Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

    As most of you may know, ten days ago I announced my retirement as Rabbi of  Congregation Beth Shalom effective June, 2023. In making this decision I am reminded of the parent who sends a note to explain her son’s tardiness for kindergarten. “Please excuse Johnny for being late for school this morning.…

  Next week we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, with its  evocative prayers and stirring  melodies.  In our Amidah prayer we will add the verses “zachrenu le hayyim, melech hafetz bahayyim, vchatvenu besefer hachayimm”  — Remember us for life, sovereign who desires life, and inscribe us in the book of life.”  The imagery of a “Book…

  There’s a beautiful Hasidic teaching that says there are five most important mitzvot in the entire Jewish tradition. The first is actually from this week’s portion: Tamim tihiyeh. Be wholehearted with God. (Deuteronomy 18:13) Shiviti Adonai. Always place God before you. (Psalms 16:8) V’ahavta l’reiecha kamocha. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19:18) B’chol…

  There are many reasons we have difficulty relating  to the mitzvot that are given in the Torah. Simply put, most of us grew up in urban areas whereas the mitzvot in the Torah were given to people who lived on farms and worked the land. We city dwellers are quite detached from the source…

  Tonight I want to tell you the tale of two disputes. The first is a famous dispute between the conductor Leonard Bernstein and the pianist Glenn Gould. The second is a dispute related in this week’s Torah portion between Moses and Korah.   On the evening of  Friday, April 6, 1962, Leonard Bernstein was…

I have heard it said that a pessimistic person thinks that the glass is half empty. The optimistic person says that the glass is half full. And the hopeful person says, “You may be using  the wrong glass!” In this week’s parasha the Israelites are poised to enter the Land of Canaan. Although it is…

Silver trumpets from KingTut’s tomb. 1326BCE This week’s Torah portion introduces us to two objects that were of great importance  to the Israelites as they  traveled through the wilderness. Both are made of precious metals, the first of gold, the second of silver. Both were to be made by hammering, a process of shaping metals…

Jewish tradition seems to be very ambivalent about counting. On the one hand, the Psalms teach us to “number our days, so that we may attain a heart of wisdom”. We are currently in a period where we count the number of days between Passover and Shavuot — the “sefirat ha-omer”. And in this week’s…

  Our Parasha for this week, Emor,  lists all  the festivals we are to observe throughout the year. The Torah first lists Shabbat, then the other festivals — Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur,Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret.  The Torah refers to these times as “Moadim”, the Hebrew word which we translate as “Festivals”. The root…

Today’s words of Torah are brought to you by the Hebrew word “Kodesh”. “Kodesh” means “holy”. In this week’s parasha the Jewish People are enjoined to be a “Holy People”. The Parasha goes on to explain just what that means. However,  an examination of the entire Torah quickly shows that it is not only “people”…