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A Dress Rehearsal
Do you know the story in the Talmud where Rabbi Eliezer teaches his students that they should repent the day before their death? “But how do you know the day you are going to die?” asked his students. Rabbi Eliezer replied, “Exactly, you should repent today, for who knows when you are going to die?”…
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A Story for the New Year
Two friends, Reuven and Shimon, were traveling together in the desert. At one point, they began to argue. Then Reuven slapped Shimon. Shimon did nothing, but instead wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend slapped me.” Days passed and the friends continued their journey. They came to an oasis and decided to bathe in…
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Paying Attention
According to Jewish law, one must hear the blasts of the Shofar with the proper intent in order to fulfill the mitzvah of “listening to the blast of the Shofar” on Rosh Hashanah. “Listening” implies concentrating on the sounds of the Shofar so that they can awaken us from our spiritual slumber and spur us…
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All Creatures Great and Small
At the conclusion of the Book of Jonah, Jonah becomes angry at God because God does not punish the people of Ninveh after they repent. God responds to Jonah, “Shall I, (God) not take pity on Ninveh in which there are more than 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left,…
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A Season of Change
This week we entered the Hebrew month of Elul. It means that Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the New Year, is fast approaching. As we look forward to the High Holidays, we also look backward to the past year and review our lives. The month of Elul is a time of cheshbon hanefesh – of…
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Repentance and Return
It is a Jewish custom to place a small rock on the headstone of a parent or relative when one visits a cemetery. Apparently, this custom dates from medieval times. No one knows exactly why we do this. Perhaps it is simply an indication that we have visited the resting place of our departed. God…
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Rewards
Our Torah reading for this week (Deuteronomy 7:12) begins by assuring us that if we live our lives according to God’s Will we will be blessed. How does God want us to live? The prophet Micah teaches that we should pursue justice, show compassion to our fellow creatures, and be humble. I recently attended my…
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A God You Can Believe In
In this week’s Torah reading we have the verse that may be the closest that Judaism comes to articulating a creed. Synagogue goers know this verse and the paragraph that follows as “The Shema”. It is recited in our evening and our morning prayers. “Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is One”.…
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Do you Believe in Miracles?
In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses assembles the Israelites on the plains of Moab, poised to enter the Land promised to our ancestors. In a series of three speeches, Moses recounts the history of the past forty years, reviews old laws and imparts new ones, exhorts the people to follow the commandments and castigates them…
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Death and Burial
Cremation has become an increasingly popular way of final disposition of remains in the United States. Today there is a 60% cremation rate. By 2040 cremation is expected to account for 80% of all funerals. Yet, the Jewish way of dealing with death is through burial. I heard a beautiful explanation of the process life…
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Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 