Commandments, Covenants, and Choices: A New Look at Jewish Practice

This Shira Palmer Sherman Memorial Teaching with Rabbi David Wolkenfeld explores how many Jews are taught to think about mitzvot as “Jewish law”—a system of rules that one either follows or does not. But in classical rabbinic texts, the meaning of a life of mitzvot is far richer and more varied. In this class we will explore some of the weaknesses of law as a metaphor and alternatives that exist in traditional rabbinic texts.

Rabbi David Wolkenfeld has served as the rabbi of Ohev Sholom Congregation in Washington DC since July 2023. Ohev Sholom is the oldest Orthodox congregation in Washington DC and is the spiritual home to an active membership of hundreds of Jews of all ages and representing diverse religious backgrounds and viewpoints. Rabbi Wolkenfeld treasures opportunities to serve as a resource for Jews who are seeking to connect more deeply to Torah and mitzvot in order to become better people and build stronger communities.

Rabbi Wolkenfeld is a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute’s Rabbinic Leadership Initiative and is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. He has completed one term as a member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America and has served as a vice-president of the International Rabbinic Fellowship and currently chairs its Membership Committee. His writing has been published in Tradition, The Lehrhaus, Milin Havivin, The Jewish Press, and the Huffington Post. Prior to his move to
Washington, Rabbi Wolkenfeld served for ten years as the rabbi of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation (ASBI) in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Rabbi Wolkenfeld began his full-time rabbinic career at Princeton University where, together with his wife, Sara, he directed the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. In his spare time, Rabbi Wolkenfeld enjoys hiking, making tomato sauce from local ingredients, and writing whimsical poems about synagogue life. The Wolkenfelds are the proud parents of five children: Noam, Akiva, Hillel, Sophie, and Yonatan.