The Jewish Week | Musings

Prayer And Presence
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | David Wolpe | Special To The Jewish Week

The Midrash teaches that when the Israelites left Egypt, God enveloped them in “clouds of glory.” When they wished for bread, God provided manna. When they craved meat, God sent quails. Once these wishes had been granted, the people began to doubt, saying, “Is God among us, or not?” 
The point of the Midrash is that Israel could only feel God’s presence when they were receiving gifts. This is a common malady; many people pray for something and if they do not receive it assume that there is no God.

Midrash, Musings
Blunting The Poisoned Pen
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 | David Wolpe

A favorite weapon in the world of scholarship is the review. Some of the sharpest words ever spoken by one scholar about another are offered not over claret in the sitting room but in the pages of learned journals where each can prove his or her essential superiority to the one who wrote the offending book.

Alexander Marx, Solomon Schechter, Musings
Sacred Spaces
Tuesday, May 8, 2012 | David Wolpe

Kadosh, the Hebrew word for “holy,” also means separate. Yet kiddushin, the word for the sanctification of marriage, comes from the same root. How can togetherness come from separateness?

holy, kadosh, Musings
From Loss, Understanding
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 | David Wolpe | Special To The Jewish Week

Why does God command Abraham to sacrifice his son, only to countermand the command at the last moment?

Abraham, Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, Musings
The Evidence Of Things Not Seen
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 | David Wolpe | Special To The Jewish Week

Each Shabbat evening we turn toward the door during “Lecha Dodi” to greet the “Sabbath Bride.” This tradition harkens back to the hills of 16th-century Safed and reminds us that Judaism cherishes what we cannot see.

Musings
Face Time
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 | David Wolpe

The Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas talks about the “meaningful world into which the face of the Other has introduced me.” For Levinas, our ethics are a result of appreciating the existence of another human being, a human face, before us. By ignoring others we shirk our abiding responsibility.

Musings
The Limits Of Certainty
Tuesday, April 10, 2012 | David Wolpe | Special To The Jewish Week

We are surrounded by certainty. After a lifetime of finding out how wrong I can be about things I used to be sure of — including myself — I am amazed by the tub-thumping certainty of people around me. From politicians to pundits to preachers to — well, everyone — people seem incapable of entertaining the possibility they may be wrong. No wonder the Talmud tells us, “Teach your tongue to say ‘I don’t know.’”

Musings
What If You Were An Egyptian?
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 | David Wolpe

 

Recently I read an article citing studies that the more power one attains inside an organization, the less empathetic one becomes to those who have less power. Power, in other words, dulls our compassion. So permit me to slightly reframe a message I wrote about Passover several years ago: This Passover, don’t only imagine yourself a slave — imagine yourself an Egyptian.

Musings
Joy Spring
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 | David Wolpe | Special To The Jewish Week

I know of many descriptions of the Jewish people: talented, beleaguered, stiff-necked, enduring — but rarely “joyous.” Most people don’t say — “Jews, now there is a happy people!” Our holidays reinforce this. On Pesach we celebrate leaving slavery — to go to a desert. On Purim we rejoice because we were not killed. Not exactly gleeful.

Musings
David Wolpe
Tuesday, March 20, 2012

There are some colorful anecdotes about “helicopter parenting,” the practice of parental hovering to monitor children’s every movement. Colleges complain that when students matriculate, they are often lost — they don’t know how to budget their time, handle disappointment, cook their own meals, and even laundry defeats them.

Musings