Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

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…

Do you remember the movie, “Meet the Parents”?  It starred Ben Stiller as a prospective son-in-law and Robert Dinero as his father-in-law to be, Jack.  Greg, the character played by Stiller, is a male nurse from Chicago who visits his girlfriend Pam’s home intending to propose marriage. Once there he finds he has to pass…

We studied the poetry of YehudaAmichai (above) with scholar Rachel Korazimin her Jaffa home.  It is wonderful to be back following our nearly two week pilgrimage to Israel. Sixteen of us from our congregation, joined by a son and his 84 year old father from the Boston area, traveled the length and breadth of Israel,…

Not all Parashas, that is, the weekly Torah portions, are equally welcomed by Rabbis – or by congregants!  One could say these are to Parashas that we love to hate.  Bar mitzvah boys and bat mitzvah girls cringe in horror when they find out they need to write a D’var Toah on this week’s Torah…

As most of you know, I have been active in the Chicago Board of Rabbis since I arrived in the area seven years ago. I have served on the Executive Board for four years, the last two of which have been as Executive Board secretary. Recently I was nominated to serve as VP of the…

Did any of you see Chicago Tonight on WTTW Channel 11 last Tuesday night? He interviewed two Chicago rabbis, Brant Rosen and Andrea London, about the recent elections in Israel. Rabbi Rosen, who recently resigned from his pulpit at the Jewish Reconstructionist Synagogue in Evanston, represented the far left’s opinion on Israel. Rabbi London of…