Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph

Servant or Partner? We are smack in the middle of the college football season and talk has begun about who is a candidate for the Heisman Trophy, the award for the best player in college football. Geno Smith, the quarterback for West Virginia, is a leading candidate for the award.  However, his team suffered a…

The Sukkah of Peace The prayer, Hashkivenu, which we say on Friday night, contains the phrase “sukat Shelomecha” three times.  It concludes with the blessing, “Ufros alenu Sukat shlomecha” – spread over us the Sukkah of Your peace.  The question I would like to explore this Shabbat Chol HaMoed Succot – this Intermediate Sabbath of…

Between Israel and the Nations When I practiced as a psychotherapist I learned a valuable lesson – what people tell you is not nearly as important, at times, as what people leave out. So it peaks my interest when our newsletter editor quotes from the Havdalah blessing that is in our prayer book, Kol Haneshama. …

  Olympic Mettle This past summer we were witness to the Olympic Games in London.  Although there had been many concerns about terrorism, transportation, and weather, the games came off magnificently.  A few weeks later London hosted the Paralympics, a multi-sport event for the disabled, in the same stadium venues.  These games, recently concluded, were a…

Well, Well, Well! Why is this night different from all other nights?  I know, it isn’t Passover!  On all other nights our prayers begin with praises to G-d, but on this night we do not begin with praises to G-d.  Perplexing indeed!   What’s more, this holiest day of the Jewish year, a day when we…

Return to Who You Are This Shabbat is called “Shabbat TeShuvah” – The Sabbath of Repentance – because it falls between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, during the Ten Days of Repentance. It is also called “Shabbat Shuvah” – The Sabbath of Return – after the first few words of the special Haftorah for the…

One of my favorite stories is one which you perhaps have heard as well. In the old Soviet Union there was a minimum security work camp. The prisoners worked inside the camp during the day, and then left the camp at the end of work and slept in a village nearby.  A guard stood at…

The Five “R” s of Repentance One of the most popular radio programs in the United States is Car Talk. Tom and Ray Magliozzi, also known as Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, have been a mainstay of National Public Radio for twenty five years.  Car Talk draws over four million listeners every week.    On…

The Angel Within Whenever he sculpted a piece of marble, Michelangelo would go to the quarry outside of Florence to see the section of rock from which it came, the cliff from which it was hewn.  Without that larger setting or context he could not appreciate or understand the stone that he was sculpting. He…

I've Got A Secret                 Have you ever been driving around in your car, and a song comes on the radio, a song of say, Frank Sinatra, and he’s singing “I’ve got the world on a string” and that song is so upbeat, and you are feeling great because it is a beautiful spring day,…