Author Archives: jjwolfson

Shavuot is the festival of the Jewish people’s conversion. The gemara in Masechet Keritut (9a) derives from the Torah’s description of Mount Sinai the necessary steps that a potential candidate for conversion needs to take. Shavuot is also the festival on which … Continue reading →

Today is the second yahrzeit of my great teacher Rav Aharon Lichtenstein. One of the experiences I am most grateful for is to have spent some of my most formative years sitting in the same Bet Midrash as him listening … Continue reading →

I have loved Shemot (Exodus) for many years and so this year we chose to study it over the Spring Semester so that in the run up to Pesach we would have spent time in-depth time with the critical stories … Continue reading →

Yishayahu  (54:1) said: ‘Greater are sons of the desolate one…’ upon which the Sages expanded: more righteous ones arose for me in a time of destruction than in a time when the Temple stood. Rav Hutner in his classic work … Continue reading →

For the second half of the Fall Semester at NYU in our gemara class, we decided to study the sugyot of Kibbud Av V’Eim (honouring parents). Kibbud Av V’Em is one of the most taken for granted of all halachic topics … Continue reading →

In our fourth class on Jewish Political Thought we study the thought of Don Yitzchak Abrabanel (1437-1508). Abrabanel was one of the most distinguished politicians and statesmen in Jewish history and also one of the tradition’s finest political thinkers. Fascinatingly, despite … Continue reading →

The Rambam on Simcha – In Our Lives, On Festivals, On Sukkot Rav Hutner’s Pahad Yitzhak on Sukkot – the clouds of glory after the golden calf, the second tablets, Yaakov, Emet, temporary and permanence and on developing personalities which incorporate … Continue reading →

The start of the academic year at NYU has corresponded with Ellul, Rosh HaShanna and Yom Kippur, and thank God our community has been able to learn a lot of Torah. Below are the recordings of three courses with classes … Continue reading →

I’ve been teaching two exciting new courses at The Bronfman Center since the start of semester – both designed to be relevant to this point in the Jewish and secular calendar as well as stimulating and rigorous Torah. The first … Continue reading →

I have just finished a wonderful ten days in South Africa where I was brought out by Limmud SA and The Academy of Jewish Thought and Learning. I saw three cities, the bush, learned about SA politics and the Jewish community, bonded with … Continue reading →