Brief History of Time; Entropy; Jeremiah; Joey Weisenberg; King David; Psalms of Ascent; Science; Stephen Hawking; Tanach; tea pot; Temple; The Torah of Music; Tohu va-vohu

September


Yizkor – The Empty Chair
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Bratzlav Chair; chair; Charles Dickens; David; discard; Edwin Drood; Jonathan; Kohelet - Ecclesiastes; Rabbi Herschel Leibowitz; Reb Nachman of Bratslav; Saul; Shemini Atzeret; Sir Samuel Luke Fildes, R. A. ; The Empty Chair; Ukraine; Vincent van Gogh; Yizkor

Sukkot V – Why Do We Pray?
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: community; individual; Mitzvah; prayer; Rabbi Leona Medina; yearning

Sukkot I – Three Reasons for Joy
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: ancestors; booth; building; forgiven; joyous; nature; Pesach; Rabbi Sam Rotenberg; Shalosh Regalim; Shavuot; Sukkot; temporary; The Three Holidays; The Three Legs; Yom Kippur

Ha’Azinu – The Poetry of Life
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: David; Eden Nuedell; Guardian Angel; Haazinu; Ida Yakovlevna Nudel; Moses; poem; poetry; Prisoners of Zion; Song of the Sea

Yom Kippur – Regrets, I’ve Had a Few
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Afterlife; J. B. S. Haldane; Vladimir Nabokov; Thermodynamics; soul; Mark Twain; Frank Jackson; Chofetz Chaim; Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan; Kaddish; Philadelphia; Death and Dying; Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits; Y. M. Tuckachinsky; Rabbi Maurice Lamm; The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning; fall korim

Kol Nidre – Broken Tablets: How to Handle Our Regrets
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Amy Summerville; Aron Kodesh; broken tablets; Édith Piaf; Exodus; Great Expectations; guilt; Irv Fox; Jackie Mason; Maimonides; Miss Havisham; Moses; Old Age Home; regret; Tikkun; Yom Kippur

Vayeilech – Our Story and Your Story
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: 9/11; Dirge Without Music; Edna St. Vincent Milla; future; Moses; Pledge of Allegiance; Ramban Machmanides; Shabbat Shuvah; Sinai; Torah; Vayelech 31:22

1st Day of Rosh Hashanah
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Alan Paton; anti-Semitism; Athens; categories; Don Pacifico; groups; Harold Nickelson; Havdalah; Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston; Hitler; identity; land of division; Malachi the Prophet; prejudice; principle; Rabbi Akiva; Self-differentiation; Shylock; similarity; slavery; Star Trek; William Shakespeare

Erev Rosh Hashanah – Raise Your Eyes
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Abraham; Altamira cave; Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola; Esa einai el heharim; HaRoeh Et HaNolad; Isaac; María de Sautuola; Raise your eyes to the Mountain; underfoot

Nitzavim – Stop!
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: East Coast; Grossinger's; Jewish Day School; kul'chem; Simon Says; stop; Rosh Hashanah; Ten Days of Repentance; Yom Kippur

August


Ki Tavo – Building a Future
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: building; desert; Egypt; Joyce Kilmer; Ogden Nash; Tower of Babel; trees; Yom Kippur

Ki Teitzei – Preparing Your Heart for the High Holy Days
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: divide; Gershwin; high holidays; Isaiah; Kol Nidre; lumpers; opinion; Ring Lardner; Rosh Hashanah; splitters; Yom Kippur

Shoftim – Forty Years Young

Keywords: flood; forty; humility; introspection; journey; Kabbalah; Maharal of Prague; Moshe; mystical ; Noah; Over the hill; Perkei Avot; Peter Pan; preparation; Rabbi Akiva; Rabbi Kevin Lefkowitz; shofar; spiritual; spiritual mapping; transition; understanding; wisdom

July


Eikev – Modeling Relationships
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Abraham J. Twerski; criticism; dispassionately; Dr. Arnold Gilberg; Harvard sandwich; Israelite; Marriage Counselor; Moses; praise ; resentment; Twelve-Step Program

Devarim – Seeds of Hope

Keywords: 9th of Av; Abraham Accords; Antisemitism; apartheid; Babylonians; Bernie Sanders; despondency; Hamas; If Not Now; Israel; J Street; Jeremiah; Jerusalem; Jewish Day Camp; Jewish Voices for Peace; Lamentations; Peace Now; Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson; Romans; sorrow; teacher unions; The Squad; Tisha B'Av; United Nations; Washington rally; Zion

