Author Archives: jjwolfson
On The Eve Of Yom Kippur…
Very late in the day I upload some offerings for the greatest of days. Reading sheets first, followed by audio shiurim (all of which have source sheets). Reading Sheets (some new, some from previous years) Elie Wiesel’s Prayer The Religiosity … Continue reading
A Haredi Humanist In Jerusalem – Introducing Rav Tukachinsky’s Gesher HaChayim
In the 1940s, whilst the Second World War ravaged Europe, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky (1871-1955) composed what would become an authoritative work on the laws, practices and philosophy of Jewish mourning. He called it Gesher HaChayim, or, The Bridge of … Continue reading
Biblical Paradigms of Conversion: Avot, Sinai and Rut. A Shiur for Shavuot
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
On The Second Yahrzeit Of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l
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
Six Shiurim on Shemot To Illuminate Pesach
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
Pahad Yitzhak on Hanukah – Listening To God’s Silence
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
Kibbud Av V’Em – On The Mitzvah and Difficulties of Honouring Parents
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
Abrabanel’s Anti-Politics
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
Two Shiurim for Sukkot
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
Yamim Nora’im Torah
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
