David Wolpe, at The Blogs

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Jul 5, 2018, 6:32 PM

‘From the crooked timber of humanity,” said Immanuel Kant, “nothing straight can be made.” This famous shot of pessimism from one of history’s pre-eminent philosophers makes an interesting contrast with the rabbinic comment in the Talmud: “Thunder was created only to straighten the crookedness in...

Dec 27, 2017, 4:46 PM

A Columnist Takes A Pause

For over 25 years, I have written the weekly “Musings” column for this paper. Now, after some 1,300 weekly columns, I am taking a break. I will be on a six-month sabbatical, traveling and writing, from January to June. I plan to be back in...

Dec 20, 2017, 6:37 PM

Across The Great Divide

As a nation, we suffer from imputing bad intentions. Too many people on the left assume that those on the right must be racist, and those on the right too often assume those on the left must hate America. We have never been more desperately...

Dec 13, 2017, 4:35 PM

Welcoming The Stranger

Billy Wilder, legendary Hollywood writer and director of such classics as “Sunset Boulevard” and “Some Like It Hot,” was a refugee who left Germany for Paris as the Nazis gained power. He made it briefly to America but had to leave and reapply. Wilder told...

Dec 6, 2017, 5:51 PM

What’s in your wallet?

We live in an age of unprecedented wealth. Do we therefore live in an age of unprecedented charity? Many studies have demonstrated that paradoxically, rich people give a much lower percentage of their income to charity than poor people. As wealth accumulates, giving does not...

Nov 29, 2017, 6:21 PM

The Examined Life

Yes, I also read the health studies that advise eating this and avoiding that. I don’t always adhere to the recommendations, but I follow them as if, well, as if my life depended on it. At the same time, I know that you cannot savor...

Nov 22, 2017, 6:07 PM

Measure For Measure

Jacob fools his father Isaac, disguising himself as Esau and taking the blessing. How does the Torah itself regard his action? The subtle critique can be found later on in Jacob’s story. He works for seven years to marry Laban’s daughter Rachel. At the end...

Nov 15, 2017, 3:49 PM

A Mother’s Influence

‘From the child of 5 to myself is but a step,” wrote Leo Tolstoy. “But from the new-born baby to the child of 5 is an astonishing distance.” Modern research validates Tolstoy’s insight. The first years are formative. For most of history, the teacher in...

Nov 8, 2017, 4:31 PM

A Life Of Choices

Why does the Torah so often tell the tales of siblings? From Cain and Abel and other Genesis stories and on to Moses and Aaron, we are being told something important about human nature. Ultimately, our lives are shaped by our choices. Yes, there are...

Nov 1, 2017, 4:31 PM

Hands to Work, Hearts to God

Italian writer Claudio Magris begins his magnificent work “Danube” with a chapter called “A Question of Gutters.” Amidst his philosophical speculations and historical allusions, he reminds us that all of this great civilization would not exist without proper gutters. Metaphysics matters, but it falters without...

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About Me

Named the most influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek Magazine and one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post, David Wolpe is the Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California.