Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

As we are today witnessing a new round of violence in Israel, it is important to remember that there are people of goodwill on both sides who are working toward peace and a shared vision of the future of the State of Israel. On our congregational trip last May to Israel, we visited the Center…

Listening to our Prayers In his 2002 debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer introduces us to the mythical village of Trachimbrod, Ukraine, circa 1791. The village has 300 citizens, all of them Jewish. This shtetl is divided into a Jewish Quarter and a Human Three Quarters. In the Jewish Quarter, everything of a…

The Courage to Dream “If you will it, it is not a dream”. This is perhaps the most famous Jewish quotation of the 20th century. It was written by Theodore Herzl, Jewish visionary and founder of modern political Zionism. He was referring of course, to the ages long dream of the Jewish people that they…

Three Reasons to Forgive On this sacred night, when we stand before G-d and ask G-d to forgive us, I am going to talk about how important it is that forgive others. Our tradition teaches that only if we are willing to forgive others is G-d willing to forgive us. I am going to talk…

Where Heaven Meets Earth Do you know “Where the world began?” I bet if I asked you “How old is the world” you would be able to answer that question. If you were speaking from a Jewish point of view, you would say the world is 5776 years old. If you were speaking from a…

The Case of the Lost Tefillin I am sure many of us have had the experience of our luggage being lost by an airline. We all know that sinking feeling of waiting for our checked luggage at the luggage carousel, and one by one all of the passengers on your flight collect their luggage and…

Parasha Re-eh:  Do Not Inquire Portrain of Shimon Abeles from a book at the Jewish Museum, Prague, c. 1728 All we can be certain of is that he was ten years old when he died. He was a Jewish boy and the grandson of a prominent leader of the Jewish community in Prague in the…

It is from this week’s Torah portion, Ekev, that we are taught that we should thank G-d for the food we eat.  “When you have eaten and been satisfied,” the text says, “you shall thank Adonai, your G-d for the good land which G-d has given you.”  The Torah does not tell us HOW we should…

Racist Violence against Houses of Worship Oh people of conscience, Cry out. Cry out against arrogance. Cry out against hatred and anger. Cry out against violence and oppression. For God requires us to stand In the name of justice and freedom, For God requires us to oppose terror, To muster our power and energy Against…

Isidor I. Rabi, the Nobel Laureate in Physics was once asked, “Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer of businessman, like other immigrant kids in your neighborhood? [He responded], “My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after…