Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

This Wednesday evening, Jews around the world will gather with family and friends to celebrate Passover. The tradition of the Seder stretches back two millennia, if not more. But what is its primary purpose? It may not be what we usually assume. Rather than simply remembering the Exodus, the deeper purpose of the Seder is…

This week my wife and I are on a Jewish Heritage Tour of Argentina. On Tuesday we visited the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), the Jewish Community Center that was bombed in 1994. By coincidence, I came across a sermon I wrote exactly thirteen years ago to the day. Here is the opening of that…

Today I want to look at something most people skip right over: the measurements of three furnishings in the Tabernacle — the Ark, the Incense Altar, and the Table for the Challah. All measurements are in cubits. The rabbis noticed a striking pattern: From these details, they uncovered a beautiful teaching for the Jewish soul.…

As a rabbi, I’ve participated in many fundraising campaigns. The pattern is always the same: large donors are approached first, and only after a substantial sum has been secured does the campaign go public.  That way, smaller donors then feel they are contributing to a winning effort and are more inclined to give. Our parasha…

Rabbi Barukh Halevi Epstein (1860-1941) teaches that the Torah places the portion of Mishpatim, dealing with issues of justice, before the reading of Terumah, the giving of contributions to the Tabernacle, to teach that contributions that come from money acquired through just and righteous means are desired by God whereas contributions acquired through theft and…

“These are the laws that you shall place before them” (Exodus 21:1). Rabbi Simcha Bunem of Peshischa (b, 1765, Poland) writes about this opening verse to our Torah reading for the week: “In the nations of the world, wise and discerning people create laws; the lawmakers exist first, and the laws follow. The Torah’s laws…

Our Torah reading for this week opens with this verse: “Jethro priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel—God’s people: how the ETERNAL had brought Israel out from Egypt.” (Exodus 18:1) This prompts the medieval commentor Rashi to wonder – what exactly did Jethro hear that caused…

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath of Song, referring of to the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1) that we chant in the Torah this morning. The Song of the Sea marks the first time that the Jewish people gather as a congregation to pray. True, the patriarchs and matriarchs prayed, but they…