Pinchas – Preparation and Recovery

Keywords: 17 day of Tamuz; 3 weeks; 9/11; Bein HaMetzarim; David Ben-Gurion; destruction; destruction of the Temple; Earthquake; Israeli Rescue Team; New York; prepared; Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai; recovery; seige of Jerusalem; straights of distress; Surfside, FL; tikkuma; unprepared; weather; World Trade Center; Yavneh

June


Balak – Renewing an Ancient Blessing
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: 76ers; Ammonites; Balak; Beit Knesset; Bilam; bless; cohesive; contribution; faith; home; Israel; Lakers; Midianite; Moabite; mutual respect; NBA; strong society; togetherness

Korach – What Korach Couldn’t Say

Keywords: Abraham; awe; blessing; Chattanooga, TN; envious; goodbye; gratitude; greedy ; hello; Jews; Korach; music; page number; priesthood; Rabbi Guzik; Rabbi Sherman; Rabbi Wolpe; segway; Shalom; Shemini Atzeret; speaking; students; talking ; Talmud; tikkun olam; upsherin

Sh’lach – Jewish Learning, Jewish Future
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: ancestors; books; children; diary; family; François-René de Chateaubriand; story; Torah; Yehoshua ben Gamla

May


Nasso – Different Kinds of Strength
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Achilles; blind; Delilah; Greek; hair; hero; Manoah; Philistines; Samson; strength

Shavuot II – We Are All Passengers
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Clarissa Boschwitz; loss; Otto Silbermann; Philip Boehm; shavuot; The Passenger; torah; Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz; WWII; yizkor

Bamidbar – Counting Jews and Jews Who Count
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: 9/11; AIPAC; Aldous Huxley; Baal; children; deception; Elliot Brandt; genocide; Hamas; Israel; Jacob Rader Marcus; Kennedy; lies ; Mexico; Partisan; Pew Report; Ritchie Torres; support

Behar-Bechukotai – To Whom Do You Belong?
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: apartment; belong; comparison; gift; Israel; Israel Salanter; land; law; life; mistreatment; mountain; mussar; property; sabbatical; Sinai; soul

Emor – Pilgrimage
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Einstein; intent; moed; ohel; passover; pilgrimage; place; reenact; shavuot; space; sukkot; time

April


Achrei Mot-Kedoshim – And Now for Something Completely Different
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Amos; comedy; Hillel; holiness; holy; kadosh; Monty Python; pure; purity; Rabbi Akiva

Tazria-Metzora – When Not to Listen
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Alexandra Petri; Frederick The Great; gossip; motzi shem ra; pictures; secret; status; Washington Post

Shmini – Rededicating the Temple
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Covid; dreams; Israel Salanter; lockdown; masks; return; Solomon; Spanish Flu; temple; teshuva; truth

March


Pesach I – Trauma and Torah
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Egypt; healing; hope; meal; Passover; plagues; resilience; story; trauma; words

Tzav – Big and Small
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Great Sabbath; Passover; pesach; quinoa; seder; Shabbat Hagadol

Vayikra – No Chametz at the Seder
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Abraham Isaac Kook; chametz; clean; ego; Elijah; gratitude; humility; Joshua ben Levi; matza; messiah; pesach; psalms; rabbis; security; seder; sentences; slavery

Vayakhel-Pekudei – A Sermon In Song
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: fear; fragile; frail; journey; pandemic; sickness; soul; terror

Ki Tisa – Defenseless In a Vast World
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: chaos; Egypt; Erich Fromm; freedom; golden calf; idolatry; Moses; narrow; order; safety; structure

February


Tetzaveh – Purim Doesn’t End
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: anti-semitism; Covid-19; David Grossman; David Hartman; Esther; Haman; Megillah; Mordechai; Purim; Shushan; Sinai; Spanish Inquisition; torah

Yitro – Why Do the Ten Commandments Matter?
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: 10 Commandments; Abel; Amalekites; Cain; Deuteronomy; Exodus; Jethro; moral relativism; Moses; rules; society; Ten Commandments

January


Beshalach – What Is A Miracle?
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: Esther; hidden; mana; miracle; natural; parent; prayer; Purim

Bo – God and the First Born
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: covid-19; creator; first; firstborn; first fruits; miracles; partnership; vaccine

Vaera – Hearts and Masks
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: America; Bill Of Rights; compassion; covid-19; decency; kindness; law; Maimonides; mask; Nachmanides; Rambam; rights; social media; tradition

Shemot – America, Past, Present and Future
Rabbi David Wolpe

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Keywords: 1783; Abraham Lincoln; America; congress; David; decency; George Washington; Joshua; Kirk Douglas; leadership; Moses; Newburgh Conspiracy; president; principle; rebellion; responsibility; Samuel Chase; terrorism; Trump