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Read Rabbi Knopf’s Recent Posts
- ‘Earn This’: Last Day of Passover 5782 April 24, 2022
- Judaism for the Wise and Wicked: Passover 5782 April 20, 2022
- When the Devil Comes for You: Parashat Tazria 5782 April 2, 2022
- Having a Heart: Parashat Teztaveh 5782 February 13, 2022
- What Oneness Demands of Us January 31, 2022
Tag Archives: holidays
‘Earn This’: Last Day of Passover 5782
Over the course of the past year or so, I’ve committed to filling in what I call my “pop culture blindspots,” making a point to watch movies with a significant cultural footprint that I, for various reasons, haven’t seen. One … Continue reading
Judaism for the Wise and Wicked: Passover 5782
Questions are perhaps the defining feature of the Seder. The ceremony, with its unusual rites and symbols, appears to have been specifically designed to arouse questions, particularly from children. To all these questions, let me add one that I want … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Conservative Judaism, conservative rabbis, holidays, Judaism, Passover, Pesah, religion, Torah, wisdom
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To Be, or Not To Be: Sukkot 5782
When I first became a father, I felt the predictable mix of joy, excitement, and fear. Other fathers had told me to expect all of those feelings, particularly the fear. Babies are fragile and needy and apparently don’t come with … Continue reading
Posted in Reflections, Sermons
Tagged arba minim, holidays, Judaism, religion, spirituality, Sukkot, Torah, wisdom
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Let’s Talk About How We Talk: Yom Kippur 5782
One of the noteworthy features of our Yom Kippur liturgy is that the viddui, the list of transgressions we confess ten times over the course of this holy day, is dominated by sins of communication. Al het sh’hatanu b’vitu’i s’fatayim, … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged holidays, Judaism, politics, religion, social media, society, Talmud, Torah, wisdom, Yom Kippur
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Our Masks: Kol Nidrei 5782
We’ve each come up with our own tricks to make the past year and a half a little more bearable. One of mine is that, sometimes, when I’m wearing a mask, I like to pretend I’m a ninja, or a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged holidays, Judaism, positive psychology, psychology, religion, spirituality, Torah, wisdom, Yom Kippur
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Back to the Future: Rosh Hashanah Day 1 5782
The year was 1944. As the second World War raged overseas, my grandfather (of blessed memory) was a young army private, based at Camp Croft, South Carolina. To that point, he hadn’t been deployed overseas because he served as a … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged family, High Holidays, High Holy Days, holidays, Judaism, memory, religion, rosh hashanah, society, Torah, war, wisdom
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A call for justice and peace in Israel and Palestine from an imam and a rabbi
As our respective communities celebrate the Islamic Holy Day of Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan) and the Jewish festival of Shavuot (which commemorates the receiving of the Torah), we call upon Muslims, Jews and people of conscience everywhere to denounce … Continue reading
Posted in Articles and Op-Eds
Tagged holidays, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, justice, palestine, peace, politics, religion, social justice, society
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30 Days of Liberation 2017
The Talmud teaches that, during the 30 days before Passover, we should learn about matters related to the holiday. In that spirit, I composed a brief message for each of the previous 30 days, drawing from the wisdom Passover imparts. I hope you find these … Continue reading
Posted in 30 Days of Liberation, Reflections
Tagged faith, God, holidays, Jewish holidays, Liberation, Passover, personal, Pesah, religion, spirituality
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Illumin8 2016
1st Night – Playing with Fire During the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Holy Temple had been used for the worship of Greek gods. When the Maccabees captured it, they set about rededicating it for the service of the God … Continue reading
Posted in Illumin8, Reflections, Uncategorized
Tagged Chanukah, faith, Hanukkah, holidays, Jewish holidays, positive psychology, psychology, religion, spirituality
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Remarks at 2016 Community Eid Dinner
As-Salam-u-Alaikum and Eid Mubarak. Adira joins me in expressing what an honor it is to be with you this evening. I am deeply grateful to the organizers for their generous invitation, for all their holy work on behalf of the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ethics, God, holidays, interfaith, Jewish holidays, Jewish People, Judaism, justice, nature of god, peace, politics, rabbis, religion, social justice, society, Tisha B'Av, Torah, wisdom
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Rabbi Michael Rose Knopf 