Rabbi Wolf's Blog

The phrase ‘The Perfect Storm’ comes from the non-fiction book with this title, authored by Sabastian Junger in 1997. Three years later the book was turned into a film with the same name.

The phrase connotes a confluence of bad circumstances that combine to form a monumental disaster. In the...Read more...

We encounter the world around us through all our different senses.

We taste, touch, smell, listen and see.

But we connect with the most important things in our lives primarily through our ears and eyes. Think about your relationships, your education, your job, your worldview, and you’ll notice how what you see and what you hear are...Read more...

This week it was yet again confirmed that which we know to be true deep in our gut.

That when the entire world cooperates together in unison to achieve a goal, no matter how audacious it may be, it will always succeed.

After a long and scary 18-day ordeal, 12 boys and their teacher were...Read more...

How should a Jewish leader react when their generation has been overcome by sin and waywardness?

Historically there have been three different kinds of approaches:

Noach paradigm: When G-d planned to destroy all of humanity due to their sinful behavior, he instructed Noach to build an ark to save the good people. Noach worked tirelessly to build the ark and to ensure that he and his family will be saved. But Noach didn’t...Read more...

For decades the media and other influential voices of society have been campaigning against women. They’ve done so very cleverly, dressing up their campaign by claiming they represent women, and wish to ‘empower’ them and make them be ‘just like everyone else’.

But the root of their campaign...Read more...

Here’s a typical conversation over the past few days:

A: “Its’ freezing!”

B: “I know. They say that it’s 10 degrees.”

A: “Yeah, but the real-feel is actually -5 degrees!”

Humans have been attempting to make weather predictions for thousands of years. And ever since the invent of science and technology, we have been able to forecast with much greater precision.

In the 1990’s,...Read more...

In a court of law we apply the principle of ‘majority rule’. But sometimes, we ought to simply ignore the majority. Here’s why:

But first: we were all alarmed (though sadly not surprised) at the absurd resolution that was voted upon at the United Nations General Assembly this week. In a vote of 128 to 9, the majority of nations voted for a resolution that demanded that the United States rescind on its recent declaration...Read more...

Of the many sermons that I shared over the High Holy Day season, perhaps the most important one was delivered this past Saturday night, at the end of Shabbat Bereishit, which concluded the festival season.

Following is a transcript:

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“See, I have placed before you the blessed path and the cursed path. The blessed path – when you will obey the commands of the Lord. The cursed path – if you won’t obey the commands of the Lord, and you will worship other gods.”

These are the famous opening verses of this week’s parshat Re’eh....Read more...

There are a lot of Mountains featured in Biblical history.

Moses received the Torah from G-d upon Mount Sinai.

Moses passed away upon Mount Nevo.

Aharon, his brother, passed away upon Hor Hahar, Mount Mountain.

Mount Mountain is a strange name....Read more...

A few years ago, at a bar-mitzvah celebration, I blessed the bar-mitzvah boy in the traditional way, "may you grow to be a pious, G-d fearing and learned Jew."

One of the guests that day was a person who rarely ever attended a Synagogue, and who was very detached from any engagement in Jewish life.

During the party after the services, he came over to talk to me and asked with complete sincerity, "Rabbi, why do...Read more...

It is most remarkable that in less than thirty years, the Jewish people suffered one of the most horrendous acts of destruction, as well as one of the most miraculous acts of salvation.

In the 1940’s it was the Holocaust. In 1967 it was Israel’s victory of the Six Day War.

It is unfortunate that...Read more...

Why do some friendships last longer, or remain more peaceful, than some marriages?

There are some obvious answers to this question. Marriages are more consuming and they require greater commitment. But there is a much more important answer, one which doesn’t reduce marriage to the...Read more...

The other day a friend shared with me that he attended a class on the topic of Sefirat Haomer. The teacher was discussing the correlation between the 49 days of counting and the 49 Sefirot, which is described extensively in Kabbalistic teachings. But he walked away feeling that he hadn’t gained...Read more...

It has been said that the greatest gift you can give your child is a sibling. To which I like to add, that an even greater gift is to give them a few siblings!

Yet there is another great gift you can give your child, and it is the gift of Prayer.

Yesterday I attended a Siddur party at the Scheck...Read more...