Category: Uncategorized
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Half Empty or Half Full?
I have heard it said that a pessimistic person thinks that the glass is half empty. The optimistic person says that the glass is half full. And the hopeful person says, “You may be using the wrong glass!” In this week’s parasha the Israelites are poised to enter the Land of Canaan. Although it is…
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Time to Move Forward
Silver trumpets from KingTut’s tomb. 1326BCE This week’s Torah portion introduces us to two objects that were of great importance to the Israelites as they traveled through the wilderness. Both are made of precious metals, the first of gold, the second of silver. Both were to be made by hammering, a process of shaping metals…
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Who Counts?
Jewish tradition seems to be very ambivalent about counting. On the one hand, the Psalms teach us to “number our days, so that we may attain a heart of wisdom”. We are currently in a period where we count the number of days between Passover and Shavuot — the “sefirat ha-omer”. And in this week’s…
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Reflection on the Lag BaOmer Tragedy in Israel
Our Parasha for this week, Emor, lists all the festivals we are to observe throughout the year. The Torah first lists Shabbat, then the other festivals — Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur,Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret. The Torah refers to these times as “Moadim”, the Hebrew word which we translate as “Festivals”. The root…
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Wholly Holy?
Today’s words of Torah are brought to you by the Hebrew word “Kodesh”. “Kodesh” means “holy”. In this week’s parasha the Jewish People are enjoined to be a “Holy People”. The Parasha goes on to explain just what that means. However, an examination of the entire Torah quickly shows that it is not only “people”…
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Happy 73rd Birthday, Israel!
Over the past year many words have crept into our day-to-day language…. “Pandemic”, “lockdown”, “masking” “social distancing” and “PPE” are some of the words that we used infrequently or did not know. When asked about whether the Corona virus will ever go away, scientists often respond that it will be “endemic”. I’m…
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Judaism and Baseball
Inspired by opening day, which was yesterday, I found myself writing these lyrics: To the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game) Take me out to the temple dad Take me out to the shul, Let’s hear some prayers and Torah chants, Maybe the rabbi will break out in dance …
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The Mental Health Seder Plate
Tomorrow night marks the beginning of Passover. I am certain that most of us will be keenly aware that this seder will be the second time we hold our Seders during the Pandemic. Once again many of us are not able to join loved ones in person this year. The year has taken a…
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To Err is Human
Photo: Chris Liverani [Unsplash.com] Very few people study the book of the Torah we begin this week, the Book of Leviticus, or Vayikra. I pity the poor bar or bat mitzvah student who has to summarize and find ways to relate to these portions , which deal mostly with the laws of animal sacrifice in…
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What We Can Learn from the Building of the Tabernacle
The Erection of the Tabernacle and the Sacred Vessels 1728 This week we conclude our reading of the Book of Exodus. The Book of Exodus begins with our enslavement in Egypt, and follows with the story of the Ten Plagues, our leaving Egypt, and our receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. The final…
Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 