Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Our Cantor was about to call me up for an aliyah. He turned to me. “Is your father’s name “Avraham Laib, Avraham Lev, or Avraham Lave?” he asked. “That’s right,” I replied, not able to distinguish one pronunciation from the other. You see, our Cantor is a very learned man, and an Israeli as well.…

Our Torah reading begins this week with God commanding Moses to solicit voluntary contributions from the Israelites to build the “Mishkan”, or tabernacle, the portable worship space for the Israelites. The description of the materials and the construction of the Mishkan is given verbally by God to Moses. It is a long and complex description,…

There are times in our lives when the presence of G-d is almost palpable – standing at the Grand Canyon at sunrise, witnessing the arrival of our children, experiencing the tenderness and concern of a community at times of loss.  A bar or bat mitzvah is usually one of these experiences in the life of the…

This week we are reading about the giving of the Ten Commandments in our weekly Torah portion. But the Torah reading does not open with the Ten Commandments. The weekly portion opens with Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, bringing Moses’ wife, Zipporah, and his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to the encampment. They did not participate in…

Happy Tu Bishvat! Today is the “New Year of the Trees” on the Jewish calendar. As we were dressing the Torah this morning, our cantor sang one of my favorite Israeli songs — “Hashkedia Porachat“. The almond tree is blooming            The golden sun is shining             Birds on the rooftop             Announce that the holiday is coming!         Tu Bishvat has…

Our Torah reading for this week includes the plague of darkness — “a darkness that can be touched”. (Exodus 10:21). What is “a darkness that can be touched”? The Seforno writes that God removed the natural darkness of the night and replaced it with the kind of darkness that cannot be expelled by the presence…

Beginning on Sunday morning, January 7, I will be teaching a weekly Parsha Ha-Shavua class via Zoom, sponsored by Temple Beth El of Springfield, Massachusetts. The first session will focus on Parashat Vaera, in which God “hardens Pharaoh’s heart.” If Judaism holds that we have free will, how can God deprive Pharaoh of his choice?…

In this week’s Torah reading, (Gen 47:28) Jacob is about to die. He asks his son Joseph to make him a promise — to bury him with his father and grandfather in the Land of Canaan. “Do me this favor…. as a pledge of chesed va-emet …. take me up from Egypt and bury me…

This week we come to the climax of the Joseph story. Joseph has framed his brother Benjamin and threatens to enslave him in Egypt while allowing the other brothers to return to their father, Jacob, in Canaan. In the next 32 verses Judah delivers a passionate speech culminating in the plea to allow him take…