Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

And oftentimes excusing of a faultDoth make the fault the worse by the excuse.~William Shakespeare  In this week’s Parasha, Ki Tissa, the Israelites, under the guidance of Aaron, build a golden calf.  When confronted by Moses as to how he could allow the people to engage in such behavior, Aaron makes… excuses.  First, he blames…

Chim-Chim-Cherubim Our Torah portion for this week is Terumah.  Moses is asked by G-d to instruct the people to bring gifts and contributions from which a place of worship, called a Mishkan, or Tabernacle, will be built. In this parasha G-d also reveals the design of the mishkan, the ark, its furnishings and its vessels,…

Let Holiness Suffuse our Lives There are times in our lives when the presence of G-d is almost palpable – standing at the Grand Canyon at sunrise, witnessing the arrival of our children, experiencing the tenderness and concern of a community at times of loss.  A bar or bat mitzvah is usually one of these…

The Torah tells us that when Moses protested that he could not go before Pharaoh because he could not speak, G-d answers:   “…….See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh, with your brother Aaron as your prophet.’” (Exodus 7:1) What an astonishing statement!  What could it mean? A quote by Ralph Waldo…

Recognizing the Good Done to Us by Others This week we begin the Book of Exodus in our Torah reading.  The Book of Genesis left us last week at a high point – Jacob’s family had settled in Egypt, in the Land of Goshen, under the protection of one of their own, Joseph, second in…

Leaving the Comfort Zone   How do we build the courage to draw upon that light we discovered in December and move forward to a new life – spiritually, socially, financially, or educationally?  How do we gain the courage to leave our comfort zone, even when we know that place may not be the best…

Fathers and Sons   In my little town I never meant nothin' I was just my fathers son Saving my money Dreaming of glory Twitching like a finger On the trigger of a gun  As Paul Simon writes, it can be tough to be the son of a well-known father.  Sometimes sons follow in their…

One Hundred Blessings A Day From where do we get the idea that a Jew should recite 100 blessings a day?  This comes from a verse in Parasha Ekev, “What does G-d ask of you? Only to fear G-d your Lord…and to love Him.”  Our sages teach, “Do not read Mah (dn),”What”, rather insert an…

Doing Things Backward? Last year, as we were sitting down to eat lunch after the Rosh Hashanah services, a question arose that I thought would be interesting to look at today. That question was, “Why do we celebrate Rosh Hashanna first, and then observe Yom Kippur?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to observe the Day…

Opening Our Eyes   I’ve been thinking about how the sense of sight, the sense of seeing, plays such a prominent role in our Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah.  Let’s take a look at two of the stories we read on this Rosh Hashanah holiday and ask ourselves what the text is trying to teach…