Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Have any of you ever been scuba diving? I have been snorkeling. The two most memorable times have been on a reef at the tip of the Sinai desert at a place called Ras Muhammad, and off the beach on Culebra island in Puerto Rico. It was astounding to see an underwater world that I…

Recently a five-year-old girl was attending her first bar mitzvah  our synagogue. She looked on expectantly as she waited for the service to begin. She saw the Cantor on the bima tuning her guitar. She saw the bar mitzvah boy all dressed up in suit and tie getting fitted with his lapel microphone. She saw…

We are fast approaching the Yamim Noraim, the High Holidays. Only three more weeks to go.As we all know  people the world over celebrate their  respective s New Years with drinks, with specific foods  and with parties. Fireworks have long been a staple of New Year  celebrations in many parts of the world along with…

This evening marks the beginning of the month of Elul. The month of Elul is a time of preparation for the New Year. In a few weeks we will gather in this sanctuary to celebrate RoshHashanah. Although we can repent and return to G-d every day of our lives, the sages emphasize that the month…

The Rabbis tell two stories about how Israel accepted the Torah. The first is a modern retelling of an ancient midrash by Rabbis Rick and Ellissa Sherwin: God had gone to the nations of the earth and asked them to accept a gift, the Torah. One nation asked, “What does it say?” God answered, “You…

“Israel Bars Two US Congresswomen” blared the headline from the front page of the Chicago Tribune. I thought that you might want to hear my thoughts on this. By now we all have heard the story. Following a tweet  by the President suggesting that Israel block the planned visit of Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida…

My Dear Congregants, Sadly, I once again write following a tragic and needless atrocity, this time against Jews celebrating the final day of Passover in their synagogue. Clearly, we Jews are not alone in being gunned down in our places of worship. The shooting at the Chabad synagogue in Poway comes on the heels of…

The journal Science recently published an intriguing study of the health effects of long-term space flight. Astronaut Scott Kelley spent almost a year aboard the International Space Station between March 2, 2015 and March 27, 2016. His identical twin brother, Mark Kelley, remained here on earth. At the conclusion of the space flight, Scott and…

Have you ever wanted to simply “cut out” a part of the Torah? There are many parts of the Torah we find very hard to read because we find them uncomfortable, because they clash with our modern day sensibilities, because we find them morally objectionable or simply because we find them irrelevant.  Surely many of…

According to the Book of Ecclesiastes “there is a time to be silent and a time to speak.” Our parasha this week demonstrates a time when perhaps it would have been preferable to remain silent rather than to speak. Our parasha is called “Shemini” and its subject is the anointing of Aaron as the High…